So; it's my last day today before I head off to California, which, as I understand it, knows how to party. A+.

Eric B and Rakim - Microphone fiend

Yo, I was a fiend before I became a teen I melted microphones instead of cones of ice cream Music orientated so when hip-hop was originated Fitted like pieces of puzzles, complicated Shot grabbed the mic and try to say, " Yes y'all!" They tried to take it, and say that I'm too small Cool, 'Cause I don't get upset I kick a hole in the speaker, pull the plug, then I jet Back to the lab ...without a mic to grab So then I add all the rhymes I had One after the another one, then I make another one To dis the opposite then ask if the brother's done I get a craving like I fiend for nicotine But I don't need a cigarette, know what I mean? I'm raging, ripping up the stage and Don't it sound amazing 'cause every rhyme is made and Thought of, Cuz it's sort of...an addiction, Magnatized by the mixing...

They don't make them like they used to...just reminded this weekend how extremely brilliant some of the old-school hip-hop was (and still is).

Another sporting rant of some distinction: Austin Healey on the Australians.

OK; got the archives back...

Rats, it appears that my archives have gone tits-up. I think they should come back up without any input from me, because all the posts are still there, the Blogger thing just isn't putting them in the index. If it doesn't come back, I'll have to try to do something about it.

I just ate 3 raw oysters in Stream; thus breaking my previous oyster record by one (previous record set at Trinity Ball, summer 1996, oysters both swallowed whole washed down with swigs of Lanson Black Label - who said Cambridge was a place of privilege?). This time, the first oyster was tricky - swallowed whole after a minute sitting in my mouth while I pretended I'd already eaten it, finally washed down with fizzy mineral water, second oyster, getting into the swing of things, chewed and swallowed, third oyster chewed, savoured and swallowed. Have I totally conquered oysters, or what!? Last night I was thinking that I need to change this website so it's based more on a template which pulls the content from a backend database (which the Blogger bit IS, of course), to make it easier to add and change things in any part of the site, like the links on the right for example. At the moment, many would say that most of the content seems to emanate a backend of a different sort... Also I want a commenting feature, since despite having asked expressly for the forum it appears no-one is using it, probably because they can't be bothered. I might try to get Dotcomments onto it in the short-term. But basically, I need to learn how to make ASP pages with Access and SQL, which I've been meaning to do, but never get around to for one reason or another. Finally, I need to get Photoshop and figure out how to use it so I can sort out the title bar, which I am feeling just doesn't look quite right. Yes, I'm feeling inspired right now. It's probably those damn oysters.

I'm not sure whether George W. Bush still reads this, or if he was outraged by the Madonna thing and has abandoned us, but it really seems that global warming is a problem so perhaps Kyoto wasn't such a bad idea after all. I'm off to the States next week, and I know I'll be hiring the 4 point-0 instead of the 4 point-6.

Cheers to realitysandwiches.com for how to change the scrollbars.

Why do you get the crappy, slow-ass go-kart once you've made it into the final on pole position? Why are you most up for larging it till dawn when almost everyone else too trashed to walk, let alone get into a club? Why will no-one bet you to climb the Balfour Beattie crane on the one occasion when you're feeling stupid enough to actually do it? Why is England so crap at sports? Why do girls suddenly seem so much easier to pull when you're attached? Why did anyone think that bird with the gold pants was attractive? Why is breakfast only served between 8 and 9? Why does a chicken Madras take 15 minutes to go in, but eight hours to come out? Why was 'mad-dog' less comprehensible than any local Scot, and why was Bandy less comprehensible than any of them by the end of Saturday night? Why oh why oh WHY did I drink that last double Macallen? These and many other questions were raised but not answered during my long weekend away in Edinburgh on Edwin's stag. Good work to all those concerned.

Here's a development on something I was talking about at the weekend - the car rental company who monitored a driver's speed by GPS and then fined him for speeding aren't allowed to do it. But it shows how easy total enforcement of speed limits would be using readily available technology. Which makes it all the more important to address the legitimacy/public acceptance of the speed limits as they now stand. [via Metafilter]