interloper: Bits

You Must Be Joking - Part 2

Sun, 19 Jun 2005 08:36:04 GMT

This article by Robert Fisk will cost you £1 if you read it at the Independent's site. It will cost you nothing if you read it here.

You must be joking

Sat, 18 Jun 2005 11:40:57 GMT

"It's a white Mitsubishi Canter FH truck - 1995-96 model - a tarpaulin over the back to conceal the thousand kilograms of explosives that killed the Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafik Hariri and 20 others on 14 February." [Independent]

That's all you get (37 words) unless you pay the Independent £1 (around $2). The total length of the article is 338 words. Do people pay this? Robert Fisk may be good, but he's not worth £1/338 words. Not just for a news report.

Sometimes you can find the same reports published elsewhere, after a discreet interval. I make that 380 words for £nil (around $nil).

Away in the Maganer

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 06:51:21 GMT

I bet they proof-read the site layout a dozen times before they uploaded it.

Shirokane Times - Mina

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 19:47:37 GMT

Check out this movie of a child's first minutes of life. Watch those little limbs stretching and reaching, the eyes blinking. Some of the video seems a little intrusive to me. Sticking your camera in your new baby's face is not the most subtle way to welcome her to the world. Still, the yawns are impressive. [From Shirokane Times]

Ready Teddy

Mon, 23 May 2005 22:24:01 GMT

This little fellow does the work of ten typists...I mean, secretaries in our office. Whilst the humanoids play with their iPods and puzzles, this chap just gets on with it.

Damned with faint praise

Sat, 07 May 2005 11:38:41 GMT

"The mothers and sisters of two young men at the centre of Michael Jackson's child molestation case came to his defence on Friday, telling jurors they considered the pop icon beyond reproach and never questioned his practice of sleeping with children." [Reuters]

Pope on a rope

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 19:57:12 GMT

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Wash away your sins with Pope soap on a rope, guaranteed to cleanse even the grubbiest souls. Coming soon (maybe) is the new range of world leader soaps called dope on a rope featuring the highly talented and articulate President Bush and the nations favourite (sic) Prime Minister Tony Blair." [Alternative Gifts]

Doctor Who is Saturday night hit

Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:07:14 GMT

"Doctor Who's long-awaited return is a ratings success for the BBC, attracting up to 10.5 million viewers." [BBC]

The first version of the BBC's report read "was a ratings success". Good use of active language...

UK TV tonight

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 20:38:24 GMT

In the links section of this site under Daily Reading is a link to Bleb Org on whose site there are a variety of options for viewing terrestrial TV and Radio schedules. Try this for a full listing rather than the short summary from the link on the sidebar.

How to wear a hat

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 16:13:37 GMT

A friend of mine has knitted me a woollen hat but hasn't told me how to wear it. Rather than just dump it in a drawer I decided to test out a few ideas...[more]

Welsh rugby fan drops a bollock (or two)

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 21:04:48 GMT

"A Welsh rugby fan cut off his own testicles to celebrate Wales beating England at rugby, the Daily Mirror has reported. Geoff Huish, 26, was so convinced England would win Saturday's match he told fellow drinkers at a social club, 'If Wales win I'll cut my balls off', the paper said on Tuesday. Friends at the club in Caerphilly, south Wales, thought he was joking. But after the game Huish went home, severed his testicles with a knife, and walked 200 metres back to the bar with the testicles to show the shocked drinkers what he had done. Huish was taken to hospital where he remained in a seriously ill condition, the paper said. Police told the paper he had a history of mental problems." [Yahoo UK]

Claire Sweeney Swoon

Tue, 08 Feb 2005 22:13:28 GMT

You know, Claire Sweeney's intelligence, acting craft and sensitivity have always attracted me. She's just got something.

Phoney Snaps

Sat, 05 Feb 2005 16:32:55 GMT

According to my local newspaper (published by Midlands Weekly Media Ltd - apparently no web site for the newspaper) local children have been using mobile phones to photograph teachers, then manipulating the photos to place teachers in compromising situations. In one case cited "a pupil had mocked up a picture on his phone using high tech software to doctor the photo so it looked as if a teacher was hitting a pupil". A local head-teacher is reported saying that having been made aware of this issue he had stamped on it.

This looks like turning into another occupational hazard for teachers. Camera-phones aren't going away, and they will get ever smaller with better quality cameras. You can already get tiny cameras that connect by wire to phones, so photos can be taken discretely without having to hold the phone up.

The newspaper had the usual awful local-paper-headline: "Phone-y snaps snare teachers."

Spare me

Wed, 26 Jan 2005 21:12:24 GMT

"Some people say the Bible is unreliable, and their views have gained wide acceptance. Thus many today dismiss what the Bible says as untrustworthy. On the other hand, what Jesus Christ said in prayer to God promotes trust: 'Your word is truth.' And the Bible itself claims to be inspired by God.—John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16. What do you think about this? Is there sound basis for trusting the Bible? Or is there really evidence that the Bible is unreliable, that it contradicts itself and is inconsistent?" [Jehovah's Witnesses Official Web Site]

This handsome chap is reading his bible. I was urged to do the same today by two well-dressed ladies who knocked on the door this morning. Had I read the bible lately, they asked. Because its message of love and peace could change the world for the better. Well, fair enough. They didn't try to convert me and were very pleasant. Don't agree, etc, but they don't put the fear of God (!) up me like the Mormons, who sleek around like salesmen.

The Bloggers' Rights Blog

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 10:02:21 GMT

International Bloggers’ Bill of Rights
We, the inhabitants of the Blogosphere, do hereby proclaim that bloggers everywhere are entitled to the following basic rights:
FREEDOM TO BLOG. FREEDOM FROM PERSECUTION AND RETALIATION BECAUSE OF OUR BLOGS:
1.) If an employer wishes to discipline an employee because of his/her blog, it must first establish clear-cut blogging policies and distribute these to all of its employees.

2.) Blogging employees shall be given warning before being disciplined because of their blogs.

3.) NO ONE shall be fired because of his/her blog, unless the employer can prove that the blogger did intentional damage to said employer through the blog.

Blogophobic companies, who violate the Bloggers’ Bill of Rights, will be blacklisted by millions of bloggers the world over."
[Bloggers' Rights]

I haven't stopped laughing at this. So companies are supposed to have "blogging policies" presumably to deal with errant employees who are dumb enough to criticise their employer publicly. Is it not implicit in an employment contract that you don't publicly criticise your employer? And why do it anyway? If you're so bothered about your employer that you feel the need to reveal its trade secrets or expose some malpractice, LEAVE, and then do it. Grow up.

Paris Hit

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 21:25:32 GMT

Apparently all you have to do to get more visitors to your web site is to discuss the Paris Hilton Hotel. I think.

"If I had left the hit counter running on this page, my blog's hit count would be somewhere in the six-figures. People sure want to see pictures of Paris Hilton. Ah, the spirit of international co-operation." [What The Hell Am I Doing Here?]

And here it is.

Wire Daisies

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 20:26:29 GMT

Currently playing in iTunes: Make Everything Change by Wire Daisies

Break Out

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 20:10:31 GMT

"I chose something else. I chose my own destiny, quality of life, more time with my family, no stress, and no more putting up with people's blatantly obvious, but cleverly disguised political agendas. I chose to avoid two-faced morons that feel that reading a two page article in the Sunday Times colour supplement makes them qualified to sell massive multi-million pound bullshit. I chose freedom." [Pete Wright]

Ooh, freedom. Reminds me of an advert for a bank where a bloke chucks his briefcase off a bridge into a canal. And then takes out a massive load with a bank. I wonder where he is now. Bankrupt, probably. I wish I had the guts to break out. I'm too cosy in a velvet rut. Things are just okay, so I whinge and stay put.

Teenager dressed as a Nazi shocker

Wed, 12 Jan 2005 22:29:35 GMT

"A spokeswoman said:' Prince Harry has apologised for any offence or embarrassment he has caused.'He realises it was a poor choice of costume'" [BBC]

Bad day at work

Mon, 10 Jan 2005 20:48:38 GMT

Had a miserable and wretched day at work today. Stories that we are being 'down-sized' are rife.

Jerry Springer The Opera

Sun, 09 Jan 2005 17:09:01 GMT

"Bearing in mind that there is already mounting public concern and an absence of any assurance regarding compliance, we believe that the decision to show 'Jerry Springer The Opera' should be urgently reconsidered at the highest level within the BBC. There must be other West End productions that would be more enjoyable and appreciated by a far greater number of licence-fee payers? Why not, for example, screen a seasonal pantomime, with well-known and liked television and radio personalities, currently showing at provincial theatres across the country?" [mediawatch]

Ignoring the pomposity of this announcement, and that it failed because the programme was shown yesterday, this organisation has to have the ugliest web site I've seen in a long while.

Really Learn Spanish

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 09:53:27 GMT

"A series of podcasts aimed at helping you in your efforts to learn Spanish using unconventional techniques I developed during the seven years I spent in Spain teaching English and learning Spanish." [Really Learn Spanish]

Dissecting flu's deadly weaponry

Sun, 19 Dec 2004 16:49:50 GMT

The BBC quotes Professor John Oxford from Queen Mary's College concerning a flu epidemic:

"I would class the potential threat from the next pandemic as exceeding high,' he told BBC News. 'I don't think we have ever been so close to an outbreak; a global outbreak as we are now. Mother Nature has always been the greatest threat - bigger than any bio-terrorist," he warned. [BBC]

Further on in the story Maria Zambon from the Health Promotion Laboratory says:

"It would cause an enormous global burden of disease and death and we are particularly concerned that it might well affect the young adult population and in doing so bring society to a halt."

I feel nervous. I've had flu for 10 days now and it's the worst attack I've ever had: a hacking mucus-clogged cough, a gratingly sore throat, ear ache, muscle pain and a feeling that I'll never be free of it. Not that I'm one to whinge, you understand. I bear my troubles with good-humoured courage.

The BBC provides some reassuring information for those with concerns.