Noooooo!!!!!
Poor old Darth, it just keeps on happening to him.
Monthly archives: November 2014
BBC News – Historical abuse inquiry: Police examine ‘possible homicide’
My current work in progress is another Irwin race against time chase around Manchester. One of the spurs was a Government proposal to contract out running of childrens homes to private interests. Which has always worked out so well in the past. On that hook, I hung a story inspired by some of the darker rumours about institutional child abuse and pumped it up.
Now, frighteningly, it looks like reality is almost as bad as the over the top take I’m writing.
BBC News – Historical abuse inquiry: Police examine 'possible homicide'.
Sunset over Salford
I just created this video with an app called Lapse It. Just a first go, if future ones are cool enough, I may upgrade so I can do them in HD.
Halloween in Tokyo is cosplay turned up to eleventy!!
I will visit Japan one day, there’s so much stuff there that fascinates me (and, right now, distracts me from writing).
Proper steampunk at Manchester Victoria station
This rather bizarre device is the sort of detail you might expect to see in the background of a steampunk flavoured comic or movie, but was actually used in Victoria station to zip parcels back and forth. It looks a bit crazy, and the post mentions that a worker was killed when they were knocked over by a low flying basket.
mæntʃɛstər • Parcel carrier at Manchester Victoria station,….
Rocky Mountain high
One of the butchers downstairs sells lamb frys (fries?). Lambs sure have big balls. I think it’s time to be brave and try a new food experience. First I thought I should find a recipe.
Not all gentalia is good to eat. As some readers may recall, in February I wrote the Valentine’s Day edition of the Nasty Bits in which I tried my best to make bull penis palatable, but to no avail. Penis is often made into chew toys for dogs because it is nearly impossible to digest unless it’s stewed for a long time, in which case the vascular tissue breaks down into a gluey, flaccid mess of a dish with virtually no flavor.
via The Nasty Bits: Testicles, Grilled and Fried | Serious Eats : Recipes.
Update I tried ‘Rocky Mountain in Oysters’ for the first time the day after this post, opting for the shallow fried version. I forgot to soak them in cold water beforehand, so they were a bit squishy when I cut them up, but they still fried up well. The flavour was quite mild, and reminded me of pork, somehow, rather than lamb. The texture was light and fluffy, I can imagine that undercooking might result a less satisfying, almost slimy, texture. The only problem was that I made my usual mistake when cooking offal, and I prepared too much. It doesn’t look it at first, but there’s a lot of meat in three lamb testicles, and I couldn’t eat all that I prepared. Next time I’ll have to share them.
Young man, there’s a place you can go….
The GI Joes and Cobra types on my picture rail aren’t limber enough to do the YMCA game signals justice. Also, none of them is dressed as a construction worker.
The Secret Rulers of the World
I’m in a Masonic hall (Hemsley House in Salford, brothers) attending the North West Green Party regional meeting. You’d think they wouldn’t like our sort, maybe they need the money.
Machined bullets for 3D-printed guns could make them practical weapons
3D printed guns have had one major drawback- the materials they’re made from don’t hold up well to the stresses created by an exploding bullet. The plastic cracks and the barrel or receiver becomes useless quickly. One developer has found a way around this by machining thick walled shells with the bullet an inch or so inside them, which act as little barrels to contain the explosive force. They have to be machined individually, but the raw material is cheap and they can be reloaded after use.
Bullet could make 3D-printed guns practical deadly weapons (Wired UK).
The British government is leading a gunpowder plot against democracy | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian
The more I hear about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the worse it sounds. But it gives so much power and advantage to the rich and corporations that, obviously, our government doesn’t want to do anything about it, and would rather no-one talks about it.
When David Cameron and the corporate press launched their campaign against the candidacy of Jean-Claude Juncker for president of the European commission, they claimed that he threatened British sovereignty. It was a perfect inversion of reality. Juncker, seeing the way the public debate was going, promised in his manifesto that “I will not sacrifice Europe’s safety, health, social and data protection standards – on the altar of free trade – Nor will I accept that the jurisdiction of courts in the EU member states is limited by special regimes for investor disputes.” Juncker’s crime was that he had pledged not to give away as much of our sovereignty to corporate lawyers as Cameron and the media barons demanded.