Windy Irony

A golden eagle has been killed by a wind turbine in Washington State.

Wind power: protecting the environment the way a Cusinart protects a tomato.

Update: Now the goats are for it.

Gentlemen?

Quoting Mr Gordon Brown,

Westminster cannot operate like some gentlemen's club.

Mr Brown now owes me for a new monitor and keyboard to replace my tea-drenched and toast-strewn originals. Meanwhile, over at the Telegraph, Mr Andrew Roberts voices my sentiment that the problem is not that Westminster is a "gentleman's club", but that it doesn't have any bloody gentlemen in it.

Bushbunker

For those years when Bonfire Night gets completely out of hand.

Shock Horror on the Campaign Trail

The New York Times allegedly killed a story that would have damaged Mr Barack Hussein Obama's chances of being elected president.

And in other news, the Mafia may be involved in organised crime.

Whitewash

The BBC, ever the helpful arm of the Nanny state, passes along a load of tips for keeping cool during the alleged heat waves that are supposed to hit Britain this summer; tips approved by the priests of Blessed Gaia like planting shrubs or whitewashing the house.

Meanwhile, those of us who actually live in the 21st century will be buying air conditioners.

Martin Out

Mr Michael Martin has resigned as Speaker of the House after one of the most dismal and shame-ridden careers in the history of Parliament that began as a tawdry deal and ended in scandal.

Only two things remain to be seen after this, that this is not used as a scapegoat to excuse the swamp of corruption, petty tyranny, and incompetence that the House of Commons has fallen into; and that Mr Martin never gets closer to a life peerage than a copy of Debrett's in the public library.

Komodo Update

The Komodo dragon turns out to be one of the most venomous reptiles on Earth.

As if I didn't have enough to worry about.

Listen to the Young Spies

James Lileks looks at heartwarming adverts encouraging the young to become nasty little prigs

WD-40

What is WD-40 made of?

WD-40 is a mixture of...BANG! URRGH! THUD!

The Bleedin' Obvious

After spending half a century doing to the Royal Navy what the Graf Spee failed to do, the government has noticed that six ships, no matter how advanced, cannot defend Britain.

Next up: water flows down hill.

The Tuna of Wrath

A schoolgirl, who apparently has never had a proper job, decides to put Sinclair Lewis to shame and heads off to a tuna cannery in Indonesia where she discovers that it's, like, really hard work, man, and it's, you know, hot in there and it smells and everything and they even make you clip your nails. What's with that, yah?

And working in a rice paddy? That's, like, just no fun at all. All that standing in water and bending over? Yuk!

Naturally, this is all justified by some extremely public and easy hand-wringing about the low wages the workers are paid (the workers get £3 a day, which is pretty close to, if not above the country's per capita income), though no context as to what the alternative for them is or what impact this work has on their prosperity one way or the other . That's, surprise, too much like hard work.

As a man who spent most of his youth swinging a pick in the desert sun when he wasn't freezing on deck in the North Sea for sub-minimum wages and has spent enough time in the Third World to know the difference between exploitation and a hand up, all I can say is, Poor diddums and let's hope your fashion studies aren't too arduous.

Plinth & Paintballs

According to The Times, 11,000 people with way too much spare time on their hands have volunteered to play the part of "living statues" on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square that was originally left open to leave room to honour future men famous for serving the Empire in deeds of blood and arms and not to indulge the asinine antics of pseudoartistic poseurs who don't give a scrap for tradition, honour, art, or even good taste.

Still, it's an ill wind that blows no one good, and if an enterprising chap can get his hands on one of these paintball sniper rifles and a selection of rooftop locations, it could be a chance to make a few bob by charging so much a shot and provide the public with some harmless amusement while chastising a load of imminently chastisable fools.

Extra points if you can catch them with straddling shots as they try to flee for the Underground.

On Tiny Detail

The pride of Troy, Michigan was its Blessed Gaia-friendly, 100 percent solar-powered, $900,000 dream house that was all set to show how great "green" living can be. Until, that is, they found out $16,000 in damages later that solar power isn't the best way to keep the pipes from freezing in the middle of winter.

Back to the old recycled material, carbon-free drawing board.

Biden Bunker Bugger

Well, it was a secret location.

Clearly, the man in charge of Vice President Biden's squeaky toy is falling down on the job.

New Dimensions

From the 1939 New York World's Fair. The future doesn't belong to robots as long as there are self-assembling cars around.

Tells you how much things have changed. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the thing playing the bagpipe music was until I realised that it was an inner tube for the spare tyre.

Space Force

Dracula Vs Frankenstein

Lon Chaney! Forest J. Ackerman! Deep hurting!

ACE

German roboticists have come up with a a robot, christened the Autonomous City Explorer or ACE, that is capable of going up to people and asking them for directions. Ever on the cutting edge of journalism, Ephemeral Isle has an exclusive audio clip of ACE in action.

Memo

It even plays chess–if you don't mind a 15X15 board.

If you are suffering from senility or everyone keeps telling you that you are, then the Memo might be just the trick. This concept robot can not only keep grandpa company, but it can also dispense his pills, show him movies, play music, tell him where his glasses are, and follow him about everywhere; looking out for his welfare and being helpful wherever it can.

I'd take my cane to it within two days.

Share and enjoy!

Spider-Bot

Meet the Team Italia's plan to win the Google Lunar X Prize with a giant robot spider.

This is bound to be a shoe-in, since from the image it's obviously a hundred miles across, so the other robots will be very frightened of it.

Frankly, it gives me the willies, too.