Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Making blood for Halloween

Take a a quarter cup of corn starch

Take a a quarter cup of corn starch

Add a quarter cup of water

Add a quarter cup of water

Add 8 drops blue food coloring

Add 8 drops blue food coloring. Green may work as well

Add 3 teaspoons of red food coloring

Add 3 teaspoons of red food coloring

Add a pint of light corn syrup

Add a pint of light corn syrup

Stir well

Stir well. It seems very dark, but on flesh it looks good.

Put back in the bottle for later use

Put back in the bottle for later use

Obituary for a terrorist

Sammy Duddy died on 17 October 2007 aged 62. The Independent says:

In the 1970s, he was by day a propagandist for the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the extreme Protestant group which was responsible for the killings of hundreds of Catholics. By night, however, he appeared on Belfast's limited but vibrant cabaret circuit, presenting a ribald act in loyalist pubs and clubs dressed in fishnet tights, wig and heavy make-up.
The Torygraph says:
But in 1981, after the Kincora boys' home paedophile scandal which implicated senior loyalists, Duddy was ordered to abandon his drag act by the UDA's supreme commander Andy Tyrie. "Son, grow a moustache and drop your voice, because we don't want your name in connection with this thing," Tyrie told him. Duddy did as he was told: "It was a pity, but I guess it had to end sometime," he reflected.
The Irish Independent says:
After the RUC broke up the gang, arresting most of its members, the north Belfast UDA became less and less capable of targeting and killing republicans, increasingly killing innocent Catholics. A joke among loyalists at the time was that if the north Belfast UDA had you on its target list, your next door neighbour was in deadly danger.
The Torygraph adds:
[...] in 2002 Duddy paid the price for taking sides in the dispute when two masked gunmen fired shots at his front door. Although he escaped unharmed, his pet chihuahua, Bambi, was killed by the gunfire. This summer Duddy was reported to have moved out of his home in the Rathcoole estate due to continuing internecine tensions between rival UDA factions.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

How to build a Cathedral, part 9

East side of Christ the Light Cathedral in Oakland, California, October 2007

The glass wall on the east side (above) is complete. There are 36 x 10 = 360 glass panels on each of the long sides. The glass for the roof (below) is almost complete. There is still no glass for the Omega window.

Christ the Light Cathedral in Oakland, California, October 2007

The glass wall is less attractive than the internal wooden ribs that were previously visible. In some lighting you can still see the ribs but most of the time you cannot. The west side (below) does not give much to look at except the two different orientations of the panels.

West side of Christ the Light Cathedral in Oakland, California, October 2007

Friday, October 26, 2007

Picture Caption Competition

What is Arnie thinking/saying here?

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Dalek stamp

Original is here. Dalek was supplied by This Planet Earth and photographed by Lord Snowdon.

The genius of Rafael Benitez

After last weekend I feel like a finally understand Rafa a bit more. The substitution of Saint Steven of Gerrard in the Everton game was the turning point. Why would any manager hook his only player who would walk into any other premiership team? Rafa says he took of Gerrard because he had too much passion. At first I found this hard to understand. Managers like Lord Ferg and Mourinho love to see passion. Rafa however in some way was foreseeing what would happen later, when Carragher committed a blatant foul which should have resulted in a penalty. It seems clear that some sort of Red mist had overwhelmed him and he was lucky to get away with it. I think this is what Rafa wanted to avoid. He is a cold blooded genius. It just doen’t make him very likeable.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

San Diego Firestorm 2007

Time lapse images of the view from Lyons Peak at the Harris Fire from the East, then again from the West. My brother in law's family were evacuated but are now back home.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Quote of the day

Phineas Nigellus Black [portrait]:

You know, Minister... I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts... but you cannot deny he's got style.
[After Dumbledore overcomes the Minister for Magic, Dolores Umbridge and two other Aurors, and escapes]

OCTOBER 22 IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY

I actually physically remove the caps lock key from any keyboard to which I have exclusive access.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Vintage ads

sugar

Great blog of vintage ads includes the above masterpiece.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

WoW tacoma toyota commercial

MMORPG are now mainstream.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Ronnie Hazlehurst

It is not really fair that some people are musical geniuses. When Ronnie Hazlehurst wrote the theme tune to Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em he spelled out the name of the programme in Morse code with the musical rhythm. Why did he do this? Because he could. I've heard this theme millions of times and would never have guessed. You can hear the theme in the embedded video and also see Elisabeth Sladen in one of her first TV appearances.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Marvin Gaye sings American National Anthem

The Star-Spangled Banner is famously hard to sing. I think this just shows that Marvin would be sexy reading the phone book.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Siouxise Sioux Mantaray Cover

Click for big picture...

What will be this year's worst adaption of a beloved fantasy book?

The winner in 2006 was Earthsea. The front runner in 2007 has long been His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass. But now a new candidate is coming up fast. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising is the big-screen adaptation of part of Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series. You can hear/read a really dismaying interview with Cooper at NPR. The script is by John Hodge who did the screenplay for Trainspotting. He is admirably honest about the changes that were required:

One of the things I didn't want it to be confused with was Harry Potter, because I just think the world doesn't need another English boy involved with fantasy adventures.
I don't think even Christopher Eccleston as The Rider (a baddie) is going to be enough to get me to see this one.

Go Equipment

go set

This is my Go set. The board (goban) is made of spruce. The pieces are glass and the containers are, er, plastic. This set come from Korea, via www.samarkand.net. The other side of the board is a very useful 13 x 13 board. Go equipment can be very beautiful and very expensive. I'm glad I've got at least a respectable level of quality.