That's How It Happened

On my "to watch" list: Good Copy Bad Copy, a 1hr documentary on Google Video about copyright in the internet age. First 15 minutes are awesome, featuring interviews with Girl Talk, Dangermouse, Russian bootleggers, the Pirate Bay guys, and the head of the MPAA (who has a Napoleon Dynamite figurine in his office).

Two weeks ago Leeds Metropolitan University launched the UK's first Masters degree in Northern Studies. Professor Tony Collines was quoted as saying:

As soon as the north is mentioned all these stereotypes are trotted out. Ideally, we'd like people to talk about David Hockney, Tony Harrison, Henry Moore, the Beatles, and all these cultural expressions of the north, rather than these stereotypes that are no more than that - stereotypes of whippets and flat caps.

Not to be outdone, Northumbria University have just launched a definitive history and dictionary of pitmatic, the mining language of Durham and the Great Northern Coalfield. There are some samples of the dialect available here, although no indications of possible translations for whippet or flat cap.

These 200 words were all removed from the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary in 1993, despite appearing in the equivalent Merriam-Webster. I've been playing online Scrabble a whole lot in the last fortnight, and I'm starting to get very confused depending on whether I'm using UK (OSW), US (OSPD) or international (SOWPODS), word lists. For future reference, if you are playing chez moi, house rules dictate that all of the following are not only allowable, but actually encouraged for light relief:

ABO
ABOS
ARSE
ASSHOLE ASSHOLES
BADASS BADASSES
BADASSED
BALLSY BALLSIER BALLSIEST
BAZOOMS
BLOWJOB BLOWJOBS
BOCHE BOCHES
BOOBIE
BUCKRA BUCKRAS
BUBBY BUBBIES
BULLSHIT BULLSHITS BULLSHITTED BULLSHITTING
COLOREDS
COMSYMP COMSYMPS
CRAPPER CRAPPERS
CUNT CUNTS
DAGO DAGOES DAGOS
DARKEY DARKEYS
DARKIE
DARKY DARKIES
DICKED DICKING
DIKEY
DYKEY
FAGGOTRY FAGGOTRIES
FAGGOTY
FAGGY
FART FARTED FARTING FARTS
FATSO FATSOES FATSOS
FRIG FRIGGED FRIGGING FRIGS
FUCK FUCKED FUCKING FUCKS
FUCKER FUCKERS
FUCKUP FUCKUPS
GANGBANG GANGBANGS
GOY GOYIM GOYS
GOYISH
GRINGO GRINGOS
HAOLE HAOLES
HEBE HEBES
HONKEY HONKEYS
HONKIE
HONKY HONKIES
HUNKIES
JESUIT JESUITS
JESUITIC
JESUITRIES JESUITRY
JEW JEWED JEWING JEWS
JIGABOO JIGABOOS
JISM JISMS
KIKE KIKES
LEZ LEZZES
LEZZIE LEZZIES
LEZZY
LIBBER LIBBERS
MERDE MERDES
MICK MICKS
NANCE NANCES
NANCY NANCIES
NIGGER NIGGERS
NITCHIE NITCHIES
NOOKY NOOKIES
OFAY OFAYS
PAPIST PAPISTS
PAPISTIC
PAPISTRY PAPISTRIES
PEED PEEING
PISS PISSED PISSES PISSING
PISSER PISSERS
POM POMS
POMMIE POMMIES
POMMY
POOFS
POOFTAH POOFTAHS
POOFTER POOFTERS
POOFY
POOVE POOVES
POPERY POPERIES
POPISH
POPISHLY
REDNECK REDNECKS
REDSKIN REDSKINS
SHEENEY SHEENEYS
SHEENIE SHEENIES
SHEGETZ SHKOTZIM
SHICKSA SHICKSAS
SHIKSA SHIKSAS
SHIKSE SHIKSES
SHIT SHAT SHITS SHITTED SHITTING
SHITHEAD SHITHEADS
SHITTY SHITTIER SHITTIEST
SKIMO SKIMOS
SPIC SPICS
SPICK SPICKS
SPIK SPIKS
SQUAW SQUAWS
TOMMED TOMMING
TURD TURDS
TWAT TWATS
WETBACK WETBACKS
WHITEYS
WHITIES
WOG WOGS
WOP WOPS
YID YIDS

I loved Bukowski as a teenager, but this pitch perfect spoof of his prose and poetry succinctly points out the sophomoric aspects of his writing. link

x9 speeded up footage of underwater testing of Eurobot. Full story from the European Space Agency.

Triangles is the flash game du jour. Control one cursor with the keyboard, control the other with the mouse, dodge the blue triangles, pick up the red circles, go completely crazy. Score to beat 9595.

Music video / performance art piece for the band zZz. All shot first time, with a live audience, in one take at the Stedelijk Museum. Professional trampolinists simulate various video editing effects. Watch out for the guy painting a timeline along the bottom of the frame.

Interesting paper challenging the notion that terrorism is a successful political strategy (pdf link). The author has assessed the successes and failures of all 28 foreign terrorist organisations as designated by the U.S. Department of State. Despite proposing very favourable conditions for accepting that terrorist acts led to policy change, he concludes that only 7% of aims were achieved.
In the UK at least, terrorism seems to have had no meaningful political outcomes, besides a restriction of civil liberties. Bruce Schnieder has suggested that partly because of this we fail to recognise the underlying political intentions of terrorists. I can't really see that as being true. Every schoolkid in Britain was aware of the IRA's political aims. If the political aims of UK islamofacist terrorists are unclear, to me at least it's because they lack any credible, legitimate political representation, and because the "global aim" of spreading and defending the Islamic State is completely implausible as a consequence of bombings. (Both links via)

Stunning video about power line maintenance from a 2003 IMAX movie called "Straight Up". The music and the narration are just perfect. You can go on a course, if you are thinking of retraining. (via)

While hipsters are still enjoying their fixed gear bicycles, I've already moved on to the next big thing: fly fishing. Between my father, the GF, and myself we landed 14 brown trout on the Avon this Sunday, including this kraken-esque monster. I can already sense that fly fishing has all the elements of an incipient obsession: lots of expensive kit, the enormous satisfaction of mastering an age-old skill, and the competition of trying to beat your own previous record. Add in the nerdy compulsion of collecting and tying your own flies and I'm completlely sold. (Non-UK readers might like to note that the title of this post is a reference to a much loved British ad from almost 25 years ago.)

Labels: fly fishing, trout

"Oh, yes, Mr. Ted Nugent is my good friend," he relates, casually. "We hunt penguin together. I cook for his family many time. The Nuge have a really big kitchen."

Astonishingly funny article about fictional chef Kaz Yamamoto who has forged a career hunting and cooking endangered species for rich and famous Americans. It's both a kind of dystopian Easton-Ellis-esque nightmare, and secretly my culinary dream.