Stuart Homfray The Weblog

The Path Of Least Resistance

Phew, hasn’t that week flown by!?! No posts and then it’s back around to another TFIF entry. Before we know it, it’ll be October (too late!)

The Fear Effect

Apparently, whenever the US government issue a terrorist warning, Bush’s approval rating increases. The cynical amongst you might suggest that ANY government suffering with decreased ratings in polls could (maybe already do) apply this strategy - I, of course, couldn’t possibly comment!

Bringing the BBC to the web

Boing Boing reports on Stefan Magdalinski’s wonderful improvement to BBC News online - adding a proxy that links to relevant Wikipedia links, and an extra sidebar of links to blog entries referencing the article. Take a look at this UKIP Q&A page for an example (which incidentally, shows that the former Wolverhampton Wanderers chairman Jack Hayward made a donation of £50,000 in 1999 - a donation that I sincerely hope I didn’t contribute towards!)

…and talking of UKIP

After Kilroy-Silk’s comment earlier this year about Arabs that, quite rightly, got him fired from the BBC, here’s a collection of more idiotic, racist rantings collected from his Daily Express column by Private Eye

…Kilroy, who regards the Arabs as a waste of space. “Few of them make much contribution to the welfare of the rest of the world. Indeed, apart from oil — which was discovered, is produced and is paid for by the West — what do they contribute? Can you think of anything? Anything really useful? Anything really valuable? Something we really need, could not do without? No, nor can I.” - Robert Kilroy-Silk, January 2004

Hey Bobby! You ever heard of algebra, for example?!?!

via linkmachinego.com

Comedy Chemistry - the new rock ‘n roll

A collection of actual molecules with remarkably stupid names. A couple of examples to whet your appetite:

Cummingtonite - This mineral must have the silliest name of them all. Its official name is magnesium iron silicate hydroxide, and it has the formula (Mg,Fe)₇Si₈O₂₂(OH)₂. It got its name from the locality where it was first found, Cummington, Massachusetts, USA.

Fucol - This sugar sounds like it doesn’t do very much! Actually the L-Fucol form is obtained from the eggs of sea urchins, frog spawn and milk. The L-fucol form also goes by the name of rhodeose.

Found on backbytes

The Rise Of The Machines

Brand new from Cyberdyne Systems, we present: the Renault Vel Satis Automatic Speed Regulator! - headline news from The Register

Not ALL ‘Foxhunting is Bad…

Just a little promo piece: I’ve been using Firefox 1.0PR since downloading it on the 15th September (actually, I’ve been happily using a Firefox/bird browser since about version 0.6) and I have to say I love it. If you’re an experienced web user, you can enhance the browser with all sorts of useful extensions (for example, I’m typing this into QuickNote, I’ve got the Sage RSS reader open in the sidebar, there’s the Web Developer extension at the top of the window and, a Gmail notifier, a Google PageRank status bar, and Adblock in the status bar at the bottom). If you’re less experienced, just try out the initial install for a few days, and I’ll be amazed if you feel the need to go back to Internet Explorer - whenever I need to use it, it actually seems rather constraining! If you’re already a user, sign up and help others to find the ‘Fox!

And finally…

A joke I was told literally a few minutes ago - an oldie but goodie!

A man walks down the street is approached by a woman with a clipboard. She asks him whether he can spare a few minutes for Cancer Research. He says, “OK, but we’re not going to get much done!”