Case in point.  In a long article on travelling the rails, hoboes and a serial killer, it notes that he was tried here in Tallahassee, a year last June.  Don't remember hearing about this

From the Telegraph there is a piece on a woman who was shot and robbed, and her boyfriend murdered, at a rest stop out on the Interstate.  This was well covered locally.

And from the Evening Standard a 'Lifestyle' article mentions something called 'Tallahassee suede paint'.  What is this?

15/9/99 - I received this on the upcoming report on Nato bombing in Kosovo.  I read somewhere that decoy tanks were built with small fires inside, so as to create a heat signature, but of course I can't find where I read this.  (Should have started this weblog sooner.)

I did find a much earlier report on the lack of success in bombing.

I think this is where the idea came from.  Pilots in the Gulf War would bomb hidden tanks by using IR detectors.  An activity called 'plinking' it seems.

And this is a fascinating discussion on the Russian art of 'maskirovka'.

"Maskirovka is actually a very broad concept that encompasses many English terms. These include: camouflage, concealment, deception, imitation, disinformation, secrecy, security, feints, diversions, and simulation. While terms overlap to a great extent, a complication is that the Russian term is greater than the sum of these English terms. Thus, those in the West should attempt to grasp the entire concept rather than its components. Maskirovka is not a new concept in the USSR. Its roots can be traced to the Russian Imperial Army. Several Soviet authors trace it back to Dmitry Donskoy's placing a portion of his mounted forces in an adjacent forest at the Battle of Kulikovo Field in 1380. Seeing a smaller force than anticipated, the Tatars attacked, only to be suddenly overpowered by the concealed force."

14/9/99 - I can't believe this is real but it seems so.  Let's hope their parents don't catch'em. (via NTK)

14/9/99 - Funny quote (with spelling corrected):

"This is not the first time the music and soccer world have united in the name of commerce. The Skint label (home to Fatboy Slim and Bentley Rhythm Ace), Wet Wet Wet, and Teenage Fanclub have all appeared on kinky kit. (It should come as no surprise that the Wet Wet Wet team continually gets its ass kicked around the pitch.)"

14/9/99 - Now I've started 'Generation X' by Charles Hamblett and Jane Deverson.  I was looking for the Coupland book but found our library had this.  Interviews with members of the British working class circa 1963 seemed more interesting. I was surprised to find that the term 'Generation X' goes back even further, to at least 1952.  I also got another book by Charles Hamblett entitled 'The Crazy Kill - A Fantasy' with an introduction by John Huston!  This book is not out there on the web, not that I can find.

14/9/99 - Hurray! Radio 1 now has an audio web link.  Now if only I had a soundcard. Then it would be John Peel (a.k.a. the Greatest DJ in the World) every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 5pmEDT. Since the BBC World Service changed its schedule I don't hear him at all. Nor 'Jolly Good Show'!

13/9/99 - The real benefits of an Oxbridge education. (via email)

13/9/99 - 80's flashback. 1989.  First year at University. Glen Eyre Hall, Southampton. It seems that some things never change.

13/9/99 - More old rockers. (via email)  Funnier if I knew who the guy was! I watched the VH1 'Behind the Music' special on the 'The Goo Goo Dolls'.  Another band that appeared and, it seems, disappeared without registering on my screen at all.

13/9/99 - I've been looking forward to Roman Polanski's 'The Ninth Gate' as I'm a big fan. The Sunday paper reported that French reviews have been scathing (and unprintable!) Liberation certainly has some forthright views but feeding it though Babelfish doesn't result in obscenities. I suppose 'merdouillage' must mean something, what I don't know. Funny translation:

"...and it is necessary to have seen Emmanuelle Seigner with hair undulating like a panther on bottom of castle ignited..."

"We used to broadcast tapes with birds' distress sounds, but we found they don't work very well -- and what the birds really hate is Tina Turner,"

13/9/99 - Seems that this event is on the 'Greatest Moments in Television History' top 20. I can't find the complete top 100 anywhere.

10/9/99 - My first bit of weblogging  Momus interview (via indiepop mailing list)

9/9/99 - I'm going to cheat a bit and fill in this stuff backwards (from my old emails probably) just to give an idea of things that might appear here and also to keep links for my friends and I.

9/9/99 - THE most annoying thing about Florida (a little exaggeration), the limits on the size of beer bottles, may come to an end

8/9/99 - The Van Dyck exhibition, which I hope to get to, along with Britain in general, is reviewed in the Telegraph

1/9/99 - Only on the Web would there be Anthropological Hangman