New Scientist reports on a new study that reveals that "research funded by drug companies is more likely to produce results that favour the sponsor's product".

The words "well" and "duh" springs to mind.

How much do you know about this essential resource? Take theBBC Quiz. ( I got six correct.)

It was another of those days, "a bird of like rarest spun heavenmetal". I took stock as I went about my day yesterday since I have no camera to record those things I wanted to photograph (check out the links below for excellent panoramic QT views - the Cambridge Live site is such a great idea.):

1. a flock of more than 25 swans on the river - like a massive white cloud
2. canada geese, numerous ducks, black swans and pigeons all competing with the mute swans for breadcrumbs
3. cowslips and buttercups on the river's rough edges
4. narrowboats with flowerpots on their roofs
5. teams of rowers, their coaches biking alongside calling out encouragement and criticism (I was tempted to take it up again - I'm such a fairweather rower)
6. a family of ducks, the female a light-coloured mix of Aylesbury and Mallard; the ducklings, half of palest yellow and half of dark brown and gold
7. Quayside and the Waterside gardens all packed with diners and drinkers enjoying the sun
8. the first swifts, hurtling about the sky in pairs
9. the Fort St George busy enough to open a second bar outside and the patrons all spilt onto the common; children laughing and chasing, weaving in and out amongst the pint glasses in the tall clover
10. a big fat kebab eaten in the backgarden as we chatted about nothing and listened to the water splashing into the pond
11. chasing off my stalker while my cat sat nearby and watched
12. fat clumps of lavender along my garden path, smelling of sleepiness
13. an early night disturbed by the police trying to convince whoever was in the next-house-but-one to come to his door, eventually putting up a ladder to go in through the upstairs window - (not sure why this was happening - they appeared to think he was a burglar)

OK, so that last bit wasn't "bliss, bliss and heaven", but was a bit of excitement nevertheless...

I rather like a bit of salmon now and again - especially sashimi - but had recently gone off of it due to reports of parasites and dyes. Just as well as another report from the WWF shows wild stocks of the fish crashing as a result of the increase in farmed salmon.

Vegetarianism seems to be inching its way closer every day (or perhaps I'll become a beefatarian).

Communication breakdown is the word for today. No, not the kind where you just can't seem to understand your other half, but the kind where your laptop stops communicating with your wireless card, making email and other communication devices unusable. Webmail is such a pain. This along with a broken bunnycam, a fairly sickly iMac and a dead digital camera makes me wonder if there's some weird electronic poltergeist in the house. Poo.

So, it looks like I'm going to have to order my groovy new Shuttle PC toute suite.

In other news, it's another gorgeous day out and even though I'm technically working, today my work involves sitting in the sun, drinking beer and chatting about massively multiplayer sims, phone games and corporate identity. I think I can live with that. :-)

Or it could be a load of pre-pubescent males on a jolly.

Still, we've needed a games event for the public as well as industry so this week-long event should be quite a laugh. The inaugural Edinburgh International Games Festival takes place in August. Nice too 'cause I've never been to Edinburgh. Any chance the weather will be good in August?

Just noticed this page. Hide the company names and skim down the list. Which face belongs to the giant conglomerate games corporation? Now imagine the voice of that really annoying bloke that presents The Planet's Funniest Animals.

Oh how we laughed.

I've got a stalker.

Which wouldn't be so bad, except I've also got baby starlings just leaving the nest. I already picked up one fat little bugger trying to force its way through the bunny fence in the garden and put him back in the hedge.

My cat is rubbish at guarding the garden from invaders...

What a shame, because I thought the trailer was excellent. I was absolutely transfixed by it.

The French stuntman one was fab too, but really people, get a grip. I'm distressed by the Tellytubbies but you don't find me clamouring to take it off the air. It's TV - it's not real - and the sooner you explain that to your children the better off they'll be (in my opinion, of course).

How wonderful! How wonderful! All things are perfect exactly as they are! --the Buddha

The Buddha lived and taught in northern India more than 2000 years ago, and I could guess from this quote that it's a land with seasons (except the Buddha probably wasn't so shallow as to be talking about a single day). When it's hot and sunny in England, it's hard to imagine anything being more perfect. You mustn't read the news of course, but a pint (and a half) drunk whilst sitting in the tall green grass makes me wonder how anywhere could be more lovely.

Of course, Antigua and the DR are gorgeous and everywhere I've lived has much that's beautiful about it, but England is special in the sun, I think.

I was in a celebratory mood today and treated myself to a bit of shopping. I struggled to find anything I needed, but did buy one or two little things. I spent some hours at my liquid lunch watching the ducks on the river and the children on the common. I bought some meat at my lovely local butchers and thought how many would cringe at the dark, blackish meat in the window - so unlike the bright red meat wrapped in celophane at the supermarket. This meat is aged, though and has taste. When I buy it, I can ask where the meat was raised, where it was slaughtered and how old it was. I like that.

I think that tonight I shall mostly be at the barbeque. How wonderful.

OK, so it's no secret, but the extremely dishy Mark Meadows met Salam Pax in Iraq (among other things) and has a story to tell.

Great stuff. No, I take that back. Amazing stuff.

Why gaming is good for you. Must be a slow news day. Seems we have an article like this every couple of months now... I'm not complaining, mind, it just seems like such old news.

New Scientist reports another in a long line of speculation about the origins of the SARS virus as scientists find evidence of the disease in exotic species that are considered culinary delicacies in China.

I'm perfectly happy to accept this if it discourages people from eating and trading in wild and often endangered animals, but knowing human nature, it's just as likely to result in mass culls.

What are people hoping to find when they type "Lisa" into a search engine?

Not that it isn't nice that my site comes up third, but I'm curious.

It's becoming fairly obvious that the US administration is completely losing their marbles as they step up pressure on Iran. I can just see the gleam of nuclear annihilation in their beady little eyes. Bastards.

For you techy types out there...

I'm working on a website that has different sections that all look subtly different. I'm using one external css file but it's getting rather long at the moment. Is there some maximum file size for .css files? Is there any benefit in splitting it up into a stylesheet per section or should I stick with one giant stylesheet?

Answers on a virtual postcard if anyone would be so kind...

A gorgeous, hot, mostly sunny day and I'm swamped. Where's the fairness in that?

Was watching "What are we like" last night (talk about telly on the cheap - watched it and rather enjoyed it anyway, though). They had a story about how tea was the new coffee and featured a couple of London tea houses. I thought that Chai Bizarre in particular looked very cool and decided to look it up - the interwebnet's a wonderful thing. I loved the interior with the morrocan poufs for seating. That actually might have been a different tea place, but fascinating and exotic all the same.

Apparently, there's also a restaurant called Chor Bizarre which is a sister to Chor Bizarre in New Delhi. I'm not normally keen on curry, but this place says the food is not the Anglicised Indian food you normally get. They also serve Kashmiri food, which sounds pretty interesting. Gonna have to try these next time I'm in the city...

Bit of a geek alert, but Jeff Russell's Starship Dimensions
is a cool way of seeing how sci fi spaceships measure up. Or if you prefer, deciding who would win in a fight between the StayPuft Marshmallow Man and a B1 bomber...

(via b3ta)

The Environmental News Service sums up Worldwatch Institute's "Vital Signs 2003" annual report on the world's future. It's sobering reading but it's clear that we have to think of the whole - it's not just about cute furry animals.

Globalization has deepened economic disparities, Renner explained, and the gap between the world's poorest and richest nations has more than doubled since 1960. ... The consequences of poverty manifest in the form of terrorism, war and contagious diseases, Renner said, and the effects are felt both by the world's poor and its rich.

"An unstable world not only perpetuates poverty," Renner said, "but will ultimately threaten the prosperity that the rich minority has come to enjoy."

Desertification has made even subsistence farming difficult for many of the world's poor. And just as the fruits of the world economy are not shared equally, neither are the consequences of environmental degradation. The poor are more vulnerable to weather related disasters caused by land clearing, deforestation and climate change.

(via every forest)

There have been a spate of record climbs of Everest on the 50th anniversary of Hillary's ascent, but this one caught my eye as Ming Kipa, a 15-year-old Sherpa girl, becomes the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.

Another Sherpa, Pemba Dorjie, managed to climb the peak in only 12 hours, 45 minutes. That's 4 hours faster than the previous record and 3 and a half days faster than most climbers.

Sherpas have rarely had the recognition that western climbers have had, despite assisting them to the top countless times. This has mostly been a consequence of the times in which these ascents were made. Like the scouts of the American west and explorer's guides throughout history, they tend to take a backseat and leave fame and fortune to their employers. I think it's a bit pointless to go on about past slightings but it's nice that Sherpas are able to get the recognition they deserve now.

Absolutely the worst thing has happened. OK, not the worst, but jolly unpleasant. My lovely digital camera done broke and I feel like my right arm's been cut off. Actually, it does really feel cut off, but that's another whinge altogether.

So, here I am with the choice of non-digital Minolta (except I can't justify spending money on processing) or a little digi-video camera. I think I'll just sulk and hope the camera can be fixed soon.

The image at right was taken with the little video camera and, by the way, is of one of the few things I bought yesterday (although it could be considered a horror to some). Despite my anti-capitalist, hippy-lefty ravings, I do love to shop, but lately I've found I want very little and need even less. Of course, after my insistence that I try to avoid buying unneccessary plastic goods, I had to pause, but these door thingies were just too groovy to pass by. Anyway, I bought them at a Buddhist store so I reckon my conscience is clear.

My new motto is "it's OK if it looks really, really cool".

As any Cambridge local will tell you, going into town on a Saturday is tantamount to gouging out your own eyes and carrying them on a stick. It had to be done though and I spent a part of the afternoon at the Grafton Centre (our local mall). You'd certainly be forgiven for assuming that Cambridge is home to the ugliest people on the planet. Perhaps it's the lighting or maybe it's simply reflective of the type of people that hang out at the mall around here. Who can say - I was one of them today.

I hated it though and was feeling incredibly hemmed in by the crowds and getting quite wound up by it all. We stayed long enough to buy some cookies and kids clothes at BHS. I'd also like to understand why a large department store chain like BHS would assume that one changing room is enough for an entire floor. Needless to say, I wasn't in the mood to wait. Sure hope everything fits...

On the way back, however, I stopped by our poor beleaguered Shopping Forum (because it's got really interesting stuff but rarely any custom). Rather amusingly, you can take a shaky video walk around the forum from their website - amusing because in the vid it's entirely empty, just like normal.

I drooled over these lovely old leather and aluminium chairs I absolutely can't afford, but did manage to talk to the shopkeeper a bit. I explained how I'd been looking for an antique tin sign of a certain size and gave him my card so he could call me if he came up with anything. I really should do that more often as he had some design work needed doing and promised to give me a go. Maybe I could barter for the chair...

The Tories are taking the opportunity to slam Gordon Brown over the delay in receiving family tax credits. It would really have been better if they'd shut up about it. Says shadow Work and Pensions secretary, David Willetts,

"...the situation was causing real hardship to some families and could be the difference between being able to take your children out for a trip during the Whitsun break or not."

If that's the biggest hardship I ever face, I'll consider myself the luckiest person on earth.

Combining some of my favourite things, Shaolin martial arts, football and cheesy Hong Kong kung fu movies, I've just got to see Shaolin Soccer.

Check out the Tripitaka-like goal keeper...

A little something not to do on your bank holiday Monday (or Memorial day, if you prefer). For one day, Armresty International is asking you to abstain from 'avin a sherman in aid of the Royal National Institute of the Blind. (Make sure you read the FAQs - you wouldn't want to get it wrong)

Swear like a sailor and no one will know (unless you're in London of course) with this brill dick'n'arry of cockney rhyming slang. There's also a Cockney translator, which though not brilliant, is a bit of a giraffe.

Reading through the list, it's pretty clear that rhyming slang is in the midst of a resurgence in the UK what with the inclusion of rhymes like Britney Spears (beers), Brad Pitt (shit), Uncle Toby (moby or mobile phone), Wind and Kite (website), Becks and Posh (nosh - or food - slang for slang there).

Funny, too, that these days, rhyming slang isn't just for Londoners as you'll find people all over the UK speaking complete flowers.

Innit?

(This little bit of English culture brought to us via NYC and that diamond lemon squeezer, IdleType)

Although no surprise to me, researchers have determined that Buddhists 'really are happier'.

(via IdleType)

I rarely call myself a Buddhist, because there is the practise in Buddhism to focus very much on the educational journey one takes in preparing to be one. The Buddha actually suggested several years of investigation first:

Upali was a well-known and wealthy Jainist determined to engage the Buddha in a debate about the Darma. He was so impressed with the Buddha's explanation that he immediately asked to become a disciple. The Buddha replied, "Make a proper investigation first. Proper investigation is good for a well-known person like yourself."

Said Upali, "Now I am even more pleased and satisfied when the Lord says to me: 'Make a proper investigation first.' For if members of another religion had secured me as a disciple they would have paraded a banner all around the town saying: 'Upali has joined our religion.' But the Lord said to me: 'Make a proper investigation first. Proper investigation is good for a well-known person like yourself.' "

Nor am I very good at meditating, which numerous studies have proven to be beneficial to one's state of mind, but nevertheless, Buddhism has had a rather dramatic effect on my state of mind through the analysis of its principles and techniques. This, along with living in Europe, have made me a much more accepting person - more accepting of myself and of the world around me. Consequently, I feel happier and less pressured and it gets better as I learn more.

Buddhism is, in many ways, an inward-looking religion that focuses very much on the self. That might seem at first glance to be somewhat selfish, but truth is often found in old sayings. Remember the one about loving yourself before you can love someone else? It's the same with Buddhism - know yourself and you will find that your dealings with others improves. When you detach yourself from your need for external validation and your attachment to external influences, you are suddenly happier.

Like most other religions, Buddhism attempts to provide a moral framework and so offers sets of "rules". The first consists of Four Noble Truths that must be accepted:

1. Suffering exists in the world
2. Craving and attachment to transient things and ideas is the cause of suffering
3. Letting go of attachment will end suffering
4. Following the Eightfold path is the road to the cessation of suffering

The Eightfold Path then provides the techniques by which you can overcome suffering within yourself. All Buddhist sects recognise these basic teachings of the Buddha and to become a Buddhist, one must ensure the understanding of this and must then accept the five precepts:

I undertake the precept of abstaining from destroying living creatures. (do not kill) I undertake the precept of abstaining from taking anything not freely given. (do not steal) I undertake the precept of abstaining from sexual misconduct. (do not use sex as a way of manipulating people) I undertake the precept of abstaining from false speech. (do not lie) I undertake the precept of abstaining from taking intoxicants which lead to carelessness. (don't have fun ;-) )

Tantra is far more complex, and is based on the recognition that humans have basic primal urges and passions that can be transformed into enlightment and self-knowledge. Rather than attempting to supress these sensual urges, Tantric Buddhism accepts them as a vital energy that can be purified and transformed into liberation and insight whilst remaining in line with all of the above. Using thousands of years-old visualisation techniques, one transforms feelings such as anger, greed and hatred into compassion, generousity and love.

From a psychological point of view, this allows a practitioner to more readily accept themselves and their internal motivations without guilt or self-hate and eases the transformation from selfishness to selflessness.

Complete your own bad pun here, but can we have more of this, please.

I think a stalk of rhubarb should be the minimum depth allowed for vegetable drawers. Really, I do.

Me, I was born on Father's Day all those years ago but this year Dad's day is on the 15th and those cheeky chappies at I Want One Of Those Dot Com have a range of cool toys and gifts for pop, including, if you can manage (and I'd very much like to meet you if you can), a £199,999.99 Russian Jet or a paltry £13,500,000.00 for a trip on a space station.

Screw Dad - I want one of all of those dot com...

Ah, spring rain. It reminds me that May is drawing to a close and June begins. Incredibly and inexplicably, Cambridge University colleges hold their May Balls in June. May Balls are spectacular events - ones I've never had the pleasure of attending, but can hear nightly from my house. It may be that all the colleges have one - some (or most?) biannually, but just to see what my ears have in store, I've checked out the websites of a couple of the big ones (all of which are sold out, btw):

Queens' College holds their ball on the 17th of June and aren't telling us what the theme is, but there's a nice photo gallery if you want to see what has been presented previously.

The venerable Trinity College (you have to say venerable - I guess 'cause they're so rich) is will be holding a traditional white tie ball but are keeping the entertainment a secret. Previous years have seen Ash, Jason Donovan, The Lightning Seeds, Elastica, and the James Taylor Quartet play.

Peterhouse, Cambridge's oldest college, had their white tie masked event last year which featured a wide range of entertainment, from strolling quartets, casinos, wandering masseurs, comedy, modern dance, juggling, and a cappella singing to funk bands, varieties of cheese(y music) and progressive house DJs. Not to mention a full-on fun fair and giant ferris wheel set up in the college gardens.

Finally, little Magdelene is planning an exclusive, belle-epoque ball in celebration of the tercentenary of Samuel Pepys death and will be inspired by 17th century England.

Betcha there will still be loud music though...

Perhaps it's the phase of the moon or something, 'cause there seems to be a pattern emerging here as a Vietnamese bar girl does away with half her lover's penis, a Brazilian woman cuts off her husband's member and a Kenyan man chops off his own genitals after row with wife.

Don't worry though, I'm sure this kind of thing only happens in threes...

But only in first class.

If this doesn't make you giggle, nothing will.

(Make sure you wait for the sound to kick in. Thanks to IdleType, not surprisingly.)

oh. my. god. I can't believe it could possibly be true, but Andrew tells me that in Kansas, and at least ten other US states, drug dealers must pay tax on illegal drug sales. Very kindly, however, they've promised that the dealer "is not required to give his/her name or address when purchasing stamps and the Department is prohibited from sharing any information relating to the purchase of drug tax stamps with law enforcement or anyone else."

(Thinking about it, it's the last bit I don't believe - the first part is totally believable.)

Silly, silly Weebl.

(Warning, features a scary clown! This one, on the other hand, just has flange baskets.)

Fantastic (and long) article via the War in Context about the various political cultures of democracy and the values and principles of the Arabic world.

Been wondering how to pick up some smatterings of Arabic and so I'm pleased that I've now learned a couple of interesting words. Words like fitnah or "chaos" which refers to free-for-all liberty preferred by both anarchists and individualists. Or muslaahjiyeen, which means "selfish and uncaring people who trample on others' rights and dignity in the narrow pursuit of their own crassly individualistic needs and objectives."

It brings to mind a conversation I overheard (well, over-read) between pro- and anti-gun proponents (who, by the way, were American and British respectively). On the one hand was the idea that one has inaliable rights that no one else has the right to subjugate, while the other suggested that in order to exist within a society, we need to accept that we have no real rights outside of our own bodies, but rather responsibilities to our fellows which would earn us the rights we covet. As Americans, we are brought up with the concept of the former and it's sometimes a difficult mindchange to accept a belief in the latter.

DNA analysis is rapidly changing the way that animal species are classified as we learn that physical attributes aren't necessarily the most accurate bases for taxonomy.

Most recently, scientists have determined that the similarity between humans and chimpanzees is so pronounced that chimps and bonobos should be moved into the Homo genus along with neanderthals and other "fossil humanoids".

While not a new suggestion, the conclusion is more than just a boost for animal welfare campaigners, but tells us important things about ourselves and our place in the world.

It probably wouldn't surprise anyone to learn that I don't believe in a god as such, nor in a humano-centric view of the world, but instead see the earth itself as a gigantic organism of which we are only a rather lucky and widespread part.

We are lucky because, regardless of how it occurred, our ability to communicate in such a rich fashion, and more importantly, retain knowledge across hundreds of generations and thousands of miles means that we have the ability to rise above our more base instincts. It reminds us that without knowledge and education, we are subject to the same natural laws as the rest of the animal kingdom and explains why without it, we descend into violent competition and brutality.

the 21st Century wonder drug?

While I'm clearly failing in my attempts to kick the evil coffee habit, Michael aims to switch to tea and I suspect he'll be more disciplined than I'm managing to be.

Clever boy, 'cause not only does tea appear to fight infection, but also tooth decay.

And bless their hearts, the researchers also decided that decaffeinated blends are less effective. Whirrrr... I'm off!

As we move from coffee time to beer time, a few photos from beer-belly central over on the photolog...

I'm not sure if it still goes on in the states, but one thing I've always found quite charming about living in Cambridge is getting milk delivered in glass bottles. Such a small thing, but it pleases me.

Now, what do you think are my chances of getting them to deliver fair trade coffee once a week? Maybe I need to get out the house more...

I was just off to bed, but I couldn't go without posting this wake-up call on extinction wave.

"UK scientists have issued a clarion call to the world to recognise the galloping rate of species extinction" says the article and the Royal Society believes that the web, in combination with better monitoring can help slow down the losses.

About one in ten of the world's bird species and a quarter of mammals are listed as threatened with extinction. Out of the other species, as many as two-thirds are endangered, putting biodiversity at serious risk - diversity that humans and the planet depend upon.

If there was ever a cause...

Get those pint glasses ready - it's Cambridge Beer Festival time on Jesus Green!

Do make sure you read the Beer Buying Ettiquette guide first though. A funny look often offends! (I think that should be their motto, personally.)

Apparently the government is planning on allowing farmers to grow genetically-modified crops because a ban would be 'illegal' under European law.

I've mentioned this before, because I believe that despite the studies that find no evidence that GM foods are dangerous, the complexity of life in general means that we often have little idea what we are doing when we genetically modify anything. The knock-on effects and possible mutations of our mutations may take years to appear, while nature herself has her own ways of dealing with genetic mutation. What hubris to think that our pathetic 50 years of experience is somehow better than billions of years of evolution.

Of course, the Euro-sceptics will use this as an excuse for bewailing the UK's beholdedness to the EU, while from my perspective, it simply looks as though the government picks and chooses amongst those EU directives it wishes to pay attention to.

Of course, a looming trade war with the US over the disclosure of GM ingredients in imported foods may also have something to do with all of this...

Via Nick (that would be Nick of the eponymously urled nickbarlow dot com, as opposed to someone else's blog entirely) comes advanced warning that the EuroVision Song Contest is looming. Oh dear, I do hope I miss it. He posted some brilliant lyrics from the Austrian entry and since Nick's permalinks aren't working (or perhaps it's the other blog's permalinks that aren't working), I'll just have to reproduce it here:

'Man is the measure of all things' by Alf Poier:

I like most animals on this earth
But I really prefer little rabbits and bears

Soon all birds and beetles will die
But Adam's in bed with Eve busy reproducing

Rabbits live in the woods
Cats in the meadows
And cockroaches
Live under tiles

Little rabbits have short noses
And kittens soft paws
And Mother Holle likes her wool
From the african dromedary

The difference between animals such as apes and primates
Is no bigger than between noodles and pasta

But whoever wants to know more about animals should study Biology or inform himself on my homepage

Some animals have wings
And others have fins
Some live outdoors
And others in cans

Small rabbits…..

Pure genius, don't you think? Anyway, there are rabbits in, so that makes it A-OK in my book...

Following up from my last post, there definitely should be lessons to be learnt from all that and hopefully world-wide outrage will ensure that Iraq's archaeological sites will be protected from now on. It'd be nice if someone could convince them not to build a flipping airbase next to the site as well, but I don't hold out much hope for that. Preserving the past isn't the same as living in it, of course. The past exists to help us deal with the future and allows us to understand who and what we are now and what we could be in the future.

Which is a tenuous (or non-existent) link to the re-post of a passage about accepting that things change by a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh:

Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments. Heraclitus said we can never bathe twice in the same river. Confucius, while looking at a stream, said, "It is always flowing, day and night."

If you look deeply into impermanence, you will do your best to make her happy right now. Aware of impermanence, you become positive, loving and wise. Impermanence is good news. Without impermanence, nothing would be possible. With impermanence, every door is open for change. Impermanence is an instrument for our liberation.

Really, I understand that these things happen everywhere. If you've ever been to Herculaneum or Pompeii in Italy, you'll have seen the graffiti painted all over the ancient city walls by unthinking people from around the world.

Nevertheless, it makes me cry.

Nope, mine's still broke, but RealLans has a live BunnyCam too!

I can't resist. I got through a very long BBC "Have Your Say" which asked if the finding of mass graves in Iraq justified the war. Says David in the US:

"It doesn't change the fact that this war seems to have been waged under false pretences. It's like Mexico invading Texas claiming Texans planned to nuke Mexico and then justifying it by pointing out all the people Texas has executed."

Brilliant analogy that works on so many levels...

Any idea how long it's taking these days to get confirmation that your claim has been filed?

I know the tax office is having some problems with this right now (I hear the computers keep crashing), and their help lines are too busy to get through. I'm not complaining though - I think it's quite impressive that you can do all this stuff online at all.

According to the Beeb, a new US Army combat simulator is due for an Xbox release early next year.

I think it would be quite ironic if the US military decides they can make more money making computer games than by waging war. It just might make a fervent capitalist out of me yet...

Oh, that divide between the halves and have-nots rears it's ugly head again. This time, I'm the have-not and must bask vicariously in the reflected glory of my mates across the pond. And since they aren't going to be blowing their own horns anytime soon (they're currently losing all their money to Sin City), I'll report that Mark and those other NiCE boys spent the last night of E3 at a private party at the White Lotus in Hollywood. Apparently, Lil Kim, Robby Williams and Christina Aguilera were in attendance, although walls of bodyguards made contact a bit difficult. Hugh Hefner was also there, bunnies in tow (though they weren't allowed to dance - like my bunnies).

How sad is it when you have to name-drop on someone else's behalf? *sigh*

As for me, the only dropping I did was of bowling balls. I probably bowled the worst I ever have and was soundly beaten by a couple of guys that had never picked up a bowling ball in their lives. It was the bloody shoes - I know it.

Via the War in Context, another reason why I believe free trade and capitalism doesn't work quite as well as you might think.

Also via TWIC, is an article in the Electronic Infitada which suggests methods as to how the British government can help with the peace process in Israel/Palestine, including recommendations that we stop selling them arms with which to commit human rights abuses.

Since I do live in a capitalist society, I vote with my pocketbook and haven't, for the last couple of years, purchased any Israeli goods, including vegetables, even though our supermarkets often stock a lot of Israeli produce (all produce must be labeled with its country of origin here). I can live without tomatoes for part of the year, if I must.

And finally, I'll lump all the political posts together and point to this article by the wonderful Kurt Vonnegut, the very first author I was completely enamoured of, who says all the things that are in my head in a way that only he can... (pointed from IdleType)

...we didn't have these new-fangled electronic gubbins. We had pets to annoy and dammit, that's what we did.

When I Was Little - The Baby Picture Project is another very clever photo challenge thingy. It's so interesting to see how people change (not much, truth be told).

Here's mini and maxi me...

(Much fun looking for baby photos when I should have been working thanks to the FunJunkie)

Oh goodie, a friday five.

I only seem to do these when they're about food. For a person who eats very rarely (no, I'm not anorexic - it's a family trait), I seem inordinately interested in it.

1. What drinking water do you prefer -- tap, bottle, purifier, etc.?

Erm, I don't actually drink water, believe it or not. I drink Guinness, coffee and apple juice (OK, so it's only one out of three good-for-me drinks - better than nowt). I prefer sparkling water when at restaurants, however.

2. What are your favourite flavor of chips?

I think you'll find they're called "crisps". ;-) I can't stand any other than ready-salted.

3. Of all the things you can cook, what dish do you like the most?

Ooh, hard one. I can cook rather a lot of things fairly well, I think. The two years in Italy really turned me on to cooking. But since I'm in the UK and can't get Mexican, I do find that my Mexican dishes are my favourite. I like cocido de puerco (pork stew), although there's no skill in cooking it. It's just a hamhock (or whatever), potatoes, carrots, sweetcorn on the cob, cabbage and lots of cumin cooked in water for a couple hours. Then serve with lemon and fresh coriander, mexican rice and tortillas. Yum.

4. How do you have your eggs?

Different every time.

5. Who was the last person who cooked you a meal? How did it turn out?

My 11-year-old daughter cooked a fantastic spaghetti carbonara on Monday night. It's her favourite thing to cook and this was the first time she did it without me even in the kitchen. She's a bit obsessed about cooking as well (but never cleans up after).

Fight for bovine freedom. Cute, but now I've got the bloody tune stuck in my head...

(via Grayblog)

According to the BBC the US is struggling to foster Iraqi leaders, while the British in Basra are making good progress.

I think that historical perspective plays a large part in this. Despite what Americans think about Britain's colonial history, the British have hundred's of years of experience running foreign countries. Combined with their intense discomfort about their past colonialism, it provides a good sense of what can and can't be achieved.

One does have to wonder what experience Rumsfeld and his mates think that they bring to the task of rebuilding Iraq. I know I go on sometimes about the US and the problems I have with the current regime, but I do think that they believe the whole world can be run like a corporation and that free trade is the only answer to all the world's problems.

I spoke to a relative recently who expressed a long-held bitterness toward the British government for their part (or lack thereof) in the Irish potato famine that brought so many Irish to America's shores 150 years ago. The irony there is that the reason the potato famine was so devastating (as I understand it - do correct me if I have this wrong) was because political thinkers at the time felt that completely free and open trade with no government interference was the proper way to deal with any social problem. They were convinced that it would sort itself out better on its own and it was this that delayed assistance to the Irish under British rule, with historically disastrous consequences...

"Those who do not learn from history", etc., etc...

The US federal government is planning on opening up Wyoming's Greater Red Desert to unregulated oil and gas drilling. This area is home to desert elk, golden eagles, mountain lions and more than 50,000 pronghorn antelope. I've never been to Wyoming, but always had a romantic vision of its wildness. My grandfather was from Wyoming and he met my grandmother while she was studying nursing there in the 20s. They were a little late to be pioneers, but did travel from there to Nevada where they settled while my grandfather helped build the Hoover Dam (which was then known as Boulder Dam).

The Environmental Defense group wants people to take action and save Wyoming's Red Desert.

Am I being cynical in thinking the only action that could possibly save America's wild places is to get the oil barons out of the US government?

Please meet my newest employee, Shell.

"Hiring" Shell was a bit of a palava, however...

I had rather an amusing time trying to buy this bloody printer yesterday. I must have spent a good 2 hours trying to find the right combination of features and price. I needed A3 capabilities because I know how useful that can be, but I didn't want to spend a fortune. I wanted some sort of network functionality, but knew I probably couldn't afford that right away. I also wanted to be able to print on almost anything, since as a small business, I want my marcomms stuff to look great, but really can't afford the cost of volume printing. Finally, I didn't want the consumable costs to break me either. So, for £211 plus VAT, this printer is rather a good deal, I think.

The amusing bit was trying to order it from HP. The website said it was compatible with Win98 and NT but never mentioned XP. It seemed inconceivable that it wouldn't work with XP, but I figured I'd better check anyway. I called the order line and was given 2 options: buy now or talk to the pre-sales team. Not surprisingly, I chose pre-sales. The guy got on the line and I duly asked my question, "will it work with XP?"

That threw him. He didn't know and transferred me to support. The guy in support didn't know either. Again, not surprising when you learn that he was support for Compaq laptops.

He then transferred me to printer support. Incredibly, the printer guy spent a good ten minutes trying to figure out if the printer was compatible with XP before giving up, at which point I hung up and called pre-sales back to find out who would actually know this very basic bit of information.

In the end, I was transferred to the sales team. I spoke to a woman with a very lovely Scottish accent (all the women in the call centre are Scots for some reason, but none of the men are - why is that?). I have to admit to heresy in saying my first reaction was, "here we go again - she's not going to know either". 'Twas terribly sexist and I admit it, but womankind has been redeemed because the nice lady with the nice accent said right away, "yes, of course it's compatible although you may need to visit the support website to download the drivers".

It arrived first thing this morning.

Sans printer cable, of course, but you can't have everything...

Well, duh.

A study of my favourite soap comes to the groundbreaking conclusion that Eastenders is popular because the plotlines echo human behaviour.

Gosh, I'm so surprised. I could have sworn that soap operas were abstract conceptual art pieces. Or perhaps my life is the abstract conceptual art piece. It's so hard to tell, don't you find?

Anyway, sarcasm aside, the study also found that infidelity in real life is as much as eight times higher than it is in Walford, while murder on the square is 137 times higher than the national average.

Hmm, it seems not to be working. I have a sneaking suspicion that it's the iMac's USB port that's to blame. Today, I shall mostly be taking yon iMac to bits and putting it back together again - hopefully with all the bits in that I took out...

Stand by, Bunnycamfans.

...unless you read really, really slowly, then maybe I can squeeze out a whole minute.

I've been told that an interview with yours-truly appears in today's issue of the UK's Web-User Magazine (in the "Blog On" feature). Nothing terribly profound, I'm afraid - just my usual silliness. Still, that's potentially 67,250 new visitors.

OK, maybe not quite that many...

Truly horrifying report from the BBC speculates that 90% of large predator fish have been cleared from the seas in the past 50 years.

Ninety percent! That's absolutely unbelievable, but somehow very beliveable when you think of the knock-on effects of intensive commercial fishing. One of the biggest problems, as far as I'm concerned, is the unbeliveable wastefulness that we are prone to. Just think how much supermarket fish is discarded at the end of the day. Now multiply that by the thousands and thousands of supermarkets around the world and you have a whole heap of dead fish, every single day. The problem there, of course, is that the huge profits supermarket chains make when bulk buying means they hardly feel the pinch of their wasteful ways.

Whilst trying to find a statistic, I ran across "Choose Food, Choose Farming", a Friends of the Earth initiative which promotes sustainable farming in the EU.

Not sure who promotes sustainable fishing, though I know that the EU themselves are working on it by cutting cod quotas by 45% recently and has restricted fishermen to 15 days a month at sea in the hopes that North Sea stocks might one day return .

Via Slugger O'Toole comes worry about the suburbanisation of the south of Ireland and the resulting fattiness that results.

I've read a few people recently who are tired of the never-ending stream of DIY and house-buying programmes on British telly and I do agree there are rather a lot of them. Maybe they're cheap to make or maybe people really do like them. I enjoy watching them once in a while, but I think they're probably worth if only for the BBC Homes website that accompanies them. Like all the BBC sites, it's interesting and very complete, although I'd love to see more detail, more links and bigger images.

That does lead me onto something I've been meaning to mention. Recently I sent an email to my MP, Anne Campbell, expressing my worry that the communications bill will mean a massive influx of commercial programming - something I'm not keen on. I have to say that the fact that there are only 5 terrestrial channels means I don't watch much TV. Sure, the television is on for part of the evening and I actually look at it when Eastenders is on, but for the most part, it's just background noise. The best BBC programmes are the historical and wildlife programmes - they're fantastic - the rest I can pretty much live without.

And quite right, too. If I really want zillions of channels with tons of adverts, I'll go down and watch digital. But I don't.

So I wonder what the point of the communications bill is. It's supposed to open up UK broadcasting to foreign investment, but we already have more than we need, why more? According to my MP, it will mean "more choice" for viewers. I bristle when I hear that. "More choice" means more mass-market programming that makes the most money. It never means niche products, because you can't make money serving niches (as those in the games industry can attest). So that doesn't mean more choice, it means less and it doesn't mean more quality, it means more pap and frankly, do we really need to be watching more television? Is that really going to drastically improve the British economy? Or does it just mean more advertising so we can be persuaded to buy more things to make some other foreign multi-national rich?

I'm always impressed when I get a direct reply to the emails I send to my MP, but this time I'm not so happy with the answer. I'm not sure what the answer should be, unfortunately...

I dunno - I have to laugh at someone who wouldn't take a wild guess and think that maybe rabbits like to chew stuff...

Somebody rescued a Naughty Bunny but forgot to bunny-proof before letting them loose in the computer room.

Now, granted, my bunnies did manage to chew through a flat screen monitor cable (among other things) before we put it out of bunny reach. We kept them anyway though.

(Ta to Andrew for that linkyness)

Jolly great stormin' going on around here. As you can see from the view out the front of my house, it's been hailing a bit and all.

And, as you can also see, I don't have quite as good a view as I did at my old office, but the new office has the benefit of a complete lack of a dress code (or even dress at all, should I choose)...

Ooh, it's all on the Q-T, but a client's project is just entering its beta stage and I'm on the look-out for beta-testers.

The product is a Mac port of a million-selling PC game. The only hint I'll give is that it's not a shooter or anything of that ilk. If you've got MacOSX, and have some time for beta testing, drop me an email at yoyo at nicelytoasted dot net and I'll tell you more...

Damn - anyone got a spare $1000? I'm not sure I can live without this fab Tiki Bar.

Oh my, oh my... look at all the wild stuff (Daddy-O).

Guess I haven't needed sound effects recently so Shockwave-Sound.Com is a new one on me. Nice tracks, loops and environmental sound for websites and flash animations.

Finally got around to my MayDay Project photos. I forgot all about it and missed out a good chunk of day. Saturday was hugely uneventful and I probably should have just not bothered, but I guess that's not really the point.

All the day's images are on one page, so people on dial-ups will hate me.

My Second Life house wants to be an homage to the sixties and so does my avatar. Sixties City is a nice collection of fashion and fabric images and also has interesting media images, including a couple of Daily Mirror front pages.

A Heaven and Earth feature on the beautiful St Michael's Mount in Cornwall led me to Mysterious Britain, a guide to the legends, folklore, myths and mysterious places of Britain. It's a bit sparse, if you ask me (I'm sure there are loads of mysterious places in Cambridge), but nicely organised.

The Natural History Museum hopes to encourage gardeners to plant native trees, shrubs and flowers and to help, they've put their very cool Postcode Plants Database online.

Pop in a postcode and you'll get a list of flora and fauna that were already present before the formation of the English Channel.

Besides the rather cool general interest, they've listed a selection of benefits to gardeners:

• local plants are adapted to local soils and climate and have low maintenance requirements
• Once established, native plants usually withstand long periods of dry weather
• Many will grow in difficult areas of the garden with little or no fertilizer
• Local plants are the essence of regional identity and preserve the character of the English countryside

I love the plants names, as well: Dove's-foot Crane's-bill, Interrupted Brome, Nodding Bur-marigold, Tasteless Water-pepper, Viper's-bugloss, Selfheal, Sneezwort and my favourite, Bastard-toadflax.

Right next to that animal morality story is another article about how army ants share genetic markers that indicate they evolved from a single ancestor over 100 million years ago.

Not sure what the form of the ancestor was, but it's reasonable to assume it's not hugely different from today's ant (at least by the tone of the article). If that's the case, then their complex, collective behaviour existed way back then as well.

So, what do you think they've been talking about all these years?

Those nice Compassion in World Farming people are holding their "Understanding Animals" conference next week in which they are saying that animals are moral creatures whose displays of altruism resemble human behaviour.

It probably won't surprise you to learn that I very much believe this is true and, rather than anthropomorphism, I feel it's an important evolutionary trait that crosses species boundaries.

Thinking about it, there is a difference between those who feel that survival of the fittest is an individual thing - one must survive oneself to face another day - and between those who believe that evolutionary survival belongs to the species who can best promote itself as a group. Socialism vs. capitalism in our human-centred world, maybe.

Anyway, whether in a herd or a tribe, caring about the welfare of your mates is clearly advantageous to the whole and there are plenty of studies to back that up. And if altruism is explained away as self-preservation, so be it - that works to explain human altruism as well.

Compassion in World Farming, by the way, believes that farm animals will be killed for their meat but believes animals are sentient and possess conscious awareness and wants them treated humanely. A very balanced, middle way approach of which I approve...

and make me stop with the quizzes already!

But, no, I can't, because it makes a nice tidy little multi-subject linky post. Starting next week is the games industry's day of infamy as that nightmare on Figueroa Street known as E3 begins. It really is quite unfair as everyone I know is going and as much as I hate the noise and willy-waving, I'm disappointed to be missing it.

So, big news at E3 this year? I suppose the biggest so far is Infogrammes announcing their impending name change to Atari. I don't know - big brand, very hip, hugely valuable, loads of history - seems wrong somehow...

Atari, by the way, is a term used in the game of Go, which basically means "check" like in chess. How do I know that? 'Cause I took the Video Games Quiz, silly. (go me: 70%)

Way hey - another quiz. Gotta love'em (I know I do). And, you know what? I always wanted to be a secret agent. Via IdleType who always says such nice things. My result is below...

OPERATIVE TEST
YOU SCORED: 75.32 %

Top Drawer - congratulations.

It appears that you may have what it takes to become a full service agent. You are clever, knowledgeable and have lightening reflexes.

Fulfil your potential and you'll be cruising your way around the world with other Double Os before you can say Vodka Martini. Don't attempt to contact us, say your goodbyes and we'll pick you up in 30 minutes from there.

There's a lot remaining in your training.
Pick up tips from the man himself.

I'm fascinated by languages, especially the history of languages, so I was rather pleased to run across this brilliant Online Etymology Dictionary which provides historical background on words we use every day. Words like "broker" (Anglo-Fr. abrokur 'retailer of wine, tapster') and "fender" (1279, shortening of defender, used of boats at first, of fireplaces since 1688; application to automobiles is 1919). An amazing piece of work and not a little addictive.

with a little car up the road.

How adorable is this little Nissan Figaro? I was sure it was an incredibly well-kept old car, but looking online, I find it was produced in Japan from 1987 to 1991. I hadn't noticed the modern features like the seat belts, hand brake and that high-rise brakelight thing.

A little pricey at £7K but you can get them shipped from Japan for less. I wonder how much the shipping is? Hmmm...

Anyway, got to thinking about right-hand vs. left hand drive and found this fascinating article. Oh lordy, I feel like a right anorak...

I suppose I hardly need mention that Salam is safe and posting again...

Ah, just like being at work... my former colleagues have sent some snippets of weirdness from the web that I'd like to share today.

One tab too many, perhaps?
From Pete the Puffin comes my personal pick for 'most creative use of PhotoShop in a conspiracy theory' at the Wiolawa Press. It's quite hard to work out, but Pete has decoded messages embedded in the website text that suggest she's onto the whole Lizards v. Grey's deal. Shhh, don't let on that we already know all about it. Silly moo - you only have to look at the royals to realise that a well-placed "Find edge" filter will reveal their lizardy roots.

Insert really obvious joke here
Does your dog suffer from low-self esteem? Do the doggie gangs at the park point and laugh at his lack of manhood? Is he suffering pre-operatic stress disorder at the prospect of getting his furry little orchestras lopped off? Fret no more! Gaz has found the solution: Neuticles. He'll never know he lost them...

EA have announced The Sims 2 today and it looks like more Creatures-inspired gameplay (OK, maybe not). Anyway, the big news now is that your Sims will now have "DNA" that can be passed down generations.

Ooh, and facial animations. Weeee. And a scoring system. Woo hoo.

Go read the press release...

(via GamesPress)

CONTROL YOUR SIMS OVER AN ENTIRE LIFESPAN

Chertsey, UK. - May 6, 2003 - Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS), the world's leading interactive entertainment software company, today announced that The SimsTM 2, the next generation of the #1 PC franchise of all time, is currently under development at the company's Walnut Creek-based MaxisTM studio. For the first time, players control The Sims over an entire lifetime for the very first time. Every choice that is made has a relevant and dramatic effect on the life of a Sim. More life-like Sims, all new gameplay, and the ground-breaking addition of genetics, with the DNA of Sims passed down through generations, gives players a more vivid, realistic, and in-depth Sims experience. All of this takes place in a new amazingly life-like 3-D world.

"The Sims, themselves, always have been the most interesting part of the game experience for me. Giving them DNA makes them even more life-like and increases the personal connection between players and their Sims," said Will Wright, Chief Game Designer at EA's Maxis Studio, "The strategy of playing Sims across a lifetime and experiencing their emergent traits and behaviours will give players a deeper and more realistic experience."

Next Generation Simulation

Guiding your Sims through "Life's Big Moments" takes on new importance, as players now get a "Life Score" to measure how well they are playing each individual Sim. The decisions that players make throughout the lifetime of their Sims now have an impact on their long-term success or failure. A choice made as a toddler has a direct effect on the teen and adult Sim they become. Will players be able to successfully lead their Sims through such important events as a first step, first crush, or marriage proposal, all while the clock is ticking?

Next Generation Sims

The Sims in The Sims 2 are more aware and responsive to both other Sims and their surroundings. Sims truly come to life expressing moods and feelings through more realistic body animations and for the first time facial animations. They form complex relationships and are able to distinguish between family and friends, platonic friendships and romantic love. Sims in The Sims 2 now have DNA. Passing along physical characteristics and traits to their offspring, Sims both resemble and behave like their ancestors. As in real life, the appearance of the Sims now changes over time. In addition to getting older, a Sim that spends too much time on the couch will develop a paunch and a Sim that works out will enjoy rock solid abs.

Next Generation Features

An entirely new 3-D engine makes the world of The Sims 2 more life-like and dynamic. The Sims 2 will also introduce an all-new "Create-A-Sim" feature. This allows you to customize the facial features of your Sim with a few simple clicks, to a level of detail never realized before. In The Sims 2, players are now able to build dwellings over two stories and have the ability to coordinate and customize the homes of their Sims to a new degree of design with all-new furniture, lighting and objects.

The Sims franchise celebrated its third anniversary in February 2003. The game skyrocketed to the top of the charts when it began shipping to stores and quickly became a universal gaming and cultural phenomenon. The Sims base product was the #1 seller in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Translated into 17 different languages, The Sims has inspired six expansion packs, five of which have all been top sellers. They include The SimsTM Livin' Large, The SimsTM House Party, The SimsTM Hot Date, The SimsTM Vacation, The SimsTM Unleashed, and due out later this month, The SimsTM Superstar. Combined sales for the franchise have topped 24 million units life-to-date. For more information on The Sims franchise titles, visit http://www.thesims.com.

Lest anyone forget this dog's breakfast of a war, BBC reports 'Looting' at Iraq nuclear sites as well as offering reports of US troops 'encouraging' Iraqi looting. Considering the unbelievably poor border control in Iraq these days, I'm somehow rather more worried about terrorists getting their hands on all sorts of nastiness now. Really puts the reasoning behind the war into persepctive doesn't it? As in, complete and utter arse.

Says a US spokesman, "Coalition forces are not a police force. Coalition forces have no orders to protect universities... Iraqis need to protect their own cities; coalition forces will help the Iraqi people police themselves." Right, so no sense of responsibility at all for this nightmare? What a bunch of wanking jobsworths.

Really, we can't let the media convince us that any of this is even the slightest bit over. Bookmark The War in Context for new atrocities by the day.

Margaritas all around as we celebrate Cinco de Mayo, which marks the Battle Of Puebla in 1862. Not Mexican Independence day, but rather commemorates the day when Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin led a small, poorly armed militia of about 4,500 in the defeat of a well outfitted French army of 6,500.

Of course, the French recovered, sent thousands more troops and installed the Hapsburg prince Maximillian as Emperor of Mexico. Ah well, they tried.

This year, however, Cince de Mayo marks another significant event, my 1000th post (tragically a mere 25 days short of my one year blogiversary). Raise your tequila and pass the salt.

Sat in the garden yesterday listening to the blackbirds having their afternoon convos. It's quite amazing to listen to as they seem to have such a rich vocabulary - an amazing range of songs and phrases, many of which they repeat three or five times in a row before moving on to something else.

So, I was almost going to believe this story about a university student who claims that his pet thrush is teaching him Italian.

OK, so a thrush is similar to a blackbird, although I'm not sure I've ever heard one mimic human speech. But fluent Italian? Plus 500 words in Romanian?

Not that I wouldn't like to see it, of course...

Where The Sims Online failed, this alternative virtual world looks as though it may have a better chance. Second Life, like Creatures, isn't a game, but a persistent world experience where creation is both the main activity and the goal.

If you remember Active Worlds (which may still be around for all I know), you were able to customise avatars and build buildings and objects using primitives. The problem I had was the lag and the seeming emptiness besides the fact that I was never able to figure out how to do much.

Second Life is similar, however, the customisation tools are amazing, allowing really precise control over all aspects of your character. This version of me is still not quite there (I was doing it from my perception of myself rather than a mirror, so clearly it's quite idealised!), but it was a blast to do - sort of like sculpting. It's also got a powerful and flexible scripting language which allows virtually anything to be constructed, from weird weaponry to flashy furniture.

There's also a well-thought out economic system which provides players with a weekly stipend which can be increased by improving one's reputation and status, usually by creating and uploading new objects and textures.

Loads of dosh has gone into this project and it shows. It's currently in Beta and thus only playable from 8pm to 8am, which is just as well since it's highly addictive (when it's my go - which is rarely).

A bit of news of Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon has been released. Looks, hmm... OK. But then, it was never the visuals that were all that important, I guess. I suspect they may be going overboard in their press release, calling the game " the future of adventure" and "a landmark in interactive story-telling" with a "revolutionary" interface. Hmm...

George and Nico are back and hanging out in the Congo, Prague, Paris and Glastonbury. This time they're trying to unravel the secrets of the Sleeping Dragon and save mankind from the threat of a global catastrophe. Hmm again. All of the sudden I'm not quite so enthused. Oh well.

(via Games Press)

Earlier in the week, we talked about the possible differences in the perception of pain amongst various members of the animal kingdom, specifically how animals have been known to knaw their own limbs off to escape a trap but you don't really hear about people doing it. Incredibly, a trapped climber has amputated his own arm with a penknife after becoming trapped by a fallen bolder.

Not only that, but the guy then abseiled 70 meters off the cliff and began to hike back to his car. This, after 5 days in the wild. One amazing guy, I have to say.

BBC unveils Channel 4's new Big Brother house. I did sort of enjoy Big Brother, but truth be told, I liked it as much for the decor as anything else. Looks like they've hooked me again - I wanna move in.

Without the roommates, obviously...

So far so good on the self-employment front. Got a couple of jobs and a couple of more in the pipeline (as it were). I've found that a few other ex-Clab's people are freelancing now as well. They're artists and programmers, so there could be some good opportunities to collaborate with any luck. I've also found that a local print and copy shop that I used to use organises meetings of small studios and photographers who sometimes share work around.

Done the accountant thing but still need to let the IR know about my self-employed status. My trading name is 95% decided. That last 5% is proving to be the most difficult part. I like it, but is it right? It's so much easier to brand someone else...

Anyway, a couple of little snippets I've run across today on Ananova...

Nine tiny, wee little dwarf chameleons have been born at Bournemouth's Oceanarium. Coincidentally, today's Photo Friday themes is "Small".

More fish aid as patrons of a New York restaurant build a sling to help a 17-year-old goldfish to swim again. Seventeen years old?!

And finally, little Lisa Fremmel may not be joining PETA (or Mensa) anytime soon after firemen in Germany had to rescue the terrified 10-year-old after she was chased up a tree by a squirrel.

I guess the US will move north into the Commonwealth first and then it's only a matter of time before they land on England's shores. Do you think I'm kidding? Via Nick Barlow comes news that the US is concerned that Canada places too much emphasis on civil liberties and not enough on policing. They're also annoyed about Canada's liberalisation of marijuana laws and there's a worry that the legislation to be tabled soon will spark off a trade war with the US.

So, the US government should be well dischuffed to find that their friend Tony is losing seats to long-haired pinko bleeding-heart liberals (hurrah - go Lib Dems!).

Everything you could ever want to know about virtually any movie, actor, studio or director can be found on the The Internet Movie Database (IMDb).

Good stuff if you're researching something. Well, something movie-related, obviously.

Not to make light of it, but this story aboutmissing millionaire, Amarjit Chohan, who was found dead in the sea near Bournmouth reads like a made for TV movie.

Apparently, he and his entire family went missing, and the family car was since involved in an accident where the two male drivers gave false information and have yet to be found. In the week he disappeared, he signed over control of his company to two of his employees.

Hmm, I wonder who the prime suspects are?