Bright and crisp this morning with a touch of frost in the air, in complete contrast to the damp gloom of the weekend.
I'm on the motorway well before the sunrise these days. I was on the home stretch into Leeds today when the sun peeked up above the horizon somewhere behind my right shoulder. In one of those curious quirks of geography and optics the light was reflected off of a row of windows somewhere on a hill somewhere in the distance in front of me and just for a short while they sparkled rather majestically like Baily's beads during an eclipse.
The effect didn't last long and before I knew it I was at my desk in a chilly office. For a supposedly high tech company it seems beyond the wit of the building managers to arrange for the heating to come on automatically via a timer so that the place is less like an ice box first thing on Monday mornings.
In an addendum to the webcast that we watched yesterday, one of the enjoyable aspects was following the debate on Twitter. The organisers had helpfully embedded a Twitter feed in the page and it was fun seeing my avatar pop up when I contributed something. Good fun, although there didn't seem to be many people of a religious bent online. The two common points raised seemed to be that atheists only tackle religion's weak points - so what are the strong points then? - and that they don't debate proper theologians - so theology is not a qualification for being the Bishop of Oxford, eh?
Monday, November 30, 2009
- 19:33 Second Nazi metaphor from the Christians - they lose by default. #iq2atheism #
- 19:37 #iq2atheism Not much brain power on display from Charles Moore ... #
- 19:41 #iq2atheism Time's up Moore! #
- 19:42 #iq2atheism Go Richard! #
- 22:06 Time for a lemsip I think ... bleuch ... #
- 08:52 RT @ProfBrianCox: Infinite Monkey Cage @themonkeycage this afternoon at 4.30pm on BBC radio 4with @robinince and myself. #
- 12:40 Cheese and ham wrap wit h chilli sauce for lunch - yum. Prefer wraps to sandwiches now I think. #
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Believe or Leave
Just watching the debate over at Intelligence Squared with the motion being that atheism is the new fundamentalism. Much like the Hitchens/Fry smackdown this is a bit of a one sided debate really - the Christians have been rude and snippy, with both Bishop Harries and Charles Moore making fatuous references to the Nazis. Some very good points from AC Grayling and Richard Dawkins - it will be worth watching the recorded version of the debate or reading the transcripts.
Other than that, today has been much as usual. I enjoyed the T175 work that I did today, analyzing an academic study of people's ability to use the internet to find information. The conclusion, not unexpectedly, was that young people are more comfortable with the technology than the older generation but also that training and support was important to improve skills and overcome the digital divide. Providing people with access to computers and the internet is the first step, but it is not enough on its own.
After work, play time included some Animal Crossing time, catching a guppy and an orchid mantis for the museum and then finally completing Gay Tony. It's a fitting conclusion to the GTA IV story, with the relationship between Tony Prince and the protaganist Luis Lopez being complex, nuanced and very believable. Make sure that you watch the end credits to see what happened to those diamonds that were the cause of so much trouble.
Other than that, today has been much as usual. I enjoyed the T175 work that I did today, analyzing an academic study of people's ability to use the internet to find information. The conclusion, not unexpectedly, was that young people are more comfortable with the technology than the older generation but also that training and support was important to improve skills and overcome the digital divide. Providing people with access to computers and the internet is the first step, but it is not enough on its own.
After work, play time included some Animal Crossing time, catching a guppy and an orchid mantis for the museum and then finally completing Gay Tony. It's a fitting conclusion to the GTA IV story, with the relationship between Tony Prince and the protaganist Luis Lopez being complex, nuanced and very believable. Make sure that you watch the end credits to see what happened to those diamonds that were the cause of so much trouble.
- 07:27 Is the sun not bothering to rise this morning then? #
- 11:58 I just generated my #TweetCloud out of a year of my tweets. Top three words: time, morning, hope - w33.us/hv6 #
- 13:46 Switching between multiple desktops on Ubuntu is really handy when studying! #
- 16:45 Peggle was on offer for the #Xtival09 weekend - so I boughted it! #
Sunday Links
- Cute
- ZooBorns: Meet Willa the Swamp Wallaby Joey
- 私信 Maru's Magic Show
- Slo-Motion Owl Beautiful and deadly (if you happen to be a small rodent)
- Beautiful and Terrifying Creatures From The Edge Of Light
- The Large Hadron Collider Fantastic pictures from The Big Picture
- Solar System Scale Model The widest web page on the internet - warning - you may have to do some scrolling!
- The Ghostly Dance of Saturn's Northern Lights Video here: Northern Aurora in Motion
- STS-129 Ascent Video Highlights Video of the most recent space shuttle launch
- Lego Space Toys Through The Years Instant nostalgia!
- Contact The opening sequence to the film Contact - an excellent piece of space porn
- Uhhhhh.....uuuuuuuuuuhhh!!! Free zombie board game!
- Carbon Silicon Free MP3 Tracks!
- The Best Places To Find Your Next Free Book Online Free books!
- The Next Side Widescreen Bioshock concept art
- Fun
- Autocomplete Me Bizarre combinations from Google's autocomplete feature
- Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth Playable Flash Demo - do want!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Forgotten Worlds
Fun last night playing 1 vs 100, even if I didn't get to be in the mob. I still managed to pick up a couple of achievements and unlock a new dance for my avatar. Which was fun.
I felt rough come the morning and I think that I've caught the cold that Jan has had for the last couple of days. Not fun, especially when it was two degrees outside and raining.
Plenty of OU work done today with M150 unit 5 polished off this morning and then some more T175 stuff done this afternoon. I had my lumie light on and hadn't realised quite how gloomy it was until I looked up at around four o'clock to see that it was almost dark out. I felt a bit glum for a while until I got moving and took the dog out for a walk listening to the latest Collings and Herrin podcast to cheer me up.
Back in the warm now with the light on and I really don't want to move any further than the sofa tonight.
I felt rough come the morning and I think that I've caught the cold that Jan has had for the last couple of days. Not fun, especially when it was two degrees outside and raining.
Plenty of OU work done today with M150 unit 5 polished off this morning and then some more T175 stuff done this afternoon. I had my lumie light on and hadn't realised quite how gloomy it was until I looked up at around four o'clock to see that it was almost dark out. I felt a bit glum for a while until I got moving and took the dog out for a walk listening to the latest Collings and Herrin podcast to cheer me up.
Back in the warm now with the light on and I really don't want to move any further than the sofa tonight.
- 08:54 Keeping an eye open for #caturday twitpic.com/raaxt #
- 13:25 Eating a strawberry muffin and studying t175 block 2 part 2 session 6 ... #
- 16:01 Feeling unnacountably glum - going to take the dog for a walk while there is still a bit of light outside. #
Friday, November 27, 2009
- 18:28 I'm just looking forward to seeing what #Xtival09 is all about! #
The View From the Afternoon
Cold and crisp this morning, and I was very grateful of the extra half hour in bed this morning - yay for work at home Fridays!
It's been one of those days which started fairly sedately and then sped up as time went on with a payroll query that sounded urgent but just turned out to be the effects of changing a setting without looking at the knock on implications, and then documenting a procedure that still isn't fully working (asking the development team responsible for it is first item on the to-do list for Monday). Finally I finished with a daft question from one of the project managers, before taking the dog out for his walkie in the dark.
It's cold enough to mandate hat and gloves now - 5 degrees and falling when I went out, and it looks set to be chilly tomorrow as well. Good job we're in credit on the gas bill, so I can put the heating on without worrying about it! A skinny cappuccino with a shot of gingerbread syrup helps to warm the old cockles too.
Anyhoo, it's Friday night which means some sort of alcoholic indulgence, 1 vs 100 live and then the usual pizza and fried chicken combo. Cheers!
It's been one of those days which started fairly sedately and then sped up as time went on with a payroll query that sounded urgent but just turned out to be the effects of changing a setting without looking at the knock on implications, and then documenting a procedure that still isn't fully working (asking the development team responsible for it is first item on the to-do list for Monday). Finally I finished with a daft question from one of the project managers, before taking the dog out for his walkie in the dark.
It's cold enough to mandate hat and gloves now - 5 degrees and falling when I went out, and it looks set to be chilly tomorrow as well. Good job we're in credit on the gas bill, so I can put the heating on without worrying about it! A skinny cappuccino with a shot of gingerbread syrup helps to warm the old cockles too.
Anyhoo, it's Friday night which means some sort of alcoholic indulgence, 1 vs 100 live and then the usual pizza and fried chicken combo. Cheers!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
West of the Underworld
Strange dreams last night, ranging from the surreal where I was flying up the street by swimming through the air past a very young looking Stephen Fry, to the hyperreal where I looked down at my left leg to see it slicked with blood from a severed femoral artery. Yikes.
Not surprisingly I woke up with my leg throbbing and my heart racing.
Work has been - not quite stressful, but busy - with a lot to think about. We have a couple of customer demos coming up in the next couple of weeks which it would be nice to get, although it all feels a bit rushed at the moment. Still, we can but try.
The journey home was a bit of nightmare crawl. The A1 was closed so all of the traffic from there was diverted onto the M1 which as a result was jammed from junction 44 all the way down to junction 32 which is getting on for 40 miles, and a record according to Sally Traffic on Radio 2. Thank goodness for podcasts and audiobooks is all I can say.
In other news, good this time, my cow-orker who is moving back to New Zealand at Christmas time has given me a rather fine pair of Tazen style Spanish swords. I do miss swordplay, but I simply haven't got the stamina for it any more. Hopefully I'll have more energy at some point, perhaps next year when the light is back.
Not surprisingly I woke up with my leg throbbing and my heart racing.
Work has been - not quite stressful, but busy - with a lot to think about. We have a couple of customer demos coming up in the next couple of weeks which it would be nice to get, although it all feels a bit rushed at the moment. Still, we can but try.
The journey home was a bit of nightmare crawl. The A1 was closed so all of the traffic from there was diverted onto the M1 which as a result was jammed from junction 44 all the way down to junction 32 which is getting on for 40 miles, and a record according to Sally Traffic on Radio 2. Thank goodness for podcasts and audiobooks is all I can say.
In other news, good this time, my cow-orker who is moving back to New Zealand at Christmas time has given me a rather fine pair of Tazen style Spanish swords. I do miss swordplay, but I simply haven't got the stamina for it any more. Hopefully I'll have more energy at some point, perhaps next year when the light is back.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Bubbles in my Beer
Last night was fun.
To make up for the lack of a live 1vs100 on Saturday they scheduled a game for Tuesday night instead and jolly good fun it was too. It is still a little rough in places - the animation for the live host is still being triggered even though there is not anybody in that role this season - and some of the adverts are a bit irritating, but on the whole it works pretty well considering that there were 30,000 people playing. I like the new mechanism for levelling up as you score more points which gives you new animations and dances for your avatar to perform. I played for an hour and apparently just missed seeing somebody going all the way to 1vs1 and winning.
After that, we listened to AIOTM (it's not all cumpkin jokes and anyone who says it is, is lying) whilst eating and another excellent episode it was too. The show has really hit its stride with plenty of running gags and callbacks, and much self deprecation from Richard Herring himself (who called the project "the longest suicide note in history"). I really hope that (a) he doesn't actually kill himself doing it and (b) the show makes sufficient money to make it worth doing a second season. I'd really like to go and see a show live, but London and back on a Monday night is probably pushing it.
We also started watching 'Paradox' on BBC1 which sounded promising, with a similar premise to 'Flash Forward' with messages appearing from the future, but unfortunately it was a bit of a clunker and I don't think we'll be bothering with it again. The bit that really made me laugh (and not in a good way) was a scene with a character talking on a web cam. The connection started to drop out and his reaction was to start fiddling with the monitor like somebody hitting an old fashioned telly that is on the blink. The solar study lab in the hi-tech glass and chrome building, with the huge multi-screen displays was similarly daft.
To make up for the lack of a live 1vs100 on Saturday they scheduled a game for Tuesday night instead and jolly good fun it was too. It is still a little rough in places - the animation for the live host is still being triggered even though there is not anybody in that role this season - and some of the adverts are a bit irritating, but on the whole it works pretty well considering that there were 30,000 people playing. I like the new mechanism for levelling up as you score more points which gives you new animations and dances for your avatar to perform. I played for an hour and apparently just missed seeing somebody going all the way to 1vs1 and winning.
After that, we listened to AIOTM (it's not all cumpkin jokes and anyone who says it is, is lying) whilst eating and another excellent episode it was too. The show has really hit its stride with plenty of running gags and callbacks, and much self deprecation from Richard Herring himself (who called the project "the longest suicide note in history"). I really hope that (a) he doesn't actually kill himself doing it and (b) the show makes sufficient money to make it worth doing a second season. I'd really like to go and see a show live, but London and back on a Monday night is probably pushing it.
We also started watching 'Paradox' on BBC1 which sounded promising, with a similar premise to 'Flash Forward' with messages appearing from the future, but unfortunately it was a bit of a clunker and I don't think we'll be bothering with it again. The bit that really made me laugh (and not in a good way) was a scene with a character talking on a web cam. The connection started to drop out and his reaction was to start fiddling with the monitor like somebody hitting an old fashioned telly that is on the blink. The solar study lab in the hi-tech glass and chrome building, with the huge multi-screen displays was similarly daft.
Money for Nothing
A few years ago I had a call on my mobile.
I was in a meeting at the time and expecting a call about some work I was doing for our accounts department, so I took the call and was momentarily thrown by somebody talking about refunding bank charges. I eventually twigged that it wasn't anything to do with work, but it was actually somebody offering to reclaim everything that my bank had ever charged me.
The only problem was that I had never had any bank charges.
The cold calling salesperson on the other end of the line was a little thrown by this as this case obviously wasn't covered in her carefully prepared script, so I told her again that I hadn't ever had any unauthorised overdrafts, bank letters or missed any loan payments, and eventually she took the hint and gave up.
I've had a couple of periods of unemployment in my life during the recessions of the late 80s and early 90s, so I've always been cautious with money, being wary of loans, never spending more than I've got and always paying off my credit card every month by direct debit. I probably missed out on the 80s housing boom by not wanting to commit to a bigger mortgage than I could comfortably afford at the time, even though the financial advisors at the estate agents were trying to push self certified products where you effectively lie about your income in the hope that your wages will go up before the interest rate does.
The bank story today has annoyed me though, with the impression I get being that people are expecting to be let off paying back money they've borrowed. Don't get me wrong - I think the banks are greedy and money grubbing, and they must carry a huge responsibility for the current crisis, but there's a principle at stake here. If you are going to borrow money then you'd better be damn sure that you can pay it back and take account of what might happen if you lose your job or fall ill. If a credit deal looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Always read the small print and the charges before signing anything.
Working out a budget is not rocket science - most bills can be anticipated or set at fixed monthly amounts, and it is always a good idea to leave extra money for emergencies rather than always spending it. If you run out of money before the next payday then something has gone seriously wrong somewhere. If the worst comes to the worst, that's what the safety net of social security is supposed to be there for.
I don't know. Should I have spent up in the 90s and taken out big loans to pay for holidays and flashy cars and maxed out multiple credit cards buying nice things? If had, would I feel justified in asking for a bail out now?
I was in a meeting at the time and expecting a call about some work I was doing for our accounts department, so I took the call and was momentarily thrown by somebody talking about refunding bank charges. I eventually twigged that it wasn't anything to do with work, but it was actually somebody offering to reclaim everything that my bank had ever charged me.
The only problem was that I had never had any bank charges.
The cold calling salesperson on the other end of the line was a little thrown by this as this case obviously wasn't covered in her carefully prepared script, so I told her again that I hadn't ever had any unauthorised overdrafts, bank letters or missed any loan payments, and eventually she took the hint and gave up.
I've had a couple of periods of unemployment in my life during the recessions of the late 80s and early 90s, so I've always been cautious with money, being wary of loans, never spending more than I've got and always paying off my credit card every month by direct debit. I probably missed out on the 80s housing boom by not wanting to commit to a bigger mortgage than I could comfortably afford at the time, even though the financial advisors at the estate agents were trying to push self certified products where you effectively lie about your income in the hope that your wages will go up before the interest rate does.
The bank story today has annoyed me though, with the impression I get being that people are expecting to be let off paying back money they've borrowed. Don't get me wrong - I think the banks are greedy and money grubbing, and they must carry a huge responsibility for the current crisis, but there's a principle at stake here. If you are going to borrow money then you'd better be damn sure that you can pay it back and take account of what might happen if you lose your job or fall ill. If a credit deal looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Always read the small print and the charges before signing anything.
Working out a budget is not rocket science - most bills can be anticipated or set at fixed monthly amounts, and it is always a good idea to leave extra money for emergencies rather than always spending it. If you run out of money before the next payday then something has gone seriously wrong somewhere. If the worst comes to the worst, that's what the safety net of social security is supposed to be there for.
I don't know. Should I have spent up in the 90s and taken out big loans to pay for holidays and flashy cars and maxed out multiple credit cards buying nice things? If had, would I feel justified in asking for a bail out now?
Big Science
This week's Frontiers is a report on the search for dark matter and manages to be fascinating and evocative. The parts recorded in a mine 1000m below the Earth feel very claustrophobic!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Veni, Vidi, Vici
After two days of fiddling with an install of our web app, we finally twigged that the problem was the setting for permissions to run isapi applications in IIS. I'm sure that it used to be on by default, but evidently Microsoft have changed it recently. Doh. At least I have learnt more than I really wanted to know about application error logging.
Other than that, not a great deal to report.
I noticed that the new pack for Flora "Lighter than Light" spread is now a sort of lilac colour which just reminds me of fabric softener for some reason. Packs for butter type spreads should be a sort of deep yellow colour, or possibly white with a blueish lid at a pinch. Any other colours are simply wrong - down with this sort of thing!
Other than that, not a great deal to report.
I noticed that the new pack for Flora "Lighter than Light" spread is now a sort of lilac colour which just reminds me of fabric softener for some reason. Packs for butter type spreads should be a sort of deep yellow colour, or possibly white with a blueish lid at a pinch. Any other colours are simply wrong - down with this sort of thing!
- 21:03 Really enjoyed Miranda tonight - @mermhart is a comedy genius! #
Monday, November 23, 2009
- 07:09 Ow - my back hurts. Can't remember having done anything to strain it. #
The Distant Sound of Thunder
Tired, but that's not unexpected.
Work has been frustrating, with a lot of time wasted trying to set up a citrix connection and a daisy chain of remote desktops to get onto a customer site to set something up, and then fiddling with endless settings on a web server to see if would trigger a request to yet another server.
We still hadn't resolved it by five o'clock, so I called it a day and then went and sat in a queue of traffic for an hour. There seem to have been a lot of shunts on the motorway recently - there was a Nissan Micra with its front end caved in on the other carriageway this morning and tonight I went past a lorry neatly parked in the central reservation with a couple of cars behind it.
Last night's film from Lovefilm was a goodie - Outlander. The high concept is a spaceship crashing in 8th century Norway leaving one space marine survivor to hunt an alien beastie that is eating its way through the local Viking population. It felt very like Lord of The Rings in places, with the shield hall and the Viking village being good substitutes for Rohan, the alien monster being a dead ringer for a flaming Balrog and of course the fjords and mountains looking very much like New Zealand. The battles and fights were satisfyingly gruesome, the monster sensibly hidden in darkness and shadows for most of the time and a surprisingly poignant backstory for Kainan the space marine. An excellent sci-fi actioner that I don't think managed a cinema release for some reason.
Work has been frustrating, with a lot of time wasted trying to set up a citrix connection and a daisy chain of remote desktops to get onto a customer site to set something up, and then fiddling with endless settings on a web server to see if would trigger a request to yet another server.
We still hadn't resolved it by five o'clock, so I called it a day and then went and sat in a queue of traffic for an hour. There seem to have been a lot of shunts on the motorway recently - there was a Nissan Micra with its front end caved in on the other carriageway this morning and tonight I went past a lorry neatly parked in the central reservation with a couple of cars behind it.
Last night's film from Lovefilm was a goodie - Outlander. The high concept is a spaceship crashing in 8th century Norway leaving one space marine survivor to hunt an alien beastie that is eating its way through the local Viking population. It felt very like Lord of The Rings in places, with the shield hall and the Viking village being good substitutes for Rohan, the alien monster being a dead ringer for a flaming Balrog and of course the fjords and mountains looking very much like New Zealand. The battles and fights were satisfyingly gruesome, the monster sensibly hidden in darkness and shadows for most of the time and a surprisingly poignant backstory for Kainan the space marine. An excellent sci-fi actioner that I don't think managed a cinema release for some reason.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
The Hounds of Love are calling me
I didn't feel particularly loving towards our hound last night who took it into his head to start barking at one in the morning again.
He eventually quieted down, or at least I was so tired I slept through his yapping, but I had strange and disquieting dreams that left me in a bit of a melancholy mood all day. The weather was gray and damp, eventually turning into persistent rain as the evening drew in at the ludicrously early hour of four o'clock. I really am counting down the days to the solstice and the turning of the year now.
Other than walking the dog (who didn't deserve it), today has been a games day. Flea market day in Animal Crossing but none of my neighbours had any sets that I really wanted. I'd quite like to collect some Lovely or Elegant furniture, but there's none around that I can see. I settled for a cat mask from the Able Sisters instead. I really need to go to the city again at some point to check out Crazy Redd's shop too.
I found myself playing a bit of Ground Effect as well. It's a very unforgiving racing game, with one mistake likely to cost you the race. It requires you to anticipate corners way in advance and make sweeping, gradual turns through the checkpoints with careful use of the boost on the straights. Fortunately it restarts races with no delay, making learning of the courses by trial and error a realistic proposition. I was also pleasantly surprised to see one of the courses set at night time which gave a very different feel to the game.
To lift the mood a little I played a few more missions of Gay Tony with a rather enjoyable (if somewhat far fetched) subway train heist that involved quite literally sky jacking a whole carriage. What larks. I also seem to have a contact who will deliver me sports cars as and when I need them. Which is nice.
He eventually quieted down, or at least I was so tired I slept through his yapping, but I had strange and disquieting dreams that left me in a bit of a melancholy mood all day. The weather was gray and damp, eventually turning into persistent rain as the evening drew in at the ludicrously early hour of four o'clock. I really am counting down the days to the solstice and the turning of the year now.
Other than walking the dog (who didn't deserve it), today has been a games day. Flea market day in Animal Crossing but none of my neighbours had any sets that I really wanted. I'd quite like to collect some Lovely or Elegant furniture, but there's none around that I can see. I settled for a cat mask from the Able Sisters instead. I really need to go to the city again at some point to check out Crazy Redd's shop too.
I found myself playing a bit of Ground Effect as well. It's a very unforgiving racing game, with one mistake likely to cost you the race. It requires you to anticipate corners way in advance and make sweeping, gradual turns through the checkpoints with careful use of the boost on the straights. Fortunately it restarts races with no delay, making learning of the courses by trial and error a realistic proposition. I was also pleasantly surprised to see one of the courses set at night time which gave a very different feel to the game.
To lift the mood a little I played a few more missions of Gay Tony with a rather enjoyable (if somewhat far fetched) subway train heist that involved quite literally sky jacking a whole carriage. What larks. I also seem to have a contact who will deliver me sports cars as and when I need them. Which is nice.
- 20:28 INCOMING!!!!! #xfactor #
- 20:35 I'm sorry, but you can't "humanize" John and Edward #xfactor #
- 20:36 I call you bad #xfactor #
- 20:37 Why are the Choose Life t-shirts pink? #xfactor #
- 20:37 Wham could only get away with one talentless twonk ... #xfactor #
- 20:38 Where's the guy with the pineapple on his head this week? #xfactor #
- 20:40 Andrew and Andrew - rofl! #xfactor #
- 20:42 "Just singing" on the #xfactor ? That's cheating! #
- 20:45 "Just singing" looks like a *big* mistake ... #xfactor #
- 20:46 Bring back the helmet spinners! #xfactor #
- 20:57 No. That's the answer to the question "Can you dance?" #xfactor #
- 21:04 Got a cat? There's a flap for that #xfactor #
- 21:04 Your toddler needs 6mg of iron a day? Give him a rusty nail! #xfactor #
- 21:06 "A beautiful ending&quo t;? Is he going to wank us off? #xfactor #
- 21:06 Errmm, parental guidance on the tweets now, obviously. Sorry. #xfactor #
- 21:09 Great screensaver! #xfactor #
- 21:09 Technically this is not a George Michael song #xfactor #pedant #
- 21:11 Hah! Beat you to it Louis! #xfactor #
Sunday Links
- ZooBorns: 82 Tiny Baby Sea Turtles Make Lots of Little Waves Tiny = extra cute!
- ZooBorns: A Bird in Hand... is cute!
- Hippos vs a cheeky crocodile Which one is better? There's only one way to find out ... FIGHT!!!
- 私信 Slo-Mo Maru
- Andrew Zuckerman: Bird Excellent and well presented pictures of birds
- Fake Tree Vortex Threatens to Suck in Entire Backyard
- World's most awesome cheap Chinese toy Do want!
- Mandelbulb The Unravelling of the Real 3D Mandelbrot Fractal
- Origami Spring This is a fiddly looking papercraft project that looks like it might be worth a go
- How to debate a creationist Handy PDF booklet!
- A History of 16 Science Fiction Classics, Told In Book Covers Classic book covers from 1984 to The Day of the Triffids
- How to Use "i.e." Versus "e.g." - wikiHow
- Unwise Microwave Oven Experiments Check out Make your own lava
- The 18 Biggest Falsehoods In Palin's Book Nailing Palin's Porkies
Saturday, November 21, 2009
- 19:16 Nearly time for 1 vs 100! #
- 20:21 Jings! That went down to 1vs1! #
- 23:33 RT @MicheleKnight: #childreninneed I will donate £2 for every RT of this from now until midnight up to £1000 so get retweeting #
- 09:29 I've just started playing Beneath a Steel Sky on the iPhone / iPod touch. Be Vigilant! #
- 11:46 Set phasers to 'snooze' #caturday @EmmaK67 #startrekcomp twitpic.com/qcnkp #
- 15:56 Finished my t175 work for the day and m150 TMA submished too. Now time to brave the gloom and walk the dog. #
Fog Bound
I woke up at about seven this morning, took a look out of the bedroom window and then promptly went back to sleep for another hour and a half. The weather hadn't improved much by then - miserable, foggy and wet and it has stayed like that for most of the day.
At least I had a productive study day, buoyed up by my Lumie light upstairs. My M150 TMA 01 proof read and submished, and then four study session's worth of T175 work completed to schedule. My word-count-fu is improving too, with a first draft of an answer requiring 200 - 250 words clocking in at 229.
In iphone news, I took advantage of a 59p sale to snaffle Ground Effect - a Wipeout style hovercraft racing game and Beneath a Steel Sky Remixed, the venerable point and click adventure with Dave Gibbons artwork. I've only had a brief go on them, but I can confidently say that it was money well spent in both cases.
At least I had a productive study day, buoyed up by my Lumie light upstairs. My M150 TMA 01 proof read and submished, and then four study session's worth of T175 work completed to schedule. My word-count-fu is improving too, with a first draft of an answer requiring 200 - 250 words clocking in at 229.
In iphone news, I took advantage of a 59p sale to snaffle Ground Effect - a Wipeout style hovercraft racing game and Beneath a Steel Sky Remixed, the venerable point and click adventure with Dave Gibbons artwork. I've only had a brief go on them, but I can confidently say that it was money well spent in both cases.
Religulous
Religion is inherently ridiculous.
Believing in something with no evidence and making a virtue of credulousness. Dressing up in silly costumes and swanning about in gilded palaces or hi-tech glass cathedrals whilst espousing the moral benefits of poverty. Insisting that the world is only 6000 years old in the face of all the evidence. Spotting holy images in a piece of toast or bird shit on a wing mirror. Strapping on explosives and blowing up a restaurant full of innocent people.
OK, maybe the last one isn't quite so funny, but it's the logical and inevitable conclusion of following the tenets of a religion that values a hypothetical afterlife over the value of life in this existence.
That is Bill Maher's argument in this film and it is one that is difficult to argue with. Maher was born to a Jewish mother and went to a Catholic church with his father until the age of thirteen, and wrestled with the usual questions about life, the universe and everything in his twenties. Now in his forties he sets out from a position of doubt to look at the claims of the three major world religions as well as a couple of minor ones including Mormonism and Scientology, not forgetting a church founded by pot smokers in Amsterdam.
Rather worryingly he finds that very few of the people he talks to know what is in the holy books they claim to believe in, and points out the contradictions via handy on-screen subtitles. Even more worryingly he finds a common thread of destructive violence in complete contrast to the protestations of being religions of peace.
His conclusion is a stark one. Unless we abandon these foolish and childish beliefs, then there is a very real possibility of the human race destroying itself in an argument over who has the best imaginary friend.
Oh, and if anyone still thinks that religions are peaceful forces for good, please read this article and tell me if you still think the same.
Believing in something with no evidence and making a virtue of credulousness. Dressing up in silly costumes and swanning about in gilded palaces or hi-tech glass cathedrals whilst espousing the moral benefits of poverty. Insisting that the world is only 6000 years old in the face of all the evidence. Spotting holy images in a piece of toast or bird shit on a wing mirror. Strapping on explosives and blowing up a restaurant full of innocent people.
OK, maybe the last one isn't quite so funny, but it's the logical and inevitable conclusion of following the tenets of a religion that values a hypothetical afterlife over the value of life in this existence.
That is Bill Maher's argument in this film and it is one that is difficult to argue with. Maher was born to a Jewish mother and went to a Catholic church with his father until the age of thirteen, and wrestled with the usual questions about life, the universe and everything in his twenties. Now in his forties he sets out from a position of doubt to look at the claims of the three major world religions as well as a couple of minor ones including Mormonism and Scientology, not forgetting a church founded by pot smokers in Amsterdam.
Rather worryingly he finds that very few of the people he talks to know what is in the holy books they claim to believe in, and points out the contradictions via handy on-screen subtitles. Even more worryingly he finds a common thread of destructive violence in complete contrast to the protestations of being religions of peace.
His conclusion is a stark one. Unless we abandon these foolish and childish beliefs, then there is a very real possibility of the human race destroying itself in an argument over who has the best imaginary friend.
Oh, and if anyone still thinks that religions are peaceful forces for good, please read this article and tell me if you still think the same.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Snakes on a Podcast!
In a nice bit of synchronicity I watched a wildlife documentary about snakes on the telly last night and then this gem from Speechification turned up in my podcast playlist today. It's a short and sweet 15 minute audio documentary about American snakes and remarkably evocative it is too.
Destination Eschaton
Apparently I had one of my funny turns last night.
That's where I sit up in bed, not fully awake, convinced that I can see something that is not there. Last night is a bit hazy, but I think that it something to do with a luminous rabbit on top of the wardrobe that I then thought might be one of the cats instead. Or something.
Anyhoo, I then went back to sleep until the gloriously decadent time of twenty past seven - ah, the joys of work at home Fridays! Work was relatively quiet, catching up on emails, a bit of development work and support and responding to some questions from the demo the previous week. I also managed a few domestic chores with a load of washing and helping tidy up the bathroom after another grouting session and a surprising messy scraping of some flaking paint from the ceiling.
Nearly time to walk the dog round the block and then a new season of 1 vs 100 is starting tonight on xbox live so hurrah for that!
That's where I sit up in bed, not fully awake, convinced that I can see something that is not there. Last night is a bit hazy, but I think that it something to do with a luminous rabbit on top of the wardrobe that I then thought might be one of the cats instead. Or something.
Anyhoo, I then went back to sleep until the gloriously decadent time of twenty past seven - ah, the joys of work at home Fridays! Work was relatively quiet, catching up on emails, a bit of development work and support and responding to some questions from the demo the previous week. I also managed a few domestic chores with a load of washing and helping tidy up the bathroom after another grouting session and a surprising messy scraping of some flaking paint from the ceiling.
Nearly time to walk the dog round the block and then a new season of 1 vs 100 is starting tonight on xbox live so hurrah for that!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
24 hours to Tulsa
Yet another long day.
Up early and off to Newcastle, via the Leeds office where I picked up one of my cow-orkers, for to do a long and convoluted installation of our web software. It was the first time that we had run through the routine (about 40 pages of instructions to follow) of setting up stuff and configuring it, and barring one omission of an ini file entry that caused one bit not to work until we spotted it, we left them with a working system on their test server. There's more to do, but we should be able to do that remotely.
We left the site at four o'clock and it was a blustery trip back with the wind really picking up along the way. Fortunately the heavy rain that had been threatened stayed the other side of the Pennines so it wasn't quite as bad as it could have been. Driving that sort of distance in the dark is quite disorientating and I completely lost track of where we were until I saw the signs for Leeds looming up.
Home a little before seven to the delightful sight of a freshly grouted shower courtesy of Jan's elbow grease which looked fantastic. It's amazing just how much difference it makes and it is very much appreciated.
I zonked out on the sofa and was able to play a bit of Animal Crossing when I managed to prise control of the tv from the cold, dead hands of the Modern Warfare obsessed Jamie. It was a very productive time too, with the sale of turnips plus an elegant mushroom netting a return of 67,000 bells. Ker ching! I also fished Winnie's lost key out of the river and received a new wii locker from Nintendo in the mail. I loves this game, I truly do.
Up early and off to Newcastle, via the Leeds office where I picked up one of my cow-orkers, for to do a long and convoluted installation of our web software. It was the first time that we had run through the routine (about 40 pages of instructions to follow) of setting up stuff and configuring it, and barring one omission of an ini file entry that caused one bit not to work until we spotted it, we left them with a working system on their test server. There's more to do, but we should be able to do that remotely.
We left the site at four o'clock and it was a blustery trip back with the wind really picking up along the way. Fortunately the heavy rain that had been threatened stayed the other side of the Pennines so it wasn't quite as bad as it could have been. Driving that sort of distance in the dark is quite disorientating and I completely lost track of where we were until I saw the signs for Leeds looming up.
Home a little before seven to the delightful sight of a freshly grouted shower courtesy of Jan's elbow grease which looked fantastic. It's amazing just how much difference it makes and it is very much appreciated.
I zonked out on the sofa and was able to play a bit of Animal Crossing when I managed to prise control of the tv from the cold, dead hands of the Modern Warfare obsessed Jamie. It was a very productive time too, with the sale of turnips plus an elegant mushroom netting a return of 67,000 bells. Ker ching! I also fished Winnie's lost key out of the river and received a new wii locker from Nintendo in the mail. I loves this game, I truly do.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
64 AKA Go
Just for a change, it was the wind that woke me up at three o'clock last night rather than the dog or general insomnia. Lovely. I also had a mouth that felt the inside of a tram driver's glove. In the Sahara. On a hot day. Fortunately it was nothing that a glass of generic cola loaded with ice couldn't cure. It also gave me a chance to download Fayjuball for my iPhone which is currently free.
I need to drive up to Newcastle tomorrow, so I hope that I get a decent night's kip and that the weather is considerably better than today, otherwise it's going to be a grim journey. Anyhoo, we will see. The wind seems to have dropped now, at any rate. Overtaking lorries on the A1 with strong cross winds is not my idea of fun.
The updates to the xbox dashboard arrived yesterday, and they were much as expected - after all there is not a great deal that you can do with a simple twitter client. The facebook app is quite good, and I think it might be useful for displaying photos and slideshows on the telly. The app that I think I will make most use of is an implementation of Last FM which is an excellent way of streaming music to match a chosen artist or genre, with accompanying pictures. The xbox feeds into the surround sound system, although the telly speakers are pretty much ok for general use.
iPlayer on the Wii to try tonight, and first impressions are very positive. I'm currently watching James May doing silly things with toy cars in a very acceptable full screen picture. It's buffering a little, but that's not too bad. I'll just pause it for a while to let it get ahead of itself, I think. Worth a try if you have a Wii gathering dust in the cupboard.
I need to drive up to Newcastle tomorrow, so I hope that I get a decent night's kip and that the weather is considerably better than today, otherwise it's going to be a grim journey. Anyhoo, we will see. The wind seems to have dropped now, at any rate. Overtaking lorries on the A1 with strong cross winds is not my idea of fun.
The updates to the xbox dashboard arrived yesterday, and they were much as expected - after all there is not a great deal that you can do with a simple twitter client. The facebook app is quite good, and I think it might be useful for displaying photos and slideshows on the telly. The app that I think I will make most use of is an implementation of Last FM which is an excellent way of streaming music to match a chosen artist or genre, with accompanying pictures. The xbox feeds into the surround sound system, although the telly speakers are pretty much ok for general use.
iPlayer on the Wii to try tonight, and first impressions are very positive. I'm currently watching James May doing silly things with toy cars in a very acceptable full screen picture. It's buffering a little, but that's not too bad. I'll just pause it for a while to let it get ahead of itself, I think. Worth a try if you have a Wii gathering dust in the cupboard.
- 19:16 I am quite impressed with Twitter and Facebook on the xbox, particularly with my new keyboard. LastFM is good too. #
- 19:19 Now it's time for AIOTM (as all the cool kids are calling it!) #
- 07:03 It's a bit wild out there this morning - even the dog didn't want to go out. #
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Epoch
Epoch is a short story from Cory Doctorow dealing with the decommissioning of the world's first AI and what might happen if that AI decided that it didn't want to be switched off. It was podcast in eight sections on the Craphound podcast recently, but you can get all eight chunks from this handy page. It's a little rough around the edges, but it's a cracking tale with a particular resonance for anybody that has ever worked as a sysadmin at some point in their life.
Tuesday Haiku
Tuesday is booze day
As it occurs to me with a
Glass of gin and lime
A new meme amuses
A naughty dog did it and
then it ran away
Xbox Last FM
The perfect synthesis of
Sound and vision
Sleep, work, weather
The usual obsessions
Of my blogging life
One Perfect Sunrise
Orbital sounds rather fine
After all these years
Vino Rojo de
Espana followed by some
Spaghetti seafood
They were beautiful
The most beautiful skies as
A matter of fact
As it occurs to me with a
Glass of gin and lime
A new meme amuses
A naughty dog did it and
then it ran away
Xbox Last FM
The perfect synthesis of
Sound and vision
Sleep, work, weather
The usual obsessions
Of my blogging life
One Perfect Sunrise
Orbital sounds rather fine
After all these years
Vino Rojo de
Espana followed by some
Spaghetti seafood
They were beautiful
The most beautiful skies as
A matter of fact
- 15:34 RT @JesterSociety: Sheffielders! Like comedy? Come down to The Jester Society this Thursday! tiny.cc/kaPFJ #
Monday, November 16, 2009
The dog that did bark in the night
I'd just nodded off to sleep last night when Barney the dog started barking for no readily apparent reason. Not an alarm call sort of bark, but an intermittent wuff ... pause ... wuff sort of pattern. I don't think that he wanted to go out, but maybe he was just being mithered by the cats in the utility room where his basket is. Fortunately Jan did the honours and eventually settled him down, but it left me feeling wiped out again come the morning time.
Work has been quite good today with some very positive feedback from the demo last Friday and a nice complement from the big boss about the rolling demo that I edited together for the trade show she is doing this week. Just so long as they bear it in mind come next pay rise time ...
Doctor Who last night was well worth the wait and much better than the last episode shown at Easter. I'll not say too much for fear of spoilers, but it was an atypical story with a very downbeat ending - not too surprising given David Tennant's imminent departure from the role, but I imagine that there were quite a few kiddies who will have been reluctant to go upstairs for bath time by the end of the episode. Roll on the Christmas specials.
Work has been quite good today with some very positive feedback from the demo last Friday and a nice complement from the big boss about the rolling demo that I edited together for the trade show she is doing this week. Just so long as they bear it in mind come next pay rise time ...
Doctor Who last night was well worth the wait and much better than the last episode shown at Easter. I'll not say too much for fear of spoilers, but it was an atypical story with a very downbeat ending - not too surprising given David Tennant's imminent departure from the role, but I imagine that there were quite a few kiddies who will have been reluctant to go upstairs for bath time by the end of the episode. Roll on the Christmas specials.
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine HarrisMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Following the development of 'Tru Blood' - a synthetic form of human blood in handy bottled form - vampires have 'come out of the coffin'. Some are attempting to live alongside human communities as mainstreamers, others stick to their more traditional ways feeding off the 'fang bangers' - vampire groupies who offer themselves as a living food supply. One mainstreamer is Bill Compton, an undead veteran of the American civil war, who returns to reclaim his family home in Bon Temps, a backwater Louisiana town where he catches the eye of waitress and telepath Sookie Stackhouse. Is it just a coincidence that women who have liaisons with vampires are now turning up dead in mysterious circumstances?
This book formed the source material for the tv adaptation and, quite unusually as these things go, the tv version added to the original rather than being a cut down copy. Several of the most interesting characters on tv only make fleeting appearances in the novel, or are missing completely. The book is an enjoyable read, but I think that I'll wait for the tv series versions of future books.
View all my reviews >>
- 20:09 Crikey #doctorwho #
- 10:40 Dog barks at shadows / Who knows what transpires in his / Tiny doggy brain #
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Passing Lights
A decent lie in this morning with plenty of time to come round gradually.
It was bright and clear, and the two walks in the woods with the dog were much appreciated today. I even had the energy to tackle the leaves left over from the wind of the day before. There aren't too many left to come down now, so that's one seasonal chore over and done with for another year.
A bacon sarnie with mustard mayonnaise for breakfast and then a Sunday morning session on Animal Crossing for to buy my weekly helping of turnips. I did a bit of concerted fishing and shell gathering and even after spending 30,000 bells on Sow Jones' wares I had just enough left in my post office account to pay off the mortgage. Hurrah! I need a bit more room to show off my collection of mushroom based furniture.
Oooh - Doctor Who time!
It was bright and clear, and the two walks in the woods with the dog were much appreciated today. I even had the energy to tackle the leaves left over from the wind of the day before. There aren't too many left to come down now, so that's one seasonal chore over and done with for another year.
A bacon sarnie with mustard mayonnaise for breakfast and then a Sunday morning session on Animal Crossing for to buy my weekly helping of turnips. I did a bit of concerted fishing and shell gathering and even after spending 30,000 bells on Sow Jones' wares I had just enough left in my post office account to pay off the mortgage. Hurrah! I need a bit more room to show off my collection of mushroom based furniture.
Oooh - Doctor Who time!
- 20:08 12seconds - KK Rockabilly tiny12.tv/YBA8B #
- 20:21 Have Queen got an album out on Monday then? #
- 20:23 I see that the Ann Summers shop had a sale on then #xfactor #
- 20:35 What *is* he doing with that hand? #xfactor #
- 20:36 Why is he body popping to Queen, ffs! #xfactor #
- 20:38 By no stretch of the imagination could that performance be described as 'absolutely incredible' and 'electrifying' #xfactor #
- 20:38 #xfactor #
- 20:38 #xfactor Yes he is like Robbie Williams - he is a desperate wannabe #
- 20:47 INCOMING!!!eleventyone!!! #xfactor #
- 20:53 "We met Queen. The band ... not the Queen" rofl #xfactor #
- 20:54 JESUS H GODBASTARD CHRIST! They've cloned Vanilla Ice! #xfactor #
- 20:58 Welcome to Jedwardland! #xfactor #
- 21:06 Racy Stacy? #xfactor #
- 21:07 Open up her body? # xfactor autopsy week? #
- 21:16 RT: @giagia: I :heart: Stacy cos she's such a freakin' dork. #xfactor #
- 21:24 Simon cares .... about his bank balance #xfactor #
- 15:51 I just conquered "Crazy Straw" in geoDefense! bit.ly/X5FNx #
Sunday Links
- ZooBorns: A Fluffy Baby Paraguayan Porcupine Teh fluffiness!
- The Matrix, Starring Charlie Chaplin
- Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry vs. The Catholics Which one is better? There's only one way to find out ...
- Message Mandelson Give Mandy three strikes!
- Internet Addiction Test Are you addicted to the internet?
- Martian landscapes Space porn from the Big Picture
- Autumn's colours BBC News Audio slideshow
- Tommies' tales BBC News Audio slideshow:
- Color film of 1927 London
- 2012: The End Of The World? Or Not.
- Between Black and White Apocalyptic art
- Cell Size and Scale
- X. Intriguing graphic novel linked to a game.
- Small Worlds An excellent game in which you explore a variety of different environments that are realised with the simplest of pixel graphics. The music is poignant and haunting too, and well worth turning up the sound for. Stick with it - the start may seem a little odd, but you can complete the whole game in 15 minutes.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
The anaesthetic, wearing off ...
Saturday morning, and the threatened gales didn't quite make it as far north as us.
It was quite bright and sunny this morning, and I cracked on with my M150 work finishing off unit 4. It was quite straightforward stuff about HTML, XML and multi-media representations so not rocket science, really. The OU website went down for the afternoon so I didn't get around to updating my learning journal. I'll do it tomorrow.
In games news, I polished off an excellent race mission in Gay Tony - parachuting out of a helicopter, landing in a speed boat and then racing through the city in a souped up sports car to the finish line in the park. I can also report that my mini keyboard works on the xbox as well as the Wii, so we are all systems go for twitter on the xbox dashboard next week. In Animal Crossings I actually managed to sell my turnips at a profit and picked up KK Rockabilly from KK Slider in the Cafe. Aces.
It was quite bright and sunny this morning, and I cracked on with my M150 work finishing off unit 4. It was quite straightforward stuff about HTML, XML and multi-media representations so not rocket science, really. The OU website went down for the afternoon so I didn't get around to updating my learning journal. I'll do it tomorrow.
In games news, I polished off an excellent race mission in Gay Tony - parachuting out of a helicopter, landing in a speed boat and then racing through the city in a souped up sports car to the finish line in the park. I can also report that my mini keyboard works on the xbox as well as the Wii, so we are all systems go for twitter on the xbox dashboard next week. In Animal Crossings I actually managed to sell my turnips at a profit and picked up KK Rockabilly from KK Slider in the Cafe. Aces.
- 18:45 I'm in @flidby 's video - hurrah! Thanks dude! FunnyOrDie.co.uk/m/37rm #
- 11:41 I am beginning to despair of ever taking a #caturday picture that doesn't feature our cats sleeping ... twitpic.com/ph1ln #
- 11:56 Oh noes - the OU Student Home page isn't loading! #
- 13:53 Has Milton Keynes been destroyed by the weather, or what? #openuniversity #
Friday, November 13, 2009
To infinity ... and beyond!
Up at stupid o'clock this morning and out of the house well before the sun had even poked its head over the horizon. I did have ten minutes with my light box and a cup of tea first though, which definitely helped wake me up before getting in the car.
The reason for the early start was a work trip to Newcastle to be technical wingman for a demo of part of our system to an existing client. It went pretty well on the whole, apart from the flipping projector that I had to go back to the office for last night not working. We ended up borrowing one anyway, so I could have saved myself an hour of travelling last night I think. There are all sorts of political issues as to whether they'll go for the system though, but I think we made a good show of impressing the right people.
I set off back at half past two and was home a little over two hours later - not bad for a 125 mile journey (with a couple of 50MPH roadworks sections). Must be time for a coffee and a bit of Animal Crossing, I think.
Oh, and big ups to Flidby for including my xbox gamertag in this excellent spoof video ... Call of Duty Secret Spielberg level.
The reason for the early start was a work trip to Newcastle to be technical wingman for a demo of part of our system to an existing client. It went pretty well on the whole, apart from the flipping projector that I had to go back to the office for last night not working. We ended up borrowing one anyway, so I could have saved myself an hour of travelling last night I think. There are all sorts of political issues as to whether they'll go for the system though, but I think we made a good show of impressing the right people.
I set off back at half past two and was home a little over two hours later - not bad for a 125 mile journey (with a couple of 50MPH roadworks sections). Must be time for a coffee and a bit of Animal Crossing, I think.
Oh, and big ups to Flidby for including my xbox gamertag in this excellent spoof video ... Call of Duty Secret Spielberg level.
- 06:07 Setting off to drive up to Newcastle for a product demo - groan #
- 08:44 Enjoying a nice cappuccino in Durham services - the sun is shining up north this morning at least #
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Charlie Brooker *is* right about everything
Podcast of the day is an interview with Charlie Brooker on the Guardian book blog. Excellent, insightful and very funny too. Worth listening too, if only for the revelation that Charlie wrote the last two episodes of 'Dead Set' in his pants. On his birthday. Crying.
Riders on the storm
Well, the day started well, at least.
Bright and clear, with an easy drive into the office listening to Phil and Phill on my iPhone. It was quiet when I got to work too and I cleared a few things off my list before getting bogged down trying to work out why displaying archived documents from the image server was not working in our web app on my laptop. This involved removing and reinstalling services, tweaking registry entries and ini files and rebooting every time, to no effect. Very frustrating.
I'm due to be going up to Tyneside to do a demo tomorrow and the consultant I'm going with was having problems getting things set up, so I got diverted onto that as well. I was a bit distracted by the time that five o'clock rolled around and so I managed to leave the office and get onto the motorway before realising that I'd left the projector that we'd need on my desk. Doh. It took me half an hour to get back and pick it up, and by that time the traffic was really snarled up on the M1. Lovely.
Still, at least I'm home in the warm now, with a vanilla machiato to drink and the prospect of playing with a dinky wireless keyboard for the Wii that Jan found in TK Max for me.
Bright and clear, with an easy drive into the office listening to Phil and Phill on my iPhone. It was quiet when I got to work too and I cleared a few things off my list before getting bogged down trying to work out why displaying archived documents from the image server was not working in our web app on my laptop. This involved removing and reinstalling services, tweaking registry entries and ini files and rebooting every time, to no effect. Very frustrating.
I'm due to be going up to Tyneside to do a demo tomorrow and the consultant I'm going with was having problems getting things set up, so I got diverted onto that as well. I was a bit distracted by the time that five o'clock rolled around and so I managed to leave the office and get onto the motorway before realising that I'd left the projector that we'd need on my desk. Doh. It took me half an hour to get back and pick it up, and by that time the traffic was really snarled up on the M1. Lovely.
Still, at least I'm home in the warm now, with a vanilla machiato to drink and the prospect of playing with a dinky wireless keyboard for the Wii that Jan found in TK Max for me.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Ray of Light
I've not said anything about my light boxes for a while, but I thought I'd just mention this as a sign of their effectiveness. On Monday night I was a bit distracted and forgot to switch my main light box in the lounge on for the evening and the effect was noticeable - I was nodding off whilst trying to watch TV and really struggling to stay awake past ten o'clock. Last night I remembered to put it on for the evening until nine o'clock as usual and I was fine until past eleven.
It's been a lovely day out there today. I went out for a walk in the fine Autumn sunshine at lunch time to stretch my legs and also to buy a copy of Modern Warfare 2 from the Asda in the retail park. Yes, I am weak, but it is mainly for Jamie to play multi-player with his friends. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
It's been a lovely day out there today. I went out for a walk in the fine Autumn sunshine at lunch time to stretch my legs and also to buy a copy of Modern Warfare 2 from the Asda in the retail park. Yes, I am weak, but it is mainly for Jamie to play multi-player with his friends. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Cold as ice
Raining and four degrees this morning, and looking like we are due for some fog as well. I don't mind the weather being cold but cold and damp is the sort of combination that sneaks into your bones and hunkers down for the long run.
Good news this morning was the return of my first T175 TMA - it was graded at 92% with some very positive comments. The marks that I dropped were for not giving sufficient detail on some of the answers, but I can learn from that going forward. Not bad for my first stab at matters academic since doing my Spanish GCSE five or six years ago, I reckon.
Last night's dvd was the excellent 'In the Loop' which is more or less the film version of 'The Thick of It'. It was stretched a wee bit thin in places, but it was nice to see the American equivalents of our Whitehall spin doctors and politicos. James Gandolfini was particularly good as an American general bringing the smiling bonhomie and restrained menace of Tony Soprano to Washington politics. Good stuff.
Good news this morning was the return of my first T175 TMA - it was graded at 92% with some very positive comments. The marks that I dropped were for not giving sufficient detail on some of the answers, but I can learn from that going forward. Not bad for my first stab at matters academic since doing my Spanish GCSE five or six years ago, I reckon.
Last night's dvd was the excellent 'In the Loop' which is more or less the film version of 'The Thick of It'. It was stretched a wee bit thin in places, but it was nice to see the American equivalents of our Whitehall spin doctors and politicos. James Gandolfini was particularly good as an American general bringing the smiling bonhomie and restrained menace of Tony Soprano to Washington politics. Good stuff.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Ring of Fire
A crisp, clear morning with a touch of frost on the ground after a rather disturbed night's sleep, but of that more anon.
In a shock development we actually went out last night for my friend Andrew's annual birthday curry which started off with some very nice beer in the Devonshire Cat, some middling beer in the Frog and Parrot. We then wondered down to Leopold Square which I had no idea even existed and turned out to be a very cosmopolitan little bit of Sheffield tucked away behind the City Hall, decked out in fancy lights and hosting a variety of bars and eating establishment.
The restaurant we went to was called Aagrah, which disappointingly turned out not to have a dyslexic pirate theme. The decor was very upmarket, the food was ok but quite pricy, and it seemed like the sort of restaurant designed to funnel through large numbers of people with military precision rather than being a relaxed eating experience. I don't imagine that we'll go there again - I much prefer ramshackle Indian restaurants with proper flock wallpaper and Bollywood soundtracks playing in the background.
After pigging out on the Special Biryani (which seemed to be special by dint of having big bits of lime still in it) I had some quite vivid and bizarre dreams in which I ended up walking along a street full of houses with darkened windows knowing that there were people hiding in fear inside. In the last house I knew that I somehow had to get into the attic where there was a Macbook computer that I could use to reboot the universe. As I was logging on the webcam flickered into life showing a picture in picture display of the room behind me in infra-red colours with a horribly betentacled and squamous Cthuloid creature approaching. Yikes. Fortunately at this point the alarm went off to wake me up.
Much as I like curry, I fear that curry does not like me very much, hence the title of this post. No more nights out on a school night for me in future.
Unlike most of the known universe, I'm not planning on rushing out to buy Modern Warfare 2 at midnight tonight. After all, it's just another FPS, albeit it looks like a very polished one. I suspect that the second hand market will have plenty of copies soon enough, and I don't mind waiting.
In a shock development we actually went out last night for my friend Andrew's annual birthday curry which started off with some very nice beer in the Devonshire Cat, some middling beer in the Frog and Parrot. We then wondered down to Leopold Square which I had no idea even existed and turned out to be a very cosmopolitan little bit of Sheffield tucked away behind the City Hall, decked out in fancy lights and hosting a variety of bars and eating establishment.
The restaurant we went to was called Aagrah, which disappointingly turned out not to have a dyslexic pirate theme. The decor was very upmarket, the food was ok but quite pricy, and it seemed like the sort of restaurant designed to funnel through large numbers of people with military precision rather than being a relaxed eating experience. I don't imagine that we'll go there again - I much prefer ramshackle Indian restaurants with proper flock wallpaper and Bollywood soundtracks playing in the background.
After pigging out on the Special Biryani (which seemed to be special by dint of having big bits of lime still in it) I had some quite vivid and bizarre dreams in which I ended up walking along a street full of houses with darkened windows knowing that there were people hiding in fear inside. In the last house I knew that I somehow had to get into the attic where there was a Macbook computer that I could use to reboot the universe. As I was logging on the webcam flickered into life showing a picture in picture display of the room behind me in infra-red colours with a horribly betentacled and squamous Cthuloid creature approaching. Yikes. Fortunately at this point the alarm went off to wake me up.
Much as I like curry, I fear that curry does not like me very much, hence the title of this post. No more nights out on a school night for me in future.
Unlike most of the known universe, I'm not planning on rushing out to buy Modern Warfare 2 at midnight tonight. After all, it's just another FPS, albeit it looks like a very polished one. I suspect that the second hand market will have plenty of copies soon enough, and I don't mind waiting.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Sunday Part 1
Actually, it's more Saturday redux.
It was remarkably quiet on the fireworks front, in the end. Just a few whooshes and bags (enough to make Doris go and hide under the sofa bed upstairs) but it was all quiet on the Western front by nine o'clock or so.
As is more or less traditional now half the evening was spent gawping in horrified fascination at the musical bedlam of X Factor. Just when you think that it can't get any dafter it does, with Jedward's Ghostbuster's theme being a particular lowlight. To be fair, it did make me laugh at the sheer chutzpa of the pair of them. After tea, it was time for some more comedy with Harry Hill's TV Burp and then The Thick of It which just gets better each week.
Today has been business as usual - turnip trading in Animal Crossing, base jumping off of skyscrapers in Liberty City, death match mayhem in Eliminate Pro and a new discovery of Super Pet Wars on iPhone. Aces.
Off out for BEER and a CURRY tonight - hurrah!
It was remarkably quiet on the fireworks front, in the end. Just a few whooshes and bags (enough to make Doris go and hide under the sofa bed upstairs) but it was all quiet on the Western front by nine o'clock or so.
As is more or less traditional now half the evening was spent gawping in horrified fascination at the musical bedlam of X Factor. Just when you think that it can't get any dafter it does, with Jedward's Ghostbuster's theme being a particular lowlight. To be fair, it did make me laugh at the sheer chutzpa of the pair of them. After tea, it was time for some more comedy with Harry Hill's TV Burp and then The Thick of It which just gets better each week.
Today has been business as usual - turnip trading in Animal Crossing, base jumping off of skyscrapers in Liberty City, death match mayhem in Eliminate Pro and a new discovery of Super Pet Wars on iPhone. Aces.
Off out for BEER and a CURRY tonight - hurrah!
- 20:11 Why is Dannii wearing a bandage tonight? #xfactor #
- 20:12 Dermot accidentally stumbles on the concept of lesbianism #xfactor #
- 20:19 Ferris Beuller did *not* write Twist and Shout - oh, FFS! #xfactor #
- 20:20 Wonder if he's been playing Beatles Rock Band? #xfactor #
- 20:24 Sounds like they need to get the Modern Warfare 2 team in to get that audience to SHUT UP! #xfactor #
- 20:26 Wonder how much Disney slipped Simon Cowels for the plugs this week #xfactor #
- 20:27 You can *not* make Stand By Me contemporary! Rubbish! #xfactor #
- 20:50 Oooh - she didn't say 'Disney' - she'll be in trouble! #xfactor #
- 20:54 She made it her song - bland and a bit dull #xfactor #
- 20:57 Oooh! Purple Rain! If he murders it, I will cry #xfactor #
- 20:58 Get rid of the backing singers *NOW*! #xfactor #
- 21:09 This could either be brilliant or an absolute shambles ... #xfactor #
- 21:12 Oh - that is quite literally the funnie st thing I have ever seen! # xfactor #
- 21:12 Was the sta-puft marshmallow man doing pelvic thrusts? Wrong! #xfactor #
- 21:14 That's actually the first proper movie song they've had on tonight, therefore Jedward WIN! #xfactor #
- 22:10 #shakespearestarwars Henry IV : A New Hope #
- 10:02 I just conquered "Twister" in geoDefense! bit.ly/X5FNx #
Sunday Links
- ZooBorns: The Everland Zoo's Adorable Fennec Fox Kits My, what big ears you have!
- 私信 Maru vs the laundry box
- Kurt Russell *is* Han Solo In a parallel universe. Maybe.
- Launch of the Ares I-X Real space porn
- Night witches Russian female fighter pilots of World War II
- Google Wave A Complete Guide
- 15 Free Guides That Really Teach You USEFUL Stuff
- Animated stereoviews of old Japan
- Build your own sentry gun Take that Aliens/Zombies/Robots (depending on the apocalypse)
- The Best Zombie Story of the Year
- Eclectic Method Goes Phish 99 classic albums mashed for your listening pleasure
- All Folked Up Folk covers of classic punk songs
- Introduce Your Child to Lovecraft's Horrors with Lil Cthulhu
- Top 10 Dumbest Evil Geniuses Of All Time
- INCREDIBOX Beatbox fun
- Steak House or Gay Bar? You decide.
- Orbital *The* most addictive game on iPhone now available on the web. Don't say I didn't warn you.
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