The AOLiser

Posted on November 6, 2003 by Tim Hall

If you want to communicate with the yoof of today on the internet, you need The AOLer Translator. Turn English into the style of a typical 12 year old with an AOL account. (Link from Meera Barry)

Posted in Memes | Comments Off

No 59

Posted on November 6, 2003 by Tim Hall

Is this really just Carnival #45 repackaged in a European shaped box? Are these bad train puns getting worse? Yes, it’s Carnival of the Vanities time again.

Posted in Memes | Comments Off

RPG Die Mechanics

Posted on November 6, 2003 by Tim Hall

The Non-Euclidian Staircase discusses Rolling Dice, with a growing comment thread, on what makes a good RPG dice mechanic, and what doesn’t.

Posted in Games | Comments Off

A radical solution

Posted on November 5, 2003 by Tim Hall

The Czechs have a radical new solution to the problems of road congestion. Expect Ken Linvingstone to adopt the idea shortly! Link from Transport Blog

Posted in Railways | Comments Off

First Thames Trains

Posted on November 4, 2003 by Tim Hall

BBC NEWS | Business | FirstGroup secures rail franchise

The First Group Borg has assimilated another train company, Thames Trains. Since Thames shares London’s Paddington station with First’s flagship company, First Great Western, I assume what we’re going to see is a merger of the two train companies into a single operation ahead of the ‘Greater Western’ franchise that starts in 2006.

From an enthusiast standpoint it means we’re likely to see the 165 and 166 “Turbos” repainted into the hideous “Barbie” colour scheme that’s already disfiguring most of the Great Western HST fleet.

From a passenger standpoint, one wonders how much services will change. Will we see Thames Turbos, HSTs and 185 “Adelantes” shuffled around? 166s to Paignton on summer Saturdays? There’s also the possibility of the timetables being completely recast on some routes with a mix of outer suburban and long distance travel, currently divided between the two operators.

Posted in Railways | 3 Comments

Scapped!

Posted on November 3, 2003 by Tim Hall

Steve Jones is not impressed with Hornby’s new HAA coal hopper. (No permalinks, scroll down to the entry for Monday 3rd)

Posted in Railways | Comments Off

Eric Olsen and the Plectrum of Doom

Posted on November 3, 2003 by Tim Hall

A narrow escape from a Rock and Roll Death worthy of Spïnal Tap.

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

Heard on Virgin Trains

Posted on November 3, 2003 by Tim Hall

Overheard this morning on the public address of a Virgin Voyager.

“We apologise for the late running of this train. This was caused by incredibly bad decision by the signalman to let a late running Thames Trains service out in front of us”.

Of course, had it left Reading dead on time I would not have actually caught it at all….

Posted in Railways | Comments Off

Stupid link for today

Posted on November 3, 2003 by Tim Hall

If you have a sound card, then go view this. It’s work safe, although colleagues may question your sanity (Links from both Anil Haji and Silkenray)

Posted in Memes | Comments Off

Something of the Night

Posted on October 31, 2003 by Tim Hall

Now they’ve dumped the rather hopeless IDS, it looks like Michael “Something of the Night” Howard is going to be the next Tory leader. I’m inclined to interpret this as meaning they’ve abandoned all hope of winning the next election, but want to maximise their core rightwing support in order to avoid complete annihilation. They’ve decided to become the Nasty Party again, targetting the Daily Mail readers. It raises the spectre of him and David Blunkett trying to outbid one another over who can be the most authoritarian and illiberal.

Tom Coates of Plastibag.org has this to say:

Instead of being able to view the Conservative party as representing an alternative – perhaps more market / efficiency driven – approach to running the country, appointing Michael Howard is no more or less than running up the Conservative Skull and Crossbones again and setting sail for the easy targets of cheap political swag.

This leaves the Liberal Democrats as the only party with a socially liberal agenda. Charles Kennedy should be very pleased with this .

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off