27/2/03 - Ooh, can I justify the expense? the yachtsman's Rainbow Doublesharp:

23/2/03 - I wonder if "The View From Here" is actually the commonest name for a weblog?  I can find at least five more apart from me; The View From Here : David Davies' Weblog; The View From Here; the view from here (from Israel!); the view from here (dead?); and the view from here, which is actually a photoblog.

23/2/03 - Appropriate for this website, George Orwell's eleven steps for the perfect cup of tea: (via plep)

"Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round."

22/2/03 - You can spend many hours on Art of the Mix.  Like these mix tapes featuring the originals of well known songs uncovering the originals and HOT STUFF UNDER THE COVERS.

22/2/03 - Must find Careless Talk Costs Lives.

22/2/03 - Mmm, Foie Gras Scented Rabbit Rillette.

22/2/03 - The difficult life of sporting mascots:

"To prevent similar incidents, the Orioles shadow their mascots with a pair of security escorts, called "Birdkeepers." But Pierson said a mascot sometimes has to take matters into his own, um, extra-large gloves.

"If a kid gets too aggressive, I use the Vulcan Pinch," he said. "Like Mister Spock. Nobody can see it, so mom and dad aren't going to get mad at me for slapping their kid. I stick my pointer finger and middle finger between the shoulder blade and press down. They stop immediately. Of all the tricks I've learned, that one works 100 percent.""

22/2/03 - Peter Hughes tour diary:

"Thursday, January 30th, 2003

Internet cafe, London

It's snowing! It's snowing and everyone's freaking out. It's like when it rains in Los Angeles and all the freeways are crawling with traffic. All day long we were in the bowels of Maida Vale recording songs for John Peel and people would come in and roll their eyes and say, boy it's really piling up now. We finish around eight and go outside and there's like maybe a quarter to half an inch, in spots mind you, pretty much all melted underfoot. John and I exchange smug glances. Yeah, well."

22/2/03 - This is totally cool (if you're a chemist).  Companies put up chemical problems they need solving, and how much they'll pay for the solution!  It's a bit like Google Answers.  So if you can see a novel and efficient synthesis for this compound, say hello to fifty thousand dollars:

22/2/03 - The history of shoegazing.  Makes me want to grow my fringe out.

15/2/03 - Arseblog's view of the FA cup match that's just been on:

"After suffering replays of 'that' goal from Ryan Giggs for weeks and months after the FA Cup semi-final in 1999, it will be nice to watch replays of his quite outstanding miss in today's game.

With an open goal in front of him, Seaman, Keown and Sol Campbell flat on their arses and van Prickstelrooy just outside him, the Welsh 'Wizard' conspired to knock the ball over the bar from the edge of the box. My, how I laughed. In fact, I'm still laughing."

15/2/03 - The Keith Haring interactive coloring book.

15/2/03 - The Total Information Awareness gift shop, don't forget to check the message on the back.

15/2/03 - The Sun's response to complaints about their racist Mr Men spoof, Mr. Guardianista:

15/2/03 - You'll Never Pork Alone.

15/2/03 - Sad to see it go: The Spike Report.