Rob, Rambling - A lot of things interest me...

I’ve been reading quite a bit of long-form journalism recently, and this is one of the better articles, detailing how isolated Palin has become, and how she seems to be campaigning for nothing more than self-promotion right now.

It would’ve been nice to see a few more on-the-record sources, but it’s a sign of how powerful she is and how much fear she puts into even her friends (and ex-friends) that so few are prepared to put their names to their words in print.

It’s crazy to think that she was so close to being a heartbeat away from the presidency of the US.

Blogged for self-reference, really. Covers everything from proper sit-down restaurants to burrito vans.

The girlfriend wants one.

Sigh.

Yep, it’s A-Level exam results day again, and once more the picture editors of the British media are in fine form, selecting only the fruitiest of fillies to illustrate their articles.

Just like they did last year.

And the year before that.

It’s all so bloody predictable, and incredibly sexist too. Can’t they think of something new? Anyways, I’m trying to keep track of the fruitiness on Twitter. Come join me.

Recently updated with a few thoughts on the opening weekend of the season.

I’m going to try to write a bit more frequently there this season, so as not to clog up my main blog with loads of football-related nonsense. If you’ve any football questions, ask me!

One weekend: all 11 films. If only I were in London that weekend.

KHAAAAAAAAAN!!!!

Forget 24, Lost and the Bourne trilogy…this is some serious edge-of-the-seat drama. I tuned in for 30 seconds and witnessed 4 separate near death incidents involving taxi’s and spanish tourists. Gripping stuff, and to be honest I’m not sure who’s side i’m on.

(Found here)

justonemorething

Highly addictive. Bloody tourists!

It’s amusing how each group crosses and does the moves as if they were the very first people to think of re-enacting the album cover.

A good little column from the BBC on why you need to take certain statistics (particularly when it comes to government spending and cuts) with a huge pinch of salt. Inflation and economic growth can wreak havoc on these stats, and too often they’re ignored by those making the claims and those reporting them.

The girlfriend is a journalist, and I’ve lost count of how often she’s asked me to calculate percentage changes from one number to another. She’s a smart cookie, so I can’t help but wonder how many people just don’t get this kind of maths at all.

What it means is that we’re blinded with X% cuts here, Y% rises there, and it’s never really explained for what it actually means. This all adds to the fog in which politicians operate, and explains somewhat the general disillusion with politics as a whole.

The NY Times comes through again with another stunning infographic, this time charting the popularity of various players across the whole of Facebook during each day of the World Cup. The presentation is simply superb, and it’s interesting to see how certain events were reacted to.