It's a little worrying when someone becomes a criminal by simply connecting to an unsecure wireless network they happen to find. That's exactly what happened to this man recently tho.

Details are sketchy and it doesn't actually say if he was doing anything 'dodgy' whilst online but it still seems pretty harsh to me.

When we first set up the wireless network in our house, the router didn't work. So we sent it back. In the meantime we found that there was another open wireless network nearby, so for a couple of weeks we used that whilst waiting for our replacement. I see now I was indulged in a criminal activity.

The way I see it, if a person doesn't secure their network, they are asking for trouble. What next, can we be charged for standing in the street and watching someones television if they happen to put it right next to the window?

Worlds first open source beer.

I had some chocolate ale last night actually. Not particularly relevant to anything but thought I'd mention it anyways....

Well, okay maybe busy is exagerating slightly. Yesterday I kindly offered my services to help someone move (which is why my arms hurt today).

Today I've had inspiration for a little project that I want to do for a friend. The deadline for this is two weeks from now so I've been knuckling down and scouring the interwebnet for the things I need. I'm feeling creative folks!! I don't know how long it will last but must act whilst the mood is upon me!

Hopefully normal bloggage will resume tomorrow.

The original version of this was pretty funky and totally different to anything else I'd seen. This new version of Grow is about 10 times better as rather than just getting a score at the end, you get to watch a story unfold, the ending of which depends on how well you did...

(its very slow to load - be patient. Tis worth is)

I caught this once or twice when flicking through channel on Sky - Extreme Dodgeball.

If you've seen the movie, you pretty much know what to expect from this sport. And in case you were wondering, they had the idea for the show and then heard about the movie and decided to cash in on the movie publicity.

Was supposed to blog this several weeks ago. Forgot.
Was reminded of it and going to blog it last week. Forgot.
Today I've remembered. Nice to see the return of one of my original blogroll people - Dangerbetty. Like the new pink hair btw.

If you are fluent in Dutch you can check out her photoblog too.

And courtesy of the lady with the groovy hair, Rar the baby lion.

I'm sure everyone has seen Hot or Not (I wasted so many hours flicking through the pictures there a few years back...) and you have no doubt seen Google Maps as well. So whats happens if you cross the two?

You get this. An invaluable tool for perverts and psychos that want to stalk you.

The Ba-Donka-Donk Mouse not only does it have a cool name which must mean something to someone somewhere (but not me) but its also very... err.. ergonomical.

(Disclaimer - this product may not exist in real life)

Just worth blogging for the headline - Ancient phallus unearthed in cave.

Favourite line from the story

The prehistoric "tool" was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone.

The royals go green.

As I mentioned several weeks back, the time for Blogathon 2005 is upon us! Not that I'm actually going to take part this year....

I thought about it but to be honest I've been a little unmotivated in life these past few months and wasn't sure I'd have the energy. Plus the memories of my head pounding as I tried to keep my eyes open last year are still quite fresh and don't really help with the motivation part. With the lessons I learnt after the last one I could probably make my life easier if I did it again - avoid the booze, don't watch hours and hours of MTV etc.. but I still don't have a theme and thats important I think.

So anyway, instead I shall throw my (slight) weight behind my fellow bloggers - both with money and online support on the day. I have already sponsored the lovely Bunni and would suggest you do too. Or, you could also sponsor Angela who kept me company and entertained with her 'Guess the Movie' quiz last year.

Or pick someone else from the eleventy three hundred people that have already signed up.

Or sign up yourself.

But do something

Google Moon. Zoom in, you know you want to....

I think I've discovered something worse than clothes shopping. Shopping for bed linen.

I've been on a mission this week to get some new stuff for my bedroom, especially my bed. All the stuff I have is old. The sheets are old and fading. The duvet cover is almost worn through in places. The duvet itself has gained lumps in some places and other areas that are vacant of all stuffing.

Not that it really matters, I'm the only one that ever see's inside my room and definitely the only one that uses my bed (except on the rare occasions that people come to visit me). But even I have my limits so it was to the shops I went.

Sheets were easy - pick size and a colour. Getting a new duvet was also a breeze - cheap will do (no posh goose feather for me I'm afraid). Then came the duvet cover. Just seemed to be an endless choice of hideous or bland colours with equally awfull patterns on. In the end I just had to pick something - maybe it will grow on me.

Now all I need to do is replace my matress that has large hollow spots where the stuffing has fallen out throught the holes in the bottom (dont ask)....

(this post was very dull wasn't it - felt like I should post something tho. My life is so thrilling!)

Actually, not even sure these should be classed as gadgets. UberOrbs are basically shiny, oddly shapped magnets. The amusing part is watching the movies where they try to show you how much 'fun' they can be by handing them out to members of the public. Trouble is, no one seems to know what to do with them other than throwing them up in the air...

Something not to put on my christmas list I feel.
(link via The Presurfer)

Still boldly going where no man has been before even when dead.

This cheered me up and set me right up for the day - Flip out like a Ninja.
(link via Bloggerheads)

The future of cities. Well, new ones anyway.

Discover the wonders of the the hiccup warehouse.

I did actually read the whole Ballad tale a while ago when I found a link to the best webcomics of 2004. The rest of Deadmouses stuff is worth a look at as well.

This is also worth looking at - page 1 and page 2.

My boss comes down yesterday, floppy (disk that is) in hand. The sliding metal cover is hanging off and there is an unreadable file he wants recovered. He suggests that my new minion try to fix it - it's a test of his abilities I think. So I give it to him to have a go at.

He puts the disk in the drive and instantly the metal cover falls off and gets stuck in there. I suggest he uses one of our small scredrivers to try and hook it out. A minute of probing later and he hold up the screwdriver, the end of which has broken off and is now also lost in the floppy drive.

I've not laughed that much in ages....

Not a bad weekend as weekends go. Played a little on the computer, did a little tidying up, exposed my pale body to the sun for twenty minutes in an attempt to make it slightly less pale (which... *takes a look under t-shirt*... didn't work), did a little shopping.

Yup, I finally motivated myself to take a trip into town and look for my new summer wardrobe. It started poorly with the only thing that I saw that I liked being a leather jacket - not exactly what I need for those hot summer days (tho I expect I'll still get it)! I guess it didn't get much better after that and I did only come back one shirt and one t-shirt better of. But it is a nice shirt. Although being linen it seems to have this annoying habbit of curling up round the bottom (bottom of the shirt, not my bottom) and making a sort of daft looking ridge. Maybe only wear this for best and heavily iron it flat first. Or starch it - does anyone still use starch?

My weekend ended with a little Rock 'n' Roll courtesy of the 'Stray Cats Strut' who were playing at my local. Now I'm not adverse to a little rock and roll (courtesy of Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers in my teenage years) but I can't say I've ever really thought about going to see a live band. These guys were pretty good tho and with the combination of some pleasant company and a few beers, I was very close to a bit of hand jiving on my comfy sofa in the corner.

If they play again it's a good reason for a trip to the pub on a Sunday evening. That and 6'2" barmaid who was knew darn well she could attract the attention of every man in the room - and for all the right reasons! Not that I ever need and excuse to go to the pub mind you...

Whilst shopping a couple of weeks back I remembered I was running low on shaving gel. Now sometimes I'm very dull with the things I buy (like deoderant, toothpaste etc..) and just pick the same old stuff over and over again. It's easier. Other times, I like to be a little more experimental. I was in one of those moods on this particular shopping trip and instead of my usuall gel, went for some Original Source Mint and Tea Tree oil stuff. It wasn't until this week that I actually tried it tho.

All I can say is Jeeeeebus!

I'm half asleep and slap some on. First thing I notice is how cool my skin suddenly feels. Icey even. Then the fumes start reaching my nose and my eyes begin to water.

If you are in need of something to wake you up in the morning I would recommend this to any of you blokes out there. It's quite a motivator to shave faster too. I've also been told that the shower gel is pretty effective as well, tho I may have to watch where I slap that on....

So Hillary Clinton wants a federal investigation into the sex scenes that can apparently be unlocked in GTA: San Andreas. Does it not occur to her that any kid intelligent enough to download and install the mod needed to unlock the hardly erotic images of computer generated characters shagging, is perfectly capable of finding much more explicit porn on the interwebnet or over a p2p network?

Yes I know, shocking as it sounds there is free and easy to find porn on the internet. So someone told me anyway.... *ahem*

I really want one of these hi-tech baths. Not only can you remotely start it filling up ready for you when you get home, but it cleans itself!!

Now if only it had these taps attached to it...

Quite like this game - a cross between Wormz and those old tank games you used to get on the BBC Micro...

You would have to say that the latest terrorist attack in Iraq is just as bad as the one here (maybe not as many dead but over 20 of them children) yet it receives only one small article on the BBC website (with many of the stories still relating to the attacks here). Like I said the other day, not saying we should forget what happened here but maybe we should just also make a little more effort to think about whats happening elsewhere too....?

Check out whats going on down at the House of Cosby's.

Really quite disturbing....

I should say sorry for not posting any links for Animation, Video and Music recently. It's my work PC. The problem is

a) I have no sound on it and
b) It freezes when playing various video formats.

I need to update drivers and stuff. It shall be done. At some point. Honest.

All I can say is Ow!

And why is it a woman in a bikini?

I went in to visit a colleague of mine the other day to indulge in 10 minutes of completely nonsensical banter and distract her from the important work that she does, only to find her eating a yogurt. My first reaction was "Urghhhh, yogurt!"

Then I stopped and thought about that.

My reaction was one left over from childhood. I hated yogurt and so upon seeing one ever since, have uttered sounds of disgust at the thought of eating it. But it occurred to me that I've not tried one in about 20 years. That actually, I can't even remember what they taste like or why I didn't want one. Plus I eat pretty much anything nowdays (rolls of ham filled with horseradish and topped with whipped cream whilst in Prague anyone?)

Today that same colleague brought me in a lemon cheesecake flavoured yogurt.

My reaction from now on will be "Mmmmmmmmm".

It sort of follows on from my last post - Iraq War Fatalities
(link via Bloggerheads)

So I don't really know what to say about the events of yesterday. I suppose on a very selfish personal note, my friend is safe and thats what matters to me, tho of course I feel for all those that lost someone..

Like most people I guess I can't comprehend how the people that commit acts like this think. How killing random innocent people can be justified in anyway? I guess there is no understanding people like that.

Whilst this has made so many people here think about terrorist attacks, maybe they should also remember that on the same day three people died in a mortar attack in Iraq and thirteen the day before in a bomb blast. Over 1000 in the last few months alone. I'm not trying to just focus on Iraq as I'm sure that similar things happen all over the world everyday. And I'm not trying to belittle the tragedy in London yesterday. People should just remember that events like this are not uncommon but most of the time barely rate a mention in the news.

I have no answers and I'm not sure I even have a point to this post. These things have happened before and will happen again. There really is no way to stop them totally. Hell, you don't even have to be a terrorist to kill innocent people. I guess I'm just hoping that this won't be used as an excuse to escalate the 'war on terror'....

I only heard about the explosions in London a couple of hours ago. I'd been a bit curious as to why my best friend (who lives there) had not replied to an email I'd sent a few hours before and when I saw the news I became a little worried.

Of course I'd forgotten to bring my phone to work today so I had to quickly go home at lunchtime to get it. She'd not texted. I got a bit more worried.

Luckily I got back to work to find that she had emailed and is safe and sound.

I would also like to thank Angela for the kind comment she left asking if I was ok and for caring enough about some bloke she's never even met, to email and say she was glad when I told her I was. I really did appreciate it. There are some lovely people in the world, aren't there.

Do you think it's a sign that you've reached rock bottom when you've taken to drinking sherry cos you've drunk most everything else in the house, and eating chocolate flavoured cake topping left over from making a cake last year?

No, I didnt think so either.....

I found an email promoting this device in our work account this morning, requesting a link exchange with us. Looks like a quality product.

I would have thought that a loud alarm going off whilst your child was fast asleep would be more likely to make them wet themselves. As well as develop some sort of sleep complex.

Now you often hear stories of people suing large companies for ridiculous amounts of money because of something stupid. However the case of a russian woman suing NASA because the probe that they smashed into a comet may have put civilization in danger of being wiped out sometime in the future, really is one of the most stupid I've seen in a while.....

She also claims to be experiencing "a moral trauma" which only a payment of $300m will fix cos NASA have messed with the cosmological order of things man.

Her legal team have said

""The impact changed the magnetic properties of the comet, and this could have affected mobile telephony here on Earth. If your phone went down this morning, ask yourself Why? and then get in touch with us."

So we have a windfarm costing £50m and generating 60MW of electricity. Then you have a clean powerstation that will cost cost £330m and will produce 350MW of electricty.

Seem about equal to me and I know which I'd rather look at....

I swear people are getting more stupid. I know I've worked here for many years and maybe I'm just getting less forgiving but honestly I'm sure they are. I know not everyone can have a good understanding of computers and how they work but common sense? Most should have that. Below is the condensed version of the sort of conversations I have.

Me: If you click that, a menu should appear.

Them: Nothing happened.

Me: Nothing? Are you sure you clicked it?

Them: Yes

Me: Positive?!

Them: Yes

Me: Really, really positive?!

Them: Yes

Me: You're sure?

Them: Yes

Me: Well I don't understand why nothings's happening when you click that then...

Them: Oh, was I suppose to click on something?

I'm well aware that lately my posts have been sparse and - in the most part - about things that have gone wrong. So, time for good news!

Found out yesterday that a couple of friends of mine just had their first child. Little Lucy was born at 7am last Thursday and weighed 7lb 10oz (for those that like those sort of stats). Congratulations Rich and Lindz!

Had to go shopping this lunchtime as once again, no food in the house. I like to think of myself as an environmentaly friendly shopper. Not that I go out of my way to buy organic produce or avoid buying tuna just in case dolphins died when it was caught. No, I mainly try and buy things that come with little packaging or that can be recycled. Not that I really know if something packaged in plastic is any better than say a glass jar? Sure you can recycle the jar but does it take more energy to produce and recycle? Who knows. Least I'm trying.

Thats why it always annoys me when I see people at the checkout using 10 carrier bags to load up their shopping or having about 3 items in each bag. Such a waste.

Today tho I was distracted from even that as I stood wondering about the woman in front of me. Her whole shopping basket consisted of only twenty 500g packets of butter and a pack of sanitary towels. The mind boggles.

Of course she loaded all the butter in one large plastic carrier bag and the female hygine product in another...

The other day I upset someone. I was feeling sorry for myself at that point and for the next two weeks I sulked and wallowed and was generally a really bad friend. I thought that they were better off if I just stayed away from them but maybe that was me just being a coward or the self pity talking.

It took another friend to remind me what being a friend was about. Maybe they won't want to talk to me again - and I dont blame them - but I still owed them a proper apology. I'm supposed to be a nice guy but I wasn't exactly acting like one. Even nice guys make mistakes I guess.

So I tried to fix things on Saturday. Didn't exactly work out as I planned. It took me two hours to walk home feeling dejected....

I just found this amusing. Wonder if it really works? Not that I want larger breasts of course....

Nice to see the our tax money and military expertise being used for such good causes.
(link via Bloggerheads)