Matt Mayer

US centric

Posted from 88.108.155.86

in google world i type taj mahal-i get lots of curry houses in the US
taj mahal, agra yields the taj mahal of agra - a US curry house
taj mahal, agra, india - search yields no results

!!

Matthew

Posted from 222.68.177.30

I say, bring back live pigeon shooting!

http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/28112006/2/photo/ioc-drops-core-games-sports-25.html

Matthew

Posted from 61.173.40.23

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the
edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!"
"Why shouldn't I?" he said.
"Well, there's so much to live for!"
"Like what?"
"Well... are you religious?"
He said yes.
I said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?"
"Christian."
"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant ?"
"Protestant."
"Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"
"Baptist"
"Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
"Baptist Church of God!"
"Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed
Baptist Church of God?"
"Reformed Baptist Church of God!"
"Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or
Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of1915?"
He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"
I said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off.

Matthew

Posted from 58.35.150.190

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/243343/i_hope_you_like_pain/

funny - ignore the name, its nothing unpleasant

i do try

Posted from 194.74.0.10

I saw malta as twice as good as, say, portugal, because it would add a new flag. But I don't think I should deny myself a nice baltic holiday for the sake of a few small flags on your website!

Matthew

Posted from 61.173.54.117

We need to make the country bagging table more colourful. Filling in the gaps is dull, who wants a trip to BOSNIA?!

Matthew

Posted from 61.173.54.117

Yes, the spit goes to Russia. You can see Russia, but you can't get into it there.

i'm thinking february

Posted from 194.74.0.10

just for the snow really, who cares about the four countries i haven't been to?

thankyou, i'm assuming the spit is the one that goes to russia? haven't seen a bittern for AGES...

Matthew

Posted from 61.173.55.203

Of the three capitals I preferred Riga in 2003, although on my way back home last year I thought it had gone downmarket a bit (blame budget flights). The Song Bowl is pretty impressive in Tallinn. I imagine you'd prefer the Curonian Spit to Vilnius. It probably has bitterns, too! There are some nice national parks, I believe. Stalinworld is obviously a must-see. There's also a nuclear reactor with the same design as Chernobyl, if that floats your boat. Beer and food is standard Eastern European stuff.

Matthew

Posted from 61.170.157.1

What time of year will you be going roughly?

you must be kidding

Posted from 88.108.155.86

what is a guy to do. Am I supposed to follow you around the the back end of europe? Bloody country-baggers

chinaman -

Posted from 194.74.0.10

a little advice on baltic-bagging if you would:

nice places to stay across the three capitals, if you found any?

good places to go (other than stalin world)?

IBM

Posted from 88.108.155.86

this months problem wasn't very satisfying, it just required to will to write an exhaustive search of possibilities.

1,2,4,5 (33) beats 1,2,3,4 (29). The best i've found so far is 1,2,5,6 with 44.

gun song

Posted from 194.74.0.10

If you would be so kind...christmas...

Lucinda hasn't left my mp3 player since i got back. Rightly so.

i love that tom russell album

Posted from 88.108.155.86

"everything's gone straight to hell since Sinatra play Juarez"

teddy

Posted from 88.108.155.86

just got the gun song. will keep my eye out for a bit of aye teasie weasle

Matthew

Posted from 61.173.45.130

"Not Being the World-Traveled Backpacker
You know who I'm talking about. You check into a hostel, and in the reception, there is the Traveller. He's on year 3 of his around-the-world voyage, and no matter where you've been, he's *lived* there. And had seventeen times the cultural experiences you had. We can't all be amazing world-traveling free spirits. Plus, y'know, he needs a bath."

biblical references

Posted from 88.108.166.46

And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth
Genesis 8:11, and the first sentence of my introduction.

I especially like the 'and, lo...'

a bayesian bittern

Posted from 88.108.166.46

is a bittern with a sufficiently good grasp of statistics to reject classical frequentist theory

what's a bayesian bittern?

Posted from 194.74.0.10

i'm going to buy a bittern tomorrow, i'll bring it up on friday.

better

Posted from 88.108.166.46

Bayesian Bitterns: Mutual Information in the Reed Bed

what about

Posted from 88.108.166.46

Bayesian Bitterns

you like birds really

Posted from 194.74.0.10

penguins, pigeons...

for anyone who watched planet earth

Posted from 88.108.166.46

my new idea is studying pattern formation in penguin huddles - they seem to act like lipid membranes

Matthew

Posted from 222.68.177.30

I fear we're all in the wrong jobs.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/01112006/356/man-paid-91-000-change-traffic-lights.html

Matthew

Posted from 61.173.44.38

Thanks for advice on Philly. I would have stayed a bit longer, but all the free flights (I'm using my BA miles) were booked up for the week before Christmas.

Then of course, I'm waiting for the New Year's Eve party before flying home!

please note

Posted from 88.108.166.46

that there is sod all in philly, except cheese steak sandwiches, the liberty bell and some lame histroical stuff to do with the revolution - advise staying in NY.

its so foggy i can see less than a man with cataracts in beijing

and of course

Posted from 194.74.0.10

it really isn't nearly christmas. Surely?

i would suggest

Posted from 194.74.0.10

more time in america, less in crawley...

my christmas schedule = home on christmas eve for the mann party(?) back here on 27th, work 28th/29th, maybe back on 30th/31st if there are a few games of risk/settlers in it, but I have to work on 1st (grrrr) so will almost certainly miss the great party of 2006/7.

Matthew

Posted from 61.173.59.101

Fly out 13th december, 4 nights in NY/Philly (they are only a couple of hours apart by coach), see Statue of Liberty, Rockerfeller Centre Christmas tree etc, eat genuine Philly cheese steak.

Two weeks in UK, fly back east on around 2nd Jan.

mom

Posted from 86.133.179.202

Sure thing!
Whats your itinerary in the States?

Matthew

Posted from 61.170.156.31

USA here we come!

Flight 1: Philadelphia to London
Flight Number BA68
Cabin Traveller
Departure Sun 17 December 2006, 21:55
Arrival Mon 18 December 2006, 10:05

Can someone pick me up from Heathrow :) ?

Posted from 88.108.166.46

bbc tries not to find unecessarily violent situation amusing, fails...

"And there was also a recent story involving a teenager who threatened her father with a hand grenade in an argument over paying for a mobile phone bill.

The father expressed surprise that his daughter had managed to get hold of a grenade from her friends, rather than simply use one of his own collection."

Matthew

Posted from 61.173.51.92

I was rather shocked to discover it was nearly Christmas. What are your new year plans andy?

Matthew

Posted from 61.173.51.92

I'd rather be in Chennai than St Johns

But it's so sunny

Posted from 194.74.0.10

Been out in a t-shirt today, it's not that bad. Would you really rather be in Chennai?

says it all

Posted from 88.108.166.46

Crawley: 09:08, 3°C
Chennai: 13:38, 27°C
Shanghai: 16:08, 25°C

so cold

on my rss

Posted from 88.108.166.46

Denmark is Egypt's worst enemy after Israel, a poll conducted by an Egyptian government agency indicates.

Must be quite satisfying, denmark hasn't been anyones worst enemy for centuries

Matthew

Posted from 61.173.47.5

Pictures from the Bagua.com.cn fashion show:

http://sh.eastday.com/eastday/sh/node462/node17035/index.html

Matthew

Posted from 61.173.47.5

Politics in a nutshell
http://www.comics.com/comics/pearls/archive/images/pearls2002221161101.gif