Toms View of the World

Yes, in a new twist to make chess more interesting, or possibly boxing less dangerous - the World Chessboxing Organisation steps up…

Basically instead of 13 rounds of 2 muscular men pounding each other with padded mittens - now every other round of boxing is replaced with the more intellectual sport of chess.

Yes, Chess.

That game with the little pieces on board of 64 squares.

Now what effect being pounded in a boxing match will have on your ability to play a planned strategy game could make for interesting studies - but can you imagine what Pay-Per-View on Sky will make of it… people don’t watch boxing for the intellectual challenge…

Finally, Cardiff Council have extended the kerbside recycling collections to the area I live in - I got my new “Wheelie” bins today! Clearly labelled with my house number, and a barcode…

Now I can finally recycle stuff without having to cart it up to the bottle bank…

… or a galaxy far far away?

Here’s your chance to test both your knowledge of the web, and the universe of Star Wars - why not try this little game

I scored a healthy 32 - how about you?

Like something out of War of the Worlds, the US Military has demonstrated a Heat Ray Weapon.

Unlike those in H.G.Wells classic story, this is not a deadly ray producing fire jumping from person to person from a funnel raised high by a Martian Fighting Machine, but looks like a giant Satellite dish mounted on a Hum-Vee, oh, and it’s non-lethal and is designed for dispersing and subduing enemies by heating them up to the point where they stop shooting and run away…

It’s gotta be better than shooting them…

(Thanks to the BBC News Website)

It seems there’s been another upgrade to wordpress - it seems there’ve been quite a few recently, however this is the one we’ve been waiting for - Wordpress 2.1 - not a security update but a whole new version with new features to boot.

I’ve not installed it here yet, mainly as it’s a bigger step than the using point releases are, and I need to back everything up first.

After all the apparent hoo-ha over a TV show (”Celebrity Big Brother”) and alleged racist comments made by one of the so-called “Celebrities” - the UK’s bookmakers have apparently slashed the odds they’re offering to people willing to bet whether there’ll even be another series.

One UK bookmaker is now offering odds of 3-1 that no further series will be commissioned and 6-1 that there will be no more series of the non-celebrity version.

Surely though if Channel 4 do decide not to produce another series of either CBB or BB, everyone wins, especially if this marks the beginning of the end of “reality” and “celebrity” TV shows featuring people you’ve never heard of, or whose claim to “celebrity” is dubious at best…

Maybe the UK’s TV companies can stop producing this tat and get back to the days of quality drama and comedy shows…

A survey has been conducted recently to get people to vote for the worst movie ever - and the winners are a bit debateable:

1. Spice World The Movie
2. Titanic
3. Grease 2
4. Waterworld
5. Hostel
6. Anaconda
7. Batman & Robin
8. Gigli
9. Catwoman
10. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot

I think the most notable ommision is the truely horrific Borat. Other notable contenders include Final Destination 3 (simply for the fact that the entire plot of the film is based on a continuity error in the opening sequence - let alone the technical inaccuracies in said sequence) and a swathe of copycat, CGI kids animated movies about animals escaping from the zoo/farm/woodland and ending up in Madagascar, The Wild, or Over The Hedge.

What’s the worst movie you’ve ever seen?

(from the Register)