15 September 2000

15:19:23
This is an interesting site. If done properly (and responsibly) it is an excellent idea. There are problems listed that I did not know existed!

09:18:26
Sign the petition against software patents in the EU!

09:04:25
Oh Wow! De Dannan have produced an instrumental album of rock and roll favourites. "Welcome to the Hotel Connemara" And a new album from Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain. And I have no money. *sigh*

14 September 2000

12:15:22
And here's another Register gem. How true.

12:10:32
The Register on top form as usual....

09:07:56
The great belly button lint survey (Thanks Frank)

13 September 2000

16:27:24
Dictionary site - noisy page but seems to be pretty useful. And itpoints me to the Endangered Languag Fund which has to be a worthwhile cause.

14:12:50
Strange Japanese item via Mr Barrett

12:40:36
I watched the new Al "PubLandlord" Murray series on Sky the other night. It was quite funny in places. The trouble is that everyone in the series is rather good, except for Al Murray who overdoes the overacting. (Yes, I know he's supposed to overact, but not that much!)

12:34:22
Rob also shows the way to this article about the US Navy having "gender neutral water closets". Surely they have been watching too much Aly Mcbeal! (i.e. more than one episode)

12:33:05
Thanks to Rob for pointing me to this this amazing rant.

12:04:05
I had never heard of the Sudarium of Oviedo.

11:16:17
Wonderful Steve Bell cartoon. The man is a national treasure.

09:56:13
My "books to read" list is growing steadily. *sigh* I have written myself a little tool that maintains all my book list stuff (and does Amazon searches for me too) so because it easier to do, I am adding mroe stuff. The evils of computerisation!

08:08:39
Nice, cleanly designed, page for an Edgar Rice Burroughs exhibition. (Thanks L.)

08:06:22
I was fuming when I got off the bus this morning - the two women behind me sat for the whole journey and whinged the whole way : "Of course it's so much warmer there", "Everything is so much more expensive here". And if you had offered to transport them lock stock and barrel somewhere else? They would both have said "Oh. I couldn't possibly live there". Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh.

08:04:22
Excellent piece on capital punishment by Leonard Grossman.

12 September 2000

16:09:59
The Journal of Pan-dimensional literature - Iassume that the books are not just deep, but also broad, high, and other things that we don't have words for!

16:06:11
Extremely bizarre homepage with lots of typos etc. The guestbook is strange too.

15:59:57
Nuclear subterrenes sound interesting (and plausible too)

15:57:58
Why is the person in the middle of this group clearly a cardboard cutout or dummy? (Bizarre article too)

15:51:07
Lots more top secret projects......

I have also heard, and deduced for myself after inspecting a Stealth F-117A fighter at Beale Air Force Base, that the F-117A _also_ has hybrid propulsion and lift technologies, utilizing conventional thrust for public take-offs and landings, but switching to antigravity mode for extended cruising range, for lightning-fast maneuverability, and for shrouding the airframe in invisibility (by having its local counter-gravity field bend light around the airframe). The notorious extremely-unstable lift and forward-motion of the F-117A is merely temporary, until it moves into antigravity mode, where independent field propulsion provides stability. {Unfortunately for the pilot who went down in an air show over Maryland, his Stealth fighter was in conventional jet- thrust mode at the time.)

15:49:36
UFO videos - cheezy

15:49:20
WooHoo - Project Blue Beam! And more.

14:18:43
Ah, here is the scoop on candlestick charting. It's just another bogus way that stock market players convince themselves that they are not just gambling.

14:17:16
Good grief there are several books on this candlestick thing. I still don't know what it is though!

13:16:31
Devil defeats Pope.....

13:16:13
Pissing away your heritage....

10:59:26
Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques : A Contemporary Guide to the Ancient Investment Techniques of the Far East I have no idea what this could be about at all. What on earth are candlesticks? They appear not to be what I thought they were...

10:46:05
Someone on the phone just talked to me about going to "Silcone Valley" . The mind boggles.

09:33:19
On the topic of erotic topiary, one of the ideas I had for it was as a way of attacking people's obnoxiously large Leyandii - sneak up at night and trim them into an appropriately phallic shape. Much more subversive than cutting them down don't you think?

09:31:55
Thre was a very odd electrical storm here last night. Went on for hours with diffuse but very bright, high level flashes lighting up low cloud and long rumbling thunder. Not much rain either. Strange.

09:30:42
There is a brief description of Robertson screws on this page of Canadian isms.

09:29:18
Having brought up screws and screwdrivers several people have mentioned Robertson screws to me. I have never (that I am aware of) heard of them. In this case a picture is worth 1000 words. And here's a picture of Mr Robertson himself. And would life becomplete without "Everything you always wanted to know about Screwing". The Robertson screw sounds great, but they certainly aren't common here.

09:17:32
New RISKS digest.

11 September 2000

10:15:45
After my query about Allen and Phillips, I am pointed to One good turn: a natural history of the screwdriver and screw by Witold Rybczysnki , sounds fascinating. Of course, it isn't available in the UK, but thanks anyway Bill

10:05:14
Loads and loads of great links at Misterpants today - go read them.

08:50:00
I wonder if there is a garden of erotic topiary anywhere in the world?

8 September 2000

12:37:06
Creativity site - some useful stuff here. (via Scribble)

09:41:21
Wow, the Tezpur chillie is 850,000 Scoville units!!! The humble Jalapeño is a mere 5,000!

7 September 2000

13:12:07
Misterpants recommends Atomictonic, and I have to agree.

11:18:12
I wonder who Allen (as in -key) and Phillips (as in screwdriver were?

6 September 2000

09:22:25
Pictures taken with the casio wrist camera. They are really surprisingly good. Here is someone selling them - $199 which seems not a bad price at all.

5 September 2000

14:47:16
The agate page. Nice pics.

13:30:49
I'm trying to find a site with info about "El Cable" - it was the longest cable railroad in the world and ran over the Andes in Colombia. No luck so far.

12:09:21
This is great. (OK, so I am behind the times!!)

11:46:33
Strange stuff from around the world. This shot is particularly good. (There is also stuff that you will have seen before here too)

10:19:46
Hmm, trying out Linux 2.2.17 today...

4 September 2000

16:54:59
Lord I get so annoyed by the sheer ignorance of Slashdot posts! There is currently an item about virtual machines and emulators, and clearly the majority of posters have trouble believing that anything existed in computing before about 6 months ago! IBM were emulating a 650 on the 7090 before some of these people's parents were born!! (old fart mode now off)

15:54:30
Leonard's Lengthy List of Jewish Links. (Is there a word that means "Jewish", but begins with an L I wonder?)

14:19:24
Upstate Citizens for Equality, Seneca and Cayuga Chapter opposed to the Cayuga Indian land claim. This ones a toughy - I have no idea who has right on their side here.

14:14:34
*sigh* I still have 97 messages sitting in my mailbox. Motivation required here!!

12:21:33
Ascii tractor generator (Thanks Karl and for the announcer one too)

12:20:46
Oh dear. Childish as hell, but very funny. The second last one is the best.

12:11:07
Do you know what a latte stone is?

10:09:22
Mindpixel sounds sort of interesting, but it is all pretty dumb too. Thye have an affiliates scheme as well so make sure you use my reference number :-)

1 September 2000

16:52:08
I just talked to P on the phone and she said that she ate the nectarine she had but it was like a turnip.

13:52:37
Secrets of Shampoo - thanks Dan

13:51:08
Lots of fruit pictures....

13:49:51
Artificial nectarines anyone? (Couldn't be harder than the one on my desk!)

13:48:58
Live in Alabama? Want to grow nectarines?

13:47:58
There is a big thunderstorm rolling round outside at the moment, though I haven't seen any lightning and it isn't raining yet.

13:47:08
I have a nectarine on my desk and I want to eat it but it is not ripe. How frustrating.

13:45:33
Romancing the Dive - yet another gem via gmtPlus9

12:42:27
Great! Magic books by post have their catalogue on the net now. They are one of the best suppliers of magic books around.

09:06:53
That's life I suppose....

31 August 2000

12:11:42
The Thrilling Detective - lots of stuff on detective fiction. i was looking for info on Peter Cheyney.

09:31:07
Sheesh, my mail was 99% spam this morning.

30 August 2000

16:39:07
Some information about Gilbert Parkhouse's cricket career. (Thanks Paul)

15:03:03
$2m to add ALT Tags!! Amazing.

12:36:08
Hokkaido Highway Blues sounds like a "must read".

12:31:41
On Monday we were in the lakes and did a walk up the back of Ullswater and returned on the steamer. A very pleasant day out. Yesterday we hired a boat on Grasmere and had lunch on the island - also very pleasant. Then we bought someplants at Hayes Gardens which has a great selection of stuff when you have managed to dodge all the tat they sell now. Oh, and I bought myself a lightweight Vaude waterproof in a sale - I think it is an "Escape" (Red).

12:22:42
On Saturday P & I went to a friend's 40th birthday party who's theme was 1977. There were lots of people dressed punkishly, though not too many in "old hippy" clothes like we were. In fact P & I were wearing clothes that we actually used to wear in 1977, and I can't make up my mind whether we are just sad to have clothes kept that long or else very prescient!

12:14:47
25 ways you know your dot.com is doomed.

09:42:44
AOLiza - Eliza talking to peoiple on AOL.... great stuff.

25 August 2000

15:52:44
August Ghost Sites is up.

15:34:27
How to make a lifecast.

09:08:20
RIP Gilbert Parkhouse - he was a well known cricketer who taught at my old school after he had stopped playing professionally. (Not that I was ever any good at cricket)

24 August 2000

12:58:31
Want to risk being blown up? Try the danger finder....

12:57:38
Figure Skaters for Christ. What is the world coming to?

13:28:33
Lost America - great night photos of derelict America. (via gmtPlus9)

10:29:48
AAAAAAAGAGGGHHHHH. Horrible machine problems for two days. Seems OK now, but I can't be sure.

21 August 2000

11:32:03
The Cultural Significance of the American Front Porch

11:30:14
Quotes from the Swami of the Front Porch Swing: Verandananda

11:27:57
Another from gmtPlus9 : Swanktown radio - great swing music.

11:25:31
Great Austin Spare drawings (via gmtPlus9)

11:20:28
Still busy, busy, busy with admissions stuff...

18 August 2000

12:42:54
I am told that Yodelling the Classics by Mary Schneider is a great record. She is the queen of ozzie yodelling it seems. I can't find a good webpage about it however.... Amazon.com has real audio samples - it's fantastic. Amazing voice control.

16 August 2000

16:57:46
Go to ifilm and watch "405" - fantastic. (Check out some of the others too...)

16:35:45
Gearing up for exam results day tomorrow - phone rings from 9-5 with people asking about places on the course.

15:43:01
To Edinburgh and back this morning.

15 August 2000

16:14:14
Newquay was a must for Alistair and he had a go on Fistral but the waves were really massive and he just got flattened a lot. Pro Surf 2000 was on when we were there, but the tides were low so all the action was way out to sea, though some of looked pretty good. (Fistral has a webcam). The public toilets at Fistral are amazingly horrid....

16:03:32
St. Ives was also part of our visit and I can highly recommend the Barbara Hepworth Museum which is fantastic. We went to the Tate St Ives as well and though the building is really great, the exhibition that was on (Naive painters Alfred Wallis and James Dixon) was not to my taste. Nice cafe though.

16:00:07
We also (see below) visited some National Trust places we hadn't gone to before: Castle Drogo, Cotehele and Trellisick - all of them highly recommended. At Cotehele I had a fascinating conversation with an attendant about the (pretty well lost) art of fire setting: how to use different woods for different burn rates and effects.

15:53:45
Hmmm, what we did on our holidays.... Well, as last year we went to near Polzeath in Cornwall, staying at Gunvenna again which is a good place to camp - flat field, good facilities and quiet. Alistair got a secondhand Ripcurl custom board for his birthday (6'2"x18x2.25, shaper Michael Anthony) and of course the sea was like a millpond for the first three days. But it picked up so he was in the water quite a lot. So apart from standing around ont he beach watching A. watch for waves we did a few other things. We went to the Eden Project which will be splendid when finished. (another eden site).

13:14:48
Bubble Economy is good. Especially the worthless press release.

14 August 2000

15:38:42
263 Machines and Their Makers: 1916 - 1923

15:36:55
Someone mentioned a humanatone in a book I was just reading. I had never heard of them before and I want one! I can't find anyone in the UK that sells them though. Check out the rest of mouthmusic.com - good stuff.

12:42:44
I'm running the latest beta of KDE 2 and it is really rather neat.

12:39:43
Completely bizarre clause from the Australian VAT legislation.

11:46:26
Blast - I just whacked my Mailbox. *sigh*

8 August 2000

20:38:00
blow me, google has started appearing all in Japanese!!!

20:35:02
Pro-wrestlers' real name list......

20:31:10
As you will notice I am clearing out my mailbox of interesting link sthat have been sent to me! When I'm done on this you'll get the "what I did on my holidays" stuff.....

20:30:10
The wooden mirror.

20:26:35
Some more Jinglish discoveries...the spread beaver T-shirt is particularly wonderful. I often wonder what all the T-shirts with chinese on them say! My friend Ole saw a Japanese girl walking round with her family wearing a T-shirt that said "Too Drunk To Fuck" on it!

20:23:05
Mozart's dice generated music by CGI script.

20:21:26
Advice for those wanting to join the forces of evil.

20:19:13
Amazing - a webpage devoted to continuity errors in Futurama.

7 August 2000

20:54:14
RIP Alec Guiness

20:54:03
Well I'm back partially at least.