Bowie not interested in "honours"
"Bowie said he was not interested in gongs. 'I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that,' he said.
'I seriously don't know what it's for. It's not what I spent my life working for."

Holiday Snowglobe

Who's in charge of the Internet?
Interesting essay on the control and management (or lack of) of the internet.

Very funny "alternative" London Tube Map tubemap.jpg. I love the stream of conciousness naming of the stations as you follow a tube line along.

Two nice MS Word parodies...
BBspot - Word 2004 to Pioneer AutoUnsummarize Feature

"Microsoft announced a revolutionary new feature will appear in Word 2004 called AutoUnsummarize. The technology works by taking short, concise sections of text and expanding them to any specified length."

Northern Word

"All the usual Word menu option are there, but in a language your Northern England employees can understand"

Thunderbirds are Go!
I loved thunderbirds as a wee lad, and I suppose I still do !
I noticed this Thunderbirds trailer is go! at BoingBoing (a blog worth regular visits). The trailer is pretty big, but the thunderbird craft (the stars of the show) look pretty authentic.
It prompted me to check here: comingsoon.net which has some stills and blurb, and then here: IMDb Forum: Thunderbirds which contains some worrying stories about a butchered screenplay... :-( lets just hopw they're wrong.

St Trevor of Brooking tells it like it really ought to be !
Trevor's opinion piece in the Guardian Our good health is refrershingly spot on.

"The relationship between sport and alcohol does not have to be a disaster for the nation's wellbeing"

The World's best looking bands
Another to add to the "Worster Album Covers Ever" collections.
[see See earlier item]

David Byrne turns PowerPoint into art.
Wired News: Turning Heads With PowerPoint

Mr. Picassohead Great Fun - have a go !

elgooG Funtastic mirroring technology... take a look - and try a search (watch out you hit the right button).

The CIA Assassination of John Lennon
Just because you're paranoid... single page comic strip on the death of Lennon.

George Monbiot on the oil crisis.
This article Bottom of the barrel addresses the most critical issue facing our "civilisation". I have been (semi) following this for a couple of years, since seeing a BBC Monry Program TV show, and then hearing a Radio 4 science show, which in both cases even the most rose-tinted optimistic predictions of oil reserves vs peak usage had seriously scary implications.
Read this article, and see if you can answer the question:

"The world is running out of oil - so why do politicians refuse to talk about it?"

Politicians: Professional Communicators who can't communicate...?
I expect everyone heard about the award to Donald Rumsfeld

United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has won Plain English Campaign's annual 'Foot in Mouth' award for the most baffling statement by a public figure.

His winning entry:

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns"

However, as Simon Hoggart reports this week, we can be justly proud of our very own Mr John Prescott, who apparently said:

"I don't know, in conversations with the Tory administration may have meant no, if you look on the record they have no money to put into the housing, but I'm afraid that the kind of reforms, we brought, in fact if you look at resources I have been looking on the record of the spokesman for opposition, who in fact, the secretary of state, there are six secretaries of state so I can't keep up with them, anyway, the one who's the leader of the group of secretaries of state at the moment, and he has had I think in his case the housing investment over the five or six years halved during that period has doubled over the same period of my administration!"

JP Brown's Serious LEGO - CubeSolver

"This robot solves the 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube®.
I started to think about this problem in about August of 2000. In Jan 2001 fellow Mindstorms forums user 'agiecco' announced his intention to work on a robotic solution and, simultaneously, I saw that Rubik's Cubes were on sale at www.target.com. So I bought a couple of cubes and started getting down to business..."

Delayed GNER Wi-Fi train trial steams out

UK train company GNER yesterday began a free, 19-day Wi-Fi trial on board rail services out of London's Kings Cross to Scotland and the North of England."

[See earlier item]

Umberto Eco on The future of books

"Vegetal and mineral memory: The future of books
The city of Alexandria played host on 1 November to the renowned Italian novelist and scholar Umberto Eco, who gave a lecture in English, on varieties of literary and geographic memory, at the newly opened Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Al-Ahram Weekly publishes the complete text of the lecture"

OK, confession, I skimmed this as it's pretty long... however he makes some interesting points on the relationship between techonologies and "books", and where he see's things going...

Whistle blows at West Ham

"Plc under fire from disillusioned shareholders with a blueprint to protect the club from poachers"

This looks like a genuinely serious attempt wrestle control of West Ham from the current board. Interesting to see "fans" actually tackling the board via corporate means...
More coverage over at KUMB

Modeling the Internet.

"This project was created to make a visual representation of a space that is very much one-dimensional, a metaphysical universe".

This fantastic image (quite large) looks rather like a map of a galaxy to me...

thepictureofeverything.com Freaky !

Slashdot on Ways to Beat the Telecommuting Blues
Some interesting commentary on the pros and cons of telecommuting. I have worked from home for the last year or so, in my current job, and before that various other roles at Oracle enabled me to work from home.

The Guardian - Why I love Balamory
Funny piece on Balamory, the greatest kids show on TV !
I actually love this show... it shares many of the best characteristics from the seminal 60's trilogy (holy trinity ?) of Camberwick Green/Trumpton/Chigley, with characters identified by their own individual songs and occupations.
Charlie loves balamory (or "More More" as he calls it) too, which is good, as I sometimes let him watch it with me.

Where have all the cool people gone?
Guardian article on Shoreditch - an area I've come to know a little since joining object 1, who've been based there throughout the trendy years. Seems like once people as un-hip as me get to work there, it's all down hill...
[see See earlier item]

LURGI Strikes Britain.
We in our house were recently struck down by a horrible stomach-bug-virus-thing.... all OK now, however I had no time to post here for a while... so - big catchup with several items posted today [note that the dates are when the items were originally spotted by me, rather than when they were posted/published onto this blog].

What would the Victorians have made of the interweb?
THE VICTORIAN INTERNET is a wonderful (if slightly mixed quality) set of contributions from readers... well worth a look.

Comment on Online Music Biz.
I found I agreed with just about all of Michael Robertson's views on the current online "goldrush" for digital music.
DRM music goldrush is a race for losers: mp3.com founder talks to The Register"

Christmas toys for kids of all ages.
Anne Taintor Inc. - Cool Coasters, Magnets, Notebooks, Photo Albums and More!
iwantoneofthose.com gadgets & gizmos, gift ideas & games for a cool lifestyle from
boysstuff.co.uk Boys Stuff Big Boys Toys, Gifts For Birthday, New Gadgets, Weird Ideas, Men's Toys, Christmas Presents, Gifts For Men, Gifts For Women & Men's Toys

Bowie UK concert review by distractions friend Gavin
RELAXED BOWIE AT HIS BEST - By Gavin Martin - Mirror Music Critic
It seems I have missed both Bowie & Sylvian tours this year - shame on me (where ARE my priorities!?).

Doodle oodle noodleThe 3d Tube Map - Amazing !
[see See earlier item]

The truth about mobile phones and driving from The Register - interesting coment and some clarification on the law that comes into effect in December.

Football look-alikes.
A bunch of these were doing the rounds last week... I received the same email from 3 sources. Strange thing is, somebody had downloaded the pics from football365.com and then emailed them around in a Word doc..
Some links
Football365.com: "FOOTBALL LOOKALIKES"
Football look-alikes: Some the "original ones" from a couple of years ago...

Same old jibes, same fake statistics
I was discussing Simon Hoggart's political sketch columns with Ciaran & Ray recently... this is a good example of his work. I find his stuff amusing and well informed. This sort of coverage helps to provide perspective and make sense of our stupid political system and the strange people we elect/end-up-with. If you read these columns regularly (usually 3 or 4 a week when parliament is sitting) a nice picture emerges of the various ventral characters, you feel reasonably well informed, and don't have to plow through all the serious politcal coverage.

How To Make It Big in the New Music Biz - A Step by Step Guide
Looks like an interesting read for those in the music biz... free download of the first chapter available.

Worster Album Covers Ever II:
[see earlier Worst Album Covers Ever]

Berklee Shares: free music lessons, mp3, quicktime and pdf files download: "free music lessons that you can download, share and trade with your friends and fellow musicians."

Orwell Today: "Comparing the world George Orwell described in '1984' with the world we are living in today,"

Italy & Europe.
Very Funny. Italian short movie (shockwave, quite large, worth the wait) comparing and contrasting Italy with "Europe" (although in many cases I think you could substitute London for Italy)

num1000remix
Mad Japanese techo-animation thing... [quite large - requires Flash].

Bluejacking?
I noticed this new trend recently...

"using a phone with Bluetooth, you can create a phonebook contact and write a message, eg. 'Hello, you've been bluejacked', in the 'Name' field. Then you can search for other phones with Bluetooth and send that phonebook contact to them. On their phone, a message will popup saying ''Hello, you've been bluejacked' has just been received by Bluetooth' or something along those lines. For most 'victims' they will have no idea as to how the message appeared on their phone. So, personalised messages like 'I like your pink top' and the startled expressions that result is where the fun really starts."

UPDATE: Covered by The Reg today too: Bluetooth boom spawns 'bluejacking'

Worst Album Covers Ever
[to go along with the earlier Album Cover Challenge]

"Trailor Trash" Fashion update.... [see See earlier item]

You thought we were serious?"Maybe I'm a superficial kinda person but when I see someone on Shoreditch High Street wearing a 'Happy Bill's Garage' T-shirt, I do not think, 'My, isn't it awful how eastenders mock the poverty of Alabama', but rather, 'People in Hoxton dress really weird.' Like I said, this may be a reflection of my own shortcomings, but I suspect it is closer to the reaction the wearer intends."

Ooh aah . . . the day Eric went too far The real story of that Eric Cantona quote...?

In the second set of exclusive extracts from his autobiography the SAS veteran ( Michael 'Ned' Kelly), who spent ten years as Manchester United chief of security reveals the truth..."
Also covered by the BBC here.

Scam o Rama: "HARRY POTTER AND THE CAULDRON OF SCAMS

"I couldn't quite believe how long this 419er to catch the Harry Potter theme on. I wanted to see just how hard I could yank."

The Big Smoke Debate
Do the survey - express your views (suggested by PaulF)..:

"The chance to have your say about passive smoking.
The London Health Commission is running the Big Smoke Debate to find out your views on smoking in enclosed public places: cafes, shopping centres, taxis, offices, restaurants, pubs, bars and railway stations."

magician being mauled by tiger - totally genuine !
My colleague Dan passed this one along.. I can only echo his words of caution...

"A bit rough this one, it's genuine footage of that magician being mauled by a tiger. You actually see the tiger creep up and attack the poor bloke. It's a bit shocking and not for the faint hearted, so dont say you haven't been warned."

Album Cover Challenge
One for the muso's...

"The challenge is this: there are sixty album covers - some better known than others, but none willfully obscure - from which the artist and title information has been removed. Can you identify all the albums and provide the missing information?"

Darkening of a nation: Nick Cohen from today's Observer - frightening and insightful comment.

"Basic civil liberties are in dire jeopardy when anti-terrorist laws are used for day-to-day policing "

The Great Library of Amazonia
This was covered in a number of places, however this Wired article is a very nice (quite long) story on just what is happening in the world of digitising the contents of books.

So hip it hurts
I read this in Thursday's Guardian... about "trailor trash chic" in Shoreditch... my company's HQ is in shoreditch so I'm a regular visitor to the area, and whilst I certainly have noticed a high "piercing quotient" ... I've yet to see evidence of this trend. The article seems to be taking things just a little too seriously though...

"The poverty of America's deep south - where I grew up - is now imitated by Britain's trendiest. How sick is that?
It can be somewhat disconcerting to walk down my high street. Men stroll past wearing US-style gas station attendant shirts with round patches that say Ed, or Bubba. Or some have T-shirts that say 'I Love Daytona Beach' or 'Eat at Jimbo's BBQ'. These guys all seem to have baseball caps on, too, usually advertising something like a fishing tackle shop on the front, with camouflage around the side. And the hats, more often than not, sit on top of mullets that look straight out of 1979.
But it's not just the men. Women totter by on 1980s, brightly coloured high heels, and I hear the clank of chunky, cheap plastic bracelets. It's not unlike finding yourself as an extra for a film set on a trailer park in the US. Except that I'm not in Redneckville, Georgia - I'm in London's trendy Shoreditch."

The flight to India
Interesting comment piece from George Monbiot in today's Guardian about outsourcing of service jobs from Britain to India.
I like his angle "The jobs Britain stole from the Asian subcontinent 200 years ago are now being returned" however, where he suggests "There is a profound historical irony here", I think rather than an irony, this is a simple Karmic reaction. There's also some good liberal angst about the both positive and negative effects of such changes in the balance of wealth.... where will it all end.
On a related note, here's an interesting idea: Britain should outsource politicians' jobs to India

"MPs in India are paid significantly less than their UK equivalents and have lower expense claims."

'unswoosher' - anti-logo Black Spot sneaker
Interesting anti-nike suggestion from the Adbusters - site worth a browse too.

"Adbusters has been doing R&D for more than a year, and guess what? Making a shoe - a good shoe - isn't exactly rocket science. With a network of supporters, we're getting ready to launch the blackSpot sneaker, the world's first grassroots anti-brand. You can help launch the blackSpot revolution."

EFF: MP3 Caper: Nice Flash Animation/Movie from the EFF, as part of their commentary and campaign regarding P2P and music downloading.

"If artists get paid when we share files, then artists win, we win, and yes -- even the RIAA wins."

The Amazing Baconizer
It seems they trawl the Amazon recommendation engine for links between items - Give it a try...

"Describe two items and see how they're linked by consumer preference via intermediate items. Choose from books, CDs, or films, and you can mix and match."

Spammers struggle with words - intersting insight into the current arms-race between the spammers (bad-guys!) and anti-spam software/tools (good-guys!).

They Found Nemo!

knockoff*project:

"Album cover spoofs, goofs, tributes, send ups, near misses and coincedences."

This is worth a read, somebody who should be given money and told to "make it so" !
TV's Tipping Point: Why The Digital Revolution Is Only Just Beginning
"Text of the speech by Ashley Highfield, Director of BBC New Media & Technology, at the Royal Television Society on Oct 6"

Suing Your Customers: A Winning Business Strategy? Sane comment from Wharton University on the state of play of Music/Downloading. Very interesting comparrison with US automotive industry from 100 years ago.

Funny: New "R&B Hit generator" Software.. see screenshot (Suggested by Ciaran).

Tube Map with Walklines:

"For some journeys it's really not worth getting on the tube: it takes a long time, and costs you money. Sometimes it's quicker and easier to walk.

A a whole bunch of links I collected before and after our holiday's in France at the end of September.
Funnies:

SkyHigh
AirlinesStriving for mediocrity !
cheap_ipod.jpgCut out and keep
Beard and Moustache Categories: World Beard Championships
Hoom! Maps and Walking Directions Multi-Map for Middle-Earth
IT Horoscopes - September 2003
The Best of British. British American Dictionary.

Websuff:

Picture of Our Galaxy (get things in perspective)
Silent sounds hit emotional chords This reminds me of some comments a guy made during a (ahem) focus group session during the efforts to startup WNC. His point was about the impact of sound waves so low as to be inaudible to us, yet still able
to have an effect on us. If "lossy" codecs such as mp3 only contain sounds considerd to be audible to the human ear, how does this affect our perception of music ?
Panderers in Japan:
"Japander:n.,& v.t. 1. a western star who uses his or her fame to make large sums of money in a short time by advertising products in Japan that they would probably never use. ~er (see synecure, prostitute) 2. to make an ass of oneself in Japanese media."
Wired News: Swollen Orders Show Spam's Allure- so these are the people who respond to spam !?!
RED HERRING | The Business of Technology - makes a return - is it boom time again ?

David Byrne: Some recent coverage of DB & Talking Heads:

Byrne has a new soundtrack CD out for
the film "Young Adam", and there is a new Talking Heads retrospective Box set due for release.
The Observer Magazine: "This much I know David Byrne, musician, 51, New York"
TH Fan site news item
rollingstone.com TH Box coverage
Amazon Listing for TH Box

More on the stupidity of downsizing and outsourcing technical staff.
This article at the Inquirer: The missing parts of the HP-Compaq jigsaw is a letter from an a Compaq/HP insider, and (assuming it is genuine, and it sounds scarily genuine) is a great example of some really stooooopid corporate "thinking".
[see See earlier item]

Counterculture landmark: the beat goes on

City Lights bookshop, a San Francisco institution, notches up 50 years as the spiritual home of writers such as Ginsberg and Kerouac

Free PDF eBooks - 1-10:

"Planet PDF is now offering an assortment of some of the most popular classics -- free! Help yourself to them, and feel free to share them with your friends."

Groove armada: 5 MP3 players previewed : "which model exudes enough mass-market mojo to topple Apple's uber toy from the top of the MP3 roost? You be the judge." (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm - gadgets)

eBay auction for a song bought from the iTunes music store
Very interesting testing of law: Does the Right of First Sale Still Exist?

[This guy] just posted an eBay auction for a song I bought from the iTunes music store. It should be interesting to see how this works out. I only spent $0.99 on it but I bought the song just as legally as I would a CD, so I should be able to sell it used just as legally right?"

Very Funny and spot on satire: The Onion | Tanzania Loses Name To Tanning-Salon Chain

Dumping the wrinklies causing massive hi tech problem
Interesting article on "Institutional Memory", and the loss of knowledge caused through wholesale outsourcing of key customer services. I came across a (very tiny) example of this at work recently, where turnover of staff in a small department over a couple of years meant a steady incremental decline in skills/knowledge for a specific semi-technical job, resulting in nobody who really knew the capabilities of the technology in use. I also just had a "courtes ycall" from BT, a very polite chap in New Dehli. I chatted to him briefly about the whole outsourcing thing, and wondered if he was aware of Indian outsoucers losing out to "even cheaper" places, like the former Eastern Europeans (like Poland). He said he was aware of competetion from the Philippines, but not Eastern Europe. I think that there's a lot of very stupid short-termism involved in the kind of management thinking which doesn't value customer service staff, and generally agree with the points raised in the article.
Related Links:

Earlier item on "the new paradigm of the support economy" and "Deep Support"
Infrastructure can't match business boom in India's high-tech city

We are all time wasters now [potential audience for distractions blog growing ?]

One in three small business owners and managers are setting a bad example to their workforce by wasting time on the internet and sending humorous emails rather than working. " Link

ZDNet UK - Special Reports - Hot (spot) in the city - a Wi-Fi tour of London
"Wi-Fi hot spots are springing up around London. ZDNet UK's intrepid reporters set out to find out if the services live up to the frothy hype."

Viruses, Worms & Malware:
Good article here for non-techies wanting to better understand the various PC/Internet worms and viruses etc threatening our world:
PC protection for procrastinators "DON'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT BIG ATTACK TO DEFEND YOURSELF"

RSS, News feed Aggregation
After reading some articles a couple of weeks ago:

• Silicon Valley - Dan Gillmor's eJournal - RSS Hitting Critical Mass
  
• Wired News: Aggregators Attack Info Overload

I have been experimenting with RSS Applications (read the articles for a good intro to RSS). Curently I've settled on Bloglines, which a simple browser based tool (free subscription required). I also tried a couple of the tools mentioned in the articles (newsmonster & amaphetadesk), however the simplicity of the bloglines service is winning (and no installation needed on your PC).

More comment on pay-for online content. Readers 'can't pay, won't pay' for content
[See earlier item]

RollingStone.com: "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" - Discuss...

Friday Funnies:

Suggested by Minos: City of Los Angeles High School Math Proficiency Exam. I think this is actually quite old, but still funny... i seem to remember a similar UK version, spun for Madchester.

I liked this: Dell Patents "Reboot and See If That Fixes It" Tech Support Process
Round Rock, TX - Dell announced that they had been granted a patent for the 'reboot and see if that fixes it' technical support process, which they pioneered.
'We're really taking our cue from other industries,' said CEO Michael Dell. 'The American Medical Association patented the 'let's see if that hurts tomorrow' treatment plan and General Motors patented the 'turn it off and start it up again' fixing process for automobiles.'"

Bowie covers Sigue Sigue Sputnik Shock!

DB has chosen to cover Sigue Sigue Sputnik's 1986 #3 hit, Love Missile F1-11.
New Killer Star DVD Only Single Tracklisting
01 New Killer Star Video
02 Love Missile F1-11 (Audio Only)
03 Reality EPK Video
New Killer Star is released on Iso/Columbia Records September 29th - Reality is released on Iso/Columbia Records September 15th.

More info at Bowie News

The Observer - 10 best sports photographs some great photos and nice explanations.

Internet FAQ Archives: "This archive contains Usenet Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) postings in HTML format and in text format."

Stumbled accross this...Aug 27 Demonstrations against EU Software Patent Plans and signed the petition. Scary stuff, looks like some seriously stupid patent laws have been proposed. take a look.

No excuses needed to link to www.shuttleworths.co.uk. If you don't know John Shuttleworth, then get acquainted !

West Ham
I'm left feeling pretty cold by the shameful antics at my favourite club. Seems to be a very poorly and mis-managed operartion. To see the squad of fine young talent decimated, and the club operating so close to financial disaster is very sad.
At least St Trevor is back in charge of the team for a while.... I'm just praying we don't get George Graham for manager (can you imagine) !
Best coverage I've found (beyond the mainstream papers & BBC) is over at this fan site: Knees Up Mother Brown.

Nice amusingly curmudgeonly article by Martin Kelner on the guardian football site (mentions PC viri, the new football season, living in Yorkshire and the recent radio5 ads which have been airing on BBC TV) - could almost be me writing it !

Site about nothing - Page of Everything
Suggested by Lou.... nice idea, if only life were really so simple... maybe it is....? :-)

Yorkshire chucks money at broadband - that'll be us at OLD Catterick too then - Woohoo !

Around £1.4 million ($2.2 million) of public sector cash is being used to help bring broadband to Yorkshire and the Humber region.

Overly fawning Sylvian interview/article...The other side of pop life. just how many song/album titles can she crowbar into the piece !

Flashmobs (cont)... [see earlier item]
Looks like the 2nd London Flash Mob did take place last night... London Flash Mob Singin' in the Rain
Also found this...: Day in the life of a flash mobber - Web User News

Spam (spam spam)...
We all receive them, and we all try to tolerate them... however, once in a while one of them catches your eye.
Yesterday I received a spam email which is simply stunning:

Subject: Selling Has By No Means Occur As A Result Calm! qfjjsnajwqkzes

The "product" touted promises to cure just about all ills... I found a copy (though this vesrion has a much less impressive subject line) of the mail here.

NTK (NEED TO KNOW)
A Friday thing... I'm an occasional rather than regular NTK reader, however if you don't know it take a look: http://www.ntk.net
Some nice links in their >> MEMEPOOL <<

Flashmobs (cont)...[see previous item]
A work colleague of mine (Happy Birthday Emma !) received an email from the London FlashMob gang, which alerts of a London Mob event tomorrow (Thursday August 21st). lots of intrigue & skullduggery, involving meeting in pubs based upon your star sign.... hmmmm.
Also liked this parody site/feature Flashmugging.com - flash mobs are fun, but beware of flashmuggers

Collina - the best ref in the world ?
From the Guardian: "In an extract from his new autobiography, Pierluigi Collina reflects on a World Cup clash to savour"

The speech accent archive - another one for Louise.

This site examines the accented speech of speakers from many different language backgrounds reading the same sample paragraph.

I was discussing "soccer agents" recently with my friend Simon and a friend of his who works in PR for the Football Association. I am staggered that players give so much power and money to their agents. Why does an established star want to give somebody 20% of a transfer deal... just for (it seems to me) attending a few meetings and sending a few faxes. This Guardian article from Saturday is worth a read, and points out how complicit the clubs are too...
Soccer agents: the ugly face of the beautiful game

Interesting piece by Brian Eno in yesterday's Observer: Lessons in how to lie about Iraq:

"The problem is not propaganda but the relentless control of the kind of things we think about"

From the "Never too old to get over-excited about nebulous technology Press Releases Department".....:
GNER to spend £1m on Wi-Fi trains - Woohoo !
This is my regular ride to London, from oop-north... so this would be great if it happens.

Happy Birthday Flacky - you old git !

Signs you are a grown up (cont.)
We just swapped our Audi A3 (sporty hatchback) for a Ford Galaxy MPV, in silver.
These links seemed appropriate...:
Pass notes - Silver Van Woman
and here's [flash animation] an outlet for my liberal angst at owning a big car...

George W Bush Action Figures
These have been posted in a number of places, thought I'd collect this together as it's pretty funny...:
This Elite Force Aviator: George W. Bush - U.S. President and Naval Aviator - 12" Action Figure (it's real, honest) - celebrating Dubya's "historic Aircraft Carrier landing on May 1st 2003" has prompted this item on ebay Texas ANG George W Bush Action Figure, which appears to celebrate this.

BookCrossing
I heard a small feature on BookCrossing on Radio4 this morning (they disscussed Blogging a few weeks ago too !), something I'd discovered and forgotton a year or so ago.
The "3 Rs" of BookCrossing...

* Read a good book (you already know how to do that)
* Register it here (along with your journal comments), get a unique BCID (BookCrossing ID number), and label the book
* Release it for someone else to read (give it to a friend, leave it on a park bench, donate it to charity, "forget" it in a coffee shop, etc.), and get notified by email each time someone comes here and records journal entries for that book. And if you make Release Notes on the book, others can Go Hunting for it and try to find it!

See their website: BookCrossing.com

I liked this geek-humour cartoon regarding Mars' historic closest aproach to earth over at Userfriendly.

My friends Adam & Sam have got their CD available online at Tower Records.
Also, Tower's US site has some audio samples.

The Periodic Table of Condiments.
[via GMSV off topic]

Apparently, today is: Yorkshire Day, 1st August 2003, Yorkshire Pride.
Big Up Respect in da Area, Innit ! (As we say in Catterick Village).

Anyone aware of or been following developments in some new online friends/networking tools/services...?
I expect I am behind the times in just noticing these now, but...

Tribe.net
Tribe.net is an online social networking service that connects the people in your personal networks and community, creating a new resource that's based on a trusted web of your friends and associates.
Friendster
Friendster is an online community that connects people through networks of friends for dating or making new friends.

RICK WAKEMAN AND BOWIE'S HUNKY DORY
The following from a radio interview with Jonathon Ross...

RW: He said, 'I've always done stuff from an acoustic guitar point of view so I want to do all these songs from a piano point of view'. He said 'so I want you to play them in the style you play and I will make the band and everything work round it' - and one by one he just kept playing these songs like, you know, Life On Mars?, Changes and I'm going......
JR: Can you imagine sitting there hearing it for the first time.
RW: And it was astonishing and I said 'David most albums have got one decent track and you've got some blinders here' I mean every track was a blinder!

Bowie remembers things differently... his response for BowieNet:

"Lovely fella, Rick, however his memory is as loopy as mine in some places. Several songs on Hunky Dory were written on piano, e.g. Life On Mars? and Changes for starters, not guitar. I played my plodding version and Rick wrote the chords down then played them with his inimitable touch."

Correct use of the (Japanese) toilet - Serious, yet Funny.

I've been travelling by train (GNER: Darlington - KingsX) back and forth to london very regularly over the past couple of months, pretty much every week. I've met some interesting people, including a Catholic Priest (who studied with monks), a child psychiatrist (heading to York Uni to give a lecture), and most recently a real live professor with a big beard (Hi Roy).
We had an intersting chat, he works on government statistics for the health and education departments. He published this book Consumption, Jobs and the Environment: A Fourth Way? (Global Issues)

Commercial Breaks and Beats :: The UK TV Advert Music Database
Thanks to Bruce for the tip, reminded me of the old and much loved favourite TV trivia resource centre, TVCream - another great argument settler.

Charlie has just begun calling me "Dadda"... at last !

We watched and enjoyed Catch Me If You Can recently, highly entertaining. Particularly enjoyed the 3 main actors, and lots of light humour throughout - mainstream movie, done well. I was interested to know how "true" (or not) the story was, and found this statement by Frank W. Abagnale at his consulting site, Abagnale & Associates, he're an extract...:

"I wrote the book, Catch Me If You Can, more than 23 years ago. Obviously, this was written from my perspective as a 16-year old with the help of a co-writer (I'm now 54 and I sold the movie rights in 1980). I was interviewed by the co-writer only about four times. I believe he did a great job of telling the story, but he also over dramatized and exaggerated some of the story. That was his style and what the editor wanted. He always reminded me that he was just telling a story and not writing my biography. This is one of the reasons that from the very beginning, I insisted the publisher put a disclaimer in the book and tapes."

Really... Code monkeys !
Higher Primates Can Program

Some of Bob Hope's greatest one-liners: Best of Bob
I rather like:
"A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it."
&
"When she started to play, Steinway came down personally and rubbed his name off the piano."

The future was so bright (Salon)
Wired's techno-idealism jolted America before it flamed out. Gary Wolf's new book vividly recalls the magazine's wild and woolly saga, but leaves the big question hanging: Was it right?
Premium Content - Requires watching an advert to access.
Reminded me of this history of Wired UK.

Family Picnic Photos Online (via my Dad)

Accessible Odeon website
Interesting and funny... Have you ever tried fighting with the Odeon's website ... a really good example of really bad design !
This guy has (Accessible Odeon website) taken it upon himself to deobfuscate/redesign/re-front-end the Odeon's "unusable" site... (about time).

What Are the Odds of Dying?
and if that stresses you out...anxietyandstress.com

Geektools site includes a number of useful resources, including this guide to London Hotels Offering Hi-Speed Net Access

A number of articles discussing "pay for" online content following the Guardian's decision to roll out "premium online services"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/31634.html
http://www.paidcontent.org/pc/arch/2003_07_09.shtml#002401
http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/000528.php

Came across this after my Dad forwarded an email regarding the dangers of heating water in a Microwave Oven...
Unwise Microwave Oven Experiments

This interview with Cory Doctorow, main man behind the widely read blog BoingBoing mentioned these great London resouces...:
http://www.hotspotted.com/
Hotspotted helps people connect to the internet in the places they want to.
http://www.streetsensation.co.uk/
London's favourite streets. Entire streetscapes showing over 2,750 shops, bars and restaurants in the liveliest areas of London.

23, is a Magic Number (Apperently)...
Why did Becks choose 23?
Why 23 is so sought after in sport
mystical number has affected the course of history
A brief history of No. 23

Oooops !
Chelski update!
Looks like it may well have been The Sun who came up with the "Chelski" name... see: Russian tycoon swoops for Chelsea FC.
Interesting that a Google news search didn't pick up the Sun article [I guess it only searches news sites !].

First Spotting: new name for chelsea FC, "Chelski"
Hats off to the Gauardian's article for comming up with the (seems obvious now!) new name in this article: Chelski is born as Russian tycoon buys football club

Error and information messages from software we love (#6,032)
MS Internet Explorer, on startup:
"The Windows Update site has been updated. To update your version of the software and begin using Windows Update, click Update Now."
Er...so, that would be an update then....

As a long term follower of David Sylvian's music, it was interesting to see coverage in a UK daily paper David Sylvian: Songs from the fringe. The piece gives a brief retrospective and some recent quotes around his new (BRILIANT) release "Blemish".
"David Sylvian was a pop pin-up when he led Japan. Now, after years on the frontiers of the avant-garde, he has produced his most personal songs yet."

SCARY ! Covered in several places... however many of my techy and untechy friends have no knowledge of this stuff... This article (I link to the syndicated piece at the register - where I read it first) from Security Focus is a MUST READ, and serves as a good primer on a technology which will be with us very soon, and will (potentially) allow a disturbing level of monitoring of individuals.
RFID Chips Are Here

Cringley's most recent article Sucking Through a Straw - A Bandwidth Drought Is Coming is interesting as always, but I particularly enjoyed his reference to an old story about a Xerox PARC hero... "John Ellenby, who was in charge of building the Altos [prototype networked computer], named his machine Gzunda "because it gzunda the desk."

Ran across this interesting little application/tool IndyJunior - a fully customizable map which you can use to easily display your geographic location. It's apparently named after those nice retro-style animated maps used in the Indiana Jones films which show a transatlantic flight route.

Toilet roll art - sits nicely alongside the post it gallery (see earlier).

We (in our house) were gripped by the recent BBC Drama State of Play which concluded last Sunday. This review sums it all up very nicely...
"Gutted: that Stephen Collins wasn't the man he could have been, that Cal and Anne won't have the happy ever after they deserve, that State of Play (BBC1) has reached its heart-clamping, audaciously honest conclusion. The final episode of Paul Abbott's exemplary drama left you gasping for air, and hoping hopelessly for more."

This was doing the rounds a week or two ago.. absolute genius !
Do (do do) take a look at this is you have ever received one of those Nigerian emails...
The 3rd Annual Nigerian EMail Conference

West ham's Fixtures for the new season (Going Up, Going Up, going Up !)

Michael Haas pointed out this story Oracle Makes Bid to Buy State of Delaware, which is funny in itself & reminded me of the classic Microsoft to Buy Catholic Church (was that really in 1994 !!!), and also that it's been a whie since I looked at the good old onion, still a source of some of the best news-parodies.
Michael also suggested this site Askmen, a 24/7 men's portal.... hmmmmm.... looks like an online "mens glossy mag" (I enjoyed the "7 Ways To Get Instant Respect" article by By Mr. Mafioso.... forgeddaboutit !).

anyone noticed stuff about: Smart Mobs (or Flash Mobs) ?
"New Yorkers are using e-mail to coordinate "inexplicable mobs" — huge crowds that materialize in public places and suddenly dissipate 10 minutes later."
Some links:
cheesebikini (see also his link to Matrix Mobs re-enacting matrix movie scenes in Japan - v.funny)
smartmobs
[Note: straying into the realm of linking to likely A-List Bloggers... tread carefully !]

Silly -
The Post-IT Gallery

In amongst the hyped up Beckham goes to madrid coverage, this article "Transfer tied up 'weeks ago'" suggests what I've thought all along... that "The ending of the Beckham drama has been known for ages".
Interesting, that Beckham who is often portrayed as not the brightest guy, has handled this whole process very wisely. Seems he at least has enough brains to get good advisors !
I think it is a good move for him, he's always overcome every obstacle presented to him, and in his own (daft haircut and silly pop star wifey) way is a great character. (Should have gone to West ham !)

Tuned in to Radio4's In Business program tonight (often worth catching - great "washing up listening"). Interviewing the husband-wife team Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxmin co-authorsof "The Support Economy: Why Corporations Are Failing Individuals and the Next Episode of Capitalism" - all about a "the failure of capitalism" & "the new paradigm of the support economy" and "Deep Support". Their website here - lots of links to reviews and coverage.

World Wide Words - one for Louise :-)
Amazing resource on... words.

Mark Degroot sent me this link to GameBoyEmu - there seems to be a whole community out there dedicated to writing emulators to turn the monster-PC on your desk/lap top into a slower, more interesting machine...

For those who were there in the day of the NOTwork computer...
Rob (i've still got the shares) Evans mentioned this slashdot story about NIC (the "New" Internet Computer) Corp finally going titsup (as they say).
[Eds Note: NIC was a re-incarnation, sort of, of NCI, who were reborn as Liberate, after merging with Navio, who had been part of Netscape, which of course was subsumed by AOL, prior to it's merger with Time Warner, although it looks like AOL may be sold off again. Interestingly, AOL/TW have just ".... er, actually - it's not really that interesting, is it !]

the must have simulator of 2003 - make sure you click the "PLAY NOW" button.
Funny & worth a quick look... thanks to Ali and an ex work colleague of hers...

makeashorterlink.com does exactly what it says on the tin... take a look, it lets you input a complex/horrible/long URL and gives you a shorter one to either bookmark or perhaps pass on to others... go on, try it out !
Here's one: http://makeashorterlink.com/?C669265D4 for a streetmap reference to my house.

If Palms ran Pocket PC....
Saw this image whilst following some rumours about a new Palm Tungston device... (mmmm palm......). Pay special attention to the function buttons.

Came across this site snackspot recently.... funny & informative !
I love that it proclaims itself: "The UK's premier snack information portal" - beautiful !

This story at the register talks about Turbo10.com as a "contender to Google's crown".
Interesting approach, I'm not convinced though... as the reg article says, I like the "liberating white space in Google".

londongeek.org aims to "collect as much information as possible about the dotcom boom in London in the late 1990s".
Might be of interest to those who were there or there-abouts... makes a change from the usual focus on Sillicon Valley.

Starting the distractedbyathing blog - with two Matrix items...
a link to this hillarious Matrix parody movie (Quicktime) "Matrix XP"
and this link to "Matrix Fun & Games" over at the everything2 site - as sugested by Lou.