But what's this:

"4: The Exeter
Atmosphere: Despite the thatched roof, one of the few remaining in Topsham, the internal decor is 1950s: one long bar, spacious but austere. The pool table end is like a Stalinist canteen, with pale green paint and a hard wooden bench running around the wall. An unpretentious no-frills local pub at the Exeter end of Topsham. I found it a bit scary once when they wanted me to buy a Bonus Ball ticket and wouldn't take no for an answer (it was like being offered tea by Mrs Doyle).
Beer: OK.
Games: Pool, darts, Euchre (a card game traditional in Devon)."

30/8/01 - I mentioned him before.  One of Tallahassee's most famous sons, Marshall Ledbetter, now has his own website. (via email)

30/8/01 - Adult text messages. (via popbitch)

30/8/01 - The InfoMesa Summit is underway.  It seems that they're working to make Weird Science a reality:

"Why would we want to create artificial consciousness? Because it will be our first opportunity to communicate with something that is different from us. It will give us someone else to talk to."

"This is the stark truth of Britain today: Ken Clarke, the liberal establishment's favourite candidate was once a fervent admirer of the British fascist leader Oswald Mosley and led a purge of Jews in his local Conservative Party."

"He feels sufficiently optimistic about his debut that he has hired musicians to go on tour. 'Last time I was on stage I opened for Humble Pie. That was 1982, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. So I'm scared to death. But I want to do it and I have high hopes.'"

29/8/01 - Nick Hornby makes a valiant attempt to understand the youth of today by listening to the Billboard Top Ten albums:

"The D12 album "Devils Night" offers no respite, needless to say; listening to the fourth track here—a "skit" entitled "Bizarre," in which one of the gang members' attempts to seduce a colleague's girlfriend goes awry, because he farts all the way through it—was, I think, the single most dispiriting moment of my professional life so far this millennium."

"Boot up To get started, eg: "I was out so late last night, it took me a while to boot up this morning"
...
Jarjar To add superfluous features to a product, eg: "My mobile is so jarjared that I can't even work out how to text you.""

"Cherie Blair pourrait défendre l'honneur perdu de David Ginola"

29/8/01 - There's a factory just near where I live, Swann-Mortons, and I always wondered why the staff always seemed to have loads of holidays.  It seems the founders were socialists (revolutionary socialists according to the local paper).

Mr. Swann's founding principles:

"1. Claims of individuals producing in an industry came first, before anything else, and must always remain first. They are the human beings on which everything is built.

2. If the industry cannot pay the rightful reward of labour (while they are producing for profit for the owners) then a new policy is required on the part of the management to make it do so.

3. If the management can't do the job, then a new management is required, as well as a new policy.

4. Individuals in any industry have a perfect right to demand and see that this objective is reached, because they produce the goods."

Swann-Morton features in a book about successful work practices that don't fit with the capitalist hegemony:

"Less work and more pay - what a crazy idea!  It'll NEVER happen! - except for all those pesky working models..."

28/8/01 - I hope the weather stays good Thursday night for the Darren Gough XI vs. Rest of the World.  Tendulkar, Walsh, Ambrose AND Dickie Bird.

28/8/01 - It seems Roger Sayle was right. (via Anthropology in the News)

27/8/01 - Bizarre and funny comic.  Kevin Smith's story of the first kiss with his wife plus the latest fall fashions. [warning: NYT registration]

25/8/01 - Gyles Brandreth interviews Hear'Say:

""Keep it real," says Myleene, more than once. "Keep it real. That's what we are about." (My eye keeps coming back to Myleene. She is the beauty of the group, with the largest eyes and the most evident breasts.) We are sitting in a circle. I feel like Old Father Time. (Or is it Humbert Humbert?)"

"As visitors drove up to the Staples Center this afternoon, they could view a just-completed mural on the outside of a downtown hotel. On the left was Wilt Chamberlain finger-rolling the ball in, in the middle was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar launching a sky hook and on the right was O'Neal dunking ferociously, his knees up in the air, like a kid hanging on a jungle gym in the playground. On top of the mural was the Microsoft slogan, 'Think Different.'"

"You can be a creative genius in mathematics only if you have acquired the discipline of mathematical proof. When it comes to the hard sciences, therefore, even educationists seem prepared to admit that discipline comes first, creativity later. They recognise that chemistry taught with a regime of pure self-expression would soon degenerate into alchemy, just as "creative" physics would be hard to distinguish from witchcraft.

Why do we think that things are so different in the case of language, literature, history and the arts?"

"He was a co-founder of the Conservative Action Group, which helped lead to the election of Margaret Thatcher."

25/8/01 - Try a new hairstyle online.

25/8/01 - If you like old TV programs (and you live in the US) bad news.

25/8/01 - It seems no sport is safe:

"IT'S enough to turn an Oxford Blue green. From the parched deserts of Arizona comes a teenage upstart bent on overturning one of the most venerable of British sporting traditions. In America, they are already calling Jacques Fournier the Tiger Woods of croquet."

Shaggy's real name is Norville Rogers?  He kept that quiet.

25/8/01 - Get the number plate L7NUX or maybe not:

25/8/01 - A review of the post-Napster music suppliers, including Audiogalaxy:

"And then I encountered an even more ominous development in the Audiogalaxy network. After I did a search for "Jennifer Lopez," it returned a long list of files; when I tried to download some of the files, a new screen appeared: "Search Prohibited: You cannot request this song due to copyright restrictions. Please try a different search."

Oddly, when I tried to download a Wu Tang song, it was no problem. Lopez and Wu Tang are both mega stars on the Sony label. So what, are they only censoring the crappy major label artists? (On second thought, maybe I should put that in the "pro" feature column.)"

25/8/01 - I've been exploring the Diesel Records site.  Some great downloads.  And they have their own radio station, Gear Jammin' Gold, playing truckin' and drivin' tunes.

25/8/01 - Album Cover Art Gallery..

25/8/01 - Annoying morning.  Paid £9 Barclaycard bill seven days late, get charged £15!  Call them up and they refuse to remove it.  I have cut up the card.  That'll show 'em! :-)

24/8/01 - Nothing to do tonight? Then why not visit Electronic Box in Wakefield and hear my brother (DJ Haggis) make his first residency appearance. He's also playing at Notting Hill tomorrow, which is probably a little closer for some of my London readers.