All posts by Carl

Trudeau plans wall to keep Americans out of Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed this afternoon that he is planning to build a wall along the entire US-Canadian border and that he is asking Donald Trump to pay for it.

A senior source close to the PM has leaked that this plan predates the COVID-19 outbreak and that the pandemic has simply provided a good opportunity to announce it.

When questioned off the record as to whether the wall was intended to stem the flow of corona virus victims across the border, he was heard to reply “and the rest!”. He went on to say that America has always treated Canada as a second class nation and that it was time show them otherwise. President Trump has yet to comment on the plan.

A paper published this week by the Department of Comparative Linguistics at the University of Melbourne, Australia reports that out of a sample of 150,000 native English speakers from around world excluding North America, only 5% were able to reliably identify a Canadian accent. Of the remaining 95%, only 12% said they actually cared. Creating a border wall will cause accents to diverge and help Canadians to be distinguished from their southern neighbours. Mr Trudeau said he would prefer it if everybody spoke French. In another study, researchers concluded that most people couldn’t tell the difference between a French accent and a French Canadian one. He said he didn’t think a wall would fix that one so easily (also off the record).

New films coming soon…

Here’s hoping the corona virus doesn’t stop all social and cultural activity. Fortunately, my sitting room is large enough for everyone to self-isolate in comfort.

These new films will be available from the beginning of April:

The screenplays for the first two films were written by one of my school contemporaries, Charlie Peters. For more on him, go to the section of the website dedicated to my school days. Lorenzo’s Oil was recommended by him.

Looking for Mr Goodbar is a steamy, violent film noir with Diane Keaton as a schoolteacher living an extraordinary double life, not unlike Kathleen Turner in the equally noir Crimes of Passion. This has been on my list of “must haves” for quite a while.

Liquid Sky, Themroc, Napoleon and Elvira Madigan are rare cult films normally shown only in obscure film clubs. Say no more. (Napoleon is five hours long by the way, so bring sandwiches & drinks).

The Joker is the recent multi-award winning Batman offshoot with Joaquín Phoenix in the title rôle.

Club Cornucopia beta testing to start soon

Your favourite website is changing up a gear with the introduction of a social networking facility which will be known as “Club Cornucopia”.

The software is already installed and working and will undergo beta testing very soon. If all goes well, I hope to have it up and running at the beginning of April.

If you would like to volunteer as a beta tester, please leave a comment to this post. Your help will be much appreciated!

If successful you will get an engraved “Club Cornucopia Official Beta-Tester” certificate.

New Cyberdrome “Extras” gallery added

There’s a new gallery “Extras” on the Cyberdrome Extras page with all the photos I have in my possession, starting with the initial “Dragon Quest” concept development in 1989 through to Crystal Maze construction in Dubai in 1998.

Unfortunately I can’t display the descriptions with the current gallery plugin I’m using, so you can’t see my carefully crafted explanations – this is work in progress!

Featured picture is of core on-site gang (minus Fiona) having a day off from the Honmoku Crystal Maze at Mount Fuji.

French Film Night Thursday 27th February

The next French film night will be on Thursday the 27th February and will be a showing of “Dialogue Avec Mon Jardinier” (“Conversations with my Gardener”, English subtitles). Hope to see you then!

Schedule: Please try to arrive by 8.00pm in time for some pre-film banter and to sort out seating arrangements, drinks, snacks etc. Film starts at 8.30pm.

BYO: Please bring anything you would like to eat or drink with you.

Registration: if you would like to come, please use the comment facility in this post so everyone can see who is coming.

Parking: There is room for two cars in the car park if you park immediately in front of mine (first come first served). If you are unsure of my address, please contact me via my private gmail or, failing that, the address given in the INFO section of this website.

Big thanks to Paul Winter for recommendation and loan of this DVD.

New video “Evolution” published on You Tube

This is a re-release of the very first piece of electronica I ever produced. The format is music video, with brand new graphics and added “ambience”.

The theme is an ironic battle of ideas between the theory of evolution and creationism where creationism wins – a not inconsiderable abuse of artistic license.

Please feel free to comment; the first two comments refer to an earlier version published as a preliminary draft. These have been taken into account for production of the final publication. Enjoy!

Carbon offsetting my travels in 2019

I’ve calculated the amount of CO2 generated on my travels in 2019 and ways to offset it by contributing to a basket of carbon mitigation projects.

The results are surprising:

  • Total distance travelled: 75,651 kilometres
  • Total CO2 generated: 11,042 kilograms
  • Total contribution required: £107.98

This is a minute amount of money compared with the many thousands of pounds I have spent on these trips. The conclusion is obvious:

I can easily afford to offset my travels and so can YOU!!

They say “charity starts at home” and I believe this to be true for carbon offsetting; while some people may contribute to the grand schemes by engaging politically, joining action groups or going on demonstrations etc., very few are willing to take responsibility for their own footprint and dip into their own pockets.

My aim is to be carbon neutral by the time I die; what about YOU?

I have allocated my “debt” over three projects, including a tree planting scheme in the UK. All projects I subscribe to are verified according to QAS standards.

You can also use the tool I’ve created – you just have to put your own trips in and refresh the pivot table. You can then allocate your contribution to the various projects as you wish. Please feel free to check my figures – all feedback is greatly appreciated!

I’ll be using it to offset my travels in 2018, 2017 … as far back as I have records for, which is about 1998. Before that it will be informed guesswork back to 1970 when I was eighteen and before which I consider to be my parents’ footprint – not mine. By the same token, I consider my children’s footprints to be shared between me and their mother, up to the age of eighteen.

“What about heating and lighting?” you might say. My answer: “Watch this space!”.

New Gallery “Auschwitz” added

In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz I have decided to include pictures from my visit there in 2008. If this provokes discussion then it will have served its purpose to raise and maintain awareness of the holocaust and help stop the declaration “Nie Wieder” [Never Again] fading from memory.

You can find it here.