Monthly archives: March 2014


I don’t know much about art….



I don’t know much about art…., originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

Clearly, this is an indictment of the wasteful nature of modern consumerism. The juxtaposition of the shopping trolley- a widely understood icon of consumerism- with the waste bin is obviously telling the viewer that most of what they buy ends up on the refuse pile. Putting the rubbish straight into the trolley simply and symbolically cuts the shopper out of the process.

Alternately, some Scallies thought it would be a laugh to vary their vandalism.


Morrissey may play at Summer In The City in Castlefield

Personally, I can’t stand Morrissey- he’s an obnoxious sixth form poet who had the good fortune to be backed by a bunch of more interesting and talented musicians- but some people seem to like him, so I shall share the news.

Morrissey to play Summer In The City at Castlefield Bowl – Manchester Evening News.


Unleash the incendiary cats!

A recently scanned book on artillery from the Middle Ages provided some bizarre images which appeared to show cats and pigeons with black powder rockets strapped to their backs. The truth is a little more mundane, if still quite, quite mad.

According to Fraas’s translation, Helm explained how animals could be used to deliver incendiary devices: “Create a small sack like a fire-arrow. If you would like to get at a town or castle, seek to obtain a cat from that place. And bind the sack to the back of the cat, ignite it, let it glow well and thereafter let the cat go, so it runs to the nearest castle or town, and out of fear it thinks to hide itself where it ends up in barn hay or straw it will be ignited.”

The article says there is no evidence of feline fire bombs ever being deployed, but the idea of flaming animals as weapons has been raised in other eras. The Romans thought of doing a similar trick with tar-coated pigs. In the Second World War, the US considered dropping thousands of bats, each with a little firebomb strapped to it, over Japan. The intention was for them to rest in the eaves of the wooden houses and start lots of small fires. In a variation on the burning cat routine, the Soviets trained ‘dog mines‘ which were supposed to dive under advancing German tanks and destroy them, though the program was mostly a failure, with dogs diving under familiar Russian tanks and running back to their masters to explode.

via Fur flies over 16th century 'rocket cats' warfare manual | World news | theguardian.com.


The world’s longest aircraft is mooning you

At least, that’s what it looks like from the front. From behind, it looks like a hotdog in a bun.

The first Mongrels story- GOD Hunt- started with a wingsuit dive from a blimp. As written, it was a vertical airship, which is an interesting variation on the traditional airship design. An Airlander inspired wing would have been even better.

BBC News – The world's longest aircraft in the making.


“Doomsday” seed vaults- the grail for post apocalyptic treasure hunters?

I’m knocking around ideas for a post-apocalyptic action-adventure story, to be done as one of Garth Owen’s alternate takes on popular film subgenres. The tale will be in the vein of Mad Max and all its imitators, with a band of adventurers, rather than just the one, traveling the post climate change/war devastation trading technology and information. What they want, more than anything else, is to uncover one of the underground seed banks, because the trove in there will set them up for life.

BBC News – Key food crops head to Arctic 'doomsday vault'.