All ten lanes of a section of the M25 were shut down today after a truck carrying hydrogen peroxide caught fire and was essentially vapourised.
(The result is vaguely similar to the episode of Mythbusters where they try to clean a cement truck using explosives.)
I’ve just spent (almost) a week back in Edinburgh doing festivally things and visit-family-and-friends things and too-damn-much-driving things. I had a great time, but I’m ready for a holiday to recover from my holiday now. Anyway, there will be more reviews when I can focus my eyes properly again.
Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls) - The [...]
Straight from the “Surely he doesn’t need the money” department: I’ve just seen a commercial for Walker’s crisps featuring Lemmy from Motörhead, alongside Gary Lineker and Lucy Pinder.
I haven’t been able to find any screen grabs of it, so did I really see this, or have I just not been getting enough sleep lately?
More gaming nostalgia: Every back issue of ‘Sinclair User’. Not that interesting in and of itself, but the page does have a more interesting link: ‘Your Sinclair’ back issues. YS is great. I used to read it and I never even owned a Speccy. It’s weird how tendrils from the magazine can still be spotted [...]
An impressive example of what too much ice cream and glue can do to the human mind.
A replica Viking longboat made out of 15 million ice cream sticks has been launched in Amsterdam harbour.
The ship was painstakingly glued together by former Hollywood stuntman Robert McDonald and two friends - a job that took two years.
Konopizza is apparently opening a branch in London.
Conical pizza is, I think, the worst idea I’ve ever heard. Does that cheese go all the way to the bottom? It must be like drinking pure grease.
Underground maps for the iPod Photo. Various major underground maps split up into screen size chunks, giving tube travellers another excuse [...]
Steamboy - An anime set in Victorian England, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. Thankfully, it’s nowhere near the incomprehensible mess that Akira was (Otomo’s best known film,) but it’s not a total success either.
The visuals are just totally lush. The blended 2D and 3D scenes work really well, and steam age technology is intrinsically cool. I’m [...]
The staff on the train to work have been getting progressively snarkier recently, and have more of a long-suffering appearance than usual. This has lead to a few moments of comedy gold.
A couple of days ago, the guard came into our carriage to check tickets by saying “Ladies and gentlemen, can you have all tickets [...]
The Electric Universe: Simon pointed out this brilliant piece of handwavium, which essentially says that the reliance of modern cosmology on magnetism and gravity is misguided, and then tries to bore the listener into believing.
David Galbraith’s theory of Unintelligent Design: “The same as Intelligent Design, except that the creator is either a moron or Satan”
Only The Scotsman could be this gleefully misanthropic: All of their 1-star rated reviews from the Edinburgh festival collated on one page.
Since moving, I haven’t had any games consoles hooked up (a situation which should be remedied soon,) so I’ve been playing a distressing number of old games:
A list of 102 free games from 1up. There’s some good stuff in there (King’s Quest, Zak McKracken, Maniac Mansion.)
This Sensible Soccer 2 plug and play dealie has been [...]
I’ve had Black Cadilacs by Modest Mouse stuck in my head for about a week now. It’s a great song, but there are limits…
Playing it to myself repeatedly hasn’t helped getting rid of it, so I think the only solution might be to find a catchier song to replace it. Desperate times and all that. [...]
Hanzi Smatter is a blog dedicated to the misuse of Chinese writing in the West. Mainly focusing on tatoos, but also including all kinds of other stuff.
The most cringeworthy entry is probably Avril Lavigne wearing a temporary tatoo which read “Japan is best” while playing a concert in Hong Kong…
I’ve just got back from watching a screening of Donnie Darko in Kensington Gardens as part of the Stella Artois Screen series.
I always love watching movies outdoors in the summer. There’s just something great about sitting on the grass at sunset with beer and popcorn in amongst a huge, cheerful crowd of people.
I still [...]
Example the first: The Cyber Fashion Show. Fashion designers and computer nerds combine to find out exactly what the bottom of the barrel looks like. In the future, we will apparently all be dressed like a Gibson-fetishist’s wet dream.