If you’re up and showered
I’ll be on Frank Skinner’s breakfast show, on Absolute Radio, 9-10 am this morning. This may only be London-based, I’m not sure.
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Angry villagers stop Google Street View car
Angry residents of a Buckinghamshire village blocked the driver of a Google Street View car who was filming the neighbourhood, saying they feared he would encourage burglaries, a report said Friday. One resident, Paul Jacobs, told the BBC that he had alerted his neighbours after spotting the car from his window in Broughton in southern England on Wednesday.
“I don’t have a problem with Google wanting to promote villages. What I have a problem with is the invasion of privacy, taking pictures directly into the home,” Jacobs said. After his call, a police car arrived in Broughton to reports of a dispute between a crowd of people and a Google Street View contractor
“They felt his presence was an intrusion of their privacy. When police arrived at the scene, the car had moved on,” explained a spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police. The Google Street View project, set up last month in Britain, aims to provide detailed 360-degree views online of streets all over the country.
The project has already been strongly criticised by associations like Privacy International, a pressure group which has launched legal action against the IT company.
Women really are better than men at processing faces
“Often, if a film features two characters who look vaguely similar – for instance both are tall, dark-haired, middle-aged men – I will find myself confusing the two, as I struggle to form a distinct impression of each of their faces. Maybe it’s to do with the fact I’m male. New research by Ryan McBain has built on previous, more equivocal studies by showing that women are better than men at spotting a face in a display, and better at distinguishing between faces.”
In an initial experiment, 35 women and 27 men had to say as fast as possible where on a screen a line drawing of a face appeared. The drawing was basic, showing only the outline of eye-brows, a nose, mouth and chin, and was embedded among other random lines. The female participants were more accurate than the men for this face-spotting task, whereas both sexes performed equally well during a control task that required them to spot trees.
Bring back Paul Daniels… petition now!
OK I’ve had this request sent to me, and we all have to admit – without Paul Daniels there would be no Derren Brown. Now before you all jump to conclusion that PD is DB’s father – relise that when Derren was still a glint in the milkman’s eye Daniels was performing what was considered at the time groundbreaking work. The young Derren like many of us in our 30′s grew up with this man on TV and helped fill our houses with magic (we didn’t have much choice with only 3 channels as well).
So go vote to bring Paul Daniels back for a 1 off show because wether you like him or like him not a lot we could all do with a bit more magic on TV. The petition has the full backing of DB, Coops and all the other scallywags – go sign it now.
Richard Dawkins says Pope is ‘stupid’ whilst looking a bit mental
Professor Dawkins, the prominent biologist and atheist, said that Benedict XVI would have blood on his hands if his beliefs were followed by Catholics around the continent.
Speaking at a university in Spain, he said: “I wonder on what basis anyone can say condoms make Aids worse. The Pope is either stupid, ignorant or dim.
“If people take his words seriously he will be responsible for the deaths of thousands, perhaps millions of people.”
Prof Dawkins, 67, was speaking at a press conference at the University of Valencia after having been awarded an honorary degree.
He also urged people to think for themselves on the subject, adding that the more they did, the less they were likely to believe in God.
He congratulated Barack Obama, the US President, for having overturned a ban imposed by his predecessor, George W. Bush, on state funding for stem cell research.
Prof Dawkins, who recently stepped down as the Professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, is renowned for his strident views
HAHA Suckers… April fools!
I’ve stolen this from The Questionable Authority – a great blog by Mike Dunford from the Department of Zoology at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. I thought it was appropriate seeming as absolutely every single one of you fell for our heavily planned and highly skilled execution of the previous entry.
Try it out and don’t cheat!
Can you spot the April Fools gags, or is reality too weird?
We’ve reached the point where reality has become so completely absurd that sheer absurdity is no longer a reliable indicator that a news item or blog post is actually an April Fools gag. I don’t know whether I should laugh, cry, or crawl into a hole and hide.
Think I’m kidding? Here are a few of the stories I’ve noticed so far today. Try and guess which ones are April Fools jokes, and which are real. I’ll put the answers and links to the sources – I think I’ve got them all right – below the fold.
1. Minor volcanic eruption in Yellowstone Caldera.
2. Following hospitalization of student as result of kick to groin, Conn. school bans all physical contact between students. Parents called in for conference when one student protests by attending school with arms duct-taped to sides.
3. Federally funded abstinence-only group uses machete-juggling clown to illustrate dangers of sex.
4. Justice Department rules that its own prosecutorial misconduct will prevent war crimes and torture investigations from proceeding.
5. Entire colony of Laysan Albatrosses on Oahu vanishes without trace.
6. Howard Ahmanson – Christian philanthropist who provided much of Discovery Institute’s early funding -registers as Democrat.
Take a second and jot down your answers before you check your results.
Answers:
1: Yellowstone eruption - April Fools.
2: Banning contact - real news. Duct-taped student - real news.
3: Federally funded abstinence clown - real news.
4: Justice Dept. misconduct/torture ruling - April Fools. At least for now.
5. Vanishing albatrosses - real news.
6. Ahmanson = Dem - real news.
Be honest – how many did you get?
URGENTLY CALLING ALL HYPNOTISTS – WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!
DISASTER HAS STRUCK IN PREPARATION FOR THE TOUR AND WE GIVING A HUGE CALL OUT TO ALL THE HYPNOTISTS OUT THERE WHO MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP.
During the preparation for the finale piece of the Enigma live show Derren has
accidentally managed to hypnotise himself. He’s in a trance state,
suffering from severe memory loss, has trouble with movement on his
left side and cannot talk. He’s been like this since 8.30am today
and attempts to bring him back round have only made the effects worse.
An onsite medical team has assured us that there is no major trauma caused although they are unsure of what the cause of the symptoms are and we have been told not to move Derren from the site.
Anyone who thinks they can help reboot Derren should contact us
immediately with instruction as the tour begins in just a few days and
there is still considerable work to do. We are all quite concerned
about this but are quite sure that Derren can be returned to normal
before the tour begins if we get the right help.
Please contact us on emergency@derrenbrownart.com before Thursday if
you think you can help.
I hope you will all understand that we will not update the site or the blog until we know Derren is OK.
Thanks
All at Brown Towers
