New Companion for Doctor Who?

Rumour has it that Freema Agyeman has the Doctor's new companion.

Mind you, this comes from the Sun, so I'd take it with a liberal grain of salt.

The Tantalus Jar

Brilliant or damn cruel, depending on your point of view.

Trying to cut down a bit, but lack the will power? Then put your chocolates, cigarettes, hard drugs, or Lost DVDs in the Shockolate Vault Jar, set the timer, and you won't be able to get at them again for up to a day without getting an electric shock as well.

People with shallow learning curves need not apply.

Bleak Situation

The battle for Iraq is all but lost and withdrawing may be the only option.

For the Coalition? No; Al Qaeda.

Defining Modern Art

From Reuters:

One of Britain's most prestigious art galleries put a block of slate on display, topped by a small piece of wood, in the mistaken belief it was a work of art.

The Royal Academy included the chunk of stone and the small bone-shaped wooden stick in its summer exhibition in London.

But the slate was actually a plinth -- a slab on which a pedestal is placed -- and the stick was designed to prop up a sculpture. The sculpture itself -- of a human head -- was nowhere to be seen

Can't tell the difference between a work of "art" and the stick that holds it up. I am not in the least bit surprised.

Update: Mark Lawson over at the Groaniad tries to defend the con game with the hoary old "anything is 'art' so long as you call it that and then wrap it in a thick coat of double-talk" argument.

Flame-Throwing Robosapien

You want one. Admit it.

Plastic Food

Plantic of Australia has developed a starch-based edible plastic.

In other words, lunch trays you can eat-- though from the pictures, there seems to be a long way between "can" and "want to."

The £30,000 Question

After a fortnight of pounding their chests and crying police persecution, the two brothers taken in the Forest Gate anti-terrorist raid now face the awkward fact that the authorities found over £30,000 in cash in the house where they were arrested, which puts everything back to square one.

Moral: Never play the victim card unless you know what is in the other guy's hand.

Did You Hear the One About...

The late former prime minister of Ireland, Charles Haughey (80), nicknamed the Great Houdini for his penchant for dodging scandal, was laid to rest today with a state funeral.

An Irish escape artist. Sounds like the start of a joke.

Headline of the Day

From the AP:

Britney Spears pleads for privacy

I firmly believe that anyone who even thinks about embracing that diseased entity called the Cult of Celebrity should be forced to read this.

Quote of the Day

Victor Davis Hanson on media bias in Iraq:

Most weary Americans want at least a moment to savor the death of a mass-murdering Zarqawi, without having to lament that he might have been saved by quicker medical intervention.

Abandonment Issues

For those of you who have been wondering why no new radio plays have been added and why Tales of Future Past hasn't been updated lately, I assure you that I haven't abandoned the rest of the site. If you missed the first post on the new, improved Ephemeral Isle, I suffered a massive hard-drive crash a few weeks back that took out the source files and the backups for the entire site and I've been hard at work reconstructing them-- and that is no small task.

So, be patient. Once the damage control is complete, davidszondy.com will go forward with its usual updates, new Tales of Future Past sections, more classic radio plays and a few surprises-- all with a streamlined navigation that will make exploring the site easier.

And I might get this boulder to the top of the hill as well.

Iranian Doublethink

From the Jerusalem Post:

Iran's defense minister on Thursday vowed that his country would "use nuclear defense as a potential" if "threatened by any power."

I take it that would be a defence using the nuclear weapons that Iran claims it isn't trying to develop.

Riiiggghhhhttt.

Air America: Crypto-rightwingers

Two anti-war protestors go on Air America and when they don't get an open mike, they realise that they've been taken in by The Man.

I still haven't decided whether this is true or simply the best bit of parody that I've read in years.

A Hit, A Palpable Hit

A beautiful reposte via Instapundit against an MSM Baghdad correspondent who offered "Chairborne Rangers" a bed at his hotel so they can do some "real" reporting.

Hello Cesar,

I'd take you up on the offer of "the spare bed in the Baghdad bureau" but this Chairborne Ranger is currently embedded in Kandahar, Afghanistan. I'll head back to Iraq for the second time this year after I make my next stop in the Horn of Africa. No doubt Michael Totten and Michael Yon, two other notable Chairborne Rangers, have similar plans.

You should also ask another group of Chairborne Rangers, such as Smash, Greyhawk, OpFor, and the other military bloggers who did their blogging from the combat zones to see if they need a rack. Oh, and I'll be bypassing Baghdad to go outside the comfort of the hotel, so you can keep the spare bed.

Best wishes, be safe and enjoy the pool!

As Glenn Reynolds says, "Ouch."

AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Chez Szondy is moving next month to new premises. It's a beautiful place out in the country with lots of trees, open spaces, fresh air, hardwood floors and, I have just learned, no broadband cable or DSL Internet access!!!!!!!!

56k dialup! Oh, the humanity!

Update: My wife assures me that we will be better people for learning to live off the land, and my three-year old daughter says, "There, there, Daddy."

Super Faith

First there was speculation about whether or not Superman is gay, now the question is whether he's Jewish or Methodist.

Guess which story gets more play in the press.

Washington Governor Puts in Her Two-Bits

Dull story, but it's an excuse for the two-bits joke.

Rose Tyler RIP?

Companions on Doctor Who rarely last more than three seasons (after all, you can only say "what is it, Doctor" so many ways before you go mad), so it isn't surprising that Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) is due for the chop. What wasn't expected is that the BBC is going to do it with extreme prejudice-- if the Sun is anything to go by.

Meteoroid Strikes Moon

And NASA has the video to prove it.

The Beginning of the End

Perhaps not, but from the benefits reaped from the info taken after the Zarqawi raid, this is most certainly the end of the beginning.

I have no idea what that means, but I never pass up a chance to paraphrase Churchill.