Category: Misc
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Bagless Mail
So the Daily Mail has suddenly become devoted to going bagless – that is, seeing the end of the free plastic bag. Earlier this week it launched a massive campaign, and by a complete fluke, and in no way pre-planned, the next day Marks & Spencer announced that it’d no longer be supplying free plastic…
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Earth Tremor
Utterly bizarre. I was just sitting here in my flat at 12.55am, when the sofa started shaking. I live on a top floor flat, and the light hanging above me was moving while the rather precarious stack of CDs against one wall started to move. It all went on for about ten seconds. Turning on…
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I Have Magnetic Legs
Well that can be the only explanation. Unless the system is just flaky of course. Let me explain. I live in London, where the public transport system is divided into circular zones. The further out of the centre you live, the more you pay for your all zone ticket – or travelcard. A couple of…
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Oh the irony
(Yes, I really am on the subscription lists of both these organisations).
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I’m A Lumberjack And I’m OK
You may well have seen the pictures of all the wood that’s piled up in places like Worthing beach from the wreck of the Ice Prince which sank a week ago off the Dorset coast. But the timber’s not limited to Worthing. Walking along the Brighton beach front earlier today, I was amazed at the…
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When Urban Myths Are Reported As News
I was disappointed recently, when watching the Ewan McGregor/Charlie Boorman series Long Way Down, that they reinforced the nonsense about water going down the plug clockwise or anti-clockwise depending on whether you’re in the northern or southern hemisphere. Along the border, there’s a few quid to be made perpetuating this party trick to unwitting tourists.…
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Combatting Terrorism/Drugs/Guns/Knives (Delete As Appropriate)
My local train station – the one I use to get to work every day – doesn’t have any barriers. As a result, there’s no real ticket check on the way in and out. To avoid ticket evasion, they have ticket inspectors on the trains, and spot checks. If you travel on the train at…
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For All Your Homeopathic Needs
Get your pills here!
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Screenplays
I moaned the other day about how Hollywood movie studios seemed more interested in awards than the piracy of their films – hence the existence of “Screener DVDs” which inevitably end up being made available on the internet. Anyway, one positive side effect of this scramble to win awards is that all the studios put…
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Quality
A recent entry on Boing Boing pointed to an article in Rolling Stone magazine which highlighted the fact that producers mix tracks so that they sound good when they’re ripped to an mp3 player, at the same time, removing the subtleties that a wider dynamic range allows. Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow comments “…it seems to…
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John Woodruff
I read an obituary about this man the other day, and he’s someone I’d never heard of. He was a compatriot of Jesse Owens who ran in 1936 Olympics. Like Owens, he was also black: John Woodruff, who has died aged 92, was the first black to win gold in Berlin. His triumph in the…
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Happy Christmas
Happy Christmas everyone. I’ve not exactly sent a lot of Christmas cards this year, so please treat this as your Christmas greeting. Anyway, I’m off to watch the Doctor Who special, and all those Fred & Ginger films they’re showing on BBC Four.