What bemused you today?

[Forseti]

A friend in England sent me a link to this article:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wear/8352729.stm I take it that one shouldn't place too much belief in the European (especially the French) view that the British are very reserved? 

[Hinfrance]

Looks like another example of how pathetic and whiny some Brits have become: the sound level was 47db. My db meter's lowest setting is 60db +/- 10db. Whispering at it from a meter away produces a reading of about 55db (A weighting).

I think what is really going on here is the fact that she got laid 'almost every night' and for hours on end. I think it's called jealousy.

[Oldboy]

If you want to photograph some old tree stumps then head to Trafalgar Square to see the Ghost Trees. See below.  

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2009/11/cant-see-the-forest-for-the-trees.php

[anglefire]

WBMT?

Having the sun roof on my landrover decide to explode into a thousand peices whilst I was on the motorway at about 60mph.

Was a hell of a bang - and scattered glass everywhere. Glad the kids weren't in the car at the time as I'm not sure what would have happened to them! 

[picsfor]

If you want to photograph some old tree stumps then head to Trafalgar Square to see the Ghost Trees. See below.  

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2009/11/cant-see-the-forest-for-the-trees.php

yep - used the 50mm on them on tuesday - impressive stuff...

[spinner]

WBMT?

Having the sun roof on my landrover decide to explode into a thousand peices whilst I was on the motorway at about 60mph.

Was a hell of a bang - and scattered glass everywhere. Glad the kids weren't in the car at the time as I'm not sure what would have happened to them! 

Oh, I know that feeling, only in my case it was a case of frozen soda. I thought I'd been shot at. I think I lost control for a second, thankfully no one else was around me.

[Graham]

      Why is it that as soon as I start to type I forget how to spell!
      I don't mean big words like "peridisconobulation" but things like "Author" and  "people"!
      Do you think perhaps (I just had to look that up!) it's a "man thing"!
                     Graham. 

And why do I use so many exclamation marks!

[greypoint]

I think an exclamation mark is the equivalent of waving your hands about!!!!!

[Graham]

I think an exclamation mark is the equivalent of waving your hands about!!!!!

      Oh, that'll be it then! I do a lot of that, not physicaly you understand, just in my head!
                           Graham.

[greypoint]

The commended images in the DCM photograph taken in the past few years competition have been announced and I still feel a little underwhelmed. As usual the UK has just a sprinkling of representatives. I'm a little unclear as to who actually came up with the shortlist as it says editors choice. One of the few positive images in the This is Britain has at least been commended, the others being the usual cliched 'we're all drunken fast food young hoodies'! Perhaps we should start a book on the eventual winner - if it was'nt for the fact no-one from the UK ever wins I'd probably go for the drunken partgoers illustrating the This is Britain category given what the judges seem to be going for this year

[ABERS]

It's to be assumed that the shortlist is the result of the 'team' on DCM deciding which images to present to the final judges with the Editor leading the way, and since the 'team' seems to comprise mostly a younger element then perhaps it's not surprising that the images in the Britain category reflect the world they see and perhaps inhabit.

The winner will come from somewhere where the Future organisation is trying to make inroads into that particular area, after all the competition is purely a marketing exercise.

The old cynic genes are working overtime this morning.

[greypoint]

I worked out the idea of the contest a long time ago. You make it as open and worldwiide as possible, give the incentive of a large prize and encourage thousands of entries so you can call it one of the biggest competitions. You have an on line upload/gallery and allow votes which mean nothing but keep people coming back - this gives a huge number of site visits to please advertisers. You make this voting controversial too - this gives even more site traffic. You then come up with a short list which contains some slightly odd choices or images designed to annoy and of course the lack of UK snappers on the shortlist - this generates some forum traffic [sadly needed]. you then hope for a controversial winner - this will keep the site views up for a bit longer. Then it must die off until next year. Cynical?? Moi??

[Oldboy]

I'm still betting it's someone from the far east!  

[spinner]

Maybe I should have entered. It could be argued that dependent on which direction you took off in from Bath I'm as Far East as you can get. 

[spinner]

My work situation, actually it's been bemusing me for weeks. Just after we managed to increase our office staff by 3 extra people our workload appears to have died off by a huge percentage. Now instead of three of us sitting around divying up a meager workload there's six of us sitting around most afternoons twiddling our thumbs. Makes for a really long day.