Timewaster's Guide Archive

From Britian's Times Online.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C2-1881612%2C00.html

VILLAGERS who protested that a new housing estate would "harm the fairies" living in their midst have forced a property company to scrap its building plans and start again.

Marcus Salter, head of Genesis Properties, estimates that the small colony of fairies believed to live beneath a rock in St Fillans, Perthshire, has cost him £15,000. His first notice of the residential sensibilities of the netherworld came as his diggers moved on to a site on the outskirts of the village, which crowns the easterly shore of Loch Earn.  

He said: "A neighbour came over shouting, 'Don't move that rock. You'll kill the fairies'." The rock protruded from the centre of a gently shelving field, edged by the steep slopes of Dundurn mountain, where in the sixth century the Celtic missionary St Fillan set up camp and attempted to convert the Picts from the pagan darkness of superstition.

"Then we got a series of phone calls, saying we were disturbing the fairies. I thought they were joking. It didn't go down very well," Mr Salter said.

In fact, even as his firm attempted to work around the rock, they received complaints that the fairies would be "upset". Mr Salter still believed he was dealing with a vocal minority, but the gears of Perthshire's planning process were about to be clogged by something that looked suspiciously like fairy dust.

"I went to a meeting of the community council and the concerns cropped up there," he said. The council was considering lodging a complaint with the planning authority, likely to be the kiss of death for a housing development in a national park. Jeannie Fox, council chairman, said: "I do believe in fairies but I can't be sure that they live under that rock. I had been told that the rock had historic importance, that kings were crowned upon it." Her main objection to moving the rock was based on the fact that it had stood on the hillside for so long: a sort of MacFeng Shui that many in the village subscribe to.

"There are a lot of superstitions going about up here and people do believe that things like standing stones and large rocks should never be moved," she said.

Thanks for the book.  It looks awesome.

I have three book signings this weekend if anyone wants to stop by:

Friday (today):
Seagull Book -- Redwood Rd. 1700 So., Salt Lake
12-1pm
(Matthew Buckley will be signing with me...)

Saturday:
Seagull Book -- Across from Cottonwood Mall
12:15 to 1:45

Seagull Book -- Across from Southtowne Mall
4:15 to 5:45

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1534821.html

A German inventor says he's found a way to make cheap diesel fuel out of dead cats.

Dr Christian Koch, 55, from Kleinhartmannsdorf, said his method uses old tyres, weeds and animal cadavers.

They are heated up to 300 Celsius to filter out hydrocarbon which is then turned into diesel by a catalytic converter.

He said the resulting "high quality bio-diesel" costs just 15 pence per litre.

Koch said the cadaver of a fully grown cat can produce 2.5 litres of fuel - meaning around 20 cats are needed for a full tank.

He said: "I tank my car with my own diesel mixture and have driven it for 105,000 miles without any problems."

Annelise Krauss of the Dresden Animal Protection Association blasted Koch's new diesel though, saying: "This is as bad as experimenting on animals."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GG20Aa01.html

It's a fascinating article.  Bizarre at some points, and I can't agree with most of it, but it's very interesting.

So, CNN reported two things that I thought were interesting, but I'm too lazy to make two threads.

The first is that Scotty, from the original Star Trek, has died.

The second, is this cool article about hyperfast internet -- 100 megs per second.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/20/technology/broadband.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

Hey Ent -- what are you hearing about the attacks?  Everything I've seen so far is very sketchy, and I doubt a lot of it -- how can a bus be blown apart and only two people die?

Hey you Utah Countians.  There's a big author event tomorrow at the Media Play in Orem, if any of you want to come.  There will be something like 50 authors on hand.  I'll be signing books from 3-5 and giving a speech at 2:00.  Come on by.