Volume 52
6 Mar 2004
Been watching In Like Flint tonight - still very funny (even though all the reviews of it on the net are very po-faced and grudging). James Coburn was wonderful.
5 Mar 2004
I am getting so sick of finding rendering bugs in different browsers. I've found three today alone.
4 Mar 2004
The superbowl ads are such a mixed bunch - some of them are superb (Glass freeze pops, run with wolves, the chevy ones), some perplexing (Levitra - I don't actually know what the product is though I can guess), some don't quite work (Nextel, the homer simpson one) and others are just rubbish (Pot smoking teens)
3 Mar 2004
I wonder if there is somewhere that has all the adverts that played during the Superbowl? They sound astoundingly bizarre: horse farts, viagra!
2 Mar 2004
Does anyone understand Catterick? What on earth was the Chris's flute perfomance in the Mermade hotel about?
1 Mar 2004
Word of Grace Fee-Based Counseling - "Although Larry is neither a licensed counselor nor a degreed psychologist, he has over twenty-five years of Christian counseling and ministry experience" He probably does plumbing and electrical too.
29 Feb 2004
Having said that I just completed it....
Well, I got to level 40 on Warthog and it seems pointlessly difficult.
28 Feb 2004
I also need a huge Firewire disc to put music on.
I definitely need a newer, faster iBook. So, brilliant suggestions as how to get one at no cost, please.
Bill Bailey at the City Hall in May? I didn't know! Are there any tickets left?
Why did I say Hardy's Bin 50? it's Lindeman's Bin 50. Still nice though.
27 Feb 2004
A new Series of Black Books starts in 2 weeks!
Better health through better lifestyle - well I pretty well do all of this apart from eating fish (ugh) or Benecol (double ugh). Not sure I woudl say I was glowing with health though.
26 Feb 2004
Hardy's Bin 50 Shiraz is really an excellent wine for the money.
If you wanted to buy rivets or other fasteners you could always try Metal grip, though their rivets do not seem to be Bifurcated.
There's a bunch of people out there encouraging people to draw (e.g. Danny Gregory) but sometimes people who draw well forget the problems. For instance Richard Bell suggest taking your sketchbook to the Doctor's waiting room. For a start quite a few people get pretty uncomfortable when you draw them, and if you are not very good they can get quite upset. Sit somewhere and draw or paint and people will always come over and look at your "work" - I suspect they always expect to see something "good" and can't deal with it when it is not. I was once sitting on a cliff by a path painting the view (extremely badly) using really odd and inappropriate colours and the passers-by were confused to say the least. (And of course it doesn't help that I always paint on postcard sized pieces of paper so you have to get close to see what's happening) Of course this isn't always true - I've had a bunch of kids come round me and watch and then I just gave them all paper and pastels and they started drawing too. I wonder if this is due to more focus on art in schools? Art at my school consisted of the teacher sitting in a corner working on his latest portrait commision and us failing miserably to do anything and a lot of people have had this kind of experience. Hmm, this is almost a rant.
OK, how do you reboot an iPod then? Mine has just frozen and won't respond to any key presses or to be being plugged into the iBook. Weird. It was fine this morning too.
Good lord, what is this crap about? Lame does not even begin to describe it. (via Misterpants)
25 Feb 2004
Mnemonics - there is a poem describing how different kinds of wood burn which is interesting.
24 Feb 2004
23 Feb 2004
22 Feb 2004
Susan Powter - who she? I'm however sure they haven't quite thought through the semantics of the phrase "virtual support group"
21 Feb 2004
Here a comment on Prof. Albert (Alexej) Ignatenko (though the poster clearly does not know about dipthongs, which does not invalidate his sarcasm)
Ah ha, the ADAM people can be found here. At there 3400 sq ft facility in Kingman, Az. "The scientists at Galaxy Wave Group are not medical doctors. The operators of the ADAM technology do not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical, psychological or emotional condition. These statements and the ADAM Technology have not been reviewed or approved by the FDA or any other government agencies or authorities." Don't get me wrong here, I think that many alternative medical ideas are important and do work, but these people make the bogosity meter go off the scale. Into another dimension even?
I have been reading about "transdimensional healing using the ADAM technology". Sadly the website they give doesn't work, because I would love to know more about the ADAM machine which "opens a dimensional rift, allowing direct communication between the machine and the other dimension" Which other dimension? The machine contains a "liquid plasma" which is in itself a wonderous concept. The company is run by someone who holds a Doctorate of Eniopsychology Science from the Czech Academy of Informatiology.
Intensely detailed stuff at the Yellowstone Supercaldera project - really does look as though something is happening there, and that there might be some kind of official silence about it. Hey, George - time to move house? (OK, this is at a conspiracy type site, but the science looks OK)
One wonders why this has not more widely talked about. It's pretty scary if it's true. (Having just read the book on Krakatoa it's even scarier - these kinds of things happened before it blew)
Hmm, a slightly odd interview with one of Coheed and Cambria - I have no idea what progressive Emo implies. I'd need a young person to tell me (though I have my doubts - try getting someone to explain the differences between the kinds of house music...)
20 Feb 2004
I saw some pet food the other day labelled "not tested on animals" - how they hell do they know if they'll eat it then?
In on eof my classes last week I was talking about the digitally manipulated Kerry/Fonda picture. None of the class knew (or admitted to knowing) who Jane Fonda was nor had they heard of Henry Fonda. They looked blank when I mentioned William Burroughs. *sigh*
I'm watching tapes of the Fuji-TV Japan channel in San Francisco. Hakusan Napa Sake Raspberry flavour caught my attention - sounds nice.
Lemon Cheesecake Kit-Kat. Sounds very odd. I don't eat Kit-Kats anyway since they are a Nestlé product.
19 Feb 2004
More Minipops (I'm up to 75 on the other one with help from wife and daughter and a couple from the comments on the website which I would never have got in a million years)
Up to 53 now
Well, I am now officially halfway there with the minipops - 48
18 Feb 2004
I do like the idea of the language Ket which has a word for the sound a bear makes walking through cranberry bushes. However, I bet there are words in English taht seemly equally as specialised to non-english speakers, trouble is I can't come up with any obvious candidates. "Slush" perhaps - odd to people where it doesn't snow. Or rain words drizzle, mizzle, etc. I can't think of any examples of sound names though. Suggestions?
BTW, WRT to the minipops quiz - if you are not British there are several people you are unlikely to get in a million years. (I am on 34 out of 95 now)
There is going to be a Scott Skinner Weekend on 27 and 28 March 2004, Woodend Barn, Banchory. This sounds absolutely fantastic so if you are in the neighbourhood you really ought to go. It's run by the Scottish Traditions of Dance Trust
17 Feb 2004
Ah ha, here is the MP3 for the C and C track that Zane Lowe played, and it is as good as I thought it was.
Great Wayne Marshall remix of the Outkast song called Hay Ya Ganja - you can hear it on the listen again for the Zane Lowe show on Radio1 for tonight (Which isn't online yet, hence the lack of a direct link). The track after it is by Coheed and Cambria and is rather good. I have never heard of them before but I like the vocals on this track - not so sure about the stuff on the website, which sounds a bit like a Skate video sound track! (Not that I have anything against skate video sound tracks - in fact I really like that thrashy sound, but they all do tend to sound the same after a while). Actually the C and C stuff is growing on me.
Ah well, I escaped the crimson room.
16 Feb 2004
How smart does the bed in your house have to be before you are afraid to go to sleep at night?
Marco Pantani - a wonderful, wonderful cyclist. A joy to watch.
I wonder what is really going on here - the music and sound effects make it all sound harmless fun, but who can tell.
15 Feb 2004
Do I mean the Verre or do I mean the Maison Clart´ which clearly has a restaurant in it. My excuse is that it was a long time ago! (Though I am sure the building was described to me as La verre de Le Corbusier)
Armenian food. I was going to say that I once ate in an Armenian restaurant in Geneva, but in fact that was a Lebanese restaurant. It was near the lake just round the corber from Le Corbusier's Verre (which at that time housed a reasonable Indian restaurant - it may still do so I suppose, there was a nice wood-fired pizza place just opposite too as I recall)
If a heatseeker finds you, have you been heatsought? (ACtually you have been heatfound)
Oooh, "heatseeker bifurcation" is (was) a googlewhack.
Just what I've been looking for - a translation of the Suntory shoot in Lost in Translation
14 Feb 2004
The Raw Story - got this from what looks like a slightly spam flavoured message but it looks OK.
Just watched a Jackie Chan movie - badly dubbed and uttterly corny, but always good for a laugh and of course the stunts are perfect.
And another thing. I mentioned the other day that I thought we had a gas leak, and indeed when I lit the gas fire and tried to turn it off it kept on burning. So we switched the gas off at the main and called someone out the next day who checked everything and couldn't find a trace of gas or any kind of fault. However, that's not what I was going to say. Dru amde a comment about gas and I realised that here was another US/UK difference. If you say to someone in Britain "do you have gas?" they will immediately know that you are talking about cooking or central heating, but not in the US. If you were to say "Do you have wind?" on the other hand, I have no idea what the answer would be in the US.
A tip for running your life : don't try and wrap things in cling-film (Saran wrap? non-pvc food wrap?) when you have had a drink or two. Especially not Danish pastries. It's quite fun but it's hard.
Satan Busters - Nipplegate, Canadians, spurious image enhancement: this has everything! It is so ridiculous that it can't be a spoof.
13 Feb 2004
Wonderful!!!!! I just got 11000+ - reminds me of that Fred Astaire number where he can't open a box in an arcade and dances round it kicking it and stuff and it suddenly opens. Play it and see.
12 Feb 2004
Hmm, my gas fire seems to be leaking. Which is not good
Ah no, he wasn't Lindsay, he was Lindley. She says I am excused from the hammer dulcimer playing.
Spike Jones' (the musician) real name was Lindsay Armstrong. He was also apparently famous for playing the xylophone with his willy. My wife suggested that I try playing my hammer dulcimer that way. I know have my legs crossed.
The Fraternal Order of Police "is the world's largest organization of sworn law enforcement officers, with more than 310,000 members in more than 2,100 lodges." I thought that was the masons.
4 pair letter words : killeekillee, possessionlessness, subbookkeeper and successlessness. (And yes, Patrick, a female subbookkeeper could easily be a subbookkeeperess, and, yes, the noun that describes the attributes of someone who is a female subbbookkeeper, would be subbookkeeperessness
4 pair letter words : killeekillee, possessionlessness, subbookkeeper and successlessness. (And yes, Patrick, a female subbookkeeper could easily be a subbookkeeperess, and, yes, the noun that describes the attributes of someone who is a female subbbookkeeper, would be subbookkeeperessness
11 Feb 2004
Mmm, I just had an Elizabeth Shaw Tequila Shot. What a great idea liqueur chocolates are. Alcohol and chocolate in a neat little package. (The Absinthe Chocolates I mentioned before Xmas were rather good too)
I hadn't heard this joke variant : "When Canada was created, it could have had French cuisine, British culture and American technology. Instead, it got French technology, British cuisine and American culture"
I was sent a link to a very disturbed Japanese "art" site which is pretty unpleasant and seriously weird in a moth to a flame way. However it is also interesting from both a technical and a cultural point of view. I haven't posted the link. If you really want to see it, get in touch and I'll send you it.
10 Feb 2004
I approve of this idea, though I'm not sure what a cost benefit analysis of the liquid nitrogen production would show.
Hmm, I may have to start using Firefox on the Mac rather than Camino - it is definitely faster and I can add extensions like Flash Click To Play and Auth Clearing. The look is a bit stark though.
This ebay auction is extrememly weird and disturbing. There are several like it. WHo would want such a thing and why? Creepy.
CSS problem - anyone got any idea how to get a ul centred in a page with the list items aligned properly and without using a table? Everything I've tried hasn't worked!
I wonder if there is a word with more paired letters than committee? With the wonder that is regular expressions I can see that there are quite a few with three pairs (bookkeeper, sullenness, suddenness, sleeplessness and more). No turned up one with four yet though - egrep is chewing away at my CPU....
Jack McLaughlin's Ceilidh - this will be entirely meaningless to everyone I suspect, but it brings back memories for me!
As Chris pointed out in a comment, Japan Break Industries (from the selection below) is very strange. The line about welding is particularly odd (and hard to say if you are Japanese!)
Went to see Lost in Translation last night - enjoyed it.
9 Feb 2004
research topic generator - I'm actually suspicious that they are using the titles of real papers, some of them look awfully familiar.
8 Feb 2004
I tried looking for ante-war songs (i.e. songs for/from before a war) but the only hit is a spelling error for anti-war.
Hmm, maybe I need some of this. I'd probably forget to take it though. Or forget what it's called. (I'm not joking - it took me several weeks to remember Ultra Nate's name when I heard someone who sounded like her and I do have vague recollection of telling this same story last volume....)
7 Feb 2004
Hmmm, been a long day - must go to bed. Just had to pick son up in town having missed last bus. It's freezing and blowing a gale and, of course, this is Newcastle so most of the people were effectively half naked. Quite bizarre.
Finally got round to watching Belleville Rendezvous. Very good but very strange.
What time do you call this then?
6 Feb 2004
"Ceramide 5, Cholesterol, Royal Jelly, Gatuline, Pro-Vitamin B5, Rice Peptides, Soya Proteins, Ginger, Vitamin C, Caffeine, Ruscus, white grape extract and Vitamin E are not only combined, but effectively support each other to promote skin regeneration." Ceramide 5 and Gatuline sound like a planets. Royal Jelly and Rice Peptides are of course pornstars. Ginger et al are clearly well-known rappers since they work together and are promoting another band called Skin Regeneration.
American Dream Design - modern, American vernacular architecture: you wouldn't see a house like any of these in any other country!
5 Feb 2004
Today is St. Agatha's day
4 Feb 2004
3 Feb 2004
Hmmm, the new Omniweb beta for Mac OS is interesting. Spelling checking in your dialogue boxes! great for weblogging. There are bugs, but it is a beta.
Good news everyone, according to research from Edinburgh, people who use multiple exclamation marks, use ... a lot and start sentences with "Well" are highly likely to be neurotic!!! Well...where that does that put me?
Stanick - strange flash (my not be suitable for some offices) that turns out to be a come on for some kind of art test.
2 Feb 2004
José found a link for Holtum, thanks. I wonder how I missed that one? I must be losing my grip.
Yeah, sure the Timberlake/Jackson thing was an accident - it looks entirely planned, from the tear-away construction of the garment down to her reaction. Coincidentally, she has a new single out tomorrow...
Hmm, looks like the rest fo the network is cut off from Newcastle at the moment.
1 Feb 2004
I wonder how many people on Orkut have imaginary friends? It would be easy enough to set up loads of fake email addresses and invite them all, just to make you look really popular.
You've probably seen the Simpsons episode where Homer has cannonballs fired at him. A man called John Holtum in the 1880s had a circus act where he caught canonballs (on his first attempt he lost three fingers). Sadly I can't find a web reference for him.