Anorak

Anorak News - Pop culture, media, sport and weirdness

31st, December 2013 Reviews

Behold! An amazing T-Rex Optical Illusion

Ever vomited, hard, because something was screwing with your mind? Usually, it is an optical illusion that will do it, giving you a nausea unparalleled, to the point where your head spins with glee. Optical illusions are, of course, rollercoaster rides for people who don't like getting off the couch... More »

31st, December 2013 Politicians

Arvind Kejriwal: India's Anti-Corruption Transparency Hero Tweets His Diarrhea

Arvind Kejriwal is Delhi's new chief minister, head of the new anti-corruption party, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), or Common Man's party (the party symbol is of a broom) and champion of the common man. Mr Kejriwal will be transparent and clean in all things - even his insides are open to the public gaze... More »

31st, December 2013 Money

Manufacturing's Coming Back To The UK

We're not going to get the return of mass employment in manufacturing, of course. For it's now becoming cheaper to put a series of robots on a line than even using armies of poorly paid Chinese. Mainly because Chinese wages have risen so much in the past 15 years (from, on average, $1,000 a year to $6,500 a year)... More »

31st, December 2013 Key Posts

Worse Than Dog Poo: The Real Stink Should Be Over On-The-Spot Fines

Do we sympathise with Peter Taylor, styled as "Community-spirited" by the Stoke Sentinel? Or we do we think he made a problem worse? The local council is very much of the opinion that Mr Taylor is a nuisance. It handed him an £80 fine for picking up a pump of dog poo left on a pathway in Central Forest Park, Hanley, Staffordshire, and relocating it into long grass... More »

31st, December 2013 Reviews

Derby Mystery: Why Has So Much Cutlery Been Flushed Down The Toilet?

It's been a big week for cutlery. First, we saw Etibar Elchyev, 41, seize the world record for having metal objects stuck by magnetic force to his body. His record stands at 53 spoons. Now we learn of goings on in Derby... More »

31st, December 2013 Strange But True

Snoopy Island Rises Off The Coast Of Japan

Who gets the image rights? More »

31st, December 2013 Reviews 2

Priests' Relief: Pietro Lamberti, 60, Had Legal Sex wIth An 11-Year-Old Says Italy's Supreme Court

Back in February 2011, social worker Pietro Lamberti was found guilty of sex with a minor, a child from a poor family in the country's south. His crimes earned him a five-year prison sentence... More »

31st, December 2013 Flashback 2

The Most Offensive And Amusing Pitch Gestures

Nicolas Anelka’s controversial celebration after scoring for West Brom at Upton Park – the notorious quenelle salute, made famous by his comedian friend Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala – will be debated for weeks to come. But he is by no means the first footballer to find himself in hot water following an impetuous or ill-judged gesture… More »

31st, December 2013 Fashion

Victoria’s Secret: What A Difference 30 Years Makes

CAN YOU GUESS which Victoria’s Secret models come from 1984 and which are from recent catalogs? I’ll give you a hint: the ones from 1984 resemble actual human females... More »

30th, December 2013 TV & Radio

Daily Mirror's Best TV Moment of 2013 Happened In 2012

Over at the Daily Mirror - "the intelligent tabloid" - Josh Woodfin is taking us through the telly highlights of 2013... More »

30th, December 2013 Money

Italy's Incredible Attempt At A Google Tax

The Italians have got themselves all het up over the fact that Google doesn't pay any tax in that country. Or at least one or two politicians have got het up about it. You know, Google sits in Ireland, selling all that advertising into Italy and the poor Italian politicians don't get to confiscate one red euro of that river of cash. Boo hoo, eh? More »

30th, December 2013 Key Posts 3

Anelka And Dieudonné: Bigots, But For The Left

When West Bromwich Albion footballer Nicholas Anelka scored in Saturday's draw with West Ham he preformed a "reverse Nazi salute". Oddly, the reverse Nazi is not an anti-racism statement. It's one steeped in anti-Semitism. After thousands of years of persecution, Anelka's friend, Dieudonne M’balla M’balla, created a new way to insult Jews. It might even be trademarked... More »

30th, December 2013 Reviews

Local News Watch: Dorset Pie Burns In Fire

LOCAL News Watch: The Bournemouth Echo reports: "Steak and kidney pie 'destroyed' in cooking fire" Destroyed! More »

30th, December 2013 Money

Today's The Day Vodafone Gets A Kicking About Tax

The thing is though those kiddies will be wrong to be protesting. For the reason that Vodafone paid no tax in the UK is entirely within the tax laws. It's not actually about anything dodgy at all. They spent £1 billion on building their 4G network this year. And no, they can't write all of that off against their tax bill in one year but they can write it off over a number of years... More »

30th, December 2013 Reviews 2

SkyCycle: London's New Way To Rid The Roads Of Cyclists

SkyCycle is 10 routes running from east London to Liverpool Street Station. The 136miles of tracks will cost around £200m... More »

30th, December 2013 Flashback 6

When Computers Were Giant

IT BOGGLES the mind to think that computers which literally filled rooms a few decades ago couldn't come close to the computers that easily fit in the palm of our hand today. That phone in your pocket can do much more than the giant whirring behemoths brought in on a wench in 1973... It’s an amazing advancement when you stop and think about it. Old science fiction movies and television shows which attempted to depict the computers of tomorrow never predicted anything coming close the compactness of an iPad. They definitely overshot the artificial intelligence aspect [HAL from 2001:A Space Odyssey (1968), Colossus from Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), Proteus from The Demon Seed (1977), etc.] but seemingly overlooked the possibility that these things might get small. In other words, we knew they’d get smarter, but we always assumed they’d stay big... More »

30th, December 2013 Celebrities

Eddie Izzard Was Born in London, Capital Of Yemen

Can we trust Eddie Izzard to be Mayor of London?... More »

30th, December 2013 Reviews

Milwaukee Cop Who Forced Scores Of Anal Cavity Searches At Gunpoint Sentenced to Just Two Years Jail

He probed people's insides until they bled. In one instance, two police held an innocent man's arms, a third cop aimed a gun at his head and Vagnini held him in a chock hold whilst inserting his fingers inside the victim's rectum. He wore no gloves... More »

30th, December 2013 Reviews

Franklin Graham Says God Is 'The Only Judge’ On Homosexuality And It's A Sin

Billy Graham has gone to meet his maker. It's left to his son, Franklin Graham, to explain God's views on homosexuality. He told Meet The Press: “God would have to shift — and God doesn’t. God’s word is the same, yesterday, today, a million years from now. This is sin... More »

30th, December 2013 Reviews 1

Beyond Parody: Climate Scientists Trapped In Antarctic Ice

You might laugh. The team who headed to Antarctica to seek out evidence of global warming have become at one with the scenery... More »

30th, December 2013 Politicians

Madiba Tributes: The Nelson Mandela Full-Body-Fat Work-Out

Mandela's six-pack... More »

30th, December 2013 Reviews

Norfolk Police's Sexist Moral Crusade Against Drinking Whilst Young

Norfolk police have produced this video on Binge Drinking. The country is ready for the big booze off. The New Year’s Eve drinking festival looms. What does it all mean? The film points to misery. For him. For her... More »

30th, December 2013 Flashback

Marion Liebig Keeps Warm In The Under The Artificial Sunshine Infra-Red Lamp - 1960

Anorak harks back to January 18, 1960, when Marion Liebig, Miss Hesse 1959, was keeping warm under the artificial sunshine of an bottled-gas-powered infra-red lamp in a snow-covered park in Wiesbaden, Germany, Jan. 18, 1960. More »

30th, December 2013 Flashback

Jack Fletcher's 21st Century House Of Wonders In West Covia, California - October 1954

On Oct. 25, 1954, designer Jack Fletcher, 23, showed us around the 21st Century House in West Covina, Calif he shared with his wife, three-year-old daughter and twin baby sons... More »

30th, December 2013 Flashback

Flashback to 1952: Magnetised Soap

In the future, everyone would be using magnetised soap... More »