You Tube

You Tube seems to be the fastest growing phenomina in the world of the internet.
I believe that it will become an excellent reference library almost as indespensible as as a 'google' search or a 'wikpeda' listing.

On Sunday my sister bought me a 'Diablo' and after exhausting the only trick I could do I quickly found lots of 'youtube' tutorials on how to perform flabergasting tricks for your mates at your next party. (Still can't do any though).

A recent trend also seems to be to stick a digicam in your car and record a trip through your place of residance. What a waste of Megabytes!

Coupe Aeronautiqe Gordon Bennett

The 'Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennet' is a balloon race. Well it's not really a race more a competition as the winner is the hot air balloon that travels the furthest.

First run in 1906 from Paris, the event was organised by Gordon Bennet, an eccentric millionaire newspaper man from New York. 200,000 people turned up to watch the start in Paris. Most teams dared not cross the English channel but the team that did won the event landing in Scarborough on the North East coast.

This year the event is running for the 50th time and starting in Antwerp in Belgium. Rather like the Eurovision Song Contest the winner of the 'coupe' has the honour of hosting the following years event.

At present (10.09.06 12:24 UTC) the 16 competitors are winging their way accross the North Sea heading towards Norway. You can follow their progress live by GPS co-ordinates at the competition website.

Belgium 2 looks like it is going to pass over Middlesbrough. What a treat for the crew. Currrent position is (Team Name: Belgium 2Van Geyte, Luc / Paenen, RudyLast Update (UTC): 2006-09-10 12:03:12Position: N53°59'38" W001°32'47"Flown Distance (km): 495.09) . Putting that into Streetmap.co.uk they are currently passing over Harrogate. The Royal Pump Room Museum to be exact.











Museum in Harrogate used by Royalty though the ages for relief from flatulence
















Germany 3 (Columus V) narrowly misses Middlesbrough instead passing over Skinningrove's Cliffs

Halluçienda

Am i halluçianting? Are there really 41 Haçienda Flyers for sale on Ebay. Why that eBayer must be of his trolly to sell those. And it must have taken him at least two hours to put them all on eBay!. Espeçially when his stupid PÇ kept crashing.

When i first sold a çouple of Stone Roses flyers for 10 quid and upwards, one going for 20, I thought the attraçtion was the Roses, but sinçe realised there is a huge bunch of Faç nutters out there, who foam at the mouth at the thought of anything related to 11/13 Whitworth Street West.

Before I'd managed to finish posting the items I already had 1 bid, 2 email questions and about 10 people watching these items. Even the ones that look like they have been used as beer çoasters.

Any bids are welçome........ Old Paper for sale

Banksy Strikes Again

Paris Hilton's album entered the UK chart at number 29 last week Hundreds of Paris Hilton albums have been tampered with in the latest stunt by "guerrilla artist" Banksy.
Banksy has replaced Hilton's CD with his own remixes and given them titles such as Why am I Famous?, What Have I Done? and What Am I For?

He has also changed pictures of her on the CD sleeve to show the US socialite topless and with a dog's head. A spokeswoman for Banksy said he had doctored 500 copies of her debut album Paris in 48 record shops across the UK.

A spokesman for Virgin Megastores said staff were searching for affected CDs but it was proving hard to find them all. "I have to take my hat off - it's a very good stunt," he added.

Considering that it is very difficult to get hold of this guys 'art', surely these CD's could be fetching 1,000's in years to come. I'm off to ebay now! I'm sure one or two dumb Hilton fans will think they are worthless.

Supermouse

I'm so pleased with my new mouse, bought from the Aldi for 19,99 Euros.
It's got 10 buttons! How many more buttons would you want.
I can't work out what buttons 9 & 10 do yet, but I'm sure I will found out.
I think we are going to be very happy together. When i have finished with him he sits very comfy in his little house. Also due to some kind of amazing radio signal technology he doesn't have a tail.
Thank you ALDI.

James Harries - A Child Prodigy

I was looking at an old VHS video tape i found in the attic yesterday, when I came across an old clip from a TV show ( I think it was 'TheWord'). It was of Child Prodigy 'James Harries' who was taking phone calls from the public. The section of the show was always done like this and normal good natured questions would be posed to the celebs. But on this occasion most callers saw it a good opportunity to take a chunk out of the blonde freak. Watch the clip....sorry about the quality i had to film it off the telly and it may take a short while to download.




If you want to know how James turned out later in life read on

Post it Note Art #1

My good friend and fellow blogger "the Ape" has started a new art movement. - 'Post-it note' art. So I thought I'd give it a bash.

Presenting: Coffee Stain on Child Prodigy (ink/coffee on 3M 'Post-it' Note. 76X76mm)

Where's Redcar beach gone?

When i was back in the UK 2 months ago I went for my usual walk along Redcar beach which is the closest coast to my house. It was a pretty miserable day as you can see. I've been going down there all my life and even went for a swim on Boxing Day one year to raise funds for the brain-washing of Papua New Guinean canibals.

Anyway if you went down to the beach today you wouldn't recognise it.



The set of 'Atonement' a World War II movie set in Dunkirk. Redcar has been chosen to be converted into the set as they knew there would be loads of extras gagging for 50 quid for a day on the beach.

They are using over 1,000 extras and 300 crew are booked into more than 200 hotel rooms across Teesside. The set will contain 45 military vehicles and even a 30m, 75-ton Thames barge boat, lifted onto the beach by crane.

some facts:

1: Keira Knightley and Vanessa Redgrave will surely get to experience a lemon-top from Pacittos.
2: There has been 4 films named "Atonement" previously filmed . All pants.
3: Previous films to feature Redcar beach are God on the Rocks starring Minnie Driver
4: Redcar Beach was also used in 'A Man called Adam's' video "Barefoot in the Head"




A Lemon Top from Pacittos

BA Halts flights to UK

Star Trek = Cobblers

On Saturday, 12th August 2006, Voyager 1 will become the first spacecraft to reach 100 AU from the Sun after 29 years in space.

An 'AU' is an 'astronomical unit' equivalent to the distance from the earth to the sun. 1 AU is equal to 92 955 807 miles or nearly 500 light seconds or 1 / 63,241 light years.

So 29 years in space, and the Voyager is 1 / 63 241 light years away. The nearset star to Earth is Proxima Centauri, a 'red-dwarf' in the "Alpha Centurai" star system. This star is 4.2 light years away . So if the Voyager keeps travelling for another 265,612 years it would reach Proxima Centauri, if it was travelling in the right direction, which it isn't.

P.S 'Voyager 1' is still working suprisingly so maybe in the year 267,618ish we may start to see picture of little green people.

Life Ambition #1

Every since i first played arcade games like Defender, Track and Field, Gorf etc. I always wanted to top the leaderboard for scores. Never did though. I think i once got 4th. Anyway today i managed it . It won't stand for long I'm sure as the game only went online today and only about 100 people have played it so far.















But i took a screen shot for prosterity.












To Play http://www.mousebreaker.com/games/savages/play.php

To see how rubbish that score is now http://www.mousebreaker.com/index.php?page=scoresbest_savages_0

A blast from the past.......

419 Eater

Scamming the Scammer - or 419 Eater.

A 419'er is a name for these guys who send out those annoying emails about the millions of USD they have tied up in Nigeria. I once tried this myself but didn't get far, as i cacked my pants when i realised I would have to give out my work fax number to try to reel him in.

Well never mind as there is people out there who dedicate their spare time (more likely work time) to frustrate and waste these scammers' time.

Maybe the next stage will be to try this with spammers of Viagra and Penis enlargement.

Anyway here is the story of 'John Boko' of the "Ivory Coast". Who wasted almost two months of his time and money trying to scam an imaginery arts scholarship from Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter. He obviously doesn't get BBC comedy repeats in the Cote d'Ivoire.

Read on.......

http://forum.419eater.com/john_boko.htm

Rooney On the Buses

Posters of a persistent troublemaker are being displayed on the backs of buses to encourage members of the public to keep an eye on him.

The mugshot of Adam Rooney, 20, from Middlesbrough, are accompanied by the conditions of his Asbo, which prohibit him from certain parts of the town.

Ten buses travelling between the town centre and Pallister Park, where Rooney lives, carry the posters.

Anyone who sees him in the prohibited areas can call a police hotline.

Rooney has spoken out against the posters, saying they will harm his chances of getting a job and has asked the police and council to remove them.

But Barry Coppinger, Middlesbrough Council's executive member for community safety and leisure, said the aim of the scheme was to make sure Rooney did not breach the Asbo.
He said: "We've tried the leaflet approach, but we thought putting posters on the backs of buses might be a better way of getting people's attention.

"We want the community to be aware who the troublemakers are."

Sunday Bloody Sunday

122 dead in a Russian plane crash (mainly children),
40 dead in Baghdad in sectarian killings,
4 dead in a domestic slaughter in Newcastle.

But never mind Federer won his 4th Wimbledon title and
Italy won a 4th World Cup they didn't deserve.

Since i have digital television I thought I could have seen a bit more of
the first three events I was trying to see this morning , but had to wait until late afternoon, almost 12 hours after the first to see a detailed report but even that was interspersed with reports of Federer/Nadal and the World Cup.

What is more important Wimbledon, the World Cup Final or the tradegies?

None of the above because one thing will fill the front pages tomorrow and
that is Zidane's forehead.



















"I wanted to go out on a high!"

Iridium Flare Spotting

My brother got me into a bizarre thing. Iridium Flare spotting. It's slightly cooler than train spotting but not much. Can't be bothered explaining what an iridium flare is so here's a quote from the FAQ's.

"An Iridium flare is caused by the sun being reflected from one of the three main mission antennae (MMA) of an Iridium satellite. The MMAs are flat, highly polished aluminium surfaces, and when the angles are just right, they can reflect the sun just like a mirror. There are over 80 of these communications satellites in orbit, and they are operated by the Iridium LLC Consortium."

So there is this website http://www.heavens-above.com/ where you can put in your location and it will tell you what 'iridium flares' will be visible tonight (if you have a clear sky).

For instance tonight in Maastricht:











The second two are a bit late but the first one at 11.27 I'm gonna try and see. 'Alt' is how high it is in the sky so 29 degrees up from the horizon. Azimuth is where on the compass it is so Westish. The distance is unimportant, as is the Intensity to flare centre. Satellite is the name of the satellite. They were imaginatively named 1-80.

The important bit is the first Intensity as that is how bright it will get when it flares. You can see the satellite before it flares like you can see most satellites.

'-5' is the magnitude of the one tonight. For comparison the brightest star in the sky (sirius) is '-1.44' . The moon is -12.7. So imagine that the moon lights up the streets. '-5' should be quite bright. the flare usually lasts about 2-3 secs, as the satellite revolves.

At first i thought it would be quite boring doing this but the fact that if you are there and looking at the right place at the right time and see an object 780km high up which is not visible normally is quite thrilling.

It is even possible to see Iridium flares in the daytime appraently, much harder but possible. Maybe thats what Truman Burbank saw in 'The Truman Show'. Wouldn't surprise me if they have also been many times mistaken for UFO's. When you see a picture of one.

Has the World Cup just become shit or not?

Germany v Sweden - Boring as shite.

Argentina v Mexico - well OK

England v Equador - also boring as shite

Portugal v Holland - Good to watch but not for football.

Australia v Italy - One team wanted to win and the other won by a dodgy penalty.

Switzerland v Ukraine - just plain crap and was only looking forward to the penalties (which was rubbish)

















Please bring some entertainment on with Brazil, France, Spain and Ghana.

Come on Ghana!!!!

Going to Walk the Dog

I've managed to avoid my local so far through the World Cup. But decided to go tonight.
1: It'll be stress free. We are through.
2: I got turned down a job I applied for today that i really wanted.
3: It's Tuesday and the dog needs a walk.

I don't really have a dog, just my pussy which i play with a lot!. The phrase is from Newcastle (Geordie-Land), where the local brew (Newcastle Brown Ale - or Newcy Brune) got the nickname 'dog' as that was the old fellas excuse to the wife when he wanted to nip doon the pub for a pint.



Anyway so I'm abandoning the sofa for the pub. I have a wierd feeling about watching football int the pub this year. I've been about 10 times to watch Boro UEFA matches and each time I have been the only Boro supporter in the whole place. So at least I won't look like a dick if we score tonight.

I think we do need to win though tonight to avoid the Germans. They must be becoming confident now with 8 goals to their name and 9 points. I was happy to hear though that 5 of those goals are actually scored by Polish. Klose and Podolski.

Anyway my prediction for tonight is England 3 - Sweden 1
Rooney 2 Gerrard 1 and Larsson 1

Requesting permission for flyby.

That's a negative ghostrider, the pattern is full.

http://www.atc-network.com/site/uk2006068.avi

Fools Gold - Selling crap on eBay

I've been dabbling on eBay for a couple of years now and it never ceases to amaze me what people will buy. On a trip back chez parents last month I was asked by my mother to clean out some shit from the attic. I found some old flyers from my Uni days in Manchester which i was going to bin but then thought "hang on I should try some of them on eBay".


The first i tried was a flyer A5 size from the Haçienda (FAC 51), Whitworth Street West. Manchester. The flyer was advertising the Monday Club, which was a new night featuring up and coming bands. the first band to be showcased was the 'Stone Roses'.













The NME reviewer wrote afterwards ""I'm already drafting a letter to my grandchildren telling them that I saw The Stone Roses at the Hacienda". So OK it was an important turning point in their career. But still it's not a ticket stub (which i threw away....oops!). Anyway at the time we were anoraks and i used to swipe lots of these flyers from the foyer on the way out. I was feeling very coreagous that night coz i took around a hundred.

Unfortunately I threw about 90 of them away when i shifted my stuff up to the attic and only kept 6. Anyway I sold 2 for £10 each. 1 on it's way to Stockholm and 1 to sunny Eastbourne. So if i could find 100 more anoraks (serious collectors) on eBay I literally threw £1,000 in the bin that day. Oh well.!

A day at the races

Last week i spent a day at Redcar Racecourse (locally known as Radkah Races) watching the gee-gees.

Now a day at the races is always meant to be fun, but made more memorable if you leave the course with a pocket full of cash and not empty handed. So we approached the day with a professional punter's manner. We studied the form, the tipster's comments, we selected the best odds from each bookmaker, we went to the parade paddock to see how the horses looked.

But the first 4 races not a sniff of success. And there was 7 of us there!!!. I think the odds of us all not winning a penny on 5 races (all betting on different horses must have been 1,000,000-1). And was it not for me spoiling the run on the last race we would have gladly placed a bet.

The last race i gave up on any methods and said " I'm gonna toss this pound coin 10 times and the number of heads i get is the number of the horse i will take". I got 5. the favourite was number 5 at 8/11 odds. So i splapped my last £10 on it.

And it romped home. Making me a awe-inspiring £7.27 profit.

The great 'Lester Piggot' who was guest for the day presented the prizes to River Kirov's owner and jockey. He probably would have told me not to declare my winnings to the taxman but considering on how much we lost that day I don't think i will bother anyway.














Mr Piggott presents the trophy to the owner of River Kirov
















The start of the 4.55 at Redcar