Phlegmatic

Here's a clever way to make interstellar travel real.

"Around 50% 'hold authoritarian views'". Sounds shocking. What’s more shocking is the ignorance of the researchers (three politics professors no less, albeit from second rate universities) as to what constitutes “authoritarian”. Authoritarians would presumably favour powerful state control, right? You know, like Stalin or Hitler or Mao. Not according to these three clowns. Apparently “ideological sympathy for… rolling back the state” is an authoritarian point of view. Incredible.

Thankfully I wasn't the only person to spot this.

Did you own a copy of Buckaroo or MouseTrap when you were a kid? There's a good chance it was assembled by Irish slaves. Seriously.

The new president of the National Union of Students sounds like a lovely girl.

The Game of Thrones Mock Draft.

The Stevland Angus Appreciation Society

Brave socio-political commentary in 'My Little Pony'. Yes, really.

The man who put 50p on Leicester City to win the Premier League at 5000/1 and cashed it out for 45p after one match (which they won 4-2).

Richard 'fuckwit' Murphy had to publically apologise to Lord Ashcroft and make a donation to his charity for being wrong. I wish the legal system could force him to make an apology every other time he’s been wrong.

Paramount is trying to claim copyright over the Klingon Language. The Language Creation Society's legal reply is wonderful.

Why are we so understanding towards the crimes of Communism? A suggestion I’ve seen elsewhere is that International Labour Day should be replaced with a day of remembrance for the victims of communism and socialism. Good idea.

Gerry Adams apologises for tweeting the word "nigger". I’m amazed at the fuss about this. Might it not have occurred to the twitter commentariat that heading a terrorist organisation responsible for the deaths of 1,800 people is ever so slightly worse than typing a naughty word into social media?

10 things the bookies thought were more likely to happen than Leicester City winning the Premier League.

When the US Navy had flying aircraft carriers.

"Stabbing victim pulls knife out of own neck, kills terrorist"

Celebrating "the diversity of world culture" is now racist, apparently.

Then and Now photos of my hometown of Wrexham

Recommending someone for an award is now a heinous crime, apparently.

A 1984 television programme shows us how to send an email.

Interesting article for those of you, like me, who are late sleepers. (I agree that the world of work seems to discriminate against late sleepers, but everything else works in our favour. Entertainment takes place at night, not first thing in the morning, for example. In fact, when you think about it, must fun things do.)

Apple was founded by three people. Here's an article about the one who wasn't called Steve.

"Socialism...really?"

How IBM managed to charge $1.4million for a coin-toss simulator.

Open plan offices are bad. There are two people in my workplace. I’m married to the other one. And we work in different rooms. Imagine how bad it is to work right next to people you don’t even like…

Ranking British universities for free speech.

If you needed body armour, why wouldn't you want it to look like Boba Fett's?

Male competitive athlete? Little chance of winning an Olympic medal? Here's what you need to do.

This is the best headline of 2016 so far. (I take no responsibility for any distress caused by your own imagination after reading this. Those mental images are all yours.)

Useful discussion on minimum wage laws. (Thank you ford_prefect42)

John Cleese on political correctness.

Denmark is not a socialist utopia.

Fair Trade coffee. Good idea? Let's ask some economists.

Stock Photo University

Finding Boshek - The Man Who Could Have Gone to Alderaan

Solidarity with the Brownsons - a Gofundme project.

Medieval-style Lovecraftian art

Cats. From the 16th century. With frikkin ROCKET PACKS!

Star Wars / Back to the Future easter egg in Doctor Who

Chairman Mao "on balance did more good than harm". I love Michael Portillo’s expression of horror/incredulity/hilarity in this clip. Remember people, if Labour win the next election, this woman will probably have an important job in government.

If Star Wars had been a Ken Loach film.

While this is very, very cool, I can't help but feel that his money could have been better spent on a house somewhere other than a city where the average traffic speed must be something like 5mph.

Better names for paint colours.

American weathergirls seem to have a very strict uniform.

The best business schools now recruit people with both experience of industry and teaching ability. (…and so does my university, which is how I’m there. However, since the business school is only in its second year, it might be a while before we catch up with Harvard…)

Japan is more low-tech than you might think.

...and Sony has just finished making Betamax cassettes. (I bet there are still fanboys out there arguing that the picture quality is better than VHS.)

Not for the first time, I thought we'd reached Peak Guardian, but no!

The sad tale of the man who designed the Diamond Jubilee Barge.

Visiting every Toby Carvey in Britain with a blind photographer.

7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding (Actually, they’re more things you might like to avoid than really appalling sins, but hey.)

A really nice map of Expert D&D Module X1: The Isle of Dread

'Virtue signalling' is not virtue. Good point. (And I am aware of the irony of linking to this post using social media.)

Just when you think Team Corbyn can't get any worse...

How China saw the recent state visit

Which aliens would it be best to be invaded by?

The world has a new species of giant tortoise.

The phrase "politically correct" is now considered politically incorrect.

"Manchester United's Bastian Schweinsteiger may sue over Nazi dolls" (Serious point here – the doll is wearing Germany army uniform. Not everyone who fought in the Germany Army during the war was a member of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, so it gives the wrong impression to refer to this as a ‘Nazi’ doll. What it is, is a German Army doll. It’s easy to dehumanise ordinary Germans by calling them ‘Nazis’.)

Here's a teenage boy who's worked things out.

Contrary to earlier Phligm Phlagms, our solar system is NOT a vortex.

What dress size would Marilyn Monroe be today? Somewhere between an 8 and a 10, depending on the shop.

I absolutely love this series of paintings of mechs attacking early 20th century east european peasants.

The other day an RAF Chinook with a distinctive bright red tail flew right past my window. (We're high on the side of a hill and they often fly low up the river.) Turns out it was a special paint scheme for the 100th anniversary of the squadron. (Aren’t Chinooks cool? You can keep your Apaches and your Lynxes and your Merlins.)

First edition King James Bible from 1611 found in cupboard in Wrexham Parish Church. (Thanks to pellegrina.)

I didn't know that a Welshman invented packet switching.

More evidence emerges of Corbyn and McDonnell's close links with the IRA.

Scenes from the Emu War of 1932.

"Children who play video games twice a day are less likely to achieve five good GCSE grades". (Or possibly kids who don’t bother revising, and go and do fun things instead, like playing video games, are less likely to get good grades than kids who revise more. Do you think…?)

Labour MPs aren't happy at the moment. ( I particularly liked one anonymous Labour MP’s description of communist Corbyn supporter Richard Burgon as “a fucking dickhead” and Ian Austin MP’s advice to Corbyn that he “should start acting like the Leader of the Opposition and not like a student union president”.)

Hipster Hitler - a webcomic

Correct politicalness.

Does the USA really deserve a presidential race between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders? Pur-lease.

The purge begins...

Robert Lewandowski is a good striker.

Using drones to build a rope bridge.

Nigel Dodds MP saying what needed to be said about the new Shadow Chancellor.

Is Pope Francis really how he is depicted by most of the media?

Jeremy Corbyn's satisfaction rating is already abysmal.

I can relate to this.

French animal rights nutters stealing a homeless man's puppy. (I’m slightly less than 100% convinced that this is real, but if it is, then this is pretty bad.)

The interesting connection between Hillary Clinton and short-selling of pharmaceutical stocks.

Google, I have a lot of time for you, but don't get online harassers to lead your 'Online Abuse Prevention Initiative'.

Functioning 'mechanical gears' in nature. (Thank you louisedennis.)

VW is just the tip of the iceberg. Who's to blame?

"... someone said “you suck” to Anita Sarkeesian and now we have to censor the internet. "

19 Things You'll Only Understand If You're Absolutely Fucking Terrified of Spiders. (Like me. And don’t worry, there are no pictures of spiders in the article. And in fact, that is number 1.)

The correlation between being a Jeremy Corbyn supporter and being a conspiracy theorist nutjob.

Not one, but two fecking enormous models of the USS Missouri in Lego.

The Humanitarian Threat to Free Speech

Are "leading economists" really backing Corbynomics? No, of course not.

Ranking the 50 states of the USA in order of personal freedom. (1st: Florida; 50th New York)

What to buy the roleplayer who has everything*.

Had to happen. They're attacking roleplaying games now.

Orcs of New York. Giving a face to the Mordor diaspora in New York, one orc at a time.

OpenOffice is insecure.

* Well, in addition to a Shop on the Borderlands gift voucher…

"Sepp Blatter deserves Nobel Prize" says Vladimir Putin.

The Complete Blake's 7 Costume Index

Total respect to the owner of this Porsche 918 Spyder.

Really nicely done Star Trek fanvid set to William Shatner singing* Pulp's 'Common People'. (* Maybe singing isn’t quite the right word. If you’re familiar with Mr Shatner’s musical career, you know what I mean.)

Milton Friedman was right, part 865.

Apparently it's now politically incorrect to describe an immigrant who came into the country illegally as an "illegal immigrant".

After more than 6,000 episodes of Countdown, this happens.

Air conditioning is "sexist".

If Malcolm Tucker did motivational posters.

I wonder which particular service this government whip from the Heath government was called upon to provide...

Not only did the Conservative Party give Britain its first female Prime Minister, it apparently (allegedly) also gave us our first homosexual and paedophile one too.