When you find your cat sleeping on your headphones, the only sensible thing to do is search out some sounds with which to torment her (or him).
Of course, my first thought was the aformentioned Making Fiends (episode 3 in fact), but then I ran across Sound Effects for Your Cat. Sadly, it wasn't as amusing as I'd hoped.
Perhaps some Bad Boys will wake her up.
...with the Addamsesque Charlotte and Vendetta. I'm going to be singing the theme song for the forseeable future. Someone please slap me. (via Grayblog)
An ancient stone circle discovered on the Isle of Lewis is believed to Britain's oldest. Via the BBC's Scotblog.
I don't really feel much guilt, to be honest. I eat meat and poultry and fish and whatever else is put in front of me, but this BBC article about fish 'intelligence' is quite interesting.
So many amazing creatures around us that we discount as unimportant or unworthy of respect but the more we learn, the more we are realising that's not the case. We don't even know as much as we think. After all, we're still finding new species.
Go on, be sooppa like me and make yourself a hero with The HeroMachine.
A bit o' fun via the rollerblading blue giraffe hero lady.
You know, I've never heard of this guy, but on the strength of this Los Angeles Times article, Wesley Clark sounds like my kinda president.
...with the truth, you betcha. I was wondering about the outrageously high numbers being thrown about regarding the reconstruction of Iraq, I have to say.
Thank whomever-you-choose-to-thank-for-these-things for Iraqi bloggers. She's one smart cookie, our Riverbend:
Let’s pretend my cousin is a dolt. Let’s pretend he hasn’t been working with bridges for over 17 years. Let’s pretend he didn’t work on replacing at least 20 of the 133 bridges damaged during the first Gulf War. Let’s pretend he’s wrong and the cost of rebuilding this bridge is four times the number they estimated- let’s pretend it will actually cost $1,200,000. Let’s just use our imagination.
A week later, the New Diyala Bridge contract was given to an American company. This particular company estimated the cost of rebuilding the bridge would be around- brace yourselves- $50,000,000 !!
Hmm, nice little bonus in there for someone, wouldn't you say?
I'm really not entirely sure what's going on here, but I seem to be missing a certain ginger coloured puddy cat at the moment. I think some naughty rabbits have some 'splaining to do...
This is in no way, I repeat, no way an invitation to oblige me, but do you know I've not received a single virus-ridden email? No soBig, no hacker, thrasher or whatever worm. Nothing.
I do, however, get between 4 and 5 Nigerian email scam mails every day. There must be some big pot they draw out of. I've had Saudi Arabian scams, Nigerian scams, Rwanda scams, Liberia scams, South Africa scams, Bolivian scams, Cotonou Republic du Beni scams (wot?), and Bank of England scams. Plus plenty more countries where those came from. I wonder if they think that someday they'll mention of some exotic country that I just won't be able to resist and will promptly send them all my money.
Always one to jump a passing bandwagon, and being in possession of a digital camera, a website and a house that I can trash at will, I present DIYRoomFrontSOS, an exercise in potential decorating disaster.
Knowing my past performance with DIY, this could be the longest-running series ever made.
27 August, 2003 - So here's the deal: I've always loved this room even though it's currently used as a hallway rather than a dining room. Some months ago, some tosser tried to break in the house by prying off the catflap. I suprised him good and proper and he sprinted over the back fence like a fox. A fox that can leap seven foot fences in a single bound. Anyway, in a fit of pique, I boarded up said door and called a builder to install a new one. This time I think an actual exterior door would be a good idea, don't you? Anyway, if there're going to be builders, I might as well clear the place out and finally paint it and maybe lay some new flooring as well. I've not decided on colour or anything, to be honest. It's my "special" DIY way to decide as I go, but I fancy something radically different. Builders are due on Monday, so there's the weekend to clear the room... (you can click on the images for a closer look if you are so inclined)
Stay tuned... |
Tories would close BBC website.
Over my dead domain!
(via Bloggs, Joe Bloggs)
I meant to mention that there was quite a lot of information about allotments down at the environment agency. I didn't mention it because I've found myself a bit behind again and really shouldn't be a-blogging.
If I had the time (which I clearly don't), I'd love an allotment. For my ferrin readers wondering what I'm talking about, read Ms. Bsag's nice explanation (briefly, though, they're tiny plots of land that can be rented cheaply to allow people to grow their own vegetables).
A quick browse also turned up news about an allotment audit being carried out (or has been) by the government and the local Cambridge Allotments Network.
Rather a dearth of posting lately, mainly due to a pulled shoulder muscle which makes using the computer less than comfortable. Still, gets me out of the house...
Yesterday we went shopping for school uniform and a new mattress (because my stupid lumpy Ikea one is probably the source of my discomfort). We popped in the Guildhall (the city council offices) and had a browse and a chat with the nice lady at the Environment Centre.
One of the things that really impresses me about the UK is the emphasis that's placed on sustainablity and the environment. Case in point is Cambridge Sustainable City, a scheme that provides funding for environmental projects.
The City Council Environment Plan's main objectives and related activity areas consist of:
- Raising awareness of environmental issues and encourage participation by improving access to information; promoting the environment through events, provisions of grants, training education and practical action and undertaking award schemes.
- Promoting the sustainable use of land, buildings and green spaces by controlling location and form of development through the planning process; achieving environmental improvements through practical projects; promoting biodiversity, conservation and appreciation of nature; managing, protecting and planting trees; protecting landscape and wildlife sites; protecting/improving conservation areas, listed buildings and open spaces; valuing the characteristics of all parts of the City.
- Promoting sustainable transport by encouraging shift of focus away from the car towards alternative transport; promotion and provision of better walking and cycling; encouraging and providing facilities for walking and cycling.
- Minimising environmental damage resulting from the use of resources by promoting the 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle; encouraging staff and public to purchase goods and services which cause least harm to the environment; contributing to local, regional and national Waste Minimisation Strategies; promoting the wise use of water; promoting responsible energy management; developing the use of cleaner fuels for transport and other purposes; and promoting the use of renewable energy.
There was so much good going on in the Environment Centre, I can't even list it all, but we came away with loads of information and a rather good feeling that we contribute in our own little ways as well.
[Update: via Barsophy, clearly not everyone in Government is quite so keen on the environment, but public pressure can sometimes work, so ha ha, bloody ha, Tony]
In pictures and words (not very many of either)...
Blew bubbles, didn't get cold (after dark in England!), listened to music, shopped, cleaned house, ate lunch with parental-type units (and a squirrel), went walkabout, took photos of broken things, slept late.
We've all sort of come a cropper 'round here. My daughter's fallen out of a tree and sprained or possibly broken her wrist (we'll see how she is tomorrow before braving A&E) and I've got a rotten headache and numb feet where I've been attacked by some evil, spiky plant.
If you need me, I'll be having a lie down...
The whole Iraq thing is tumbling down around the world's ears. If you haven't been reading Baghdad Burning, Salam's friend Riverbend's blog, you should definitely add this to your reading list. It appears that the situation for women in Iraq is getting worse and worse.
Cambridge is a funny old place. In some ways it seems like Disney's vision of a University - all charm and picture postcard views. And just like Disneyland, people flock from all over the world to our little Universityland.
But there's a dark and seedy underworld and it revolves around that most civilised of pastimes, punting. Go read Francis' tale of deception and burning punts.
O Buddha, Where Art Thou?
by Scott Emmons
I want to be a Buddha
With a calm and beaming smile.
I'd radiate transcendence
In my placid Buddha style.
I'd fear no ills, I'd dread no bills.
I'd have no need for kicks and thrills.
When others turned to happy pills,
I'd meditate awhile.
I wouldn't suffer pangs of lust
Or jealousy or wrath.
I'd need no SUV,
Because I'd walk the Eightfold Path.
My cravings all would be undone.
I'd contemplate the moon and sun,
And understand that they were One,
For that is Buddhist math.
I'd have no life ambitions,
Being quite content to be.
I'd need no ego-stroking,
For there wouldn't be a me.
I'd never rush to make a buck
Or toot my horn or curse my luck.
I'm pretty sure it wouldn't suck
To be attachment-free.
See more at Word Chowder
(via Idle Type)
According to an article in Farming Life,
'Compaines producing genetically modified (GM) crops in the United Kingdom will not be required to monitor their effects on the health of the public, according to proposals by a Government advisory body.
This is in spite of a new European law which requires biotechnology companies to have monitoring procedures to " identify the occurrence of adverse effects - on human health or the environment which were not anticipated."'
So, basically, the current government doesn't care what we think or what happens to us. This is all wrong.
(via Barsophy)
OK, that was a loss-leader. I don't diet. Christ, if I did, I'd be dead. But the issue comes up a lot. Joe discussed it on his blog recently. We wondered how the Italians were doing in the obesity stakes and whether the traditionally slim French would ever go the way of the US.
It's clearly pretty obvious, though. Eat less food.
Everyone I've met who has been to the states says one thing without fail: "the portions are enormous!" Lo and behold, researchers have concluded that the French are slimmer because French portions are smaller and that most people would actually be satisfied with less food than they normally ate if it was reasonably palatable.
My own added observation is that people are being taught some falacies as well. Once upon a time, 3 square meals was essential for people doing hard, physical labour. We don't do that anymore (the vast majority of us) and therefore don't really need three meals in my opinion. I can't even recall the last time I ate three meals in a day. Normally it's two, but sometimes only one. I'm healthy though, and haven't even had a cold for about two years now (knock wood).
These large portions and their effect on our health is another possible failing of capitalism. We value money more than anything else and feel we always have to "get our money's worth". This means going to restaurants that offer the best value and cleaning our plates so we don't waste that which we've spent good money on. The British are quite bad for this as well. They seem to prize "value for money" above taste and nutrition which may go some way in perpetuating the reputation British cuisine holds. And, as it happens, they're closing in on the US in obesity rates.
I've never heard of cowgirl Connie Reeves, but apparently, she has died at age 101 after being thrown from a horse.
Damn, I love that. What a woman.
It's not a phenomenon restricted to the middle east as the big kafuffle in Alabama shows.
It's funny, though. The UK is not really secular either. My daughter's previous (state-run) school was a Church of Enlgand school and as such, teaches religious education as a matter of course. Being pragmatic and multi-cultural Britain, this means she also learns a bit about other religions as well, even if there's an uncomfortable emphasis on Christianity.
Nevertheless (with little or no prompting from me) she has decided for herself that she doesn't really believe in a god and is not a keen fan of Bible stories.
My little atheist. I'm so proud.
Scientists at the University of Washington in Seattle have run computer models of the late stages of planet formation and the simulation suggests that the formation of wet worlds is easy.
I say we start making friends with the whales and dolphins now before those waterworld aliens arrive.
For them what knows the Simpson boys, here's a press release from Games Press. For them what don't know, go play Time of Defiance to see what all the hooha is about.
THE BITMAP BROTHERS FORM NICELY CRAFTED PARTNERSHIP
20th August 2003, Wapping, London, UK
Legendary developers The Bitmap Brothers and award nominated online gurus Nicely Crafted Entertainment (NiCE) have today announced their intention to work together on a number of exciting new products sharing both IP and technology. Through their development joint venture, NiCE and The Bitmap Brothers are exploring new genres for MMOG entertainment as well as creating online versions of existing titles including Chaos Engine and Frontline Command.
Mike Montgomery, Managing Director of The Bitmap Brothers said "This is an exciting time for us and we're looking forward to this new venture hugely, Toby Simpson and his team are a great bunch and between us we aim to create some stunning titles. The quality of the AliceServer technology is incredibly impressive and I am looking forward to applying some of Bitmap's creative magic to a new genre."
Toby Simpson, Managing Director of NiCE said, "I grew up with The Bitmap Brothers titles on the Amiga, and having known Mike Montgomery for all these years it is enormously exciting to be working on these joint projects. Our revolutionary scalable AliceServer technology married with The Bitmap Brothers' product designs and development heritage will allow us to create MMOG titles that we'd all only previously dreamt of."
Both companies will be present at the inaugural London Games Market at the forthcoming ECTS event to talk to publishers.
About Nicely Crafted
Nicely Crafted Entertainment Limited (NiCE) is a privately held multi-player online computer games (MMOG) company based in Cambridge, UK. Nicely Crafted develops, markets, maintains and hosts the client / server games; players connect to the NiCE servers to play. NiCE has created Time of Defiance, a one-of-a-kind online massively multi-player strategy game in real time. Time of Defiance encapsulates large-scale empire building where people play against other human beings.
With no "artificial limits", players are totally absorbed in the product, playing up to four weeks on one game. NiCE operates on a unique, proprietary software system, called AliceServer. NiCE aims to create virtual realities for entertainment that are indistinguishable from reality itself.
Ben Simpson
Creative Director
Nicely Crafted Entertainment
No 1, The Maltings
135 Ditton Walk
Cambridge CB5 8QB
01223242622
About The Bitmap Brothers
Founded in 1987, The Bitmap Brothers are one of the longest standing independent developers: a small, highly successful team with a history of creating unique, critically and commercially acclaimed IP. Continually striving for originality, attention to detail and new levels of playability, the company has been responsible for several of the games industry's most memorable titles.
Based in riverside offices in Wapping, East London U.K. The Bitmap Brothers most recent title, "WWII: Frontline Command", was received to high acclaim, and is currently selling well in all territories. As well as conversion work for Namco, the company is currently developing a number of exciting
proprietary concepts, including a follow up to the Frontline Command and Speedball series of games.
For further information, contact:
Ed Bartlett
Business Development Director
ed@bitmap-brothers.co.uk
Tel: 0207 7023644
Mobile: 07801 6574990
Or visit www.bitmap-brothers.co.uk
Find out what song was number one in the charts on the day you were born.
On the day I was born, the US No.1 was Running Scared by Roy Orbison while the UK No.1 was Surrender by Elvis Presley.
Now what am I supposed to read into that, I wonder?
(cheers to piers!)
There's a bit of a meme going around where you interview another blogger and they post the answers to your questions on their site, offering to interview another blogger in return. My questions come from the other Lisa in Cambridge (we *are* the only ones) and can be found below. Click more for more.
1. What surprised you most about being a parent?
How easy it can be. One of the things I never wanted to do was be one of those mothers who carried the equivalent of a small country's GDP in her handbag. Maybe I was just lazy, but bottles, dummies (pacifiers) and cots (cribs) never made much sense to me. As a result, I never owned, much less washed a bottle, my daughter never slept in a cot and all I ever carried was a changing mat, one diaper and her. This came in amazingly handy when we found ourselves living in an Italian hotel room for six very long months.
2. When you are evaluating your own work, what makes you decide that you've taken a "good" photograph?
Being in focus - with my camera it seems like the biggest challenge! No, actually, I don't take many I think are all that good. The few that I like are nicely balanced (or creatively cropped) and vibrantly coloured. I think the real test of a photograph's goodness is some sort of intrinsic meaning - or at least a visual tone that makes you think it's something other than just a picture postcard.
3. What is one of your favourite pieces of design work (e.g. a website, advert, CD cover, etc.) and why?
Oh, I have two favourites and unfortunately, neither were ever completed. The first is my most recent game design, Project Loci. I liked it because it had the whole Creatures universe as a backdrop and the whole thing just sort of fell together. It was also a great team effort with an absolutely gorgeous prototype pulled off in record time. The second favourite was another game design called Yeren which was about a Shaolin monk and a pair of Yeti. Researching the game was fairly life-changing for me and I think it had the potential to be really special and groundbreaking. Sadly, neither was to be, but then again, you never know. ;-)
4. What do you miss from home?
Good Mexican food!
(I don't have much family left - just a step-mum and my loverly cousin. I do miss them, of course.)
5. If your life had a slogan, what would it be?
Have opportunity, will travel.
If you would like an interview, say so in the comments, I will reply with 5 questions that you can then post on your own blog...
I'm getting a ton of Google hits for the previous post about the blackout from space images at the New York Times. Stupid webmasters. I can only assume that because they require registration, very few of their articles get spidered. Seems counter-productive to me.
Since I do get spidered regularly, I'm sure Google will point to this post as well, so the info is repeated below.
An interesting couple of images on a link from a New York Times article. I can't link it directly, but it's on the right at the bottom of the list: Interactive Graphic: Blackout: The View From Space. (Registration Required)
As a woman, it's really quite difficult not to worry about the little lines and pores that are a part of ourselves. I know it's not important, but those damn mirrors - well, they just won't bloody go away. I spent probably a good half hour poring (no pun intended) over creams and lotion labels the other day, trying to find some miracle cream that wasn't animal tested. In the end, my principles won out over my vanity and I ended up buying a face cream from the local health food shop. It was a close call, though, I must admit.
But I think I needn't have worried so much, because those gorgeous girls in the men's mags aren't really all that either. Go look at the before and after pics at Greg's Digital archives.
Boys, you may want to stay away if you want your fantasies to remain intact. Unless, of course, you aren't into airbrushed babes, in which case, good on you!
(via McFilter)
One-Term President, via IdleType.
Good set of links there too...
Recently I've been reading some sites with varying opinions regarding gun control and its effect on crime rates. Libertarians believe that the private ownership of guns reduces crime and they point to Switzerland's low crime and high percentage of gun ownership as proof that this is true. I asked the question, well, what about Japan? They have very strict gun control and very low crime. The answer wasn't terribly enlightening as you might expect (they merely pointed to Switzerland yet again).
So, I thought I'd do a little research. Click on more to see what I found...
These statistics are based on Interpol Crime Statistics for 2001. I chose countries that I've lived in or that seemed useful comparisons. Apologies for the poor formatting - I just couldn't spend more time on this putting things in nice tables and depended on an Open Source Excel clone to do my sorting.
A couple of other personal comments: I'm surprised at the UK's high crime rate. In the 7 years I've lived here, I've been the victim of crime once (an aborted attempt at breaking and entering). I was a victim of crime 3 times in 10 years in the US (one purse stolen from my car in LA, one burglary in LA, one breaking and entering while at home in Boston. The latter held us at knifepoint for several hours). In Italy, I was pickpocketed once. Also, please note that nearly all houses in Italy have barred windows which probably goes some way to reduce their rate of theft.
Now, on to the stats (highest to lowest):
Crime rates per 100,000 people
Murder
South Africa 114.84
Brazil 22.98
US 5.61
Canada 4.1
France 4.07
Italy 3.75
Israel 3.43
Monaco 3.33
Germany 3.23
Switzerland 2.41
Korea 2.18
Finland 1.71
UK 1.63
Japan 1.05
Saudi Arabia 0.71
Theft (of all kinds) (per 100,000)
UK 5906.85
France 4224.57
Germany 3819.76
US 3804.58
South Africa 3565.81
Finland 3441.26
Switzerland 3346.53
Israel 3220.97
Canada 2758.26
Italy 2257.74
Japan 1843.73
Monaco 1053.33
Korea 386.31
Saudi Arabia 161.5
Brazil no data available
Sex offenses (including rape) (per 100,000)
South Africa 121.13
Canada 78.56
UK 71.64
Germany 65.33
Israel 54.61
Switzerland 46.15
Saudi Arabia 37.68
Monaco 23.33
Finland 23.18
France 17.63
Brazil 15.95
Korea 14
Japan 1.75
US no data available
Italy no data available
Serious Assault (per 100,000)
South Africa 597.74
US 318.55
France 211.26
Germany 153.97
Canada 148.52
Switzerland 79.47
Korea 64.48
Italy 53.17
Monaco 46.67
Israel 42.22
Finland 40.71
UK 30.07
Japan 26.68
Brazil 0.61
Saudi Arabia 0.12
The I decided to see if there was any common reasons for these statistics and got the following from the CIA's World Fact Book:
Population density
Monaco 16000
S. Korea 491
Japan 336
Israel 291
UK 244
Germany 233
Italy 192
Switzerland 177
France 109
South Africa 36
US 29
Brazil 21
Finland 15
Saudi Arabia 12
Canada 3.2
Gini coeficient (inequality of wealth - 0 is perfect equality, 100 is perfect inequality)
Brazil 60.7
South Africa 59.0
US 41.0
UK 37.0
Israel 35.5
Switzerland 33.1
France 33.0
S. Korea 31.6
Canada 31.5
Germany 30.0
Italy 27.0
Finland 25.6
Japan 24.9
Saudi Arabia no data available
Monaco no data available
Unemployment 2002
South Africa 37.0
Saudi Arabia 25.0
Israel 10.4
Germany 9.8
France 9.1
Italy 9.1
Finland 8.5
Canada 7.6
Brazil 6.4
US 5.8
Japan 5.4
UK 5.2
Monaco 3.1
S. Korea 3.1
Switzerland 1.9
Gdp per capita
US $37,600.00
Switzerland $31,700.00
Canada $29,400.00
Japan $28,000.00
Monaco $27,000.00
Germany $26,600.00
Finland $26,200.00
France $25,700.00
UK $25,300.00
Italy $25,000.00
S. Korea $19,400.00
Israel $19,000.00
Saudi Arabia $10,500.00
South Africa $10,000.00
Brazil $7,600.00
Finally, I wanted to see what gun control had to do with it. Details about gun control laws in various countries are complex, so I resorted to simple gun ownership per household from Handgun Free (and confirmed at a couple of other sites):
% Households with guns
US 41.0
Switzerland 27.0
Canada 26.0
Finland 23.2
France 22.6
Italy 16.0
Germany 8.9
UK 4.0
Japan 0.6
Saudi Arabia no data available
South Africa no data available
Brazil no data available
Monaco no data available
S. Korea no data available
Israel no data available
Interesting results, doncha think? I have to question Brazil's very low unemployment (well, low considering) as well, but there you go.
From the New Scientist:
"Human" embryonic stem cells have been harvested from cloned embryos created by fusing human cells with rabbit eggs, claims a soon-to-be published report by Chinese scientists.
What a bunch of freaks.
An interesting couple of images on a link from a New York Times article. I can't link it directly, but it's on the right at the bottom of the list: Interactive Graphic: Blackout: The View From Space. (You can use my username password combo: nicelytoasted, nicelytoasted to access, by the way.)
Speaking of which, this whole thing gives me another reason to hate A/C. People seem to think they're unable to live without it. Every summer here in the UK, people complain about the buildings not having air conditioning, and considering the fact that we rarely get hot weather of much significance, this annoys me no end. Last thing I want is to work in a building with headache-inducing air, regardless of the weather.
Of course, I never used my car's A/C, even in the hottest LA summers, so perhaps I'm just mad.
And finally, speaking of heat, it sort of amazes me that the French government and opposition are trying to blame each other for the heat-related deaths. I mean really.
Just got my b3ta newsletter and went to see the latest weebl and Bob. It was OK, but I preferred an earlier one. Like the one where Weebl and Bob go all anime on us...
I did say the news was depressing, but hooding and arresting and then keeping an 11-year-old child in captivity in appalling circumstances for more than three weeks is beyond reprehensible. I shudder to think of something like that happening to my daughter or her friends.
It's child abuse, pure and simple. And in case you think I'm being a little 'holier than thou', this isn't on either.
(via Bar Room Philosophy)
Oh, I suspect I won't find much to post today. The news is rather depressing and I hardly need to point out the significance of the American blackouts (my cousin, who lives in midtown Manhattan, was driving to Florida at the time, so she's missed it thankfully).
So, why not do the friday five, I say to myself. Why not indeed, I replied.
1. How much time do you spend online each day?
A shocking number of hours. As many as 13 hours maybe? There are four computers on the broadband network and obviously I work for the majority of the day, then spend the evening in front of the telly/monitor because they're right next to each other. I really do need to cut down I think. [Now that I've read some other FFs, I know I need to. Some people are wailing because they spend a whole 4 hours online. Wimps.]
2. What is your browser homepage set to?
Burnt Toast. I should probably change that to the Beeb, cause I kinda know what the content is on my site.
3. Do you use any instant messaging programs? If so, which one(s)?
I've used all of them periodically in the past, and my family in the states uses IM a lot but I really don't get on well with it. It's fine if you need to have a conversation with someone and can't use the phone, but mostly it's disruptive, I feel.
4. Where was your first webpage located?
I had a website called La Ragnatela back in 1995 or 96 just at the end of our tenure in Italy and was hosted by a friend in Boston. It had photos of my time in Italy for the most part, some of which can be seen here. It used to be in the Internet Archives, but seems not to be anymore. Makes the Internet Archive a bit crap really.
5. How long have you had your current website?
Nicelytoasted has been going about a year now.
Today is Good Manners Day...
Now sod off outside and stop hitting your sister.
By the by, those who don't know about this, my former employer Creature Labs was purchased by another game developer a couple of months ago. They didn't so much buy the company as buy all its "stuff". Anyway, this new company, Gameware Development, consist of a few people from the old Creature Labs and I'm also doing some design work for them.
One of their latest projects is just ramping up over at CBBC and is called Bamzooki.
There's not a lot there yet and I could tell you more, but I can't really, so I won't. It'll definitely be cool, though.
If you haven't been reading along, now's the time to pop over to LondonMark's where he shares with us the art of oh-so-many things: waiting, meeting, drinking, choosing, guessing, smoking, preparing, lazing, laughing, and losing.
It's like a little guidebook for life. I think a CafePress book is in order (at least!), don't you Mark?
You may have heard of this study at the University of Maryland (I just did on the news), Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition. Obviously those on the right are all shook up over it, disliking as they do, nuance, and the report apparently being full of it (nuance, of course).
As I understand it, it's saying something pretty obvious: people think differently. It follows on that in large part, it's pretty impossible to change people's minds. Maybe we're just going to have to deal with it (and hope it's not a genetic trait).
What's so impressive you ask? Why, knitting an aran jumper for a cow, that's what.
Recently we've been marvelling at the water boatmen in our pond. We've noted that they are very territorial and will always find an unbroken stretch of water to call their own, chasing off other water boatmen quite ferociously. Our assumption is that they do this so another boatman doesn't disturb their patch of water, making detection of prey difficult.
They're not boatmen and they walk on the surface of the water rather than the bottom of the surface (if you get my meaning), but Water Striders are pretty cool as well. Nature has a nice little "infographic" as they call it, which shows how they do it (water-stride, that is).
I'm looking at an open source software development tool called GForge3 which looks very nice indeed, however, I'm already flummoxed by the installation instructions. I'm thinking of having it installed by someone else but can't actually tell if one needs shell access to install it ('cause I don't have that...).
Anyone used it/installed it/heard of it?
Very cute Flash site, built by a company with their own very cute Flash site.
Which vaguely reminds me to link to another favourite illustrator's website.
Reading an article from the War in Context that caught my eye because I've seen the troops in Iraq drinking bottled water and wonder how that worked. I wondered what happened to the possibly millions of empty plastic bottles and wondered how the Iraqis got their own drinking water in any event.
Not that those questions were answered by this New Jersey Star Ledger article - it really only got me wondering again...
The BBC says it in 20-something languages and counting...
Not including American or Canadian.
'Replace grades with marks', bypass GCSEs, replace A-levels with a diploma, replace A-levels with Baccalaureate , delay university applications until after exams results, dump in-school sixth forms, and on and on and on...
Is it just me, or do I detect a bit of desperation here? Britain has a superb educational system and it's admired around the world. When we were in Antigua a couple of years ago, the cab driver from the airport was keen to take us past their secondary school and proud to tell us that the exams were marked in the UK. Is it really so bad as everyone makes out?
Of course, it could be the media over-reacting, I suppose.
Some essential reading today:
First, if you're interested in the GM debate (and you should be, in my opinion), read all of the articles at today's bar room philosophy.
And for the Americans who have praised Tony Blair's ability to speak articulately and intelligently and wondered why there were no politicians of his calibre in the states, they should definitely read former vice president Al Gore's speech to MoveOn. Wonderful and so completely full of reason... well, it's just wonderful. (via boxofchocolates)
Funnily, I couldn't face Sunday lunch today. This Red Duck Curry recipe was just the thing - made with turkey instead of duck.
It's sort of a dubious thing to celebrate, but today was officially the hottest day ever in UK!
I don't know why I think this is quite cool (heh, geddit?), but it is. And I've taken the opportunity to do absolutely nothing in celebration. And I mean nothing. In fact, I'm off out to do some more nothing.
Will return with photos of bugs...
Ben's mention of Omar Sharif getting a one month suspended sentence for striking a French policeman reminded me of another kafuffle involving men in fezes many years ago. I've been meaning to post this story from the Excelsior and now seems as good a time as any. The translation was done by a relative and I've still got to tidy up the grammar, but that can wait. Some of the references are a bit obscure, both because of the translation and the fact that it's dated April 24, 1949, but it's a fun story nevertheless. (All the links open a small pop-up, except the image below, which doesn't.)
Once upon a time, there was Abdullah M Ravdjee, the Grand Visir of Aga Khan. One day, the Grand Visir arrived in Mexico. Inside his luggage he had a bottle of magic pills, a poisonous cobra and a wonderful collection of Hindu ties bought in the biggest market in Pakistan. At one of the suites of the Hotel Del Prado, a Turkish bath, a private detective, a refrigerator filled with bottles of Champagne, and a half a dozen platinum blondes were all brought to the disposition of the Grand Visir... Again, once upon a time, there was Abdallah M Ravdjee, the Grand Visir of Aga Khan. At first, the people thought this was just a big advertisement for a new insecticide!
Soon, however, it came out to be that the Grand Visir was just exactly what Abdullah said he was. So much so that the small local visirs also decided to put turbans on their heads and under the guide of Manuel Abdullah Choza Canedo, they organised a nocturnal “girl search” of which Armando Araujo, Totonac Visir, said in an exclusive interview to the press that ... “Yes, Abdallah M Ravdjee is indeed the Grand Visir of Agha Khan. Why then, am I the one that has to provide $6,000pesos worth of pills and Chivas Regal?
Everything was going great, until one day, at a meeting in the home of Manuel Abdullah Choza Canedo, the Grand Visir made a toast “to the President of Mexico City.” In revenge, Choza Canedo made a toast to Rafael de la Colina and Araujo made a toast to Rita Hayworth. Tired of running around through the dark halls of Canedo's home, every single “visir” (using Armando Araujo's chequebook, mind!) went to the Reforma Casablanca of Acapulco.
Then the Grand Visir said... “only in Bombay have I seen such beautiful women” and to prove his point the Grand Visir, before the the confusion of all the local “visirs”, went to the first blonde lady that he came across in the Casablanca and offered her 14.5 kilos of diamonds from the Agha Khan's own storeroom for one of her songs!
Abdullah's friends looked at each other straight in the eyes and concluded that “the Grand Visir had just put his foot in his mouth. That blonde lady wasn't just any blonde lady.” Just then, a mysterious individual came to the Reforma Casablanca asking, “Who of all of you is the Grand Visir?!”
Araujo then instantly hid himself under the table and Choza Canedo took off his turban and threw it in the ocean. At that moment, Abdullah went to the mysterious man and said, “I am the Grand Visir of Agha Khan. I come from Bombay. I'm on my way to Pakistan! What can I do for you?”
Minutes later, the mysterious man took the Grand Visir by the neck and tore to pieces one of his ties from his great collection that he'd gotten from the central market in Pakistan. The Visir was astounded and so was Armando Araujo and the other men under the table – they just could not believe their eyes!
Indignantly Abdallah yelled, “Whosoever touches the Visir touches the Agha Khan; he who touches the Agha Khan touches Allah; whosoever touches Allah has his days counted!” Seconds later, under the stupefied eyes of two hundred tourists that were witnessing the unusual spectacle, yet another person, dressed as Juan Charresquedo, appeared at the scene and asked, “Who of all of you is the Grand Visir?”
Without a tie, without magic pills, without a poisonous cobra, as well as without diamonds, and having been the master of the city, Abdallah answered, “I am the Grand Visir of the Agha Khan. Whosoever touches the Visir touches the Agha Khan; he who touches the Agha Khan touches Allah”... For each one of these answers, 5 gunshots were heard. What a mess!
The Grand Visir, whose life was miraculously saved, was screaming with all his might, “An airplane, give me an airplane! I want to leave this monkey island!” Araujo, from his anti-aircraft shelter, kept reciting a poem from Kipling (“If you could destroy your life without saying a word,” etc.). Choza Canedo was yelling, “What will Rafael de la Colina say when he finds out that after Doria Paz gave him the keys to the city, the Grand Visir was gunned down in Acapulco for offering 14.5 kilos of diamonds to a blonde?”
The Grand Visir's private detective was calling Bombay's own police force by phone saying, “Excessive ingestion of Hindu pills, nearly take the life of the Grand Visir”; A.C. Blumenthal was hurriedly obtaining a private airplane in which Abdallah could escape the Monkey Island. He kept talking and explaining to whoever was around, “I, Abdallah M. Ravdjee, Grand Visir of Agha Khan, swear by Allah, Abdullah, Neguib Simon and Rita Hayworth, never to come back to Mexico, where my royal blood is worth nothing!”
His aggressors, guns in hand, were yelling at him “this is not a harem, son of Allah!” While the visir said, “Thank heaven Rita Hayworth does not have Mexican relatives, otherwise, poor Ali.” Thanks to Blumy's quickness, the Grand Visir was able to escape by airplane all the way to New York City where to this date, he is still getting over the frightening experience that could have cost him his life. Thanks to our diplomats, the incident that could have ended in War between Mexico and Pakistan, had a favourable end for the prestige of the Grand Visir and the women of our men! And this, dear readers, what seems to be nothing but a tale, happened just last week, word by word!!
I gather Antiques Roadshow is shown in the states these days as they've got a little BritSpeak quizon the PBS site to help the locals figure out what the hell they're going on about.
I had 5 goes and got them all right (of course!), although there were a couple words I had to guess at (and the resident Brit couldn't explain either).
(via Bopboparamalamadingdongricecakes)
Fan-bloody-tastic! Himachal Pradesh has outlawed plastic bags. Why can't we do this, I wonder?
'Cause you know what makes an excellent bag? Paper. Bloody marvelous stuff - the greengrocer uses little paper bags and they work just fine. Better yet, when I go to the grocery, I leave my veg in their own wrappings. I have to watch carefully, though, as the cashiers love to put every bloody thing in an additional plastic bag. Cream, veg, fish, meat - everything is packaged already and they still feel the need to put more plastic around it. I know they're trying to be helpful (despite the odd looks when I ask them not to). Drives me around the bend, it does.
Maybe they get some sort of commission.
[Update: it appears I've confused Glaxo Wellcome with the Wellcome Trust. Martin tells me they aren't related so I can go back to being on the side of MMR and you can ignore the post below.]
Normally I side with the doctors who say the MMR vaccine is safe, primarily because I've not really bought the claims that it caused autism or bowel disease. News yesterday of a possible milk-based cause for Crohns simply reinenforced this for me.
Unfortunately, the BBC article claiming we're close to a measles explosion immediately lost all credibility with me as they quote a Professor Vincent Jansen, a Wellcome Trust researcher from Royal Holloway College in London.
Really, they'd be better off getting somone with no financial stake in the issue to offer these warnings. I can't bring myself to believe a word that pharmaceutical companies say.
Amazing. A dog picks up a message in a bottle and saves a guy's life. How did the dog know there was something of interest in the bottle? Is he just one of those dogs that picks up any bottle and brings it home? I want to know!
He'd be busy around Cambridge, it must be said. Plastic water bottles everywhere this time of year...
Roll on global warming. This is just fantastic, and as it's the hottest day of the year here in the UK and the hottest on record for London, I might as well mark the occasion.
It's certainly nowhere near as hot as here, here or here. Or even here, but it doesn't stop the British from complaining about it. To be fair, it's clearly a national or perhaps even a genetic trait. My daughter absolutely can't deal with the heat and is as grumpy as a hot and grumpy thing. We don't do summer holidays abroad because of this, but hey, with weather like today, I'm not missing it.
Nevertheless, it's essential to find ways of keeping the grumpy thing happy, so we spent the early evening at the outdoor pool not far from here. The pool sits between the green and the river and is a fantastic place to cool off when the weather is warm enough to heat the water, but you really have to be quite mad to swim there otherwise (which probably explains why one of our neighbours is working on a short film about the pool regulars).
The water was lovely and cool and completely perfect for today's weather. I expect it's going to be a regular destination for us over the next few days.
Wow. What a brilliant article. Defeat the Right in 3 Minutes from the Conceptual Guerrilla.
(via Ken)
Millions of Chinese babies wearing (and disposing of) disposable nappies.
Well, at least Kimberly Clark and Proctor and Gamble will be doing well. And that's all that's important, isn't it?
A new frogphoto in the photolog, using a groovy Velvia slide film PhotoShop Action effect thanks to Clayton. I think it's jolly lovely, myself.
I've commented on this before, but I hate the fact that people, governments, whatever, have decided that there is some sort of undeniable truth and anyone that doesn't see it is at worst evil, or at best, simply misguided. I've seen this over gun control and globalisation and definitely over issues relating to "socialist" policies such as medicine and education that certain political persuasions find so abhorrent.
Democracy has very narrow meanings for these people. Yes, you can vote freely, but only for what we tell you to vote for.
Via the War in Context, a Washington Post article, Let Iraqis Decide What to Privatize (sic).
A little post for my girl who's been nagging me for a pet rat. Using rats to sniff out landmines strikes me as a rather excellent idea. I wonder, will we be seeing sniffer rats scurrying around airports as well?
I hear that tea is really good for you and if this is true, then I'll live to be a hundred. I go through at least 3 or 4 litres these last few days and now I consider it my duty to Queen and country to convert the locals to iced tea in the hope that one day I'll get it in a restaurant. Ideally with breakfast, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.
Anyway, this is a Burnt Toast approved method of making iced sun tea like I had when I were a lass.
You need a large glass jug or jar. For each litre of water you need about 5 tea bags. Just pour the cold water over the teabags and put the jug in the sun for a couple of hours or leave it overnight. Using boiling water tends to make the tea quite bitter and cloudy, so don't.
You can sweeten to taste, but I use around 8 spoons of sugar and a half a lemon per litre (yeah, so I like it sweet!). Use lots of ice - not just one sad cube, you silly people - and a couple of leaves of mint if you like.
Lovely. Honest.
"Network Rail imposed the limits on many of Britain's busiest lines, amid fears of rails buckling in temperatures of up to 33C."
Erm, do we use particularly crap metal or something? It's a running joke - hard to believe someone's not taking the piss.
What is it about photographing critters that's so appealing? I went through rather a lot of bytes resulting in these here.
I did have a great opportunity to get a lovely little ladybird. I took around 20 shots and was sure one would come out, but when I got upstairs, there was nothing useful. Damn - well, he was quite slow-moving, so I' thought I'd run back down and try again only to find two fat frogs where the ladybird was.
The little bastards.
It must be hover-fly week or something. I spent all day in the garden, much of it in pursuit of good hoverfly photo ops. I failed miserably, but Planarchy and Sensitive Light managed the shots I was trying for.
[Update: And butterflies! Lots and lots of butterflies! Wow.]
Poo. Must not shop for digital cameras...
A report about the aging of Italy's population makes me wonder. Why can't these things be opportunities? With some parts of the world (the south of England's housing shortage springs to mind) becoming over-crowded, declining populations in another seem like opportunities for some people movement.
Living in remote Italian villages isn't for everyone, but I loved it. School are a bit complicated, but with huge populations of Brits taking over Spanish towns, it seems as though there's something that could be done.
It seems far better, and much more interesting, than encouraging people to have more children.
How very scary. According to the Independent "Washington has admitted the existence of a list, possibly hundreds or even thousands of names long, of people it deems worthy of special scrutiny at airports."
Basically these people are anti-war types, although the ACLU is still trying to find out exactly what these people have done to be deemed worthy for the list.
Considering how public blog posts are, it'd be worth worrying about, I think. I was just beginning to think that things were calming down and people were getting a grip, but it sounds like speaking out could have unforseen consequences. I hope it's an over-reaction on the part of the press, I really do.
Finally, they've developed an inexpensive test that can distinguish between infected and vaccinated foot-and-mouth cattle.
The other night we were talking with some friends who had noticed an increase in the number of butterflies about this summer. I can only attribute this to improvements in the way that we look at urban greenspaces.
Here in Cambridge, for example, they've been leaving rough edges on the greens and other common areas, allowing local plants and wildflowers to flourish. Even our tidiest parks have small areas devoted to wild grasses and plants that not so many years ago were considered weeds. The correlation seems obvious.
Even the government is becoming aware of the benefits of biodiversity and is setting targets to "improve the lot of wildlife living on land which it owns."
The Government Estate includes about 1% of the UK's entire land mass, including prisons and derelict industrial sites, which are ideal for this sort of initiative in my opinion. I like the fact that the Treasury Green now has a little pond with newts and tadpoles (I want newts!).
Now, I'm off to tidy up my own wildlife meadow (otherwise known as my front "garden").
...most definitely (from Doin' Time, by the sublimely evil Sublime ).
I always have to laugh at how certain people brand anything they disagree with as "evil". It seems more prevalent amongst the far right and the crassly libertarian (the muslaahjiyeen types, not the jolly, legalise cannabis libertarians). Could they be reflecting their own subconscious fears that it is they themselves that are actually evil (should such a thing even exist)?
Anyway, this rather half-arsed rumination comes after reading some nice and timely rants against the Catholic church and the papacy by Jim and Justin (the former courtesy of the latter).
I like the way Matt managed a domain name that didn't show a preference for favorite over favourite or color over colour, but that's not really the point...
Actually, he's trying to find out the web's favourite colour. So far it's a rather nice, institutional green.