The Blueprint Podcast

We have become Twits recently, or at least Chris has, and you’ll find him (me (him)) Twittering most days.

Twitter is a fun little thing. It’s a bit like an unholy union between the status updates of Facebook and the chat rooms of the Internet’s earlier days. The best thing about it is that many famous people are there, and you can pretend that you’re friends with them, even if they largely ignore your sicophantic overtures.

So far, I have been ignored by Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross and Richard Herring. Oh, and Wesley Crusher from Star Trek, as well. Not a bad list of ignorers, I trust you’ll agree. I aim to be ignored by royalty and a talking animal by the end of this year.

You can come and see what’s going on behind the scenes if you go to http://twitter.com/BlueprintPod

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 Episode 67 - Tequila! [12:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A podcast really isn’t a podcast until it’s dealt with the thorny issue of foreign news bulletins which use the song Tequila! as their background music.

Finally we’re putting that right, can’t believe it took us until episode 67 to do that.On the upside, though, it gives Chris a chance to tell a story with no ending about a day out in London he had about a decade ago.

I feel a bit like James Bond at the moment, because I’m typing this using my electronic laptop computer, and what’s more I’m doing so in a hotel in Cairo. Get me.

The Blueprint Podcast will return from North Africa to good old freezing cold northern Europe in time for next week’s episode, so join us then, or as they say here in Egypt, “Pyramid”

Tequila, a drink celebrated musically, but Gloomy Sunday is probably more appropriate the day after your big tequila-fuelled party.

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 Episode 66 - The Ancient Internet [13:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s weird how quickly technology marches on. It took a while for the Internet to really catch on and become a mainstream piece of technology, but look at us all now – we’re all strutting around with the Internet, talking to each other on mobile phones, and sometimes doing both at the same time.

It’s easy to forget and hard to imagine that only a few years ago, all of this was still the domain of science fiction, or that only techno-wizards or super nerds had access to the Internet, and only top business tycoons has mobile phones.

We touch on this in a typically flippant manner this week, basing our observations on TV shows of the past which used to present the emergence of the Internet as some sort of kooky passing fancy. Now you can watch clips of those same shows on YouTube.

We’ve also got a game of Who On Earth and those who like ot keep up with fictional current events will be eager to hear this week’s News Roundup.

The ancient Internet, represented here by what a 1980s Google might have looked like.

We’ll be back next week with more Blueprinterrific fun and frolics.

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 Episode 65 - The Thief of Time [8:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Pow! Another week goes by and we launch your weekend with more Blueprint hijinks.

You’ll notice that this week’s episode is shorter than you’re used to. We value your comments about this and we hope you’ll let us know, either by email or at Twitter, what your views are. Is this too short, or do you prefer us to spend more time putting together amusing segments and less time on the general chatter?

Let us know and we’ll act on what you say. After all, this is only worth doing if people are enjoying it out there.

I mentioned Twitter just then. Many thanks to online_mum who finally persuaded us to start up a Twitter account so that Chris can try to kid himself that he’s now mates with Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross. If you’d like to follow us on Twitter, it’s at www.twitter.com/BlueprintPod.

Harold Lloyd, in a picture which sort of has something to do with time in that he's hanging from a clock in his famous film "Harold Lloyd Hangs Off A Clock"

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At the time of writing, the city of London is recovering from what sounds like a post-nuclear war nightmare. Those hurricanes and earthquakes you hear about in non-English speaking countries are nothing compared to the grisly horror that smashed London yesterday.

It snowed a bit.

Literally millions of flakes of snow smashed into London’s gold-paved streets, causing the distant memory of the Word War II Blitz to spring back into glorious Technicolor as plucky Londoners stayed at home or got taxis instead of buses.

London’s famous buses were absent from the city all day, as the presence of wintry weather meant that any attempt to drive a bus in the city would have meant famous landmarks such as the Houses of Parliament, Nelson’s Column and the London Eye would have been destroyed in an orgy of runaway buses skidding violently into the historic structures.

National television obviously responded, allowing the rest of the United Kingdom to sympathise with the capital. The BBC provided vital help for stranded Brits by showing news pieces [this next bit is absolutely true] in which a man from the Automobile Association demonstrated how to scrape snow off a car.

Meanwhile in countries like Norway, Finland, Greenland, Canada, Switzerland, Russia and Iceland, time stood still as eyes turned toward London filled with fear and wondering how the city would possibly cope with it being a bit snowy. Sadly, at no point in time have eyes from London ever turned back towards those countries to see how they do it.

Today, the clearup continues as national news continues to bring reports that the snow has gone slushy or icy.

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