Domesday Reloaded

The BBC has today relaunched their 1980's Domesday project on the web as Domeday Reloaded. The project started in 1986 and over a million members of the public contributed to it, collecting data about their local area that they thought would be interesting in 1,000 years time. The data was then packed onto 2 special laser disks that could only be read by a BBC Master computer running special software. Due to quick obsolescence of the hardware, the data soon became almost impossible to access.

Recently a team has taken the disks and painstakingly taken the analog data from them to recreate it all on a website.

The project split the country into 23,000 squares, or D-Blocks and each was assigned to a volunteer to record. I remember going on walks with my Dad in 1986 to take pictures of our assigned D-Blocks.

eBay auctions

Just a quick post to plug the eBay auctions I have up this week. There are a few Joe Ledbetter Finders Keepers figures from Kid Robot, some Minimates Lord of the rings figures, and an exclusive Palisades Adventure Kermit figure, which is Kermit in Indiana Jones costume with a whip and a gold Gonzo idol.

There are also a few vintage cameras and some cosmetics that I have put up for my wife, including a hard to find MAC Hello Kitty compact.

Kickstarter

I've become a bit of a Kickstarter addict. If you haven't heard of it, it's a way for projects to crowdsource fundraising. The project generally has a video and some text to describe it and various levels that users can pledge funding towards the project and get rewards. If you back a project and it meets its funding target the money is taken from your Amazon account. If it doesn't meet its target the project doesn't get any money and nothing come out of your account. Kickstarter takes 5% of the total, and I think Amazon takes another 5%.

I'm currently backing 2 active Kickstarter projects, both of which are gaming related: DungeonMorph dice and Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple.



You can pledge as little as $1, which might get you a mention on the project's website. Larger amounts have better rewards, such as downloads of the finished product in the case of music or film projects, or the actual physical product if it is a board game or electronics project. Some of the projects have pledges in the thousands of dollars with exclusive rewards, like being a guest at a film premier.
Previously I've backed a couple of short animated films:



And Coffee Joulies, something to cool your coffee to drinking temperature and then keep it warm. This project had a goal of $9,500 but proved so popular that they actually raised more than $300,000 in funding!



One that I'm not currently backing, but I'm tempted to once my current active ones have finished is The Troll Bridge. An Australian film company is trying to complete their film version of a Terry Pratchett story:



There are lots of projects in all sorts of areas, from fashion to film to food so have a browse around the site and see if you can help someone get their project off the ground.

New baby and moving soon

We've had a new baby - Louis Jack Tysoe was born on 24th Jan 2011 weighing 9lb 4oz.



And, we're nearly ready to move house again. Hopefully we are going to be exchanging contracts by the end of the week, and then we just have to complete. After that we're going to get the kitchen knocked through to the dining room, a new kitchen put in, a new boiler, wooden floors downstairs and new carpets upstairs and the whole place redecorated, so hopefully we'll be ready to move in 2-3 months.

Saving money while you commute and earning money online

I’m trying to win an iPad 2 in the iSave, iWrite, iPad competition from PlayPennies.com! So here's a money saving tip:

As a long suffering user of London Underground, and having moved house so my commute has increased from 25 minutes to over an hour, I was happy when a friend showed me My Tube Was LATE.com. It's a handy site that, once you have set up your details, automatically fills out the forms for you to get a refund from Transport For London whenever your Tube journey is delayed by 15 minutes or more. If you let it know the normal times of your journeys and the lines you take it even emails you to tell you when a line was delayed that might have affected your journey. It just takes a few clicks, then sit back and wait for your refund voucher to be sent through the post.

Typically my journey hasn't been delayed for a few weeks, but I still have a pile of vouchers waiting to be cashed in when I buy a new travel card. I may even be able to claim back more than the daily cost of a ticket during the upcoming Tube strikes, if I don't choose to watch CBeebies all day work from home.



Not only will you save money, but it might even make the Tubes more punctual. If everyone on the Jubilee line used this service I imagine it would make Boris cry!

I also make a bit of extra money working online with clickworker.com. Clickworker is a site to distribute crowdsourced work. I do all the work while watching TV or looking after the baby. The work can be anything from writing about travel destinations (most of which I've never been to) or researching companies online. Last month I earned more than €60, paid straight into my paypal account. Just 20 more months like that and I can afford the rest of the Star Wars Stormtrooper armour that my wife won't let me have.



If you sign up to clickworker.com through my link and earn $10 I will earn $5 for referring you.

Watch out for free listing days on eBay. It's free listings all this weekend, so it's a good time to clear out your cupboards. Take a good picture of the item you want to sell (the first picture is free but you pay more for extra pictures) and weigh the item to work out the postage cost at RoyalMail.com (don't forget to add the cost of any packaging like a jiffy bag). I normally offer more than one postage rate so that people don't have to choose 1st class recorded mail if they don't want to. Set a sensible starting price. Have a look to see if other people are selling the same item, or check the completed listings to see what it has sold for previously. There's nothing wrong with starting at 99p, if your item is going to sell people will bid the price up anyway.

I'm selling some junk valuable collectibles that have just been sitting in a cupboard taking up space. Hopefully they will fetch a good price and add to my Stormtrooper armour fund.

Visit PlayPennies.com for more money saving ideas for pennywise parents.