Natural history eyecandy.....

....from the Natural History Museum's online collections. Above we have a spendid rendition of the Banded Goatsucker (it's much prettier than it's name!) from the First Fleet Artwork Collection

Magnificent mutations

"Mutapic is an online picture generator. It is a free tool you can use to rapidly create original art." Loads of fun to be had here! (There's also a 'Pro' version available for $30 which allows you to use your own pictures as a source if you get bitten by the bug)

Remember Clippy?

Build your own and somehow everything feels that little bit better!

Not in front of the children....

This post is prompted by reading an article in the Whitley Bay NewsGuardian, (Mortimer at Large) last weekend "Uncle Mac, the runaway train and all those bogus sofas exposed" In this erudite piece Mortimer bares his soul, reveals his childhood fears and debunks the received wisdom that a generation of children spent every early episode of Dr Who huddled behind the nation's sofas, whimpering. OK, so I can go along with most of his argument, but how on earth could he forget to mention Sparky's Magic Piano in his list of "most feared"....I can only presume he's blocked it out.

So, in an attempt to quell my inner demons (because it scared the shit out of me!) I've searched the soundtrack out......prepare to be very, very scared

PS....There's lots more 'tracks to scare the children with' salted away on cds....next time it could be 'Tubby the Tuba' or 'Itsy bitsy, tweeny weeny, yellow polkadot bikini' that comes to haunt your dreams!

Mash Van Update

So it was true then! An Aunt Bessie's Mash Van was spotted in Northumberland St this lunchtime.....and despite the warmer weather there was a queue to give them a try.

Childrens TV

After listening to a programme on the radio about the demise, or rather the americanisation, of UK TV childrens programming I got all nostalgic....but then it doesn't take much! Cue YouTube search.....

Muffin the Mule Part 1

Muffin the Mule Part 2

Watch with Mother
On Monday it was Picture Book....

Tuesday, Andy Pandy

Wednesday, Bill and Ben

Thursday, Rag, Tag and Bobtail

....and Friday, The Woodentops


Some background here

.....jut don't get me started on Pinky and Perky, Sooty and Sweep and Crackerjack!

War of the Worlds....yet again

Bongolongland has a great "War of the Worlds" post with links to downloadable audio files for 6 very different versions. One of them is the 1967 BBC radio version which I just happen to be listening to right now (interesting fact, the sainted Martin Jarvis only got to play the "assistant" to the main player in those days, only making it to episode 2 of 6). This is what appeared in the Radio Times at the time, click on the image to enlarge.....

You can listen to yet another version online at "Streaming Audio Entertainment"

LATER....Mars Attacks...bubble gum card set archive

Teaching grannies to suck eggs

Like we need to be told how!!

From BBC Radio4, "Questions, questions", April 10th 2008

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside.....

The Rendezvous Cafe introduced me to the joys of a steaming mug of Horlicks (in a branded cup that had no hole in the handle to loop a finger through) as the ultimate reward after a wet and windy Sunday afternoon walk rather too many years ago than I wish to remember. The alternatives were (an even then 'retro') frothy coffee in a glass cup or, if you had the teeth and stomach for it, a Knickerbocker Glory or Strawberry Sundae.

Some links
Classic Cafes
Rendezvous Cafe

This one's for Daizy and Hails

Daizy (because she adores Mario) and Hails because he'll no doubt marvel at the patience it required to set it all up in the first place!

http://view.break.com/487616 - Watch more free videos

Local interest

Not sure whether I've already posted to The North East England History Pages, so I'll just presume I haven't. Here's what the site says about the origins of Haltwhistle as a place name...

"The name of this Northumbrian town in the heart of Hadrians Wall Country would seem straigtforward enough and not surprisingly is often interpreted as a railway station halt where locomotives blew their whistles. In the nineteenth century Haltwhistle was certainly the site of a Victorian railway station but the name is not in any way connected with this and is first recorded in the thirteenth century as Hautwisel. There are two parts to the name the first, haut, is Old French and means high ground. The second element is Twisel or Twisla and is a word of medieval origin meaning a fork in a road or river. In the case of Haultwhistle the twisla is a fork in the river where the River South Tyne is joined by the Haltwhistle Burn. Haltwhistle is situated on high ground located in the fork formed by the conjunction of the two watercourses. Other twisels in the north include Twizel near Berwick, Twizle near Morpeth and Twizell between Chester le Street and Stanley."

Old Food

"From Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, The Old Foodie gives you 400 words each weekday on a topic related to the day, plus a historic recipe, and sometimes a menu. And how much fun is that!"

Check out the post for 11th April....all about dandelions but more particularly Dandelion and Burdock, which I remember being delivered every week by "The Pop Man" when I was small.....ah, halcyon days!

Coffee time clip

Charles Darwin Online

That's right, the whole shebang scanned and digitised for your viewing pleasure.

They say....."This site contains Darwin's complete publications, thousands of handwritten manuscripts and the largest Darwin bibliography and manuscript catalogue ever published"

Visit Darwin Online

Have some madeira m'dear...

Listen and watch to some vintage Flanders and Swann....just because you should when you get the chance!

Finding this tonight on YouTube had me searching for the "The Complete Flanders and Swann" 3 CD Boxed Set that I bought years ago.....mission successful and currently listening to "At the drop of a Hat" (recorded, according to the notes, at the final performance at the Fortune Theatre London on my 8th birthday)

And the reason for the "wrap-around-funnel-with-integral-condom" contraption would be...?

Let's be generous and assume rotten tooth induced drool!

From ModernMechanix

Millie the Model

I'm saying nothing.....except there's a great post at Learning2Share

Extreme Mah Jongg?

Just a taster from "The Pageant of the Century". This comes from 1924....and who's to say whether this is the "sub-aqua" or "strip" version, because there's no mention why the players of this game of Mah Jongg seem to be in state of semi undress and in 2 cases sporting uncomfortable rubber goods on their heads....but hey, it's probably better not to ask!

Who took this one?

Filched and scanned from Ma's photographic suitcase archive a few weeks ago. Where, who, when, what and why? Whatever.....it's a good snap!

UPDATE....Apparently Dad/Grandad, somewhere on the Tyne, sometime in the 80's

St Tropez report

Apparently Chris and Nick are still watching dvd's in the "less than stylish" caravan....it's "House" tonight. So much for the Med!

Fanfare for a new (old) book

Bought this on the Haltwhistle visit. Published in 1933 and covering the period from 1900....700 pages of sepia pictures for 50p. Expect occasional extracts when I can't think of anything else to say!

All is not what it seems

And there's a blog to prove it! Photoshop Disasters is always worth a visit.

The British Museum Image Database

If you have an hour or six to spare, some small picture frames, ink in your printer and a wall to fill, you could do worse than visit the advanced print search page at the British Museum. With free registration you can request up to 100 images a month (they email them out to you within a day or so) Just as an example to show the size of the collection online I searched for "design" and I got 17071 results

UPDATE....I received the higher res version of the above in an email this morning after ordering it yesterday, it printed out well at almost A4 size.

More cats....

.....this time "The Engineers Guide to...."

Some laid-back Saturday morning listening

By the way, the above album comes courtesy of Jamendo, "On Jamendo artists allow anyone to download and share their music. It's free, legal and unlimited" (and as of today, 8285 albums available online)

Probably a good thing it never happened!

From ModernMechanix....

"Pleasure-Tower Half Mile High
Towering almost half a mile above the ground, dwarfing such gigantic structures as the Empire State Building and the Eiffel tower, a huge concrete tower 2300 feet high, surmounted with a beacon and built with a spiral ramp for autos to climb up its sides, stuns the imagination with its vastness. It is the design of the French engineer, M. Freyssinet, intended for the 1937 Paris Exhibition. He estimates the cost at less than half the Eiffel Tower, or in the neighborhood of $2,500,000. It will be called the “Phare du Monde,” or Lighthouse of the World- The project appears far removed from the visionary and a new all-time “high” in buildings seems in a fair way to being achieved."

Hmmm...so let's get this straight, you drive up to the top, turn round, then drive back down again? Wow...they certainly knew how to live!

Boxing Cat

Bow Street Runner.....Update

All 5 Episodes now available to play online

Dynamic Architecture

I can see problems....let's say you live on the 13th floor and Mr Arbuthnot in the appartment next door decides he wants to face North while he paints a series of watercolours, meanwhile you, being a keen gardener and having a seed tray of prizewinning leek seedlings on your windowsill, favour the South..........

A mystery to be solved....or a hoax?

From Wikipedia....

"The Voynich manuscript is a mysterious illustrated book written in an indecipherable text. It is thought to have been written between approximately 1450 and 1520. The author, script and language of the manuscript remain unknown.Over its recorded existence, the Voynich manuscript has been the object of intense study by many professional and amateur cryptographers, including some top American and British codebreakers of World War II fame (all of whom failed to decrypt a single word). This string of failures has turned the Voynich manuscript into a famous subject of historical cryptology, but it has also given weight to the theory that the book is simply an elaborate hoax — a meaningless sequence of arbitrary symbols."

Wikipedia entry

Scans of the book on Flickr

Late April Fools...or a good idea?

From the Metro today.....

"Food company Aunt Bessie's claims it is breathing new life into the fortunes of the ice cream van by replacing the 99 Flake with an all-weather alternative." Now, replace that ice cream cone with a crispy Yorkshire pudding look-alike and their "Mash Van" fleet might just make a killing!

Isadora Duncan...fashion victim

Chris and Nick are apparently currently sheltering in their (apparently not very stylish) caravan from the (St Tropez) cold watching dvd's tonight....oh, the wonders of SMS!. But today they saw the hotel, close to which Isadora Duncan was throttled by a floaty scarf. Her reported last words were: "Adieu, mes amis. Je vais à la gloire"......though how she managed even that short statement after being garrotted leaves some questions! Some links.....
On Wikipedia
On YouTube

Newcastle....the insiders guide

Newcastle: The Insider Guide from James Hill on Vimeo.

Online Web Publishing

Create your own magazine, convert it to pdf and upload to Issuu for some free, slick, web publishing. And before you ask, no I didn't do the one embedded above!

Lunchtime sortie

....is the temporary home of the Newcastle Local Studies Centre (previously housed at the now demolished Central Library....check out progress on the rebuild webcam here) Wasn't looking for anything particular, just to find out what they had. Here's an hours worth.....

A quick search of the (delightfully tactile) card index for "Haltwhistle" came up with "The Official Guide to Haltwhistle distributed by the Haltwhistle Rural District Council, 1951", it being the year I was born I just had to ask one of the very helpful ladies on the desk to dig it out from the archives for me.....lots of adverts, front and back.....there were some memorable taglines....

Kilfrost
"Haltwhistle, The Home of Kilfrost"
Arthur F Graham
"Tinned Goods in Large Variety"
J Wear Elliott
"Cylinders Rebored on the Premises - by the Latest Appliances"
T & A Hannah
"Our Bread Deserves a Trial"
W Thompson & Son
"Stockings Knit to Order.....and Refooted"

And under the heading "Shops" was this....
"Haltwhistle has a busy shopping centre which is made up of a large variety of shops and stores including branches of some of the large multiple stores. All household, personal and general needs may be obtained in the town and the quality and variety of the goods displayed attracts shoppers from a large surrounding area"......so there!

Anyway.....think I'll be spending some more lunchtimes down in the depths!!

Losing stuff.....

OK, so we've all done it.....can't find something vital when we had it in our hands a couple of minutes ago.....it happens to me at least twice a week. Listen to Tony Hawks on the subject (BBC Radio 4, Sunday April 6th 2008)...



But what to do about it?

Help is at hand....online, check out Professor Solomons 12 Principles for finding a lost object or you can download the whole book

Then, if you happen to believe in the dark arts, there's always "Finding lost objects with the aid of Numerology".....but when the first instruction is to "concentrate on the lost object and scribble down a nine digit number on a piece of paper" somehow, I'm not convinced!!!

Read this doc on Scribd: Finding Lost Objects with the Help of Numerology

Eat! NewcastleGateshead 2008

This years local eating extravaganza.....like we needed an excuse!

They say....."EAT! NewcastleGateshead, now in its second year, celebrates the region’s very best food and drink. There’s an exciting programme of unique events with the finest local and fairly traded produce all here on a plate"

I've put a copy of the programme in the box files

Nah.....think I'll give it a miss!

A conference talk to remember....

....and, let's face it, it's not often you can say that!

"The North Pole....the hard way" by Conrad Dickinson. "Supporting Northumbria" keynote address, 3rd April 2008.

Got me thinking why some people DO things (he and his expedition partner made it to the North Pole "unsupported".....while I find it difficult making it to the far end of the garden supported by the cat and a large glass of chewy red).....but then I got tired and poured another glass! Seriously though, it was pretty inspiring. Check out the expedition here (and consider yourself damned lucky next time it's slightly slushy underfoot)

More warbling from Valentino

Now apparently Ma was rather less than impressed with Rudolf's spirited rendition of "The Kashmiri Song" posted earlier.....can't imagine why. Maybe the picture above will rekindle her interest. But she also needs to hear the rest of his back catalogue.....don't worry folks, there's only the one track! Listen, and marvel, to "El Relicario"

Do, do, do.....the Hullaballoo

Food (blogs), glorious food (blogs)

Haven't mentioned food for a while.....but there's a mind-bogglingly long list of food blogs here to make up for the ommission

Remember that scary footpath in China I linked to?

Here's another one, this time Caminito del Rey in Spain....and it's a video this time (WARNING...I don't recommend watching this immediately after eating!)

Haltwhistle Carnival 2007

Ma was wondering whether there was still a Haltwhistle Carnival last weekend. And the answer is.......

A Friday Timewaster

Magic Pen, simple concept, addictive.....and harder than it sounds in the instructions!

Stories of the Border Marches

This is more a test to find out whether Scribd embed code works than to highlight a book of outstanding literary merit or interest!

Read this doc on Scribd: Stories of the Border Marches by Lang, Jeanie

OK, it's a game for kids....or the young at heart

But the graphics are pretty and the soundtrack is relaxing.....and the questions aren't too taxing!
Made by the same people who produced Samarost
Play it here

Comic book sound effects

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

But just in case you need the real thing, you'll probably find it at SoundSnap

View of the Future

The forty year prediction from 1968 here at Modern Mechanix

Hubbub...Filth, Noise and Stench in England 1660-1700

This looks like my sort of book! Limited preview at Google Books, extract below

Paperback will be published at the end of April

It was time for a desktop makeover....

....and Vladstudio always comes up trumps!

I'm not sure if this is an April Fools Day spoof but....

....the only way to find out is to start knitting! Knit your own Elvis wig.....pattern here (apparently!)

Petri dish desserts....

Perfect for your next horror themed evening
Found at Make Magazine

Look what I found on Flickr

So of course I felt obliged to add to the comments!

Toy time!

Following the success of Ma's birthday present....

The Sheik seemed to go down well, so here are the dulcet tones of Rudolf Valentino crooning "Kashmiri Song" (with a rousing introduction).....maybe he should have stayed mysteriously silent!

10 more gnomes in an early spring garden

After complaints of blog inactivity from Chris at the weekend.....your starter for 10! Find another 10 gnomes in Episode 3 of the game.

Play here