I was a little miffed at hearing of a recent paydeal. The Daily Mash sums it up quite nicely. The mash could very well be my new favouritest site on the web. Oh and have this too!
This post contains no Youtubeness.

For the last decade I've been ranting to people about how our vocabulary is going to pot. Business-speak has slowly been encroaching into everyday speech. The BBC are just waking up to it and have published a rather good list of the most annoying: 50 office-speak phrases you love to hate. I'd dedicate a blog to it if I was incentivised enough to do a positive feedback that puts us all on the same page! It goes without saying that I hear this sort of wibble from people around me on a daily basis.

A rather good video showing old bits of redundant hardware doing their best to play a reworking of Radioheads' "Nude". Takes a little while to get going but well worth it. I hope the student who made this gets top course marks for this.

Big Ideas (don't get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.
Apologies for adding yet another video to this blog!

A long time ago I registered with 192.com at the time it was an innovative way of getting free directory enquiries back when BT had a stranglehold on the phone service. I quickly abandoned 192 once it gave up its free stance and started charging. Fair enough, it has to raise money somehow. Anyway, I remained on their newsletter database having never got around to removing myself. The last few letters I've had have raised my hackles. It seems that their emphasis is now on the business marketeer industry and as such they are advertising their abilities to datamine the electoral role.
Now I know its getting harder to remain private in this modern world but when you've got companies that readily provide your personal info you begin to wonder where it will all stop.
Excuse me while I adjust the tinfoil.
Anyway, I long ago registered my details with the TPS and MPS, services which provide protection from overzealous direct marketing companies. This has stopped an awful lot of the sales calls and mail that I receive. However I hate the idea of companies (or individuals) being able to invisibly collect stats and data from my decision to register for the right to vote. I now mark my electoral role registration to remain off the commercial list - however before I got all paranoid I didn't mark my form as such.
So now I find that 192 are able to sell my data! The only way to stop this is to use the form on their Help and Support page. But now I'm wondering just how many other companies are able to sell on this info and how many cancellation requests I would have to send out to stop it. Gah, why do I feel like I'm trying to stick my finger in a leaky dyke?
I think I need to check out the governments information commission site but its not loading at the moment.

The BBC has just posted this news item that the Premier league is considering extending the season by 10 extra games. These games would be played at a variety of overseas venues. How mental is that?
I originally read this as being ten extra games for each team but what it actually equates to is that teams play 39 matches a season instead of 38. The proposal is that the top teams avoid each other and a lottery is made of the remaining teams to see who plays who. What happens if the top team draws a match against the bottom team? How unfair would that be? Not just to the teams involved but to their rivals?

Someone has recreated The Battle of Pelennor Fields from "Lord of the Rings" using Gummy Bears and Liquorice Allsorts! Fantastic.

Outstanding!

Played in a very wrong key. Please note her amusing use of the trumpet as a laser gun in her "dance routine". Pffft!

Ah, the power of the internet. I love that you can read about happenings all over the world and then caste judgement over them. The story that I'm linking to is a great escape from the jaws of a shark. Whilst I'm pleased to hear that the victim managed to evade a spiky end, I'm a bit ROFL about the way its been reported. For instance I love the fact that the people in the water had discussed previously what to do should they ever be shark attacked.

"We've talked about it a lot, " Glen said. "The policy is if it goes for you, then you go for it."

Did they happen to discuss this in a boardroom? Policy? Fek that. I hate the way business speak is invading every day speech. The bonus to this piece of journalistic delight is the final quote.

Freakonomics has an interesting post about trying to marry into money. If the lady looking for rich love interest is for real then you have to admire her honesty. Then you realise that she's a divorce waiting to happen and all her potential suitors probably can smell that a mile off. I think she might need to go back to the drawing board and get hitched to a plumber, after all they're all minting it these days ;)

Brazilian keeper Dida shows just how pathetic some players in football can be...

Don't get me wrong - I love football. I just hate divers! Here's another of Brazil's finest...

I love the humility in the first sentence of Cory's latest post... I, Robot in Romanian. The collective egos of the contributors on BB keep inflating. Yes, that's you too Xeni! See if you can spot any chest-expanding self congratulation in this post (Cory even refers to himself in the third person in the title).

Just watching Undercover Mum on ITV (which is a bit of a shock). Interestingly, they are showing footage of an investigation they made of the beef sold in the local Bath Wetherspoons. Apparently (and allegedly, for you legal beagles) they are selling something slightly more exotic than the customers might think. There is less Mooo for your GBP and more Zebu. Zebu is a tropical version of cattle whose meat isn't quite as palatable as domestic british beef. So what this pub chain is doing is selling interbred cattle products to the masses without disclosing its origins. I wonder how many other chains are doing this?

The world has officially imploded! HMV have bought out Fopp, retaining only six of its stores in the UK. Hello to overpriced CDs and DVDs. Amazon and CDWow must be rejoicing at the news. And they wonder why there is a slump in sales.

There's an unbelievable picture of a billboard advert for Grimsby College here. A sign happens to get in the way of one of the letters and gives the ad a completely different message. Must be seen (unless you are offended by the c word).

According to Lieutenant Walter Haut's affadavit, released after his death, states that the Roswell aliens were real!

Not that I'm a regular reader of the Daily Mail, but this story caught my attention. Yes, you have to read through the Daily Mails usual outraged spin on the story, but what remains leaves you still shaking your head in disbelief. The fact that councils are so tied up bureaucracy today, that everyday people just going about a seemingly innocuous task get landed with a huge cleanup bill, is rather sad. Personally, I'd just shovel the sand back anyway. Or, if pressed, I'd hire a wind machine and blow it back. Failing that, get a flatbed truck piled with the sand, drive it round to your council representative and blow it onto their drive.

These days you can't even enjoy the sun in your own backyard without the whole world knowing. Dutch TV couldn't resist trying to track down the unfortunate sun worshipper.