Oh Internet

Really, really painful background images. I think some of these probably work better on CRT monitors than on TFTs, but still, plenty of headache material.

I have it on good authority that the version of Black and White 2 which was eventually accepted as ‘gold’ (ready for manufacturing) by EA was, by pure coincidence, build number 1337. Which is just so awesome.
(If you don’t get the joke, then take comfort in the fact that you obviously live a more interesting [...]

How did I manage to miss this? From 2004, a story about 2 members of the Oxford Stunt Factory - an unofficial Oxford University club - being charged with manslaughter after another member died after being fired from a trebuchet which they built:

David Aitkenhead and Richard Wicks were involved in the building of the trebuchet [...]

Junk food is to be banned from UK schools from this September.
Aside from the fact that I’m now going to try to use the term “meat slurry” in as many conversations as possible, the most interesting part of the article is that they’re also planning to remove chocolates, crisps and fizzy drinks from vending machines [...]

Howl’s Moving Castle: I wanted to love this, and it’s exceptionally pretty, as you’d expect, but it just doesn’t work as a movie. There are all these long lingering shots of the characters and scenery, then there’s the jarring moments of “oh shit, we’ve forgotten about the story for the last 30 minutes, better cram [...]

One of the drawbacks to companies being able to patch console games nowadays: A patch to EA’s ‘Madden 06′ made one particular player 7 inches tall. Hilarity ensues.

Gang of Four - The Barbican: Oh. Hell. Yes. Very, very close to being the best show I’ve ever seen. The only minus point was that it was in an all-seated venue, which is Just Not Right. Seriously, at the start of the show the people around us were yelling at us for dancing on [...]

This may be the worst idea in the long and storied history of bad ideas.
Ice-T is to produce David Hasselhoff’s first hip-hop album.
…
Ice-T added: “He’s gonna come out as Hassle The Hoff - I promise you. The Hoff will surprise people with his rap skills and humour.”

You should definitely buy
Golden Ocean - 50 Foot Wave: This is Kristen Hersh’s new band, and I’d somehow missed out on them for ages, but the album’s just great. It’s a lot more punky than Throwing Muses were (and obviously moreso than her solo stuff.) It sounds like it should make for an excellent live [...]

OK, pay attention at the back.
You all need to go to your friendly computer game store and buy Fable: The Lost Chapters for PC (or wait for the XBox version which will be coming out Real Soon Now.)
You know you want to. Think of our royalties the fun you could be having playing the game [...]

This evening has been… unproductive.
I appear to have just watched all of Gone in Sixty Seconds. I couldn’t make myself turn away from the horrorshow.
I may have to go and hit myself with a crowbar now.

The Planned Parenthood health clinic in Southeast Pensylvania is running a pledge-a-picket campaign. The idea is that you pledge a sum of money for each protester that shows up outside the clinic throughout October and November. They’ll then put signs outside that show the protesters exactly how much they’re helping to raise for the [...]

Damn those scientists! They’ll doom us all!
The University of Southern California is displaying a ‘Humanoid Robot Head‘ at the National Science Foundation. Look at those eyes! It’s planning to join forces with that scary hand thing, and as soon as there are enough other body parts available, will break out and kill us all.

Exhibit A

Exhibit [...]

Is it just me, or does one of the pages on the Windows Vista site prominently feature a woman using an iBook?

I sincerely hope that you all remembered what day it was today, and drove your friends and coworkers mad with your best nautical puns.