Clarke Ching's Rocks and Snowballs

Windy Pops ...

Take a look at the 1 star review for this book (it's about what dinosaurs ate):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/1845076893/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_img?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

It made me smile.  In fact, I'm still smiling now. 

And now. 

And now.

My name is Prawo Jazdy, you killed my father, prepare to die!

This is one of the funniest true stories I've ever heard.

My wife, who is Irish, isn't so sure: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7899171.stm?lss

from the la times:

Homicide Report status

The map of homicides in Los Angeles County now contains all deaths reported by the coroner's office as homicides through Feb. 8. Many of the slayings on the map do not yet have corresponding posts in the blog. We're working to fill in the gaps. 

If you do not see a post on a particular homicide, please check back. We appreciate your patience.

For the most recent news on homicides in Los Angeles County while we work to complete the report, please visit L.A. Now's Homicide Report posts.

Coming soon: A new database format that will allow users to search by name, location, age, cause of death and more.

The map of homicides in Los Angeles County now contains all deaths reported by the coroner's office as homicides through Feb. 8. Many of the slayings on the map do not yet have corresponding posts in the blog. We're working to fill in the gaps. 

If you do not see a post on a particular homicide, please check back. We appreciate your patience.

For the most recent news on homicides in Los Angeles County while we work to complete the report, please visit L.A. Now's Homicide Report posts.

Coming soon: A new database format that will allow users to search by name, location, age, cause of death and more.

A question about America.

Okay, so I've never been to the US, but I have read loads of books - usually crime fiction - which were set there.

My question: Is it true that US newspapers and televisions almost always prominently show pictures of bad guys - people who are WANTED? According to my books they must be.

UK only: The Shield on channel 5 (5USA)

Series 7 of the sheild started LAST NIGHT on 5USA.  I missed it. 

Thankfully, it's shown again on the 20th at 00:50.  Set you personal video recorder NOW.

Ackoff video

http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2009/02/ackoffs-keynote-address-at-icstm-2004-conference.html

From 2004.  I've not watched them yet, but I suspect the sound is better than the last lot.

Goldratt video

http://www.plu.edu/~lutecast/2009-events/matter-choice.html

Fresh off the press / stage.

Microsoft Songsmith ...

http://timesonline.typepad.com/technology/2009/02/top-20-tracks-r.html

"If you’ve never heard of it, Songsmith is a program that can give an automatic musical accompaniment to any vocal track you give the computer. The basic aim is give the karaoke singer the chance to live out their dreams and become an all-round musician. It launched in America with an astonishing promotional video (see below).

But as a Microsoft spokesman said recently, Songsmith is being "used in ways we haven't quite imagined." People have been taking the vocals from hit songs and then adding Songsmith backing tracks to them. The results are funny, bizarre and sometimes disturbing."

Press play if you dare:

Proof that programmers have no sense of humour ... ?

I got bored so I asked a question on StackOverflow.com (an excellent resource, btw).

My question:

"They say that there's no such thing as a silly question, but I'm not so sure ... is this a silly question?"

It got closed down (and even marked as spam) in less than two minutes.  One of the comments was that the question was wasting their time.  They have a point, but (honestly) does someone who spends his Saturday afternoon constantly answering programming questions really have a shortage of time?  Don't they know that there's porn on the internet?

What Would Google Do?

I am 9 minutes away from finishing Jeff Jarvis's new (audio)book "What Would Google Do?". 

It's been an interesting listen, part-enlightenment, part-entertainment, part-fantasy.  That's all I'm going to say about it because this review, from Forbes, expresses my thoughts much better than I could.