That's How It Happened

Four really different games:

Kitten War, a cat hotornot.com.

Smart Stick 2.5, a flashy clicky adventure game.

The Gizmo Game, an odd whatsit guessing game.

Just Letters, a MMO-fridge magnet game.

London's High Line?
The High Line is the name for an old elevated railway in Manhattan that used to take meat from the docks into the meatpacking district. Parts of it still snake from the Hudson into Chelsea. It's always been closed to the public, but with a little illicit climbing you can visit it. Kottke and others have taken great photos of the "natural park" that it has become. When I last visited NYC it was Fleet Week. Crowds of police and navy boys were swarming the west side, so I didn't get a chance to visit. On my next trip the fun will have gone, because there are plans afoot to convert it into a public space.
Luckily there is another abandoned elevated railway less than a mile from my house in London. Sadly Google's hi-res satellite maps haven't reached the UK yet. If you squint you can see it as a green path across this aerial photo of the Shoreditch Triangle. It runs out of Liverpool St Station, up the west side of Shoreditch High St. There's a gap where a bridge over Great Eastern Street and Chariot's Roman Spa used to be. Then it continues north and (I think) finishes at the Regent's Canal in Haggerston. There must be a way up, because for the last three years Banksy has made the bridge over Old Street his regular canvas.
I wondered if any of the many hipsters who read this blog had any advice for climbing up, or whether anyone had actually tried it. infiltration.org has no advice, and I'm not sure where to begin. I never had a particular zeal for urban exploration before, but I'm sure it must be incredible up there.

Update 1/5/4
I had the opportunity to check out this "high line" at a party in Hoxton last night. Sadly the line is being co-opted as part of the East London Line Extension. All the vegetation has been cut, so it's not as thrilling as it might be. There are lots of places to climb up, but obviously as active Railtrack land that's significantly illegal. Luckily there's another elevated railway in North London that's already been converted to a public park. It's called Parkland Walk and it runs for four miles from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace.

A programming language named after Professor Frink.

Darth Vader's blog is the only cool thing about EpIII.

Are you COW? HUMAN? bovineunite.com

Nike Factory Codes, so now you can discover which nationality of asian children made your sneakers for 50c a week.

How many atoms of Jesus did you eat today? (Assuming he's a real historical figure.)

The Impulsive Buy, one of a new wave of feisty food product review blogs.

To rule the earth...a list of states that have come closest to governing the entire globe. Way to go Kazakhstan in 26th place!

Design and build your own RC Airship.

The CEO of Opera is swimming from Norway to the US, after he lost a bet of sorts.

And in a follow-up: the "scary professor guy", last week's hot meme, didn't recover his laptop.

Part of a great article by Jonathan Safran Foer, about challenging the world champ at ping pong.

Some of my third world readers have complained. Due to their intermittent internet connections they only manage to enjoy this organ on a less than weekly basis. As only the most recent seven posts are displayed on the first page, they feel their best comments do not get a fair audience.
Back in February I debunked the myth, that the Queen's favourite film is Assault on Precinct 13. Reader O-G Murray submitted a fine rebuttal which I felt deserved a repost:

"I'd like to point out that it's absolutely true about HRM's love of Assault on Precinct 13. According to insiders she considers it a sophisticated allegory for the life of a modern monarch. Consider this:
The old man in peril is Prince Harry, who stumbles panting into Buckingham Palace following some blunderous Royal faux-pas, chased by a small pack of journalists. Before we know it the palace is surrounded by mad blood-thirsty paparrazzi and Daily Mail readers who appear as if from nowhere, smashing windows and climbing up the drainpipes.
DCI Prince Charles, realising there's only one person who can get them out of this jam, runs down to the cellar to release the most evil character in the realm, convicted sociopath Camilla 'Napoleon' Parker-Bowles, who up until now has been kept in solitary confinement awaiting the chair (in this case the throne). The assembled mob runs away screaming, taking their dead with them.
Apparently Hollywood got wind of this and are remaking the film, featuring Lawrence Fishburne as Prince Charles. (True fact)."

Just imagine, this very creative comment was posted a whole two months before the royal wedding. Who knew that the third world web-erati were so in touch with UK domestic affairs?

When I started medical school I had to attend a lot of rather pompous lectures, impressing upon us the great privilege and responsibility that they were bestowing on us. In among all that guff, repeated professors pointed out that as a doctor your vocabulary more than doubles. That process of word acquisition mostly occurs as you try and cram for finals. Once in a while I still learn a really great new word:
Today's word of the day is: MEGARECTUM.

DJ Shadow's latest Radiohead remix is surely the coolest looking bit of vinyl ever, and expensive too.

Penguins forced to waddle through airport metal detectors before boarding a flight. Best.

Garfield's Sheepshot and Sheepdash, two silly flash games, both via sheepworld.blogspot.com, the web's only "all ovine, all the time" blog (as far as I'm aware).

The King of Zines contest reminded me that there's still no news of a new issue of my favourite zine Deadstock. Any sneaker heads want to team up for a new kickzine?

Seriously geeky GTD style iPod shuffle hacks.

...and now a random fact about Vin Diesel.

Product Comparison: Space Pen vs Cross Ion Pen
There's a lot of hype on the web, mostly emanating from 43 Folders about the joy of the Fisher Space Pen. I've personally been using a Cross Ion Pen at work. I had fond memories of trying to write underwater with the Space Pen, but couldn't think of a particular benefit in using it as an every day writing tool. Here's my entirely scientific comparison:
Design Cross Ion 8, Space Pen 9
The Ion looks awesome, if a little phallic. It comes with a lanyard, which is essential to me in not losing it. The Space Pen is a design classic too. It's shiny as anything, and despite debuting in 1969 still cuts a dash.
Opening Cross Ion 10, Space Pen 3
The Cross has a fantastic mechanism. You apply traction between the grip and the butt, and the nib pops out. It's reliable and smooth, and stops you getting ink in your shirt pockets. The Space Pen mechanism sucks. The shiny cap slides off in a most unsatisfactory fashion, held in place by multiple small ridges.
Grip Cross Ion 5, Space Pen 4
Once the Cross is open, there's an annoying gap in the middle that's uncomfortable on your first web space (that skin flap between your thumb and index finger). The width is perfect, and the weight is good too. The Space Pen suffers from the aforementioned little ridges. They're also slightly uncomfortable. The real fault though is the Space Pen is too short and too narrow for my Size 7.5 hands. I want something with more tactile presence.
Ink Cross Ion 4, Space Pen 9
The Cross has fairly regular liquid ink, not so different to a Pilot V5. The line width is slightly uneven, and the nib is occasionally a tad scratchy. The Space Pen certainly writes evenly. I'm not sure that on a dry land "Pepsi Challenge" you'd notice a difference from a regular Biro. In the wet, or writing up against a wall, then it rules.
Price Cross Ion 2, Space Pen 3
These pens are both outrageously overpriced, and refills aren't exactly a steal either. The Space Pen is much more easily losable; no lanyard, very slippery, quite tiny. I think that makes it even less good value for money.
Overall Scores Cross Ion 29, Space Pen 28
I'm sticking with my Cross for work, though I'll be giving the Space Pen a more in-depth testing at home, where it can't go missing. Frankly though, I'm surprised how poorly these pens both stack up when really closely scrutinised. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and invest in a Mont Blanc, which is too intimidating for any pesky nurse to steal.

I want to say an incredibly huge thank you to everyone who was so supportive yesterday. Lots of very nice people said they'd come to Dinosaur Jr, and one very very nice person, gave me lots of invaluable beekeeping advice. As promised, some random linkage:

Traffic Control 2, a silly flash game that captures the feel of Lumines with a thumping techno soundtrack.

Greasemonkey is amazing: The Amazon Free Music Helper.

All the sushi robots you can imagine.

Vice Dos and Donts, illarious as ever.

I'm with Hiroshi Fujiwara in claiming that the hTM Court Force, is the most important release all year.

Guess-the-google is a clever little distraction, where you guess the search term, based on the top 20 results on google image search.

The known blogosphere is pretty bad at conveying emotional complexity. Most blogs are uniformly positive about everything, or merely very impersonal. I'm increasingly guilty of that as readership grows. There's another subset (mostly on Livejournal) that are continually angsty. I thought I'd break that pattern today, possibly at the risk of alienating the 98% of readers that don't know me personally.
I started a new job three weeks ago, and it's been great. Hard work, and long hours but extremely stimulating. I've been learning new skills, and doing a lot of exciting academic writing. I've felt buoyant about the whole thing, particularly so because I was extremely anxious about taking on such a tough post in the first place.
Today my mood came suddenly crashing down. I can hardly ever recall being so emotionally labile. I think there are three main reasons:
1. There are 13 sets of neighbours with adjoining properties to ours. Of these only one set are barristers, and coincidentally they are the only ones who have complained about my beehive. Today those same neighbours got stung, and naturally were on the phone again to complain. Bees and the Law, an apiarist's legal casebook, provides scant reassurance that I'm not going to have to give up the bees. I've taken out bee insurance from the North London Beekeeping Association, but that's not really a satisfactory solution.
2. Dinosaur Jr have reformed. They used to be my favourite band. I saw them once live, and even met J Mascis one time. They're playing in London in June, and I can't think of anyone who'd actually want to go with me. I feel old and washed up for being excited about the gig, and that's compounded by not knowing anyone else who's a fan.
3. Perhaps as a result of those first two reasons I've been listening to Playground Love by Air (free MP3 download from Amazon (Vibraphone version)). One of the most depressing records ever.
I can't be bothered to hunt down the pubmed reference, but I remember a very persuasive study about depression. Healthy volunteers were asked to have telephone conversations with patients suffering from clinical depression. The healthy volunteers report not only finding the conversations somewhat aversive, but they end up rating their own mood as lower. On that basis I'm not going to harp on about how glum I feel. I'll return tomorrow with the usual ebulliant nonsense about robots/sneakers/lohan. If you live in North London, have a huge garden, and feel like adopting a beehive, do get in touch.

"Your days of plenty are numbered", The Edukators is overlong, but brilliant. Must see.

I ate at Quaglino's on Saturday. It's one of relatively few restaurants that are actually correctly apostrophized (McDonald's being another example). I am beginning to go insane when I hear people incorrectly say that they "ate at Mezzo's", or that they "couldn't get a table at Nobu's". Some restaurants are obviously immune, e.g. The Ivy, whereas others are horribly prone to this plague e.g. J Sheekey's (sic). I think this only way to stamp out this verbal pecadillo is to overuse it, until everyone is as sick of it as me. So if you catch me saying that I had a "great dim sum at Yauatcha's", or that I'm "sick of the curries at Busaba's", you'll know it's not irony but hate.

There's definitely only one link on my mind today: The Monkey SWAT Team. Too awesome.

I dare you to watch this movie of Krispy Kremes being made, and not feel hungry. It's made me so hungry that I thought about where I could pick up a dozen on the way home. The official website, points out the actual Krispy Kreme stores and carts (Harrod's, Euston, Victoria, Bluewater). It fails to mention which Tescos are also stocking 'Kremes. I thought this could be a collaborative effort in which people share their local knowledge of Kreme hunting. I have previously found delicious Krispys at Tesco Metro on Goodge St, and at Tesco Metro King's Cross. Anyone else know of any spots?

Even more interesting places on google maps.

The debate rages on: hipster PDA Vs Moleskine hacks. I'm using both right now.

My father has broken his arm in a motorbike accident. That ought to elicit enough sympathy, that even if you haven't read his book The Promise Of Happiness, you can vote for it to win the Richard and Judy Book Awards.

The Guardian polled 10 scientists for "possible reasons that humanity would be wiped out in the next 70 years". Of the ten suggestions, not all are plausible. However nearly all have been made into one or more Hollywood movies:
1. Climate Change: The Day After Tomorrow
3. Viral Pandemic: Outbreak
4. Terrorism: Broken Arrow, The Peacemaker
5. Nuclear War: Dr Strangelove, Wargames
6. Meteorite Impact: Armageddon, Deep Impact
7. Robots Take Over: Matrix, I Robot
9. Super-volcano: Inferno, Dante's Peak
Only three on the list haven't been adapted for the screen.
2. Telomere Erosion (Sudden genetic collapse of Homo Sapiens)
8. Cosmic Ray Burst
10. Earth Swallowed By Black Hole
Telomere erosion isn't ever going to make for an exciting film, since it happens over generations, and occurs at a subcellular level. Cosmic ray burst is also kinda dull, since everyone would just get, thyroid cancer, lymphoma, and a good tan. "Earth swallowed by black hole" would be an awesome film though.

"Around seven years ago, when the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider was being built at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, there was a worry that a state of dense matter could be formed that had never been created before."

If I was writing the screenplay, I'd have three nerds at MIT "accidentally" make a black hole in the lab. The whole earth would be sucked into the blackhole, and be transported into another dimension where nerds are actually cool. I'm sure that's the kind of project any studio would greenlight.

For all but one platform, Blackfriars train station is a terminus. Every morning I'm one of the few commuters travelling south out of the City. As the trains pull in, heaving with office workers, the pigeons hop on board and peck around for crumbs. Just before the train is due to leave they hop off again. I haven't yet seen one get caught. I have three hypotheses:

1. The pigeons are able to time the stops, and just know that they shouldn't hang about in the train more than a couple of minutes. This seems implausible, since different trains have different turn around times.

2. The pigeons listen for the beeping that signals imminent departure. I think this is dubious too, because that would only give them a few seconds to hop out.

3. They don't care whether the doors shut or not. They just hang about picking up all the crumbs. If they do get caught, they just chill out, then fly home across the river from Elephant and Castle.

I actually have a degree in animal psychology, and I really can't figure it out. Anyone got any better ideas?

Sugar Bush Squirrel, the world's most photographed squirrel, likes to dress up. Favourite outfits include Squirrel Pope and Osama bin Squirrel (scroll down).(via mk)

Susan Hiller's private view for her J-Street Project last night was awesome. Check it out at the Timothy Taylor Gallery.

10 Technologies That Refused To Die. (I finally quit having to carry a pager for work: bliss!)

The satellite tech behind google maps.

Are you pondering what I'm pondering? Best quotes ever from Pinky and the Brain.

Alex Horne is previewing his new Edinburgh show "When in Rome" all the way through to August. If you like Latin, and you like laughing, you'll love it.

The Lohan situation is out of hand again. The image search options on Yahoo, Altavista, and Google are sending thousands of visitors my way, merely because I've previously linked to assorted pictures of Ms Lohan. While I welcome the 5000+ hits today, I would like a solution. It isn't costing me anything significant in bandwidth, but I can't seem to fix it. I am at the mercy of the incredibly long update cycles of the various search engines. Do any web nerds know of any way of selectively removing this site from the image search results?

SBTG x UNKLE Dunk auction. At the time of writing these dunks have attracted 55 bids, up to a price of $3250. To clarify the situation, they are one of only 24 extant pairs. Of those 24, only 12 were ever sold, out of Surrender, a shop in Singapore, in mid-March 05. They are a non-official Nike product, though they do seem to have had the official blessing of UNKLE and Futura, whose Pointman logo appears on them. The original official UNKLE Dunk (of which I own one of 400 pairs) is selling on eBay for no more than $400 right now. Other shoes customised by SBTG are selling for even less. If you are a non-sneaker head you are probably wondering what the fuss is all about. After all, for $3250 you could buy a Segway. Personally I can see the appeal. What really fascinated me though, is that the top bidders have hardly ever bought anything off eBay before. The current top two are both from the UK, with minimal feedback. They're both taking a terrible chance. If I had any advice to give, based on my endless experience trying to pluck shoes off auctions in HK/Singapore/JP, it's that online fraud controls, particularly with regard to the far east, aren't all they're cracked up to be. If I had $3251 spare, I'd seriously consider coughing up the extra money for a flight to Singapore, just to be able to hand over cash, and inspect the product in person.

How to sell your soul then buy it back?

Contagious Media Showdown, a meme-off with big prizes.

The Memory Maps Pool and Mappr, both integrating social networks, tagging, and mapping.

Rock Paper Scissors Spock Lizard

Shape-Shifting Robot Nanotech Swarms on Mars! Tensegrity-like walking robots with prototype and simulation animations.

Make your own online character: Stortroopers vs Southpark Studio.

Spinning flash games: YetiSports8 vs MiniTrackMania.

Make more stuff: DIY Submarine vs DIY Google Maps vs DIY Nike Commercial.

Maria Full Of Grace, got a whole stack of amazing reviews. It's a thriller/drama about Colombian drug mules, shot in a flat documentary style. Somehow it has wowed the critics, but to me it was like a Public Service Documentary. It's one true virtue is that it's less moralizing than Traffic, but clearly doesn't glamourize the drug industry. It is involving at times, but still deeply predictable. It's rare for me to rail against the critics, but I really wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone.

I'm not sure which is funnier, the Terri Schiavo Blog or Doin' the Schiavo.

Google Sightseeing is a blog of interesting satellite images off Google Maps. It's also becoming a great Flickr tag.

Japanese AT-ST Walker Bot.

Collection of iPod games, based on the notes feature.

While I don't condone trapping actual bees in bubbles Ferry Halim's newish game, asks you to do just that, but in a bee-friendly virtual way.

The world's greatest game room? Obsessive console collection.

25 Best Sesame St Moments. Some controversial choices, and some forgotten classics.

Dope video for 3 Feet Deep by DJ Format featuring Abdominal and D-Sisive staging an MC battle on a japanese "Singstar" style DJ arcade game.

WD Brame "Changing the world one nipple at a time". Changing it into a more agonising place for BDSM fans, by the look of this high tech nipple clamp site. (NSFW).

Toothing: the hoax revealed.

I think I might venture that Lumines is the best computer game I have ever played. Reason enough to get a PSP for sure.

I say what's cooler than bein' cool? (Ice Cold!)

London has many benefits: late night sushi, rare sneaker stores, art house films etc, but it has a distinct lack of allotments. My nearest allotment, by Arsenal Stadium, has a seven year waiting list. Thus Simon Green's new website, Plot37.com, makes me insanely jealous. I'm yearning to grow giant veg, but have only a few spindly rocket plants and the odd asparagus spear in pots. He however, has his own greenhouse, polytunnels, and extensive meticulously documented planting plans.

In the run up to getting my new job I asked advice from lots of consultants. When I told them what I was applying for, they universally made a sharp intake of breath before warning me of how insanely hard I was going to have to work. The job does involve extremely long hours, so I think it's imperative that I reach new heights of efficiency and organisation. To this end I have:

Ordered a Moleskine Diary.

Built my first hipster PDA.

Started wearing a USB memory dongle on a lanyard. (That seems to be the real mark of status among us nerdy research registrars. I caught my senior colleague eyeing up this 80Gb "dongle" today.)

Been kindly given a super sweet Cross Ion Pen (also lanyardable).

Presumably anyone spending time reading this is a procrastinating lazy workhours-embezzling slacker. However I wondered if anyone had any tips for organisation. I figure I might benefit from a real PDA, and maybe use of an online syncable calendar. I'm also thinking of splashing for a Powerbook, and wondered if anyone had had dire experiences, trying to make it as a Mac user in a PC environment. Any hot tips?

I start a new research job tomorrow that is likely to be busy with long hours. It's also going to have almost unlimited internet access. That's a terrible combination. I'm putting a complete moratorium on blogging from work, in order to maintain peak productivity. In the face of such uncertainty about future blogging, today's links are all meta-links, i.e. sources of other good links:

49media searches blogs for "buzz" media and then automatically hosts them. Sort of like a technorati/blogdex for video and audio files.

Japundit and Akihabara News are awesome english language blogs keeping up with japanese culture and tech respectively.

Veer: The Skinny is full of good links including THIS IS FUN TO MAKE A BLOG ON THE COMPUTER WEBSITE and this Futureshock CGI body-popping video in the style of the VWxGene Kelly ad.

Take Your Medicine is a ridiculously good MP3 blog, focusing principally on new UK bands.

The Lost in Translation Tour of Japan.
Lots of companies are now offering Japanese tours that visit the locations used in Lost in Translation. When I was in Japan last year I deliberately stayed at the Park Hyatt to get a little of the Bob and Charlotte atmosphere. I visited a few of the other locations, but I thought I'd assemble a list of all the possibilities for anyone wanting a more comprehensive visit.

Most of the film is set at the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku. It's astonishingly expensive, but definitely the cornerstone of an "LiT" trip. If you want the same panoramic windows as Bob and Charlotte, you have to shell out even more for a "Park Deluxe" room. However even the standard room is huge and luxurious with giant windows. Included in the price of the room you get to wander the corridors, swim in the pool, and visit the New York Bar. However the gym, where Bob works up a sweat, is extra, and if you want to enjoy the jazz band they come with a $20 cover charge. I was too fearful of my credit card bill to even enquire after an Ikebana class.

Lots of the exterior shots were taken in Shinjuku, Shibuya and Daikanyama. The opening shots of Bob in a cab are along Yasukuni-dori in Shinjuku. You can hardly go anywhere in Tokyo without being confronted by the crowds and the neon, but the best bits are close by Shinjuku station. The very busy interchange with lots of intersecting pedestrian crossings is at Shibuya station. Just like the crew did, to get the shot of Charlotte crossing, you can sit in Starbucks, looking down on the junction, enjoying a green tea frapuccino.

I didn't go to the extremes of visiting the same restaurants. The sushi place was apparently Daikanyama Ikkan Sushi, while the shabu shabu joint is Shabu-Zen in Shibuya. The karaoke bar is called Karaoke-Kan, on Utagawacho also in Shibuya, and reliable sources suggest you need to ask for rooms 601 and 602 for the same great 6th floor view.

The white strip club (patronised by Hiroshi Fujiwara and playing Peaches) is supposed to be a recreation of the now defunct "Orange Club". The real location is actually the basement of the APC store in Harajuku. The other nightclub scene (with the big balloons) was filmed at Air in Daikanyama.

Charlotte visits three different temples. Firstly a small shrine in Shinjuku called Juganji. Later she hops on the bullet train to Kyoto. She sees a wedding at the Nanzenji Zen temple, before heading to the gardens of the Heian Shrine. There she crosses a koi pond on stepping stones and sees trees festooned with prayers.

I haven't actually got my DVD handy to check for any more good locations. I'd like to track down the exact spot of the final "whispered nothings", which I suspect is at one of the entrances to Harujuku. If you have any more suggestions, post them via the comments and I'll update.

It took me 9 hours to get back from Glasgow via diddy Scottish local trains and the miracle of Ryanair. I could have gotten back from New York in less time. No sooner had I arrived home in Islington than I saw two youthful chavs exchanging abuse in the street: "Come on then you fuckin' mackerel.", before attempting to glass each other. Mackerel, in the pejorative sense, is thus my word of the day. O London, how I missed thee.

April Fool of the day was the Independent article about Jamie Oliver standing as a Tory candidate in Howard Flight's seat. Sadly that's been omitted from the online edition. In its absence other notable fools: GoogleGulp, a hostile take-over at Wikipedia, , the lurid pink iCopulate, boringboring.org, and what sounds like a spoof, but can't be: BK's enormous omelette sandwich.

The Old Negro Space Program.

Factoid of the day: the diner exterior, shot as Monk's for Seinfeld, is called Tom's Restaurant, and is the same diner that inspired Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner". Incidentally the Smoking Gun has a great citations for violation of hygiene standards from Tom's, and the Soup Nazi.

Fantastic video of some kid doing the best robot break dance you ever saw. (thanks to Jonky).

Cheese Racing (not lamo cheese rolling) is a tense action game, utilising hitherto undiscovered magical properties of processed cheese slices when BBQed. Can't wait to play all summer long. (thanks to DJ Beez).