Checking out google news the other day I sprayed piping hot coffee over my keyboard when I read the news of a proposal to build a monorail across London.

There seem to be some serious objections from Transport For London regarding such minor issues as practicality and cost. I especially like the part where they dismiss it as an "anorak's* dream" (I have to admit my inner anorak* was looking at the picture, and saying in it's best Beavis and Butthead voice "cooool").

What really killed the idea for me though was that all I could think of as I read the story was the episode of the Simpson's where Springfield gets duped by the monorail salesman. Remember the song? "Well, sir, there's nothing on earth Like a genuine, Bona fide, Electrified, Six-car Monorail!"


*Anorak - UK Slang - Noun - An often socially inept person, having an obsessive interest in a hobby or subject. Usually has little or no fashion sense, and errs towards eccentricity. Originates from the 'trainspotter' look, of wearing anoraks; spending so much time at the end of station platforms in all weathers necessitates the wearing of such attire. Cf. 'trainspotter'. Derog.

Not one, not two, but 99 rooms of flash point'n'click adventuring. It's not difficult, but it is plentiful, beautiful, atmospheric and spooky. Be sure to turn your sound up, and be careful of shivers down your spine and jumping out of your skin in a couple of the rooms. Excellent.

Update: currently you can't get into any one of the 99 rooms because their bandwidth limit as been exceeded, I highly recommend checking back though, it's well worth it.

Declare all out war in the battle of the living room with a remote control jammer. Guaranteed to start more arguments that it resolves.

Aside: This is the first link I've submitted, and had accepted, at the fabulous gizmodo.

I'm already using windowblinds to give my Windows XP apps a nice Mac-esque brushed metal look, but Engadget's guide to turning your PC into a Mac is much more comprehensive in it's approach. It should be enough to fool even the greatest Mac-o-phile, until you hit your next BSOD. Of course I've abandoned this kind of malarky since I started runnning an iMac alongside my PC - if you have the means I highly recommend it (or if, like me, you can get hold of one cheap/free).

So you're net savvy, you've seen emotion eric, but have you seen who's lurking in the background of his football game? Subtle Strong Bad goodness, yeh! [originally via op-pop, I think].

The most eagerly awaited film on a utterly insignificant little blue green planet far out in the backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy.

Many thanks to the kind person (you know who you are) who invited me on to the Gmail Beta test programme. I've only been tinkering with it for a little while but already I'm impressed. The way e-mail conversations get displayed is simple and really very effective, and obviously the search capability is excellent (although I've only used a tiny drop of the 1Gb of space, so there's not much to search yet). The only disappointing aspect so far is the lack of Opera support, but hey it works with Firefox so it's not too bad. My most desired feature, not yet in place, is the ability to pick up mail from POP accounts so I can use the same search functionality with them; the rumour is that's this is going to happen so I look forward to that. I'll probably post some more on Gmail when I've tinkered a bit more, but the initial reaction is a big thumbs up.

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The 10 best Internet fads - a look back at what made the internet worth surfing. Some classics I'm sure you'll remember, don't click on the hampster dance link or you'll be singing it for weeks again, I can't believe all your base only made number 3, but all in all a nice little trip down memory lane.