Boom bang a bang

Can't help feeling that this is all going to end in widescale persecution of people who use rucksacks.

What's wrong with this picture?

Take a look at the picture on this page:



Can you spot the problem?

[edit: no, it's not the dodgy photoshopping on the cutout edges.]

Am about to finishing packing, with 1 hour to spare before heading out the front door and off to the airport... which is nice. Then I can finally relax. See you in europe, mes amis.

Can't get out of bed

I used to sleep as long as I felt like, by not setting the alarm clock and just seeing when I would wake up. This was reasonably effective, but eventually I got the impression that my body was taking advantage of this arrangement, and taking more sleep without replenishing my energy levels the amount it should. Then I saw one of these new "blog" [it's short for 'logarithm to the base b'] things which had a helpful title, How to become an early riser.

Here is a summary of what the article suggests: use an alarm clock.

This is quite effective, but I have found a convenient modification that makes it work even better. I have an alarm clock radio, which I used to have tuned to the NPR station, so I would be woken with a briefing of world events. This was usually so interesting, or alternatively, so boring, that I would end up snoozing away for some time longer. Then one day, when the signal was fading, I tried to retune the radio and lost the station entirely (damn public broadcasting and their weedy transmitters!). Instead, I stumbled upon my local "family radio" station, broadcasting 'good news' 24 hours a day. Now, it turns out that the time I want to get up (8am -- let's not let this get out of control) coincides exactly with a two minute program called "Creation moments". This little daily capsule of information gives reason after reason why all those scientists are being so silly, and that basic observable facts point indubitably to the conclusion that God created the heavens and the earth, and no evolution has happened at all, ever. Thus, god exists. QED. It's great. Everyday after listening to it, I jump out of bed, energized by the rhetoric, ready to face the day. For some reason most of the 'moments' seem to be about whales, but that doesn't seem to matter much. You'd think that having being doing this for years, the CM folks would be running out of unarguable proofs of god's existence, but you'd be wrong: go to the website and you'll see archives of hundreds and hundreds of examples of how all science is wrong and scientists are blinkered, cowlish fools. Praise the Lord!

London Calling

In an attempt to understand what's been going on in the world lately, I've be relistening to Radio 1's broadcast output from 9am to noon on Thursday. Thanks to the BBC's policy of sticking pretty much everything that is broadcast on the website, you can listen as the news slowly filters through, from "electrical disruptions" being second billing to the G8 summit at 9.30 am, to launching into full blown emergency broadcast system mode around 11am. Even when things seem bad, they still stick with the jokes and entertainment news until the Tony Blair press conference when it becomes clear that something is up. Contrary to popular belief, sometimes news travels quite slowly.

As I was beginning to pack for my European Vacation (starting Wednesday) I got out my bag of European stuff: credit cards, Euros, power converters etc. Amongst it all I found my honorary Londoner card:



which made me remember I'm a womble londoner of sorts. Anyway, I'll be arriving in London wednesday morning, but unless anyone is up for coffee in Victoria at some unearthly hour in the morning (probably about 9.15 am), then your best bet to meet up in the capital will be on Friday when I am planning a day trip in to the city. Contact me if you are around. And you know who I am, natch.

What?

Who thought that this would be a good idea?

By the way, which one's Pink?

Nice to see that Westlife is still going strong after eight long years, and that their celebratory concert, Westlife8 got such a good set of support acts. Even old Punk Floyd was on there, doing some of their greatest hits. But it was a shame that they had to try to establish their youth credentials by throwing in a cover version of 'Comfortably Numb' by the scissor sisters. Their slowed down, de-synthesized version managed to drain all the life out of this disco classic, and turn it into something more like a funeral dirge. They should stick to their own material.

Stonehenge!