Chasing the Chicken-Eating Spider
But warning – do not read, and really, I mean it, don’t read it if you’re afraid of spiders.
But go right ahead if you think tarantulas can have cute furry legs.
Author Archives
Neither one has really worked for me…
“But perhaps the biggest advantages of being an archaeologist are that you get a tan, and are able to meet and impress girls …” How to succeed in archaeology
A great leap backward…
“Some of the UK’s best-selling chocolate bars, such as Mars and Twix, will no longer be suitable for vegetarians.
Also affecting brands such as Snickers and Maltesers, owner Masterfoods said it had started to use animal product rennet to make its chocolate products.
Masterfoods said the change was due to it switching the sourcing of its ingredients and the admission was a “principled decision” on its part.”
I think the Vegetarian Society got it right:
“At a time when more and more consumers are concerned about the provenance of their food, Masterfoods’ decision to use non-vegetarian whey is a backward step”
BBC
Oh, and…
Oh, and the cleaner told me off for daring to try and use the toilet at the start of the lunch break.
She challenged me, “what do you want to do?” and I really meekly said, “use the toilet?” and she told me to bugger off.
Oh, and there’s a guy who looks like David Brent. Deadset.
I can’t access most of my email so feel free to leave comments to amuse, abuse or annoy me further.
Slightly irritated geek
I’m really quite bored. I’m on a week-long ASP.NET training course and since I don’t particularly want to learn .Net, I feel like the bored rebellious teenager in the back of the room. By coincidence, I even have the dodgy leather jacket. I haven’t fallen asleep so far but it’s probably only a matter of time.
The training centre is full of tellingly over-cocky people with regional accents who’ve travelled in from the further reaches of the world outside London (it exists, apparently), and the ‘coffee’ is Nescafe but at least it’s near Old St so I can pop into the office afterwards and keep the plates spinning there.
I’m already annoyed at some of the stupid things about Visual Studio .Net, like wtf is up with storing the project files in My Documents? What kind of idiot thought a development environment that stores config and header files in the login of a single user was a good idea? The worst part is I’ll actually have to do some work with the damn thing when the course is over.
Actually, that’s not the worst part – the worst part is they don’t provide lunch or luncheon vouchers!
Why does art matter?
I know it does, but why does it matter? I like this:
“By dealing with art we are forced to plounge profoundly into depth. All art of importance is born here, in the depths of slow, careful and conscious thinking, where we again and again attempt to approach the essence of our existence. In these realms bullshit and fakery is left behind. Art matters.
Art versus entertainment, is gaining insight, versus seeking experiences. The one does not necessarily exclude the other, and sometimes they even mingle.
…
A society which does not accept nor enable its artists and thinkers to be a counterpoint to all its bullshit and bullshiting is, I would say, a poor, unhealthy and vulnerable society. It is an uninterested and, thus, uninteresting society because it is self-satisfied and self-contained. When a society starts to ignore its own intellectuals it is a serious sign of possible decay.
…
Therefore, art is opposition and art is criticism, art serves as our mental digestive system.”
Susan Sontag tribute
Last night I went to the Susan Sontag tribute at the ICA. It was an inspirational evening. The tribute made me realise how badly we need essayists who can crystallise ideas that remain troublesome but cloudy for the rest of us, and form a focus for effective agitation or action for change.
This is supercool (well, superhot really, I guess)
Power station harnesses Sun’s rays
“A concrete tower – 40 storeys high – stood bathed in intense white light, a totally bizarre image in the depths of the Andalusian countryside.
…
It is Europe’s first commercially operating power station using the Sun’s energy this way and at the moment its operator, Solucar, proudly claims that it generates 11 Megawatts (MW) of electricity without emitting a single puff of greenhouse gas.
It works by focusing the reflected rays on one location, turning water into steam and then blasting it into turbines to generate power.”
And speaking of women, wtf?
“British TV standards are deteriorating because the BBC is “run by women”, astronomer Sir Patrick Moore has said.” BBC
Does your e-mail make you sad?
“An e-mail has a way of making us impetuous. As S&S say, “It actually eggs us on. On e-mail, people aren’t quite themselves: they are angrier, less sympathetic, less aware. … E-mail has a tendency to encourage the lesser angels of our nature.”
…
Men and women seem to express themselves differently in email. According to Deborah Tannen, the Georgetown University linguist, women look for a personal element in any communication and expect a pleasantry or two before getting to the matter at hand. Men may use aggressive language because they find it funny. Women, not amused, can be offended. Men think teasing is funny. Women don’t. Men can get in trouble when using the style that comes naturally to them.”
I’m always interested in how online communications can be affected by seemingy unrelated things. I’m pretty sure I’ve startled, possibly even offended, people who expect me to use all the ‘womanly’ softeners and general fluffiness that can precede a request or statement, but if I’m in the middle of a long or on-going email conversation I’d rather skip all that.