Paint your own cappuccino cups.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Cycling generation gap
40% more adults are cycling, but 25% fewer children, in the last ten years. Here's the survey.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Leaving
The time of year when you're most likely to think about emigrating is at the end of May, says yell.com.
TMS @ 50
Charming, reliable, complete and sometimes funny - reasons to love Test Mast Special, whose producer Peter Baxter looks back in an entry on the programme's blog.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Big, white shaggy dog lost
The original shaggy dog story is here. On your behalf, I've taken the trouble to read it in full, and I can tell you it's not funny. But then that's the whole point.
Having the minister to tea
So you'll probably have heard that Asda are dropping the CD single. There was less publicity, though, for the fact that (in their view) the doily has also gone west.
Monday, May 28, 2007
The sound of laughter
Peter Kay's website. Includes the man himself reading Chapter 1 of his autobiography - download it for £1 (or £1.50 by text), proceeds to charity.
Groovy kind of justice
60's pop star Wayne Fontana admitted setting fire to a debt collector's car, but wasn't allowed to keep the fake sword and scales of justice which he brought to Derby Crown Court for the hearing. The dark glasses, though, stayed, as he claimed "Justice is blind". More.
DAB on your iPod
Roberts are bringing out a DAB radio unit to plug into your iPod. Now there's a good idea. Will it be as lovely as their clock radio?
Sunday, May 27, 2007
All ears in car
Here's a diagram from a Bose patent application. It's for surround sound in your car. Love Bose, can't wait.
Fixing the forest floor
How clever are ants? Well, smart enough to use their own bodies to repair potholes along bumpy rainforest floors, say scientists at Bristol University.When you've got 200,000 army ants on the move, they need a good robust route to march along, and using their skill and cunning they create their own do-it-yourself road repair service, using their bodies to plug holes in the trail.
Researchers say that the ants even match themselves with the holes for the "best fit" and co-operate to fill larger holes - to help speed up the process and benefit their wider ant community.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Depending when you read this, John's Blog is probably one year old by now. Walking distance
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This website's a little bit clunky, but clever. It tells you how many miles you've walked, using an interface bolted on to Google Maps.
First, you need to get it to the UK. (Next to the "Jump to" box, you need the "Choose" pulldown - if it doesn't appear initially, click on Options - then select UK.)
Now, find your starting point and click "Start recording" on the left. The system works on straight lines, so just double click every time you want to turn. It'll add up the precise number of miles.
Thus we learn, for instance, that the quickest way to walk from Leicester Square to Marylebone Station is up Regent Street and Oxford Street to Regent's Park, rather than up Charing Cross Road, Tottenham Court Road and past the Euston Tower.
And that, in the countryside, I cover a bit less ground than I thought in an average hour's walk. That'll be all the gazing about.
Stand here for reception
That's East Prawle. Why? It's the new home of mobile phone innovation. This from the Birmingham Post, via newstatesman.com:
Mobile-phone users in East Prawle, Devon's most southerly village, have discovered that calls can only be made from one spot and only if they are two feet off the ground.
Up to now they have been clambering on a wooden public bench - which is showing signs of wear and tear from so much use.
Chivelstone Parish Council has now decided to head off damage to the bench by building a "mounting block" to give callers crucial elevation.
East Prawle district councillor Julian Brazil explained: "People don't want a phone mast."
Up to now they have been clambering on a wooden public bench - which is showing signs of wear and tear from so much use.
Chivelstone Parish Council has now decided to head off damage to the bench by building a "mounting block" to give callers crucial elevation.
East Prawle district councillor Julian Brazil explained: "People don't want a phone mast."
Top TV
Paul Merton in China - just watched the first edition on Sky Plus. Love it.
Channel 5 at 9pm on Monday.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
A sharp stick
This one's for picnics. You know those irritating moments when, living a life of decadence, the wine bottle or glass just won't stay upright on the grass? Here's what you need.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
The Blair Years
www.alastaircampbelldiaries.co.uk - not much there yet, except the chance to sign up for "e-mail updates". Presumably about the publication of the book.
Saved
The Queen saved the Archers. Meanwhile, the Observer thinks Prince Harry should have a part in it.
Monday, May 21, 2007
The Emp
Rosko Radio. He's got his own radio station, and it's on all the time. (Except when not, due to technical problems.)
Sporting joy
How much energy is used up in goal celebrations by footballers? And how much more effort could they make if they weren't getting so exuberant?
(The research was commissioned by energy company E.On, makers of the fine coal-fired power station shown in the picture.)
Thursday, May 17, 2007
The disposable blade goes upmarket
A proper three-piece shaving set. The clever thing is, it takes a Gillette Mach 3 blade. Costs £93, mind.
Wedge
That's the Wine Wedge. You stack your bottles on top of each other, cunningly using the green rubber thing to separate them and stop them, well, rolling off and smashing onto the floor I imagine.
Future writing
The 25 best new British writers, according to Waterstone's today:
- Naomi Alderman
- Susanna Clarke
- Siobhan Dowd
- Jasper Fforde
- Julia Golding
- Emily Gravett
- Jane Harris
- Steven Hall
- Peter Hobbs
- Marina Lewycka
- Gautam Malkani
- Robert Macfarlane
- Jon McGregor
- Charlotte Mendelson
- Richard Morgan
- Maggie O'Farrell
- Helen Oyeyemi
- Jo Pratt
- Dominic Sandbrook
- CJ Sansom
- Chris Simms
- Nick Stone
- Louise Welsh
- Ben Wilson
- Robyn Young
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Create your stream of Jaikus
Suddenly, Web 2.0 is full of ways to stay in touch with your friends. Here's yet another, and here's how it works.
The second laying
Henry the Osprey smashed up the eggs of his partner, suspicious that she'd been mucking around behind his back (as indeed she had). Now they've made up. It's a "remarkable turn of events".
Monday, May 14, 2007
Biodegradably from Lowestoft
The cardboard milk bottle is coming. That's the man who invented it on the left. With the milk bottle. I know you can't tell it's cardboard, but trust me. I'm a pretty straight sort of guy.
Have your say
Fronted by Jane Moore, You The Jury brings together consumers to share their experiences.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
DAB class
Dualit's marmite-themed toaster got a plug on the blog last summer, and their regular toasters are just marvellous. This, though, passed me by when it came out at the start of last year - it's their DAB radio. Costs a fortune (here, for instance), but pretty darned good looking.
Share your pics
Another new web networking tool - Radar. This one's all about sharing pictures you take on your camera phone.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Sunny
The Sun Jar. You leave it in the sun during the day, it charges itself up and glows peacefully at night.
An open and shut case
From the railway station at Lillestroem, north of Oslo, comes news of two more candidates for World's Stupidest Criminals. They got into the lift, and starting smashing it up. Funnily enough, it stopped working, and an alarm was automatically sent to security guards, whilst the vandals remained trapped inside. CCTV cameras will help send them down.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
South Bank walksClear desk policy
One in three of us in offices keep our desks tidy, often hoping it'll help our career, says a report from Office Angels. 20% of us, though, are messy, surrounding ourselves with personal items like hand cream, make-up and postcards.The man from Office Angels says: "Alarm bells need to ring if your clutter starts to encroach into colleagues' space".
So keep your make-up on your own desk.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Being English
In a documentary on the meaning of the Enigma Variations, Andrew Davis offered a list of things which defined the English. It was contrived to match the Elgar theme, but I still like it:"Our love of ceremony, a deeply passionate nature that no stiff upper lip can truly conceal, a wry sense of humour, a tendency to melancholy, pride in our achievements and a profound attachment to our unique countryside."
Not a cheap ride
If you've ever been stuck in the M1 motorway-widening roadworks, it may give you pleasure to know just how much is being invested on your behalf. Every mile costs £21m.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Sleep, please
The website's not so special but the reviews have been great for Glo To Sleep. It's an eye-mask, but a really clever one, where you focus on glowing points and slip into something close to meditation. It's got science in it and everything.
The chick-lit e-novel
Holly's Inbox - A "real time novel". You follow the plot through emails. The principle's not unlike E: A Novel, or the excellent Who Moved My Blackberry, but (a) it's online, not a printed book, and (b) you get live updates to the story through the day.
Working five to nine
40% of people now work outside the normal "nine to five", says research from First Direct, due to the growth of shift work and flexi-time, as we "face up to the challenge to deliver services around the clock".
Thursday, May 3, 2007
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