Stormcaller.net: Forty thousand calories and filled with sharp objects.

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Sunday, November 28, 2004 - "Forty thousand calories and filled with sharp objects."

> Science/Tech

When does a Boeing 767 become a giant, silver glider? When it runs out of fuel half way to its destination. This story is an old one, but MC just sent it to me and I hadn't heard it before. Incredible. [Details]
They could have just used a few thousands rat neurons to control the plane, though. [Details]
Mini humans have been discovered! A skull and skeleton found on an Indonesian island appear to show a dwarf human species that lived no more than about 13,000 years ago. Resisting the temptation to make a Mini-Me joke. [Details]
Cassini has captured a great picture of Tethys, one of Saturn's moons. [Details]
We missed the Lunar eclipse on October 27th in Birmingham due to cloud - we couldn't see the Moon at all, let alone it turning dark and red. Luckily, a chap called Pat Forster took this lovely photo from Washington state in the US, forwarded to me by Samuel George of the Birmingham University Astrosoc. Thanks, Sam. [Details]
Another month, another leap in fuel cell technology. Western world's energy problems significantly solved by 2020? [Details]
Robot cockroaches, chickenbots, electric sheep... What's going on? [Details]
Funky, hi-tech transit system. They should go with the Futurama model, though - tubes! [Details]
Luna, the Moon, certainly isn't the only object orbiting us - and even not counting satellites, dust and the like, there are large objects orbiting around the Earth in a variety of eccentric orbits. [Details]
Shiny electric car. The website's in Japanese, but click on things for pretty pictures. Thanks, MC. [Details]
> Geek

"Half-Life 2" is here. And lo, it was awesome. [Details]
In their first customer-friendly move in... as long as I can remember, NTL are planning to increase the bandwidth for their standard broadband service from 300kpbs to 1Mbps at no extra charge and introduce a new, decently-priced 2Mbit service. Of course, they've also cut back on their already shockingly bad customer services and are kicking around 28,000 customers off the service. [Details]
Vitani sent me this the other week - it's a concept demo using only HTML and Javascript to produce some amazing effects in a regular browser (IE, Mozilla etc.). Not particularly great as entertainment, but it shows off some unbelievable effects considering the medium. Download, extract and enjoy. [Download]
Skype, the excellent free internet voice calls system I've been using a lot recently, will be offering wireless services through new Siemens mobile phones. Still free, too. [Details]
LED lighting is cool, and the way forward. Somewhere to relax while playing HL2 (green lighting for aliens, orange lighting for most other stuff in the game)? [Details]
Tachyon TV, the ~~weekly~~ ~~fortnightly~~ occasional sci-fi satire online magazine, is back with a vengeance. [Details]
"Little Britain". Brilliant. Go watch, if you haven't already. [Details]
> Stuff

It was Halloween a few weeks ago! Random photos of my uni mates and I can be found on my recently updated photos page. [Display]
So Bush won the election (also a few weeks ago). You may have noticed from Vitenka's posts that he certainly doesn't approve of the result... but I do. Kerry was a complete non-candidate - totally unelectable, and would have been an awful and ineffective President. Bush is not only the lesser of two evils; I honestly think he's done a good job through some very difficult times for the Western world during his first term. Want a link, too? Purple USA. [Display]
T-Shirt Hell's weekly lawsuit - this time it's from eBay, for their "I bought Christopher Reeve's wheelchair on eBay" t-shirt. [Details]
Some spam bot keeps posting comments on my site. Go away!
Randomness. Bonsai trees are funky, though. [Details]
Let's just say I'm not a big fan of LaRedoute, though I'm not likely to buy anything from them again... [Details]
Pure awesomeness, courtesy of the SomethingAwful lot. Wait for it all to load. [Destroy]
There's definitely something odd about Robert Kilroy Silk. [Destroy]
I'm pretty sure I've seen this before, but it's just incredible. It must be dubbed... but I'm pretty sure it's not. Next best explanation? It was made as a joke and never broadcast? [Destroy]
Dolphins. Lovely. [Details]
More awesomeness from the inbred degenerates who brought you the excellent T-Shirt Hell. Every driver should have one. [Details]
It's been a long time. Sorry! Busy busy.
The title? Dilbert, of course - Dogbert actually. [Display]

Replies: 1 Comment

Vote Kilroy-Silk!
From today's article in the Telegraph written by Daniel Hannan, re the revelation that Jacques Barrot, the EU's new transport commissioner, had a criminal conviction in a party funding scandal - "A fomer colleague of Barrot's, Jacques Toubon, rushed up and down the aisle, apparently looking for someone to punch - Robert Kilroy-Silk, recognising him as the minister who had tried to ban the English language from French airwaves, told him mischievously that no one would understand him unless he spoke English, which sent him into a choking fit."
Nice one Rob!

Posted by Thundersummoner on Sunday, 28 November at 01:20 PM GMT.