That was weird. After I published the post about the Custard Factory it showed up in my RSS feed with a lot of strange characters in it. After a bit of fiddling I’d got rid of the characters but in the process my RSS feed got truncated. As any savvy internet type will tell you, sending out a short feed is bad etiquette (it did however boost my visitors by 8 times more than usual). After some fiddling and weeding out of the said strange characters I’m now back on the full RSS feed. Apologies if my messing about spammed your feedreader with repeat posts. Dave...

Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,Tears from the depth of some divine despairRise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,And thinking of the days that are no more.Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,That brings our friends up from the underworld,Sad as the last which reddens over oneThat sinks with all we love below the verge;So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawnsThe earliest pipe of half-awakened birdsTo dying ears, when unto dying eyesThe casement slowly grows a glimmering square;So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.Dear as remembered kisses after death,And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feignedOn lips that are for others; deep as love,Deep as first love, and wild with all...

Video of a very strange, but well done animation. The animation was done by Ivan Maximov. I love the color and overall look. They came up with some very strange and random things to do, but it flows very well. The animator's vision has been compared to the artistic style of Salvador...

Saturday night was a full moon which brought all the usual strange characters out in abundance one job consisted of two young couples off out for a nights moon bathing in the town. On the way into town they stopped at a supermarket cash machine to top up with money for the no doubt expensive night ahead. As the two lads waited in the queue for the busy cash dispenser the two lasses were having a strange conversation concerning one of the lads. The slightly bizarre conversation went like this: Lass1 "so do you really think that he is one of them then?” Lass2 "Well when we went down to Manchester shopping he kept looking in the window of that kind of shop, but I wouldn't let him go in.” Lass1 "Oh that's awful but what else makes you suspicious" Lass2 “Well I found some...

A strange item has recently been posted on the ken-finn blog. It asserts that on 28 August 2005, BBC TV on its 7pm news bulletin broadcast a story to the effect that the CIA had admitted planting the MST-13 circuit board fragment at the Lockerbie crash site. No trace of this story could subsequently be found on the BBC News website. Here is the current post from the blog; and here is the post from...

Did you catch the Radio 4 Torchwood special this afternoon?Torchwood go to Geneva where Martha Jones, ex-time traveller, is now working as a doctor for a UNIT task force at the world's biggest physics laboratory, CERN. Deep in an underground tunnel, a giant particle accelerator is about to be activated for the first time. But something strange is happening. Scientists are hearing voices and collapsing with a strange illness. Is something lurking in the underground tunnel? Do the dead ever really stay dead?If you missed it, for the next week, it can be legally downloaded here as a MP3...

I don't like cricket, oh no.Strange sentiments.Strange times, though, no?For the first time in my life I face the fact that I will never have to work again.Here I am, in a new place, able to re-invent myself and be whoever I want to be.Not, as the words of the song suggest, You'd better understand that you're alone A long way from home.For this is, now, my home. And I seem to be developing a new, and different, social life (more on that tomorrow).No, I haven't been sinkin' pina colada, but I think 10CC have it right when they say:I don't like cricket, oh no I love it...

DO you know how to spot is your child is in a gang? The Mirror hears Home Secretary  Jacqui Smith offers her tips, and notes: “Key indicators include…coming home late, using drugs, drawing tags on books, wearing bandanas, using strange slang or hand signals, cutting themselves off from the family and having extra cash.” Let’s consider the evidence: Coming Home Late: Alone, like Jacqui Smith. Accompanied, like Jacqui Smith. Taking Drugs Like Jacqui Smith. Tagging: Like Gordon Brown. But during a recent examination they noticed that the beautifully-carved government Dispatch Box was covered in strange black pen marks. At the next Prime Ministers Questions they stood watch, and caught the culprit in the act. As Gordon Brown gesticulated wildly with his black marker pen,...

I'm reading the origin of the family by engels and the book of the hopi.Engels has notified me of some strange things:Ancient Greece, a place we are supposed to look up to, their farmers were burdened by debt to the point they became fucked. Just like we are. We never learn do we?We get our domestic violence laws from ancient Rome. That a man or woman may beat their spouses and if they don't press charges nothing happens. It is a little different, in Rome a man could kill his wife and get away with it. But the theory remains the same, that family problems aren't anybody else's business.It should also be highlighted that the Romans ran their families like businesses. Which can be noted in the meaning of the word 'familia' which means 'how many servants a man owns.'It can also be seen in...

Welsh Blood They are the oddest race. There is a heaviness to the Welsh, despite their lightness of stature, a heaviness to their lightness, on account of the thing they bear. I have always been fey, a word I associate perhaps incorrectly with the Welsh blood in me. As I child, I used to worry of a night for my feyness, I used to worry what might happen to me. I find it hard to explain just what it means to be fey. Internet definitions (a hopelessly inaccurate source) say: "strange or eccentric" and "fated, bewitched, unlucky, one whose fate is known or prophesied" and "strange or otherworldly; spellbound, doomed to die." None of this is what I understand by "fey." For me, "fey" means an attachment to the spiritual world by way of place;...

Only in Sudan...would you have to dodge shotgun pellets on your evening jog. We were half way round Khartoum race course when the pick-up came racing up on the inside lane. A man was standing up in the back chatting to two veiled women sitting on the bottom of the truck. It was only when he got closer that we saw he was carrying a shiny grey pump-action shotgun. A flock of birds scattered as the truck braked hard. Then we saw what he was really aiming at - a pack of city dogs. They sprinted off and the pick-up followed in and out of the race course lanes, along the boundary wall, then back on to the track. Every so often he cracked off a shot that echoed back off the wall. Then the driver saw another pack and he was off after them again. It would have been different if it had been a...

Body-Mod: Elf EarsYes really, and there’s no denying that the effect is beautiful and strange. But really, would you really want to do that to yourself, really?John Oliver analyses Fox NewsTo an extent this is like shooting fish in a teacup, but Oliver does manage to land a few good shots including the material about the change in editorial policy depending upon who’s in the White House.Soapy ScenesJane Espenson visits a soap set. The actual production methods still seem...

After a 30 year gap, David Byrne and Brian Eno have announced details of a new album ‘Everything That Happens, Will Happen Today‘ and news of a tour in September. But that’s not all, they are also giving away one of the albums tracks here. According to Mr Byrne himself: For the most part, Brian did the music and I wrote some tunes, words and sang. It’s familiar but completely new as well. We’re pretty excited. The name of the new record is Everything That Happens Will Happen Today and the music will be available on this Web site on August 18th, free for streaming and available for purchase as both a download and in physical formats. I for one am looking forward to this release and even more so any live dates from Mr Byrne. David Byrne & Brian Eno -...

The party political broadcast is a strange beast at the best of times, and notoriously difficult to get right. In America, as I've noted before, they also carry a different sort of air — more personal, often more saccharine than we're used to in Britain. Most importantly of all, though, they have to convey a simple message, do so succinctly and not get over-complicated. Here's a good example: And here are two really, really bad examples:As Daniel Finkelstein has noted:The latest McCain video makes every mistake it is possible to make. First, it intercuts pictures of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton with Barack Obama. The ideas is to make Obama look small. Instead it makes McCain look small. The video shows that they don't get it. They are making a video that appeals to the people making...

There are things that I know, and things that I don't know. Of the things that I don't know I know what I have to do. Take them to hospital. Take for example the patient with an unusual underlying illness that I attended to. She was having some strange symptoms that weren't specifically connected to her normal condition. Whatever ailed her I wasn't able to do anything about, so I knew I had to take her to hospital. But which hospital? You see, if the symptoms were caused by her bleeding into her brain then I'd bypass the nearest hospital and take her to one with a neurological unit. If not, then the nearest hospital would be the best place for her. So you do a neurological assessment and make your decision. But that's not all. Back when I was an A&E; nurse, sitting...

Back in early July there was a Commons motions tabled that ended up with a vast array of signatures (68 in fact). The motion simply stated"That this House believes that the Register of Postcodes is a national public asset and should be freely available."As Puffbox noted at the time, it was mostly Labour MPs signing it, and he made reference to different campaigns to "free our data" and wondered if there was momentum for the campaign. Simon Dickson at Puffbox also then noticed strange things happening with the motionUPDATE: OK, strange things happening now. ‘The Status of this EDM is Suspended,’ according to the Parliament site. Anyone?UPDATE 2: Now showing as ‘withdrawn’. Curiouser and curiouser.I think I may have an answer which I considered writing at the time the EDM was live...

How many projects are you juggling? I have five on the go, at various stages of completion and possessing different degrees of urgency. fugue - my first completed novel is out on query with my third batch of five agents. Until their replies start coming back in this one is enjoying a lull. Quarter Square - the first book in my Wild Times urban fantasy series about an immortal, her reincarnated lover, and the werewolf who hunts them through time. I’m ploughing ahead with the first draft on this one, working from a detailed outline and writing fast to inject pace. Almost finished chapter 7 (of 10). Sudbucket - a collection of linked short stories set in a town filled with strange events and strange people discovering strange connections. I’m working on the first story and...

The Arena documentary The Strange Luck of V.S. Naipaul is available now via BBC iPlayer....

One of the things I love about going new places is those strange shops and other things you see that you wouldn't find anywhere else. The most intriguing place we saw on this holiday was a shop called The Puzzling Place in Kiswick. This shop is home to a number of puzzles of the wooden sculpture type, a gallery of holograms, a real life optical illusion, and the anti-gravity room.My favourite of the holograms was one called The Scream which I believe to be by Richmond Holographic Studios. As you pass by the hologram the image changes to one of the below, with the shards of glass jutting out at you.Pretty powerful stuff no?Then we have the optical illusion room:This is not photoshop work, this image is exactly as taken!Now here's the anti-gravity room, a room that's on a slant. Believe me...

And so we come to that time in the rural calendar when a man looks at his sheep flock and begins to wonder. After all, ‘there is no finer sight in any gentle rolling green English field than the sight of a fresh young ewe from behind,’ as Old Feebletrousers often remarks after the first few dozen pints in The Pervert’s Appendage of an evening, as strange stirrings take place deep in the darker recesses of his wellies. Of course, though, however and notwithstanding (or more often than not with standing), us more modern farmers who have had to enter into the wilder unknown shores of diversification also look over our flocks of farm-assured home-grown organic hairstylists. Moreover, we too wonder as we observe them going about that strange pre-mating ritual they call ‘getting ready...

From Youthblog : Post Christendom. Ian has made some notes from a presentation by Stuart Murray, author of Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World (Afterchristendom)Post Christendom marked by 7 transitions (which we are currently in): 1. from the centre to the margins 2. from majority to minority 3. From settlers to sojourners (pilgrims or exiles) 4. from privilege to plurality 5. from control to witness 6. from maintenance to mission 7. from institution to movementThe response to Post Christendom has typically been:Three reactions that Murray has observed to these issues. 1. Old or trad churches: nodding then, "isn't there a way back?" RETURN 2. Younger network churches: Blank looks then "it's not to do with us (we are being raised up to replace the Christendom...

Not what you think it is :) Good old Xeno at Xenophilia.com has had a page on his site for over four years that I have only just noticed. Seems he discovered that a camera and a couple of fingers can produce pictures you wouldn’t want to show your grandma. He started a campaign to get images from readers all over the world - and got quite a few. But if you haven’t sent one to him yet, you should. “Here’s some harmless fun you can have right now with your digital camera. Tonight I hit upon a shocking anatomical secret: your fingers, if photographed in a certain close up way, are practically indistinguishable from pictures of thighs and buttocks. The world could use a good laugh right now, so have at it! In return for this secret, which you may use to disgust your...

Northern Lights leading sat navs astray. That would explain a lot.10 Odd Uses for AirplanesAirline Pilot Speaks Out On Flight DelaysTop 10 Sole Survivors Of A Plane Crash (via)How to safely board a train that won’t stopManhattan says goodbye to the car ... just a littleCars and their owners after 20 years [9 PICS]Most of us would probably have just left the ladder at homeGas guzzlers of the 1970sTiny CarsToo young to drive, she wins a carBicycle Repair Guide (via)6 Of History’s Most Intriguing Shipwrecks: Strange Stories of Ships Lost at SeaThe state-of-the-art luxuries aboard the world's largest cruise shipNow this is mass transit! 13 guys, 1 motorbikeHot Rods, Fire Trucks And More: Seven Crazy Golf Cart Mods (via)...

Film It is of course a very strange vocation to be reviewing Doctor Who episodes on a website with will only be read by people who’ve seen the programme and know everything about it. Reviews are generally supposed to recommend said art form or not to someone who might be interested in seeing/reading/hearing it. But what to do if said reviewer isn’t even allowed to do that (or not)?...

I managed to remember to buy a bottle opener on the way home from work today and finally, finally i’ve sat down with glass of pinot :)  Hopefully it will help me sleep, i hardly slept a wink last night as John was nights.  Being alone for the first time was very strange.  I heard every strange noise and even had to get up in the middle of the night and switch the light on for a while as i had bad dreams.  It kills me that i’m 29 this year, and still scared of the dark.  I’m going to invest in a proper nightlight as the one i had is broken and the lamp is too bright to sleep with.  You can see my dilemma! Just about to watch Katie and Peter.  There is one good thing about John being nights and thats that i can get to watch what ever i want on the telly!!  Katie...

Strange Ways is a Birmingham-based artists’ collective and from 1 to 12 July they’ll be putting on their first major event - an art project at The Edge in response to the Cheapside area in Digbeth: Demolition of the industrial landscape and its replacement with modern residential apartment blocks has begun. An ever-decreasing number of small industrial businesses remain. This is a crucial moment, the final stage of change from industrial to residential. Strange Ways’ intention was to witness, respond to and document this moment, but also to act as a focus for the new residential community and the existing working community to interact. There’s more info and profiles of the artists involved on the Strange Ways website and there’s a Facebook group too. ©...

Do you ever get the feeling that there just something "wrong", but not be able to know what it is? Right now I feel really strange. Part of me feels normal but part of me feels a bit down. I feel like I'm about to start crying, but have no reason to at all. My mind feels like it's trying to go in all directions at once, but it leaves me with nothing - just emptiness where there's an expectation of a multitude of thoughts. I feel like my heart is exploding yet freezing into numbness at the same time. There is a sensation like pent up energy, but no motivation to do anything with it and a tiredness that's holding me in my chair anyway. And, please excuse the crudeness here; I can't tell if I want to fuck, fight, or throw up. This is such a strange feeling, like my mind and body are a...

Rapture Ready is a website for those Christians who think we are living in the end times/really can't wait to escape the Earth and be beamed up to Heaven. It is highly disturbing stuff in which pretty much any bad news is picked up as cause to believe the end of the world is nigh! My current "favourite" thread is about how God is using current disasters to get the word about Jesus out to people... before the end times of course. They suggest we are living in especially strange and uncertain times. This kind of comment always amuses me. The times we live in now are strange and uncertain, just as every period of time there has ever been. The Victoria age of colonisation was a strange and uncertain time. The Roman expansion was a very strange and uncertain time. And the mysterious events...

These days it seems that everyone that I pickup from local supermarkets is complaining about the increasing price of food. Combined with huge price hikes in gas and electric bills, Barrow folk are really starting to feel the pinch now, and believe me they are really grousing about it, I know, I get the same old story all day. But then again it's all part of the job, if folk can have a good old moan and groan to the taxi driver they always feel better at the end of the ride. But lately I have had quite a few folk, old dears especially, bending my ear about the local paper, who have moved the births and deaths columns from the first page to page ten. It seems that they just don't like to see things change. But I had to laugh at some of the things they say such as. "I only buy the paper to...

Fellow re:location -ist Helen Grundy has a new project… “Myself and a group of artists have formed a collective called Strange Ways [ for ] a project this summer in Cheapside at The Edge [ in Digbeth, Birmingham — with the …] private view on the 1st July 08.” A website is coming soon, and for now there’s a Facebook group. Helen Grundy’s work at Intervention. “Balancing between Ikea sofa, icon of modern motherhood and the balls of the Cerne Abbas giant is work by Helen Grundy. The sofa-object is both breasts and balls at the same time, surrounded by mini egg-breasts and studded with nipple-phallus prongs. A strong - and strongly curious - work which references the domestic sofa to the bodily activities that happen there; lovemaking,...