Monday, June 30, 2003
Painting the WeatherNice BBC mini-site dedicated to images of weather in Art. A similar exhibition is on at New Zealand's Te Papa at the moment (I took the boys there in weekend for a bit of a charge-around -- it really is good for kids). # | Friday, June 27, 2003
Me Not WorryJust why wasn't Dubya concerned when told the USA was under a well-organised, multi-pronged terrorist attack on September 11? Instead of jumping up and taking control, he sat in a classroom of kids (they were reading quietly to themselves at the time) for 5 full minutes before doing anything. Insert conspiracy theory here... # | Monday, June 23, 2003
Crap ArtLiterally. One of the 90 tins of shit created by Piero Manzoni in 1961 has been sold to the Tate Gallery for £22,300 (!!). The original price of the cans was valued by the artist (hilariously), as equivalent to price that they would have fetched had the shit been gold. But the Tate have gone one step further and paid a going rate of £745 per gram, nearly £200 pounds more than the equivalent lump of gold would cost. Crap in a can and sell it as gold -- why didn't I think of that? # | Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Why would you write a book?The wife is in the process of tidying up the last few loose ends in her first novel. What drove her to writing in the first place? This guy reckons she must be mad. # |
Large penis enters Parliament
Under the slogan "in gelul kan je niet wonen" (roughly translated "in balls/excrement you cannot live"), the unusual publicity stunt is part of their campaign to get subsidies for student flats. ahaha. Surely not the first time this phrase has been used in relation to politicans and parliament, but probably the first time it's been meant in a non-metaphorical way. Great last paragraph from the reporter... Despite all this stiff competition, the large penis stole the headlines. It remains to be seen however if the MPs will be impressed by the new member. # | Monday, June 16, 2003
The Scamster scammedEver wondered what would happen if you actually bothered to reply, and then go through with one of the Nigerian email scams? Well, so did this guy, and he went the whole way, documenting the story as he went. Fascinating. # | Thursday, June 12, 2003
So uh, where did it go?Florida man Donald Griffith has been paying a monthly sewer bill since 1979, but recently discovered he has a septic tank and has never been connected to the city utility. It begs the question: in 24 years, has he ever had that septic tank emptied? # |
In the thick of it
 The phone goes off at about 8pm last night, and I pick it up, and it's the father-in-law, direct from Gaza, where he's been part of an international medical aid program operating on palestinian children with heart conditions (the sort of minor things that get operated on in a jiffy in western countries, but more often than not lead to premature death in countries where they don't have the necessary surgical skill). Anyway, I pass him on to the wife, and she gets the full story...Apparently, just as he was finishing his shift for the day at the hospital, he headed out to go home. An apache helicopter swooped overhead, and he saw rockets being launched at a target just a few blocks away. He figured he'd stay put, as there were bound to be casualties coming there way, and there were -- and not just any casualties, none other than Hamas political chief Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi. The Hamas honcho turned up with a few, not so serious wounds, but his son had suffered more life-threatening injuries, and was put in the care of my father-in-law. Turns out al-Rantissi is a pediatrician, so the two of them struck it off, and now, it transpires, the father-in-law has been made an 'honorary' Hamas member. Crikey, what an honour. As me and the wife were talking about later, what place could possibly be more dangerous than by the side of a Hamas political figure that the Israelis are publically trying to assassinate (and have already killed two innocent bystanders, and wounded a score more in their attempts). Needless to say, the return of the father-in-law from the warring region is greatly anticipated. # | Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Dumb BushWell, that's interesting. The Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania, led by Dr. Werner R. Lovenstein and Professor Patricia F. Dilliams, have estimated the IQs of every president over the last 50 years and found that first among them, with a 182, was Bill Clinton. He was followed, in order, by Jimmy Carter, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Franklin Roosevelt. And the dumbest? In descending order: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and (ahahaha) his son, the current president, whose 91 charts in at exactly half of Clinton's. 91! (and, actually, 182!) (as the NY Times says, "a fact too good to check", so I'd advise not doing so in this case.) # |
Dodgy
Argh, another online test. Apparently I'm a 'dodgy'. Alright geezer! Fancy yourself as a bit tasty? It may be against the law, but what they don't know won't hurt 'em eh? We know your heart's in the right place… but watch out or that place may be a 3 to 5 stretch in Pentonville with 'Mad' Frank, Harry the Horse and 'Wristy' Rich Richardson. Based on your answers, we have calculated the maximum penalty for your crimes: Years in prison: 36 Potential fine: £7000 # | Tuesday, June 10, 2003
I am a scenester! How indie are you? test by ridethefader You are so indie it hurts. You hang out with the coolest people in your city. It doesn't even bother you that none of them know your name. You know lots of bands personally, you know a couple of guys from We Hate The Mainstream Records, and you blag your way into getting almost everything for free. That fanzine you write gives you extra kudos. You probably don't even care that non-scenesters think you're a pretentious fuck. # |
Rooster blown to smithereens
The case of the 'suicide rooster' had enough interest to be featured in Australian newspapers, and good ol' fark. Mad. The bird, which had canisters with protruding wires strapped to its wings, was spotted by a member of the public in the Christchurch suburb of Sydenham during the morning. Police decided to take no chances and herded the bird up an alleyway and called the army bomb disposal squad, Senior Sergeant Ian Freeman of Christchurch police said. The chicken was put down, and the contents of the canisters strapped to the body were found to be harmless. "He's gone to the big chookery in the sky, which is unfortunate for him, but we've got to sort these things out," Sgt Freeman said. # |
As Gay As It Gets
"It's Gay Night out there. It's amazing." So said Denis O'Hare, honoured as best featured actor for his comic portrayal of a gay accountant suddenly enamored of baseball in Take Me Out. Yes indeed, the 2003 Tony's (US Theatre awards) were a wall-to-wall luvvy luv-fest. # |
More from Baghdad
Another blogger (unearthed by the original, Salam Pax), telling it like it is from 'on the ground' in Iraq. # | Tuesday, June 03, 2003
Zorba The GreekThis is one of those films I suspected I'd seen in a dozen sunday afternoon re-runs, but had no actual recollection of, so the wife and I hired it out to see if it was 'the classic film' the cover purports it to be. It wasn't. Daniel Karson sums it up for me over at IMDB (quick jist: anti-woman, no sympathy, no morality). And the plot is insane. Bates, the Englishman, takes a random liking to Zorba, then, after their initial foray into mining nearly leads to both Zorba, Bates, and a few of the locals deaths (this after burrowing all of 20 metres into the hillside), Bates entrusts the obvious nutter with all his cash so he can get supplies to create some farfetched pulley system for getting trees down off the top of the mountain. The madness. The other weird thing is how this was something of a genre in the middle of last century: An English writer/teacher goes to Greece on some random pretence, meets an enigmatic local, gets enveloped in their plans, which invariably go horribly wrong. See also: The Magus, Who Pays the Ferryman? # |
What kind of OS are you?
 Cool, I even have this sitting around on a CD somewhere waiting for me to take the Linux plunge. # | |
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