DTal's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=DTal2019-03-05T21:22:41ZExplosive packages found at Heathrow, Waterloo and London City Airport (log)http://everything2.com/user/DTal/writeups/Explosive+packages+found+at+Heathrow%252C+Waterloo+and+London+City+AirportDTalhttp://everything2.com/user/DTal2019-03-05T21:22:41Z2019-03-05T21:22:41Z<b>Location:</b> England <br>
<b>First half of UK Postcode:</b> **** <br>
<b>Type of complaint:</b> BBC News (TV, Radio and website) <br>
<b>Which news service is it about:</b> BBC News website <br>
<b>URL:</b> <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47457477">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47457477</a> <br>
<b>Complaint category:</b> Bias <br>
<b>Contacted us before:</b> No <br>
<b>Complaint title:</b> blind obsequiousness to propaganda narrative <br>
<b>Complaint description:</b>
<p> It is with great regret that I am forced to make this, my first ever complaint to the <a href="/title/BBC">BBC</a>. The <a href="/title/Metropolitan+Police">Metropolitan police</a>, in an act of violence towards the English language, histrionically describe a self-igniting incendiary envelope as "an <a href="/title/Improvised+Explosive+Device">improvised explosive device</a>". To "<a href="/title/explode">explode</a>" is "to burst or shatter violently and noisily as a result of rapid combustion, excessive internal pressure, or other process", which the barely-singed envelope is clearly incapable of doing. While this type of exaggeration is<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Suggestions for E2 (thing)http://everything2.com/user/DTal/writeups/Suggestions+for+E2DTalhttp://everything2.com/user/DTal2016-01-18T16:23:02Z2016-01-18T16:23:02Z<p>--Banish "..and all is quiet" in the chatterbox. A static timeout (what is it, 5 minutes?) is bad for the site now that we have low chat volume. Most of the time you're talking into the ether. I suggest a static timestamped backlog instead, of maybe 5-10 messages (possibly expanding to 20 when chat volume is high). </p>
<p>--a proper issue tracker! A prominently linked one where we can vote on each other's suggestions. This thread is an awful interface. It's impossible to see what's already been implemented and what hasn't. It's organised by user instead of by suggestion. There's no way to second a suggestion, beyond reposting it in your own writeup, so there's no way to see how popular an idea is. We need a master list of suggestions and a discussion thread for each suggestion. The current system of "pile on in here and if your idea is small and uncontroversial enough someone might get around to it" just isn't enough. There are tons of great ideas in here, but nobody is going to take the time to work on<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…January 18, 2016 (log)http://everything2.com/user/DTal/writeups/January+18%252C+2016DTalhttp://everything2.com/user/DTal2016-01-18T02:15:13Z2016-01-18T02:15:13Z<p>
I don't have a particularly good memory for events. I will remember that I went somewhere and did something and enjoyed myself, but afterwards the details blur together awfully quickly until all I really have left is a kind of <a href="/title/Remember+the+feeling">zeitgeist</a>. I spent four years in high school and can barely remember ten minutes of it. I don't think this makes me unusual, but I'm certainly on the "poor" end of this spectrum.
</p>
<p>
So photographs are especially meaningful to me. They're not just reminders; they <a href="/title/Moments+such+as+these+are+superfluous+to+my+life%253B+nevertheless%252C+they+deserve+to+be+remembered.">give me back</a> something I've lost.
</p>
<p>
Now, I just had a small wave of nostalgia and tried to find, on the internet, some pictures of nodermeets I've been to; pictures that <a href="/title/You+can%2527t+predict+or+control+what+incidents+in+your+life+your+friends+will+remember+and+retell">other people took</a>, pictures I <a href="/title/It%2527s+important+for+me+to+remember+these+things">remember fondly</a> but was too foolish to save<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…How to make a decent cup of tea (recipe)http://everything2.com/user/DTal/writeups/How+to+make+a+decent+cup+of+teaDTalhttp://everything2.com/user/DTal2011-11-07T22:43:23Z2011-11-07T22:43:23Z<p>Back when I lived in the <a href="/title/United+States+of+America">States</a>, I always avoided ordering tea in restaurants and cafes because it seemed that while the practice of drinking tea itself had <a href="/title/Across+the+pond">crossed the pond</a>, the knowledge of how to make it properly hadn't; invariably one would receive a paper or plastic cup of clear tepid water with a teabag floating lamely on top, with no hope whatsoever of extracting anything more than a <a href="/title/did+you+know+that+the+main+thing+that+comes+out+of+a+teabag+in+the+first+30+seconds+of+steeping+is+caffeine+and+brown+coloring%253F+It%2527s+true%2521+brought+to+you+by+the+secret+hidden+pipelink+fact+society">faint caramel tint</a>, and a small sealed plastic container of some <a href="/title/non-dairy+creamer">anonymous lightening agent</a>. Things were better at <a href="/title/home+is+where+the+tea+is">home</a>, but the teabags were still generally of inferior quality compared to what one finds on the continent - you really had to steep them good and hard to get a proper cuppa out of 'em, and I honed my technique over many<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Where do disappearing socks go? (log)http://everything2.com/user/DTal/writeups/Where+do+disappearing+socks+go%253FDTalhttp://everything2.com/user/DTal2011-11-05T00:00:06Z2011-11-05T00:00:06Z<p>What I am about to tell you may endanger my own life.</p>
<p>There are a lot of theories as to what happens to odd socks that don't come out of the laundry. Malicious gremlins, <a href="/title/spontaneous+existence+failure">spontaneous existence failure</a>, and inadvertant shrinkage to microscopic levels have all been proposed, with varying acceptance. Some people cite the fact that putting all your socks in a sealed cloth bag apparently prevents them from going missing as evidence for either the "<a href="/title/quantum+indeterminacy">quantum indeterminacy</a>" or the "human carelessness" hypotheses. All of these theories are wrong however, for I have learned the shocking truth. Exposing it publically may well be the only great achievement of my life, and I am sorry to say it is likely to be my last. But the world deserves to know.</p>
<p>You, dear noder, deserve to know.</p>
<p>You probably believe your <a href="/title/washing+machine">washing machine</a> functions by filling a giant bucket with water from the mains, optionally heated, and swooshing your laundry around in it until all the dirt comes out. You've probably<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Bender's Big Score (review)http://everything2.com/user/DTal/writeups/Bender%2527s+Big+ScoreDTalhttp://everything2.com/user/DTal2011-11-03T20:51:01Z2011-11-03T20:51:01Z<p>This short review contains no spoilers, except the fact that the movie is about <a href="/title/time+travel">time travel</a>, and now I've just spoiled that for you anyway. Whoops.</p>
<p>Bender's Big Score is the first, and probably the best, of the four feature length <a href="/title/Futurama">Futurama</a> films that represented either the last gasp of the original production run or the first breath of the second, depending on your perspective. Unlike many other film adaptations of television series, the formula is not substantially different than that used in single episodes - quite the contrary, the film is something of a <a href="/title/medley">medley</a> of everything that made the series fun to watch, complete with several musical numbers and cameo inclusions of nearly every bit character from the entire first production run and the usual full complement of fourth-wall breaking moments. The extra time simply allows for a more involved plot.</p>
<p>...a <i>much</i> more involved plot.</p>
<p><b><i><a href="/title/Bender">Bender</a>: "Geesh, this is confusing..."</i></b></p>
<p>The Futurama series' entire<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…