Two Apples, two Guys

The man awaiting a job interview who was mistaken for a computer expert and questioned live on BBC News 24 a week ago was identified by BBC News today in an article that also links to footage of the ensuing, rather unenlightening conversation.

Guy Goma was asked his opinion on the Apple Corps v Apple Computer verdict, a role Guy Kewney would perhaps have been better placed to fill. Unfortunately, Mr Kewney was left in reception while the 'wrong Guy' (subeditors have been creaming themselves over potential cheesy headlines) was ushered into the studio.

Apart from its humour value and possibly reflecting the desperate-for-anyone-to-say-anything-no-matter-how-meaningless mentality of rolling news, I was also quite impressed by how gamely he fielded Karen Bowerman's questions.

I reckon someone should employ him, don't you?

Hockey stick jollies

The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health and the Swiss Aids Federation have launched a fresh campaign promoting safer sex that features people playing potentially dangerous sports while naked with the line No action without protection.

You can view the TV-spot via the media section of the Love Life website.

My favourite image from the campaign website:

As reported by the BBC yesterday.

Keeping up with the council

Ever feel left behind by the back, forth and grind of the UN Security Council's work? Out of touch with the progress or otherwise of ongoing international interventions in the world's most troubling trouble spots?

You need the new, improved Security Council Report to keep you and your loved ones up to date with tensions over Iran's nuclear programme, disagreement over Darfur and expiring UN mandates!

But seriously, it does provide a useful summary of upcoming meetings and issues each month, on top of updates as events unfold and balanced background information.

According to the editors:

Our focus is to provide practical and helpful information and analysis for practitioners— such as delegates at Missions in New York, officials in capitals considering policy issues and instructions and UN Secretariat staff at headquarters, agencies or in the field. But our publications will also be prepared with the NGO community in mind, as well as the media, the academic community and the general public."

The UN also publishes its own webcasts for those interested.

Goodbye to the Sultan's Elephant

The Sultan's Elephant making its way from Piccadilly to Horse Guards Parade

Just got back from seeing the last bits of the Sultan's Elephant on Pall Mall, The Mall and Horse Guards Parade.

It was quite surreal to see, among other things, the huge mechanical pachyderm saunter by the Crimean War Memorial while spraying the crowds with water from its trunk.

It all ended with the elephant seeing the Little Girl back into her rocket - it fired up and reopened to reveal her vanished into thin air...

The Verneans have landed

A mysterious rocket has landed on Waterloo Place...

Went along to Pall Mall and Waterloo Place yesterday after work to see part of the ongoing Sultan's Elephant performance, manifesting in sites around central London until tomorrow evening.

Nantes-based artists Royal de Luxe are using giant street puppetry to tell a fantastic tale inspired by the imaginings of Jules Verne.

They succeeded in creating a truly magical space in the capital yesterday, inspiring childlike enchantment from many of its more usually cynical inhabitants (a trait of ours to which the endlessly ludicrous and deeply pathetic David Blaine can attest).

A Guardian article today includes some of the more amusing responses from passers-by and spectators, while the BBC has a good in pictures feature.

Sugar baby love

Last week, French HIV/AIDS organisation AIDeS launched a new safer sex campaign targeting gay men with a great animation featuring The Rubettes' Sugar Baby Love:

From YouTube.com, as seen on Pax Romano's Ramblings.

A stub with a story

An article in today's Guardian recounts how reams of private information about one person who discarded their boarding card stub in a bin on the Heathrow Express was easily uncovered (admittedly by an expert, but apparently without any difficulty).

It exposes the ability of companies and governments to claim that they need to collect more private data about us in the name of security, and the disregard they can show for how easily that information can be accessed by criminals.

This all bodes even less well for the UK government's invasive and bumbling ID card plans...

Image by Alex Koulintchenko via stock.xchng.