Films I have to revisit #1

While reading Empire just now, I saw a picture of one of the alien ships from the original War of the Worlds, and had a genuine moment of fear, just for a second.

No-one would have believed in the early years of the twenty-first century, that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own. That as men busied themselves about their various concerns, they observed and studied.

With infinite complacency men went to and fro about the globe, confident of their empire over this world.

Yet, across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes. And slowly, and surely drew their plans against us.

The original used to scare the bejeesus out of me, and I’m very much looking forward to the this summers’ remake, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise and Tim Robbins.

Evaporation Pools

Matthew Haughey wrote an interesting article on his blog about evaporation beds on Google Maps

The article was about Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah (pictured left), which shows a series of strongly covered pools. The author suggests that the pools are runoff pools to clean water used in agriculture or mining. Feedback from locals confirms that the pools are used by the local mining industry. By running the wastewater through pools in a hot, windy valley, the evaporation (which is increased in this environment) causes metals and pollutants such as lead to drop out of solution, preventing it from entering the local water table where it can posion flaura and fauna. The minerals may also contain Potash, and so could be sold as fertiliser. You can also see these pools to the left of this photo of nearby Hurrah Pass.

Another Google Maps page showing an area of San Franciso Bay shows a similar image. Here, water used to irrigate agricultural land is passed through pools containing algae, which consume the chemicals in the water. As the chemicals are consumed by the algae, different species bloom (dependant on which chemicals are present), producing the strong colours seen. If the water were allowed to flow into the bay, the blooming algae would cause oxygen starvation in the water, destroying the native fish and plants.

Speeding police

Having witnessed first hand the suffering of families whose loved ones have been seriously injured or tragically killed, I would strongly urge all motorists not to speed

This was the comment made by Chief Superintendent Les Owen, head of the Metropolitan Police Traffic Division, following the installation of five new speed cameras in East London in February 2003.

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Choosing a new car

I’m currently looking at new cars, as my beloved Honda has done almost 180,000 miles and although the engine is still fine, annoying little things like the aerial and the driver window motor are slowly dying.

In the running for a new car is a VW Golf, a Seat Leon, a Ford Focus or a Renault Clio (left).

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Political Manifesto: The Liberal Democrats

With the elections confirmed for May 5th, 2005, the political machines are beginning to roll. I’ve never really had a great overview or complete understanding of what each of the main parties stand for, so I’m going to research and make some attempt to summarise my findings.

First up: the Lib Dems…
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Camilla’s Live Webcam Show, Granny Mellows

The Royal Wedding this weekend (between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, if you’ve been asleep) will be broadcast live on the web, the BBC reports. British company Network Webcams has placed two cameras on top of the Macdonald Castle hotel, as well as cameras watching over Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, The London Eye and St. Pauls’ Cathedral. As long as they turn off the cameras before Mr & Mrs Prince of Wales retire to the bridal suite…

Update: Help Charles prepare his wedding speech!

Also on the BBC, a 66-year-old grandmother from Northumberland has been spared jail by a judge for drug dealing. Suffering from severe back problems, Patricia Tabram began using cannabis in the form of cookies, soups and casseroles to ease her pain. After friends also expressed interest in using the drug, the gran met with a dealer to procure some more, as the six plants she cultivated at home (thirty in her attic, one on her hallway table) did not produce enough of the drug to share.

Tabram said: “I had a walking stick, I was in constant pain. Now, through ingesting cannabis in my food five times a day, five times a week – minute amounts – I feel great.”

Mrs. Tabram has been given a six month sentence, suspended for two years. She is planning on writing a book about her experiences entitled Grandma Eats Cannabis.

Polar Bear

The Flickr Blog has brought to my attention the work of Catherine Jamieson, a 43 year old mother of two from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her photoset immediately struck me because of both the colours and the textures captured.Catherines’ site was chosen by Forbes magazine as one of the top photoblogs of 2004; the photos are all now maintained on Flickr, and hers is a photostream I will be paying close attention to, alongside current fave photoblogs wvs.topleftpixel.com and www.chromasia.com.

Coldplay X&Y album art

Coldplay have released the cover art for their new album, entitled X&Y, which is to be released 6th June 2005. The first single on the album, Speed of Sound, will be released on 23rd May.The announcement was made by email to members of the Coldplay websites’ In My Place member area. The announcement, which also contained the 12-track listing, continued;

The follow up to 2002’s Brit and Grammy award winning A Rush Of Blood To The Head, X&Y was recorded over the past year at studios in the UK and USA and has been produced by Danton Supple (Morrissey, Elbow), Ken Nelson (Badly Drawn Boy, Kings of Convenience) and the band.

Update: there’s a better pic of the album cover over on Overdo’s blog