Latest Blog Posts
13 November 2006 Amazing Web Race: Final Route
Niraj Sanghvi and Dave Fymbo released the Amazing Web Race: Final Route – a follow up to the original Amazing Web Race – on Saturday 11/11/2006 at 1:11 PM Eastern time. I started it around 20:00 GMT and finished it around 4 hours later, claiming 4th place on the leader board.
I recommend you give your brain a serious workout and try it for yourself. And if you like exercising your grey matter, you might want to try these too:
I recommend you give your brain a serious workout and try it for yourself. And if you like exercising your grey matter, you might want to try these too:
- Logic Game
- The Web Riddle – the best riddle on the web (IMHO) and I’m 9th on the Legends board
- P4X the Riddle – inspiration for The Web Riddle but I’ve not yet tried it
- The Ruscoe Riddle – not yet released but I’ll write it one day...
Labels: links
12 May 2006 The Web Riddle
Since Google's disappointingly easy Da Vinci Code Quest has now finished, it's good to see there's a new game in town. The Web Riddle written by Sam Davyson and friends requires some basic HTML knowledge and quite a bit of lateral thinking to play. (For some background information, see Sam's original post.)
Currently containing only eight levels, Sam promises in his recent blog post that there are more to come, with maybe even a few written by yours truly!
There are no prizes here; the only reward is the pleasure you'll get from being incredibly smug when your colleagues take hours to solve the riddles that only took you a couple of minutes...
Currently containing only eight levels, Sam promises in his recent blog post that there are more to come, with maybe even a few written by yours truly!
There are no prizes here; the only reward is the pleasure you'll get from being incredibly smug when your colleagues take hours to solve the riddles that only took you a couple of minutes...
Labels: links
07 April 2006 Part Time Blogger
As always, Chris is right. I'm a part time blogger! Admittedly, there are a few things that have grabbed my attention over the past couple of weeks that I probably should have blogged about, so I'm going to cover them all now to try and keep him (and you) happy.
1. Chris has already blogged about the stupid (or maybe clever) woman who was in front of me in HMV yesterday lunch time, so there's no need for me to cover that again. What he says is all true so just go and read it on his blog. What he doesn't mention (presumably because I never told him) is why I was in HMV in the first place...
2. I went to HMV to buy a copy of the St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion) single by 80s rock legend John Parr which is being sold in aid of the Help A Hallam Child charity. He agreed to re-release the single after Hallam FM's Big John contacted him and persuaded him to do so. (At least that's what they'll have you believe.) Anyway, in order to make sure that as much money as possible goes to the charity and not to Columbia Pictures (who own the rights to the original recording that featured on the soundtrack to the St. Elmo's Fire film back in 1985), he re-recorded the track from scratch, promising to make it sound as close to the original as possible. And he did a pretty good job. (Even he struggles to tell the difference, apparently!)
3. At this point it's probably worth noting that despite what some people think, Help A Hallam Child doesn't raise money for the poor kids who can't afford to go to a proper university and have to put up with the nearby special needs uni; it's a real charity that helps children who are sick or live in situations of abuse, neglect or deprivation.
4. If you're ever near Torquay in Devon and want some good fish and chips, visit Hanburys Licensed Fish Restaurant & Seafood Takeaway. They are (or once were) one of the top three fish and chip shops in the UK! We ate in their characterful restaurant but I assume you still get the same high-quality food from their takeaway next door.
5. We've finally got a new bathroom (with a proper door so that you've no need to be paranoid about someone peeping through the gap at you).
6. And finally, if you're after a couple of funky gadgets, check out this grass chair and these crazy keyboards. [Via Boing Boing and Chris Chris.]
1. Chris has already blogged about the stupid (or maybe clever) woman who was in front of me in HMV yesterday lunch time, so there's no need for me to cover that again. What he says is all true so just go and read it on his blog. What he doesn't mention (presumably because I never told him) is why I was in HMV in the first place...
2. I went to HMV to buy a copy of the St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion) single by 80s rock legend John Parr which is being sold in aid of the Help A Hallam Child charity. He agreed to re-release the single after Hallam FM's Big John contacted him and persuaded him to do so. (At least that's what they'll have you believe.) Anyway, in order to make sure that as much money as possible goes to the charity and not to Columbia Pictures (who own the rights to the original recording that featured on the soundtrack to the St. Elmo's Fire film back in 1985), he re-recorded the track from scratch, promising to make it sound as close to the original as possible. And he did a pretty good job. (Even he struggles to tell the difference, apparently!)
3. At this point it's probably worth noting that despite what some people think, Help A Hallam Child doesn't raise money for the poor kids who can't afford to go to a proper university and have to put up with the nearby special needs uni; it's a real charity that helps children who are sick or live in situations of abuse, neglect or deprivation.
4. If you're ever near Torquay in Devon and want some good fish and chips, visit Hanburys Licensed Fish Restaurant & Seafood Takeaway. They are (or once were) one of the top three fish and chip shops in the UK! We ate in their characterful restaurant but I assume you still get the same high-quality food from their takeaway next door.
5. We've finally got a new bathroom (with a proper door so that you've no need to be paranoid about someone peeping through the gap at you).
6. And finally, if you're after a couple of funky gadgets, check out this grass chair and these crazy keyboards. [Via Boing Boing and Chris Chris.]
Labels: food, gadgets, links, music, personal, photos, rant, restaurants
23 March 2006 Urinal Consoles
I've had an idea going around the back of my mind for a few years now. I didn't really think it would work, so I've never really pursued it. (Well, that and the fact that I'm too lazy to pursue it...) The idea would be to put a small ball-bearing game in the bottom of a urinal instead of a standard drainage hole. The aim would be to chase the ball around the puzzle using just pee-power. (And you're all sat there wondering why I've not bothered to pursue the idea... I know!)
It's a (perhaps not-so) well-known fact that men can't help but aim at anything that's happened to find its way into a urinal; be it a cigarette butt, a pineapple cube, a pint glass, some drunken student... whatever – we simply cannot help to aim our hose at it and give it a good blast of wee-wee. I've been caught out by some “clever” marketing technique that exploited this idea in the past. A drinks company had placed targets advertising their drink in the urinals, the only problem being that when you actually hit the centre of the target, you got serious splash-back. Thanks for that you clever marketing folk. Well done.
Anyway, there's always someone who takes the simplest of ideas and pushes them to the limit. These On Target urinals designed by Marcel Neundörfer have a pressure-sensitive display screen embedded in them. Not only does this provide entertainment whilst taking a leak, but it also saves on cleaning bills (apparently) as your aim is improved by the game (apparently).
Genius. I want one! But where will it all stop? Hungry Hippos in the bottom of the toilets...?!?
[Via Boing Boing]
It's a (perhaps not-so) well-known fact that men can't help but aim at anything that's happened to find its way into a urinal; be it a cigarette butt, a pineapple cube, a pint glass, some drunken student... whatever – we simply cannot help to aim our hose at it and give it a good blast of wee-wee. I've been caught out by some “clever” marketing technique that exploited this idea in the past. A drinks company had placed targets advertising their drink in the urinals, the only problem being that when you actually hit the centre of the target, you got serious splash-back. Thanks for that you clever marketing folk. Well done.
Anyway, there's always someone who takes the simplest of ideas and pushes them to the limit. These On Target urinals designed by Marcel Neundörfer have a pressure-sensitive display screen embedded in them. Not only does this provide entertainment whilst taking a leak, but it also saves on cleaning bills (apparently) as your aim is improved by the game (apparently).
Genius. I want one! But where will it all stop? Hungry Hippos in the bottom of the toilets...?!?
[Via Boing Boing]
Update: 23 March 2006 (22:31)
And if you're interested in urinal-game-related things, you might also be interested in this You're In Control (Urine Control) project from 2002.
[Also via Boing Boing]
25 February 2006 Exclusive: Google Brin Creator
In the same week as releasing Google Page Creator (which was allegedly named after Co-Founder & President of Products, Larry Page) I can exclusively reveal that Google have also been working on Google Brin Creator, presumably named after Co-Founder & President of Technology, Sergey Brin.
Rumour has it that Brin was so upset about not having a service named after him, that he forced some poor Googlers to create the new service as their 20% project. From the website:
What will they ever think of next?
;-)
Rumour has it that Brin was so upset about not having a service named after him, that he forced some poor Googlers to create the new service as their 20% project. From the website:
Google Brin Creator allows users to “create and publish cool, attractive looking Sergey Brins in just minutes” which are then hosted on the googlebrins.com domain (rather than the googlepages.com one used by Google Page Creator).Has Google Page Creator let you down?
Are they still unable to offer new accounts due to heavy demand? Is your googlepages.com address already taken? Why don't you start creating Sergey Brins instead of Larry Pages? They will live on our site at googlebrins.com/yournickname
What will they ever think of next?
;-)
Update: 24 March 2006 (17:39)
Check it out... someone was inspired by Google Brin Creator and copied it!
22 February 2006 Judging books, CDs and DVDs by their covers
Chris Riley's brain was working overtime a few weeks ago. You could almost hear those rusty cogs turning! He was thinking about how he could use Amazon Web Services to power a cool new website. After throwing a few ideas around the office, he someone (probably the other Chris) finally came up with the concept for Judge A Book By Its Cover.co.uk.
The idea's a simple one: view the covers of books, CDs or DVDs and rate them from one to five stars based purely on how they look. Once you've submitted your rating, compare what you and others thought about the cover to the Amazon rating to see if it really is that unreasonable to judge a book by its cover. If you want to see for yourself whether you judged correctly, you can easily click-through to Amazon to buy the book, CD or DVD and make your own mind up.
I prefer the Head to Head! version of the game. It's much easier to compare two covers and choose which you think is best than it is to rate a cover from one to five. (Sometimes, you'll be faced with two covers that are so similar that you can't decide which one gets your vote – but don't worry, you can always call a draw if that happens!)
There's more to read in the About & FAQs section of the site and you can keep up to date with the latest news on the site's blog.
Get judging!
The idea's a simple one: view the covers of books, CDs or DVDs and rate them from one to five stars based purely on how they look. Once you've submitted your rating, compare what you and others thought about the cover to the Amazon rating to see if it really is that unreasonable to judge a book by its cover. If you want to see for yourself whether you judged correctly, you can easily click-through to Amazon to buy the book, CD or DVD and make your own mind up.
I prefer the Head to Head! version of the game. It's much easier to compare two covers and choose which you think is best than it is to rate a cover from one to five. (Sometimes, you'll be faced with two covers that are so similar that you can't decide which one gets your vote – but don't worry, you can always call a draw if that happens!)
There's more to read in the About & FAQs section of the site and you can keep up to date with the latest news on the site's blog.
Get judging!
The Internet's Going Swapping Mad!
First there was File Swap, then there was Sketch Swap and now there's Question Swap!
File Swap didn't really appeal to me. I'm lazy, so uploading and downloading files sounded like too much hard work to me. I played Sketch Swap for a bit but quickly realised I was rubbish at it, and since there's no way to just view what people have submitted or correct your mistakes, I got bored of that pretty easily. (Of course, you could just submit a few squiggles and view a sketch in return - but that's just creating more effort and must be annoying for the people who moderate all the sketches.)
Question Swap is quite addictive though. You don't need to find a suitable file from your hard drive, nor do you have to sketch anything; you simply ask one of the thousands of pointless questions that's probably floating around inside your head right now. In return, you have to answer somebody else's question, which seems fair enough, and whenever someone answers your question, the response gets emailed to you. Whilst some of the responses can be rubbish, most are usually pretty funny. Check out some of the examples to see what I mean.
Whatever will they be swapping next? Here are some possible ideas:
[Via Google Blogoscoped]
File Swap didn't really appeal to me. I'm lazy, so uploading and downloading files sounded like too much hard work to me. I played Sketch Swap for a bit but quickly realised I was rubbish at it, and since there's no way to just view what people have submitted or correct your mistakes, I got bored of that pretty easily. (Of course, you could just submit a few squiggles and view a sketch in return - but that's just creating more effort and must be annoying for the people who moderate all the sketches.)
Question Swap is quite addictive though. You don't need to find a suitable file from your hard drive, nor do you have to sketch anything; you simply ask one of the thousands of pointless questions that's probably floating around inside your head right now. In return, you have to answer somebody else's question, which seems fair enough, and whenever someone answers your question, the response gets emailed to you. Whilst some of the responses can be rubbish, most are usually pretty funny. Check out some of the examples to see what I mean.
Whatever will they be swapping next? Here are some possible ideas:
- Meal Swap – Submit what you're having for your dinner and get a recipe back that you can enjoy tomorrow. (Just the thing for when you're bored of the same meals every day!)
- Friend Swap – Enter your best friend's contact details and get somebody else's best friend's details back. Start emailing or calling each other and make a new best friend. (Also great for swapping wives!)
- Blog Swap – Submit the login details for your blog software to the site and get somebody's else login back. Start posting on each other's blogs. (Perfect for spammers!)
- Identity Swap – Enter you name, personal details and credit card details and get somebody else's identity back. (Ideal for fraudsters!)
[Via Google Blogoscoped]
Labels: links
23 January 2006 Free Translation Blog Released
Here I am, banging on about Google and their new stuff all the time, whilst forgetting that the company I work for has got a pretty cool tool of our own. (No, I'm not talking about myself; whilst many people might call me a tool, I'm not sure how many would call me cool.)
FreeTranslation.com has been around since 1999. If you're between 13 and 21 years old and living in the USA, you'll probably have used it to translate some insults into a foreign language before emailing them to your friends. (For some reason, most Europeans use another website – but we won't talk about that here!)
Today we quietly released the FreeTranslation.com Blog. There's only one post there at the moment, but there are plenty more to come and they should make quite interesting reading. Some people might think that we're jumping on the blogging bandwagon a few years too late – I think that if you've got something to say, it's better to say it late than never! (Also, trying to justify working on something that isn't going to make you money is always difficult!)
The fact that I'm posting about something work related like this makes me feel like I'm trying to be to FreeTranslation.com what Matt Cutts is to Google or something! As if... (Well, I can dream can't I!?!)
Anyway, if you're interested in translation, add the FreeTranslation.com Blog Feed to your feed reader or aggregator. And if there's anything you'd like to know, post a comment here or there and we'll do our best to answer your questions.
BTW, this was going to be an exclusive post but I thought I'd let Chris have the scoop since he's been so patiently waiting for its release so he could be the first person in the blogosphere to post about it!
FreeTranslation.com has been around since 1999. If you're between 13 and 21 years old and living in the USA, you'll probably have used it to translate some insults into a foreign language before emailing them to your friends. (For some reason, most Europeans use another website – but we won't talk about that here!)
Today we quietly released the FreeTranslation.com Blog. There's only one post there at the moment, but there are plenty more to come and they should make quite interesting reading. Some people might think that we're jumping on the blogging bandwagon a few years too late – I think that if you've got something to say, it's better to say it late than never! (Also, trying to justify working on something that isn't going to make you money is always difficult!)
The fact that I'm posting about something work related like this makes me feel like I'm trying to be to FreeTranslation.com what Matt Cutts is to Google or something! As if... (Well, I can dream can't I!?!)
Anyway, if you're interested in translation, add the FreeTranslation.com Blog Feed to your feed reader or aggregator. And if there's anything you'd like to know, post a comment here or there and we'll do our best to answer your questions.
BTW, this was going to be an exclusive post but I thought I'd let Chris have the scoop since he's been so patiently waiting for its release so he could be the first person in the blogosphere to post about it!
Labels: links, personal, translation
28 November 2005 TalkMan: Talking Global with PSP
Whilst my PSP is absolutely brilliant, I can't help thinking that it must still have loads more to offer than just games, movies and music...
Imagine if I could take my PSP on holiday with me, speak English into it and have it instantly translate what I said into another language and speak it back to me. Well, if I want to translate what I say into Chinese, Korean or Japanese, this review suggests that's not such a crazy idea after all. TalkMan was recently released in Japan and does exactly that. It's bundled with a USB microphone that screws into the top of your PSP and uses speech recognition software to try and find a match for what you've said in its huge list of common phrases. You can even play games to help you with your language learning and pronunciation.
It's not quite a Babel fish, but it's one step closer I guess.
(What else could that USB microphone be used for though? I'm thinking that SingStar for the PSP would certainly keep my fellow tram passengers entertained on the way into work...)
[Via Waxy]
Imagine if I could take my PSP on holiday with me, speak English into it and have it instantly translate what I said into another language and speak it back to me. Well, if I want to translate what I say into Chinese, Korean or Japanese, this review suggests that's not such a crazy idea after all. TalkMan was recently released in Japan and does exactly that. It's bundled with a USB microphone that screws into the top of your PSP and uses speech recognition software to try and find a match for what you've said in its huge list of common phrases. You can even play games to help you with your language learning and pronunciation.
It's not quite a Babel fish, but it's one step closer I guess.
(What else could that USB microphone be used for though? I'm thinking that SingStar for the PSP would certainly keep my fellow tram passengers entertained on the way into work...)
[Via Waxy]
Labels: gadgets, links, personal, psp, translation
11 November 2005 Forty Faces: Who Just Blogged?
Earlier this week, I emailed my photo and blog URL to Philipp Lenssen for a new website he was planning after he requested people to do so via Google Blogoscoped. I had no idea what the site would do, but all became clear when it was released earlier today.
Forty Faces is a very simple idea, but I like it. The home page displays forty faces (some of which are duplicates) that correspond to a blogger who has submitted a photo and blog URL for inclusion on the site. Whenever one of the bloggers makes a post to their blog, their portrait is added to the top of the page and it links to their latest post.
In his article on Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes, Jakob Nielsen claims that a photo “offers a more personable impression of the author” and connects the virtual and “physical worlds”. To some extent, I think he's right. He also suggests that author biographies add credibility to the opinions and thoughts expressed in a blog, so it will be interesting to see whether Philipp adds these to the Forty Faces site too.
Forty Faces is a very simple idea, but I like it. The home page displays forty faces (some of which are duplicates) that correspond to a blogger who has submitted a photo and blog URL for inclusion on the site. Whenever one of the bloggers makes a post to their blog, their portrait is added to the top of the page and it links to their latest post.
In his article on Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes, Jakob Nielsen claims that a photo “offers a more personable impression of the author” and connects the virtual and “physical worlds”. To some extent, I think he's right. He also suggests that author biographies add credibility to the opinions and thoughts expressed in a blog, so it will be interesting to see whether Philipp adds these to the Forty Faces site too.
Labels: links
08 June 2005 The League of Gentlemen
My mate Dave (yes, that's right - the one Papa Lazarou always talks about) introduced to me to The League of Gentlemen (not literally) when I was in my 3rd year of uni. Their 2nd series was airing on BBC2 and I've been hooked on their work ever since. In January 2001, I visited Hadfield to take a tour around the real life Royston Vasey. When you walk around Hadfield, you really do feel like you're in Royston Vasey; the local butcher even sells special stuff sausages...
Earlier this year I came across The League of Gentlemen Scripts and That book, which was released ages ago but wasn't really very well promoted. I bought it Dave for his birthday hoping that he'd already have a copy so that I could keep it. (He didn't have it, so I had to buy it again for myself.) It contains all the scripts from the series, biographies of each character, and loads of pictures. It's an ultra-heavy hardback book that every TLOG fan should own.
At the moment, The League seem to be pulling out all the stops. Not only have they just released their first motion picture, but they've also released The Complete Collection DVD Box Set (all three TV series and that disturbing Christmas Special) and a new special edition of their Live At Drury Lane DVD, featuring five minutes of new footage from their hugely popular "Local Show for Local People". They've also got another live show planned for later this year titled "The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You" which I've just booked some tickets to see at Llandudno's North Wales Theatre.
Until very recently, they didn't have an official website (there were, of course, hundreds of "unofficial" fan-sites popping up all over the Internet) but with The League now moving from cult to mainstream, it's not surprising to see official sites starting to appear. For anyone that hasn't managed to track them down, here are the ones I've found:
Earlier this year I came across The League of Gentlemen Scripts and That book, which was released ages ago but wasn't really very well promoted. I bought it Dave for his birthday hoping that he'd already have a copy so that I could keep it. (He didn't have it, so I had to buy it again for myself.) It contains all the scripts from the series, biographies of each character, and loads of pictures. It's an ultra-heavy hardback book that every TLOG fan should own.
At the moment, The League seem to be pulling out all the stops. Not only have they just released their first motion picture, but they've also released The Complete Collection DVD Box Set (all three TV series and that disturbing Christmas Special) and a new special edition of their Live At Drury Lane DVD, featuring five minutes of new footage from their hugely popular "Local Show for Local People". They've also got another live show planned for later this year titled "The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You" which I've just booked some tickets to see at Llandudno's North Wales Theatre.
Until very recently, they didn't have an official website (there were, of course, hundreds of "unofficial" fan-sites popping up all over the Internet) but with The League now moving from cult to mainstream, it's not surprising to see official sites starting to appear. For anyone that hasn't managed to track them down, here are the ones I've found:
- The Official League of Gentlemen Website
- The Official League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse Movie Website
- www.rulocal.co.uk - an official microsite where you can download the first five minutes of the movie
- www.spunkygiraffe.co.uk - another official microsite where you can download an "exclusive scene" from the movie
27 May 2005 Big Aunt: Big Brother for Big Ants
Chris Riley is putting so much effort into his latest online project that I think it's only fair I give him some space on my blog.
Chris says, "Now that Big Brother is starting in the UK this Friday, I've decided that now is the time to put some Ants in the gel and watch them in what I like to call Big Aunt." (You can read more in his original post.)
His mate (and best man) Anthony bought him the Antquarium and designed the logo (which I think looks pretty neat) and I've kindly lent him my webcam so that everyone in the world can see what the ants are getting up to in the Big Aunt Antquarium.
Sadly, I'm also to blame for giving him the idea that the phrase "Big Ant" could be turned into "Big Aunt" to keep it more in keeping with "Big Brother". This pun works fine for me because I pronounce "Aunt" exactly the same way as I do "Ant" - and for anyone who pronounces it differently... well, that's just tough!
So, if Big Brother 6 gets too boring for you, be sure to tune in to Big Aunt to catch the latest from the Big Aunt Antquarium...
Let's hope it turns out to be fANTastically brilliANT and not a load of pANTs!
Chris says, "Now that Big Brother is starting in the UK this Friday, I've decided that now is the time to put some Ants in the gel and watch them in what I like to call Big Aunt." (You can read more in his original post.)
His mate (and best man) Anthony bought him the Antquarium and designed the logo (which I think looks pretty neat) and I've kindly lent him my webcam so that everyone in the world can see what the ants are getting up to in the Big Aunt Antquarium.
Sadly, I'm also to blame for giving him the idea that the phrase "Big Ant" could be turned into "Big Aunt" to keep it more in keeping with "Big Brother". This pun works fine for me because I pronounce "Aunt" exactly the same way as I do "Ant" - and for anyone who pronounces it differently... well, that's just tough!
So, if Big Brother 6 gets too boring for you, be sure to tune in to Big Aunt to catch the latest from the Big Aunt Antquarium...
Let's hope it turns out to be fANTastically brilliANT and not a load of pANTs!
25 May 2005 Sheffield Uni Reunion 2005: Pop Tarts London
Another University of Sheffield reunion in London is being planned for Saturday 24th September 2005. The details I've received so far are as follows (last updated on Friday 24th June 2005):
Received 24th May 2005
POP TARTS LONDON!!!!! Bring it on!
We're really excited to announce the arrival of the third storming Sheffield Uni reunion in London, on Saturday 24th Sept!
Following hot on the heels of 2003's "Love Shack London", and last year's "Love Tarts London", by very popular demand we now have POP TARTS London!
More favourite classic cheesy tunes, a student-priced, silly-cheap bar all night and a chance to meet up with old mates (and old flames) on the 24th Sept at the same venue, the enormous Camden Centre, Kings Cross.
Be sure to put it in your diaries now, and please spread the word far and wide - more details to follow in the next few days!
Cheers...
Seb, Katherine (and many others...)
Graduated 2001
poptartslondon@gmail.com
P.S. To get your email address onto our mailing list, send us an email with 'add me' in the subject
For more information, check out the Pop Tarts London website.Received 16th June 2005
POP TARTS LONDON is coming!!!
There was a huge response to the last email, and you can now reserve your very own ticket and get more details at www.poptartslondon.co.uk. We've also finally gotten round to posting photos on the website from the past two events, Love Tarts London, and Love Shack London, so have a look and see if you're there!!!
As always, vital ingredients for the event will be cheep cheep drinks all night, classic cheesy tunes from our native Sheffield Uni DJ, and a great excuse to meet up with old friends and flames from days gone by! Loads of you have been emailing us with your new email addresses, so if your mates have moved jobs etc, they may not be getting this email - please forward it on and spread the word to make sure they all get tickets.
If you want to add an email address to our mailing list, you can do this on the website too. Any other questions, just drop us a line...
Looking forward to it!
Cheers
Seb, Katherine, and the others...
Graduated 2001
poptartslondon@gmail.com
31 December 2004 Future Feature
What do you think the future should bring? Have your say and add your opinions to one of the many items listed on Philipp Lenssen's Future Feature website. And if it's not listed already, add your own item.
Labels: links
03 December 2004 Max & Paddy's Road To Nowhere Location Guide
Since I'm originally from the Bolton area, I know quite a few of the locations used in Peter Kay's latest TV series on Channel 4. For any die-hard Peter Kay fans out there, surfing t'Internet trying to find out where those locations are, I'm proud to present "Max & Paddy's Road To Nowhere Location Guide"...
24 November 2004 Pixelfest Collaborative Artwork
The Man In Blue asks, "Can a group of random people, each contributing a teensy weensy bit, make a coherent piece of art/design/garbage purely through the influence of the work itself?" I added pixel 4234. Go and pixelate!
Labels: links
02 November 2004 ASCII Graphic Generator
This is great for creating annoyingly huge signatures that use only ASCII text. That's all it's good for though.
Labels: links
Ashlee Simpson Karaoke Edition iPod
So, Apple have released a U2 iPod. Well that's nothing compared to this special edition! As the designer says: "If only an iPod existed that would make lip syncing fool proof so we wouldn't have to know that our musicians only pretend to sing live. And then we could go on with our lives without having to worry wether or not the person performing on television was lip syncing or not."
29 October 2004 Extreme Pumpkins
Since it's Hallowe'en this weekend, we're going to have a go at carving a pumpkin. I've not done this for a few years, so I was looking on the Internet for some ideas and came across ExtremePumpkins.com where they've got some pretty extreme pumpkin designs! As good as they are, I'm not convinced I'll be using any power tools on my pumpkin...
Labels: links
15 October 2004 Lego DeLorean
Recently, people seem to be searching the web for instructions on how to build a DeLorean out of Lego and they end up finding my site. Since I didn't have a link to anything like this, I thought I'd add one. It doesn't tell you how to build it, but at least you can see what it should look like! Also, here are some examples of some not-so-good ones: [1] [2] (Now... where did I put my big bucket of Lego?)
Labels: links
01 September 2004 Little Lever Chavs
I was born and bred in Little Lever and I'm ashamed to say that, just like everywhere else in the UK, it's now home to more wannabe chavs than ever before! If you take a look at the Little Lever Crew's website, you'll be able to see why I'm glad I don't live there any more...
Labels: links
25 August 2004 HomeRun Flash Game
So it's all in a foreign language, but it doesn't mean you can't play! Simply move your mouse either left or right to counter balance this poor drunken bloke walking home. (Thanks to Jan's blog for the link!)
Labels: links
23 August 2004 The Invisibility Game
It's like one of those "how steady is your cursor" flash games where you weave your mouse through tough obstacles. Except here, you can't see the mouse. Sure, you can cheat, but that's not the point.
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03 August 2004 Preparing for Emergencies
This is a parody of the UK Government's Preparing for Emergencies website. It seems the Government must have some retard working in their web department who didn't think to register the ".co.uk" domain. They probably get overpaid too. Anyway, what's more interesting to me is that this website was created by the same guy who created the Jim'll Fix It Badge Maker I linked to a while back. Thomas Scott must be an Internet genius...
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12 July 2004 SniffPetrol.com
This website was introduced to me a while back by my Uncle Roy who's a kit car enthusiast. (Check out the Archive - some of the past issues are hilarious!) It normally just takes the piss out of various cars and other motor vehicles, but this month it contained an image that I wish I'd made. Well done SniffPetrol! I couldn't have put it better myself!
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16 June 2004 How grammatically sound are you?
Theirs something that get's on my nerves quiet alot, bad spellin, grammer and use of apostrophe's. I found this Quizilla quiz on Christian's site (who found it on Tim's site, who originally saw it on Phil's site). Have a go and see how you do. According to the test, I am a GRAMMAR GOD. "If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be. Congratulations and thank you!" What can I say!?
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03 June 2004 Dermot Murnaghan
For some weird reason, Chris Hill wants to be at the top of Google when you search for the phrase Dermot Murnaghan, so let's see if we can help him achieve this strange desire.
Updated: 1 November 2005
Broken link fixed.
25 May 2004 How Gay Are You?
Take part in the national big gay poll for "How Gay Are You?" on Sky One. According to the test, I am SERIOUSLY UNDERGAY. I have a lot to learn from gay men. If I take on some of the lessons that gay men have to teach me then girls will stop being disgusted by my behaviour and I'll be more likely to find the woman of my dreams. I require urgent attention.
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21 May 2004 The Subservient Chicken
"Get the chicken just the way you like it." Type in your commands and watch the human chicken do exactly what you tell it to. OK, so it's an advert for Burger King, but it's amazingly addictive and can be quite funny depending on what you tell it to do...
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06 May 2004 Back to the Future DeLorean Conversions
Need a BTTF Car by next week? This guy's selling one and all the bits on eBay. If only I had £12k or so, I'd buy it myself. His website's worth looking at whether you've got the cash or not. His replicas are spot on! And on a related note, check out The Back to the Future Tour - the most comprehensive guide to Back to the Future filming locations on the Internet.
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The Jim'll Fix It Badge Maker
“Now then, now then!” This little web toy will let you make your own Jim'll Fix It badge, with whatever you want written on it. Then you can save it, and upload it to your own web site, or email it to your friends. How's about that then?
03 May 2004 The Mirror Project
The Mirror Project is a growing community of like-minded individuals who have photographed themselves in all manner of reflective surfaces. I stumbled on this website because it has a few photos of Jan on it. This one's the best.
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14 April 2004 QDB: Quote Database
Another link I've just nicked from Chris Hill's blog... (Cheers Chris!) This site that lists loads of quotes from Internet chat conversations. You can just browse, view the latest quotes, view the top 100 or add your own...Link: http://www.bash.org/
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Find out what tune is on your mind
Whistle a tune to the computer and this site will tell you the "Parsons Code" of what you have whistled, which you can then use to find the title and composer in the database! I've not tried it yet, but it sounds like a great idea for those annoying moments when you can't "name that tune".
03 March 2004 Fontifier
Get your worst handwriting turned into a TrueType font so you can easily create those "hand-written" letters. Tip for kids: get your parents to fill in the form then you can effortlessly fake your sick notes!
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17 September 2003 Gender Genie
The Gender Genie uses an algorithm to predict the gender of an author. Simply type in some text and it'll tell you whether you write like a male or a female!
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03 September 2003 reflections
This is a pretty addictive flash game involving lasers and mirrors. Light up the bulbs and watch out for the bombs!Link: http://laser.narr.as/
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29 August 2003 BMLwalker
Bio Motion Labs have created this lovely flash application. It's nothing more than a silly walk generator!
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11 August 2003 Greg's Digital Portfolio
This guy's a master at touching up digital images. Take a look at his gallery and see for yourself what software like Photoshop is really capable of when it's the right hands...
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07 August 2003 Programming Language Inventor or Serial Killer?
Can you tell a coder from a cannibal? Try to work out which of these guys spent their time hacking computers and which preferred hacking away at corpses instead!
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12 June 2003 InsultMonger.com
This site should help make plenty of kids cry themselves to sleep all over the world! Simply select a few options and get a custom insult generated every time you click! Genius.
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23 May 2003 Ban Comic Sans
In July 2002 the campaign to stop the overuse and abuse of the font began. Since that time, many people worldwide have expressed their support of this site’s efforts.
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14 April 2003 The Bumheads
Bumheading is the new craze about to sweep the nation! All you need is loads of drunk mates, a camera and a bare arse and you’re away. (This truly made me PMSL!)
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03 April 2003 Printer Roulette
Genius. Play this game with your work mates and embarrass each other like hell!
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19 March 2003 Bud Light’s Making Faces
OK... so it’s viral marketing and I’m kind of advertising for them now... but go there now! It’s real good fun!
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07 March 2003 Airtoons
You know those safety cards in aircrafts? Well, this guy’s made up some very amusing captions for them. (The link will take you to my personal favourite, but be sure to check them all out!)
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06 March 2003 Rain Man: The Game
See that film with Dustin Hoffman? Well, here’s a game. "Counting cards, counting cards!" Actually, it’s counting matches this time... but the idea’s still the same.
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05 March 2003 .s.p.e.c.i.a.l.d.e.f.e.c.t.s.
More great flash stuff to download and play with... Don’t leave without clicking on every little link on the site! In particular, check out the beating heart (Hint: Move you mouse closer to the heart to make it beat faster!)
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03 March 2003 YourNotMe.com
Find out how many people in the UK have the same name as you! Well, that’s not strictly true and I’ve no idea where they get the info from. (It’s a shame about the type in the URL really. Surely it should be called You’re Not Me!)
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26 February 2003 Andy Foulds Design
Go to this site and play. There’s lots of small, nicely done fancy flash things to keep you occupied for a few minutes.
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20 February 2003 Writing Pad Type Thing
Remember the good old days when you had to use with a pen and paper to send messages to people? Well now you can re-live the experience again!
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05 February 2003 Letters Game
It’s a simple game that might improve your typing ability. See if you can beat my score of 5269 (7th highest on the board when I did it)!
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22 January 2003 Gridlock
A nicely designed, simple but addictive puzzle! Drag the blocks left or right or up or down, depending on their orientation. The object is to move the blue block out through the opening on the right.
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15 January 2003 Blue Screen Of Death
Just click the link... and have Alt+F4 at the ready!
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09 January 2003 Freaky Optical Illusions
This stuff makes your eyes go weird so don’t stare at them too long. (People who suffer from epilepsy might like to stay clear of this page!)
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31 December 2002 FLY GUY
A really good, simple, black and white Flash "game". You can have hours of fun just flying around the sky!
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12 December 2002 Extreme Ironing
Welcome to the home of extreme ironing - the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt.
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11 December 2002 Celebrity Secret Santa Challenge II
A bit of seasonal fun for you all. Try and guess who’s hiding behind the cheeky Santa beard and hat! Some are a little tricky...
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06 December 2002 Star Wars (Geek Format)
It’s an ASCII animation of Star Wars... which proves that some people really have far too much time on their hands!
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02 December 2002 Pixel Totem
Native Americans used to carve totem poles from tree trunks. Now this guy would like you to carve them out of pixels.
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22 November 2002 stinkfactor.com
Where losers are losers and winners are still losers. No one likes a slob! Check out the challenges. In particular, the Tabasco Challenge!
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18 November 2002 Female Latex Masks (By Kerry)
I started making female latex masks on my own beginning in 1996 because I couldn’t find any for sale that I liked. Then someone asked, "Hey, can you sell me one?" and suddenly I was in the mask business!
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12 November 2002 Personalized Action Figure
AndGor Toy Company can make YOU into the Action Figure of your choice, wearing whatever you want from casual clothes to formal wear, authentic military gear, football uniform, and more!
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30 October 2002 The Hawking Vocaliser 1200
Oh dear. Apparently, no offence is intended to Stephen Hawking or anyone else. This is simply meant to be a joke.
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28 October 2002 Realistic Internet Simulator
Do you want "all the spills and none of the thrills®" of the internet? Well, here is the most realistic internet simulator I’ve ever seen!
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24 October 2002 Bloody Finger Mail
Why not wish your friends a happy hallowe’en by sending them a bloody message? No, really... the message is written in blood!
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22 October 2002 Rubik’s Cube In Flash
Nicely done Rubik’s Cube interactive flash movie. I don’t know why those astronauts have to be there - but they have they uses, so click them!
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15 October 2002 You Are An Idiot
See how much of an idiot you are (works better with sound)... and I accept no responsibility for the outcome!
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04 October 2002 Bookworm Game
Question: What do you get if you cross Scrabble with Tetris? Answer: This game! Once you get the hang of it, it’s a great way to kill some time...
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30 September 2002 What Bird Did That?
A knowledge of the different parts of each splay is essential to fully describe and understand the variations in ornithological dejecta. What a load of shit! Which bird did it, when it did it and at what speed... it’s all here!Link: http://www.monpa.com/ba
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26 September 2002 Drive Me Insane
Welcome to the home of Paul Mathis. From this page you can control his lamps, move one of the cameras, listen live, force him to listen to your choice of music, and chat with other viewers.
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Hold The Button
How long can you Hold The Button?
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02 September 2002 Heavenly Images
We make memorial pictures from your photos! Special, unique one of a kind gift idea! Each picture is a special work of art: "Jesus and Loved One" pictures...
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28 August 2002 Interview With The Search Engine
Search engines have earned a slightly sullied reputation as a necessary evil. But it is a one-sided assessment. The search engines have not been able to explain themselves. Until now.
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Arm Wrestle Sigmund Freud
See if you can defeat one of the most influential minds of the twentieth century in the brutal sport that is armwrestling! Can you beat the best?
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08 August 2002 I Am With You Always...
I was awakened in the middle of the night with a clear, vivid impression that the Lord wanted me to do some special drawings - drawings depicting ordinary people in their everyday environment, with one important addition: the presence of Jesus Christ.
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01 August 2002 The Wonderful Wankometer
This machine enables you to measure the quantity of Management Wank in a piece of text or web page. Simply type the address of a web-page, or paste some text into the box above and press the Start button.
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21 July 2002 Gold-o-lizer
Yet another one of these "give us a website and we’ll mess about with the way it looks" things... only this time it’s really crap and it promotes the new Austin Powers movie whilst it’s at it.
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16 July 2002 Apostrophe Protection Society
The Apostrophe Protection Society was started in 2001 with the specific aim of preserving the correct use of this currently much abused punctuation mark in all forms of text written in the English language.
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11 July 2002 Google Mirror Site
Ever found Google a little slow? No? Know what a mirror site is? No? Oh well, this should still be quite funny...
24 June 2002 Ass-O-Tron!
Ever wanted to stick a big fat arse on your company’s website? Well now you can thanks to the amazing Ass-o-tron.Link: http://www.assotron.com/
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14 June 2002 wnt 2 knO wot txt msgz mean?
Just type in your SMS texting lingo and let transL8it! convert it to plain english OR type in a phrase in english and convert it to SMS lingo!
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12 June 2002 The Perfect Gift For Any Occasion
Origami is Japanese art of folding paper. Boulder is round rock. Origami Boulder is wadded up paper! You understand now, dumbo?
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08 June 2002 Make Your Own Mr. Men and Little Miss characters
There are so many Mr. Men and Little Miss characters. Aren’t they great!? How would you like to make your own?
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06 June 2002 Create Your Own South Park Character
What would you look like as a South Park character? Find out here.
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30 May 2002 Worlds Smallest Web Site
Does exactly what it says on the tin.Link: http://www.guimp.com/
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16 May 2002 The Mini-Mizer
"Picture Yourself In Plastic." Make your own lego person.
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25 April 2002 Fanny 4 Danny
Providing hope for ugly men everywhere... Daniel Wright is a man with a problem.
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04 April 2002 LEGO Builder
Virtual LEGO.
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Spiders: Just Say No!
Webs made by spiders fed on drug-dosed flies. Check out the web of a spider on caffeine!
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19 March 2002 What's Wrong
Something's wrong with this picture. Turn your speakers on and find out what...
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08 February 2002 Shake It Babe
Just watch that little man move your window about! Brilliant init!?
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01 February 2002 The Turd Twister
A complete kit for shaping your turd into amazing designs, and it comes with a hilarious instruction manual.
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25 January 2002 Britney's Breasts
The mystery of Britney Spears's breasts. (And believe me... this IS a mystery!)
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21 December 2001 Multi-Lingual Text-To-Speech from AT&T Labs
"I would like to play chess with you over the Internet," said the Stephen Hawking impressionist.
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16 November 2001 The Oracle of Bacon at Virginia
The object of the game is to start with any actor or actress who has been in a movie and connect them to Kevin Bacon in the smallest number of links possible.
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12 October 2001 TV Cream
The best place on the net to discover the long-dead programmes you thought you'd seen the back of forever!Link: http://tv.cream.org/
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24 September 2001 The Alternative English Dictionary
Find out what all those nasty insults actually mean (and pick up some new ones while you're there)!
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28 August 2001 Wanna be an Apple?
Tired of windows and want an apple? Let your PC have a taste of the forbidden fruit.
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17 August 2001 follow?
what?Link: http://www.superbad.com/
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