Some Useful Links 13/10/2010

old-maps.co.uk – Find pre and post Word War II maps, town plans and even Russian maps from the Cold War era for your area. (via BiNS)

4am project this Sunday 17th October: Digbeth walkaround – I’m trying to arrange a group walk through my area as part of the 4am Project ‘to gather a collection of photos from around the world at the magical time of 4am’.  Could you organise something similar to get a collection of pictures of your area at 4am? You can embed the above count-down clock onto your website for the next big 4am Project date: this Sunday 17th October.

‘Big society’? Let me explain | Ian Birrell | The Guardian ‐ Keep hearing the term but like Ian Birrell ‘no fan of the slightly fuzzy title’? Here’s a good explanation:

At its core, the big society is an attempt to connect the civic institutions that lie between the individual and the state ‐ and these range from the family and neighbourhood to churches, charities, libraries, local schools and hospitals. It is born out of recognition that our centralised state has become too big, too bureaucratic and just too distant to support many of those most in need of help, and that it deters people from playing a more active role in public life.
(via Podnosh)

“Sorry we can’t deliver your post, there’s too much machinery around” – Ben Whitehouse turns his frustration at his local Royal Mail Delivery Office’s failure to deliver his mail regularly into a more public discussion, simply by telling his story online.