Random Thoughts for December 2012
This is the latest in my series of Random Thoughts posts with links, things found on the web and other stuff that has occurred to me. As there haven’t been any for awhile this is a catch up post for December 2012.
A year of zoo babiesA feature of these Random Thoughts posts throughout 2012 has been new arrivals at Whipsnade Zoo. Here is a round up of all the baby animals born at the zoo — which is really just an excuse to include this picture of a chameleon.
Also in December the BBC celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of the launch of the bbc.co.uk website. This is one of those things that makes you pause and wonder at the pace of change.
The Liberal Democrats selected their candidates for the next set of elections to the European Parliament. In all but one of the seats in England an incumbent MEP won a place at the top of the list. I have a growing concern that being a Liberal Democrat MEP is turning out to be a job for life and that this is not healthy. But other than the introduction of term limits I can’t see a way of preventing it.
Former Lutonian wins Turner Prize
The local papers got a little excited at the beginning of December as the winner of Turner Prize 2012, video artist Elizabeth Price, turned out to be a former Luton Sixth Form college and Putteridge High School pupil.
More about Elizabeth Price here:
ERS AGM – Motions and resolutions
If I hadn’t been attending the November 2012 meeting of the Liberal Democrat’s English Council I think I probably would have gone along to the AGM of the Electoral Reform Society held the same day. Here are the details of what was decided at that meeting. I am pleased to see the Society making the introduction of STV for local government elections in England a priority.
Liberal England: On the Buses explains the Jimmy Savile era
Jonathan Calder writes “Jimmy Savile came to prominence in that odd period between the dawn of the permissive society and the rise of feminism. This era took in the second half of the 1960s and most of the 1970s…And I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that the key texts in understanding this era are the three spin-off films made from the ITV comedy series On the Buses.”
andymstrange’s 2012 Jam Odyssey
In 2012 I started using the music sharing and discovery service This Is My Jam. Although I haven’t spent a huge amount of time on it I like the way it creates varied, often random and surprising playlists for you to listen to. They also have some nicely designed tools for you to use. At the end of the year they created a tool to combine all the tracks you had shared with them into a short mix. This is my ‘Jam Odyssey’ of all the tunes I have posted since I signed up. To be honest it sounds a bit of a mess, but have a listen anyway.
This content was originally posted on my old Strange Thoughts blog.