Yesterday Leasey sent me a link to a deeply strange Website that tries to guess which sitcom character and/or dictator you are. Er, thanks, Leasey. On the same day,
Read More13Feb04 — 3
February 2004
13Feb04 — 0
Mystorian/Historian
Susan Carruthers, associate professor of history, Rutgers University, New Jersey, US, writes in the Times Higher Educational Supplement [Website down 08:30] about three books on contemporary international affairs. Her contribution to the 30Jan04 edition [not free online] should be given to students as an example of how to smother reason with fashionable polysyllabic flannel. Here […]
Read More12Feb04 — 0
Frankly, My Dear
Mel Gibson has some bad news for his wife.
Read More11Feb04 — 0
Rockchicks Don’t Wear Plaid
To the rest of us it’s a nipple ring, worthy of flippant comment; to Andrew Guy Jnr. of the Houston Chronicle it’s a matter for an on-the-spot report that reads like a Raymond Chandler pastiche. It’s funny. But not for the reasons he hoped.
Read More11Feb04 — 0
Apology of the Day
From the honest, accurate and impartial Al-Jazeera: “Correction: An earlier version of this article said John Kerry had admitted taking part in the inadvertent slaughter of Vietnamese civilians. We would like to make clear this admission was made by Senator Bob Kerrey.” (via Fark).
Read More10Feb04 — 0
Apostrophic
Yesterday Jackie D photographed a garment that my parents will never, ever buy for Maisie.
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Spreading Darkness
Black Triangle, the pharmacology ‘Blog by the originator of the legendary Weapons of Mass Destruction Error Message [Martin warns of pop-ups], joins in on the Nigerian polio mess (again).
Read More10Feb04 — 0
Yet More Israeli Craziness
I’m a bit late to this story, I know, but I’m on an “Israeli surreality” roll now, so don’t stop me. He used to be a terrorist, now he’s a “Palestinian Zionist”, but “Walid Shoebat” is the sort of name that only the CIA could devise. It’s a fundamentalist Christian plot, I tell ya.
Read More09Feb04 — 0
“…And Promote World Peace”
As part of my “bonkers news from Israel” season I give you the naked settler midriffs of Miss Samaria 2004. Rabbi Daniel Shiloh, spokesman for the Committee of Rabbis in Judea and Samaria, the religious designation for the West Bank, said in an interview before the pageant. “It starts with beauty contests and ends with […]
Read More08Feb04 — 0
One More Thing
Stephen Pollard also links to this excellent Telegraph article which draws attention to the breathtaking point-missing of the retrospective debate over the Iraq war.
Read More08Feb04 — 0
Odds and Sods
I’ve been flitting about posh, but un-networked, corners of London again so I’ve not had a chance to post so far this weekend. At a party in Highgate yesterday, I spent some time railing against this kind of educational hypocrisy and was told by two of the nice, privileged, middle-class guests to “lighten up”. Leftie […]
Read More06Feb04 — 0
Unpopular Music
Letting “artists” decide what kind of music they should release is usually very foolish indeed. I’m glad even music journalists are starting to realise it.
Read More06Feb04 — 0
Another Brick
Al Gore didn’t invent the Internet, but did David Hasselhoff bring down the Berlin Wall?
Read More05Feb04 — 0
Neighbours from Hell
In the Looking Glass world of Israeli politics, war criminal and chronic embarrassment to right-thinking Israelis Ariel Sharon gets it in the neck for doing the right thing. If he ever manages to implement his plan to move these other embarrassments to right-thinking Israelis someone will, of course, shoot him dead—and graduate from assassin school […]
Read More05Feb04 — 1
Geeks Don’t Iron
Thanks to Maoi and the Cambridge University Filipino Students’ Society (don’t ask) for a tip-off to this story about how to get a paper in PNAS (a highly respected scientific journal—and I’m not being sarcastic for a change) by mathematically modelling the folding of fabrics. Incidentally, Maoi, I’ve just been to see Lost in Translation […]
Read More05Feb04 — 0
Googleplexing
Before you follow the link, try to guess what is the single most searched event in the history of the Internet. Clue: it’s not the September 11 attacks.
Read More04Feb04 — 2
I’m Working On It
Today I’ve got to deliver my revised talk for that presentation course, but my preparations have been disrupted because I have just found my long-lost brother on the Internet.
Read More04Feb04 — 0
Russian Dolls?
A while ago I wrote about Bratz dolls in a flippant way. It seems I didn’t take the subject as seriously as it deserved. Charles Laurence in the Sunday Telegraph has been reflecting on the usurping of Barbie by the Bratz: In toy terms, this is an upheaval on the same scale as the fall […]
Read More04Feb04 — 0
But They Said…
Going to war on bad intelligence: a short history.
Read More03Feb04 — 0
Compare and Contrast
You thought Andrew Gilligan was in denial: Some of my story was wrong, as I admitted at the inquiry, and I again apologise for it… …But the BBC collectively has been the victim of a grave injustice. , but there’s always a French politician to put things in proportion. According to the BBC: Juppé said […]
Read More03Feb04 — 0
Man of Mystery
The Sun promises us a Web chat with celebrity hypnotist Paul McKenna and invites us to send in our questions. Here’s mine: “Apparently you can give women orgasms by snapping your fingers and it’s safe to say you aren’t short of a bob or two, so why do you find it necessary to comb thin […]
Read More03Feb04 — 0
Addressing Weighty Matters
I completed the first part of an excellent course in presentation skills today and had the odd experience of seeing myself on film. Either it’s true that the camera puts 10 pounds on you or it’s time I went on a diet. If cameras do put weight on you, God help Calista Flockhart and Courtney […]
Read More02Feb04 — 0
Help Wanted
I have received a grant from EMBnet to pay for someone to work on one of my mad ideas. If you would like to work with me for a year at the Genome Campus you might want to read this.
Read More01Feb04 — 0
Look At Me When I’m Talking
Not making eye contact seems to help children to think.
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Anti-Hate Speech
Why is it a big story in The Guardian when a Saudi Muslim religious leader tells Muslims not to kill Muslims and non-Muslims? Is it because no one reports routine outpourings of hateful rhetoric from Saudi Muslim religious leaders? (“Yeah, dogs bite men every day. So what?”) Is it because Saudi Muslim religious leaders are […]
Read More01Feb04 — 0
Knuckles-To-The-Ground Update
Primates are human, too. Phone masts give you cancer, but sex with a middle-aged guru can cure it.
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