I initially thought this was somebody doing a Werner Herzog parody.

But no, it’s the real deal. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if Werner Herzog decided to make an entirely straight-faced Werner Herzog parody and not tell anyone. Link from Matthew Yglesias, who claims that Herzog’s new documentary Encounters At The End Of The Earth is better than Man on Wire, which hardly seems possible.

This is based on Census data going back to 1801, and is an attempt to illustrate some key trends in the spatial development of London, such as:

- The original ‘City’, ie the square mile, starting out as incredibly dense then losing population - first gradually, as transport improvements opened up the outer boroughs, then precipitously as commerce displaced people.
- Intensive growth (packing more and more people into the central boroughs) in the 19th C replaced by extensive growth (spatial expansion) in the 20th, only for the city centre to show signs of bouncing back towards the end.

Unfortunately I think 1801 is about as far as we can go back. I’m also looking for data on the number of dwellings in each borough over this period, but figures I’ve seen for Islington indicate huge levels of crowding until roughly the second world war.

Try distance on the X axis, pop on the Y axis and bubble size, and density for the colour. Or whatever takes your fancy really.

Not quite the same as that film, but close. This time the corporations save the day.

I wonder if it’s just a PR job after the Eircom downloading settlement.

Tacheles iis one of the few surviving artist squats in East Berlin, although the ones that last probably aren’t that visible or slap bang in the middle of Oranienburger Strasse, Berlin’s kind-of equivalent of Temple Bar crossed with Leeson Street.

It’s been ‘being closed down’ for years, but it looks like its number might finally be up

The first notable thing that springs to mind is this horrible story about a young woman who jumped out of the window.

The second is that in Tacheles in 2000 Jim, Caroline and I saw what I am going to confidently call the most amazing gig of all our lives and your lives too, the world’s only living rock’n'roll star, British-born Darryl Reed.

There was a screening of his film Remember A Day, in which he played a character based on Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett. I can’t remember if that was before or after the music. There was fire coming from the walls and you could smoke inside. It was like being in heaven.

I’ve never seen someone that drunk on stage. He kept brushing his afro combover across his thinning scalp and calling for straight vodka from the bar, which arrived eventually. Meanwhile, the backing musicians, The Black Cats (earlier The Black Dudes - they were black, but, apparently thought it politic to change the name) smiled and nodded and kept the whole show on the road.

Until I come across something better, Darryl’s words, shouted repeatedly from the stage to the half-full room, are going on my grave: “Fuck the government, fuck them from behind!”

I was there, baby.

From Irishtimes.ie

ALMOST THREE-QUARTERS of cyclists killed on Dublin roads are hit by left-turning heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), according to a new report from Dublin City Council.

Putting 8 over 11 and calling it “75%” makes it sound like a lot more bicylclers die, but the point stands I suppose.