March 2005

Snapped Up

Andy at Rummaging collects wacky tales of weird sales on eBay. He’s just been added to the ‘Blogroll. I think I might add a half-dozen or so new entries to the ‘roll over the next couple of weeks. Send your bribe pledge to [this ‘Blog’s name] at gmail.com and I’ll see what I can do […]

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Armageddon It

While I’m on the subject of accomplished corporate music monsters, this 10-year-old review of Def Leppard by Andrew Mueller is entertaining, if perhaps a little long and squintily typeset to be read from the screen all in one go. It’s clear that, like me, Mr Mueller can’t help but admire the band—for all their over-produced […]

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Still Tinkering

I might have a real-time comment preview feature now, but some glitches still need to be ironed out of the moderation system. Somehow Tim Newman’s comment was blocked, but an anonymous visitor managed to post three stanzas of the aria “Uncle Fucka” from Mozart’s Der Ruggerbugger to PooterGeek. Sorry, Tim. (I should point out, dad, […]

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Anastacia By Numbers

The Anonymous Economist lent me a copy of the most recent album from Anastacia (or Shouty Woman, as my officemate Jo calls her). The main producer credited is Glen Ballard. Having listened to the tracks [if I still had dreadlocks they would have trailed back from my head horizontally while I sat in front of […]

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Better Than Brand X

Worried about MRSA? Scared of infecting your little ones with your nasty cold? University of North Carolina researchers recommend the most effective anti-microbial hand-washing product known to modern science. Also on a science kick, Mick Hartley’s ‘Blog always features excellent serious reading material, but what has given rise to the longest (and most amusing) comment […]

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Oh Happy Day

Now PooterGeek should show a preview of your comment as you type it—on most recent Web browsers—and at the top of this and every other page of the site you should see a legible banner heading showing this ‘Blog’s name in white on a purple background—on all recent browsers. Thanks to casualsavant for aesthetic consulting. […]

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Mullets And Meaningful Stares

These remixed romance novel covers are painfully funny. Admittedly the raw material was probably hilarious already—just not on purpose. [I don’t read Instapundit any more, so I refuse to be embarrassed that he picked this up a week ago.]

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The New Bigotry

Cambridge University* has banned all uniforms or national costume (including kilts) from its graduation ceremonies. According to a ranting politician this is of course “elitist“. Actually it’s the opposite: everyone is expected to dress in exactly the same way, regardless of accidents of birth. Besides, Cambridge is an elite university. Get over it. At least […]

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You’re Wearing That To The Premiere?

Judith and Leasey, connoisseurs of celebrity fashion disasters both, should enjoy the merciless Go Fug Yourself, online home of all that is fugly. (Occasionally even GFY has to give credit where it’s due, though.) [UPDATE: GFY brings us a close-up of Kylie Minogue’s lips: I rest my case.]

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My Fellow African-Americans

One evening during my recent week off ‘Blogging I was working with the radio on and heard an advertisement for 1 Xtra, a (relatively) new digital radio station extending the celebrity-/booze-/shagging-obsessed tabloid youf franchise of Radio 1 to Britain’s blacks. The ad’s female voiceover trailed a “documentary” about Condoleezza Rice with the words, “She has […]

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Small Screen Trickery

If you had developed an amazing new technique to see through your laptop, what would you do with that power? Set up a flickr gallery to show off your handiwork. [via Slashdot] cat scan [UPDATE: After you’ve browsed a few to get the idea, you should check out this one—truly the work of a geek […]

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Kylie And Kevin

Kylie Minogue appeals to me sexually like a bath of cold baked beans. No, I’m not into splosh. In her infamous cinema ad for Agent Provocateur underwear she undulates in said lingerie on the back of a bucking electric horse. The punchline is something about how the men in the audience should be too aroused […]

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Senior Conservative Ratners His Party

Something about this: Howard Flight has quit as Conservative deputy chairman over comments he made about the party’s spending plans. The MP, who is the Tories’ special envoy to the City, apparently admitted the scale of planned cuts were [sic] being concealed to help win an election. reminds me of this: They call it ‘doing […]

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Muammar Qaddafi Unites Israel and Palestine

Following Colonel Qaddafi’s accusation at the Arab League summit in Algiers today, that the Israelis and Palestinians are “stupid”, thousands of members of both populations have come together to sign an unprecedented cross-community petition declaring Qaddafi “a gibbering loon”. Waving his arms theatrically as he introduced a joint statement issued with President of the Palestinian […]

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Right. I’m Off.

I’ve got an article and a grant application to write—and something more important to do—so there’ll be nothing new here for the best part of a week. In the meantime here’s a Zen window in Cambridge: [click to enlarge]

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Writ

Cardinal declares, “The book is everywhere. There is a very real risk that many people who read it will believe that the fables it contains are true”, says, “It astonishes and worries me that so many people believe these lies”. Scientist comments, “It amuses and disappoints me that the cardinal is talking about The Da […]

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Shine On You Crazy Crystal

This could be the start of a new series: “Strange Windows In Cambridge”. Trust me: I have more photos at least as weird as this one. This city has the best university and the worst football team(s) (per capita income) in the country and the highest density of eccentrics on the whole planet. What other […]

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One For My Dad

Via the redoubtable Tim Worstall (who graduated to the ‘Blogroll here yesterday—like he needs the hits), I discover that there’s a British cricket ‘Blog called The Corridor Of Uncertainty. I like that it has a “Cricket” subject category, presumably to mark out the posts about cricket.

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Blonde On Blonde

“Good Scottish Pop / Bad Scottish Pop” has it about right, pointing up the unrecognized greatness of Del Amitri and the inexplicably ignored uselessness of Belle and Sebastian. Despite some dithering about the exact status of Simple Minds, only one artiste makes into both the Good and Bad categories: Laird Rodney of the Clan Stewart. […]

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And Your Point Would Be?

First the BBC turns against you, then Ted Kennedy snubs you: Kennedy spokeswoman Melissa Wagoner said: “Senator Kennedy has decided to decline to meet with Gerry Adams, given the IRA’s ongoing criminal activity and contempt for the rule of law.” She said the events surrounding the death of Mr McCartney underscored the need for IRA […]

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Spooky

Once, when I was going through a bit of a bad patch, I walked into a black hairdressers’ in Birmingham and asked them to straighten my hair. Afterwards, I looked like exactly one of these.

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Old News

In the year 2000 a mysterious stranger journeyed from the future to tell us about his past. His name was John Titor and this is his story. (Despite his supposed online notoriety, it wasn’t until now that I had even heard of him.)

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Parents—Who’d Have ‘Em?

I suspect the age distribution of the visitors here is such that somebody reading this must have some tips on getting parents over sixty with potentially life-threatening conditions to look after themselves properly. All suggestions welcome.

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Sheep-Dogs

Somebody somewhere (Japan) thinks that dressing up dogs as sheep and even putting them in little pens is a good thing. Can you believe that they’ve sold out of some of these products? There’s probably a Japanese game show where they dress lambs up as dogs and get them to guide the pooches into their […]

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