The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by nick:

The US Embassy in London already looked frankly Stalinist (with a huge eagle instead of a star) among the Georgian buildings of Grosvenor Square before it got the 15ft wire barrier and concrete blocks. Not to mention the long queues to get in, with two- or three-stage screening.

As someone who had to visit the place for a visa interview a couple of years ago, I can attest to how oppressive it feels. And that was before the advent of US-VISIT, which will require me to be fingerprinted and eye-scanned when I leave the US. And when I leave, once more enduring the parody of US airport security, I'm not convinced that I'll come back.

One final thought: the distinction between 'Americans' and 'their government' lasted well from 2000, given the mess in Florida; that distinction is struggling to survive given the perceived endorsement of Bush's policies in the 2004 election. This is somewhat unfair, since Americans travelling abroad are less likely, in general, to have voted for Bush.

A friend of mine wrote the Trollers' FAQ back in the days when it was a usenet phenomenon. Remembering usenet flamewars and trolling makes me appreciate why older keyboards such as the IBM PS/2 were built so solidly.

Rule-of-thumb 10 seems to me one of the most crucial. While a site can just about survive (or subsist) with a pet troll, its presence draws others, and once another joins in wholeheartedly, failure to act can acutely -- or terminally -- ruin participation.

People have beaten me to the Mornington Crescent mentions, but the many sites devoted to the London Underground, its plans, its evolving maps, its ghost stations, the remnants of stations marked by that unmistakeable brickwork and so on... they're wonderful. I still feel privileged by that glimpse of Holborn's disused platform which used to take the shuttle to Aldwych.

Not to mention all the discussion of London's secret underground tunnels in the case of war.

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