The Sun gets it very wrong

The Sun has a piece today about shag bands and rainbow parties.

Umm, no lads, sorry, but you've got taken in here by some urban myths. That little kids might think that shag bands mean what you say they mean is one thing. But no, it isn't true that in playgrounds around the country kiddies are having full on sex as a result.

As for rainbow parties, they don't even pass the laugh test:

But by far the most important problem with this story is that it entirely misses the fact that oral sex is treated differently in the UK from the way it is in the US. This was very well explained by Christopher Hitchens in Vanity Fair. In the US, as we all found out after Monica and Clinton, oral sex is regarded as something less than sex. In hte UK it is rather a very special treat that gets offered a long way into a relationship, not something that omes as a precursor to one.

No, this story is made up of less than whole cloth. It sounds like these stories of shag bands and rainbow parties are urban myths, continuations of that ever popular (it's been around at least since Thucydides was a lad) insistence that society is going to the dogs and that it's the children that are worst.

Customizing your ride

OK, so you've got your bike, or that hog to cruise the streets. What next? Yes, that's right, you'll want to customize your ride.

However, this can be, as we all know, an expensive proposition. The local stores and bike shops are only going to havew a mere fraction of the possible parts for you and they're going to be expensive: they can't store all 30,000 different variations for Goldwings, Harleys and the rest without it costing them a fortune.

Happily, there is an alternative: Memphis Shades. They do have all 30,000 parts in stock and as they are distributing nationwide they can offer great prices: up to 60% off list price in some cases.

So if you're looking to customize your ride why not do what we're all realizing we should be doing with other shopping? That's right, shop online.

That Derrion Albert video

A screaming mob beats a boy to death in a Chicago suburb and as a result of the new technologies like camera phones we get to see the video.

It's not pretty and it«'s not fun to watch: however, the real scandal is that this is just one of some 30 such deaths a year that happen in that city. And we never hear about the others simply because no one films them. Out of sight, out of mind as it were.

You can see the Derrion Albert video here.

Derrion Albert was beaten to death with split railroad ties on his way to the bus stop while going home from school in Chicago last week. A tragedy and a crime when such a 16 year old gets caught up in mob violence.

However, what is leading to this story making the front pages is that there is a video of Derrion Albert being beaten to death. Taken with a cell phone camera it is this video that makes Derrionn Albert's death different from the 30 or so that happen in Chicago the same way each year.

Finding the right drivers

One of the incredibly annoying things about the latest versions of Windows has been that a huge number of devices don't seem to have the right drivers for them.

Or should that be that Windows doesn't have the right drivers for the devices?

Fortunately, there's a way around this problem. There's a great site which has just about every driver you'd ever want or need.

Have a look here: USB drivers, Acer drivers and yes, of course, NVIDIA drivers (for of course we all know that it's the graphics chips that really cause the problems.

There are over 1 million drivers in their database so if you can't find what you need there then possibly you never will.

Well recommended.

Hijacked Amazon threads

This is really rather funny. We know that one of the great Amazon innovations was to allow customers to review the goods that were on sale. OK, that's great, customer reivews.

However, what's less well known is that some of those review threads take a rather different turn. For example, people rather than reviewing, make fun of, or satirise, the product or even the person doing the selling.

There's a great collection of these Amazon reviews up on the net now. Yes, all the favourites are there, the near insane Christian book, the Peter Andre record with Katie Price and of, course, the ultimate, Tuscan Milk.

Enjoy.

Furnishing the house

As regular readers will know we're redoing a house down here and we've been looking around, as you do, for the things which go with that. We're now at the point where we're starting to furnish it all and this has led to some discussion.

I'm a huge fan of second hand furniture: specifically antique. Prices have fallen so far in the last couple of years that at auction you can get some amazing bargains. However, I'm with Ian Dury on these things: just as he said he always bought new boots and panties and the rest second hand, I insist that beds and mattresses should be new.

Which has led me to this site selling beds. While I love Victorian Chesterfieleds, my bed and mattress is going to be brand new. There's all the usual advantages to buying on line here, better prices, larger selection and so on. But it's a really huge selection here. It might need some more narrowing down (more specifically, the input of the wife who will share the bed with me) but this French Rattan design looks great to me.

Sturdy, well made, well priced and so on: and it also fits in with much of the decor and patterns that we've already decided upon for the house.

Recommend the site if you're out there looking for beds.

Ernie Anastos and that YouTube moment

This has to be one of the funnier bloopers of recent times.

Ernie Anastos is the anchor for a New York TV station, part of the Fox Network. He's got something of a reputation as someone who shoots his mouth off inappropriately already. But this one from Ernie Anastos is simply special.

We think he meant to say "keep on plucking that chicken" but it came out as "keep on f***ing that chicken".

Thr problem is though, even in context, the plucking thing doesn't make sense either.

Problems with .pdf files?

If you're having problems with .pdf files then this looks like a reasonable program that you might want to try. Of course, we all know how to read .pdf files, but manipulating them without paying Adobe lots of money isn't that easy.

What it'll do is allow you to convert pdf to word for example, edit pdf and even work as a pdf creator. It seems to do most of what the hugely more expensive software does.

So, just to reiterate, if you're working with .pdf files and finding that you cannot manipulate them in hte manner you would like to, have a look at that program and see whether it can help. It's a vastly less expensive option than getting the full Adobe kit.

Dan Brown's new book

Dan Brown's new book, "The Lost Symbol" is now out and in the bookshops and good grief, it's a load of tripe.

It's the ever typical clunky language, monstrous absurdities with plot lines and gross stupitidies with writing style.

But the really sad thing is that it's going to sell millions upon milions of copies and make him even richer.

Can you tell that writers don't like it when another writer does well? You know, the sour grapes thing?

If only the world's most successful novel writer was actually a writer of good novels: or even a good writer.

More on the housing stuff

As you will all know we're still working on this house down here. Working on the outside of it now in fact. We've been looking around for a place that will give us proper shutters and I've just found one, thought I'd pass it on. If you looking for vinyl shutters then click through that link for a good place to go.

Looking for High School Musical?

Interested in the Disney TV show High School Musical? Interestd in not so much the TV show itself and the movie, but the songs?

Excellent, I've been able to find a decent little guide to the High School Musical songs.

There's a brief overview of the ploy of all three episodes so far recorded (in so far as there is in fact a plot) plus a listing of all of the songs on the High School Musical Soundtracks.

If that's the sort of thing you're interested in then that's the place to go. Just click through the link to see more.

Weird names for ships

One of the weird names for a ship has to be the Black Pearl. Think of the history of it for a moment. First it's an East Indiaman converted for the slave trade (eh? There was vastly more profit in the Indies), then it's sunk, after its been burned, then there's a deal with Davy Jones to raise it again.

At which point it goes off apirating in the West Indies. Eh?

The pirates were pretty much cleared out of the West Indies by the 1690s....the East Indiamen didn't get going until the 1730s or so and so, umm, well, anyway, where on earth did the name of the Black Pearl come from?

Someone been having a seance with Old Walt or something?

Getting peace of mind with home security

In these modern and complex times we all need to make sure that we can feel safe at home. Safe both while we're there and know that the home is safe when we'r7e not there. Thats why so many of us install a home security system.

But having decided to do that, which of the various providers of a security system should we use?
There are, after all, a number of different ones so how can we go about making a choice?

Well, let's think through what you might actually want in a system. Obviously, a good price to start with. How about one that starts at a $ a day, less than the price of a cup of coffee? One that's been named a "best buy" by Consumers Digest, that would be nice. 24/7 customer monitoring and been in business since 1874....well, that leaves us with only one choice, ADT.

Click through any of the links to see what they can do for you: and you can get a free consultation too!

Leah Lust and Tiffany Shepherd

Leah Lust, the star of one of the movies in the "My First Sex Teacher" series, labours under something of a problem.

For she was indeed a teacher, and would rather be teaching than what she's doing now. Before, she was Tiffany Shepherd, a teacher in Florida. When money got tight she took a part time job as a bikini clad hostess on a fishing charter. Just a hostess, no hanky panky or anything.

But she got fired from that as the school board were horrified that a teacher might be a "bad role model".

Pretty strange, eh? Getting fired for something innocuous and ending up in porn as a result.