George Orwell fires a Sten gun

George Orwell's diary, 09-Aug-1942
Fired the Sten gun for the first time today. No kick, no vibration, very little noise, and reasonable accuracy. Out of about 2500 rounds fired, 2 stoppages, in each case due to a dud cartridge – treatment, simply to work the bolt by hand.

Clarifications:

  • Work the bolt by hand is not a euphemism;
  • Stense was not named after the Sten gun (nor vice versa).

HOLY CRAP, IT WORKED!!!

BBC: Nasa's Curiosity rover successfully lands on Mars
The US space agency has just landed a huge new robot rover on Mars.

The one-tonne vehicle, known as Curiosity, touched down at 06:14 BST (05:14 GMT) in a deep crater near the planet's equator after a plunging through the atmosphere.

You know when people say something ‘isn't exactly rocket science’? Well now you know what is. Our species' awesomeness is confirmed yet again.

Now it's time for Curiosity to start making crop-circles. It's the only language the Martians understand.

See also:

NO FUCKING WAY!!

Defeatist

The Olympic Games are not two days old, and already the Brits are showing a totally bloody typical defeatist attitude:

BBC: Olympics venues stuffed - Lord Coe

Granted, we're having one or two problems with the Olympic venues, but that doesn't mean they're totally stuffed, does it, Lord Coe? Where's your sense of proportion? Where's your Blitz Spirit?

Imagine if Churchill had said we were stuffed two days after Dunkirk. Old Adolf would have been foxtrotting goose-stepping down the Mall and having us singing La Marseillaise within a week.

We are Team GB! Hear us roar!

Let's go!

Woody

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Woody Guthrie:

A River Runs Through It

The other day, in the comments, in response to an enquiry about my well-being following the recent Hebden Bridge floods, I replied:

Thanks for your concern, but we live several hundred feet above Hebden Bridge, on the side of a very steep slope. If we ever flood, expect Noah to make a second-coming.

Erm... Is that a very big boat I see on the horizon?

Our house this afternoon:

(The house is fine, but I have never seen so much water on the lawn and in the drive before.)

I hate to think what it must have been like half a mile down the hill in Hebden Bridge.

Update:

BBC: Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge hit by flooding
Parts of West Yorkshire have been hit by flash flooding following a sudden downpour that lasted about 90 minutes. The canal at Hebden Bridge breached its banks flooding the town centre, West Yorkshire Police said...

Nearly a month's worth of rain, more than 40mm, fell in Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd in three hours.

Festival of sport

Are the rest of you as fed up as I am with the Olympics yet? They seem to have been dragging on forever. To make matters worse, we were promised a festival of sport, and all we've had so far is wall-to-wall soccer and tennis.

I'm thinking of asking for my money back.