So much for that resolution...
[Listening to: Modern World, The - The Jam - Beat Surrender [UK]]
I did make a resolution to try and write more often this year. This particular link obviously should have been posted at the end of 2004, but I've had a few PC woes (and still do...but that's another story), anyway, here's 100 things we didn't know this time last year. One thing not included in this list of gems was the fact that the US had a secret weapon plan: Gay bombs. Where will it end?
Earlier this year, there were calls for crash helmets after collisions on the ski slopes in Italy after a hit and run on the slopes at Val Zoldana. Obviously no one ever wants to see people injured on the slopes, especially in a terrible incident like this, but I have to say, in my view this is not the answer , and is a reaction typical of a lot of bureaucracies. Passing a law here in Italy is a relatively worthless effort, Ignoring the law is practically a national pastime. As it is I see more policemen on the slopes here than in any other country. Another argument put forward was separate pistes for skiers and snowboarders, which is equally ludicrous. How about seperate roads for 4x4 vehicles and cars perhaps? A lot of Italians ski like they drive. I rest my case.
A good piece of news for me on the BBC News site the other day (well, weeks ago actually), as Sony abandons copy-protected CDs. I'd stopped buying Sony CDs as my JVC CD player wouldn't play them. I could copy them to my PC, or play them in my car (when I had a car), but not on my home stereo.
Of course I still haven't received my insurance money for my car, and although F has kindly lent me his car, now that I'm back to full health I'm trying to cycle a fair bit, including today when there was a driving ban due to the air quality here in Rome. I'm most impressed with my new Berghaus Tyrant Jacket I've been wearing this week as I've cycled to work. It's kept me fairly warm in the 0 degree temperatures I've been cycling in. Of course cycling beats driving to work in many ways, I always arrive happy that I've made the effort. Not least of the reasons not to drive is the sense of frustration here in Rome when you can't actually drive due to the number of double parked cars, when only feet away the Vigili stand together smoking and manually operating traffic lights to keep the traffic "flowing". I know that in the UK parking fines are a sore point, but at least the money generated is spent on public projects, although according to this article in the Guardian not everyone is happy where the money is spent: Penalty claws
Everyone seems to be talking about the Christo installation in New York today. The Gates has finally opened, although the Guardian reported that the $20m art project has split New Yorkers. Personally I'm a big fan, and always have been. It's a shame he was never allowed to wrap the Mall in London. We'll just have to settle for the streets of Notting Hill to be paved with poetry.
Completely unconnected, but I liked this site with a visual representation of the globe using various statistics: WorldProcessor, via Moco Loco
And finally, the time is.
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