August 2007 Archives

I'm in the middle of updating the software that runs this blog malarkey.

And it looks like there are a few problems... hence the rubbish look of the place at the moment.

Expect it to be like this until I can finish the redesign (I think blue is the colour of choice) and things will be back in order.

While merging the entries, I came across many interesting old ones. This was one I'd completely forgotten about. Well worth a fresh read.

Originally linked to on 24th January, 2005.

Not the Law and Order bullshit you have all grown so fond of. Not CSI. Not Miami. The real deal. A veteran Chicago homicide detective pours his heart out on Craigslist in the "rants and raves" section, and it is a fascinating read.

"I've doing it for several years. I can think of roughly a dozen cases in the last three years that wrapped up in a nice tidy package. Until this year, the unit I work in averaged about 170 murders a year."

"I always think of a confession as going to a bar and trying to get a beautiful woman who has no interest in you to agree to a one time hook-up. Its really a twisted romance. You talk for hours and hours about meaningless shit, all the time trying to bring the offender back to the murder."

"Never trust a detective who dresses like one of those TV characters".

Way back in February, I posted a story about an Air Car. And my misgivings about its appearance are still there - and things haven't changed. But then again, people buy SMART Cars...

Anyway, it seems that things are progressing and a market and infrastructure is getting ready for these in India. The car produces only air as its emission and it's no dirtier than when it went in, and lets face it, air is a truly renewable resource!

India's largest automaker is set to start producing the world's first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Negre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine's pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets in August of 2008. - Popular Mechanics

For a look at the technology behind the car, from an Australian no less, watch the video below.

[via Celsias]

Ah, Catchphrase. "It's good, but it's not quite right!" And all that guff.

Anyway, this bloke recently bought the board game, clearly has nothing else to do. Hang on, neither do I...

Anyway, when he opened the box he saw a burning Christian symbol.

Click the link for more details.

[via... er, I can't remember. Sorry.]

Hands up if you like cheese?!

That's a lot of cheese fans. Barry, get the Gorgonzola ready...

(There's a part of me, deep inside, that loves that previous sentence. Please don't ask why because I'm unsure I'll be able to explain.)

[photo by Eirik Lande via Pitchfork]

I've been quite busy today. Those of you looking at the site statistics will note that the number of entries in this blog has increased from 129 to 147 (at the time of writing, I'm about to do more...)

This is because I've merged some different blogs together to put things in one place. It makes my life easier - I had different blogs for different topics - and it makes your life easier! Everyone wins.

I still have no idea if anyone's reading this and, to be honest, I'm not sure I care. I like things the way they are here and if I'm the only reader, that's fine too!

I've also changed the number of entries that appear on the main page. The last 10 entries will show now. This is because of the amount of links down the side increasing with time (the archives go all the way back to March 2004) and there's a couple more categories and stuff. It just makes that little bit more sense to me. If anyone doesn't like it, let me know. I'm always open to suggestions! Just leave a comment.

The Sun has reported how a primary school head ruined the new Harry Potter book for pupils by reading out the final page on the last day of term.

What I find funny about this next bit, and I really shouldn't, is the fact that the local authority felt they had to comment.

Mrs Banfield read the climactic extract from Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows the final book in JK Rowling's massively popular series to more than 400 kids at St Johns C of E schools end of term assembly in Midsomer Norton, Somerset.

The much-anticipated ending has been the subject of debate among millions of fans. Mrs Banfield has not commented but a spokesman for the local education authority said: "The school was saying goodbye to the children and staff who were leaving. A very small passage was carefully chosen to reflect the theme of saying goodbye. The school felt this reading would not spoil the children's enjoyment of the book."

Also, who cares? If it was an appropriately touching section of the book, and I am speaking as someone who has no interest in old Harry at all - read no books, seen no films, care not one bit - then why not just read the passage regardless of where it was from and not tell anyone? Perhaps it was insensitive to read it, perhaps it was just a silly error of judgement. But more likely it was someone trying to sum up, in the best possible way, a goodbye.

[via Primary Teacher, via The Sun]

How very bizarre... a big Lego bloke has washed ashore in Zandvoort, Holland. Slightly more bizarre is the reporters' decision to liken it to the Trojan Horse story. Odd.

[via Andrew Tatham]

This is really very good indeed. (Will open a new window...)

He's summed up ITV's Formula One coverage perfectly. There's 22 drivers on the grid in F1 this year, not that you'd know it if you listened to James Allen. That man... that clearly unbiased man. (You know, the one who called his son Enzo [after that Ferrari bloke], and has just published a gushing book about Michael Schumacher...)

ITV have gone and spoilt the sport I love. Please stop it. Stop it now.

[via Mad Owl]

Have you ever wondered how much of the human body is totally useless?

No, well maybe this link might perk your interest up a bit.

It's clearly American, but apart from their size and stupidity, are they really that different from us?!

That's a joke by the way...

[link from Adam]