Offmessage

…but it’s worth reminding you it exists and asking you to read it again. And once you’ve read it, read the list of signatories. And then think about the last 2 years. I just have, and I’m still shuddering.

Project for a New American Century

Ahem… Bowling for Truth. Worth reading if only to see the extent of dumbness that can be found everywhere you look.

How else could he be given the Plain English Campaign’s Annual Foot In Mouth Award for the classic:

Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns � the ones we don’t know we don’t know.

It’s poetry I tell ya…

The world’s largest prime number has been found by a computer taking part in GIMPS (a SETI-a-like project searching for Mersenne primes). You can see all the digits at Wolfram’s MathWorld… There’s a lot of ‘em!

A rare article about Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, made all the rarer by the fact that this one is actually sanctioned (although, as usual, he doesn’t actually answer any of the questions himself). More tantalisingly, on page 4 there’s a reference to a possible Calvin and Hobbes movie!

“There were these rumors . . . ages ago, about Bill single-handedly animating a feature-length Calvin and Hobbes film. I was addicted to the concept of this happening. Ultimately, Bill will do as he wishes. I hope his muse strikes soon and that he cares to share the results with us all.”

And it’s not for eating leaves, apparently…

Toys R Us is pulling a controversial ad campaign that featured Geoffrey, its giraffe mascot, talking funny after inhaling helium.

Loads of very high quality Flash animations about the Bush Government. All done in the format of music videos and public information films… Also noteworthy is their offer of a Dubbya ventiloquist’s dummy. Makes for shocking viewing (well, if you’ve not already read Stupid White Men and Dude, Where’s My Country of course)

Apparently the battery dies after 18 months and costs $255 dollars to replace… Nice… As the man from Apple says, “at that price you may as well buy a new one”.

And you wonder why location based technology gets a bad name?

UK asylum seekers are to be electronically tagged as part of plans to introduce tougher immigration controls announced by the Home Office yesterday.

Yet more pharmaceutical art – this time it’s pill earrings.