UK Gets Extra Pip At Midnight

I caught a piece on the radio this morning explaining that we're getting an extra pip at midnight when an extra second is added to this year - a "leap second" if you will.
I have to admit to being half-asleep and a teensy bit hungover, so it didn't make a great deal of sense, particularly when they tried to explain that the pips "had escaped" earlier in the year (which sounded frankly terrifying in a boring, sciencey kind of a way), so I'll leave it to someone a bit more coherent than me to explain it...

Happy New Year :-)

My Man Of The Year 2008

No, not either of the shitwits in this picture but Muntadhar al-Zaidi - justifiably outraged Iraqi journo, phantom shoe-flinger and deservedly popular hero around the world.
Nice article by Richard Herring here...
I only hope that any of the fuckers who harm a hair on his head while he's incarcerated get their just desserts too.

El Canto Del Loco - "De Personas A Personas"

Grabbed this off the Spanish eBay the other day - very swiftly delivered and in perfect nick. A beautiful package of text and pictures, featuring a new nudey shoot - and a CD of the Personas album but with a bunch of extra songs, and also a DVD featuring 3 versions of promos for "Eres Tonto", the video for "Peter Pan", plus a 45 minute documentary and also a couple of other goodies like a film about the nudey photoshoot.

It's Christmas and I deserve it! :-)

Why People Don't Trust Politicians

Source: The Guardian
When climate camp protesters descended on the site of the Kingsnorth power station for a week-long summer demonstration, the scale of the police operation to cope with them was enormous. Police were accused of using aggressive tactics, but ministers justified what they called the "proportionate" £5.9m cost of the operation, pointing out that 70 officers had been injured in the course of their duties.
But data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act puts a rather different slant on the nature of those injuries, disclosing that NOT ONE was sustained in clashes with demonstrators.
The Home Office has now admitted that the protesters had not been responsible for any injuries.

Enjoy the following...
"stung on finger by possible wasp"
"officer injured sitting in car"
"officer succumbed to sun and heat"
"officer used leg to open door and next day had pain in lower back"

And to think that the government finds the electorate to be cynical...

A Damp (And Oily) Squib

One final twist in the ludicrous "Hamilton in a Mercedes racing a man on a bicycle" event at this year's Race of Champions...
It didn't happen due to the track being a bit damp and oily.
Who could possibly have predicted that an open-air motorsports event in the middle of December might lead to a damp and oily track?

Is 'publicity stunt' rhyming slang?

"Ethics Bites" podcast

Big thanks to Nigel from Philosophy Bites for telling me about the companion podcast "Ethics Bites" which you can get from here on the interweb or through iTunes by clicking here...
It contains some episodes which are also in the Philosohpy Bites podcast, but mostly this stuff is completely fresh and separate.
Brilliant :-)

Podcast Of The Year :: Philosophy Bites

It's little wonder that Philosophy Bites has made it into iTunes Best Podcasts of 2008...
This has to be my top podcast of the year. Week after week of simply conducted yet wonderfully enlightening discussions with contemporary philosophers and academics on a vast array of subjects, from the most abstract concepts to utterly relevant and applied questions such as the meaning of 'tolerance' and the ethics of bombing civilians.
It's been some time since I studied Philosophy at Uni (and had a blast actually...) so it's a serious pleasure to keep the old noggin ticking over with this thought-provoking and totally engaging series.

Absolutely top stuff. Keep up the good work guys :-)

To subscribe to Philosophy Bites you can either visit their website here or if you prefer to go directly via iTunes then you should click here...
It's impossible to recommend it highly enough.

Chestbusting Clangers, And More...

There's some great tributes to Oliver Postgate here on the Guardian's website including tales of a truly disturbing project that you have to be relieved never saw the light of day... There's some things that you should never see Clangers do, or hear *that voice* say...

Daily Mail in 'Talking Complete Bollocks' Shocker

It's not for nothing that the excellent Charlie Brooker refers to the Daily Mail as a 'How-To Guide For Idiots, published in daily instalments'... It's almost a pleasure to see it spontaneously combusting about the Euro, Europe in general, foreigners, muslims, gays, single mothers, video games, and pretty much most things that make up our world.

So it's great fun to come across a sports editorial blurb in today's copy, berating F1's environmental credentials...
"The truth is Formula One is as environmentally friendly as a flatulent Jeremy Clarkson burning a fridge full of plastic bags in the Sizewell B nuclear reactor."

It's always a giggle to see the Daily Mail launch into a tirade that begins with the phrase "the truth is..." - mostly as it's as sure a sign of a lie as someone who habitually starts sentences with "I'm not a racist but..."
The Mail and the truth inhabit very different worlds; one very real (and indeed truthful), the other a bit rabid and angry and mad.

Anyway - back to the point of this... the Mail is either very dumb or deliberately misleading readers here. (Or probably both - that appears to be their strong point...)
The Formula One circus has been carbon-neutral since around 1997; a fact revealed qiute modestly and unexpectedly by Max Mosley in 2006 - and something he clearly should have been shouting about to help shut up ignorant twats like the Mail who are never happier than when they're furious about something. And I haven't seen much environmental campaigning from them by the way. Gits.

Anyhoo - just wanted to set the record straight.
Daily Mail, sod off.

R.I.P Oliver Postgate

"When Bagpuss goes to sleep..."

Goodbye to a genius who shaped so many millions of childhoods, and filled them with gentle, beautiful, fabulous, imaginative stuff.
Read about him on Wikipedia...

Talavera de la Reina Photos

Had a superb break in beautiful Talavera de la Reina, with Tamara and Michaela; having a great time with Alvaro Bautista's fanclub members ad directors - meeting Bati himself on a number of occasions and having a thoroughly enjoyable time celebrating and making merry.
Here's some photos of the beautiful town itself - there's more in my Facebook albums and on the BatiFans.com Fan Forum.

All over far too quickly and I can't wait to go back...