Time, gentlemen, please

...stop trying to sort my news by 'interestingness'

A new trend seems to be spreading through the world of computing and I have to say it is one I deplore as it is technology for the sake of it and actually makes the user experience worse in my view. Not so long ago, your news feeds would be organised in a simple chronological order with the newest stories at the top, so you could scroll down until you saw a post you had seen before and instantly know you had seen all the new content and everything below was older. All nice and simple and everyone understands the concept of time, but that isn't good enough for many technology giants as sorting by time is basic stuff that doesn't show off their talents. Nowadays, there is an increasing trend to implement algorithms that deliver content organised by relevance or 'interestingness', which while technically clever do nothing to enhance usability and are a solution to a problem that doesn't appear to exist.

On a Wing and a Prayer

Retro Record Review: On a Wing and a Prayer by Gerry Rafferty (1992)

Although I have a large music collection, one album in particular stands out as a favourite that I keep coming back to for another listen. The late great Gerry Rafferty may be best known for his 1978 hit 'Baker Street' and his earlier work with Stealers Wheel, but he wrote and sang much more great material right up until his death in 2011. I enjoy listening to most of Gerry's work and there are very few tracks I dislike, but his seventh solo album On a Wing and a Prayer, released in 1992, is a particular favourite of mine.

So long Stondon

Think of car museums in Britain and what comes to mind will probably be the large national collections such as Beaulieu, Gaydon and Coventry, but the country is also home to a variety of fascinating and lesser-known privately-owned museums. Sadly, this number is about to be reduced as tomorrow (Easter Monday) is the final day of opening for the Stondon Motor Museum before it closes for good and the collection goes to auction. It was a remarkable place, one man's personal passion taken to the extreme, and claimed to be the largest private museum in the country with over 400 exhibits. Many car enthusiasts have probably never heard of it though, and therein no doubt lies one of the main reasons for its demise. Read on for my own tribute to this extraordinary museum.

This rusty old Lada seems to sum up the unique charm of Stondon.