Comic Capers

In my wanderings through the interweb I stumbled across this pair, called Ebenezer and Snooch. They remind me so much of our own two moggies, Bradley and Tabitha. Bradley is big, ginger and white laid back type, while Tabs is a small, skinny, psycotic tabby. There's quite a few strips on the site, many of which gave me a chuckle, so have a look yourselves, especially if you're a cat lover..... (click on pic for larger version) And for the person who complained to Boomerang, I haven't seen any with them smoking.... yet.

Tags: Ebenezer and Snooch, cartoons

Tenant Time

In the spare room this week is Chad, with his blog, World of Chad. Unfortunately he's not in the best of moods at the mo due to migraines, (something which I can sympathise with as a fellow sufferer) so his language isn't the cleanest. But his posts are entertaining and interesting, so give him a click. While you're sliding down the sidebar, grab some free web storage courtsey of Box.net, and free backup from Mozy.com. Or simply click on the handy links here.....

My new obsession....

I have a new obession, and it's name is MetaCafe. Like YouTube and Google Video and the seemingly dozens of similar sites, MetaCafe has oodles of video clips for you to watch. The difference is that unlike the others, you can install their downloader and, well, download any that take your fancy. Also, the prog will download a random selection for you to either keep or reject in a constant stream, so you never run out of things to look at. And as well as video, it delivers slideshows, flash games (an obsession in themselves) game trailers, documents and audio. Now, like the other sites, most of what you get is, let's be honest, trash. Sub You've Been Framed accidents, fuzzy sex scenes and screen grabs of ads. And a lot of Chris Angel clips. But sifting through, I've found some real gems. So give it a try. Just don't say I didn't warn you.....

Tags: MetaCafe, YouTube, Google Video

The Home of the Internet ®

If you think you have trouble knowing what all the spagetti is at the back of your computer, or think your system fan is a bit noisy, take a look at this little video about Equinix. They look after the data for sites like MySpace, Yahoo and PayPal. You wouldn't want their lekky bills.....

Is it me?

How do you Solve a problem like Maria? It's called the off switch.
Why is it that films, dvds, games and cds are graded or starred in magazines or newspapers, but not books?
Have all the Polish immigrants that have supposedly flooded the country gone to work for Haven ? Or become NHS dentists?

Tenant Time

This weeks paying guest is The House of Tea and Biscuits. I feel a little guilty about taking the rent as his last post announces that he's quit his job. If you want the ins and outs of one of the largest computer retailers, hop over and he may be able to answer you now he's ungagged..... Before you do though, head a little further down and grab a couple of freebies - a gig of storage from Box.net, and an automatic web-based backup service from Mozy.com. You know it makes sense....

Lefties Unite

During my middle years at school I was known as lefty. Just lefty. Hardly anyone used my real name. I didn't mind too much, as others were called worse, as could I when I started wearing glasses. So lefty it was. Now, this wasn't due to my politics, I wasn't a subscriber to the Socialist Worker, but because I used the Devil's Claw. Yes, that terrible sin of writing left-handed. Fortunately, I'd had enlightened primary school teachers who let me do what came naturally. Unlike some others I've read about, who had their left arm tied behind their backs to force them to use their right hand, or who received a slap from the ruler if caught. The only major problem was in the first years of senior school, when our English teacher Miss Smith (whose bun-like wig and rosy make up made her look like a Geisha) insisted we all used cartridge pens. This meant I ended up writing at a 90° angle to prevent smudging. Anyway, the point of this reminising is that today is International Left Hander's Day, when we southpaws celebrate our left-handedness and challenge right-handed people to do things our way and experience the frustration of living in a right-handed world. If you want more info on the day or left-handedness in general, click here. For a more scientific approach, click here.
Remember: Left-handed people are the only ones in their right minds.....

Tags: Left Handed Day, Left Handed, Lefties

Drokk! Time flies....

1977. In the Queen's Silver Jubilee year the Sex Pistols were calling for Anarchy in the UK, while white suits were all the rage as people wore out their needles playing the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack LP. Star Wars hit the cinema and the toy shops as the Enterprise piggybacked on the back of a 747 and Concorde began regular flights from London to New York. All these memories came back as I was standing in WHSmiths holding a comic. But it was no ordinary comic. This was the 1500th prog of 200AD. I can remember as if it was yesterday holding that very first copy in February 1977, complete with free Space Spinner (shown in all its glory below). As soon as I opened it I knew it was for me.... Dan Dare, Invasion, Harlem Heroes, Flesh (a concept just begging to be made into a movie or a series), the strips were superb. And that was without the legend that is Judge Dredd, who didn't appear until prog two. While many other comics have come and gone, the mighty Tharg and his creation has gone from strength to strength, bringing many more heroes and villians to we Earthlings. Here's to prog 3000.....

Tags: 1977, 200AD, Judge Dredd, Tharg

Text the word stupid to this number....

From today's soaraway Sun newspaper:

BIG Brother was in crisis last night as bosses tried desperately to stave off national outrage at the phoneline rip-off scandal.

More than 1,800 fuming fans had called to complain over plans to vote evicted housemates back into the TV house via “greedy” premium rate lines.
Sun reader Johnny Halliday, who called himself an EX-Big Brother fan, said: “Surely this must be the biggest rip-off of all time.

“First the public are asked to spend a fortune phoning in to evict people from the BB house.
“Then Big Brother wants us to spend more money voting them back into the house next door.
“No doubt we will then have to phone in again to possibly evict the person from the main house we’ve already paid to evict. How stupid do they think we are?”

Errrr...... Very. Very. Very.

(I do think it's a bit rich of the Sun and others to lambast Channel 4 and BB's makers when it's progs like BB that help them sell papers....)

WTF?

Ok, so it was stupid and as grown men they should've known better, but all this fuss about the fireman in the tumbledryer really is all hot air (pun intended). With typical sensationalism, the news programmes denounce the prank, making sure they show plently of footage of it at the same time. If they hadn't given it blanket coverage, it would've stayed as a clip on the net with the other millions of clips. Now everyone's talking about it, and I expect the news channels will be trying to hunt down a copycat act.....
Talking of the news, how's this for a non-story. A supermarket wall fell down in the night. Police say if it had fallen down in the daytime it may have killed someone. Yeah, and if I had been in that part of the country, and if I'd had a dog, it could have been us....

On the Button

It's been a long dry spell, both for Jenson Button and British F1 fans. Three years for us, 113 races for him without a win. Critics will say it was more luck than skill, but in this sport luck is part of the package, and until now Jenson's has all been bad. This weekend seemed no different as an engine blowout put him back to 14th on the grid. In an unusually exciting Hungarian GP, he stuck at it through the bad patch and seized the opportunity when it came. Let's hope it's the first of many.

Tags: F1, Jenson Button

Greed Rebate

So, after they've driven up the price so most people can't afford them, destroyed village life, bragged at dinnerparties and are now going abroad and doing the same there, some homeowners are bleating that they want the threshold in Inheritance tax to rise to keep up with their greed rather than inflation. Sorry, you want the profit, you pay for it.

That looks sore....

From NASA's fasinating Earth Obersvatory site: "This image shows the difference in land surface temperatures from July 12-19, 2006, compared to the average temperatures during that period for the past six years (2000-2005). The measurements were made by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. Dark red shows areas where 2006 land surface temperatures were up to 10 degrees Celsius (around 18 degrees Fahrenheit if my maths is right) warmer than recent years." Official figures show that the UK had it's hottest July since records began. So imagine my incredulity at hearing someone yesterday saying they were "Fed up with with all this rain" after the showers we've had....