That Petrol Emotion prove they CAN break into the Top 40 !
It seems the wonderful Mark and Lard have been running a survey to find the "WORST BAND NAMES EVER". As a personal friend to some of the stars of TPE, I'm impressed at their solid position of #35 in the ranking, proving once and for all that they can make the top 40 !
Thanks to RayG for the tip ;-)

Coole Games - Hit the pinguin (HOT!)
More penguin related mayhem - thanks to jamesh for the tip

[See earlier item]

World of Ends Concise and highly clueful essay on the internet... makes lots of points which seem so very obvious, especialy once they are articulated so clearly by somebody else ! Worth a read for anyone interested in the internet and the future of humanity.

What the Internet Is and
How to Stop Mistaking It
for Something Else.

Written by Doc Searls and David Weinberger - who were behind the highly influential (apparently) 1999 book/essay the cluetrain manifesto

Wikitravel
I ran accross this nice site just recently... may be a good introduction to "Wikis" for those who are uninitiated.

Wikitravel is a project to create a free, complete, up-to-date and reliable world-wide travel guide. So far we have 1147 destination guides and other articles written and edited by Wikitravellers from around the globe. Check out the Help page to see how you can edit any page right now.

Apple plays Big Brother
A nice (large, slow to download/play) remix advert pointing out the very strange and outrageous position of the Recording Industry establishment, plus Coke, plus Apple.

Our World Our Say
An interesting site/organisation agitating and petitioning for a proper ("full, independent and open") inquiry as to why Britain went to war with Iraq (er, I thought it was to protect access to Oil, which is running out, and seeing as iraq has the second largest oil reserves....)

Identity
Our World Our Say is a non-party political organisation with no specific religious affiliation.
Mission
Our World Our Say works to give people a voice when politicians circumvent them, particularly over world changing issues. Through re-connecting ordinary citizens with their elected representatives and giving them a voice, we aim to give people power over their own future and invigorate the democratic process.

Ziggy gave-Away Guitaaaaarrhhhaaaarrrsssss ! Bowie Donates 2 Guitars

"David Bowie has been supporting B.A.D.D. Bikers Against Drunk Drivers for over 18 years and has signed two donated Takamine 12-string acoustics. David also personalized them with lyrics to Ziggy Stardust and Rock 'N' Roll Suicide."

Copy-crippled CDs launch in UK
More on this ongoing saga of stupidity... remember, CDs that the record companies call "copy protected" are actually broken, and do not comply with technology standards... don't but copy protected CDs ! If you want to stop piracy, don't pirate your collection or download pirated music.... it's easy !

Crippled CDs that won't play on many CD drives, including car players, crept onto the UK market last month. Of course the CDs, which break the Red Book standard, don't allow you to copy the music. And on some car players they play nothing but silence.

Guardian comment piece Blair's claim is simply incredible.
A former senior intelligence officer challenges Lord Hutton's account.

truly, madly, geeky, you have to love this...Jeff Russell's STARSHIP DIMENSIONS

"this site is intended to allow science fiction fans to get an impression of the true scale of their favorite science fiction spacecraft by being able to campare ships accross genres, as well as being able to compare them with contemporary objects with which they are probably familiar. The scales are based on meter-to-pixel ratios so that they are accurate on any platform"

Tuning in to the surreal voice of God
Thanks to Ciaran for the tip...

"A look at the impact of Maradona’s involvement in a TV talk show."

Aussie Glossie
From Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin's TV web site...

Crikey! What did Steve just say? Learn some popular phrases from the land down under.

Re-established contact with Henning in Denmark today - hi Henning !

Cyberloo blast rocks Stoke-on-Trent
The Register reports on "Roof blown off killer roboconvenience" - hysterical punning report... also see links to his earlier reports, confirming his theory of these incidents being the beginning of "humanity's innevitable war with the machines". Lovely stuff.

Guardian Unlimited Football Columnist Richard Williams on why skilful footballers should be allowed to do their tricks:
Here, here - could not agree more ! - do read the whole piece, but here's a nice extract...:

"....in the first leg of a Carling Cup semi-final, Jay Jay Okocha lined up a free-kick outside the left-hand corner of Aston Villa's penalty area. In front of him stood two defenders, covering the near post. As he prepared to run up, at about 45 degrees to the left of the ball, there could have been only one thing in his mind: to curl it with his instep over the wall and towards the far post. Nothing else was possible.
Instead, despite approaching the ball at that wide angle, Bolton's Nigerian midfield genius contrived to strike it with the outside of his right boot, sending it around the left side of the defensive wall and just inside the near post. Goodness knows how he produced such scorching, snaking velocity at such an unexpected trajectory from such a disguised approach. A double-jointed ankle, perhaps. Or maybe just a double-jointed imagination."

Google Guide: Interactive Tutorial Making Search Even Easier

"Why Take The Google Guide Tutorial?
Google is so easy to use, why take this online tutorial? If you're like many people, you use only a fraction of Google's features and services. The more you know about how Google works, its features and capabilities, the better it can serve your needs."

New Film on Johan Cruyff in Barcelona... Reign in Spain

"When the Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff moved to Barcelona, the people thought he was an angel. Geoffrey Macnab reports on a remarkable film portrait of Catalonia "

Football Anorak - as they say themsleves... "Comprehensive UK Football statistics for gamblers and fans alike"

Guitars!
of interet to some of my guitar playing friends... these high tech art-meets-craft guitars www.teuffelguitars.com
Also, for guitar techies, former Bowie Axe-Man (as they say in rock journalism) Reeves Gabrels discusses technique and rigs and equipment and all that to quite astounding depth on his website Q&A Page
...and another of my fave guitarists goes into even more detail about such stuff on his website: 'splattercell.com'

badgerbadgerbadger
I think I'm late to this one, though I've yet to find anyone who already knows it ?
Hampster[sic] Dance for this century ?