Captain’s Publog

The following excerpt arrived in my inbox over Christmas and appears to be from the journal of an anonymous Merchant Navy skipper.

23rd December ‘07

After 3 days fogbound, we found ourselves under clear skies in open sea. The navigator swiftly fixed our position and discovered we had been drifting South the whole time while enshrouded. Knowing of a nearby harbour town, we steered for land. … read on …

“Go for the Sibelius! You won’t be sorry.”

TOTP debacle aside, the BBC knows full well you don’t need viewers to have a successful brand, especially if said brand is cheap as Mars Bars to make.

The BBC’s longest running programme celebrated its 50th birthday last night in typical fashion: a half-hour show broadcast at 11:30 pm. … read on …

Domestic Violence

Link with clip of Martha Rosler’s Semiotics of the Kitchen (requires Quicktime) as mentioned on yesterday’s FTatLoP. Sadly, my own video of the merciless blunt object destruction of a load of digestives would not upload to YouTube last night so I suggest you recreate your own. … read on …

Synchrotron!

A spokesman for BBC Drama says: “Thanks to this facility, we’ll be able to produce establishing shots for Doctor Who and Torchwood episodes well into the next decade. And we don’t even have to think of a name!”

Hopefully, Diamond Health & Safety will be posting the appropriate education regarding use of the synchrotron during thunderstorms.

Food Science Day 2: 7 - Flying Fruit Followup

2005’s hugely successful Flying Fruit Experiment answered a burning question but gave rise to another. The small and unassuming apricot was the winner but supply problems meant that this was the only bum-shaped fruit available in our sample. We began to wonder about the potential of other bumfruits. Can the smoother, harder nectarine be thrown so far that it would hit you in the back of the head? Could a peach be sent into orbit one day? Once again, we set out for the FreakyTrigger comestible-chucking range in Peckham Rye Park. … read on …

End This Heresy!

Consider yourselves on notice, Morrisons.

Ask the Family

Looks like you were all a bit perplexed by yesterday’s picture. Time to put you out of your misery and get Eric to reveal the answer… … read on …

Ask the Family

At this time of year, we’re all thinking about planting a few spring bulbs and protecting our tender plants from the winter frosts. But let’s forget I’m a telly gardener for a bit while my supposed avuncularity is awkwardly slotted into a teatime quiz show. Eric’s been out and about with his camera again so it’s time to play another close-up picture round. Eee, you’d never see Monty Don doing this… … read on …

Food Science Day Two: 2 - The Culinary Art of the Bad Pun Continued

An ongoing Food Science Day enquiry is to determine whether tasty recipes can be derived from appalling puns. Previous experiments such as Lychees on Toast and the almost legendary Thymey Calaloo Dow’s Port have shown that there is much potential in this bold new approach. Our explorations continued this year with the creation of PERRY PERRY CHICKEN. … read on …

FT Ask the Family - Part 3

Dick: OK! So yesterday we showed you one of those close-up picture questions from the old, boring Ask the Family. Do we reckon anyone got it right, Dom?

Dom: Well let’s take a look! … read on …