Even if you don’t know enough about the towns to laugh, some of the responses are beautifully tragic. Third position in the national league of conference towns vs “thousands of pasty optimists doing brave impressions of sunbathing regardless of the weather”.

A popular ringtone track is set to scoop the top spot in the UK singles chart, on course to beat Coldplay’s comeback to number one on Sunday. (BBC)
I guess in a way it’s just another novelty single, but it’s still very wrong.

Scientists say they have located the parts of the brain that comprehend sarcasm. (BBC)

Has Google jumped the shark?

Speaking of the BBC, this is cool.

Three schoolgirl sisters have given birth aged 12, 14 and 16.
“Their mother Julie Atkins, 38, who said the girls were too young and had ruined their lives, blamed schools for providing poor quality sex education.” (BBC)
Why on earth does she think it’s the schools responsibility to teach her kids about sex? It should be taught at school, but surely sex education should begin well before the age of 12, and IMO it should begin at home. Two of them discovered they were pregnant after the first one had given birth, so it’s not like the topic wouldn’t have come up in conversation once or twice.

Russian lake goes walkabout.

I’m off to County Tipperary, Ireland, tonight. Woo! I have to go straight to work from the airport on Monday morning. God only knows how I’ll stay awake while writing a functional spec. Hopefully the thought of picking up my passport and Russian visa on Monday night will keep me going.
I saw Shunt’s Tropicana during the week. I enjoyed it, though there were times when I was bored and waiting for something to happen. Like Firebird, different parts of the audience would have experienced a slightly different show, but I’m not sure the mix of promenade and traditional theatre worked that well. Perhaps it was the way the ‘spectacle’ bits of the show didn’t quite mesh with the narrative. I really liked the venue – the arches of London Bridge station. Rosie and I decided that we wanted to take one (or more) of the burlesque girls home with us. Funnily enough, when I got home and told my housemates where I’d been, one of them said that people from Shunt used to live in our flat. Small world.

I used to hate Choose your own adventure books. Via www.retrocrush.com.