Snow after Easter April 6, 2008
Posted by Andy Roberts in : randomness, wildlife, UK , 2commentsIt was difficult to take the severe weather warning seriously on Friday when the forecasts indicated serious snow over large areas of the UK for the weekend but here it is on Sunday morning. White stuff. Lots of it.
More pictures added to the Flickr set Snow after Easter
Is it snowing where you are today?
Quarter of a racehorse for sale March 29, 2008
Posted by Andy Roberts in : randomness , add a commentI have a quarter of a racehorse for sale. If anybody is interested, a remote high definition live web cam inspection can be arranged after viewing the picture below, but for reasons of security the exact location of the horse cannot be revealed until after a firm offer has been made. Please bear in mind that it is a quarter of a horse ( 25%) that is for sale as one lot, although further syndication to a group of one or more buyers can be arranged on request. Cheers.
View here —–> 
What’s in the mirror? February 28, 2008
Posted by Andy Roberts in : randomness , 1 comment so far
Evidence of life on Mars and figures found in rocks January 24, 2008
Posted by Andy Roberts in : spain, randomness, Art, Flickr , 6comments
Life on Mars
In both of the freeby London newspapers yesterday on the tube there was a story about the picture from planet Mars which seemed to show a human like figure walking across the Martian surface. At first glance the picture looks like a joke or a fake, reminding me of the “Elvis found on Moon” headlines from the launch of a new tabloid in the eighties. But in the articles they seem to claim that it’s a genuine photograph from a Mars Explorer that shows a part of the rocky terrain that just happens to look very much like a bipedal torso with head and arms. Here it is again on the BBC website. Now the newspapers may have enhanced the illusion slightly in their image processing, but it does beg the question what are the chances of a randomly formed piece of rock looking so much like a recognisable figure competely out of context?
Evidence in rock
Then I remembered the rock I saw with my own eyes when travelling along the Canyon de Sil in Galicia, northern Spain. This photograph is straight from my own camera in 2005
It’s the old ink blot phenomenon again, like seeing faces in clouds. Our human brains are so wired by evolution up to recognise the specific patterns of faces and human forms or figures that we tend to over-detect them, and given enough random material to look at, we’ll eventually notice one somewhere. So is there really any evidence of Life on Mars? - that’s for another post!
Scarlett Johansson in Chicago rumours October 11, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : randomness , 1 comment so farIt seems there is absolutely no truth at all in the rumour that Scarlett Johansson is going to replace Kelly Osbourne in the London Theatre production of Chicago. I mean, where do these ideas come from?
Journey to the East Pole October 7, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : randomness , add a comment
Listening to Dave Gorman’s “Genius” on radio 4 this morning one of the ideas put forward for scrutiny was to claim the East and West poles. Hang on a minute, I thought, that was my idea, which sounded just a little bit childish coming from somebody who holds to the philosophical position that ideas cannot be stolen. You can’t effectively prove the ownership of an idea, even if there is such a thing as a single point of origin, which is unlikely, so I was suitably chuffed when the verdict was pronounced that the idea is in fact, genius, (although I did think the hitchhiker geotagging idea was the better one.)
Ah, but one of the features of the 21st century is that Google remembers everything.
So there it is, as posted to “free.uk.boredom” in July 2000 complete with misspelling of “Walthamstow”
Newsgroups: free.uk.people.mad-scientists, free.uk.boredom, england.biz.misc, free.uk.talk.l-b.waltham-forest
From: Andy Roberts <andyro…@zetnet.co.uk>
Date: 2000/07/02
Subject: Year 2000 Expedition to the East PoleYear 2000 Expedition to the East Pole
===============================
In the year 2000ad, a group of intrepid explorers are setting off on an expedition to the East Pole. The team has been put together from various scientific, creative and cultural communities and is fully trained and ready to go. There are, howerever, still a few places left so if you feel you have the right qualities to join in you could yet make a contribution to this world shattering event. Just follow this thread for further details.
Because of the unprecedented pioneering nature of this expedition, we cannot place any estimate on the amount of time the journey will take, but the organisers are confident that it should be possible to keep in touch wiv dem front line explorers using da hinternet and that everyone will return home safely eventually.
SPONSORS
More sponsors are required. If you know of any groups that might harbour potential sponsors please add them to the right hand side of the newsgroups line.
DIRECTIONS
After much deliberation the organisers are convinced that the best place to set off from is Walthamstowe. After that, we haven’t a clue and really. Anybody with a sense of direction should map out the path by adding geographical groups to the newsgroups line.
RULES
No more than eight groups in total please. Ignore cynical bystanders who try to mock or complain - they’re only jealous.
Please retain this complete message between the E- lines without snipping and delete attributions and chevrons from time to time.
Andy R
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Zippo Lighter - American Embassy Paris September 22, 2006
Posted by Andy Roberts in : randomness , 6commentsI’m selling my ‘American Embassy Paris’ zippo lighter by eBay and the bidding has reached £50.02 already, but that’s not enough to match the reserve and there’s only 23 hours left.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280029086630
It was Frankie’s idea:
This Zippo lighter features an American Embassy of Paris logo, and dates back to 1973. These lighters were given only to American Embassy of Paris staff - this lighter was given to my father (on whose behalf I am selling the item) by a young girlfriend (at the time) whose father was working at the embassy (perhaps as a Spook??). The lighter is in good, working condition, although will be shipped without any fuel.
is an online professional who initiated DARnet 
