Twitter

My definition of twitter:

Basically Facebook status updates, but because you're not necessarily talking to people you know there is less pressure to make what you're typing socially relevant. Which results in either a) fascinating insights into people's minds or b) irrelevant crap. Normally the latter.

What's yours?

List of worries

• Love life
• Flat politics (apparently note-leaving is now a form of war declaration)
• Facebook etiquette
  
• Getting six hours sleep per night
• Eating three meals a day
  
• Washing up
• Food Poisoning
• Alcohol Poisoning
• Money
• The essay on French Rural Policy which I still haven't got back yet.
  
• The fact that my laptop frequently fails to accomplish relatively simple tasks, then has what can only be described as a digital existential crisis (e.g. Firefox crashes, you can't reload it because the process is still running, attempting to stop the process results in an error, the computer can't be shut off normally because it can't log off until all of the processes have been ended), then slowly grinds to a halt. Fucking PC World, with their shoddy Chinese imports branded with the Advent logo, which isn't even a computer company in the first place; it's owned completely by PC World.
  
• Global Warming
• Homeless people
• Third World Hunger
• Natural Disasters
• War
• The impending doom of the world economy.
• Where I'm going to buy obscure DVDs from when zavvi closes down, the ones that are too obscure even for HMV but I must, for some unknown reason, own.
• Where I'm supposed to go if I have a desperate need for Pic N' Mix now that Woolworths is gone.
• The evils of capitalism, and my contribution to the world-dominating goals of Tesco, Starbucks, Subway, HMV, Virgin, Wetherspoons, Coca Cola and Cadburys.
  
• Who I'm going to vote for come the next election.
  
• The unknown risks of caffeine addiction.
• Whether or not I'm going to hell.
• All the people I've lost touch with and shouldn't have.
  
• Whether I worry too much, or not enough.
  
• Whether the crazy man that lives in my head and has produced the majority of this blog post is going to one day take over.

This list isn't necessarily in order, by the way.

"I am writing to solicit your assistance in the noble transfer of US$9.300.000."...

Here's one way of dealing with spam emails:

And yes, I actually did send this!

I give you permission to donate my 30% to a charity of your choice.

Have a nice day.
----- Original Message -----
From: james Owusu
To: owusu_zzzjames_13@yahoo.co.uk
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 10:10 AM
Subject: REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE



From: The Manager,
International Commercial Bank (ICB).
Eastern Region Branch.
Email:james_owuszz1@yahoo.co.uk
Good day,

I got your contact during my search for a reliable,trust worthy and honest person to introduce this transfer project with. My name is Mr.James Owusu.

I am the manager of International Commercial Bank Eastern Region Branch, Ghana.

I am a Ghanaian married with two kids.

I am writing to solicit your assistance in the noble transfer of US$9.300.000. This fund is the excess of what my branch in which I am the manager made as profit during the last two years transactions. I have already submitted an approved End of the last two Years report for the year 2006 to my Head Office here in Accra-Ghana and they will never know of this Excess.

I have since then, placed this amount of US$9.300.000.00 (Nine Million, three hundred thousand United States Dollars) on a SUSPENSE ACCOUNT without abeneficiary.
As an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to this money thus I am impelled to request for your assistance toreceive this money into your bank account. I intend to part 30% of this fund to you while 70% shall be for me. I do need to stress that there are practically no risk involved in this. It is going to be abank-to-bank transfer to your nominated bank account anywhere you feel safer.

All I need from you is to stand as the original depositor of this fund. and contact by this email id:(Email:james_owuszz1@yahoo.co.uk)

I will appreciate your timely response.

With regards,
James Owusu


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Now playing: Charlatans - Love Is The Key
via FoxyTunes

Gulp...

It's scary how "accurate" adverts can be these days.

Yes, I know it's just an automated script, but isn't it slightly eerie how, upon translating a word vaguely related to religion, you are presented with a company attempting to figuratively buy your heart?

To be fair, it's a well placed ad; if you're spending your free time talking in French about religion on the internet (which I wasn't, I was writing an essay about Monsieur Sarkozy et sa nouvelle femme), then perhaps it is time for you to find yourself a partner of similar beliefs!

Nonetheless, things like this push us ever-so-closer to that scene in Futurama where Fry gets adverts broadcasted into his dreams. Now that would be scary.

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Now playing: Yan Pascal Tortelier: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra - Peter And The Wolf - I. Introduction
via FoxyTunes

Richmond Council targets 4x4-driving-mums - good for them!

I read with interest an articlein The Independent, reporting on Richmond Borough council's plans to start charging parents up to £75 to park outside their local school. I quote:

A pilot project in the London borough of Richmond upon Thames starts in September, affecting 13 schools, and the Local Government Association says similar schemes are likely to be extended across the country.

In Richmond, where the plans have already drawn fire from families and motoring organisations, the permits will allow parents to park in bays near the school for 15 minutes.

The price will be linked to the car's carbon dioxide emissions - drivers of small, low-polluting cars will get a free permit, but parents with people carriers or four-wheel drives will be charged the maximum £75.

Seems like a good plan to me; some parents these days think it is their right to buy a big Range Rover to get their little darlings safely off to school. There are a dozen of them parked outside my school every weekday afternoon. So I think the policy of charging owners of gas-guzzling cars make sense.

Obviously, parents and motoring organisations have attempted to fight back against this new policy. But their arguments are rather weak. This quote in particular made me laugh:

Paul Watters, the AA's head of public affairs, told the paper: "People carriers may be in the higher carbon dioxide bands, but they are very efficient at getting kids to school, considering many are seven-seaters. It might be a better idea to remove the many smaller cars that clog the streets up."

Well yes. But who has 6 children? Since the sitcom 2point4 children, the average number of children per family has decreased to about 1.6, yet the number of parents driving their children to school in ridiculously big cars has noticeably increased. Doesn't make much sense to me. Now, if two or more families choose to share lifts, that's fine, but in those cases the cost of the permit would be shared, right? Furthermore, isn't it the point of buses, not people carriers, to remove cars from the road?

Once again, well done Richmond, for leading the way in discouraging parents from buying ridiculously big 4x4s. I commend you. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to drive my 50 mpg car to lifeguards, picking my friend up on the way. Every little helps, as they say.

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Now playing: The Kooks - You Don't Love Me
via FoxyTunes

Time-Wasting Game Of The Week - Desktop Tower Defense

In our sixth form common room, there is a random room next door, containing, amongst other things, two computers for the purpose of looking at online university prospectuses and the UCAS website. Of course, give a bunch of 17-18 year olds access to the internet, in a room very rarely visited by teachers, and what do you get? Hours of time wasted on pointless web pursuits. Of course, there's Facebook, Myspace and the like (not YouTube; it's blocked), but much time is spent on games. There's the old classics of course, but every now and then a new game is discovered, and it launches a miniature craze among the room's regular visitors. This week is Desktop Tower Defense, where you build a load of heavily-armed towers for the purpose of stopping some odd-shaped monsters from getting from one end of the screen to the other. Apparently, it's a remake of an old game. Either way, it's ridiculously addictive; once you've got the hang of it, try the Fun > 10k Gold mode, build up a massive defense, then release a dozen waves of enemies at the same time. Absolute pandemonium ensues. However, no matter how well you think you've built your maze, eventually something will get through, normally a near-indestructable boss, or a weird triangular flying thing that isn't forced  to work it's way through the huge death maze you've just concocted. Once that happens, it's all downhill from there, and everything goes to pot surprisingly quickly.

What will we be playing next week? Who knows...







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Now playing: The Coral - Dreaming of You
via FoxyTunes

Partial Eclipse of the Moon - February 20/21, 2008

Taken from the NASA website:

A total eclipse of the Moon occurs during the night of Wednesday, February 20/21, 2008. The entire event is visible from South America and most of North America (on Feb. 20) as well as Western Europe, Africa, and western Asia (on Feb. 21). During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon's disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark gray.

An eclipse of the Moon can only take place at Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of Earth's shadow. The shadow is actually composed of two cone-shaped parts, one nested inside the other. The outer shadow or penumbra is a zone where Earth blocks some (but not all) of the Sun's rays. In contrast, the inner shadow or umbra is a region where Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon.

If only part of the Moon passes through the umbra, a partial eclipse is seen. However, if the entire Moon passes through the umbral shadow, then a total eclipse of the Moon occurs. For more information on how, what, why, where and when of lunar eclipses, see the special web page lunar eclipses for beginners.

Worth a look, methinks. I'll certainly be up at 3 AM, will you?

To find out when the eclipse will be viewable where you live, look at the page I linked to. You can also view the event listing on Facebook.

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Now playing: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Turn Into
via FoxyTunes