I got tagged in this game – i’m useless at guessing and was far too slow off the mark.
But thought i’d give it a go from my collection and see how well others fair with the results i get.

If you want to have a go yourself here’s the steps/rules:

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing. See which of your friends can name the most songs.
Step 3: Strike out the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game post your own.
Step 6: Tag 20 friends to guess

Here we go – sometimes i’ve been generous and given 2-3 lines if they’re short or for no reason at all. Other times (when i don’t feel like helping) i’ve stuck to just the first line:

1. You can force it but it will not come – Radiohead “Planet Telex”
2. From the coast of gold, across the seven seas – Iron Maiden “Wasted Years”
3. *song title* all in my brain – Jimi Hendrix Experience “Purple Haze”
4. I was driving on the freeway in the fast lane
5. *song title* Be my everything
6. This is a mantra for myself
7. Fall back take a look at me and you’ll see I’m for real
8. You hide behind barricades
9. Bite the bit, scream till you’re blue the face
10. Anytime but now, Anywhere but here
11. In the unlikely event that sarcasm is an unfitting dress
12. There are no monks in my band
13. My name is *song title* and I am here to unlock the secrets of your mind
14. If it’s a bad day you try to suffocate – Placebo “You don’t care about us”
15. Back and forth, I sway with the wind
16. Care not for the men who wonder
17. Take me in your arms…. come on
18. Sometimes I need to remember just to breathe
19. Fall, white, light fell
20. Funny how I find myself in love with you
21. A grand hope a rope
22. Come down to my house, stick a stone in your mouth
23. How can we make you understand
24. You were just a work of sperm
25. Bombers rip across the screen

So there you go – try and guess what they all are and i’ll strike them off as you get them
To give you a pointer, I would say the easiest (in terms of least obscure and/or easiest to guess from the lyric) are:
1,3,4,7,12,13,14,18,20,22,23

and that therefore leaves the following as the harder ones:
2,5,6,8,9,10,11,15,16,17,19,21,24

Though clearly it would depend on whether you know the artists/tracks that came up, i can tell you if i didn’t have the answers in front of me i wouldn’t get any of the harder ones apart from number 5 and possibly number 2.

I would add that it was made so much easier by having downloaded any lyrics i had a while back into itunes as you can see them on your iPod. It meant i only had to grab 4 or 5 CDs off the shelf to double check the lyric and googled 2 or 3 that didn’t have lyrics in the sleeve.

Good luck, and if you are struggling, check out an old version of my music collection. If there are still any outstanding in a few weeks i will probably reveal the answers then (if i remember).

As an addendum – although i’ve got my facebook setup to accept the RSS feed and the post appears as a note here, the updates will only happen here as it won’t update or allow edits once it’s been imported – sorry, didn’t realise that at the time! It’s much nicer here anyway.

It’s been ages since i posted this so thought i’d post the answers in case anyone was wondering

1. Radiohead – Planet Telex
2. Iron Maiden – Wasted Years
3. Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze
4. Weird Al Yankovic – Everything You Know Is Wrong
5. Type-O-Negative – Be My Druidess
6. My Ruin – Diavolina
7. Avril Lavigne – Nobody’s Fool
8. Trivium – To The Rats
9. Napalm Death – Diatribes
10. Fugazi – Burning Too
11. At The Drive In – 300 MHz
12. Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Funky Monks
13. Goldie Looking Chain – Professor Doppleganger
14. Placebo – Without You I’m Nothing
15. Faith No More – Falling to Pieces
16. Alice in Chains – God Smack
17. Evoke – Arms of Loren
18. Linkin Park – Don’t Stay
19. Obituary – Back from the Dead
20. Talk Talk – It’s My Life
21. Kicks Joy Darkness – American Television
22. Garbage – Supervixen
23. The Libertines – Road to Ruin
24. Slayer – I Hate You
25. Low Fidelity Allstars – Nightmare Story

Yesterday, the first test England vs West Indies ended with a dramatic result in Sabina Park as Jerome Taylor and Sulieman Benn routed England for just 51. Both ended with 8 wickets in the match, but it was Taylor who finished with Man of the Match for his 5 wickets in the second innings and devastating figures of:
9 – 4 – 11- 5

England leave Kingston in tatters, shell-shocked, with new captain Andrew Strauss, and no official coach.
Changes will be in order for the 2nd Test which starts on Friday, but all is not well in the England camp.

Meanwhile things are rosy in Chris Gayle’s West Indian dressing room:

This picture really says it all – this is St Mark’s square and the flood water is up to the hips
The worst flood for 20 years

The Venetians call it “Acqua Alta” or High Water as it literally translates. It comes in 2 forms really.
There is the mild flooding that comes with the tidal lagoon.
This affects a few areas more than others as the water flows up through the drains into the streets. Warning signs for tourists show which areas are most likely to be affected. It’s not a huge problem at this stage, and life goes on.
It looks like this in St Mark’s square:

What you see in the first photo though is the more dramatic where the water comes into the squares from the open water
This can only happen when the tide is high and the water level has been raised significantly either by rain or low air pressure. This leads to the dramatic flooding we see now when the water mark around St Mark’s Square hits 1.5 Metres (over 5 foot). 90% of the city is flooded. Tables have to be erected & raised to enable people to get around. Many homes (especially those on the ground floor) are flooded.

There are some plus points to acqua alta, especially if you’re a wakeboarder:

Youtube link to Wakeboarding in St Marks Square
And some pictures of the Wakeboarding

As we all know now Barack Obama is going to be the first black US president, but I’m not going to talk about the in’s and out’s of the election or the merits of his victory.
Instead I give you

Dizzee Rascal on newsnight interviewed by Jeremy Paxman – the result is rather comical

Link for those who want to view it on youtube.com

(in the next section i’ve completely copied the transcript of the interview into chunks in case the link isn’t available in the future and to highlight certain parts. DR is Dizzee Rascal, JP is Jeremy Paxman)

The highlights of the interview are:

• When asked if the UK could have a black president it went as follows:

JP: … could you see this happening in Britain?
DR: Yeah. In time.
JP: You’re rather positive!
DR: Yeah, man. Why not, man? There’s a first time for everything, isn’t there? …
if you believe you can achieve, innit?

Radio One have been mocking this final line but at the same time it almost is something the “yoof” of today could take to heart.

• When asked on political parties he acknowledged they existed but little else:

JP: Dizzee Rascal, do you believe in political parties in Britain?
DR: Yeah, they exist. I believe in ‘em … I don’t know if it makes a difference. But you know what I mean. It is what it is. Politicians … say what they say – you might get every now and again a genuine one, innit? But I think people, like, as a whole make the difference …

• When asked if he considered himself British, Paxman calls him “Mr Rascal”. Dizzee then comes out with a classic on who could run the country:

JP: Dizzee Rascal, Mr Rascal, do you feel yourself to be British?
DR: Of course I’m British, man! You know me! … what’s good. I think it don’t matter what colour you are, it matters what colour your heart is and your intentions. I think a black man, purple man, Martian man can run the country … as long as he does right by the people.

• And finally, Dizzee reckons he could run for PM and that Obama’s victory couldn’t of happened if he hadn’t embraced hip hop:

JP: Well why don’t you run for office?
DR: See, that’s a very good idea. I might have to do that one day. Dizzee Rascal for prime minister, yeah! Wassappenin’! Barack Obama embraced hip-hop, man. That’s the way he got through to kids. There was a more young vote ever. And it was through hip-hop!

Reduce the population and size of the earth such that it has a total of 100 people
Split them into the breakdown on the earth based on ethnicity and various statistics to create the miniature earth.
It shows how stark the divide is between those who live in the western world and those who do not

Link for those not reading it from my blog and don’t get the embedded video

LONDON MAYORAL RESULTS
Overall results

It is a sad day today seeing the results
The people of London have voted out the first mayor
Out goes a man who has done more for London than any before

But as you depart, Ken, we thank you for what you’ve done

It seems that 8 years is long enough for some and they have chosen a bumbling blundering buffoon in the form of Boris Johnson.

I think those that have voted for him find him funny thinking that would be a good thing, but they are forgetting that the man’s an idiot. They are also letting their political thoughts get in the way of things. Just because Gordon Brown (Labour) is making a hash of things in the government, doesn’t mean that a Labour Mayor is also making a hash of things. So there are people who think that by making a protest vote for the Mayor is going to make an impact on the government… think about it before you do something like that because if the mayor is largely doing a good job what’s the point!

Can people really be that stupid? And vote in someone who for example was quoted as saying

My friends, as I have discovered myself, there are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters”

Admittedly Ken hasn’t been without mistakes, but he’s turned things around in public transport reducing the cost of bus fares, introducing the oyster card which speeds things up, and ensured that tube strikes have been kept to a minimum by negotiating with the unions.

Can the people who voted for Boris seriously see this good work continued? I’m going to give it 6 months before we have a tube strike after Boris bumbles through a negotiation and screws it up

I just hope that things aren’t completely ruined for London, but the way it’s going we’re going to have at least 4 years of Boris and it’s looking likely that David Cameron is going to force his way into government without really doing anything, just by sitting back watching Gordon Brown make mistakes.

I’ve become a fan of the website and podcast bestofyoutube.com the last 6 months, and in doing so have discovered how much I like the comedy of Demetri Martin.
There is something about his standup comedy that really hits the spot, but don’t take it from me I think the only way to appreciate it is to check some of it out.

For those viewing this on facebook I don’t think you will get the embedded youtube videos. So, I have put the links below for you to view externally
If however this still doesn’t work you will need to view the blog from it’s source:
Demetri Martin on stonysleep.com

First up is Jokes with a guitar, a 14 minute section from a performance which cracks me up every time. I especially like the part about batteries:

Jokes with A Guitar

Next up is a shorter clip from another performance is also very amusing though doesn’t have quite the edge that Jokes with a Guitar has.

Demetri Martin’s Findings

The next time you listen to your iPod/MP3 player or use a memory stick to transfer files you should thank Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg who discovered Giant Magnetoresistance (or GMR) in the 1980’s.
Were it not for this, hard drives and memory sticks/cards could not be as small as they are today

Nearly 20 years later, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for independent discoveries leading to the same conclusion published in November 1988 and in March 1989 respectively.
It was a discovery ahead of it’s time which probably explains the time period between discovery and the prize being awarded.

Fundamental to the phenomenon is RKKY (Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida) interaction

H represents the Hamiltonian, R_ij is the distance between the nuclei i and j, I_ij is the nuclear spin of atom i, Δk_mk_m is a term that represents the strength of the hyperfine

It’s all rather nasty quantum mechanics – but in fact this interaction discovered in the 1950’s predicted what was to become GMR

27th June 2007 is going to be heralding an end to an era in the UK…
An era that began in July 1994 when Tony Blair became the leader of the Labour party which then lead to him becoming the Prime Minister of the UK in the 1997 General election

I was too young to vote in those days (I was a mere 16 years old), but the result was very surprising. 12 years of Conservative party rule had come to an end. “Blairism” had begun… the theme tune Things Can Only Get Better by D:Ream was being played everywhere, and was genuinely being believed.
And I think things did indeed get better in Blair’s first term. There was a good balance of old Labour and New “Blairite” Labour.

Because they had won by such a large majority, it was inevitable that they would win the election 4 years later (in 2001), allowing blair to serve a 2nd term. This time I will always remember for the Stealth Taxes which Gordon Brown, the Chancellor used to make it seem like Labour weren’t increasing taxes, as they’d promises to do. The 2nd term was also dogged by the war in Iraq (2002), and after this there were fears that Labour would not win in 2005. They still had enough support, and with help from the Hutton Inquiry Labour was still in power after the 2005 election.

On 10th May 2007, Tony Blair announced that he would be standing down on 27th June as Party Leader, and election of a new leader began. Gordon Brown won without any competition within days as nobody else in the party could drum up enough support to mount a leadership campaign.

Why am I blogging about this you may ask?
Well… I’ll tell you one thing, that’s not what I’ll be looking forward to on 27th June. Released on that same day is the final part of the Die Hard series:

Live Free or Die Hard

I hope Tony departs with a bang!

The subject is about two entries really but I’m going to combine them into one blog post even though they’re not related apart from they were both thoughts/observations from the week.

I’ll start with Cyclists…

I think it’s simply too dangerous to cycle in many parts of London, and being a Car driver I am largely going to have a streak against cyclists (apparently they are never wrong if you are in an accident with one). Having said that, I really think that they do bring some of it on themselves and shouldn’t carry the holier than thou attitude that many seem to.

I will never forget the morning where I was millimetres (it felt like that at the time and was probably a few metres) away from hitting a cyclist who jumped a red light. They were very fortunate that I was alert, that my brakes were in good working order and was therefore able to stop in time bearing in mind i was travelling at 25-30mph as I went through my green light. I will never forget the look on her face – there was no regret, apology or thank you. I was in complete shock. it was lucky I was only 10 minutes away from my workplace (though I was running late as usual) otherwise I would’ve had to stop in order to get my head straight.

Cyclists, along with Pedestrians, Motorists and Motorcyclists are subject in the UK to The Highway Code.

While Cyclists cannot be punished as easily as motorists can, dangerous or careless cycling is an offence that carries a fine of up to £2500. Note that cycling on the pavement is illegal and could be subject to a £500 fine. I have never heard of either of these being enforced.

I believe that cyclists jumping a red light should be fined and this should be enforced. It isn’t because police officers are usually based in cars or on the street and unable to catch them since they are more agile. Bikes don’t have number plates and there is no way to catch up with them once they’re out of site. So, how do you enforce this? Light-heartedly, I suggested that police officers should be sent out with lasso ropes to hook cyclists in from the street but this is clearly not practical. With a bit more thought, I came up with the idea that enforcing the highway code for cyclists could be handed over to traffic wardens on a commission basis.

Traffic wardens in the UK have become notorious for finding means of extracting more cash than ever from motorists in parking fines especially when they clamp them or tow them away. There are many private companies that are employed by UK councils to maximise the income often featuring a payment on commission system. Traffic wardens are generally hated by everyone in the country apart from their boss which would make them perfect for enforcing the law. So much so that some wardens in Scotland are equipped with spit testing kits so they can hunt down those that spit on them. If anyone can make cyclists think twice about jumping a red light, traffic wardens are the ones for the job. They are inventive and are used to having abuse thrown at them. They use bikes, mopeds, buses and cars to patrol their areas, and like nothing more than extracting money out of the public. They will spot whether you have parked 2mm into a no parking area or whether you’re 20 seconds late returning to your parking meter.

Rant over, I know there are plenty of perfectly safe cyclists out there, but the number you see who don’t wear helmets or have no lights at night – I always say to them under my breath that you’re not going to live long if you continue like that. For sure we don’t want to discourage cyclists, but if you are going to cycle on the road you need to obey the laws of the road. Otherwise you deserve everything you get if you get hit by a car.

Next, OS X…
I was doing a bit of a cleanup at the weekend when I noticed one of the partitions on one of my drives was nearly full
So I fired up one of my fave apps WhatSize 10 to find out what was taking up the most space these days and I was slightly alarmed about how much junk was in my startup volume:
• 787mb of Printer Drivers (most of which I don’t have)
• 385mb of saved install packages
• A 173mb Console Log
• 1.56Gb of iPod Photo Cache – bear in mind that the actual photos only take up 379mb – what’s going on here!

What on earth is going on? I’ve spent two weekends cleaning stuff up in various folders because I need the space for my iTunes library. Have managed to get my main drive up to 16Gb available now after finding two tv series’ in my movies folder and a site rip of some site which came to 3.4Gb. I’ve backed all this up to DVD. Still have the mammoth task of sorting my “to sort” folder and not sure what to do with the iPod Photo Cache, but it’s looking better!