Wierd shit is going down at Blogshares. I’ve noticed it because people have leveraged me out of all my Movable Type shares using (artefacts) such as the Improbability Drive and WYSWYG (yes, I know there should be an I in there).

The main offenders seem to be Morgan Le Faye, ashes and sopsy.

I’m calling in Mergers & Monopolies.

I’m not the only one whose 4th of July plans were spoilt. The ongoing, and continually vague, state of national emergency means that it’s nearly impossible to enjoy the celebration at the nations most loved sites.

Yahoo Personals helpfully offers us keyboard tied types a list of useful conversation starters, which actually aren’t that useful if you want to sound genuine and look more like dumb questions to ask the other person. The Unique to you section suggests talking about your most embarassing moment. No-one gets to know about my most embarassing moment until I’ve known them for the best part of a year.

Or the first time we go to the pub, whichever comes first.

Demonstrating for the second time in 2 days that I really haven’t got the hang of this blogging thing, I forgot to post the link for the firework photos.

A few Germans with lots of spare time and computing power have produced the best parody of the Matrix anyone’s ever likely to do.

Just found an article on taking photos of fireworks. Given the liking for fireworks among Team Spinneyhead, (such as Griff and Timmy) and for taking photos, I thought it might come in handy.

Penny’s been having an interesting day. I’ll let her explain-

Do you remember back in the old days when your much loved parents, exasperated by your wittering, constant questions and irritating behaviour, told you to “go play with the traffic”. Well I literally have been for the past 45 mins …. ok Tim’s not home yet so what else can I do. Here’s the full story.

Approx 2.30 this morning some darling tyke decided that they wanted a bonfire so went in search of something to burn and sure enough they happened upon a yard of tyres which seemed to catch fire nicely and then went a bit out of control leading to 80 firemen being assembled up the road from me. (Never let the phrase occur that I was kept up all night by the comings and goings of 80 firemen.)This morning my car nearly got a wash when the hose burst that is running along outside my house. The puncture was due to the traffic that insists on driving over it in a shortcut to any diversion that may have been set up (though I severely doubt that there are any official ones)

So living at a bottle neck where the traffic all converges I’ve spent 45 mins directing it (fulfilling one of my fantasies just didn’t have the uniform but happily sucking on strawberries instead) to keep it flowing along with some local kids and with quite a bit of thanks surprisingly.

What is more concerning though is the cost of this fire so far:

80 firemen who are expected to be on duty for 36 hours

At least 5 hose reals because cars keep bursting them.

The underneath suspension of quite a few cars going over the hoses.

Most at harm has been the environment with increased pollution output from all the vehicles trying to shorten their escape routes, the fumes from the tyres burning, Water lost through the leaks and use on the fire.

But maybe there is one thing that may increase the friendliness of the car tyre. Apparently aside from being used for fuel burning with air a Brit has come up with an alternative way of recycling them which I’m sure all the chemical engineers out there already know.

http://www.globaltechnoscan.com/1Aug-7Aug01/scrap_tyres.htm

Question is what can we do with the mountain of fridges?

She may be cute but she certainly ain’t tame!

Asylum Seekers Eat Royal Swans! Personally I’m ambivalent toward swans, ever since one attacked me when I was about six. When you’re that age and size those bastards are huge. And it hit me with its wing.

Of course, now I want to know what swan tastes like. And where I can find a big enough barbie.

via BenHammersley

German scientists have found that, under certain circumstances, amphetamines enhance the sense of touch. This could lead to benefits for braille readers (and concert pianists, apparently). Of course, if it had been done in the Netherlands, I’d have written it off as just wanting to play with Druuuugs man.

Two games to play in Google. Type in either of the following, wrapped in quotes, and hit the I’m Feeling Lucky button-

1. “Weapons of Mass Destruction”

2. “French Military Victories”

Personal prejudice of course, but the first is funny and the second is reactionary tripe. If the frogs were so poor militarily then the US wouldn’t exist. But we don’t want the facts to get in the way of our prejudices do we?

The Wensleydale Railway Company are reopening 12 miles of railway that were closed down nearly fifty years ago. They hope this will ease congestion on local roads, encourage tourism and provide a boost to local businesses. More power to them. I wonder when it’ll get connected to the national network and whether there is any decent mountain biking in the area.

The Guardian recommends some summer reading to GW, notably Africa and the Victorians, a study of the mission creep that eventually screwed up the British Empire, which has strange echoes in the current Iraq debacle. Sadly Amazon lists it as out of print, and he probably wouldn’t be able to understand it anyway if there weren’t any pictures.