I Know Where Bruce Lee Lives

Suspense, mystery, fighting and victory mixed and remixed to your own specification with the ultrainteractive kungfu-remixer.

Entry 652, Saturday, January 3rd 2004, Filed In Stuff
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HyperGlow

Spend all day drinking coffee at work, and all night drinking beer? Seperate the two no longer with the invention of caffinated beer. The only thing that could be better than this is if it glowed in the dark. But it does! The only thing better than that would be if it was real. Which it's not. Boo!

Entry 651, Saturday, January 3rd 2004, Filed In Stuff
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One Wheel, One World

The garden will never seem so dull again once you've visited wheelbarrow freestyle - the home of one wheeled extreme madness. Get your barrows from the shed and learn how to do some of the tricks...

Entry 650, Saturday, January 3rd 2004, Filed In Stuff
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Feeling Sleepy?

Why count sheep when the sheep can count for you? The lazy way to a good night's sleep [also see the go 2 sleep sheep].

Entry 649, Saturday, January 3rd 2004, Filed In Stuff
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Robin Masters

Who would you expect to find in the internet home of Robin Masters? That's right - Magnum PI and Higgins house-sitting as always. Aloha!

Entry 648, Tuesday, December 30th 2003, Filed In Stuff
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Stamp it Out (Again)

News from the in-tray is that the original stamp-it-out stamp maker reported back in July is now new and improved. Take your favourite image and make it into your own set of stamps, although it's probably best not to try them out on the Royal Mail even with the new handy print 'n' cut out 'n' keep format. I notice the UK version is missing the Queen's head which almost certainly avoids some very unpleasant copyright issues, but negates any chance you might have of using the things (as if you would).

Entry 647, Monday, December 29th 2003, Filed In Stuff
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Cheese On Toast

I've just finished my dinner which consisted of possibly the best cheese on toast I've ever made. A simple meal but boy it always makes me feel better - kind of warm inside and very homely. Anyway my key ingredients were some tasty thick sliced granary bread (it's almost health food!) and extra mature Davidstow cheddar. See how I treat myself with these fine ingredients at Christmas? None of your usual Tesco's Value stuff. The combination of flavours is excellent and seems to make the meal much more hearty than it actually is. I leave the rest of the receipe up to your artistic interpretation although if you get really stuck Mr Monkey's cheese on toast guide is rather fabulous.

Entry 646, Monday, December 29th 2003, Filed In Diary
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Late Christmas Card

A bit late I know but I've only just found Hyperlaunch's interactive flash Christmas card and I couldn't resist. I don't want to give it away but click on all the bits and see what happens, and you must click on the star. Click on the STAR! Superb.

Entry 645, Monday, December 29th 2003, Filed In Stuff
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Toothpaste For Dinner

Some very unsound dietry advice but also some very entertaining scribblings - especially this one for all you bloggers out there. One of those sites that you have to read all of so make sure you're not busy [via oink].

Update: Following my own advice I went back to TFD to read through the bits I missed before and I found when did computers get boring?. I actually remember doing this in computer stores when I was kid waiting for Dad to do whatever it was Dad's did 20 years ago in computer stores. Ah! Infinite looping text how I miss you.

Entry 644, Monday, December 29th 2003, Filed In Stuff
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£5 Trillion To Spare?

Current estimates put the UK's net worth at £5 Trillion. The question is though is it for sale? Looks worriedly in Mr Gates' Direction...

Entry 643, Monday, December 29th 2003, Filed In Stuff
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Lazy Cookies

Bake some ginger cookies with Familjen.

Entry 642, Sunday, December 28th 2003, Filed In Stuff
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Mobile Spark

Over the Christmas period I watched a great show called "Brainiacs" on Sky One. The aim of the show is one which sent shudders through my spine "to put the fun into science" - something which normally fails badly but this really worked and grabbed my attention (although it has to be said they erred on the side of fun rather than science).

Fire extinguisher propelled wheelchairs and human guinea pigs testing the effects of an electric fence were both funny and interesting (and raised some interesting questions about what I thought you could get away with on television - I'd love to see the legal waiver the participants had to sign), but what really caught my eye was the test of the reasoning behind not using mobile phones in petrol stations.

This is something I've pondered for a while as I fill up my motor with petrol. Signs everywhere warning me not use my mobile phone on the forecourt, but why? Can they really spark an explosion and if so why don't you every read about this happening in the newspapers? Even the normally informative snopes, despite deciding overall that it is false, is fairly inconclusive on the subject if you read through the whole report.

Anyway the televised experiment, while hardly compehensive, provided some entertaining evidence that the whole thing is rubbish. Take one caravan (always a good start - the potential destruction of a bloody caravan - speaking as an ex-patriot Cornishman caravans are the scourge of the roadways) and fill it with petrol fumes. Add half a dozen mobile phones, retire to a safe distance, and dial.

Unsurprisingly no-one answered the phone, and more satisfyingly no explosion resulted. Urban fact becomes urban myth. Hurrah! Although the scientist in me thinks that just the one test was perhaps not enough. Not good televsion to sit there repeating it though I guess. Of course the only real problem at this point was that the bloody caravan was still in one piece. What else could they test that would lead to it's destruction? Well there's always smoking but that might have been asking too much of the volunteers on the show.

Step forward the nylon shell suit. Yes - bad fashion on the forecourt is dangerous. A cable was trailed into the caravan and another trusty volunteer in nylon clothes jumped around alot before discharging the resulting static onto the bare copper end of the wire. One visible spark later and the caravan was a fireball.

Hurray! We can use our mobiles safely in the petrol station, people wearing shell suits will explode, and the world contains one less caravan. Science is fun. If you see this show is going to be repeated I highly recommend tuning in.