Parking charges in Capital cause church and commerce to unite – Telegraph

Churches, businesses and residents of Westminster have joined forces to protest at new evening and Sunday parking charges that many fear could undermine the West End‘s vibrant entertainment and retail sectors.

Westminster Council plans to scrap free parking on single yellow lines during evenings and introduce charging across the borough on Sunday afternoons from January 9.

It said the measure is to tackle traffic congestion but campaigners believe Westminster, which sets one of the lowest council taxes in the country, is trying to tackle the sweeping budget cuts facing all councils.

Many other councils are raising the cost of resident parking permits and tickets by as much as 400pc.

Campaigners argue that Westminster Council under Conservative leader Colin Barrow, a former hedge fund manager, will damage its tax revenues and social services by imposing the charges.

via Parking charges in Capital cause church and commerce to unite – Telegraph.

Strange Random Parking Quote:

On the other hand, the Bible contains much that is relevant today, like Noah taking 40 days to find a place to park. – Curtis McDougall

 

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Mo’ Moses

From Mel Brooks‘ History of the World Part 1 (whatever happened to Part 2, Mel?), the explanation as to why there were only 1o Commandments …

Strange Random History Quote:

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. – African Proverb

 

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• The Inquisition…What a show.. Here we go – Cartagena De Indias, Colombia (travelpod.com)
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• Paint Landscapes Like Grandma Moses (education.com)
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Comic Sans not your type? Lighten up

Image via Wikipedia

Imagine a clown shoe stamping on a human face – forever. Sounds like a fun image, no? This kind of tyrannical lightheartedness is how many regard the ongoing popularity of the innocuous font, which I am using right now, created in 1994 by Microsoft employee Vincent Connare. It all started so innocently, but as the Wall Street Journal reported, use of the font has “spread from a software project at Microsoft Corp to grade-school fliers and holiday newsletters, Disney ads and Beanie Baby tags, business emails, street signs, Bibles, porn sites, gravestones and hospital posters about bowel cancer“.

via Comic Sans not your type? Lighten up | Dan Hancox | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

Strange Random Comic Sans Quote:

“–but I find her personality annoying. It’s like being molested by a sleeping bag that speaks in Comic Sans with little love-hearts over the i’s.”  -  Charles Stross (Saturn’s Children)

 

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• War of the passive-aggressive office notes: Comic Sans edition (boingboing.net)
• Hard-to-read fonts ‘aid learning’ (bbc.co.uk)
• HOWTO choose a typeface (boingboing.net)
• Education: Learning difficulties (economist.com)
• Please Don’t Use Comic Sans (laughingsquid.com)

News boring? Never!

Image by Vincent Ma via Flickr

Just to prove that not all news is boring or depressing at the moment, here are two stories, possibly linked by the idea of “human nature” or “human weakness” and in any case, so strange as to obviously be true!

Penguin cookbook calls for ‘freshly ground black people‘. Publisher destroys 7,000 copies of The Pasta Bible after ‘silly mistake’ causes outrage

Full Story Here

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Fine owed by George Washington for overdue library books now $300,000. First president of US failed to return two volumes borrowed in 1789 from New York Society Library

Full Story Here

Strange Random Human Quote:

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe – Albert Einstein

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• The $300,000 library fine Washington won’t have to pay (news.bbc.co.uk)
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• Cookbook pulped over ‘ground black people’ typo (mycookingathome.blogspot.com)

Lego Matrix, a 10th Anniversary tribute

Image by Jonathan_W via Flickr

Almost 450 hours in the making, two Australian animators have just presented their personal tribute to the Matrix on its tenth anniversary (seems like only yesterday): the famous bullet-dodging scene in magnificent Legorama! Trevor Boyd and Steve Ilett have set up a special website with features such as Making Of (NOTE: only 1 “f”), early practice shots and more. So here’s the scene, followed by a special “side-byside” with the original movie.

Strange Random Language Fact:

It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear.