Disqus - Latest Comments for jamesinealing

Re: The Stone Gatherers

James Morley — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 03:46:06 -0000

Definitely not Ealing, but I can't help you in terms of where else it might depict, other than a superficial resemblance to Dulverton and the River Barle

Re: Richard Smith: Time to regulate cyclists

James Morley — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 12:21:00 -0000

This response begs the question of why you felt it fitting to write such a piece in the first place.

"But I do fear that the behaviour of many cyclists in London is likely to lead to regulation whatever the evidence shows, and somehow the hostile responses to my blog might make that more rather than less likely."

It will be more likely the more places like BMJ give a platform for ill-informed and ill-judged opinions like this. Thankfully it will be less likely if people who are in a position to make such decisions are well informed and open to evidence based, reasoned decision making

Re: Richard Smith: Time to regulate cyclists

James Morley — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 08:08:53 -0000

Does this really belong in a blog associated with a scientific publication?

Re: The Terror (2018) : Season 1 - Episode 5 | SubZ - Ελληνικοί Υπότιτλοι Ταινιών και Σειρών

James Morley — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 07:15:01 -0000

Ευχαριστω για την τριαδα των επεισοδιων !

Re: 37 stunning photos from an incredible week of Olympic track cycling

James Morley — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 17:34:55 -0000

"following a clash with Mark Cavendish" - you guys should be politicians!

Re: 37 stunning photos from an incredible week of Olympic track cycling

James Morley — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 17:34:28 -0000

Yeap, have to agree - a nice record, but rather over-sold!

Re: A hope in hell: the first 24hrs after diagnosis

James Morley — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 13:14:26 -0000

Brian, I had my prostatectomy in November 2011. In 2013 I cycled 5,000 miles, ending with Lands End to John O'Groats in nine days, in the meantime raising £6,000 for Prostate Cancer UK. I then had to have some follow up radiotherapy but have now had zero PSA for over a year, and no significant lasting side effects. Best thing you can do is keep your mind and body strong, and put your faith in the medical folk. It seems to have worked for me!

Re: Flickr Wall Art now lets you print others users’ photos

James Morley — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 05:56:08 -0000

Yeah, and they're totally ignoring copyright!

Re: Outcrop demo

James Morley — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 11:25:33 -0000

Like Jon I was instinctively looking for a crop tool, but I guess the intention is to produce a standard size / aspect ratio image, in which case this works nicely (maybe with a few more visual pointers for novices)

Re: The Piano Player of Kiev

James Morley — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 12:17:10 -0000

Wow, some very polarised views here and people interpreting comments very differently to how I did. The only thing I can see that everyone agrees with is that copyright laws need changing! One thing I would specifically comment on is that the Getty/AFP/Morel case is very different from what is being discussed in this case, where innocent (in the broadest sense) individuals were involved, not large commercial companies who should have known better.

It strikes me that the basic problem lies in both the nature of the medium and the technology that supports it. Combine that with a confused bunch of 'users' with no clear guidance on what is best practice or even just decent, let alone the law, and it's a recipe for the chaos that ensues. And the sad thing is that in almost all cases no-one sets out to intentionally upset anyone, and if they had a helping hand they'd be more than happy to do the correct thing (as this case shows with the fact that three people took the trouble to provide attribution, even though they got it wrong).

But isn't technology part of the answer? When you publish an image, embed copyright information. When it is saved, modified, shared ensure that that information persists (one of the almost ubiquitous failings of current social media platforms which strip out metadata). Wherever it is published make sure that that information is readily accesible (for example on Flickr you can see EXIF data extracted from the uploaded image - http://www.flickr.com/photo... - and why not make a right-click option available in every modern web browser to view basic exif/iptc data on any image?).

Then that crucial trail would not be lost at every step.

Re: Prostate Cancer UK

James Morley — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 07:49:12 -0000

Sounds absolutely bonkers to me, and I'd say only even consider it if you're used to exactly those sorts of hills and distances! Are you talking single free or fixed gear? I think a fixed gear would be even more of an issue down the hills, even if you manage to drag it up to the top :)

Re: Prostate Cancer UK

James Morley — Sun, 26 May 2013 16:15:37 -0000

I've just realised that per mile the epic has more climbing than the Dragon Ride in Wales. That's a bit scary!

Re: Prostate Cancer UK

James Morley — Sun, 26 May 2013 16:09:54 -0000

I'm booked in at Prattshayes which seems a bit more basic but Only £6 a night! When I booked though she said she was full but could just put me on a temporary area. Just have to buy myself a tent ...

Re: Chiswick Circular

James Morley — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:30:41 -0000

What's with the stretch of deep pea shingle by Oliver's Lane near Colchester, followed by a muddy track? Are there any minimum requirements for surfaces on National Routes, or perhaps recommended bike specs such as mountain bike with suspension or at least thick tyres?

Re: Prostate Cancer UK

James Morley — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:25:24 -0000

Here's the gpx file for the 100 mile route uploaded to EveryTrail which gives you the profile (and tells you it's about 7,500ft of climbing) http://www.everytrail.com/v...

Re: “cmd-P”

James Morley — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:52:08 -0000

Neat - quite literally. As someone just trying to teach myself a bit of design for mobile I can definitely see the comparisons.

I've always wondered if it was possible to track how many people print pages. I guess you could look at your raw logs now for hits on that print css. Of course people might only have got as far as print preview (especially if they've read this piece) but it should give you some sort of indication.

Re: ‘Constant short term nostalgia’

James Morley — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 13:11:54 -0000

Suse, again I agree, but I think this is only looking at it from the perspective of the reader, whereas my concerns stem from a worry that what was written has been in some way modified by the writer to say what they think others want them to say (or rather what they think might provoke the biggest response), rather than saying what they would more instinctively say. Of course we all do that to some extent, as has been explored above, but just how far should that go? To its ultimate extreme (and here is my little bit of intentional provocation) don't we all end up just like tabloid journalists, writing to intentionally provoke simply to sell newspapers to please advertisers?

Re: ‘Constant short term nostalgia’

James Morley — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 07:58:07 -0000

I think my rather hurried post meant that it was also somewhat superficial. I also confess when I wrote it I hadn't read Susie's post, it was just a reaction to what Seb had written. I agree entirely that the effect of social media and the ability to share our thoughts has a profound effect on how we communicate - that is inevitable, which in itself doesn't mean that it is a negative thing. But how far should it go? I would cite my own experience with my @PhotosOfThePast twitter account where my posts are almost always inspired by what others have said/thought, and my own thoughts of what will stimulate others. But my concern would be that this becomes all consuming and that the initial moment of seeing, for example, an exhibit in a museum is not one that provokes personal thought and contemplation but a more superficial reaction based on who might like it and what witty 140 character statement can be made about it. Maybe I'm somewhat swayed by my experiences of having three teenage children and especially a concern that they do not develop that crucial skill of independent thought. But then again, in a museum context I guess I'd whoop with joy if they were stimulated by an object to say something, anything, about it!

Re: ‘Constant short term nostalgia’

James Morley — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:08:19 -0000

The lack of independent thought is scary. Doing something because you think someone else might like it rather than the fact you did. I wonder if these sites/apps will be clever enough to remind people not just what they said three years ago, but why?

On the other hand, it really is fascinating, and I love the fact that on Timehop you can't change the day. Clever 'under-engineering'.

A quick question, how far does short-term nostalgia go back? Or is there a simple continuum right back to the day we were born? I guess currently it must start at the date of our digital christening.

Re: Prostate Cancer UK

James Morley — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:51:36 -0000

Hi, can you confirm, will it start in Exmouth again? Any idea what the timing is likely to be for the 100 mile? Just trying to plan where to stay the night before. Don't suppose there's any camping space available?

Re: Why I cycled a hundred miles to meet my first customer

James Morley — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 09:25:45 -0000

Great story, and a t-shirt is now on my Christmas list! The only thing I'd disagree with though is that long rides do things to your head - I rode 290 miles back from Cornwall in the summer (over three days, not all at once) and I have to say it is the clearest my head has ever been!

Re: UCI Road World Championships 2012: Tony Martin retains time-trial title as Alberto Contador suffers shocker

James Morley — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 05:38:10 -0000

Do you actually have sub-editors?
"stromed up the fierce Cauberg climb"
"who's medal challenge never materialised"
"Third placed Vasil Kiryienka, who is joining Team Sky next season, with the Belarussian a further 1 minute and 39 seconds adrift."
And that first paragraph as one sentence?

Re: Is 'Horrible Histories' suitable for adults?

James Morley — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 05:21:52 -0000

On your first worry, why not? Should we really be imposing narrow boundaries on programmes based on specific age groups?

On your second point, I think there's always scope to learn, whatever your age. I for one consider myself reasonably well versed in history, but it's over 25 years since I really learnt anything about Charles II so it's handy to have a refresher! Especially in a new and engaging format, something my history teachers completely failed to do, as I recall.

But I think you've also missed one crucial point. Sunday evening when I grew up was very much a family occasion when we all sat down and watched TV together, but that appears to be lost. Whilst we can certainly blame the parents (and that includes me) for this failure, if novel and brave scheduling of programmes such as this can get parents and children sitting down together whilst learning in a fun way, how 'frightening' can that be?

Re: Flickr Accidentally Wipes Out Account: Five Years And 4,000 Photos Down The Drain

James Morley — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 06:40:04 -0000

Aside from the staggering error, and lack of recovery, I think there's some hope (and Anthony decena has alredy mentioned it) - http://www.google.co.uk/sea...

Look at cached versions only and retrieve. A simple crawler tool like WinHTTrack (or for those who know this stuff some *nix wget code) should be able to grab everything, but do it quick!

Re: WP Calais Auto Tagger Updated (v1.3.1)

James Morley — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 10:11:25 -0000

Hi Dan, I too spotted the differences in tags returned between your great plugin and Tagaroo. For starters your plugin will return structured geographic tags such as "London, United Kingdom".

I've been trying to read up on the Calais API but haven't found an answer to this one - do you know if you can set it to only return geographic tags? I see Tagaroo offers a drop-down to limit tags to All/Social/Country but Country appears to be just that, not a full set of all places.