Animal Magnetism

I firmly believe that you can buy anything over the Internet, if only you know where to look. Those searching for straightforward things like cameras, iPods and computers probably need look no further than Amazon or Dabs.com. DVDs and CDs can often be found on CD Wow. For more obscure things, especially if you don't mind second-hand, I suspect eBay is the place, although I've never actually searched the site, believe it or not. However, if I ever have the sudden urge to try and source a rarity like, say, fluff from Elvis Presley's natal cleft (look it up), eBay is probably where I would start (after a Google search, of course). On the dodgier side, I'm sure if you know where to look, tissue type-matched kidneys are out there somewhere!

Specialty sites are a boon to those with strange interests: take United Nuclear for example (Supplier of the Most Powerful Magnets on Earth). The warnings on the site make ownership of neodymium magnets look as exciting and potentially hazardous as ice climbing or bungee jumping. The question that occurs to me, though, is "Who buys these things?". Having said that, the supermagnets do sound like fun, if somewhat pricey. They can apparently affect every computer in a room, and may cause loose magnetic objects in the room to fly towards them: just like in the cartoons! Handling 2 supermagnets at one time sounds like a job for, well, Superman!

I've got a birthday coming up next month, so if I come out some morning and find the postman pinned between a parcel and my car I'll know that Wosog has been reading the blog again!

That Kloskowski Beat?

I'm sure most of you never look at the carefully crafted sidebar attached to this blog. You're too intent on find out what subject that demented Scottish bloke is ranting on about today. Well, a few of you may have spotted the insight into my catholic musical tastes that the little Last.fm thingy gives.

This clever little device spies on my iTunes and gives you my latest "top ten". Favourites this week include Joni Mitchell, The Killers, Beyonce, and---at number four--Kloskowski. "Who?" you say. "Is this some obscure eastern European rock band?" Well no, it's actually none other than Matt Kloskowski who's a Photoshop guru and podcaster. I have heard he plays a mean ukulele too, though!

"Sorry" Seems To Be The Hardest Word....

It's so hard to say sorry sometimes isn't it? It can be difficult to find exactly the right combination of words to convey the sorrow that you feel. Never fear, the Web is here in the form of this excellent Apology Note Generator. That link is actually to the men's version, but don't worry girls there's one for you too.

I suspect this handy site has saved many a marriage. How could a wife's anger fail to crumble in the face of a note such as this:

Subject:"I truly apologize..."

Dear, Darlin',

I humbly ask for your forgiveness for neglecting to put my dishes in the dishwasher.
I was on my knees worshipping your shrine, and thought it could wait.

So I'm super tense, hoping you don't banish me to the couch for a month. Please let me live.
Forget about the money you owe me, and we'll call it even.


Love,
Your loving husband,

Sog.

What Would Albert Have Said?

My good Flickr friend in Canada, Cap'n Canuck, pointed me in the direction of this site where you can take this famous picture of Einstein and substitute the text of your choice.

I always thought Einstein was a lovely little guy, but if you look at some of the examples, he apparently wrote some really quite offensive things.

Bad Albert, Bad!

Blogger's Block

I know I've been a bad blogger recently: not posting nearly often enough. I'll try to perform better, but meantime here's a handy link via Bifurcated Rivets.

Joyful at Jongleurs

As part of my campaign to have a social life a tenth the size of Gdog's, I went with Wosog to Jongleurs Comedy Club in Glasgow last night. I booked the tickets over the internet, and I had no idea how big the club was inside, or where we would be sitting in relation to the stage. In fact we were quite some distance from the stage, but we could still see it reasonably well. The good sound system ensured that we could make out the comedians' jokes most of the time.

As with most of these things, the show seemed to take ages to get underway, but this gave Wosog and I, who were a bit older than three quarters of the audience, a chance to do some "people watching". It was fascinating to watch girls in their teens chain smoking, and consuming enough alcohol to render me semi-conscious, with no apparent effect on them!

The first guy up was Dominic Woodward. He got the show off to a good start, although from reviews such as this on the web he obviously tells a similar set of jokes every time (maybe they all do). Second on was Tony Hendriks, a Jamaican comedian who was really funny. A female Scottish comedian started up the second half. We were later told that she was usually a warm-up act, and she certainly seemed a bit inexperienced. The show finished with Paul Tonkinson, who Wosog had seen on tv before. He managed to control the audience most of the time, although he almost seemed to lose control when he strayed onto the subject of The Rangers v Celtic football match. We thought a minor riot was going to break out at that point!

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening. I think we'll both be back some time.

Happy Birthday Flickr

My favourite website bar none is two years old today. Many people were concerned that when Yahoo! took over the "magic" of Flickr would ebb away, but as far as I can see the site goes from strength to strength.

As well as providing a huge stimulus to my interest in photography, Flickr has allowed me to make contact with many interesting, like-minded people literally all over the planet. Even if you're not too interested in photography, it's well worth checking out.