Archive for May, 2005

What the hell is an ASBO?

Friday, May 13th, 2005

So, “What the hell is an ASBO?” An ASBO, or “Anti-Social Behaviour Order,” is the UK’s answer to help deter people acting like dumbasses.

Let’s say you get mad at your neighbor’s kids for throwing rocks at your siding. You’d go over and have a chat with their parents, right?

Well, there are some people who would rather mow their lawn at 3:00am every day for a month rather than having a civil discussion. Among other things… While it was clearly wrong for the kids to stone your siding for no reason, it certainly doesn’t make it right for you to be grooming your yard at “Oh Dark Hundred.” If we were in the UK, it would be entirely within my neighbor’s right to apply for an ABC, or “Acceptable Behaviour Contract.”

You can read all about it here.

Properly enforced, I think this would be an outstanding way to crack down on dumbasses with their souped up stereos in their rusted out shitboxes. I’ll get you, DJ Jazzy Trevor. Oh, yes. You will rue the day.

Posted in Random Geekyness | No Comments »

Weirdness in the UK

Friday, May 13th, 2005

“Hoodies,” or hooded sweatshirts, have been effectively banned in the UK.

After reading about it in The Times of India here, I decided to poke fun at our cousins across the pond. Here’s the result:

I posted it upon b3ta’s message board here. Imagine my surprise when Rob Manuel (one of the founders of b3ta) responded that I should sell the design.

After briefly thinking about it, I set up a cafepress.com merchant account at http://cafepress.com/asbo. 50% goes to b3ta.

We’ll see if it gets any hits.

Posted in Random Geekyness, Web Sites | No Comments »

Pelikan Level 5

Friday, May 6th, 2005

Despite using other pens, the Pelikan Level 5 is still my favorite.

Although my gold one died a premature death at the hands of my then-toddler son, I had the foresight to purchase a matte black one as a reserve. The matte black had a stainless steel nib (ewww), but I was able to swap out the gold nib from the other one.

The Namiki Vanishing Point — my previous favorite — also had a gold nib, but tore through ink far too rapidly to be used as a day-to-day writing instrument. By contrast, the Level 5 holds an enormous amount of ink.

Too bad the cap can’t post, but I’ve gotten in the habit of holding it while writing.

Check it out at http://www.level.de/english/l5.html.

As an aside, I don’t think you can get these in the United States anymore. I had to order the gold one from Malaysia and the matte black one from Germany.

Posted in Pens | No Comments »