Underblog.co.uk

From an interview with the creators of Look Around You, an observant and surreal take-off of BBC schools science programming from the late 70s and early 80s:

If you had to think up a new name for the internet, what would it be?
The VS-200
The Kross-Kommunicator
The Tell-Me-More
The Intercontinental Conversational Forum (ICF)
The PN-200
Atlas Atlassonimus
Supertext
Man-To-Man
The JL-SX 200
The Know-It-All
‘Pelby’

Be sure to check out the video clips and periodic table, which includes elements such as Wood (Wd), Custard (Cd), Fools’ Gold (f Au) and Christmas (Xm). And please feel free to leave your internet name suggestions in the comments.

Politics is boring, right?

Wrong! Recently the Conservatives set up a website inviting people to make their political ads for them:

Want to see your film on national television? Want your poster idea on highstreet billboards?

Want to encourage people to vote tory? They can make it happen for you!

In response, Tim Ireland and Clive Summerfield made a funky flash movie. I had to watch it four times to work out what they were trying to say, but to be fair the site does issue a health warning: “trying to keep up with the text may break your brain”. Besides, it’s so cool I probably would have watched it four times anyway. I couldn’t decide which ad to use, so I’m going to show them all.

Today is St. Georges day, apparently. I don’t really feel the need for a day to celebrate being english, but I’m quite happy to have an excuse to get drunk.

Lunatic xenophobes like Richard Desmond might be surprised to learn that George is also the patron saint of Germany. His other responsibilities include Portugal, Lithuania, Malta, soldiers, skin diseases and syphilis. For more fascinating facts about him, visit The Guardian.

Among the fascinating artefacts currently missing from the National Museum of Baghdad are some 2200 year-old electric batteries according to the “Far out” column in the science supplement to yesterday’s Guardian.

The clay pot cells may have been used to electroplate objects with precious metals, to numb pain or even hidden inside metal statues of the gods to administer small electric shocks to the unrighteous.

May I draw your attention to this dialogue by Terry Bison:

“They’re made out of meat.”

“Meat?”

“Meat. They’re made out of meat.”

“Meat?”

“There’s no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through. They’re completely meat.”

Via Ben Hammersley’s Dangerous Precedent.

A couple of weeks ago a common cold bug took up residence in my chest. While it was there it produced some great hacking coughs. Under attack from my immune system (despite its weakness due to excessive alcohol consumption), the virus has since taken refuge in my nose and sinuses. I suspect, with the antibodies and white blood cells closing in, that its days there are numbered. It might manage to hang on in my ears for a few days, before being wiped out completely.

Whilst, given the choice, I wouldn’t volunteer for a cold infection, there is one positive aspect to it. I am talking, of course, of the satisfaction to be had in blowing ones nose. Wait! Let me explain. I’m not talking about just any old nose blow, but a really good one, you know? The kind after which an examination of your tissue reveals a handful of semi-solid gunk. I’m not certain what it is that is so satisfying about this. Perhaps it has something to do with the feeling of cool air once again being able to flow through your nostril. Also pleasing is knowledge that your body is now free of a glob of disgusting slime which had until that point been a burden to it - a sort of “better out than in” sentiment. Am I disgusting, as mother underblog insists, or are there others like me?

I was considering uploading a picture of one of my used tissues to illustrate my point, but I decided against it. For some reason, the sight of someone else’s mucus isn’t as nice as the sight of your own.