A Google Maps / BBC mash up allowing you to browse the last 12 hours worth of BBC news by location. Smart.

via backstage.

I was blog-tagged by my good friend Dave Pattern whom I now know was in a pretty cool band!! and now Dom who apparently has lady-length eye-lashes.

I might as well submit to this meme, it was going to be the first post on my shiny new blog (address intentionally omitted), but it cant wait any longer. I was originally going to do a non serious one but someone beat me to it.

1. I have very poor location coordination, often made fun of in parking lots, Trying to locate where we parked the car. Do not put me in charge of reading maps in the car, if a GPS is not in sight then heaven help us. I came about 100 from the last person in mass orienteering event. there were thousands of people, and Im sure I didnt find all the points anyway. This occasionally extends to the virtual world as well, in which I will unintentionally test the limits of a first person shooters by running round in circles. I found an undocumented bug in Chronicles of Riddick because I backtracked four times on a single level, to my credit, I figure no beta tester was that thorough.
2. I got hit by a van on a motorway in the suburbs of Tehran and survived to tell the tale. I have experienced that near death thing when your life flashes by your eye and your brain starts oversampling.. everything slows down just like in the movies. Whats not funny about this is we didnt actually have to cross that motorway section to get to get back home ( we were heading back home from a waterpark) , and suprise surprise, I have a feeling I was leading the group and therefore in the middle.. Make sure if youre in a group of five, at least two of your friends are to the side of oncoming traffic. needless to say my friends were all fine too (- ish), one managed to get off doing military service because of his leg. -I’ve been in countless car crashes too. So I guess sadly and tragically none of this is a big deal over there.
3. I was a very shy as a kid, but now Im pretty comfortable talking in front of any number of people. kinda helps in my job.
4. I used to speak with a thick Glasgwegian accent till 1999, my accent started fading as I was living in london at the time. I couldnt get rid of it quick enough while I was there, theres nothing worse than sounding like a glasgwegian tourist in oxford street. Sorry to my two scottish friends who may read this. I wasnt ever overly fond of living in london if it makes you feel any better.
5. My name Iman ایمان means Faith in the persian language and also its original arabic. Coincidentally, If I wanted everyone to pronounce it correctly it would be (’E’ + mun) E as in ‘bee’ and mun as in mum with an ‘n’ in the end. Though Im so used to alternative pronounciations, I dont care much how you say my name. It actually sounds odd when someone pronounces it the persian way. My brain may get confused and I may answer you back in Persian.

Some of the people Id like to blog-tag i dont actually know that well anyway to ask, therefore it wont count.. but like dom Id like to tag the Pleasetakenote authors, specifically Simon, a man whom very little is known about and Miss Mealey if she ever reads this (I wont put her warcraft blog address here), Dimitre Lima , Rob Lycett and Tom Betts .

A blog chain letter of sorts is being passed between friends at the moment, the jist of it is…’Once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with 5 facts about yourself. Then choose 5 people you want to tag and list their names. Then leave a comment on their blog letting them know they’ve been tagged.’

I was tagged by Cookie, so here are five ‘interesting’ things about me…

1. I was rejected from the school choir at the tender age of 9 due to my then deep voice.

2. I ate part of a pigs womb whilst in Japan last year, it was very, very chewy.

3. I’ve started to get the taste for the gamble, having recently started to enjoy more than the occasional game of poker.

4. I worked at the ‘Elephant and Castle’ public house from 1994 - 2004, a fine place to drink and eat. During my time there Martin Gore of Depeche Mode, and former Arsenal player Andy Linighan made infrequent visits.

5. I have very long eyelashes, like a lady.

Here are five people I would like to know some interesting things about…

My fellow pleasetakenote contributors, Alex Light, Buzz, Willow & Nathan

I’m liking the street styles showcased on The Morning News, shot by Amy Arbus.

So my first working week (well 3 days) for 2007 is near completion, I can smell beer o’clock from here. This week I have mostly struggled with adjusting from a 12 hour sleeping pattern to a mere 6 a night - it has been tiring to say the least, hopefully my attention and energy levels will return next week!

Part of my distraction this week has come from virtual views of the beautiful game, table tennis. Check out the alternative tables showcased on the vvork blog or tune into Ping Pong Cup skillz here.