Friday, June 25, 2004

Try to get out of Gridlock

Have a go at this game - midly amusing

Why did the right hate Clinton?

Interesting analysis of the absolute hatred that the far-right in America have for Bill Clinton (if anyone doubts this fact, just look at some of the vitriol that has been in the media ever since his book was published)

Interestingly the piece contends that clinton is hated so much because he co-opted many of the Republican's policies, building a centre-right coalition thereby pushing the Republicans out of power.

It's actually reminiscent of tony Blair and New Labour, who acheived power by forgetting socialism and become the Conservative party under another name, with some appearance of compassion for the less fortunate sections of society

Is there a 9/11 Commission Cover Up

A piece which disassembles media reports of the 911 commission to ask what are the questions they are not asking and what is the information they are ignoring

Is the CIA planning to remove Bush from office

Very detailed piece which looks at the implications of the abysmal treatment of Iraqui prisoners and the exposure of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative and suggests that the CIA is in the process of plotting to have Bush removed from office.

The article suggests that the political fallout will be bigger even than Watergate.

iStopMotion - Creating a Stop Motion Movie

Interesting little app which lets you create stop motion or time lapse movies

Judge Suspected of Masturbating in Court

An Oklahoma State judge has been accused of masturbating and using a penis pump whilst court was in session

Judge Sorry for Likening Bush, Hitler

Judge Guido Calabresi, 71, of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan offerred his apologies for likening Bush's rise to power to that of Mussolini or Hitler.

In his clarification, he claimed he was discussing the fact that Bush was put in power by the US Supreme Court when it settled the dispute over whether Bush had beaten Gore.

Thursday, June 24, 2004

How to design a 3D ship visualisation in Illustrator

Interesting piece that goes through creating a product visualisatino in Adobe Illustrator

De Vere anniversary revives Shakespeare debate

It's amazing the intelletual snobbery that people can have. The arguement goes that William Shakespeare can't possibly have written the plays attributed to him because he came from a humble background. Their contention is of course that people from privileged backgrounds must inherently have more skill with the English Language than those from a poor background (please, can someone explain George Bush, in that case?).
I can't see what the point of this is. Afterall, whoever wrote the plays, they are among the greatest works of art ever created

Brainwashing cult leader uses the US Senate to declare himself the Messiah

The Rev Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Moonies, officator at Mass weddings has declared himself the Messiah in the US senate.

The Moonies are an odious bunch, ultra-conservative, homphobic in the extreme and well-known for brain washing their members, even choosing their spouses for them.

It seems Rev Moon is well in with the ultra-conservative regime in Washington and has an extraordinary influence in US politics. He owns the conservative newspaper the Washington Times and the US news agency United Press International.
Amazing how if you have unlimited wealth, a crazed worldview based on a warped religious view you can do anything in America - truly the land of opportunites

Brainwashing cult leader uses the US Senate to declare himself the Messiah

The Rev Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Moonies, officator at Mass weddings has declared himself the Messiah in the US senate.

The Moonies are an odious bunch, ultra-conservative, homphobic in the extreme and well-known for brain washing their members, even choosing their spouses for them.

It seems Rev Moon is well in with the ultra-conservative regime in Washington and has an extraordinary influence in US politics. He owns the conservative newspaper the Washington Times and the US news agency United Press International.
Amazing how if you have unlimited wealth, a crazed worldview based on a warped religious view you can do anything in America - truly the land of opportunites

Brainwashing cult leader uses the US Senate to declare himself the Messiah

The Rev Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Moonies, officator at Mass weddings has declared himself the Messiah in the US senate.

The Moonies are an odious bunch, ultra-conservative, homphobic in the extreme and well-known for brain washing their members, even choosing their spouses for them.

It seems Rev Moon is well in with the ultra-conservative regime in Washington and has an extraordinary influence in US politics. He owns the conservative newspaper the Washington Times and the US news agency United Press International.
Amazing how if you have unlimited wealth, a crazed worldview based on a warped religious view you can do anything in America - truly the land of opportunites

Brainwashing cult leader uses the US Senate to declare himself the Messiah

The Rev Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Moonies, officator at Mass weddings has declared himself the Messiah in the US senate.

The Moonies are an odious bunch, ultra-conservative, homphobic in the extreme and well-known for brain washing their members, even choosing their spouses for them.

It seems Rev Moon is well in with the ultra-conservative regime in Washington and has an extraordinary influence in US politics. He owns the conservative newspaper the Washington Times and the US news agency United Press International.
Amazing how if you have unlimited wealth, a crazed worldview based on a warped religious view you can do anything in America - truly the land of opportunites

Font Fatigue: Pruning Excess Fonts in Mac OS X

An article about controlling fonts in Mac OS X

Whatever next?

A balanced, fair-minded review of Bill Clinton's book coming out of America. Just when you think the media is totally rabidly right-wing

Archdruid wants Stonehenge back

Oh dear, oh dear, not again

Robyn Lewis, the new Archdruid of Wales wants Stonhenge back. These stupid people who flounce about in bedsheets with the reinvented nonsensical notions of ancient celtic practice are just idiots.

He compares stonehenge to the elgin marbles, the stupid arse - the Elgin marbles were a work of art which were pillaged from their original location by colonialists. The blue Preseli stones only assume the status of being art by virtue of their being part of Stonehenge which was built in Wiltshire. Also Preseli stones are only a part of the original; does this poor deluded fool think he has a right to the English stones to.

No doubt it will all be dismissed as a joke, or a sad publicity stunt for the Natinal Eisteddfod of Wales. Either way it is pathetic and the stupid man should just shut up and put the bedsheets back on the bed and stop acting like he thinks he's the Grand Dragon of the Welsh chapter of the KKK

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Swiss court allows Gypsies to sue IBM over alleged Holocaust link

IBM is to be sued in Switzerland over allegations that their punch-card machines. helped the Nazis commit genocide more efficiently

Tony Blackburn suspended for playing Cliff Richard

The music of Cliff Richard does not fit the demographic profile of Classic Gold, it would seem and Tony Blackburn has been suspended for repeatedly playing him.

I've never heard of this particular radio station before, but I can guess it's not exactly playing contemporary or challenging music so I can't think of any reason (except of course good taste) to ban the god-fearing, self-appointed peter pan of pop from the playlist.

Good to see that a DJ relic from the 60s still has the embers of rebellion within him.

Please note, I can't abide the sound of Cliff Richard, but I despise even more corporatised radio station who impose a limited playlist on their listeners. If the station owners don't want the DJs to choose their own playlist, why hire them in the first place

Clinton's mystery bracelet

Explanation of the bracelet Bill Clinton has been seen wearing, with link to a very good interview with him.

Arguments That Make You Ashamed to be a Lawyer

An in-depth analysis of the implications of the Bush administration's attitude towards torture

With 'All Necessary and Appropriate Force'

Oh the arrogance of them. A piece from the LA Times by John Loo, who served in the Office of Legal Counsel from 2001 to 2003, which attempts to defend the Bush administration and instead just demonstrates they prevailing arrogance and contempt for International law and justice

Interrogation abuses were 'approved at highest levels'

From the Daily Telegraph - finally it seems to dawn on the White House that they are not above accountablity for the abuse of Iraqui prisoners.

More and more information is emerging of just how much the abuse was authorised by political appointees.

Unfairenheit 9/11 - The lies of Michael Moore. By Christopher Hitchens

It's quite interesting to see how many people are being intensely vitriolic about Michael Moore's new film. I haven't seen it yet, but will do as soon as it opens here in the UK.
In this piece, Christopher Hitchens attacke Moore for being didactic and one-sided. Interestingly this piece fails for exactly the same reasons that he claims the Moore does. Hitchens, it seems, is unable to conceive that there might be any cause for concern at Bush's foreign policy; the wars he has embroiled the US in; the damage Bush has done to America's standing worldwide.
He seems to want to trumpet the virtues of the US, the belief in the right to free speech etc, but only if the free speech is that which he and the American right want to hear.

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Save the Saturn V Rocket

For more that 25 years, the last complete Saturn V rocket has lain on its side in an open pasture near the Johnson Space Center providing a home for owls and slowly decaying.

All that looks to be changing however as a campaign is underway to restore the rocket to its former glory. It is, afterall a historic monument

Michael Moore does what he does best

Micael Moore runs rings around a poor news reporter interviewing him about Fahrenheit 9/11

Scaled Composites - Tier One / SpaceShipOne Home Page

The countdown begins to holidays in space. My only question is, once you get up there, what are you going to do - you'd be stuck in a hermetically sealed space station full of fast food joints and chainstore coffee shops, with just portholes to look through.

Maybe an enterprising con artist should make an virtual space holiday - since all you can see out of is portholes, why not just create a simulated space trip - mind, I suppose weightlessness might be difficult to simulate

Postcards to Mary Cheney the openly-gay daughter of Vice President Cheney

Well, she's a lucky lady!! 22,739 postcards to date. I hope that give her nice warm feeling inside

Send a letter to Mary Cheney, the gay daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, about gay marriage

I'm not american, so unfortnately can't influence the US election. However as a citizen of this planet I am concerned that G W Bush and the bunch of money grabbing hypocrites he's surrounded with aren't allowed another four years to plunge this planet deeper in peril.

Interesting advert from Eschaton's blog,
Dick Cheney used his openly-lesbian daughter Mary to woo gay votes and
money for his party. Dick now supports adding anti-gay language to the US
Constitution, yet Mary is still running his re-election campaign for $100k/year. Join us in asking Mary to be a hero, not a traitor, and stand up to Dick.


As I say, I can't vote, but I would like to send Mary a letter of shame to say that the whole world is watching and concerned

Abilene man finds strange piece of rock

But whether it's interesting or special is anyone's guess

Tunes create context like language: Maths shows why tonal music is easy listening.

An Argentinian physicist has studied Music and discovered that the structure of a musical composition is very similar to the structure of language.

Monday, June 21, 2004

How to Create an Ellipsis

In case you were wondering

Design Mechanics: How to Create an Ellipsis

Someone's obviusly never read Harold Pinter ...

An article bemoaning the misuse of the ellipsis, that funny three dot character that indicates missing text.

Learn how to use Photshop's levels correctly

Blimey, I use Photoshop nearly every day at work - amazing to discover even greater complexity to the Levels adjustment that I had hitherto dicovered

The Arab backlash the militants didn't expect

Piece from The observer that suggest that the recent violence in Saudi Arabia may be causing a bcklash in the Muslim world. Now if only the US would stop behaving like Israel, justfiring missiles indiscriminately in the hop of hitting one or two militants, we might stand a chance

Bush told he is playing into Bin Laden's hands

There seems to be a never-ending flood of books slating monkey-man Bush, pointing out the obvious, that his foreign policy is making the world even more unstable. the question is, will the American public listen and vote him out, before he does even more damage.

The interesting thing is that anonymous, the writer of Imperial Hubris points out that al Quaeda is more likely to commit an attrocity on US soil in order to hand the election to Bush. I've been saying that for years, I can't rid myself of the awful sensation that the attacks of 9/11 were awfully convenient for Bush and his cronies. I doubt there are few depths to which they wouldn't sink in order to grab more money ... conspiracy theory, you tell me???

Microsoft behind $12 million payment to Opera

Good old Microsoft, they're always good for a regular flow of news with their unscrupulous practices.. This time they've had to fork out $12m in damages to Opera because they coded their MSN portal in such a way that it would lousy in Opera.

One massive question though, if someone is anti-Microsoft enough to download and install an alternative browser, what on earth were they thinking going to MSN??

Nothing on earth would induce me to go there; nor use Hotmail

Condoleeza Rice and the lies she tells

US National Security Adviser, Condoleeza Rice, has gon on record to spin the damning report that there was no link between Saddam and al Queda. Lies lie lies

Will Michael Moore's Facts Check Out?

An article from the New York Times (registration necessary) discussing the forthcoming Michael Moore film and the lengths he has gone to to have the film's assertions checked and confirmed.

It's likely to be attack with full fury in the States and it seems he's determined to fight back.

Good on you Michael, go get em

An so now there is evidence emerging in the American press that these flights did indeed take place

Friday, June 18, 2004

Big Brother violence no surprise, says psychologist

The fall out from thebattle the other night just gets better

The producers of Big Brother wanted to provoke drama; I bet they never guessed how much they'd get

HumanDescent Gallery

Quirky animal morph pix - some very funny

Why Drm is bad for business

A paper presented to Microsoft telling them why DRM strategies are all doomed to failure

A nude model, five bodies and the Mormon assassination plot attempt

In a creepy echo of the Manson Family murders, Glenn Taylor Helzer, an excommunicated Mormon is on trial accused of bludgeoning and dismembering five people in an elaborate extortion racket intended to hasten the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Helzer, a former stockbroker who has already pleaded guilty and faces the death penalty, exerted a charismatic hold over an eclectic group of followers including his younger brother, a former girlfriend turned Playboy centrefold model, and a self-described "good witch" who once offered to raise money for Armageddon by appearing in porn films.


Reports of the trial put me in mind of John Water's Serial Mom or a script from Southpark. It's only a matter of time before a movie is made of it. Plenty of reports on the net

More on the Manson Murders Here, here and here

iPod "isn't Switch vehicle' " Jobs

Steve Jobs in Europe for the long-awaited European launch of the iTunes Music Store has some interesting things to say to the Guardian

Henges battle's new twist

Tarmac have been warned by Heritage Action and the Friends of the Thornborough Henges that they will have a tough fight on their hands if they persist in their attempts to quarry gravel from a nearby site.

Orkneyjar - The Heritage of the Orkney Islands

Website with lots of info concerning the archaeological heritage of the Orkney Isles

Romancing the stones

Interview with Julian Cope from the Guardian - very interesting - he's reinvented himself as an expert in megalithic cirlces and interstign things he has to say

Historians say Inquisition wasn't that bad

According to the Guardian, documents newly released by the Vatican suggest that far fewer people were executed by the Inquisition than was previously believed.

Apparently the church is trying to suggest that it was quite humane, only authorising the use of torture for 15 minutes at a time and in the presence of a doctor. No doubt Saddam Hussein will be telling his captors just that kind of nonsense, whilst General Pinochet will no doubt denying having any knowledge of the many thousands of people who died as a result of his brutal regime.

The thing which appalls me the most is that the church claims to stand for love and peace, turnign the cheek and all that other malarky and yet has consistently caused more violence than any other force in history - still, in the words of Monty Python: "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition"

As a footnote, I just found that the CIA refused President Clinton's decision to declassify the files on its role in the Pinochet coup

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Big Brother reads riot act

I've never particularly been a fan of Channel four's Big Brother before, but this year it has me hooked - what with all the backstabbing going on and the producers doing everything in their power to make everyone fall out with one another it's been great. Last night the house decended into chaos withthe house dividing into to factions. It got so heated security guards had to be called in the and the live tv feeds got pulled - Oh dear, have the producers gone too far, are they going to have expulsions or walkouts

Oooo it's so exciting

Quizilla!

Make and take online quizzes

Kite Aerial Photography

A site with aerial pictures taken by kite including some cool QuickTime VR panoramas

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

More on colour theory

This time going for a more organic appraoch toward colour for interface design

Colour Schemes

Continuing my trawl for inspiration, and very good article on Colour theory. There are also some intersesting things to be read over at Pantone (you may need to register to get the info

CSS vs. Tables

Do you layout with tables or use CSS to its full potential? A very serious question. For my part, working as a designer in both print and online, the draw a table approach is a more instant approach though it is limited and such a fumble. CSS is great, though whenever I try to set up a complete CSS layout everything goes very messy indeed

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. - the Revenge

Yet another Lorem Ipsum generator

Lorem ipsum recusabo principes eam no.

Here's a handy Lorem Ipsum Generator

Today's bit of culture

Woke up this morning, for whatever reason, with an urge to read TS Eliot's The Wasteland.

The healing power of theatre

Peace was temporarily created in a favela in Rio De Janeiro as residents from rival slums watched an open air performance of Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra. Now that would have been a performance to see ...

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Weblog Templates

A variety of sites offering Blog templates - haven't had a chance to filter through them all yet, but many of them seem quite hideous to me: Blogplates, , ,

More template malarky

info from the guy who designed the standard template Thisaway - I'm interested to have a look at it cos he said it incorporates gradients
Spider-Man get's in on the act - good old sony, they have really put some thought into the content they offer on the Spiderman website. Don't think I want a Spiderman website, though
a css BASED BLOGGER TEMPLATE - Not the nicest template, but I do like the page customisation feature and the fact it's fully CSS compliant
BLOGGER TEMPLATES :: A template for my blog! After months of stagnation and neglect, I figure it's time I got my website and blog up and running. So I'm casting my net to find some inspiration for a decent template, I'm thinking something fun, colourful and attractive to make a change from the very dull things I've previously had
GAMES WE PLAY an online exhibitons of the politics and psychology of board games