26/1/00 - If it's not one thing it's another:  (via fearsome)

"Churches in Kentucky are seeking an exception from civil rights laws which would give them the right to refuse renting facilities to groups they differ with on the basis of religion."

'One supporter of the measure is Rev. Wayne Lipscomb of the Union Baptist Church in Boone County. He told a state House panel, "We're not trying to exclude anybody based on race, creed, sex or anything like that." "

26/1/00 - I saw some of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' last night and I too was stumped by the 'Death of Marat' question.  But the painting is familiar:

I suppose the answer had to be bath.

Oh yeah and it seems that 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' is also breaking barriers:  (via rebecca's pocket)

"On Sunday night a contestant on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" embraced his gay companion onstage after winning $500,000. The audience cheered, Regis Philbin, the host, grinned, and the network was not flooded with protest calls."

This is about the best Echelon resource.

26/1/00 - Something for the future, a comprehensive comparison of Linux and Windows NT 4.0. (via lake effect)

26/1/00 - I can't believe that after 18 months CBS is now deciding to somehow stop the Evolution Control Committee:

"*** NEWS FLASH *** 

CBS THREATENS EERIE & ECC: "STOP SAMPLING OR WE'LL SUE!"

Full details and reactions are coming soon, but we have received a threat of legal action from CBS regarding our release Rocked By Rape."

"The ECC ... have topped themselves with this stroke of genius. It's months worth of Dan Rather speaking on the CBS Evening News, edited down to its essence -- Rather naming one calamity after another ... and set to a cut up and rearranged AC/DC groove. ... This could easily be cute and nothing more, but the ECC has made it an actual song..."

26/1/00 - Robot Wisdom has had problems but it is now available here.  (via Bump)

25/1/00 - I caught an advert for this movie, The Gathering, on the local religious station.  From the review:

"As is prophecied in the Old Testament of the Scriptures, men and women in the last days will begin to experience dreams and visions. Michael, his not-yet-believing wife, and his atheist mother-in-law all begin to experience frequent visions. For Michael, it is of a glorious rapture. For his wife and mother-in-law, futuristic looks into a frightening and strange post-rapture world."

"As I worked on the set and all of the special effects for the movie, I realized how hard Satan was at work trying to stop production of the Gathering. Even to this day, Satan is still hard at work delaying the movie from being distributed."

25/1/00 - FSU has no speakers of note for months and then they get Arianna Huffington, Susan Stamberg and Pat Schroeder all at once and I'm away.  It is of course pointless to expect the Democrat to actually report on what they had to say.  The previous article is written by the food editor!

Since the Florida Flambeau shut down, and it seems that their website with archives has gone as well, there is no decent alternative source for news.  The student paper FSView is no better than a puff sheet for the fraternities, bars and, of course, football.

Speaking of which, the latest dumb player:

"Just hours after hearing his last hurrah at Doak Campbell Stadium, Florida State University football hero Sebastian Janikowski faced a felony charge of trying to bribe a Tallahassee policeman early Sunday morning outside a night spot near the campus."

"In May of 1995, I suddenly found myself smack in the middle of a very unusual 'life experiment.' I deposited a junk mail check into my ATM and to my absolute dismay, it cashed. Thus began one of the wildest adventures I've ever been on in my life."

"The goal of the project is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take at least one picture at each location. The pictures and stories will then be posted here."

25/1/00 - When good graphic design goes bad:  (via Haddock)

25/1/00 - This will bring a smile to all good chemists. (via YAWL)

25/1/00 - A good summary of what it will take to get a low power radio licence:  (via Mr Pants)

"Jan 20, 2000. After a long a drawn out process of several years, the FCC today voted on and created a low power FM service. Details of what will actually happen are sketchy, but it is clear that what we got is much less than what we where promised."

25/1/00 - To save having to struggle though alt.showbiz.gossip get your Golden Globes cattiness all in one go: (via Pith and Vinegar)

"..."Aren't I subversive?" asked the always rhetorical Courtney Love, before going on to taunt Best Original Song winner Phil Collins by trying to make him plead for his award. Anything that evokes sympathy for Collins clearly can't be a good thing."

This leads into the game 'Humiliation' which is featured in David Lodge's 'Changing Places':

"One of the best sections of this novel is the depiction of a game called Humiliation, wherein you must name a novel that you have not read, but that you expect everyone else at the table/party to have read. The idea is that by admitting not having read a canonical text (especially among Literature scholars) you will be humiliated."

25/1/00 - Adopt voice of Homer Simpson and say "Mmm, umami!"  (via rebecca's pocket)

25/1/00 - Wired also reports there is a Hello Kitty computer.

25/1/00 - Mr Pants makes mention of bizarre Hello Kitty items.  You can always find them on eBay, the douche, the waffle maker, the flying chess set (!), and not forgetting Bad Batz Maru condoms.  [warning: some large pictures]

25/1/00 - Away for a while so much stuff has accumulated, I'll see if I can get it all into one session.

16/1/00 - Unsurprising but a little sad:

"The Teletubbies have landed a new day job in the States - they are about to start selling McDonald's hamburgers and fries."

"The People's Republic of Ashurst Wood Nation State - which uses the acronym Prawns - announced its break from "taxation and British oppression" in the first minute of 1 January. A revolutionary committee informed the Queen and Prime Minister Tony Blair of its intention to rule unencumbered by the law of the land."

16/1/00 - A comparison of the best books voted for in 1899 versus those of 1999:  (via Arts & Letters Daily)

"But many of the names ring only a faint tinkle, and some not even that... Hands up, those who have read, or even heard of, The Atonement of Leam Dundas by E. Lynn Linton, or Valentine Vox by Henry Cockton. Do I see no movement? I calculate that about 40 of these novels have vanished so completely that only academics or those in search of an unexplored subject for a PhD thesis will ever now come across them."

At its heart it really is pseudo-science, some anecdotal evidence etc.  You could conclude that playing video games trains you in how to shoot, but you could also posit that people with natural ability in video games would have more ability with firearms.

16/1/00 - Stylish and practical.  (via UNPOPULAR)

16/1/00 - A picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe in ice-cream.  (via Footprints)

16/1/00 - Moved the search box to the left, I think it was under-utilised down at the bottom of the page.