Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Thrash the car
28% of drivers have thrashed their car when it's misbehaved, in the style of Basil Fawlty, according to a survey from a car insurance company. Over half of us talk to our cars, with 27% sometimes resorting to verbal abuse, and 38% behave emotionally towards the vehicle, for instance patting and stroking it.
Le petit livre
Back in July, I posted a link to La Petite Anglaise, the blog of an ex-pat in Paris who got fired because of the contents of her then-anonymous blog. ("Dooced" is the new name for this experience, and here's why.)
She's got a book deal.
She's got a book deal.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
In-ear comfort
John's blog has previously looked at some jolly expensive earphones. An alternative recommendation is for the CX300's from Sennheiser. They mould to your ear, apparently, rather than the other way round. And they're so very much cheaper.
Great Grandmother Cocaine Quiz
A 72-year-old great-grandmother from South Shields on Tyneside lost her purse the other week. She popped into her local police station in case it had been handed in - and it had. In the process, it had caught the attention of the constabulary due to the presence of a substance they thought might be cocaine. In fact, the white pills were just her artificial sweetener. The Sunday Sun ("the North's own Sunday since 1919") says she's no smackhead. No indeed.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Save it
Martin Lewis runs a website full of financial tips. moneysavingexpert.com has been running for years, but its profile has increased in the last few weeks thanks to a campaign to help people reclaim illegal bank charges. There are also tips on everything from shopping to utilities, and from travel to savings, plus a weekly newsletter.
Green machine
PC World is launching an eco-friendly PC, with recyclable and recycled materials. They're also promising carbon offsets for the pollution created in their manufacture.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Juggle
You may have heard about Number Ten's new online petition system. On the 10 Downing Street website, you can sign up to all sorts of causes, from the debate about road pricing, to ID cards and inheritance tax. It's not met with universal approval, but thousands of people have found it worth a visit, calling on Tony Blair to stand on his head and juggle ice-cream.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Harry at Westminster
Things you didn't know about Bill Cosby: His dog Harry's been on display. Yep, that's the little fellow, just there on the left.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Dream kitchen
Kevin sent me in the direction of this - the beatbox in the kitchen. Smart. I'm hoping he's OK at the end.
Monday, February 19, 2007
The Magis Puppy
A sit-on dog. Now, you know there's wallet trouble when the price isn't displayed. Click on "Select size" - you'll see.
Rune reading
Politicalbetting.com - now that's some blog, where we learn, for instance, that David Miliband's stock is rising, and what the cannabis allegations did for David Cameron.
Ineffable tedium
From a newly-rediscovered collection of dinner party tales compiled for Countess Mountbatten, these are the words of Noel Coward, on an evening that wasn't great.
"Some years ago, the last Mrs Patrick Campbell found herself at a dinner party placed next to a very boring man who talked exclusively about ants and their habits. He enlarged with ineffable tedium upon their brilliant team works. He explained that their military prowess was considerable and that they had divisions, regiments, squadrons, platoons etc. in fact a complete and highly efficient army. Mrs Campbell, bored to extinction, remarked tartly: 'No Navy I presume'."
The story of the collection is here.
"Some years ago, the last Mrs Patrick Campbell found herself at a dinner party placed next to a very boring man who talked exclusively about ants and their habits. He enlarged with ineffable tedium upon their brilliant team works. He explained that their military prowess was considerable and that they had divisions, regiments, squadrons, platoons etc. in fact a complete and highly efficient army. Mrs Campbell, bored to extinction, remarked tartly: 'No Navy I presume'."
The story of the collection is here.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Not Osama
A bit of a gaffe by by the New York Post, mocked here by their rival the Daily News. Just for clarity, the man shown on the left is an American Democrat who would like to be President. He's not an international terrorist.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Turning off
Bye Bye Standby - save money and energy, switching your electrical appliances off completely when they're not in use, instead of leaving them in standby.
Real art
John's blog would like to take you to Dulwich now, and to the Dulwich Picture Gallery. They're running an exhibition until the spring showing the work of Canaletto when he was in England, 250 years ago. To the left, for instance, is part of his painting of the old bridge over the River Thames at Walton. The website also includes video, with a guide to some of the paintings from the director of the gallery. Here, for instance, there's more on the painting he made showing the construction of Wesminster Bridge.
Funnier than Handel
Fresh from the success of Spamalot, Eric Idle's turning Life of Brian into a musical - "Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)".
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
How do you feel?
There's masses to explore on the YouGov website. Here, for instance, are the latest rankings for polticians. Page four seems to be telling us that they all have negative ratings, although William Hague and Boris Johnson seem to be less unpopular than the others. Other eyecatching surveys include perceptions of social class and what makes small and medium-sized businesses tick. If you want to take part in the surveys yourself, and earn money for doing so, here's where to click.
Ways to deal with a wayward donkey
Jenny the donkey misbehaves. (The best line comes at the very end of the story.)
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Keeping it warm
It's a USB-powered mug warmer. It stops your drink going cold when you're using the computer. (Although that could have been obvious from its name.)
Wash
Today's specialist subject on the blog is... Top tips for clothes washing.
First off, what do all those symbols mean? Here's a simple guide, and, lo, Fairy have done an interactive one.
Next, how to make washing fun. No, really. Here.
Now, whilst the washing's on, you'd like to know how the machine actually works, right? The excellent "How Stuff Works" website will tell you here.
Finally, the web's full of tips on how to iron a shirt (here's one of the more fun ones), but how about folding t-shirts? Have a look at this video from Japan. I must have watched it a dozen times, but I still can't do it. Still, it looks impressive.
Nuns cause banks consternation
Sometimes, the headline says it all. Nuns on the run after their Greek knitting business fails.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Watch this
If you've got a video iPod, check out "The best of YouTube" podcast.
(I feel a bit of a fraud now, because I haven't actually seen it myself yet, but it comes highly recommended.)
(I feel a bit of a fraud now, because I haven't actually seen it myself yet, but it comes highly recommended.)
100 not old
100-year-old Maria Milz complained that her new retirement home in Blankenheim (the picturesque German village just there on the left) was full of old people with grey hair. She moved out.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Snow gobbler
If that white stuff comes back, we'll be needing this Japanese snow plough. It's got GPS and everything.
Didn't quite get his leg over
It's a classic clip, but in case you've never found it online, here are Brian Johnston and Jonathan Agnew on Test Match Special.
And we're back
John's blog took a day or two off at the end of last week, but how refreshed is our new look? It also doesn't do that irritating thing any more where the pictures would appear, but sometimes the text wouldn't come up properly, and you had to scroll up and down a few times before the words appeared.
Boo, hiss to that. This new layout was created with Blogger's "customisable templates", which are just right for, um, customising your templates.
Boo, hiss to that. This new layout was created with Blogger's "customisable templates", which are just right for, um, customising your templates.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Make glorious queue
Queueing in Kazakhstan takes so long that you can hire a surrogate queuer to do it for you. Here's the story.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Rotatable, just like you
Are these the Blackberries of the future? News of the latest patents filed by the makers of the devillish mobile offices, here.
Beware flash photography
Frank Bruni is the influential New York restaurant reviewer who's been unimpressed by Gordon Ramsay's new restaurant. Oh joy, he's got a blog, and from it, here are some of the criticisms he didn't have time to mention in his New York Times review.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Hell freezes over again
The Eagles are coming back with a new studio album - here's the story from Reuters and Billboard, and a feature in the Independent with all the gory details on how badly they used to get along.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Saving the strain
You know how heavy those USB flash drives can be? Here's news of virtually weightless ones. That'll save so much effort.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
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