I just got a mail from Arthur C. Clarke!

I just got a mail from Arthur C. Clarke!

From: "Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Dan Werthimer"
Subject: SETI@home needs your help

Dear Mr Saunders,

SETI@home needs your help. The SETI@home team has accomplished much in the past 6 months. We have successfully depolyed the "enhanced" version of SETI@home.

[...]

To keep SETI@home operating for the next year, and to provide these new capabilities, will require approximately $540,000. Currently SETI@home is entirely funded by donations from people like you.

[...]

Thank You,

Sir Arthur C. Clarke (Author and Futurist)
Dan Werthimer (Chief Scientist, SETI@home)


Typical! I receive an e-mail from one of my favourite authors, and he's looking for money.

Nessun Dorma, Anyone?

The aforementioned Damien Leith won Australian Idol at the weekend. Ended up watching the final at a rather good party I attended on Sunday: the hostess was a huge fan of the young Irish man.

Given my apparent resemblance to the Co. Kildare crooner, perhaps she was expecting me to get up and sing?

Also, it's nice to see it finally made to the new back home:

Damien's tops down under - Irish Independent

RTE.ie Entertainment - Irish singer wins Australian Idol show

...

Oh! On the subject of Australian Idol, I forgot to mention something. Last week I was watching the penultimate show, and they had a intro for each of the constants. Damien's intro included the line: "Damien Leith hails from Co. Kildare, Dublin".

Wayta do research, guys. That's a little like saying he's from Illawarra, Sydney.

...

Superman II: The Directors Cut:
Michael Thau, the editor who helped director Richard Donner reassemble his version of Superman II, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming DVD release restores footage that Donner shot but that was changed in the original theatrical release, including never-before-seen scenes of Marlon Brandon as Jor-El. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut also deletes the infamous 'amnesia kiss' scene from the film's end. 'This film has much more of a romantic ending, and it's much more dramatic,' Thau said in an interview.

Donner, who directed 1978's Superman: The Movie, never got to complete the sequel (even though both movies were filmed mostly at the same time) because of creative differences between him and the film's producers, Alexander and Ilya Salkind. Director Richard Lester finished what Donner began and was given the director credit for the 1981 sequel.

...

Finally somebody has posted the Rules for Writing on the web! Sit up and take note people!

...

Missing Leprechaun?

BreakingNews.ie: Gardaí seek help tracing missing Dublin man:
Gardaí in Dublin have reissued their appeal for information on a missing person.

29-year-old John Byrne from Francis Street hasn't been seen since Wednesday 18th October.

He is 6 inches tall, with brown hair, blue eyes, and is of medium build.

Garda�believe he may have travelled to England by ferry from Dublin Port.

Sorry!

Sorry to everyone (all 2 of you?) who reads this Blog regularly. I've been really bad about posting recently. So time for another quick overview.

• Work: Got paid on Friday! Yes!
• Shopping: See previous point. \/\/00t! 3 new pairs of shoes and counting!
  
• Work again: Typing this on my brand spanking new laptop. Marvel at it's leather trim! Marvel I say!
• Fencing: All set for a trip to Brisbane for the Aussie Nationals. I don't think I included it in the Blog but I mentioned to a few people that there was a possibility of me fencing on the New South Wales Sabre team. I don't think that's happening now. Pity, I love team fencing.
• More Fencing: Where the hell is my Sabre jacket! You know who you are >:-O
  
• Life in general: Sydney is just so much fun. This is one of the best things I've ever done with my life.

Hmmm, spell-checker isn't working on Blogger, could be something to do with Firefox 2.0 which I've just installed on the new laptop.

The Youth of Today

Last night I was chatting to a young lady, and as is the wont of young - and not so young - ladies in recent weeks, the conversation turned to Australian Idol.

I think a small bit of background is in order here. I think everyone reading this should know the Idol format by now - if not, where have you been? In a cave, on Mars, with your fingers in your ears? The season in Australia is almost finished, last night it was down to 2 participants, including an Irish Man: Damien Leith. Having heard of this young Co. Kildare man, I investigated the show and to be fair he does have a great voice, but I digress.

"Do you know Australian idol?", my new friend asked, "Do you know there's an Irish guy on it? Everytime I see you I'm reminded of him!"

"Really?" I replied, slighly chuffed.

"Yeh! I hate him!" she responded enthusiastically.

"I much prefer Dean," she continued, "He's good looking."

"Wow, you're a charmer, aren't you?" was my best retort.

We argued the relative virtues of singing talent vs good teeth, and pretty (nancy boy) hair for a while, before we were joined and I quickly changed the subject to avoid people knowing that I was arguing with a teenager about Australian Idol.

"On the subject of Irish performers," I said, "Did you see that Bono joined Kylie on stage at her concert last night?"

"Bono?" she asked, "That guy from U2?...Is he Irish?"

Sigh. The youth of today.

...

Here, have a listen to Mr Leith's rendition of Roy Orbison's "Crying":

Love is an Anger, that Burns up Inside

...as the tears of frustration, roaall down my fayce, Why does love always have to turn out this way!

This is the song I have a stuck in my head. I had to look up the internet to find out that it's "I Wonder Why" by Curtis Stigers.

No. I have no idea, how or why this sogn is rolling about my head. I wasn't even listening to the radio this morning, I just woke up and there it was.

One for the Heart-Strings

This is a sad story:

Pet Labrador saves 10-year-old boy from pit-bull attack:
A 10-year-old boy's pet Labrador sacrificed itself to save its owner from a savage pit-bull attack in the North.

The boy's parents say the incident unfolded at Randalstown Forest Park in Co Antrim while they were out for a walk with their two children, four dogs and an exchange student.

The pit pull attacked the group and, when it turned its attention to the couple's youngest son, the boy's pet Labrador, Troy, dived to his aid.

The family say the pit bull continued to fight with the Labrador until police officers eventually arrived and shot it dead.

The Labrador, whom the family say saved their lives, died of his injuries.

The BBC have more details.

Just Deserts

I succeeded in doing in my back last week and as a result I ended up spending much of the weekend watching sport on the TV. I saw a dismal performance from the Irish in the 2nd International Rules test. I saw Wales and Australia draw in an excellent match in the Rugby Union. I laughed hard when the Aussies lost to Great Britain in the Rugby League Tri-Nations.

Take a look at this clip from the Tri-Nations match:



The thug delivering the blow is Willie Mason, he's what they call an "enforcer" for the Kangaroos. Essentially his job is to beat up players on the other team.

However last week in their match with New Zealand, Mason got more then he bargained for when he was spotted swearing at the Haka by Kiwi David Kidwell - who, as an aside, plays for the best named sports team of all time: The Melbourne Storm.



Sweet. I especially like the way there's absolutely no retaliation from the Aussies. In fact, is that a quick grin on the face of one of Mason's team mates?

Ooops off to go watch the Melbourne cup now bye!

...

Nice! Delta Blues won the race, landing me the company sweep!

Flaming Hell!

Holy cow! This was my local super market back when I was living in Dublin.

Young man sets himself alight in north Dublin supermarket:
A man in his 20s is reportedly in a critical condition this morning after setting himself alight at a shopping centre in north Dublin yesterday afternoon.

According to newspaper reports this morning, the incident happened at Artane Castle shopping centre at around 3.30pm.

The man reportedly grabbed a bottle of flammable liquid from a shelf at the Tesco outlet before pouring it over himself and setting himself alight.

Security staff used fire extinguishers to put out the flames, but the man suffered burns to 90% of his body and is reported to be in a 'very critical' condition at St James' Hospital.

Why did he go to 'James? Beaumont Hospital is just around the corner.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone.

Looking through my previous posts I realise that many of them are telling a story about me doing something stupid. Therefore it follows that the reason for the lack of posts recently is that I've been a good boy :-)

Dod you know that the Aussies aren't big on Halloween. My sister - who as a coincidence happens to be in Sydney at the same time as me - was disgusted. To be frank, I pretty much forgot about it

In the halloween spirit here's a link which may be of interest:

iHalloween: Turn your iPod into a Ouija board - Crave at CNET.co.uk:

The introduction of the Click Wheel alphabet-search system in the new iPod range has opened the floodgates to a new breed of occultist. Not only can the Click Wheel emulate the traditional Ouija board and planchette, but it does so in a small, portable format. Leading Ouija boardists have discovered that the iPod can not only provide the traditional letters and numbers of the board, but spirits are now able to pick songs, or playlists, to convey their messages.