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Richy's Random Ramblings

Net: Penn’s Experience Of Being Frisked

January 5, 2003
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[Penn Gillette and a plane]One of my favourite TV personalities and magician is Penn Gillette – one half of the infamous “Penn And Teller” duo (Penn is the tall, large noisy one that also appeared in ‘Hackers‘ – Teller is the short, slim quiet one) who had a TV series on Channel 4 and occasionally even appear on things like Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Via Gamer’s Nook (who found it via Boing Boing) I found out about Penn’s encounter with Las Vegas airport security where a security guard, whilst “frisking him”, grabbed Penn’s crotch (but not his genitalia). Since Penn, obviously, got a bit annoyed at this he decided to make a complaint. Airport security insisted they did nothing wrong and tried to insist that the police leave as Penn had a plane to catch (Penn, being the rich lucky magician he is, said he was perfectly willing to catch a later plane or a private jet).

He filled in all the details of the assault (as that is what it is: unless you think grabbing someone else’s crotch in public is ‘alright’) and a couple of days later (after reviewing closed-circuit television footage) he received a very apologetic phone call where the airport asked him when he was next flying so they could make his next experience “very pleasant” (whether that means he’s going to be frisked by topless showgirls or not is still unknown).

Hopefully the airport will realise there are boundaries to things and learn, but for some strange reason, I think they’ll only treat people that complain (and know their rights) as humans – the rest of the paying passengers will get treated as cargo…

TV: Graham Norton Separates Eggs

January 4, 2003
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[Graham Norton Egg Separator]Spooky! I sat down last night to watch an episode of V Graham Norton that I recorded at some point (I think it was actually Wednesday – but it could have been even further back) and what do I see Graham showing one of his guests? The Peter Petrie Egg Separator that I blogged about way back on the 23rd of November: whilst I’d like to think that the show’s researchers found it via my blog, I doubt they really did.

When Graham demonstrated it on the show, the look of repulsion from the guests (Rod Stewart and Rosanna Arquette) was good to watch – but unfortunately the egg separator didn’t quite perform as advertised. The yolk followed the albumen through the nose of the egg separator into a cup. Oh well.

Blogs: The 2003 Bloggies

January 4, 2003
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[Bloggies]It seems (according to Robyn who heard it off Bill) that it’s time for the 2003 Bloggies – the third annual weblog awards.

People have got until the 12th of January 3pm GMT to place their nominations – so if you can think of a nomination – make it! I nominated Blogrolling (which provides the ‘recently updated blogroll’ on my site) and Bloglet (which I’m trying out) for the category of “Best weblog directory or update monitor”, MovableType (which I use to maintain this blog) for “Best Web Application For Weblogs”, Google Weblog for “Best Computers Or Technology Weblog” and a few others (whose nomination is between me and the Bloggies for now).

Go ahead – nominate the blogs you like (my blog, hint hint, could be nominated for “Best European Or African Weblog”, “Best Kept Secret Weblog” – even though I’m getting around 200 visitors a day – and the “Best New Weblog” category). Just enter your nominations, your email address and away you go!

Poll: What Kind Of Attitude Is That?

January 4, 2003
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[British Attitude]According to the “What the Hell Kinda Attitude is That?” quiz at AKA Cooties, I have a British attitude (which is good, as I’m largely a Brit) which can be summed up by saying “Oy! Oy! Oy! You have a British Attitude! You’re a stout-slogging, fish-battering, monarch-having, mac-wearing, pastey-white, eccles cake eater”.

Well, apart from the fact that I dislike Stout (it’s more for the “older generation” and the Irish in my eyes – and, yes, Guinness is stout), I don’t like fish – battered or otherwise (but I do like pineapple fritters – pineapple slices fried in batter – doner-meat fritters and chips: and that’s what I had for dinner earlier), I don’t have a Mac (it’s kind of coat) and I’ve got no opinion about Eccles Cakes it’s quite correct.

Yes, we do have a Queen (Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the II) and I do think we are better having a monarchy than other countries (if the government of the day really messes up she can override their decisions and totally dissolve/break-up the government: its formal title is, I believe, Her Majesty’s Government) and I’m reasonably white – I did go down to beach around 9 months ago now and get a bit of a tan, but it’s beginning to fade. Oh, I’m sure quite a portion of the current inhabitants of the British isles would disagree with the “pastey-white” comment (Leicester, in fact, is the second largest Hindu city outside India according to the UK Asian Population Report – and the people that follow the Hindu religion only make up two thirds of Leicester’s Asian community).