Daniel Tammet’s thoughts on ‘The God Delusion’

I’ve just read Daniel Tammet’s thoughts on ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins. The comments section hosts a stimulating debate and Daniel (famed for being a high functioning autistic savant, who recalled PI to over 20,000 decimal places and learned Icelandic in 7 days) puts some well thought out arguments across. Here’s one introducing the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard‘s idea about the three spheres of existence in a human life (I’d say I’m on the second sphere):

Baby Tiger on Thursday night anyone?

Alex Cornish is playing at Baby Tiger on Thursday night. The gig is based in The Den at Cafe Royal on West Register Street.

The Phantom Pooer

This is gross. I’m not travelling on trains until this man is caught and his bottom is wiped clean. Dirty bastard!

This is a CCTV image of the man in question. The police have warned the public not to approach the man if they see him but to call them or alert train staff immediately.

Update

By 6pm today I have had over 100 visitors coming to this post obviously looking for info on the now infamous train defecator. I wish I could tell you more. Meanwhile, if you have the stomach for gross sounds I point you to the current top ten at RateMyFart.com.

Update 2

The phantom pooer, one Bonney Eberndu, has been found, according to News Shopper:

A MAN accused of causing more than £20,000 damage by defecating on trains has been remanded in custody.

Bonney Eberndu, aged 36, of no fixed address, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier today.

Eberndu was arrested on Wednesday at Camberwell Green bus garage, in connection with 22 incidents of criminal damage on trains across south east London since August.

He is due to reappear at the same court on November 2.

The BBC has a few more details about the arrest and Google News will keep you updated on Bonney’s future.

Video of the Week – White & Nerdy

I don’t know if you’ve seen the latest vid from Weird Al. It’s funny and you should definitely watch it if you haven’t already.

Did you hear about this bomb plot?

Last week a man was charged under the Explosives Substances Act 1883.

Police claimed last week that they had seized what was potentially the largest ever haul of chemical explosives plus a rocket launcher and a nuclear and biological protection suit.

This didn’t make the headlines as the police played down the importance of the issue and didn’t make a press release. The mainstream media didn’t get to hear about the story until days after, at which time reporting the story would could jeapordise a fair trial. Beware, this last link contains a heated debate in the comments section.

The trial is on October 23rd.

Update

The case has been sent to Manchester Crown Court for trial on February 12th 2007. The defendants will not face any charges related to terrorism and still the case has not been picked up by the mainstream media.

Video of the Week

The guy in this video is a traceur, a participant of the physical displine known as Parkour. According to the title of the video, the traceur is russian, so I guess it was filmed in Russia too. The video is set in a run-down part of town. There’s no shortage of derelict buildings to scale and leap between. It must be a Parkour’s paradise. From Wikipedia:

Parkour is often connected with the idea of freedom, in the form of the ability to overcome aspects of one’s surroundings that tend to confine; for example, railings, staircases, or walls. The practice of parkour requires considerable physical and mental dedication, and many adherents describe it as a “way of life.”

Cassette Covers

I have about 200 audio cassettes taking up prime shelf space at home. I don’t listen to the cassettes much anymore, they have become ornaments, ugly ornaments.

Today I’ve started to box them up and have kept only a few of the non-labelled cassettes out as I’m intrigued to find out what’s on them. May be there’s a long lost gem that my band recorded back in its heyday. No really, I was in a band, and no, we never had a heyday but its always fun and self-indulgent to listen back and wonder what if… what if we had some talent.

I was gonna scan all the covers of the cassette singles, just the ones that came in a cardboard sleeve rather than a plastic cassette box, but the scanner wouldn’t do its magic autocrop function because the scanner lid was too high above the scanning element. In the end I just scanned the cassettes I got free from the Melody Maker, NME and Vox magazine. These tapes got a serious amount of playtime in my walkman and on my dodgy Aiwa stereo.

Move over eBay – Introducing Mobmart

Mobmart calls itself “The world’s first mobile-powered auction site”. To sell something simply:

1. Snap – Take a photo of your item with your mobile phone.
2. Send – Send it to 07720 11 00 22 and fill in the simple form.
3. Sell – Receive bids and buyer’s details direct to your mobile phone.

You can also send videos of yourself pitching the item you’re trying to sell.