Just heard on Radio Five Live:
Presenter: “Tiger Woods has received condemnation from charities after saying he ‘played like a spaz’ during last weekend’s play at Augusta. On the line now is a ten year old boy with cerebal palsy…”

I also see that Dave Morgan, the “former fiancé of Jessie Wallace”, has sold another story to The Sun. He must be hard up. The headline is “Coke used like After Eights”, which is odd as I always thought you put coke up your nose. It’s just sad to see an “ex-PC” making money off selling three year old stories to the press. I just remember seeing a clip from The Farm (Five) where Flavor Flav asks him what he does and Morgan responds by saying “I dated a soap star” - the look on Flavor Flav’s face, ha! I would like to point out that I read the free online version of this paper.

Popped into the new British Bookshops & Stationers today on Western Road. It’s the new version of Sussex Stationers but bigger, cleaner and the products were actually labelled with their price, take note Woolworths and Robert Dyas (the price slackers of Western Rd). All the staff were really friendly and helped me find a few bits and bobs I was looking for, apart from one. The security guard was casting a shadow around me the whole time I was there. Occassionally I looked at him and he didn’t even look away that quickly. It was so full on though that if he does it again I’ll complain. I’m paying your wages, Sunshine! (Well £4 of it anyway).

Just as I was falling asleep last night I heard on the radio that firefighters were battling a fire at Bleak House in Broadstairs. I spent a good eight years of my youth in Broadstairs and was in the same class at school as the owner’s daughter so I’ve had the odd peek inside this house. You can see it here at the top left:

I’ve read that it has been sold recently to a new owner, which is a relief, who is apparently a jewellery magnate so locals are now calling it Bling House.

Broadstairs is in/on the Isle of Thanet, or Planet Thanet as its affectly known as, which is made up of Margate, Broadstairs, Ramsgate and a big airfield. Once an Island it’s now connected to the Kentish mainland, although you wouldn’t be able to tell that if you went there. People are still wearing Campri ski jackets.

For the latest Thanet news you must check out the Thanet Life blog. You’ll be able to read for yourself that this is unlike any other island. Dr Moores, who runs that site, has taken some amazing aerial photographs from his plane. You can see them at his Flickr photoset.

I’d also recommend the humourous Eastcliff Richard blog, subtitled “Ramsgate, the new millionaires’ playground, as seen by a new millionaire”. A post this morning has already called the Bleak House fire the “Bling Blaze”.

My yearly horse racing bet, the Grand National. I’ve been ‘up’ more often than not and won £300 one year with a £15 bet.

This year the going is good so it’s more than likely that one of the top four favourites will win. The odds of 5-1 for Hedgehunter seem a bit tight for a long 40 horse race though. My to-win bet is on NUMBERSIXVALVERDE at 12-1, I’ve also done three small each-way bets on RISK ACCESSOR, LE DUC and BARON WINDRUSH which will more than pay back my bets if they come in 2nd, 3rd or 4th. I’ll update later with the results.

UPDATE: My horse came in!! I put £15 on NUMBERSIXVALVERDE and I got £195 back from the bookies. Another successful year!

UPDATE 2: I’ve just seen that RISK ACCESSOR came 5th! I had £3 Each Way at 66-1 which would have been another £50 in the pot if it had come 4th. Oh well

“A 600ft observation mast, it would carry a pod holding up to 100 people gently upwards, providing dramatic and sweeping views of up to 25 miles on a clear day. The futuristic, slender structure would be taller than both the Eye and Blackpool Tower, but its narrowness would minimise impact on the cityscape.” From The Guardian.

I’m totally in favour of this as its all privately funded and won’t come out of my council tax bill. I just wonder how much it’ll wobble on windy days. And I’d be a bit scared to live closer than 600ft downwind.

Today’s link: The strange case of the man who took 40,000 ecstasy pills in nine years. From The Guardian.

Fears were growing today for George Michael’s wellbeing after the star was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs when he was found slumped at the wheel of his car.

I feel so much sympathy for the multi-millionaire George Michael. I always hate it when I’m found slumped at the wheel of my car in Hyde Park with drugs in my pocket and a bootfull of bondage gear (allegedly).

It reminds me of this little snippet I received from Mark:

The record companies would have us believe that the money made by CD pirates goes to fund the drug industry. But the money rock stars make from legal record sales ends up in exactly the same place. When they stop breaking the law, so will I.

Geograph British Isles. The project to take a picture of every square kilometre in the UK.

The Cloud Appreciation Society. Great cloud fansite with some amazing pictures.

Live Plasma. Funky app which lets you search for connections between music artists and movies.

Net Disaster. See my webpage get blown apart by meteors.

I made this for fellow blogger Gavin Ayling. The original bottom line should say “Support Israel”.

Here is a list of some Brighton pub opening times. I think we need to add The Windmill and The Hampton to that list (thanks to Gav for the link).

I’ve added the Saucy Panties blog to the blogroll on the left sidebar. This may not be safe for work!

And here’s a link to an interesting football story. Its a real Soccernet/ESPN page.

Want to know more about your surname? Well visit Spatial Literacy and it’ll draw a map of the UK showing the densities of your name. Looks like there’s lots of Kings in Hampshire for some reason.

Bored? Then take a little visit to HolyMoly.co.uk. It’s part of the Make Bono History Now Campaign. Probably work safe but uses a few rude words - oh!

Too many people on the planet? Is there a solution? Yes! Visit The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement and do your bit for the planet.

UPDATE: Just been sent this from Rich. Here’s his version:

Well it looks like the crisp manufacturer Golden Wonder will be going into administration. This is mainly due to tough competition from it’s rival Walkers. Their expensive Gary Lineker advertising campaign seems to have won. It probably helped that Walkers are owned by Pepsi Co, who are worth $25 billion. The lesson from this is that if you plough most of your resources into the advertising campaign rather than your product the consumer, for some reason, is much happier.

It reminds me of when I worked for a multinational company who outsourced my job to a cheaper (on paper) offshore company. At the same time they paid an international sports star over $10 million to star in an advert. From what I could tell the product became worse but also more popular.

Anyway, say goodbye to these:

The Ricky Gervais Show. Download this podcast (an mp3 over 10 minutes long) for the funniest show on the net. It should only take a couple of minutes to download. Then just double click it. Childish but incredibly funny.

The BBC is planning to shift Saturday morning children’s TV away from BBC1, ending a 30-year broadcasting tradition stretching back to Multicoloured Swap Shop in the 70s. From The Guardian.

GagWatch. Good website that looks at censorship around the world.

Fetish Imagery. For all those people into this kind of stuff (contains nudity).

Cassette Tapes. For the geeks.

Great images of the oil depot explosion in Hemel Hempstead from the BBC.

BBC News 24 also had a shot of East London where the cloud has travelled. What a spectacle. Apparently the sunsets will be amazing tonight.