The karma police are on the lookout...

...for the sly person who left the following note.

iPhone 4 Version (640x960)

A few months ago a Swedish friend on facebook posted a photo of a note left under someone's windscreen wiper on their car. The note read:

"Hej,

Jag stötte bilen och någon såg mig, så nu är jag låtsas att skriva mina kontaktuppgifter på denna not.

Tack,

Hej då."

For the benefit of anyone who doesn't speak Swedish, the note reads:

"Hi,

I bumped your car and someone saw me, so now I'm pretending to write my contact details on this note.

Thanks,

Bye."

Ha, ha, ha. Very amusing. Actually, I hope it was a joke because if it was real it wouldn't be quite so amusing for the person whose car it was, obviously.

Anyway, I thought it deserved to be translated into English so for the benefit of any non-Swedish speakers I've created an English recreation of the original Swedish note as an iPhone wallpaper. The wallpaper at the top right of this blog post is the iPhone 4 version in 640x960 resolution, and for the benefit of any cutting edge people who have upgraded to the iPhone 5, here's one in 640x1136 resolution:

Acts of random kindness

My own random act of kindness.

Haad Rin Sunrise Beach, scene of my own random act of kindness.

Last week I posted three YouTube videos which made me smile and one of those videos was the music video 'Acts Of Random Kindness' which as the name suggests features people doing random acts of kindness for other people.

I mentioned at the time that the video made me want to go out and do some random acts of kindness myself, but I also acknowledged that in reality I'd probably forget about the video within a couple of minutes and just go back to being my usual self-orientated self straight away.

However, after compiling last week's YouTube post, I did actually remember an act of random kindness that I did once myself which was a bit similar to the acts of kindness in the 'Acts Of Random Kindness' video, so I thought I would mention it just to remind myself how nice it is to think of others sometimes.

Three YouTube videos that made me smile

It's always good to smile.

Smile!
(Sketch by Jenny Ellis)

I recently published the final book in my scifi series of books, and at the end of the book, I make the point that we often associate being a nice person with people who dedicate their life to feeding starving people and stuff like that.

Examples like that are obviously excellent, but for the rest of us who can't make such a massive sacrifice, you don't have to go to such extreme measures as dedicating your entire life towards helping the poor. You can still be a nice person just by doing simple stuff like telling other people about cool stuff which makes you happy.

It's always good to smile so I make the point that even if it's just a cool video on YouTube which makes you smile, then it's still a worthwhile deed to tell other people about it.

So to ensure I'm not a hypocrite, here are a few cool YouTube videos which I like...

Charity Russian roulette

Here's an idea for anyone going out on a pub crawl on Children In Need night.

Oops!  Looks like someone's had an accident
... or have they?

It's Children In Need this coming Friday, so this is an idea for anyone who wants to raise money for Children In Need and have fun at the same time on a night out. It doesn't specifically apply to Children In Need though, so you could play Charity Russian Roulette at any time of the year to raise money for any charity.

Charity Russian Roulette is basically just a game of dare where everyone has to do dares or challenges, and each time you wimp out and bottle a dare, you contribute £1 into the Children In Need fund for the night. Each person has to take turns at pulling a random number out of an envelope with each number corresponding to a dare which the person then has to perform.

The only preparation the game requires is that before you head out for the evening, one person has to write out the dares (or corresponding numbers) on little pieces of paper and then crumple them up in a bag or envelope. You can use any dares you want, but here are a few ideas to start you off...

How To Save The World: Part 3C - In The End, No-One Can Escape Justice

The concluding part of the 'How To Save The World' saga...

Charles Fudgemuffin in association with Montgomery-Smythe Publishing Associates is proud to announce the release of the latest book in the 'How To Save The World' series.

Here are a few words from Charles to introduce the book...

How To Save The World: Part 3C
'In The End, No-One Can Escape Justice'

How To Save The World: Part 3C - In The End, No-One Can Escape Justice

'In The End, No-One Can Escape Justice' is the sixth and final book in the ‘How To Save The World’ saga.  I would therefore recommend that new readers start with book one (How To Save The World: An Alien Comedy) which, with the exception of Star Wars*, is the traditional way to read a story.

* For the benefit of anyone who hasn't yet seen Star Wars, I would recommend starting with part four.

However, I still get my royalties whatever order people buy the books in, so if you want to read the story back to front then that's fine by me.

10 more nerd jokes (part 2)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've got a bit of a soft spot for nerd jokes, so as it's been a while since I last featured any nerd jokes on my blog I think therefore that means it's time for another round up, with this week's batch of nerdosity featuring ducks, functions, and radioactive cats.

"Quark!"

Once again, apologies to any non-nerds for this overdose of nerdiness, but for anyone who enjoys nerd jokes, let's start things off with a really cheesy joke...

1) What does a subatomic duck say? Quark.


2) A logician tells his mate his wife has just had a baby.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" his mate asks.
"Yes," the logician replies.


3) What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?

True or false: A 'space and the universe' quiz

Origami, extreme diets and the planet 'Marjory'.

As today is National Astronomy Day, I thought it would be appropriate to base my latest True Or False quiz on the theme of 'space and the universe'. See if you can spot which of the following 'facts' are actually true and which ones are nothing more than a devious bluff.

The planets Neptune and Saturn, with the planet 'Marjory'
sandwiched in the middle. Note: Not to scale.

Fact 1) The planet 'Marjory'

The planet Uranus was discovered in 1628 by astronomer Richard Keplington and as a romantic gesture he originally wanted to name the planet 'Marjory' after his beloved wife. However, his wife was quite a humble lady and didn't want any fuss or attention, and so Keplington reluctantly agreed to respect her wishes and the name Uranus was eventually decided upon.

True of false?