Thanks for the info - I think I'll give Braindump a go in the next few weeks (when they update their Ubuntu repo's)

I've been aware of Planner for some time - but Braindump, Flow? These I've never heard of but they look great!
Anyone worked with Calligra? Compare Braindump to Freemind? Flow to Omnigraffle?

Yes, certainly if they are the invading force and they have lengthened supply lines anyway. Interesting actually, what will happen when global warming flips the switch and parts of the world are dropped into permanent winter; will the US be as dominant in the new ice age?

;)

Kanye I actually 'dig' --- he's either a media puppet ("Kanye - go and p*** off some white people - it'll help album sales.") or a true loose cannon, fascinating study in modern media.

That's a good question about armies not fighting in the winter - I thought it was because of military strategy training that should surely point to the failures of the French and German armies when facing foes during the winter.

I think either the BBC article or the /. summary is incorrect. It's well known /damn obvious that extreme climactic events cause violence in society. What's new is that they can correlate with numbers, "for each 1 standard deviation (1) change in climate toward warmer temperatures or more extreme rainfall, median estimates indicate that the frequency of interpersonal violence rises 4% and the frequency of intergroup conflict rises 14%." The /. summary is misleading and could cause the casual reader to pass by the article because it seems over obvious.

In England the change over of Dr Who actors is now treated like a big celebrity event - it's in all the papers, TV, magazines. The BBC knows what it's doing - Eccleston taught them that lesson --- lots of publicity and celebrity news for what is a pretty weak show in many respects. Obviously Eccleston was the true inheritor of Tom Baker's mantle, but that's just for us to agree on... ;)

Sadly, it'll never come back - all those generations of kids who won't look in wonder at smooth scrolling orange-on-black text user interfaces - I feel for them ;) Though you know I actually feel much happier about well designed touch interfaces --- they have the same magic for me. I think WIMP - especially M - has failed, and Touch is the true descendent of text user interfaces. Not sure why I feel like that.

You're right, some small things are wrong - but,again IMHO, I find it a good mix of Linux utility and Gnome Do productivity. Compared to Windows 7 (far too flashy), Windows 8 (odd) and Mac OSX (frustrating) it's by far the best UI I've used in the last few years.

I think it doesn't suit everyone, but it's not just newbies who like it - I'm no newbie myself and I've used vast numbers of systems (CP/M, DEC, AS400 thru to NeXT and Windows) and whilst I still long for the days of lovely orange screen character-only UIs, I actually have grown to love Unity.

Disagree - IMHO Unity is innovative and easy to use.

I think it is high time that Cory was referenced with the phrase normally reserved for XKCD ...

''Obligatory Doctorow story...'''

When I was 14 we put together electric circuits on a cheeseboard; the capacitor on mine blew up and a fragment would have hit my eye and blinded me if it wasn't for my sturdy NHS spectacles. Those were the grand days before we had sissy things like safety specs.

Of course I'm being a bit precious here - an eye patch for life would have been cool right?

"Of the ten or more creative ways to look at this situation, caveat emptor drives the hearse" - you lose, OP wins.