• really learned how to eat (some) spicy food
• visited a bunch of Shaolin temples in Fujian
• moved countries TWICE
• got a new laptop after five years with my old one — almost a record, I like to think
• ended my relationship with a magazine I slogged to launch and run
• learned to use our old sewing machine again
• made my first sock monkey (and second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth)
• crocheted a shitload of stuff
• continued to suffer from chronic re-designitis
• became an employed writer and professional blooger (not this site, of course)
• was part of a Western-style family Christmas for the first time

Wow. Doesn’t look like very much when it’s written down.

He probably never believed it would end this way for him: “He was very, very, very, broken.” — Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq

I have noticed two programmes tonight — the first about penises, the second about the music of James Bond. I guess James Bond used his penis a lot, so it’s related somehow.

What the hell, dude. There’s a link between housework and reduced risk of breast cancer, but perhaps not with normal physical exercise?

I don’t cook, but I don’t mind doing the dishes or laundry. I’m not that great at vacuuming and I’m seriously bad at ironing. So what are my chances there?

Freakin’ German scientists.

Here’s an experimental theme. I thought I wrote perhaps too much nonsense (but I can’t help myself), so I’m trying out this “one category’s posts in main area, the rest of the posts in the sidebar” idea for the index page. Everyone may not like this format, but I think it suits me for now. The layout is pretty much the same… except for the bottom. The bottom bit’s different.

Since I’m not an artist by any definition, that upset snowman is about the best you’ll get from me in terms of illustration, especially since my graphics tablet is still packed away in a box. I’m still waiting for full-on snow, so I can actually make a real snowman. Although I’ve been instructed to make it in the back garden in case the neighbours think Neil’s mum has gone completely potty. I have no idea what the fuss is about.

Um, I also refreshed Twisted Sockster a little as part of this general re-design. And that’s it.

I’m actually quite mad to read that a Catholic bishop has rejected a request by Spain’s Islamic Board to allow Muslims to pray in the Cordoba cathedral. Sure, there are extremists, but they come from ALL faiths. A place of worship is a place of worship, I don’t think the Islamic Board is asking that Muslims put out a call to prayer during Mass or anything. A lot of people go into churches and places like that to think and maybe do a little navel-gazing — I think quiet contemplation is quiet contemplation, and spirituality shouldn’t discriminate based on professed religion.

It would be very galling if I went into a temple or mosque and wasn’t allowed to sit and be alone with my thoughts because I wasn’t a member of that faith.

They’ll probably also bring up ’security’ concerns as a reason.

Organised religion is stupid. It divides.

Just you try it and watch me run away like a scared little girl: “This guy was like Tony Robbins for drunk guys trying to hook up.” — Johnny Triangles (via Gawker)

You’d think aspiring poiticians wouldn’t be so dumb, but hey, very little surprises me these days. Via Schneier on Security.

This is not the car. It kinda looks like the car, though. So it shall be a reasonable representation of the car and I shall refer to it as the car for the purposes of the website.

When Neil told me he’d found a bright green Peugeot for sale, the first thing I asked was how bright it was. I do not want to be driving around in a French version of the QQ (”young, peppy and cool”).

My favourite thing about the car is that there’s nothing worth stealing. It runs, seems fairly efficient, and even people who don’t freakin’ drive are going to have better car stereos than we do (think fully analogue, dials, and a loose faceplate that rattles and annoys the living shit out of me).

I’m still thinking of a suitably tough name for my green mini-monster. Something along the lines of The Destroyer. 1124ccs of Pure Fury has already been floated a number of times, but it’s quite a mouthful when introducing the car to your friends. Mad Max? Conan the Barbarian? Gabrielle the sidekick? Hercules? Steroid Steve? Roid Rage?

• met Stuart for lunch in Glasgow before he jets off on his next big adventure (do not ever, ever go to Oko Express if you’re looking for Japanese cuisine)
• bought a car (a small car, so I’m thinking it needs a macho name, something that makes one think of the Amazon)
• met up with Derek and Indira for a coffee in Glasgow
• had dinner with my cousin and his family
• did sweet FA on Christmas Eve (was terribly impressed with Neil’s mum, who was simultaneously preparing Christmas AND Christmas Eve dinner)
• drank wine with Neil and opened one present after the clock struck midnight (he got me the new Take That album! Squeeeeeeee!)
• waited for his sister to come along, and we opened our presents (I’m not used to this multiple present thing — it’s so appreciated, but I feel so… overindulged, and I didn’t really gift to that extent, either)
• chilled out until it was time for dinner (at 3pm… something else I’m not used to)
• ate turkey (!), pigs in blankets (!), Brussels sprouts (!), mushrooms (!), two different kinds of potatoes (!), carrots and corn (!), and raspberry trifle (!!)
• chilled out till we headed to Neil’s pal Brian’s (and they gave me The Happy Hooker and a Family Guy DVD)

If you have patience and a geeky way of problem-solving, you’ll work out Who owns the fish? without too much hassle (via Neatorama). I made the mistake of sending it to a few people in the office, and three of them gave up. Obviously not geeks. My solution after the jump (no cheating).

Read more.

What happens when you add liquid soap to dry ice? I love pointless science experiments that do nothing for the betterment of humanity.

Economist.com has bloogs (can’t find a central landing page for them, look on the right hand side for the DEBATE sub-header)?! I’m pretty late to the party, I know. I’d always thought they wouldn’t be tempted by the seductive, destructive power that is the bloog, but I guess I was wrong. The postings need an editor, though — not someone to censor or edit the postings, but to fix the bloody typos. I don’t know what’s happening, but the quality of the publication in that respect has been falling in recent years. It disappoints me.

So, Christmas is imminent. Well, if you ignore what the retailers have been saying the last few months (Debenhams is so trendy, Glasgow Fort stays open late, MacArthur Glen makes you feel less guilty). All the presents have been bought / made, but I’m a fairly craptastic wrapper. Today is the shortest day of the year. Today is my last day of work before, er, after Christmas. Today is the first time in over three years that I will be getting paid in a non-dodgy manner. Today was definitely the first time the train arrived at Glasgow on time, mainly because it was pretty much empty. Only us plebs who can’t afford the time off have to trudge to work.

At least the weather is milder today.

It’s not my first Christmas away from home, but I think I will miss my family this year. After we left China, I spent three months in Singapore, and I think it’s probably the first time I really got to spend lots of time with my mother. I know she’s received (and opened) her Christmas presents, and my sister’s got hers as well. So I know I’m going to get a bit… sentimental over the weekend because I miss my mummy.

The plans are to see some friends and family over the next couple of days, and spend Christmas with Neil’s family. I don’t really know what to expect; it’s my first real Christmas-y Christmas. Are recipients meant to get multiple presents? What’s the situation with stocking stuffers? If someone doesn’t have a stocking but everyone else does, do they still get the wee presents? And most importantly, how much turkey can I eat before it’s considered totally rude?

I think my favourite Christmas-themed ad on the telly is the Irn Bru ad, a cool animation. The little kid is a total and utter shit for not letting the snowman share his Irn Bru, so he definitely should be dropped from a great height. And he should end up splattered all over the pavement in a splodgilicious mess of blood and guts.

Mmmmm… cow. I know it’s not very PC to be all carnivorous, but I adore steak. My favourite is a nice, rare piece of beef. My top beef steak restaurant in Singapore is the decidedly unglamorous Shaslik, and prime rib is best had at Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus with their lunch deal ($17.90 for three courses). So here is a recipe for marinated flank steak, and I hope that I get to eat a good steak soon.

At the moment, there isn’t a lot of beef being consumed, it’s just not in the lifestyle I have been absorbed into. I know that’s better for me, but I miss steak. I get mince and roasts once every fortnight or so, but it’s not the same!

Cow. Mmmmmmmm.

Stephen Wright has been charged with all five murders in Ipswich. What I found amusing was when DCS Gull announced that the ‘first suspect from Trimley’ had been released on bail, he also said, “We will not be releasing his name at this time.” Um, we even knew his MySpace account (it was fun to watch the papers try their best to glean something insightful from that hellhole that is MySpace) and all the news media have released his photos.

Line Rider movies on the official Line Rider site. Thanks, Richard.

Former Navy man works for company in Baghdad. Man detects strange goings-on in company. Reports strange goings-on to FBI. Man is told to leave company. Man contacts US embassy in Baghdad for help. Company gets raided and man is imprisoned in Baghdad for being a security risk and associating with the people he was informing on (via This Modern World).

He said he had also witnessed another employee giving American soldiers liquor in exchange for bullets and weapon repairs.

I want to know what punishment the American soldiers received. Nothing like Mr Vance suffered, I presume. I’m surprised that his friend, who was also wrongfully imprisoned, went back to Baghdad to work, although I’m sure he’d be buggered (pun intended) if he did anything to help the American troops.

Why didn’t they let Vance tell them that he had a contact in the FBI and then proceed to verify his story and then let him go? How did it get so FUBAR’d? I bet it has something to do with no one wanting to take responsibility if they let him go and he did turn out to be a baddie.

I bet this makes Iraqis feel safe about working with the troops in their country.

It sounds so ‘trendy’ but it’s true, I’m just too tired and cynical to be angry about the deceit any more: “So, in the fall of 2002, before going to war, we had it on good authority from a source within Saddam’s inner circle that he didn’t have an active program for weapons of mass destruction?” — 60 Minutes: CIA Official Reveals Bush, Cheney, Rice Were Personally Told Iraq Had No WMD in Fall 2002, informationliberation (via Newsvine)