I managed to curtail my usually unbridled cynicism and watch/listen to a fair bit of the London Live8 gig last night whilst getting ready to go to/going to/having dinner at friends. It wasn’t bad for the most part (Jonathan Ross making a few barbed comments about the Eden Project gig along the lines of "wow! it looks like the real fun is going on there!") apart from some slightly nauseating luvvies getting it on with their egos (whilst it’s jolly good of these people to give their time and energy to do it, one can’t help but think that they will be making a hefty mint in royalties from increased record sales and lovely publicity).
But best of all was seeing The Who and the reformed Floyd showing the kids how it should be done. I get the feeling that we’ll never see the likes of that again.

As belated tribute to the late, great Richard Whiteley, here’s an amusing video clip (not work safe).

B3ta’s definitive guide to poaching an egg. Genius. Of course, I’ll stick to using our poaching pan, which is a heck of a lot easier.

Inside Battersea Power Station.

I’ve just heard that London has won the Olympic bidding process - and how did I hear? Not from the BBC - their server has given up the ghost. Not from Ananova or Reuters, who haven’t updated their pages with the news. I heard from LinkBunnies - officially first with the news.
Anyway, well done to the London bid team. I’m not sure if it is all a good thing or a bad thing - it’s probably good. I also think that I’ll start planning to be abroad whilst it is taking place.

EDIT: This Isn’t London comes out of hibernation to list the major new infrastructure projects the announcement brings forward:

I’m so utterly out-of-touch with music these days. Back in the distant past of bachelorhood, I’d spend at least a couple of evenings each week listening to obscure music on Peel, the web or odd CDs I’d picked up for a couple of quid in those boxes that the record stores in North Laine stand on the pavement outside their shopfronts.
These days, with a wife, two kittens and an all-consuming small business, time like that is a luxury.
But, occasionally, an opportunity presents itself. Today, that opportunity has been doing my accounts, which has meant a long period spent at the laptop with headphones on to try and shut out the outside world (and also to help preserve my sanity when I realise exactly how many receipts I have from the Post Office).
But where to start? There is so much good music on the web, as well as an awful lot of dross. I’ve got a few editions of GHC sitting on the hard drive that I haven’t got round to yet, but somehow I wasn’t quite ready for a full two hour session with Lars. So, I cast my mind back to some of the stuff I’d heard on Peel and thought about looking a few of the bands and artists up. I’m not sure why they crept into my head, but my thoughts wandered to The Bays. Go there now. Register (it’s free). Download. Listen. Enjoy.
And check out their "profile" section to get some background on The Bays and their whole ethos. And read "Taylor’s Tales" - somebody give the man a book deal, ok?

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…that this happened today and not yesterday, otherwise the Olympics would probably not be coming to London.

EDIT: when I wrote that, the reports were of a power surge that had left a few people slightly injured. Now a full picture is emerging that is much more disturbing. My cousin and several friends work in the area targeted by the bombers. I’m really quite worried and the reports of eyewitnesses give little encouragement.
FURTHER EDIT: all safe and well.
ADDITIONAL EDIT: the media keep talking about the low levels of fatality. But I can’t help thinking that that is optimistic. Surely the triage operation at the scene will have left the dead laying where they were whilst the efforts were focused on the injured. It’s hard to imagine what the bombers hoped to achieve by this.
LATER: My fears have been realised with reports giving the number of dead as between 33 and 41. I suspect that figure may rise. As for the reaction, I think that Ken Livingstone got it right by saying that this was an indiscriminate attack on all Londoners. George Galloway got it wrong - many people might agree with his opinion, but to voice it today is distasteful and shows a lack of compassion for the bereaved and injured.
LINK: With so many bloggers in the world now, there is often one of our number present at a major news event. Justin survived and recorded his experience.

Poached shamelessly from 2lmc:

A few people have noticed that things have been generally quieter than normal in these parts lately. One friend even suggested that I was coming across as distracted.
In addition, I’ve alluded to a few sleepless nights that we’ve had lately.
I even had to turn down an invitation for drinks from the Uborka Two and will be writing to the Sevitz to say that we can’t fit into his bra. Or something.
Here’s why:

Hels and I are absolutely delighted to announce that we are to be parents, with a baby due in January. When we’re not being absolutely terrified, we’re smiling like loons. Not everything has run smoothly thus far, as we’ve had a couple of scary moments in the emergency ward at the local maternity unit (where the staff are splendid, I must add). But things seem to be running relatively smoothly at the moment, with just the usual nausea, tiredness and urges to vomit. And that’s just me.
More news as things progress, and feel free to kick me under the table if I turn into a baby bore.
And before you ask, we don’t know yet if we need blue or pink baby clothes. We do intend to find out when the time comes, but we’ll be keeping it to ourselves until the baby is born (and I’ll try ever-so-hard only to refer to "it" or "the baby" and not to "he" or "she". Or "Dave".)

I want one of these.
You can buy one here if you live in the UK.
I heard about it here.
I think I may need better speakers. And a better car. But hey, I can dream.

Junk mail. Pain in the neck. But don’t the spammers realise that a message saying "now I don’t worry about the size of my penis" from someone called Georgina is probably not going to work.

From the genius that is rathergood.com.

In the absence of anything new from Weebl, here’s a story about a missing pie (NSFW).

Alias Runner - for petrolheads.

I’ve just watched Channel 4 News, in which they revealed that they had "found the shop where the London bombers bought their rucksacks!"
Cut to exterior shot of a branch of Blacks outdoor-type shop and aerated reporter breathlessly telling us that this "reflected a pattern of the bombers buying what they needed over the counter" (I paraphrase). The reporter helpfully went on to say that a representative from the store chain had told reporters that they had withdrawn the type of rucksack used by the bombers.
WTF? Firstly, do the media expect us to think that the rucksacks were especially shipped in from Afghanistan for the purpose of bombing? Secondly, do they think that we are somehow going to be reassured by the fact that the particular rucksack has been withdrawn? I mean, clearly it will now be much harder for a bomber to carry out a similar attack if they can’t get that special bomber’s bag.
The reporter went on to tell us that the bombers also bought plastic containers from a nearby garden centre ("for less than a pound!"), but by that point I was fed up and left the room before I put a boot through the TV screen.
I used to expect good things from Channel 4 News. Clearly I should expect only Daily Mail-style sensationalism now.

Teachers want to replace the word "failed" with "deferred success" when marking pupils’ work and papers.
WTF again?? Does that mean that, when the guard on your morning train tells you that the "train has failed" (I’ve always loved that phrase), what he in fact means is that the rolling stock is merely suffering from deferred success. Genius.

Without doubt a great loss to the club, but needs must when the coffers are empty.

James Doohan, RIP.

Today I took Hels to the hospital for a new scan and something called a Nuchal Translucency Test (which definitely merits capital letters). I won’t bore you with too many details about it, nor with another grainy black and white image of the baby (although we could clearly see the arms, legs and nose, as well as the spine, thigh bones and stomach). The test is for Down’s Syndrome and the result gives a probability for the baby suffering that condition. The starting point for a woman of Hels’s age is 1 in 131, but as a result of the test we now have the surprisingly precise figure of 1 in 704 which, apparently, makes her the equivalent of a woman ten years younger. Naturally this went down well with my wife. Anyway, the baby is considered to be at low risk of Down’s and no further testing for it will be required.
Amusingly, as the sonographer tried various angles with the scanner in order to get a clear image of the foetus, the Graysprog decided that he/she was definitely not happy with being pushed about and gave Hels a fairly hefty kick - which we could see clearly on the monitor. That was very cool indeed.

Dave the Kennamatic needs help. "Nothing new there", I hear you cry. But take pity on the poor chap and head over to his site to give him some advice on romancing.

…as well as providing wedding cake for a famous blogger and his wife.
Well, maybe not famous.
See…?

Comic strip for geeks (really rather good).

You know, I’m half-tempted to have a go at this. Problem is that I have to be in the Netherlands at the end of the last week in August. But it could be fun to do.

In Grow, you must try and drag the items at the side of the screen to the centre in the correct order. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? There are only eight items after all.
The question is, if it is so easy, why have I ben struggling with it for nearly an hour?

Get that 1970s arcade console feeling with this excellent version of Asteroids with sounds that are just about as close to the original as you’re going to get. via the bunnies.

Tom Coates on the lack (as he perceives it) of IT start-ups in the UK. I’ve added some thoughts on problems faced by small businesses in the UK, many of which I think are of their own making.

I think I’ve linked to the Salad Fingers cartoons before. Episode 6 is now online. I should warn you that these cartoons are probably not for the mentally unsound. They are truly disturbing, not least for the excellent and atmospheric Boards of Canada music in the background.

We’ve had a bit of rain here over the last few days, and very welcome it is too. The grass is definitely greener and the plants are generally perkier.
But try to imagine what it is like to live and work somewhere when 26 inches of rain falls in one day.

The shortlist for the Stirling Prize for Architecture is out. I suspect that the McLaren building will win (home of Formula 1 cars and push chairs). The BMW building is striking, as is the Jubilee Library in Brighton (I saw a similar style building on the main square in Stuttgart when I was last there, and it looked absolutely stunning both by day and by night), but my personal favourite is the Lewis Gluckman Gallery in Cork. Maybe that’s because I’m always drawn to buildings with angular interpenetrations and marvel not only at the design but also at the engineering of the construction.

Most people understand that the Blue Flag is given to beaches that meet certain standards. But did you know that there is also a Green Flag? Parks and other public open spaces are judged on the criteria of

• being welcoming
• being healthy, safe and secure
• being clean and well maintained
• sustainability
• conservation and heritage
• community involvement
• marketing
• management

I’m not familiar with all, or even many, of those that have been awarded the flag this year, but the few that I do know are certainly the sort of places where you can imagine going with the family for a Sunday afternoon. Worth checking out.

Open-source beer.

Interesting to read the comments from readers of Slugger O’Toole. There seems to be a huge amount of cynicism about the IRA’s stated aim of ending violence and non-peaceful activities. I hope the cynics are wrong, but I suspect that the Unionists will only be satisfied by proof in the form of actions (or inactions, as the case may be).