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Latest stumbles
Friday, December 31, 2004
Since the end of the year is upon us I thought this might strike a suitably grave note (forgive the pun)
About 15 years ago I visited Hallstatt in Austria where space in the graveyard is so limited that the deceased only get 12 years underground to decompose before their bones are disinterred and placed in the charnel house.
If that sounds too gruesome to you, don't check out the Ossary which makes Hallstatt look positively conservative in its skeletal presentation.
posted at 11:27 AM
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Wednesday, December 29, 2004
By now you've probably reached the culinary depths of Turkey curry, Turkey stew, Turkey risotto and stuffing sandwiches. As long as you're making it yourself you're probably safe. Otherwise Tastes Like Chicken is worth a read and may leave you slightly worried...
posted at 1:31 PM
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Tuesday, December 28, 2004
World Sunlight Map - provides a computer-generated approximation of what the earth currently looks like. While less impressive than actually being into orbit, this is much more accessible to most of us.
Using NASA images and weather predictions, this site shows - almost in real time - how the earth looks in terms of light and cloud cover.
Best of all they're happy to allow other sites to deep link to their latest images like this:
![[World Sunlight Map]](http://static.die.net/earth/rectangular_1600.jpg)
(what heroes!)
posted at 9:14 AM
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Monday, December 27, 2004
RoboDump 1.0 - there's a very big part of me that mourns the fact I didn't find one of these puppies in my stocking on Xmas morning.
I don't know what impresses me the most about this; the simplicity of the idea or the devastingly successful effect it has.
posted at 10:06 AM
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Sunday, December 26, 2004
I Hate Oven Mitt - Arby's diners in the US have been selling a spin off from their recent advertising campaign featuring an oven mitt. Sadly this character has not been received as warmly as the Taco Bell Chiuahua and the opportunity to physically abuse the mitt has not gone unremarked.
On this site he is variously drowned, stabbed, incinerated and run over - you have to admire the webmaster's venomous imagination.
Arby's have now recalled the product.
posted at 2:30 PM
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Merry Christmas from Icon raremedia - the game itself is lame but the introduction, featuring industrial relations negociations between a foul-mouthed elf and a medallion-wearing Santa on steroids, is pretty good. Labels: christmas
posted at 1:29 PM
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Saturday, December 25, 2004
Child's Christmas in Wales - I love this short story. And having spent many Christmasses in Wales as a child, I'd like to think it is pretty accurate. Labels: christmas
posted at 11:01 AM
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Friday, December 24, 2004
Ugly Christmas Lights - Yeti vs. Snoopy - the kind of site that makes you go "Hmm, Merry Christm....WHAT THE F%&*!?!?!?" Labels: christmas
posted at 10:11 AM
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Macromedia's 2004 Holiday Card - I like this. It's totally stress-free but sufficiently challenging to keep most of my office occupied for at least 10 minutes.
And it involves penguins.
posted at 9:44 AM
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Make-a-Flake - A snowflake maker by Lookandfeel new media - it works on the same principle as cutting out a paper doily. Still, that should be just enough to keep most people occupied while they're stuck at their desks today.
posted at 9:38 AM
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Thursday, December 23, 2004
Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees - basically just a variation on "Whack-a-Rat" but oddly gratifying nonetheless.
posted at 4:00 PM
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Google Holiday Logos - for the last five years Google has been happy to show its more playful side by customising its logo to commemorate special events such as Thanksgiving, Easter, Dwali etc.
Given that most companies regard their branding as a corporate sacred cow, this approach indicate an impressive level of self-confidence (which appears to be justified too).
Beginning with a rather weird little storyline involving the abduction of the logo by aliens, Google "Doodles" are now reserved for really special occasions which span several days - eg. the Olympics and Christmas. This year marks the welcome return of the Polar Bears who appear to be gearing up for a snowball fight. Labels: christmas
posted at 11:28 AM
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Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Christmas 04 - Santa's mad as hell and he's not going to take it any more. Labels: christmas
posted at 10:05 AM
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12 sided calendar - it's getting towards the end of the year and so I'll be needing something like this real soon.
posted at 9:52 AM
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Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Speedy Santa - Sick of Schumacher? Then help Santa race his sleigh around the track.
posted at 1:49 PM
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Monday, December 20, 2004
Yahoo! News - Nativity Plays Boosting Tea Towel Sales LONDON (Reuters) - Sales of tea towels are booming as parents use them as headdresses for their children in primary school Nativity plays, Sainsbury's supermarket said Monday.
So great is the demand -- known in the trade as the Bethlehem Boost -- that Sainsbury's has ordered extra supplies.
"Our sales figures show that, this year, most Nativity play actors will be wearing multi-striped herringbone tea towels," said a Sainsbury spokeswoman.
Sales of a more sophisticated tea towel, with yellow, blue brown and white stripes are also going well.
"We suspect these are being chosen by Virgin Marys who want to stand out from the crowd and make a fashion statement," she added.
posted at 3:18 PM
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Sunday, December 19, 2004
If like me, you haven't finished writing all your Xmas cards, you might like to get some ideas from this gallery of Unfortunate Christmas Cards. These make e-cards look like a really good idea.
Labels: christmas
posted at 2:53 PM
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Saturday, December 18, 2004
Despite having a degree in History and having specifically studied events in Nazi Germany, I still find it hard to imagine what it must be like to live in a coutry where 44% of your fellow citizens (most of whom support the ruling party) believe that your civil liberties should be restricted on the basis of your religion.
posted at 11:57 AM
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Heifer International's Holiday Gift Locator - still stuck for a present for your great aunt? Here's the ideal way to beat the postal deadlines and give her a gift she won't forget in a hurry.
posted at 10:38 AM
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Friday, December 17, 2004
When Santas go bad: BBC NEWS | Wales | Mid Wales | Santas accused of street brawl - apparently the fight occured some time after the race, allowing the organisers to claim that the offenders had nothing to do with the Santa fun run.
Yeah, they just happened to be in the area wearing Santa Costumes, riiiight.
Of course this pales in comparison to the SantaCon '96 participants in Portland who were met with a SWAT team.
According to Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club - nice tie-in to Wednesday):
There's usually one host city that different chapters from around the world go to for one weekend, usually about two weeks before Christmas. Everybody arrives dressed as Santa Claus, using the name "Santa Claus," and the host city usually has two to three days of continuous events. People drink and party and sing, and disrupt big benefit parties, and are basically public nuisances. But the fact that there's 400 of them all in red makes them this stunning sort of moving artwork. They call it "The Red Tide." It's really beautiful. When I did it in '96, at one point it was all these Santas against this SWAT team of cops, because the Santas wanted to get into a shopping center that was private property. It was so beautiful to see all these blue policemen juxtaposed with all these red Santas, and all these crying kids that were like, "Why are you beating up on Santa?" This year, they're talking about Tijuana as the host city, but no one wants to get busted in Tijuana.
SantaCon is organised by Cacophony who also organised Wednesday's Flash-Mob style Pillow Fight Club event and a mini-SantaCon at Victoria Station last weekend - I think I may be posting more about them in the future. Labels: christmas
posted at 10:43 AM
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Thursday, December 16, 2004
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! - I suspect I may finally be getting into the holiday spirit...
...that's the weird, strange holiday spirit of course. Labels: christmas
posted at 1:02 PM
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Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Interesting optical illusion
OK, don't feel well now...gotta....go...lie....down
posted at 5:21 PM
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NEWS FLASH!!!! Pillow Fight Club - tonight, National Gallery. 6:09 pm.
Bring a pillow
posted at 1:07 PM
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Tuesday, December 14, 2004
I'm having yet another purge of Bush-hate links:
BocaNews.com - I can sympathise with this. Frustrated Democrats in Florida (yes, your vote really doesn't count) are organising group therapy sessions to help them come to terms with events last November and cope with the next four years (as far as I know, not even 9/11 had this effect).
Bush Charges Nov 2004 Following on from the recent joke news item on plans to arrest Bush during a recent trip to Canada, one group of lawyers have drafted an outline of how to set about doing it for real.
This was from a recent edition of The New York Review of Books - On War: "We are an isolated and reviled nation. We are tyrants to others weaker than ourselves. We have lost sight of our democratic ideals. Thucydides wrote of Athens' expanding empire and how this empire led it to become a tyrant abroad and then a tyrant at home. The tyranny Athens imposed on others it finally imposed on itself. If we do not confront our hubris and the lies told to justify the killing and mask the destruction carried out in our name in Iraq, if we do not grasp the moral corrosiveness of empire and occupation, if we continue to allow force and violence to be our primary form of communication, we will not so much defeat dictators like Saddam Hussein as become them. "
Guardian Unlimited Film | Features | No sex, please, we're Republicans - good article on why the religious right is so afraid of Kinsey and therefore why the recent film about him has got them foaming at the mouth again. Haven't they worked out where little Republicans come from?
American Fundamentalists by Joel Pelletier depicting "Christ's Entry into Washington in 2008". You hope it won't happen but, deep down, you're not entirely sure.
Dubya - The Movie - the only thing that makes this bearable, even as a joke is that it's incredibly well-made.
Well, that - and the fact that it stars Don Knotts. Labels: fuckwittery
posted at 10:37 AM
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Monday, December 13, 2004
The New Yorker There are approximately twelve Americans for every Iraqi. This means that, if we all go, each American will be responsible for one-twelfth of an Iraqi. An Iraqi family of five will thus be attended by sixty Americans. We will come, this second wave of three hundred million of us, unarmed. We will bring nothing but ourselves. We will simply show up, saying, “What would you like for dinner?” While we cook, our Iraqis can just relax.
OK, so it's naive and simplistic but a nice thought to start the week nonetheless.
posted at 9:57 AM
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Saturday, December 11, 2004
Bubblegum Alley - "you get a very real notion of what it might be like to try to be creative in hell".
This is probably the most gross concept for Urban Art I have ever encountered. So naturally I had to share....
posted at 3:04 PM
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Friday, December 10, 2004
Shocking Fun Shocking Remote Control Tanks: "May interfere with electrical devices such as pacemakers. Deal Express LLC (shockingfun) is a seller of this novelty game only and we can assume no responsibility for any damage from its use to life or property. That said, it probably shouldn't be played with in the bath tub. " Labels: geek
posted at 10:58 AM
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Thursday, December 09, 2004
SHHH - The Society for Handheld Hushing - a set of cards that should come in very handy when you hear those three little words:
"I'M ONNA TRAIN!!!!!!"
posted at 12:34 PM
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Tuesday, December 07, 2004
E-Bulletin: University of Leicester - here's one from the "where are they now?" department. 30 years on from the launch of the game, it was a bit of a let-down to discover that the suave international spymaster on the cover of Mastermind is actually a local businessman. And the exotic Oriental femme fatale next to him now runs her own computer security company.
Still, if memories of the Mastermind game leave you wishing you could play it just one more time, there's a copy here...
posted at 1:25 PM
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Monday, December 06, 2004
Notes on Neil-Handling - It is good to feed your Neil regularly. Note that if he has breakfast around 10 he won't really be hungry for lunch until 2 or so. Snacks are good. Good snacks include cheese, fruit, rice cakes and tuna salad, and cheese. Yes, I know I listed cheese twice. Small lumps of protein are good (to quote Neil).
I have several friends who act as guest-sitters at Science Fiction conventions, if they find out how good Neil Gaiman is, they'll be lining up to handle him.
Labels: geek
posted at 10:40 AM
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Sunday, December 05, 2004
I thought a quiet Sunday would be an ideal time to clear out some of the more earthy sites from my draft blogs - take a dump, so to speak....
Sphincterine - the latest Ass-tringent.
Ballsies - The Jewelry With The Most - show off the family jewels.
Business Solutions: The Ass Copier - It's a bit cheeky but the bottom line is that you'll find it invaluable when you're getting behind at work.
Turd Birds :: Welcome! - these guys take their sh*t seriously (and they even explain the origin of the word)
Think Viagra was something new? Not for the inventors of the Urethral Crayon.
posted at 7:40 PM
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Saturday, December 04, 2004
God is Still Speaking - The United Church of Christ - He may be speaking but it looks like the Networks don't want to listen unless He's saying something politically safe...
...or inciting Homophobia
(A friend of mine favours the following sig:
"It should become self evident that if one wishes to defend the concept of a 'good' and 'loving' God, the Bible should serve as the last source to use for supporting evidence")
posted at 2:56 PM
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Friday, December 03, 2004
Thomas Jefferson quotes: "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes."
-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.
posted at 5:02 PM
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Thursday, December 02, 2004
I'm getting into the whole Christmas thing a bit early this year. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that some friends of mine have just produced a Christmas CD and asked me to build them a web page to sell it.
Still, you haven't lived until you've heard Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer as a Bossa Nova....
Labels: christmas
posted at 1:51 PM
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Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Today is World AIDS day.
37.8 million people living with HIV and AIDS
4.8 million new HIV cases in 2003
2.9 million AIDS deaths in 2003
57.8 million total HIV cases to date
20 million total AIDS deaths to date
 
1 in 157 people on the planet have the AIDS virus. Viewropa has created this banner that demonstrates the lottery effect of the indiscriminating AIDS virus. Every 157 times a page with the banner script is viewed, the AIDS banner appears. You could be the one to see it.
However, you won't be seeing it here. Blogger won't run Javascript in posts - even in a good cause.
posted at 1:20 PM
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