It’s turning into a very interesting week with the news of Google deciding whether to shut down it’s Chinese branch due to malicious attacks on gmail accounts of known human rights protestors. That combined with the news that Google are also insisting that us jolly Brits should talk like Americans has meant that there is plenty to discuss – however, none of that is getting any time in my head as I can’t ignore a big white elephant in the room: the annoying persistance of this snow.
Rather than going on a typically British tirade about how ridiculously cold it is I thought I’d try and lighten the mood with some nonsense about snowmen. Here goes…
The Worlds Tallest Snowman
This rather intimidating chap is the world’s tallest snowman and was built by the (presumedly bored) people of Bethel, Maine way back in 1999. It took 15 days to construct the 113’7” snowman who was disappointingly named Angus by the locals. Apologies to anyone reading this who’s called Angus – but you’ve got a rubbish name.
The World’s Smallest Snowman
This cute little snowman was created by (presumedly bored) scientists from the National Physical Laboratory in London. Unbelievably, the tiny fella is just 0.01mm wide (a 5th of the width of a human hair) and constructed from 2 tiny beads of tin using tools that were designed for manipulating nanoparticles. If they were really showing off they would have made him a hat but it looks like current scientific techniques can only take us so far.
Lego Snowman
Everyone likes lego. Everyone likes snowmen. This was always going to be a winner.
Pixar Snowman Short – ‘Knick Knack’
This wonderful short cartoon was made by some bloke called John Lasseter (the link is for those who don’t get irony) back in 1989 when Pixar was a fledgeling company. I think it looks fantastic even by today’s standards and still has all the warmth and charm of the recent Pixar output. A couple of interesting facts: apparently this film is one of Terry Gilliam’s favourite short films – and the music was done by Bobby Mcferrin!
Build Your Own Snowman
For those of you like me who are sick to the back teeth of this weather, here’s a lovely little website that allows you to build your own snowman from the comfort of your chair. Don’t build anything too rude, now….oh go on then.
The Snowman in Dubstep
If you all enjoy Phil Collins as much as we do then you’ll no doubt love this bass heavy reworking of the theme from ‘The Snowman’:
Link:
