Month: May 2003

…and its name is Broooooooooooooce! Very good. Very good indeed. And very punctual. The chap is a complete pro—even when trying to hang upside down from his mike stand and falling off.

BBC: Gardeners' pet hate for cats [26-May-03] …Wildlife experts say keeping cats locked up from dusk to dawn will prevent much of the carnage they create, and will also mean they are less likely to be run over. No, what we really need is a way to prevent cats from creating carnage without diminishing their… Continue reading A Modest Proposal

BBC: UK act hits Eurovision low [25-May-03] …Following an off-key rendition of their song Cry Baby, [pop duo Jemini] failed to collect a single point from [Eurovision Song Contest] judges and finished last in the 26-nation competition. Well, at least the French had a half-decent excuse for giving us nul points this time. But could… Continue reading Don't Mention the W*r

BBC News: Rich 'must pay to save nature' [23-May-03] Look, I'm sorry, I'd really love to help—but I honestly don't think I can afford it. And, besides, why are these charity cases always picking on me?

Sky News: Butler: I Doubt Accident [23-May-03] …[Royal Butler Paul] Burrell has also dismissed claims that [Princess] Diana was pregnant when she died or that she had taken cocaine. "Her body was an absolute temple, she would not put anything into her body that was foreign," he said. And as to the cocaine charge…

National Geographic: Tall As a Deer, Huge U.K. Bird Staging a Comeback [06-May-03] …As tall as a deer and weighing up to 45 pounds (20 kilograms)—equivalent to over two wild turkeys—the great bustard is set to return to its old stomping ground. As tall as a deer, eh? Presumably, its beak is as long as… Continue reading Untitled

From Of Moths and Men by Judith Hooper: …The third of the great population geneticists, John Burdon Sanderson Haldane, was the brilliant, idiosyncratic, polymath son of the prominent Oxford physiologist John Sanderson Haldane. As a teenager he took up the breeding of guinea pigs with his sister Naomi… Yes, I reckon that counts as fairly… Continue reading Human Guinea Pigs

BBC: Springsteen gig gets go-ahead [09-May-03] Bruce Springsteen's first UK concert for 10 years will take place after a court dismissed protests from residents living near the venue in Manchester… [Trafford Magistrates Court said,] "[W]e have given a great deal of consideration to the profile of this particular artist and the maturity of the support… Continue reading Born to Pun

Mirror Project

BBC: Trapped climber amputates own arm [03-May-03] A US rock climber used a penknife to amputate his own arm and escape to safety after a boulder pinned him down for five days in a remote part of the western state of Utah… Officials said that his condition was serious but that he would fully recover.… Continue reading A mere scratch