Friday, August 31, 2007
Non, je ne regrette rien
Virtual Unreality: WWF (not that WWF) on Second Life:
"Pack your virtual suitcase and head for Conservation Island, a place where an orangutan will sell you an ice cream and a floating panda will be your friend."
Plate tectonics: Manchester hit by sixth earthquake in a month.
Health News: Drug addled elephant in rehab.
Light bulb update: "European consumers will probably have to wait another year before they see the prices of energy-saving light bulbs fall, following a Commission decision to extend anti-dumping duties on imports from China rather than scrap them immediately."
Arsenal bought by the Russian mafia.
On the radio: y'know, the theme from 2001.
Culture night per la famiglia "donut": un film.
iPod-olatory
"Everybody's in a Band" - Two Dollar Guitar
"Satan's Friends" - Experimental Pop Band
"Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" - Genesis
"Twin Falls" - Built to Spill
"Wont' Get to Heaven" - Spriritualized
"Hum" - Bardo Pond
"Silver Rocket" - Sonic Youth
"Swastika Eyes" - Primal Scream
"I Won't Back Down" - Johnny Cash
"Expect Snakes" - The Anomoanon
Labels: daily bollocks, drugs, earthquakes, energy, environment, EU, films, iPod, music, second life, wwf
:: Posted by pete @ Thursday, August 30, 2007
80:20
Pareto Principle applied to the blogosphere: 20% quality, 80% filler.
Hey, all those floppies in your office? Well, them's f@cked. Kind of reminds me of the Led Zeppelin DVD released a few years back. Remastering some of the old videotapes required emptying out museums of their old tape machines.
This is terrible. Spitz, a small venue in Spitalfields Market is about to close. Saw a couple of brilliant gigs there: Chicago Underground Duo back in 2001 on a horridly hot and sticky July night and, possibly the same year, Do Make Say Think when someone I never met before and never since smuggled me into the tiny sold out venue. Please sign the petition and cough up some cash if you can.
iPod-olatory
"09-15-00 (Part One)" - Godspeed You! Black Emperor
"Lordy" - Low/Dirty Three
"Local Forecast" - Casino Vs. Japan Vs. Nudge
"Hani" - Ali Farka Toure
"Disco & Haze" - Do Make Say Think
"Houses of the Holy" - Led Zeppelin
"C. Of People" - Labradford
"The Swarm" - Simian
"Hot Wire My Heart" - Sonic Youth
"Harmonium: Because I Could Not Stop for Death" - John Adams
"A Tale of Apes, Pt 1" - Subtle
Labels: blogosphere, digital storage, iPod, london, spitz
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Enjoy Your Pizza
Battle between EU Industry and Trade Commissioners over lowering the cost of energy-efficient light bulbs. German protecting his own industry at the expense of consumers and energy efficiency.
Bush pr0n
Another internet 10th anniversary. Yawn. Teh bloggers.
...the medium has radically changed publishing and communication. But not everyone is convinced ...For the blogging tribe, it's more like time to get out the red pencil, and dispute the premise of the anniversary itself.
Props to the Tottenham Massive.
Another football cardiac arrest? As Sevilla holds funeral for Puerta.
Rock Parque
Rubbish food: food rubbish.
iPodolatory
"Just Me and Phil" - Jah Wobble
"Dánarfregnir Og Jarðarfarir" - Sigur Rós
"Soot" - Sam Shalabi
"Cuban" - Sebadoh
"Worlds Melt Away" - Rothko
"Cadriopo" - Stereolab
"Buffalo606 - The Morning After" - Kid 606
"The Individual" - Spiritualized
"81" - The Marquis De Tren And Bonny Billy
"Knife Attack" - Timesbold
"Team Handed" - Mogwai
"Larks Tongue in Aspic Part One" - King Crimson
"Milkman" - Aphex Twin
"Threnody of Souls in Torment" - The Robert Fripp String Quartet
Labels: Barnstaple, daily bollocks, EU, food, football, internet, iPod, pr0n, Rock Park, soccer, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur, web content
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear
A dead leaf trapped in the spider's web covering the rear view mirror.
Happy 10th birthday CSS: cascading style sheets what drives good internet style and what consigned flashing, nasty type-faced, table ridden web pages to the dustbin. Bring on True Type fonts and other aesthetic niceties. Or, perhaps we should concentrate on content that people will read.
The world's first ecologically sound prison. In Norway, of course. Prison should be about rehabilitation as well as punishment so a sustainable prison has a resonance to it. But, then I'm a limp-wristed liberal.
Berbatov is apparently staying at Tottenham, but JD on his way to AV.
Why we like chocolate.
British researchers ... found that the pleasure centres of chocolate lovers' brains lit up more strongly in response to the food than those who are less partial. "The take-home message is that if you want to limit [food] intake, you could limit the extent to which you are exposed to the combination of sight and taste. For example, you could eat in the dark"
Or you could eat dark chocolate.
iPodolatory
"Golfer Vrs Boxer" - Amon Tobin
"Camp" - The Anomoanon
"Anyway" - Genesis
"You Could Ruin My Day" - Four Tet
"Operator" - Grateful Dead
"Robot New York" - Add N to (X)
"Mogwai Fear Satan" - Mogwai (My Bloody Valentine Remix)
Labels: css, daily bollocks, environment, food, football, iPod, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur, web content
Monday, August 27, 2007
An Occassional Donut Posting
| You Are a Boston Creme Donut |
 You have a tough exterior. No one wants to mess with you. But on the inside, you're a total pushover and completely soft. You're a traditionalist, and you don't change easily. You're likely to eat the same doughnut every morning, and pout if it's sold out. |
Labels: meme
We Know Where You Live Howard Webb
Opiniated football report follows.
Let's review Law 12 of Association Football:
A direct free kick is ... awarded to the opposing team if a player ... :
* handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area)
...
A penalty kick is awarded if any of the above is committed by a player inside his own penalty area, irrespective of the position of the ball, provided it is in play.
Penalty dude. We're coming to get your guide dog.
On the positive side, Tottenham defended well for most of the game. There was only the occasional panic; much-maligned 'Keeper Paul Robinson had to make one outstanding save and only had one misjudgment that the Donut can remember. Anthony Gardiner - blimey - was strong, solid and hardly beaten. The patched up defence kept Spurs in the game.
Ricardo Rocha gave the odd heart flutter, but no costly mistakes (except in front of the Man U goal). Gareth Bale made several good runs down the left flank, but when presented with golden opportunity to put in a killer ball across the goal in the dying minutes he cut it back straight to a defender.
Dmitar Berbatov looked disinterested or frustrated for 87 minutes, then nearly turned the game with three pieces of sublime skill. The goals will come.
The midfield held firm in front of the back four. Yet, distribution was irratic throughout.
A good performance, but Man U (for once) were there for the taking - no Rooney, no Ronaldo, no bite in front of goal. Can it help coach Martin Jol avoid the sack? In the long run, probably not. It's Champions League or bust. What purpose would that serve?
Jol's guided the team to consecutive fifth place finishes. He's restored European football to White Hart Lane, helped attract great talent like Berbatov and Bale to the team and has the faith of the fans. This is a work in progress. I don't expect Champions' League football next year. Tottenham need to build for the long haul; assemble a better squad and develop younger talent. Jol's a vital part of the development.
Hot-Spur: Anthony Gardner (for once not the Cardiac Kid)
Tottering Clotspur: Ricardo Rocha (two misses: Row Z volley and free header wide from a corner)
Labels: Martin Jol, soccer, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur
Saturday, August 25, 2007
The Day the Sky Disappeared
To go along with the Summer that Never Was, the Day the Sky Disappeared.
Never mind Arsenal's sniff of homo-eroticism, what about Cesc Fabregas's child-like qualities: "When I scored my first goal ... I went home and celebrated by drinking a Coca-Cola and eating a Kinder Egg"
Sweeties and fizzy drinks tonight!
Any Mail Merge experts out there? Our whizzy top-of-the-range network uses Word 97. The following pops up when I try to mail merge.
A Kinder Egg and Coke for solutions that work.
Heard of Second Life? Try First Life. Marina Hyde on our internet fixation. (Hooray for the web.)
Crazy, fun-loving, friend of Fidel: Hugo Chavez puts the clock back 30 minutes. (Some might say he's moved the clock back three decades.)
Labels: daily bollocks, internet, soccer, summer, web ads
Friday, August 24, 2007
I'm 100% Behind You ... (Pushing You Out the Door)
Oh shit. Tottenham Hotspur coach Martin Jol has received the kiss of death.
"Martin has my 100% support and I'd like the fans to understand that they need to take the last few days in the context of what we think has been significant progress over the last six years," [club Chairman Daniel] Levy said.
Well, that's that then. Spurs travel to Old Trafford for the annual 4-0 defeat to Manchester United. What, you expect Man U to avoid victory four games on the trot?
Gerry Adams airport hell. Yes, that Gerry Adams.
To quote a commenter: "I love post-mortems. The recurring death of English football is particularly entertaining."
More Steve "Steve" McLaren news:
"McClaren now has the worst record of any England manager after a dozen fixtures. It would have been folly for him to look full of good cheer when his side had just lost at home to an improvised Germany line-up but he hardly seemed traumatised."
Bused home via sunny Bideford.
iPod-olatory
"Exhausted" - Joseph Arthur
"Sim Gishel" - Autreche
"Foreign Hotel Garden" - Papa M
"Crest" - Tortoise
"Walk All Over You" - Mark Kozalek
"Valerie" - Broadcast
"Tomorrow is Already Here" - Stereolab
"First There was Jazz 2" - Wibutee
"Cody" - Mogwai
Labels: aviation security, Bideford, Gerry Adams, iPod, Martin Jol, North Devon, soccer, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Mercy Rule
Make your web ads count. Use:
- plain text
- faces, and
- cleavage
Does Major League Baseball need to adopt a mercy rule? Texas batters Baltimore 30-3 in the first game of a doubleheader. In the nightcap, the Rangers shade the Birds 9-7 - wimps.
Some of the numbers are mind boggling. Despite the record breaking score, Balmer used only 4 pitchers. Texas reliever Wes Littleton got a save - i.e. credit for protecting a lead (the ol’ three innings preserving any lead rule). That qualifies as the ultimate cheap save.
Quite apart from 2 grand slams, every starter getting two hits and 7 runs batted in each for the No. 8 and No.9 hitters, "...the Rangers added five points to their team batting average, raising it to .258...Baltimore’s ERA went from 4.39 to 4.60." You might see that in an early season game were stats fluctuate due to small sample size, but not in late August after 130 odd games. Texas also stranded 18 runners.
It's official: Tim Henman, Britain's best tennis player in several decades is retiring. Never a Grand Slam winner, but always a place in the hearts of Middle England.
...when I reflect on my career, I was always able to maximise my potential. This was as good as I could have been. Regarding Wimbledon and the press, I'd be the first to admit that I'd probably be judged on whether I won Wimbledon or not. I don't think that's right.
Bush is more like 1930s appeaser Neville Chamberlain than Bush's hero and Chamberlain's successor, Winston Churchill.
iPod-olatory
"Tourisme" - Kante
"Big Time in the Jungle" - Old Crow Medicine Show
"Soko Yhinka" - Ali Farka Toure
"Brandenburg Concerto No.5" (J.S. Bach) - Muenchener Bach-Orchester
"Good Morning, Good Morning" - The Beatles
"Mary of the Wild Moor" - Johnny Cash
"Bears See Things Pretty Much the Way They Are" - Don Caballero
"Red Morning" - Devics
"Hornswoggle" - Humcrush
Orchid Watch
Despite a good effort to kill off this orchid - too much water, keeping it in a dark room - counter efforts to revive seem to be bearing fruit or buds even.
Labels: baseball, George Bush, iPod, Neville Chamberlain, orchid, orchid watch, tennis, Tim Henman, web ads, Winston Churchill
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Headless Chickens
Paul Robinson makes a horlicks of a Schneider cross as England lose 2-1 in a miserable "friendly" to the hated Germans. Steve "Steve" McLaren has completed a year as England coach in which time the "golden generation" has produced a succession of mediocre performances and equally mediocre results. At least he's not Sven Goran Eriksson. Sven is currently riding high in first place in the Premier League - but it won't last. Hopefully, McLaren won't last too much longer either. Hire Martin O'Neill, for f&cks sake. Oh, and Team Beckham was on the pitch.
Firefox is teh suxor and users are thieves.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael "Ron Mexico" Vick in deeper dog poo-poo.
Funny road signs are very funny.
Google offers a calendar - well, I never.
New toilets in the pipeline, no pun intended.
Egg boxes are banned in craft lessons as they might cause salmonella.
Everyday more than 2 million people read the Daily Hate. How would a limp wristed, liberal fare reading the tabloid?
iPod-ology
"What are You?" - Matt Sweeney & Bonnie "Prince" Billy
"Hallucinex" - Stereolab
"Dark FX" - Mouse on Mars
"Accused of Stealing" - The Delagados
"F-Train" - Squarepusher
"Jungle Jim" - Rodan
Rock Parquet
Labels: Barnstaple, Devon, football, iPod, North Devon, Rock Park, soccer, sport
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
You say Tomato
I say lousy green fruit, the result of a damp and dull so-called summer.
"I want to be
The one to make you feel okay right now
Some way, some how
So when I fall short
I sink so low that I even blame the clouds
For blocking out the sun
And the shadows on the wall
That’s why you feel alone
"Could it be that it’s the season of the shark?"
Labels: food beer, gardening, summer
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Lost in Exmoor
Make a slight deviation on the South West Coast Path and who knows where you might end up.
Labels: Devon, Exmoor, North Devon, South West Coast Trail, Walking
Sunday, August 05, 2007
On this spot...
Walking in Exmoor, part the three. The sun shone, so time for a 5 mile stroll through the Valley of the Rocks to Lee Valley and beyond (to Calvary, almost).
Labels: Devon, Exmoor, Lynton, North Devon, South West Coast Trail, Walking