....low volume setting on your speakers recommended if you don't want to be deafened!
Friday, May 30, 2008
A good day out?
....think I'll be giving this a try this year! I picked up a leaflet today and it looks like a really well thought out service. You can download a timetable and read more at the HadriansWall.org websiteThursday, May 29, 2008
Bottletops collection
200ish of 'em here. Could this be a possible sign of mis-spent youth? Nevertheless, they're somehow very attractive en masse!Falcons Nest in Muttenz, near Basel, in Switzerland.
Live webcam, superb quality (with sound....you almost feel as if you're there!) In colour during the day, black and white infrared at night. 5 eggs, and it can't be long before the first one hatches.Click here to view
Do your own comic cover....
.....over at Speech Bubbler.You can also check out a huge library of classic covers at the parent site, Coverbrowser
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Better than your standard kitchen crockery
Maastricht earthenware decorations, 1836-1969.....there's apparently (obviously, I haven't actually counted!) in excess of 17,500 items in this catalogue at The Memory of the Netherlands
Holiday packing
A useful online service for those of you (Anne and John!) in the process of packing for holidays in sunnier climesDon't forget your toothbrush
Local History....Evacuation arrangements, Newcastle and Gateshead 1939
There's a fascinating set of document scans here at Genuki detailing the evacuation arrangements for Newcastle and Gateshead. Click on "Index to Documents" at the bottom of the page to view.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Rubber Duckies on the high seas
"On January 10 1992, a container holding almost 29,000 plastic bath toys spills off a cargo ship into the middle of the Pacific Ocean and breaks open. The unsinkable toys, which were en route from Hong Kong to Tacoma (Washington), include a lot of iconic yellow rubber ducks that have since been caught up in the world’s ocean currents and continue turning up on the most improbable shores." Read the rest at Strange MapsVintage papercraft
...a post for the nimble-fingered and french-speaking. You can build yourself this rather splendid "automobile moderne" if you visit Agence Eureka (post for 23rd May 2008)Whitley Bay 1955
There's a great article on Whitley Bay in 1955 over at NorthTynesideWalksClick through from the "Articles and Extras" section. Short extract to whet your appetite...
"The Whitsun weekend marked the beginning of the main summer holiday season and the time when the town`s many attractions were getting into full swing. The Spanish City funfair was open every day of the week and British Railways were starting to run a 10 minute shuttle-service of city to coast trains. The fine days and lighter nights brought large numbers of day trippers to Whitley Bay, to enjoy the sea air, visit the funfair, have a meal and a drink before returning home sober and content.
However, there was a small minority who were intent on mischief, getting drunk and generally making a nuisance of themselves. There was a small percentage of young people whose pastime was vandalism. There had been a report of damage being caused to a sunblind outside a shop in Station Road and the street was beginning to be called `Hooligan Street`. The police were called to the incident but the offenders had made their escape by train."
However, there was a small minority who were intent on mischief, getting drunk and generally making a nuisance of themselves. There was a small percentage of young people whose pastime was vandalism. There had been a report of damage being caused to a sunblind outside a shop in Station Road and the street was beginning to be called `Hooligan Street`. The police were called to the incident but the offenders had made their escape by train."
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Up on the roof of Durham Cathedral...fieldtrip
I won't bore you with the internal shots of venerable rafters made out of apparently whole trees...but suffice it to say, I'm covered in a fine layer of cathedral dust and I've stood in an awful lot of pidgeon shit this afternoon. The views were fantastic but the experience didn't do anything to improve my vertigo...that last shot looking down from the lantern gallery is surprisingly steady considering how much I was shaking at the time, it's a lot higher than it looks in the photograph.Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Don't be a pleb Lucinda......
" Lucinda's tastes are so depravedShe likes to play and romp
With children poor and ill-behaved
Who boast no style or pomp
Their costumes are not quite correct
They have no pretty tricks
Lucinda! Pray be more select
In higher circles mix"
Check out the rest of the book (and beat your children into submission) here at the Rare Books and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
How noisy is my house?
.....UK only, and not everywhere (areas covered Birkenhead, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Coventry, Hull, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton, Southend, Teeside, The Potteries, Tyneside, West Midlands, West Yorkshire)
.....and it looks like I've got it relatively quiet (thought no-one came to check the decibel rating of the clockwork timer on the central heating, I suspect there might have been a purple splodge on the map if they had!) Check out whether it's time to buy a pair of industrial strength ear mufflers here
.....and it looks like I've got it relatively quiet (thought no-one came to check the decibel rating of the clockwork timer on the central heating, I suspect there might have been a purple splodge on the map if they had!) Check out whether it's time to buy a pair of industrial strength ear mufflers hereTuesday, May 20, 2008
HereVintage Sci-Fi
It's 50's Sci-Fi for me tonight.....44 episodes of "X minus 1" available for download at RadioLovers....and this Flickr slideset sort of fits the mood....
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Durham Miners
"From Lead in the West to Coal in the East, the Durham Miner Project is a record of County Durham’s mining history." Well worth a click
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Niche market
"I like the ampersand. I think it is often the most attractive punctuation mark of them all. This blog is an attempt to give this humble character the respect it deserves.".....a noble ambition!Visit The Ampersand
Friday, May 16, 2008
Dark places
"Created by French photographer, William Belle, the game features photographs of various abandoned and ramshackled locales, mostly hospitals and factories."....a creepy point-and-click adventure game created using a combination of Flash and a series of HTML pages. Found at JayisGamesLink to NFH Propaganda
Tomorrow's tea is "Whitley Goose"
No picture....haven't made it yet!
450ml (¾ pint) Single Cream
110g (4oz) Cheddar Cheese, grated
4 Onions, whole, peeled
Butter
Black pepper
Pre-heat oven to 200°C; 400°F: Gas 6. Place the onions in a saucepan, cover with lightly salted water. Bring to the boil, simmer for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Remove from the heat. Roughly chop the onions, mix with half the cheese, season to taste. Butter an ovenproof dish, add the cream. Add the onion mixture, stir gently. Top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with crusty bread.
......and as you can see from the ingredients list, not the slightest hint of anything feathery. Something very similar to this was a 'regular' on the family menu in my youth....Ma insists that it was called "Welsh Rarebit", I tend more towards the more prosaic "Cheese and Onion Pie" No matter, it was very tasty.....hope this recipe lives up to expectations!
450ml (¾ pint) Single Cream
110g (4oz) Cheddar Cheese, grated
4 Onions, whole, peeled
Butter
Black pepper
Pre-heat oven to 200°C; 400°F: Gas 6. Place the onions in a saucepan, cover with lightly salted water. Bring to the boil, simmer for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Remove from the heat. Roughly chop the onions, mix with half the cheese, season to taste. Butter an ovenproof dish, add the cream. Add the onion mixture, stir gently. Top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with crusty bread.
......and as you can see from the ingredients list, not the slightest hint of anything feathery. Something very similar to this was a 'regular' on the family menu in my youth....Ma insists that it was called "Welsh Rarebit", I tend more towards the more prosaic "Cheese and Onion Pie" No matter, it was very tasty.....hope this recipe lives up to expectations!
Packing light
This one's for Anne and John who are off to the far east on holiday in a couple of weeks....don't suppose they'll take any notice though!Link to OneBag
Science videos search engine
"every science video on ScienceHack is screened by a scientist to verify its accuracy and quality"
Search ScienceHack
Haven't got time to read that now.....
....but monkiri could be the answer. Someone asked me where I got ideas for posts a while back, and until early this week it involved keeping an open email to me-at-home while I was at work, then copying and pasting possible links to content until hometime as and when I came across them. monkiri allows you (after registering and downloading a 'button' for your Internet Explorer or Firefox toolbar) to 'snap' an area of the screen and quickly add a title that automatically posts to your monkiri blog along with the address of the source page and any text you feel inclined to include....you can have as many as you like, so great for research purposes. It doesn't seem to have a huge take-up so far (as of today I was top of the list of posters with 30!) Check out the story so far here (I'm treating it as a sort of visual sieve for content....and it's a lot better than a load of individual daily emails cluttering my inbox!) I've used a rather retro, minimalistic template that sits comfortably with my geeky work persona.....there's other, more visually attractive templates available!Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Sea-slug porn
.....wonder if there'll be a steep incline in the viewing figures because of the inclusion of the 'P' word in the post title! Click here to link to the Nudibranch photo gallery at National Geographic. Goodness....doesn't HE look grumpy!Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Time Lapse
Cinco De Mayo Carnival from Andrew Curtis on Vimeo.
If you like it, view the HD version here along with more details
You shouldn't laugh....
.....because Wing, who could just possibly be the worst professional singer in the world, obviously makes a living out of this sort of thing. According to her website she's already released her 14th cd, and if you "Buy any full price CD (US$14) and pay just $3 more - a total of US $17, Wing will sing live just for you over the telephone. (You can have Wing sing to a friend instead if you wish).".....Oh, how I wish I'd known that before Brian's birthday last weekend, because he sure as hell wouldn't have got that boring bottle of aftershave!!
The Art of Propaganda
....and we all do it! Check out Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages, there's an impressive series of galleries if you scroll down to the bottom of the page.And for the capitalist version.....go to diggerhistory
Funny, there's often a striking similarity in the imagery!
Worldwide Telescope
Microsoft Research have launched a public beta of the Worldwide Telescope....it's a bit like Google Earth for the night sky. Click here to go to the homepage and download the application. Broadband recommended.Previously posted Google Sky
Monday, May 12, 2008
Currently listening to.....
....John Peel's final 'Perfumed Garden' broadcast on (pirate) Radio London, 1967. It's a five and a half hour time capsule of the music of the day and, confession, I downloaded it via Pirate Bay (no doubt illegally, but then so was Radio London at the time, so somehow it felt a perfectly fair and reasonable thing to do!) The best of both worlds, you get the authentic, crackly, inter-track, deadpan chat and vintage ads but with remastered music tracks.....it could be a late night!More vintage Peel goodness can be found at
Oh, and don't miss the BBC tribute site where you can hear more about the joys of pet sniffing or watch (a rather blurry, low-res) "Home Truths, The Movie"
Nation on film
Lots of local (short) vintage film clips from the North East and Cumbria here. Enjoy (?) a Fenwicks fashion show from the 60's or check out the Quayside market in the 50's.....magic! Link to the BBC Nation on Film homepage
Design your own font
Why not get creative? fontstruct is a free, online, modular toolkit that allows you to build your own downloadable truetype font.....or you can just be lazy and download one that someone prepared earlier! Requires registration.
Phun
I was reminded of this free, educational (learn Physics in a fun way) download today over at LifeHacker.....I meant to post about it ages ago. The video above shows Phun in action and you can download the programme here
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
SiteLines
"SiteLines allows you to find out about the archaeology on your doorstep and see what life was like in Tyne & Wear 100, 1,000 or even 3,000 years ago. There are currently over 10,000 records available of archaeological sites and finds ranging from prehistoric rock art to World War II pillboxes, Listed Buildings to burial mounds."Visit the SiteLines website
Timewaster for the taste buds
I suspect I'll become a regular visitor at TasteSpotting.....who can resist (because I know I can't!) gallery after gallery of pictures of delicious food? Find something you like the look of and click on the picture to link to the recipe.....couldn't be simpler.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Friday night...brain dead....cartoon clip!
Today was the last day of the uni teaching year (exams start on Monday) and chaos reigned....as it had all week come to think of it. Betty Boop sort of fits the bill!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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