Month: May 2007

Peeeectures!

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Katy bullied me into taking two days off last week so we went on a pair of day trips, one to Cadbury World and another to Hunstanton seaside.

Cadbury world was a childhood fantasy for Katy and was actually more fun than I thought it would be – once we managed to lose the 5 busload of hyped-up ADHD kids. We came back with a bit more than a kilo of chocolate and a stuffed parrot for Katy. I almost bought a 5kg bar of dairy milk, but I couldn't justify it. It would have gone bad before we'd have been able to eat it all without getting sick. Figure that one square of the bar is the equivalent of 3 normal dairy milk bars…

Our second trip was to the seaside, via Norfolk Lavender, a huuuuuge lavender farm. Hunstanton isn't the nicest of seasides. It looks a bit old. It probably didn't help that it wasn't completely open when we got there, but the bits that were were less than impressive. Southwold is nicer for a non-commercial seaside and Yarmouth is nicer for a commercial one. Still, we saw otters being fed and the beach itself was nice. The sea was completely calm and the sky was the same colour as the water, so both were indistinguisheable from each other.

The cliffs were also very cool. Apparently, they're a great source for fossils. As we were walking along the beach, we came across a rather unusual sight. An old dude was working at the base of the cliffs, apparently sorting out the fallen rocks into colour-coded piles. We didn't ask why; we figured he was probably bored and it took him out of the house.

The tide as out and had left tons of boulders covered in seaweed. Very funky indeed. The day itself was a bit overcast, but the sun was trying to shine through. I still managed to get a bit of a sunburn on my arms.

It was nice to spend some quiet time with the girl though :)

More pictures online at:

http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/hunstanton_may_2007/
http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/cadbury_world_may_2007/

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Ahhh, the joys of packaged holidays :)

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Coach driver set fire to Germans' towels for 'bagging' all the sunbeds. Glyn Bowden twice took the towels away and left them on the side of the pool – but on the third day set fire to them.

A coach driver became so fed up with German tourists bagging every sunbed that he set fire to all their towels. Glyn Bowden, 55, was locked up by police in Italy after his early morning raid.

Mr Bowden was coach driver for a party of 55 British holidaymakers at Viana Marina near San Remo on the Italian Riviera. He told yesterday how the German tourists put their towels on the best sunbeds on the private beach and by a nearby pool. He twice took the towels away and left them on the side of the pool – but on the third day set fire to them.

Mr Bowden spent two hours in the cells at a local police station before hotel bosses persuaded officers to release him without charge. The first time the group from South Wales complained to him, he said “Leave it to me” and dumped all of the towels at the end of the pool. Mr Bowden said: “The following morning the Germans put them down even earlier so I did the same – with them shaking their fists at me from their windows.

“The next morning about 20 towels were there again so I collected them up, put them on a pile on the beach – and lit them. All the British tourists were cheering. But just a few minutes afterwards three police officers turned up and arrested me. “They were going to charge me with criminal damage but the hotel – which owned the towels -intervened on my behalf.”

Mr Bowden, from Tonyrefail, near Rhondda, added: “The Germans thought they owned the private beach but I wanted to make sure my tourists got a crack of the whip.” His extreme action seemed to have worked – the Germans' towels did not reappear for the rest of the holiday.

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Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war!

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Meet the iGasm from Ann Summers, a sex toy that hooks up to your iPod and tweaks your hot spot in time to the beat of whatever is playing. Orgasm is assured and youd think most people would be satisfied with that but over at Apple theres a whole different kind of spasming going on.

The Trendy One does not want its shiny white ear stimulator associated with any other kind of stimulator, especially not the sticky kind. The cheeky promo material says:

“Go at it hard and fast with a pounding drum 'n' bass track or chill with ambient classic.”

Apples response to the iPod-esque poster has been to let loose the dogs of law, with a legal letter that concludes:

“We hope this request to remove it immediately will prevent us having to consider further action.”

Maybe Apples peeved because the iGasm puts a bigger smile on your face for £30 than its own, overpriced little white plaything.

From: Gizmondo

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You know this can't be good…

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The U.S. Navy staged its latest show of military force off the Iranian coastline on Wednesday, sending two aircraft carriers and landing ships packed with 17,000 U.S. Marines and sailors to carry out unannounced exercises in the Persian Gulf.

My spidey-sense stupidity sense is tingling. This can't bode well. Surely they're not that stupid, are they?

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In another installment of "God Bless The Land Of The Free"…

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Last time we saw our Hero, he's just voted in a National Wiretap Bill for the Internet that would force all ISPs to buy and install online wiretapping infrastructure to make it easier for Big Brother to look in on your online activitires.

We now resume the action with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his posse at the Justice department who will be getting even harder on copyright infringement, targeting repeat offenders. The new 'Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007' is headed for Congress promising to 'hit criminals in their wallets' hoping to ensure that any 'ill-gotten gains' are forfeited.

This will give even more powers to the RIAA to sue grannies and 3-year olds, as well as go after anybody with a “give us 3000$ and we'll make this go away” lawsuits.

The more I see how things are headed, the more I think about “Rainbows End”, a book by Vernor Vinge. It's not an easy ready, and it's not his best book, but damn if it doesn't hit the nail on the head on a few issues; most notably invasion of privacy and the government cracking down on “really important crime, like pirating music and movies”.

I love this quote from an AC on Slashdot:

“Bah, when copyright is infringed, corporations lose money, and when corporations lose money, the terrorists win! Why do you hate Freedom so much?”

Wonderful!

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Bury St-Edmunds and Greene King Brewery

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We went to the Greene King Brewery in Bury St-Edmunds last weekend. It's a nice little market town about 30 minutes from home. There's a big parc where an old Abbey used to stand and the brewery offers hour-long tours with tastings of about a dozen beers for only £8. We discovered a shop that specialized in game meats. We need to go back there.

  
   

More pics here: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/bury_greene_king_may_2007/

Next weekend: WINE!

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Excuse me, what?

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Source: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,2078667,00.html

British Asians are role models, says Cameron

British asians provide a model for the rest of the country, David Cameron declares today, as he argues that many Asians cannot be blamed for failing to integrate.

In a powerful article in today's Observer, Cameron says that Britain's drug ridden cities are understandably alarming many Asians. 'The picture is seriously bleak: family breakdown, drugs, crime and incivility are part of the normal experience of modern Britain,' Cameron writes.

'Many British Asians see a society that hardly inspires them to integrate. Indeed, they see aspects of modern Britain which are a threat to the values they hold dear. Not for the first time, I found myself thinking that it is mainstream Britain which needs to integrate more with the British Asian way of life, not the other way around.'

And this dude is the leader of the Tories??

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I know I mentioned this before, but I can't seem to find it

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Bus drivers have nicknamed a white cat Macavity after it has started using the No 331 several mornings a week. The feline, which has a purple collar, gets onto the busy Walsall to Wolverhampton bus at the same stop most mornings – he then jumps off at the next stop 400m down the road, near a fish and chip shop.

The cat was nicknamed Macavity after the mystery cat in T.S Elliot's poem. He gets on the bus in front of a row of 1950s semi-detached houses and jumps off at a row of shops down the road which include a fish and chip shop. Driver Bill Khunkhun, 49, who first saw the cat jumping from the bus in January, said: “It is really odd, the first time I saw the cat jumping off the bus with a group of passengers. I hadn't seen it get on which was a bit confusing.

“The next day I pulled up on Churchill Road to let a couple of passengers on. As soon as I opened the doors the cat ran towards the bus, jumped on and ran under one of the seats, I don't think any of the passengers noticed.

“Because I had seen it jump off the day before I carried on driving and sure enough when I stopped just down the road he jumped off – I don't know why he would catch the bus but he seems to like it. I told some of the other drivers on this route and they have seen him too.”

Since January, when the cat first caught the bus he has done it two or three times a week and always gets on and off at the same stops. Passenger, Paul Brennan, 19, who catches the 331 to work, said: “I first noticed the cat a few weeks ago. At first I thought it had been accompanied by its owner but after the first stop it became quite clear he was on his own.

“He sat at the front of the bus, waited patiently for the next stop and then got off. It was was quite strange at first but now it just seems normal. I suppose he is the perfect passenger really – he sits quietly, minds his own business and then gets off.”

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Somewheeeeere, over the raaaaaaainbow…

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Katy and I went to Leics last weekend to go wash the car and generally annoy her folks. On the way back, we caught a patch of rain; at the edge of which there were rainbows. I'd never seen before a rainbow where you could actually see both ends of the arc. My camera didn't have a wide enough lens to be able to capture it, but it was beautiful.

  

 

Oh, and if the pictures seem a bit blurry, they were taken while we were going about 70 on the M11 :)

More here: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/rainbows_may_2007/

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