Underblog.co.uk

On the other side of the world there is an island. There are many islands, of course, but I have a particular island in mind. Like other islands in the area, it is formed from ancient coral that was raised up above sea level back in the mists of geological time by some massive techtonic force. On the island, there’s a steep hill. Actually, there are many hills, but I’m thinking of one specific hill. Now, this hill is deep into the rainforest that covers a large proportion of the island: a dark green blanket that smooths out the sharp edges of broken coral and weathered limestone. For the moment I’m only interested in one tree of the thousands that cover the hill: the tree at the summit, into which someone has scratched some words in the local language. They read:

Do not try to think like a man of action; Rather, act like a man of thought.

The view is beautiful.

I’m going away to see some mates for a couple of days, so in addition to the previous post, I thought I’d leave a couple of links to keep underblog addicts (sufferers: zero) occupied.

Firstly, I’d like to draw attention to the highly amusing Black People Love Us website.

Secondly, Tim Ireland, creator of Bloggerheads and co-orchestrator of The Big Intervention, has had enough and is giving up activism indefinitly. His parting shot is a good example of the great stuff that we’ll be missing out on from now on.

I’m not sure why I like the word Wrongheaded so much. I guess it’s partly because it sounds so arrogant and condescending: It doesn’t just mean that you think the person in question is wrong about something, it suggests that their whole outlook is based on some silly error, or that there is some kind of fundamental defect in their thought process. Obviously, this is quite a — ahem — bad-ass cuss. It’s a shame then that the word only seems to be used by politicians, activists, scientists, strategists and people like that. I think that the normal man on the street should add this insult to their vocabulary. How much more offended would you be if a moody teenager called you a “wronghead” instead of a dick-head?

There is also something comically surreal about the concept of wrongheadedness. To call someone’s ideas or opinions incorrect is one thing; To say that their whole head is just plain wrong is quite another. It makes it sound as if God was momentarily distracted and put a coconut on top of their neck by mistake.

This reminds me of some important but unrelated advice. If you ever need to ask an Indonesian to chop a coconut for you, you would do well to note the following vocabulary:

Kalapa : Coconut

Kepala : Head

You have been warned!

Today, Scaled Composites plans to launch SpaceShipOne from Mojave Airport in California. If succesful, it will be the first ever private manned space flight. The crew of three will have to reach an altitude of 62 miles (100 km, which is where space officially begins) and then repeat the feat within two weeks with the same ship to win the X Prize, which is worth $10 million. The ship will not orbit the earth: the lowest practical altitude for earth orbit is about 100 miles.

If I’ve done my maths right, take-off is planned for 14.30 British Summer Time (6.30 am PDT).

UPDATE — SpaceShipOne completed its flight successfully, touching down at Mojave at 08.15 PDT. The team will try for the X prize at a later date.

Don’t ask me what this post’s title means; I just thought it sounded clever.

I’ve been getting off my metaphorical arse over the past couple of days, doing what I can to support The Big Intervention, whilst sitting on my literal arse in front of the computer. I’ve spammed my whole address book, written to my MP, and asked the rich and famous (Rory Bremner, Mark Thomas and Thom Yorke of Radiohead) for statements of support. Nobody’s replied yet, so in the meantime I thought I’d explain why I think Blair should step down…

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According to a stranger that Glen Whitman met in a bar, there’s only Two Things you need to know about any subject, from which you can derive anything important about it that you need to know.

• World Conquest: 1. Divide and Conquer 2. Never invade Russia in the winter.
• Physics: 1. Energy is conserved 2. Photons (and everything else) behave like both waves and particles.
• Women: 1. When complaining, they don’t want your advice, they want your sympathy 2. Don’t you dare tell them you can sum them up with just Two Things.
• Binary Systems: One: 0 Two: 1

The two things you need to know to understand my mindset are:
1. Never do today what can be postponed until tomorrow.
2. Never do today what must be done today.

Via linkmachinego