flakes of nuisance » location+ http://mcneillfamily.com paying attention to distractions since 1958 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:49:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 train stations and house priceshttp://mcneillfamily.com/2011/10/14/train-stations-and-house-prices/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2011/10/14/train-stations-and-house-prices/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:33:22 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=6635 Great use of data

“We’re house-hunting. And for me, like most coders, house-hunting involves lots and lots and lots of screen-scraping.

As well as crawling Rightmove listings, I’ve been looking at transport and house-price data. [

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]]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2011/10/14/train-stations-and-house-prices/feed/ 0 those islands near to Europe explainedhttp://mcneillfamily.com/2011/03/08/those-islands-near-to-europe-explained/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2011/03/08/those-islands-near-to-europe-explained/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:44:38 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=6547

The United Kingdom Explained from C. G. P. Grey on Vimeo.

Have some problems with this – not least being Northern Ireland coloured orange

]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2011/03/08/those-islands-near-to-europe-explained/feed/ 0 Harry Beck would be proud. ‘Linear diagram’ european travel map.http://mcneillfamily.com/2011/01/28/frank-beck-would-be-proud-topographic-european-travel-map/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2011/01/28/frank-beck-would-be-proud-topographic-european-travel-map/#comments Fri, 28 Jan 2011 11:19:57 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=6477 Harry Beck’s map continues to inspire.

(CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» European E-Road System as a Subway Diagram | Cameron Booth: .)

]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2011/01/28/frank-beck-would-be-proud-topographic-european-travel-map/feed/ 0 GO USAhttp://mcneillfamily.com/2011/01/21/go-usa/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2011/01/21/go-usa/#comments Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:38:03 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=6460

The biggest rocket ever to launch from the US West Coast has lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The 72m-high Delta IV Heavy was carrying a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

The Delta IV Heavy features three core boosters strapped side by side. Each has a Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne-built RS-68 engine.

These motors burn a tonne of propellant every second and produce 2,900 kiloNewtons (650,000lbs) of thrust at lift-off.

]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2011/01/21/go-usa/feed/ 0 Street View used in Game Trailer -Updatedhttp://mcneillfamily.com/2010/11/07/street-view-used-in-game-trailer-updated/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/11/07/street-view-used-in-game-trailer-updated/#comments Sun, 07 Nov 2010 11:47:31 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=6196 Not as slick as Arcade Fire and HTML5 but shows the merging continues. Does Flash have the scale to compete? The UK online trailer for Sega’s new Vanquish game cleverly uses Google Maps Street View to let viewers see their own houses being attacked.To view the trailer you have to enter a valid UK postcode. If you don’t know any UK postcodes you can try SW1A 0AA, which is the postcode for the Houses of Parliament. The Street View scene comes at the end of the trailer and

(CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss Street View used in Game [

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]]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/11/07/street-view-used-in-game-trailer-updated/feed/ 0 PHOTOS FROM MOEL-DDUhttp://mcneillfamily.com/2010/11/05/photos-from-moel-ddu/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/11/05/photos-from-moel-ddu/#comments Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:58:22 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=6184 PHOTOS FROM MOEL-DDU.

]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/11/05/photos-from-moel-ddu/feed/ 0 Friday Fun with Google Mapshttp://mcneillfamily.com/2010/10/01/friday-fun-with-google-maps/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/10/01/friday-fun-with-google-maps/#comments Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:27:04 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=6023 Paris Peripherique Street View MovieGMapify has created another video using Street View images. This one shows the whole of the Paris Peripherique.

(CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss Friday Fun with Google Maps: .)

]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/10/01/friday-fun-with-google-maps/feed/ 0 We no longer go to maps, they come to ushttp://mcneillfamily.com/2010/09/16/we-no-longer-go-to-maps-they-come-to-us/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/09/16/we-no-longer-go-to-maps-they-come-to-us/#comments Thu, 16 Sep 2010 09:45:59 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=5907 Goodness knows where all this is leading to. The mapping revolution is barely six years old. What will be on offer 10 years hence? Maybe it will be live satellite imaging, so you can see when a car leaves a parking space in the next road, or try to track down Osama bin Laden from your mobile phone.

The prospect of anyone in the world being able to make their own contribution to a map – thanks to free access to satellite positioning techniques – is awesome, but so is the downside. Some of the fears emerged at a [

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]]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/09/16/we-no-longer-go-to-maps-they-come-to-us/feed/ 0 Wired impatient with National Rail Enquirieshttp://mcneillfamily.com/2010/09/10/wired-impatient-with-national-rail-enquiries/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/09/10/wired-impatient-with-national-rail-enquiries/#comments Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:06:02 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=5882 … some dinosaurs flatly refuse to serve the public good. Chief among them is National Rail Enquiries, owned by the Association of Train Operating Companies, which continues to reject calls to open up its feeds — despite collecting huge taxpayer subsidies. When I asked why, a press officer said “it just isn’t practical to make [services] entirely open to developers” as data was constantly being updated and the system would face “extra strain”. Nonsense: it’s simply an excuse to maximise revenues by charging for data that should be freely available. In response, our new “open” prime minister should threaten [

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]]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/09/10/wired-impatient-with-national-rail-enquiries/feed/ 0 be an ARSE and email while driving with Text’nDrive Pro for iPhone (!!! you what?)http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/08/20/be-an-arse-and-email-while-driving-with-textndrive-pro-for-iphone-you-what/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/08/20/be-an-arse-and-email-while-driving-with-textndrive-pro-for-iphone-you-what/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:29:06 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=5696 Well this is rich isn’t it? “If the app stops you having one ‘bad’ accident” – what is the sliding-scale and what would be accidental!! SHAME ON YOU TUAW – AND APPLE© FOR ALLOWING IT ON iTunes.

Is Text’nDrive Pro worth $19.99? If you avoid even one traffic citation for “texting while driving,” you’d probably come out ahead. If the app keeps you from having a bad accident while you’re distracted by your iPhone, then it’s worth every penny you pay for it, and more.

(CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» TUAW review: Email while driving with Text’nDrive Pro [

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]]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/08/20/be-an-arse-and-email-while-driving-with-textndrive-pro-for-iphone-you-what/feed/ 0