Category Archives: amusements

amusements, memes, photography, pleasures, thoughts

Car Meme


Car Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. white and blue 68, 2. The Magic Flying Carpet, 3. Blue Heron Rayon Metallic (Blue Violet), 4. Supersonic Doubledek, 5. campus, early morning, snow, 6. frogish robot drives monster truck, 7. Tandem Flight into the Night, 8. tourist 4018, 9. IHC Hospital thru Main Rotor, 10. MGA through a river, 11. White Pegasus, 12. Spread your wings and fly away…

As I don’t drive (I never have and probably now never will) a slightly wacky, fantasy-esque, contribution this week. 🙂

The Questions & Answers:
1. What make or model was your first car? Pale blue Alfa Romeo Formula 1, circa 1960
2. What would be your dream vehicle? Magic carpet
3. What is your favorite color for a car? Metallic blue
4. What is your favorite speed to drive? Supersonic
5. Where is the stupidest place you’ve ever parked your car? In the village of War Drobe
6. Stick or Automatic? Robot-drive
7. What has been your favorite vehicle that you’ve owned? Tandem
8. How old were you when you got your drivers license? 4018
9. What is your favorite feature on a car/vehicle? Rotor blades
10. You’re going on a road trip – what vehicle would you rent if anything was available for you? MGA; and yes they did exist, quite some while before the much more famous MGB
11. Does your car have a name, if so what is it? Pegasus, unless you can think of a better name for a magic carpet!!
12. What one feature is a deal breaker in buying a car, ie: if the car doesn’t have it you won’t buy it? Wings; to go with the rotor-blades of course!

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

amusements, medical, science, sexuality, thoughts

Zen Mischievous Moments #143

Yet another timely contribution from the “Feedback” column in this week’s New Scientist …

Saddle saw

MOST surprising paper title of the week has to be “Cutting off the nose to save the penis”. This article, by Steven Schrader, Michael Breitenstein and Brian Lowe appears in the August issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine. What could it possibly be about? The online journal Physorg.com’s report on the article makes things a little clearer: “No-nose bicycle saddles improve penile sensation and erectile function in bicycling police officers.”

It transpires that the traditional bicycle saddle, with its protruding nose, can cause deleterious health effects such as erectile dysfunction and groin numbness. A study of 90 bicycling police officers before and after using noseless bicycle saddles for six months found “significant improvements in penile tactile sensation” and “significant increases in erectile function”. Irwin Goldstein, editor-in-chief of the journal, found the article so rousing that he wrote an accompanying editorial entitled “The A, B, C’s of The Journal of Sexual Medicine: Awareness, Bicycle Seats, and Choices”.

You wouldn’t believe it if you hadn’t read it here first.

amusements, beliefs, books, current affairs, memes, personal, pleasures, sexuality, thoughts

Finish this Sentence Meme

I stole this meme from Girl with a One-Track Mind and Troubled Diva because I liked it’s zen mischief potential. My objective is just to complete each of the following sentences. Your objective is to work out which are serious and which aren’t.

  1. My uncle once: sailed the ocean blue
  2. Never in my life: have I taken illegal drugs
  3. When I was five: I looked like Prince Charles
  4. High school was: much better than I realised at the time
  5. I will never forget: and that isn’t the only resemblance I have to an elephant
  6. Once I met: a man in a kilt
  7. There’s this girl I know: who is unattainable
  8. Once, at a bar: I met a Colonel with a dog
  9. By noon, I’m usually: in need of lunch
  10. Last night: I didn’t have sex on the beach
  11. If only I had: the power and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen
  12. Next time I go to church: I’ll be taking photographs
  13. What worries me most: is politicians
  14. When I turn my head left I see: something sinister
  15. When I turn my head right I see: a right tit
  16. You know I’m lying when: I keep quiet
  17. What I miss most about the Eighties is: not very much
  18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be: a lion whelping in the street (Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene ii)
  19. By this time next year: I might be retired
  20. A better name for me would be: Zanzibar
  21. I have a hard time understanding: why people need religion
  22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll: be in a time machine (’cos neither of my schools exists any more)
  23. You know I like you if: I kiss you
  24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be: grateful
  25. Take my advice, never: admit that you know
  26. My ideal breakfast is: a full English
  27. A song I love but do not have is: a John Mayall mouth-music track from the ’60s that I can’t now identify or find
  28. If you visit my hometown, I suggest you: search out its history
  29. Why won’t people: think
  30. If you spend a night at my house: you’ll be solicited by a pussy (or two)
  31. I’d stop my wedding for: a KitKat
  32. The world could do without: religion and politicians
  33. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: do a bungee jump
  34. My favourite blonde is: Michaela Strachan
  35. Paper clips are more useful than: a grapefruit and Marmite sandwich
  36. If I do anything well it’s: only to lull you into a false sense of security
  37. I can’t help but: be a perfectionist
  38. I usually cry: inwardly
  39. My advice to my child/nephew/niece: if it harm none, do as you will
  40. And by the way: there’s always toast at the end of the dragon

I’m not tagging anyone for this, but feel free to borrow (or steal) it if you like it. If you do use it, it would be nice if you left a comment here.

amusements, memes, quotes, science, topographical

Zen Mischievous Moments #142

Connioseurs of 1970s UK police soap operas will remember the refrain “Let’s be ’avin’ you” when an arrest was about to be made. Our attention has been drawn to an example not of nominative determinism, but of locational determinism – the existence of a police facility on Letsby Avenue in the Yorkshire town of Sheffield (it’s right next to Sheffiled City Ariport). Sadly there is as yet no news of an “Onyer Way” or “Evenin Hall” in the vicinity.

[HT Feedback @ New Scientist]

amusements, medical, memes, personal, photography, pleasures, science, thoughts

Getting to Know You Meme

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Getting to Know You Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. A perfect weekend watching Tom & Jerry on tv and laughing…, 2. Amur Leopard, 3. A TRIBUTE TO A DEAR FRIEND. (KILKENNY, IRELAND), 4. Untitled, 5. ₪ Rhizomatic in-between typewriter ₪, 6. “Timemachines”, 7. 14th August 2007 / Day 226, 8. The cake i Made for my mother’s birthday, 9. Embracing the sun … {}, 10. day 151 Caught with crabs in my merkin! , 11. Walking in the rain 1_2499, 12. Smiles of Tibet in Exile

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste the html into your blog or Flickr stream (the easiest way is to copy the URLs and then head over to the fd’s flickr toys link above and use the mosaic maker).

The Questions & Answers:
1. What makes you laugh? Cats
2. What makes you cry? Animal suffering
3. Who is the one person you trust the most in the world? My Mother
4. Who broke your heart? Jill (no, not you Mistress Weekes; long before that!)
5. Where was your first kiss? I really don’t remember
6. What body part do you love most (your body)? My mind
7. What body part do you love least (your body)? My fat
8. What candy fits your personality? Coffee creme chocolate
9. What color would you paint your room if you could pick any color? Magnolia
10. A word that makes you laugh? Merkin
11. What emotion do you express most often? Depression
12. Who inspires you? The Dalai Lama

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys. for the Flickr My Meme group.

amusements, arts, beliefs, books, memes, nudism, thoughts, topographical

Friday Five: Wishes

OK so here, a bit late, is this week’s Friday Five …

1. Name one movie you wish everybody could watch.

  • None of them. I dislike movies and wouldn’t cry if they sunk without trace. Doesn’t mean other people shouldn’t watch them, just don’t expect me to or to share your enthusiasm.

2. Name two books you wish everybody could read.

  • Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time. Well it’s one novel in 12 volumes, so I’ll count it as one. Read it if only as a social history of England from 1914 to 1970. Oh come on, you expected me to say that, didn’t you?
  • Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (by which I mean the two works Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass). Read them and think about the logical conundrums presented; now apply them and change the way you look at the world!

3. Name three goals you wish everybody could achieve.

  • True inner peace and happiness.
  • Reconciliation and friendship with their parents.
  • To always treat others as you would like to be treated yourself (it’s part of what the Dalai Lama calls “compassion”).

4. Name four people you wish everybody could know.
I am going to assume the people don’t have to be alive now, but could come from any era. So I’ll nominate:

  • Richard Feynman; for his logic, his insights, his humour and his determination to overcome obstacles.
  • Galileo Galilei; a profound scientist who wasn’t afraid of standing up and being counted.
  • Leonardo da Vinci; another way out mind as well as a superb artist.
  • The present Dalai Lama; for his profound thinking, his happiness and his compassion.

That was hard! Four people I wish I knew would be easy, but to translate that into something for everyone is much, much harder.

5. Name five places you wish everybody could visit.

  • Rural England
  • Japan
  • A nudist community; to see just how it isn’t like everyone seems to think it is and to experience the freedom of life without clothes.
  • A small town in medieval England (or Europe at least) to see just what life really was like 600+ years ago and how far we have come.
  • Their special place. I believe we all have at least one place which is special and energises us (just as we have people who do this for us). It may be a town somewhere, or a country, or just a building (I know Stonehenge does it for some people, though not for me). Finding it is a whole different matter though.

[Brought to you courtesy of Friday Five.]

amusements, current affairs, memes, quotes, science, topographical

Zen Mischievous Moments #141

The “Feedback” column this week’s New Scientist contains this item …

Thanks to Terence Dunmore for alerting us to a report in the 11 June issue of Professional Engineering about the UK’s new Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations (WEEE regulations). It warns readers: “If you are a producer of WEEE, you must make sure it is disposed of in an environmentally sound manner, including the treatment, reuse, recovery and recycling of components where appropriate.”
Dunmore is puzzled. “Isn’t the local sewage department already doing just that?” he asks.

amusements, beliefs, science, thoughts

Zen Mischievous Moments #140

The following is from the Feedback column of the current issue of New Scientist …

The $500 cable

EAGLE-EYED readers have pointed us to an intriguing offer. The US website for Japanese electronics giant Denon is inviting consumers to pay $499 for what appears to be a 1.5-metre network cable of the type that usually costs only a few dollars. So what’s so special about Denon’s AK-DL1 patch cord?

According to Denon’s website it has “woven jacketing to reduce vibration” and the cable structure is “designed to thoroughly eliminate adverse effects from vibration”. In addition, “signal directional markings are provided for optimum signal transfer”. Plus, the AK-DL1 is made from “high purity copper” which “will bring out all the nuances in digital audio reproduction”.

As puzzled as our readers, we emailed Denon via the website to ask for an explanation of what causes vibration in a network cable, what the adverse effects are, why signal directional markings optimise signal transfer, and how high-purity copper wire brings out the nuances of a digital signal.

Within minutes an email winged back that failed to answer any of our questions. Although the AK-DL1 may look like an ordinary ethernet cable, it told us, “the similarities end there… the cable is designed in such a way that vibration is all but eliminated so that sound being passed is as pure as possible… That being said, this cable is not going to provide you with much of a difference unless used with top of the line equipment across the board.”

Denon helpfully gives some examples of such equipment, including a DVD player that costs $3800 and an amplifier costing $7000. So all we have to do to check Denon’s claims for the $500 cable is pay $10,800 for something to plug it into. Isn’t that nice?

Shortly after this exchange with Denon, we came across an item on the BoingBoing gadget site at www.cablereviews.notlong.com. It quotes “brilliant” reviews of the Denon cable from what BoingBoing describes as “perhaps the best Amazon [reader] reviews page of all time”. Our favourite is this: “A caution to people buying these: if you do not follow the ‘directional markings’ on the cables, your music will play backwards.”

amusements, current affairs, thoughts, topographical

Great British Duck Race 2008

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Sponsor a duck and raise money for charity – that’s what the Great British Duck Race 2008 is asking us to do. It’s British, it’s wacky, it raises money for all sorts of charities and it might get in the Guinness Book of Records.

In 2007 GBDR smashed Singapore’s world record by racing 165,000 yellow plastic ducks down the River Thames and in the process raised over £100,000 UK charities.

This year the aim is to go even bigger and better by attempting to race a quarter of a million little yellow plastic ducks down the 1 kilometre race course. If successful this will break the record GBDR set last year.

When is it? Sunday 31 August.
Where is it? The ducks take to the water at Moseley Lock, near Hampton Court Palace.
Can I go and watch? Yes, absolutely you can. It looks like a fun family day out.

How much is it? It’s just £2 to adopt a duck and this includes a donation to GBDR’s three nominated charities. Added to which you can choose to make additional donations to any of over 500 participating charities. And there are 30 prizes for the winning ducks with a first prize of a “whopping” £10,000.

It’s just a shame the course isn’t the length of the Thames from Hampton Court to (say) Tower Bridge. Now that would be fun!

Adopt a duck now!
Only in England would we do anything quite so mad!