Strangely Perfect

Q. How? A. Simple. All people in the public sector (i.e. in the service of the government) to have a salary of no more than the prime minister… Preamble David Cameron is paid £142,500 by us, the taxpayer.  Tonight’s Panorama programme on the BBC reveals that thousands are paid more than the PM, notionally the [...]

Students die in India as bus plunges into river The above headline is awful enough for the people involved, but in reality, it’s subject, a road crash, is common enough in my own country, the UK. What is really bad is how the BBC is reporting this.  They should know better but essentially, they’ve reported [...]

Introduction This is a follow-up to Colony Holidays and Tubby the Tuba where I talked about Colony Holidays (the CCHS), Chris Green’s part as Tubby the Tuba, and my fond memories of such a formative part of my life. Recent News Chris Green, one of the two full-time driving forces behind the original CCHS, is [...]

Via some Google Alerts I’ve got set up, I came across the weirdest definition of “Crawling Chaos” that I’ve seen for quite some time. This is the complete web-page on the right and it’s source, the link below: http://bathroomgirl.tumblr.com/post/276368760 In essence, it’s a long list of weird photos; some disturbing, some funny, many thoughtful, not [...]

After driving through blizzards to get there, I took this little video of King Edward’s Bay en route to the Gibraltar Rock Inn in Tynemouth.  It was freezing and I was shivering…. What it demonstrates quite effectively, is the anti-shake at work on my camera and the fantastic level of zoom it has.  The colours [...]

Alan Johnson Sacks the Messenger This, of course, relates to the recent sackings and supportive resignations of Government Scientific Advisors (see More advisers may go in drugs row) . The home secretary faces the threat of more scientists resigning after sacking his chief drugs adviser Prof David Nutt for his comments about cannabis policy. Two [...]

Like a metal mickey, old Geordie Gordon Moore (no, not him of Intel and his ‘law’) has astounded the medical profession with the recent discovery that a big hole in his head has grown back under the protective metal plate that was inserted to fill the gap.  (see the story here: Man grows new skull [...]

A Possible Start to Personal Details Theft? Here’s how it works… Some time ago I made a posting on the odiously chubby internet bankrupteer and millionaire self-publicist Robert Allen (see link here).  As part of this investigation I used the name “Morton” coupled to my spam magnet email address in order to see what would [...]

There’s now an official UK Pirate Party. It’s founded on the guiding principles that all art & creativity should be free for people sat in their bedrooms and that those people in the bedrooms should have absolute privacy! True. They want the Swedish model of the convicted file-sharers in the UK.  Also, they want Google [...]

Introduction Simple. Live in County Durham, UK Don’t pass the driving test Drive a car, unsupervised, with your partner and her 6-year old child as passengers! Find a cyclist while driving around Make sure the cyclist is not wearing a helmet Knock over the cyclist with your illegally driven and thus un-insured car Make sure [...]

A Secret Shared: – Is Not  a Secret One Third of Second-Hand Hard Drives Contain Secrets This is the astonishing findings from research conducted by three Universities, from Wales, the US & Australia (see here). In an absolutely random sample of second-hand discs bought at computer fairs and places like eBay, 34% had secret, classified [...]

Don’t just sniff and worry. Don’t sweat. Don’t worry about Death by Flu. Instead, worry about: “Death by Powerpoint”! (see http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/London%20Councils/090127sellwooddraft.ppt) Or try Death by Portable Document Format! http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/924/0054555.pdf (written in 2007) Author’s note: Some bits are okay actually, especially the picture of Maiden Castle.  But if you do get the flu, stay in, don’t [...]

Earlier this year when Ron Asheton died, I remarked (see Nazi Ron Dies) that it was funny how life takes us on different paths.  James Williamson is now an IT executive for Sony and Iggy Pop is doing car adverts… Well, it turns out that there’s been a problem with that.  The Advertising Standards Agency [...]

This is the full text of an ‘article‘ posted on the Michigan State University (MSU) news section by ‘the State News opinion writer’ apparently.  Zack (for it is he) has his own particular version of personal rights and responsibilities, somewhat at odds with US law.  His article worked though – he has had a shed [...]