tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177823012008-05-13T23:47:44.273+01:00Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1026125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-43684543440730557492008-05-10T15:33:00.005+01:002008-05-10T20:05:42.513+01:00

Every time I try to get onto a Blogspot blog* I'm getting this: It was working fine earlier, and I haven't downloaded anything for weeks. Is this happening to anyone else or should I be slightly worried? (*Except those with custom domain names, like this one) UPDATE: Never mind. Seems to be working fine now.

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-71981290484026943822008-04-28T15:41:00.002+01:002008-04-28T15:42:23.173+01:00

Is a Playstation 3 and GTA: IV worth bankrupting myself for? 'Cause I'm sorely tempted...

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-37013587069902310872008-04-27T15:11:00.001+01:002008-04-27T15:12:12.152+01:00

Should be good.

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-59257832352031360902008-04-27T13:32:00.002+01:002008-04-27T13:42:46.170+01:00

I've been tagged (by Snoopy) with the fifth sentence meme.Pick up the nearest bookOpen to page 123Find the fifth sentencePost the next three sentencesTag five people and acknowledge who tagged youSo here goes: If the Ch'in dynasty had lasted, the political effects of the Book Burning Edict would have been far-reaching. Legalism might have been permanently established as the state doctrine, and

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-25807051723604582582008-04-26T15:32:00.001+01:002008-04-26T15:36:01.467+01:00

Everytime I hear something along the lines of: ...on the eve of the strike, UK ministers again urged the public not to panic buy fuel. I have to fight off the urge to grab whatever containers are at hand and rush off to the nearest petrol station. And I don't even have a car.

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-66820488176774136462008-04-26T12:28:00.003+01:002008-04-26T12:37:31.918+01:00

Having recently watched it on DVD, I have to echo Courtney's recommendation. Like most great films it has a relatively simple plot: A damaged war veteran (Christian Bale) volunteers to help escort a charming but psychopathic bank robber (Russell Crowe) across country and put him on the 3:10 to Yuma, a prison train. Between them and their destination lies both Crowe's gang and hostile Apaches.

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-41746670139363203902008-04-24T18:35:00.004+01:002008-04-24T18:39:43.425+01:00

From ScienceDaily: It may not be an ideal topic for polite conversation, but human beings are swarming with bacteria: Even the average healthy adult plays host to about 100 trillion microscopic organisms. Infection takes place when the bacteria get out of hand. Now, a University of Kansas researcher has penned a history of the struggle between man and bacteria — and warns that humankind someday

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-22164126093884268172008-04-23T13:46:00.003+01:002008-04-23T13:50:00.199+01:00

From Wikipedia: St. George is the patron saint of Aragon, Canada, Catalonia, China, England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Montenegro, Palestine, Portugal, Russia, and Serbia, as well as the cities of Amersfoort, Beirut, Ferrara, Freiburg, Genoa, Ljubljana, and Moscow, as well as a wide range of professions, organisations and disease sufferers. He's apparently the patron saint of leprosy, skin

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-25818528668284247142008-04-22T17:19:00.001+01:002008-04-22T17:21:20.714+01:00

According to the 'Brain Challenge' game I just got for my iPod Nano, I have the cerebral age of 71.

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-63950298828061001802008-04-19T13:54:00.000+01:002008-04-19T13:55:26.584+01:00

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-13075536517478533632008-04-19T11:32:00.004+01:002008-04-19T13:45:02.528+01:00

From Ben Goldacre's 'Bad Science' blog: In February a psychic was called to investigate a reported zombie in underground tunnels at an Eastbourne sewage plant. “It’s not funny going to work and worrying that a zombie might be around the corner,” said one plant worker. What?! The Daily Mail has more: The clairvoyant said: "There seems to be one particular area that's giving people the creeps.

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-5286236431309499492008-04-17T19:00:00.004+01:002008-04-17T19:46:39.795+01:00

...assembling flat-pack furniture should be a lot easier than it is. The palm of my hand is raw from the butt of the screwdriver digging into it. And I almost sat on the tube of glue supplied. (I know they always include spares, but is it normal to have about twenty small screws left over?)

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-88956984363766331042008-04-17T13:51:00.003+01:002008-04-17T14:00:19.526+01:00

Watched 'Brokeback Mountain' last night. I'd initially avoided it as the trailer made it look quite dull and incredibly "worthy", but a few people had recommended it to me so I decided to give it a go. My opinion: Meh. Sadly, my trailer-based suspicions were more or less correct and I found myself fairly bored by it. I wanted to like it: Ang Lee's not a bad director and both Heath Ledger and

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-45883029357674224402008-04-16T11:37:00.003+01:002008-04-16T11:39:41.305+01:00

This is currently the 691st most influential blog in the UK blogosphere, according to the rankings at Wikio.

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-77801559256228463662008-04-13T13:39:00.001+01:002008-04-13T13:42:55.108+01:00

Couldn't find a clip of Pompeii erupting, but this is pretty good as well:

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-86900652709189699052008-04-10T13:27:00.004+01:002008-04-10T22:48:43.231+01:00

Step 1: Download a Youtube to iPod converter. (Note: Any downloading from the Internet is done at your own risk and I accept no responsibility whatsoever for any viruses, malware or sentient digital lifeforms that come with it.) Step 2: Find the numerous copies of the 'Doctor Who' episode on Youtube (Note: I'm not condoning what is clearly a grievous breach of copyright by these people.

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-13958758953518032502008-04-10T12:32:00.004+01:002008-04-10T12:34:42.018+01:00

Diminutive Phobos is, the New Scientist notes, ultimately doomed since it's "spiralling towards Mars at a rate of 1.8 metres per century". In around 50 million years it will crash into Mars - if the Red Planet's gravity doesn't pull it apart first. From.

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-19352120717237393072008-04-08T15:28:00.006+01:002008-04-08T15:59:03.002+01:00

I'm currently reading Steven Pinker's 'The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature' (a birthday present from my younger brother), which I'd highly recommend. I seem to be on sort of an evolutionary psychology roll at the moment, having recently finished Matt Ridley's 'Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience and What Makes Us Human' (also highly recommended) as well. The genetic aspect of

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-18580910856602133982008-04-07T17:17:00.004+01:002008-04-08T14:57:27.627+01:00

Last night, for the first time ever, there was a Doctor Who question at the pub quiz I go to. Turns out that I was the only person in the pub (aside from the quiz master, obviously) who knew what U.N.I.T. stood for. I feel quite proud about that. Not sure if I should or not. But I do.

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-19851743420491424722008-04-06T13:06:00.000+01:002008-04-06T13:07:47.613+01:00

That was pretty good, wasn't it?

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-52264691355267987092008-03-31T19:18:00.003+01:002008-03-31T19:26:59.100+01:00

Slightly underwhelmed by the recent trailers for Doctor Who, although this one isn't too bad: But then the ones for series 1, 2 and 3 weren't that impressive either. Still, while I might find it a bit on the pompous side, it apparently didn't rub me up the wrong way as much as the person over at 'Behind the Sofa' who saw fit to denounce it as “xenophobic” and “patriarchal,” bordering on the

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-8782629094903657412008-03-25T21:17:00.004Z2008-03-25T21:25:47.854Z

Others (more informed and eloquent than I) have already commented on the recent hoo-hah about the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. (This, for example, is particularly good. As is most of the stuff here). To be honest, I've been unable to work up much annoyance about the whole thing because a) some religious figure or other kicking up a fuss at Easter was inevitable and b) I think that

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-26354614210034728602008-03-23T11:41:00.001Z2008-03-23T11:41:50.805Z

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-43464255073092019222008-03-23T11:39:00.002Z2008-03-23T11:40:09.554Z

There are few finer things in life than eating chocolate and drinking coffee whilst watching 'The West Wing'.

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-49021485404334118982008-03-15T15:19:00.006Z2008-03-15T15:31:05.516Z

Guess what I've been doing today... I can't remember who, but someone once made the point that atheist writers (Joss Whedon, Joe Straczynski, Russell T Davis, etc.) are often the best at appropriating Biblical tales and themes for their work. (Possibly because they approach it as literature?). I can think of no better example of this than the death and resurrection of Sheridan at Z'ha'dum ('

Matt Mnoreply@blogger.com