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Sunday, 6 November 2005
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Cory Doctorow:
A cruise ship attacked by pirates off Somalia defended itself by firing a sonic blaster at the boarders:
The 10,000-ton Seabourn Spirit came under fire at about 5.30am. The
pirates approached in 25ft speedboats and shot at the ship with the
grenade launcher and machineguns. Terrified passengers watched as the
pirates tried to get aboard âo[per thou] only to be repelled by crew members who
set off what one described as a âo[ogonek]loud bangâo�...
The Seabourn Spirit, owned by the cruise giant Carnival, was on its
way from Alexandria in Egypt to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. It offers
the height of luxury, with huge suites, marble bathrooms and more than
one crew member to each passenger. Cruises aboard the liner cost from
£6,100 for a 16-day sail to £18,270 for an epic 46-day voyage.
The liner used a sonic blaster to foil the pirates. Developed
by American forces to deter small boats from attacking warships, the
non-lethal weapon sends out high-powered air vibrations that blow
assailants off their feet. The equipment, about the size of a satellite
dish, is rigged to the side of the ship. I only just heard about this on Radio National; there was no mention of the sonic blaster, which is obviously the coolest part of the story!
Link
(Thanks, Allan!) [Boing Boing]
10:34:41 PM 
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Just back from playing with The Mike Festa Band at Glenelg.
I had expected an easy time, as I have played with them before, albeit
not for a year or two, and I was expecting all the regular players to
be there to gloss over any problems I might have.
This was not the case. The drummer, Harry Milochis, has only played with Mike
for a few weeks, and the rest of the band were ring-ins like me. Harry
was groovy, and had pretty good time, with good feeling shuffles.
There was Josh Bennett on second guitar, whom I had seen a year ago at the Bacchus, doing a solo, mostly acoustic act. He has blues wisdom beyond his years. I'm fairly certain he is a protege of Chris Finnen. He did some great stuff, but couldn't always follow Mike's direction.
On tenor sax, we had Dusty Cox, an American who lectures at Adelaide Uni in the jazz courses, a hot player. Some great solos, but, as often happens in this kind of guitar based band, didn't always have enough to do.
There was some great playing.
Apart from a couple of serious dork-outs (a loss of form in a straight
blues for Gawd's sake!), I acquitted myself well. Grooves were
good, punters were happy, Comfort Inn reasonably satisfied and the bandleader pleased.
And there was money.
9:12:03 PM
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Cory Doctorow:
A Dutch designer has come up with an ingenious way to help goofy,
bra-shopping men accurately report on their significant others'
boob-size -- by giving them a wall of variously-sized boobs to squeeze
until they find a pair that seems about right:
"When trying to buy a sexy bra for their wife or
girlfriend, usually they point to other women in the shop or, when
asked about size, they say a 'handful'."
The wall consists of rows of silicon breasts in all sizes. By look
and touch, male shoppers can work out the right size, she says.
I think this is a great idea; but what about the sad men who'll no doubt keep turning up just to get a feel?
Link
(Thanks, Betsy!) [Boing Boing]
8:24:48 AM
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"We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we
dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the
dancers, we create the dreams." [~] Albert Einstein
Good old Albert.
[Thriving Quotes]
1:01:52 AM
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A bachelor who amassed a fortune by living simply left all his money to his cat after his death, The Ottawa Citizen reports.
You often hear about this kind of thing, but here is a real documented case.
[ABC News: Offbeat (with Mpeg1)]
12:46:20 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Peter Nixon.
Last update: 4/12/05; 10:02:31 PM.
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