Exclusive: holocaust and incest jokes not a good “fit” with the “Windows brand”.

Posted on by

Wonderful story in the Daily Telegraph.

The episode was to be called “Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show”.

A publicly released preview featured characters from Family Guy using Windows 7 and making computer related jokes.

However, the writers also included more typical Family Guy material which has been described as “riffs on deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest”. There was also a section in which the writers stepped in front of the camera to play Latino housekeepers.

After executives saw a run through of the show a Microsoft spokesman said: “We initially chose to participate in the Seth and Alex variety show based on the audience composition and creative humour of Family Guy.

“But after reviewing an early version of the variety show, it became clear that the content was not fit with the Windows brand.”

Become EU Prez, then go to gaol

Posted on by

Eh? George Monbiot’s supporting Blair’s candidacy for the EU Presidency? Well, here’s what he says:

Tony Blair’s bid to become president of the European Union has united the left in revulsion. His enemies argue that he divided Europe by launching an illegal war; he kept the UK out of the eurozone and the Schengen agreement; he is contemptuous of democracy (surely a qualification?); greases up to wealth and power and lets the poor go to hell; he is ruthless, mendacious, slippery and shameless. But never mind all that. I’m backing Blair….

Read on, my friends, read on. George has a Cunning Plan.

Professor Mackay’s Illuminations

Posted on by

The classic visual PowerPoint cliche to indicate inspiration is to draw a light bulb over someone’s head. Physicist David Mackay’s inspired idea was that the humble light bulb would provide a graphic way of communicating to non-physicists the scale of the energy gap now facing our society.

We asked David to be the external assessor for our new Open University course on Energy Measurements at Home partly on the basis of his terrific book Sustainable Energy — without the hot air. But we had no idea then that he would be appointed Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Energy and Climate Change. It’s clear that he made the video before he knew it either. Wonder how his political masters are getting on with such a clear thinker — and speaker. I suspect they are finding it, well, slightly uncomfortable. Speaking truth to power is generally not appreciated, and I can’t see Professor Mackay trimming to the wind. Someone once accused him of being against wind turbines. He replied: “I’m not against anything. But I am for arithmetic.”