A Welsh View

Speak Engrish

A funny Engrish slideshow. (Requires Powerpoint. Download viewer here.) [via]

Peculiarosities

Bin Laden Considered Seeking Asylum In Britain
Pastor Gets Unwelcome Supply of Viagra
Opossum Found in Airport Trash Can
Three Human Foetuses Found Hdden In Statues In Columbian Airport
Man Found Driving Ambulance With Dead Deer

Two-Headed Baby Tortoise

A woman holds a baby tortoise with two heads in Havana September 27, 2005. The tortoise was found some days ago on a river bank at the city forest. According to scientists of the local aquarium who inspected the animal, it seems to be perfectly healthy.

Portable Freeware

Portable Freeware contains applications that are small (require no installation) and are free. [via]

Gnooks

Gnooks - enter three of your favourite authors and Gnooks will suggest similar authors. Also available, Gnoosic and Gnovies. [via]

Related: Paperback Swap

Video: Beating Heart

I hope I don't go to jail for posting this. Ogrish has a video of a Saudi man who was stabbed in the chest which punctured his heart. In order to save his life, surgeons had to slice open his chest and expose his heart. The video clearly shows the mans heart beating whilst he lays on the operating table.

The Top 10 Science Pictures Of The Year

10 amazing science pictures. [via]

Arctic Ice May Completely Disappear In 100 Years

Mirror: Arctic Ice 'All Gone In 100 Years'

The Arctic ice cap is melting so fast, it is likely to disappear completely within 100 years, experts warn.

This summer was the warmest in the region for 400 years, says a report.

As sea ice melts, there is less of it to reflect the sun's radiation back in to space. Dark, ice-free seas absorb more of the sun's heat and warm the planet.

Scientists fear the downward trend is reaching a point from which the ice will never recover.

This year is expected to see the lowest amount of ice cover in more than a century.

Peculiarosities

Female Prisoners In Columbian Jail Take Part In Beauty Contest
Boy Faces Suspension For Bringing Butter Knife To School
Man Sentenced To Three Years In Jail For Shooting Police Employee In Dispute Over Can Of Spam Stolen In 1974
Man Crushed In Rubbish Lorry After Passing Out At Bar
German Store Throws In Free New York Flights With A Coat
Elusive Mouse Grounds Qatari Airliner For 13 Hours
'Oy Vey' Traffic Sign Goes Up in Brooklyn
Did You Say Dogging Or Blogging? Brits Confused
1846 Anti-Dueling Law Used to Prosecute
Puerto Rico Town May Build UFO Site

When Will TypePad Sort Out *Their* Spam Problem? - Part 3

Further to my post this morning, TypePad have basically said that it's up to me to sort out the spam. I don't want to sort out the spam myself. The reason why I constantly report the spam I get to TypePad is because not only will it stop me from getting anymore from them but it will also stop others from getting it. Oh well, expect fewer posts as I start trying to block keywords, email addresses and URLS ;o)

Kowloon Walled City

"The Kowloon Walled City was an interesting anomaly in Hong Kong's colonial history. It was China's tiny enclave in the middle of British Hong Kong for decades and it had a colorful existence until it was finally torn down in 1993."

See more pictures here and read more here.

Video: The Burp King

The longest burp ever?

Stray Dogs And Kittens Used As Shark Bait

Stray dogs are being skewered on hooks and dragged behind boats as live shark bait, The Sun can shockingly reveal.

The cruel practice takes place on French-controlled Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, where Prince William spent two holidays.

A six-month-old labrador pup was recently found ALIVE with a huge double hook through its snout - like the dog above - and another through a leg.

The pup was found in a coastal creek and is thought to have somehow freed itself from a fishing line.

But other dogs and kittens have been chomped up and swallowed by sharks. - The Sun

Related: 100 dead cats found in house

Update: Man arrested

For those that are sceptical about this story due to it being published by The Sun, it has been reported on other sites throughout September including 13th September by Dive Magazine and 5th September by Jewish.com (essentially the same article). Both report the actress Bridgette Bardot becoming involved in the campaign.

Update (11/10/2005): Here's a video to accompany the story. The link includes info on who to contact to complain about the way the dogs are treated.

Man Jailed For Showing Woman Beheading Clip On Phone

The Sun: Jailed for sick phone pic

A man has been jailed for 60 days for showing footage of an Iraqi hostage being beheaded to an appalled woman shop-worker.

Subhaan Younis, 23, showed Charlotte McClay the footage on his mobile phone while chatting to her in the shop where she worked at the Moat House Hotel in Glasgow.

Younis, who downloaded the clip from the internet, had been staying in the hotel at the time of the offence on September 27 last year.

Defence solicitor Dominic Sellar told Glasgow District Court his client, who was found guilty of breach of the peace last month, accepted the images were "abhorrent and shocking in the extreme".

Maybe I should be careful what I post on here. I wouldn't want to go to jail for upsetting any of you.

Chocolate Covered Bacon

Mmm...chocolate-covered bacon. [via]

The $100 Laptop

A research project at the MIT Media Lab has a plan for getting $100 laptops in the hands of millions of people around the world. One notable feature is a hand crank for providing power in places where electricity is undependable or unavailable. More pictures here.

Giant Squid Photos

I've been getting a ton of hits today from people looking for pictures of the giant squid that was photographed recently. The reason for all the hits is because I'm #1 on Google Images for the search term 'giant squid'. Unfortunately the image indexed by Google Images is not a giant squid but instead is some other sea creature. So if you want to see some pictures of the giant squid here they are.

When Will TypePad Sort Out *Their* Spam Problem? - Part 2

I posted an article on Monday about the problems I'm having with spam attacks on my blog and what Typepad are doing, or rather are not doing, to solve the problem. I hadn't planned on posting a follow-up to the post but seeing as nobody from Typepad has read the post (or at least they haven't commented) and after what has happened overnight I think I need to post a follow-up.

Overnight I was attacked by a comment spammer using the same IP addressto spam me about 50 times over a period of 5 hours. Now I doubt I'm the only TypePad subscriber being spammed by the spammer (although I could be wrong) so why haven't TypePad got a system in place to recognise when a spam attack is in progress. Whilst this is just a major inconvenience and thankfully they don't happen regularly, what happened next really annoyed me.

Late last night I reported a few spammers to TypePad including this one...

Name: hold
Email: ola.cappsey@bigpond.com
URL: h**p://hotwave(dot)com/wwwboard/messages/7864.html
IP: 207.248.240.118

TypePad responded at 23:57 BST telling me that they had been banned globally, presumably using the approach I mentioned on Monday (a combination of factors including "URL, email address, and content submitted with the comment").

At 02:11 BST, 2 hours after the previous spams, I received this spam...

Name: ahhh
Email: ola.cappsey@bigpond.com
URL: h**p://artsforhealing(dot)org/wwwboard/messages/9465.htm
IP: 207.248.240.118

Notice anything similar? Yep, the spammer who was banned globally is still allowed to spam TypePad blogs using the same IP address and email address.

In my latest ticket I've mentioned that this person has been able to continue spamming and it will be interesting to see what their reply is.

Peculiarosities

Crazy Germans To Legalise Motorway U-Turns
Wasp Catcher Doesn't Charge Customers Providing He Can Take Home The Wasps To Eat
Boy Finds Rare Two-Headed Snake
Man Stabbed To Death With Fork
Fake Monk Busted For Molesting Two Women After Convincing Them They Needed Exorcism
Russian Admiral Named Patron Saint Of Nuclear Bomber Force
Piranha Bites Manila Airport Inspector
Doctor's Extracting Bullet From Man's Groin Find 17 Bags Of Crak In His Butt
95% Of North Wales Policemen Caught By Their Own Speed Camera Get Their Tickets Quashed
Man's Lawyer Successfully Defend Him Against Bigamy Charges After Claiming That He Couldn't Have Gotten Legally Married While He Was Already Married, Thus No Bigamy
Researchers Find That New Car Smell Is Caused By Hamrful Chemicals
Man Uses Syringe As Weapon, Robs Vancouver Bank
Ohio Executes Man Involved In $40 Robbery
Penguins Find Peace In Falklands War Minefields (don't worry, they're too light to set the mines off)

Chile's Arid Atacama Desert Bursts Into Rare Bloom

Reuters: Chile's arid Atacama desert bursts into rare bloom

The Atacama desert in Chile, so dry it is often described as moon-like, has been turned into a giant meadow of bright-colored flowers for as far as the eye can see. For many, it's a once in a lifetime sight.

The desert, an immense, normally rainless plateau, burst into life in recent weeks after rare winter rains brought to life seeds and bulbs of plants that haven't flowered there in over a decade.

"I think I've seen this only twice in my life. ... This time I brought my children so that they could witness this natural phenomenon," said Chilean tourist Antonio Castillo.

The desert, which contains immense deposits of minerals such as copper, normally has zero humidity. Some parts have not seen rainfall for 400 years.

The World's Tallest Living Man

The world's tallest living man walking alongside what looks like the world's smallest super-midget. [via]

Video: Rally Truck

Not something you want to see whilst rallying. [via]

Facts About Google

Google's Marissa Mayer reveals some interesting facts about Google such as...

# The prime reason the Google home page is so bare is due to the fact that the founders didn't know HTML and just wanted a quick interface. Infact it was noted that the submit button was a long time coming and hitting the RETURN key was the only way to burst Google into life.

# The infamous "I feel lucky" is nearly never used. However, in trials it was found that removing it would somehow reduce the Google experience. Users wanted it kept. It was a comfort button.

# Gmail was used internally for nearly 2years prior to launch to the public. They discovered there was approximately 6 types of email users, and Gmail has been designed to accommodate these 6.

[via]

The World's Thinnest Building

At just 6ft deep, the Sam Kee Building in Vancouver, British Columbia is the world's smallest building. This site has more pictures and an interesting story behind the building. [via]

Video: Hypnotised People Get Horny

I've never believed that people can be hypnotised in ways like you see on comedy shows and this is no exception. (NSFW due to people humping chairs) [Thanks Philipp]

Video: Bad Drifting

If you are going to do some drifting in your car it is probably advisable to stay inside the car. [via]

Hospital Bans Cooing At Babies

BBC: Criticism for ban on baby cooing

A national support group for mothers has criticised a hospital that has banned visitors to the neo-natal unit from cooing at babies.

A hospital spokesman said the guidelines were issued "in response to parents' concerns".

The hospital issued the ban over concerns that a baby's human rights may be breached by cooing visitors and also because of fears over spreading infections.

Debbie Lawson, neo-natal manager at the hospital's special care baby unit, said: "We know people have good intentions and most people cannot resist cooing over new babies but we need to respect the child.

"Cooing should be a thing of the past because these are little people with the same rights as you or me."

Has the whole world gone mad?

Apple Ads

A large collection of Apple ads from 1976 to 1998. [via]

71yo Woman Pulls Car With Teeth

A 71-year-old woman has pulled a car for 65ft - with her teeth - in China.

Wang Xiaobei performed the stunt with a car weighing more than a tonne in Jinan, Shandong province, where she lives.

She attached one end of a heavy rope to the car and wrapped a handkerchief around the other end before biting on the rope.

Mrs Wang said she had been practising feats of strength with her teeth for more than 30 years.

She has previously managed to carry a 25 kilo bucket of water with her mouth, and also a bicycle. - Ananova

How To Use Gmail.cn

An English guide on how to use the Chinese Gmail rip-off, Gmail.cn. [via]

Peculiarosities

Gay Penguin Goes Straight
Grandma And Grandpa Get Run Over By A Reindeer
71-Year-Old Graduate Student Named Homecoming Queen
Prison Visitor Locked Up

B-2 'Spirit' Stealth Bomber

An awesome photo of the B2 'Spirit' Stealth Bomber. Related pics here and here.

Video: Don't Touch My Guitar

A member of the crowd tries to steal a band's guitar. Bad move. [via]

When Will TypePad Sort Out *Their* Spam Problem?

It's about that time again when I have my regular TypePad moan. Yeah I know its pointless but I love a good moan and TypePad always gives me plenty to moan about. This time my moan is about spam, both comment and trackback.

For as long as I can remember (according to the help tickets raised I think I started getting spammed around about the middle of May, 2004) I have been spending way too much time reporting spammers and cleaning up spam comments/trackbacks. For some reason I feel the need to keep reporting the spam I get to TypePad Support so that hopefully some of the spammers can be stopped from spammer me and others again. Whilst I always get a prompt response from support I wonder if I'm wasting time.

Whilst they say that they are "globally banning" them using a combination of factors such as "URL, email address, and content submitted with the comment", I'm a little sceptical about how effective it is. I have received comment spam from the same email address two days after it was supposed to have been globally banned. Are TypePad Support so fed up with comment spam that they can't be bothered to deal with it?

Of course I'm not the only TypePadder, or the only blogger, receiving comment/trackback spam, but if I'm paying for a service, rather than using a free blogging tool such as WordPress I expect to be given better spam tools or to receive less spam. Incidentally, according to some reports WordPress handles spam better than TypePad.

I realise that I could make users obtain a TypeKey before posting but I don't like restricting. I've already had to turn trackbacks off*, I don't want to scare away the few commenters I have by making them register for a TypeKey. Comment moderation is also another option but I fail to see the point of it (i.e. I don't want to moderate comment spam).

According to a comment made by Anil Dash earlier this month on Fred Wilson's blog, A VC, there is now a dedicated 'spam czar' who is focusing on the "highest-pagerank blogs to make sure they're protected and that we're understanding all the new behaviors spammers are using". What about the rest of us?

He goes on to say...

"I know it's [a] small consolation, but the TypePad blogs that are affected by spam reflect something around the top 5% of all blogs, in terms of traffic/ visitors/ pagerank. So there's some prestige in being targeted by them."

Why I am even moaning about it? After reading that I feel like I should be honoured.

--------------

* To anyone in TypePad who may read this post. Will there ever be a tool to clean remove trackbacks from old posts? I switched off trackbacks a while back but I still have about 8,000 of posts that still allow trackbacks, hence the reason why I still get plenty of trackback spams.

Peeing Sculpture

A moving sculpture that pees. Send it an SMS and it will speel out your message in 'pee'. [via]

Windows Vista To Boot In 3 Seconds

According to Microsoft, Windows Vista will be able to boot up in 2-3 seconds.

A Windows Vista computer starts and shuts down as quickly and reliably as a television, typically within 2 to 3 seconds. Windows Vista processes login scripts and startup programs and services in the background so you can start working right away.

That's quite a claim. [via]

Hellraiser Puzzle Box

This site is selling a replica the Hellraiser puzzle box. Don't worry though, it's not a working puzzle so there's no chance of unleashing Pinhead and the cenobites. For that priviledge you'll have to fork out $100.

Children's Names 'Spell Trouble'

BBC: Children's names 'spell trouble'

Teachers have confessed to making snap judgements about children from their names on the register.

In a light-hearted debate on a teachers' website, they have listed the names they associate with problematic and charming pupils.

According to the website, names which get a negative response from teacher include those with hyphens, like Bobbi-Jo, ordinary names with unusual spellings such as Kloe or K'tee, Kristopher, Jayne, Gyaike and Chevaughn, plus the various spellings of Jordon.

Names which teachers associate with delightful children include Kate, Gregory, Sean, Charlotte, Jamie, Daniel, Lucy, Isobel, Ben, Sam, Harpreet, Imran, Asam, Alice and Joseph.

One teacher wrote: "I went through my new class list and mentally circled the ones I thought would be difficult. I reckon I have a 75% hit rate..."

Is your name on one of the lists?

US Falls £135M Short For Tsunami

Mirror: US Falls £135M Short For Tsunami

America has still not delivered on almost two thirds of the aid it promised victims of the Boxing Day tsunami.

It heads a table of rich nations which have failed to come up with the goods - handing over just £77million of the £201million it pledged for relief.

The US contribution represents just 2.2per cent of the £3.5billion raised worldwide after the disaster claimed 300,000 lives in south east Asia.

The Mirror article goes on to list other countries pledges and what they've actually paid. Japan, Germany and the Netherlands are the best payers, paying all that they pledged.

World Stone Skimming Championships

BBC: Scots dominate in stone skimming

Scots have swept the board at the World Stone Skimming Championships which took place on the tiny island of Easdale, in the Inner Hebrides.

The venue for the sport, known as skiting, is said to have lots of beaches perfect for practising.

Contestants hail from around the world and the championships attracted some 220 participants this year.

Scots scooped first place in all six categories, despite facing challenges from competitors as far afield as Germany, Denmark, Australia and the USA.

'Morph' Replica Sells For £1,400

Mirror: £1,400 For Morph

Morph - the kids's animated character made from humble Plasticine - has been sold for £1,411 on eBay.

A model of artist Tony Hart's daft sidekick was specially created by Wallace and Gromit animator Peter Lord to raise cash for charity Children's Scrapstore. It recycles old office materials for kids to use for art.

Peter built his six-inch commemorative Morph around a rigid internal frame and stuck him in a perspex case to make him last. He got 47 bids. The original Morph, who first starred in Vision On, was made by Peter's employer Aardman Animations.

TeeJunkie

TeeJunkie: "The daily adventures of a t-shirt junkie, always in search of his next fix. Wearing a cool t-shirt that he's not going to run into someone else on the street wearing is the TeeJunkie's ultimate high. Strange, funny, moderately offensive? Sure. Corporate advertisement? Never." [via]

Peculiarosities

Toddler Starts Car, Runs Down Three Family Members
Sri Lanka's Election Chief Hasn't Voted Since 1963 Because He Doesn't Trust Politicians
Man Drives Into Tourists In Vegas Because They Were Staring At Him Like Demons
Man, Stabbed Several Times, Drives Himself Home To Call For Help So His Car Wouldn't Get Towed
Iran Plans To Weave World's Largest Carpet

Video: Assassinated

Update (25/09/05): For those how wondered what this post was about, it was supposed to be a link to a video clip instead of just an image. The link has now been fixed and the video can be viewed by clicking here.

If you find a broken link on AWV, please let me know so that I can fix it. I usually find out about broken links a day or two later when I'm checking my stats. This means that a lot of people will have missed the real link.

[via]

Girl Copies Harry Potter Book By Hand

CBBC: Potter fan copies out whole book

A Harry Potter fan has spent her summer holidays writing out the latest book because she couldn't afford to buy it.

Sandra Luchian, 15, from Moldova, borrowed a copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from a friend and wrote down the story word for word.

So Sandra filled five notebooks with Harry's latest wizard adventures so she could add the book to her collection.

She even wrote dialogue in black, and narration in blue, to make the story easier to read. ...copying down the 607 pages took just over a month.

Crushed Car

At first glance, it looks like this guy is kicking around a rear bumper. But what actually happened is that the wall behind him fell onto his 5 day old car along with his father's van (which is completely under the wall).

Stewie Live Hacked

Every scene from the Stewie Live site (a Subservient Chicken style site) [via]

The World's Smallest Penis Contest

The world's smallest penis contest. Should make most men feel a lot prouder...or make you feel happy that you are not alone. (NSFW, although you don't actually get to see anything) [via]

Getting Creative With Your Phonecam

43 Folders' guide to getting creative with your phonecam.

Related: Band shoots video using only mobile phone cameras.

Video: Car vs Man Compilation

A compilation of videos of cars hitting people, many of which have been posted on AWV in the past.