h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I just sat and watched the Cameronian speech containing a potted history of politics in the UK over the last 50 years.

Pretty interesting, I expect some of the wilder claims to be eviscerated in the Commons / PMQ's / Newsnight/ Question Time etc.

but strategically this is fun stuff - to hear the Tories tell Labour they have been doign nothing for the last 8 years other than fulfilling The Thatcherite Vision. I can hear Dennis Skinner spitting blood as I type...

A survivor of the roof disaster in Poland says the pigeons knew it was going to happen. The birds kept looking up at the roof and making lots of warning noises. The man is called Lutz Prime and he is the president of the Austrian Pigeon Fanciers.

A genius marketing ploy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4665254.stm

"Former Doctor Who actor Tom Baker is to be the voice of a talking text message service for three months.
He replaces BT's computerised voice which currently translates texts into voice messages on a landline."

"BT says there are no barriers to what Baker's voice can say - including rude words. "

Let the contest begin: the person who sends the first full script of a Dr Who episode via a text message and records it from the telephone when spoken by Baker wins a packet of jelly babies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4668868.stm

Oh dear the Labour whips got that on wrong didn't they. Poor Tony - losing by one vote ...

Mass pillow fight breaks out in San Francisco

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/14/BAGIAH8L5D5.DTL

man, i wish i'd been there

Poms ban new advertising campaign by Australian Tourism Commission. The word 'Bloody' is not to appear on British TV as the sensitive English viewer may well take offence....


Tourism Minister Fran Bailey heads to Britain today to seek a reversal of the ban on Australia's latest advertising campaign.
The $80 million campaign features the theme: "So where the bloody hell are you?"

Britain's Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre has told Tourism Australia to edit out the word "bloody", but Ms Bailey is standing by the campaign.

"I will take the message to the British regulator that our ad is cheeky, friendly and very Australian," Ms Bailey said in a statement.

"I find it laughable that any advertising regulator could find the campaign anything but friendly - perhaps they need a restful holiday Down Under."

Ms Bailey said she was seeking a meeting with the British minister responsible for the advertising regulator, Tessa Jowell.

"I will ask the minister to watch the ad herself, to see the beautiful images mixed with a cheeky message, and ask her to review the decision of the regulator," she said.

While the campaign has been banned from commercial television, it will run in cinemas, newspapers and on the internet.

It is due to be launched officially in Britain on Monday.

Thought you might enjoy this. Every Pom down here reckons its a hoot! Can't buy that kind of Advertising.

http://english.sina.com/technology/p/1/2006/0310/68782.html
A rodent discovered last year in Laos ...called Laonastes aenigmamus, was interpreted as the sole member of a new family, Laonastidae...But now, a team of U.S., French and Chinese researchers said it belongs to the family of Diatomyidae, an extinct early rodent that lived from early Oligocene to late Miocene in Asia.

Also, for anyone who has read the Dirk Gently books, does this ring a bell?

http://home.comcast.net/~emeraldsuspension/new_page_3.htm
"Playing the Market is a recent experimental music recording by Emerald Suspension. The project features audio compositions based on patterns found in the stock market and in economic data."

Try this one

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4748292.stm

Man forced to marry a goat

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/13/nbr13.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/03/13/ixnewstop.html

British Rail developed plans for nuclear powered flying saucers.

Oh dear - 'as far as we know they are still together'?!

Not a story, as such, but I did enjoy the Sun's headline today, 'Sue Bin Laden', only as it enabled me to drift off into the fantasy of Osama having a spouse called Susan...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4802928.stm

Beer on tap!

I saw that one this morning.

Why do other people have all the luck?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4801842.stm

Issac Hayes quits voicing the character "Chef" in South Park because of objection to episode mocking Scientology with expert mercilessness.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4804334.stm

Judge for yourself:

http://www.scientomogy.com/southpark_scientology.php

3rd posting for this story!

But excellent second link there!

Just signed the petition on the page as well. I had forgotten about this site.

Posted elsewhere? Who beat me to it?

Just watched the episode. Compared with what has been said about the Bleeding Mary epsiode it was very innocuos. I think a few grains of truth hit home with old Isaac there. It IS a global scam.

I did enjoy the bit where they explained the basic story behind it: 75 miliion years ago some dudes put a load of bad dudes on Earth and the spirits wandered about until man appeared and htey enter our bodies ()Ooooo, Matron). Through out that section the caption : 'This is what Scientologists actually believe' was printed across the screen.

Superb stuff.

Yeah that bit was great.

I also liked the

"Tom Cruise won't come out of the closet"

"What is it Stan?"

"Tom Cruise is hiding in my closest and he won't come out."


repeat ad infinitum.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1762768.html?menu=

"astrologer (Russel Grant) pulled a hamstring, tore stomach muscles and sprained his wrist while training for the show's final"
"An insider said: "Russell was annoyed because he'd told fitness instructor, Sgt Harvey Walden, that he shouldn't take part because Mercury was retrograde."

Yeah, that's what caused the injuries, the position of a large lump of rock in space. Nothing to do with his personal fitness levels.

The death of seven horses in the first three days of the Cheltenham Festival is to be investigated by organisers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/4815804.stm

"While the death of any horse is very regrettable, there is no evidence to link them in any way" Edward Gillespie

Er, I think that forcing all these poor horses to jump over enormous fences is a pretty strong link actually.