A song that reminds you of your Mother
When I was small we had an old mono record player with a handful of 7" singles to play on it, and one of them was my mum's copy of this record ...
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Zoolooklogie
In which our heroes take delivery of a new television and enjoy a sunny day at the zoo.
The day got off to a most excellent start when a delivery van pulled up outside and delivered the tv that I had ordered less than twenty four hours previously. That's what I call darn good service from Amazon.
There was no time to unpack it though, because we had planned a day out at Chester Zoo to take advantage of the late summer fine weather, so we set off cross country with a fine selection of choons on the iPod shuffle to listen to. The journey was trouble free and we arrived just before mid-day.
We bought our tickets at the gate and the very first thing that we saw was worth the price of admission alone, according to my inner cute-o-meter. To whit, a baby heffalump peeking out shyly from between its mama's legs.
From there we made our way through the butterfly house where iridescent beauties the size of my hand fluttered around hither and yon with one even landing on my hat at one point.
Other highlights included baby orans, tanukis taking their ease in the treetops, a lethal looking komodo dragon, rhinos of the black and white varieties and the amazing experience of standing inside a darkened pavilion where fruit bats with a one meter wing span swooped overhead.
I know there are arguments for and against keeping animals in zoos, but if the paying visitors support the conservation work by their donations and seeing the exhibits cultivates a sense of the beauty and fragility of the natural world then it is a good thing on balance. Plus, teh cutez0r!
Home again, with the usual traffic jams around Manchester and then time for a beer and to set the new telly up, and wowzers it is impressive. The HD picture from the xbox seems to pop off the screen and the ability to plug a usb drive in the side and play videos will be very handy.
That's enough for tonight, cos I'm snacked.
The day got off to a most excellent start when a delivery van pulled up outside and delivered the tv that I had ordered less than twenty four hours previously. That's what I call darn good service from Amazon.
There was no time to unpack it though, because we had planned a day out at Chester Zoo to take advantage of the late summer fine weather, so we set off cross country with a fine selection of choons on the iPod shuffle to listen to. The journey was trouble free and we arrived just before mid-day.
We bought our tickets at the gate and the very first thing that we saw was worth the price of admission alone, according to my inner cute-o-meter. To whit, a baby heffalump peeking out shyly from between its mama's legs.
From there we made our way through the butterfly house where iridescent beauties the size of my hand fluttered around hither and yon with one even landing on my hat at one point.
Other highlights included baby orans, tanukis taking their ease in the treetops, a lethal looking komodo dragon, rhinos of the black and white varieties and the amazing experience of standing inside a darkened pavilion where fruit bats with a one meter wing span swooped overhead.
I know there are arguments for and against keeping animals in zoos, but if the paying visitors support the conservation work by their donations and seeing the exhibits cultivates a sense of the beauty and fragility of the natural world then it is a good thing on balance. Plus, teh cutez0r!
Home again, with the usual traffic jams around Manchester and then time for a beer and to set the new telly up, and wowzers it is impressive. The HD picture from the xbox seems to pop off the screen and the ability to plug a usb drive in the side and play videos will be very handy.
That's enough for tonight, cos I'm snacked.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thirty Days of Music, Day 10
A song that reminds you of your father.
Not exactly a song, but I remember my dad playing me an album of Peter Sellers sketches including such gems as 'Balham - Gateway to the South' and this rather unusual version of a Beatles song ... enjoy!
Not exactly a song, but I remember my dad playing me an album of Peter Sellers sketches including such gems as 'Balham - Gateway to the South' and this rather unusual version of a Beatles song ... enjoy!
The Beginning of Memory
I'd actually decided on the tv and blu-ray player that we wanted last week and had put them in my (I imagine rather big) shopping basket at Amazon but couldn't quite bring myself to check them out. I noticed today that the price had dropped, and it was already by far the cheapest price that I had seen anywhere, so I girded my metaphorical loins and clicked the appropriate buttons to set my purchase into effect.
A short while later I received an email to say that there was a problem with the payment, so I surmised that the credit card company had put a block on due to the amount. My surmise was indeed correct and the phone rang with a nice Indian lady from the fraud department. She asked me a few questions to establish that I was indeed me, and not somebody who had broken into the house to sit by the landline phone waiting for it to ring. The only problem was that I couldn't remember the 'memorable place' question of the security checklist as I hadn't had cause to recall it for several years. I took two stabs at it, and it was only as she transferred me to another department that it actually came back to me. Doh.
Anyhoo, my identity being identified, I was transferred back to the fraud department who went through the transactions to identify the problem. Amusingly enough (for some values of the word amusing) it wasn't the expensive telly that had triggered the alert, nor the slightly less expensive blu-ray player, but it was in fact the single blu-ray disc of 'Watchmen' that I had ordered at the same time. Doh. Again.
Anyhoo again, it was all sorted out and approved and now everything is in transit, so hurrah!
A short while later I received an email to say that there was a problem with the payment, so I surmised that the credit card company had put a block on due to the amount. My surmise was indeed correct and the phone rang with a nice Indian lady from the fraud department. She asked me a few questions to establish that I was indeed me, and not somebody who had broken into the house to sit by the landline phone waiting for it to ring. The only problem was that I couldn't remember the 'memorable place' question of the security checklist as I hadn't had cause to recall it for several years. I took two stabs at it, and it was only as she transferred me to another department that it actually came back to me. Doh.
Anyhoo, my identity being identified, I was transferred back to the fraud department who went through the transactions to identify the problem. Amusingly enough (for some values of the word amusing) it wasn't the expensive telly that had triggered the alert, nor the slightly less expensive blu-ray player, but it was in fact the single blu-ray disc of 'Watchmen' that I had ordered at the same time. Doh. Again.
Anyhoo again, it was all sorted out and approved and now everything is in transit, so hurrah!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
3 AM Eternal
Well, actually it more like half past five, but the point stands.
There is no ideal time for the neighbor's burglar alarm to go off when they are away, but early on a Sunday morning of a bank holiday weekend after a late night of mojitos and Beatles Rock Band ranks as quite a poor choice. Fortunately it went off after twenty minutes or so, and I had a quick look through the windows but I couldn't see anything amiss so no further action was required.
Today has mostly been taken up with reading Stewart Lee's excellent memoir of his career in stand-up comedy, playing the usual run of games and generally taking it easy. So, apologies for the lack of excitement folks ...
There is no ideal time for the neighbor's burglar alarm to go off when they are away, but early on a Sunday morning of a bank holiday weekend after a late night of mojitos and Beatles Rock Band ranks as quite a poor choice. Fortunately it went off after twenty minutes or so, and I had a quick look through the windows but I couldn't see anything amiss so no further action was required.
Today has mostly been taken up with reading Stewart Lee's excellent memoir of his career in stand-up comedy, playing the usual run of games and generally taking it easy. So, apologies for the lack of excitement folks ...
Sunday Links
- Many Mongooses for Fort Wayne Children's Zoo ZooBorns
- The World Hitler Never Made Colour pictures of life in Paris during the Nazi occupation
- Bad Universe Five ways that we are all doomed
- Speech Accent Archive A fascinating resource of different accents from all over the globe
- 300% speed, Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part I) Pink Floyd at the right speed ... :-)
- Doctor Who Top 5 Cliffhangers
- 200 SFX Features!!! 200 Articles from SFX magazine, in chronological order
- Sci-Fi Eye Test How many fonts and logos do you recognise?
- Kodak's 1975 Model Digital Camera Things have come a long way in the last thirty five years
- If Movie Posters Were Honest
- How gun silencers really work
- True Blood explained in 60 seconds
- At the Tomb of Tutankhamen National Geographic Magazine
- Five Minutes With: Stewart Lee Comedian Stewart Lee talks to Matt Stadlen about what got him started in stand-up, how he develops his routines, what makes him laugh and why he doesn't like his audiences too big or too small.
- Lovecraft is Missing A particularly Squamous weekly web comic - make sure you go back to the start of the story
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Hitch 22: Confessions and Contradictions by Christopher Hitchens
Hitch 22: Confessions and Contradictions by Christopher HitchensMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book opens with Hitchens' experience of reading news of his own demise in a catalogue for an exhibition that described him as 'the late Christopher Hitchens', thus encouraging him to set down his memoir whilst he was still alive to do so. This has been further been given an air of almost unbearably poignant irony by his recent diagnosis of cancer of the esophagus, but this is not the place to dwell on that.
He follows a fairly structured route of memories of his mother and father, his schooldays in a series of grim public schools, his encounters with the socialist movement in the sixties and his time as a journalist in the booze addled Fleet Street of the seventies. He discourses on friends and acquaintances from Martin Amis to Salman Rushdie and Edward Said, and describes the things that drew them together as well as honestly setting down their differences. Needless to say, there are many humorous anecdotes to be found as well with an early encounter with a surprisingly saucy Margaret Thatcher provoking a laugh from me.
Through his life his political views have changed somewhat from his early left wing leanings, although he has been absolutely resolute in his opposition to tyranny of all forms, particularly when it takes its authority from theocracy. Thus, he demonstrates how he can support wars in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq without necessarily being in accordance with the western governments who initiated them. One barbed comment that he reports is that an anti-war demonstration in London is a rare occasion that a million people have taken to the streets in support of a brutal fascist regime.
One particularly moving chapter describes his search for his ancestry on his mother's side after a unexpected revelation following her tragically early death. He is not mawkish by any means, but approaches the subject with clear eyed and enlightening honesty.
He reads the audiobook, and his slightly plummy style is occasionally difficult to follow but it is well worth the effort and concentration required.
Unreservedly recommended.
View all my reviews
Thirty Days of Music, Day 8
One band/singer whose popularity you will never understand.
Hmmm, a tricky prompt today. There are plenty of acts that I may not necessarily like, but I can understand the popularity of to their target audience. I am not a teeny bopper, so the oeuvre of Justin Bieber is not aimed at me, but who am I to cavil at those who do enjoy his squeaky clean auto-tuned offerings. Live and let live, I say.
However, for something that falls into the 'what the hell were they thinking' category, I present Bob Dylan's Christmas Album ... :-)
Hmmm, a tricky prompt today. There are plenty of acts that I may not necessarily like, but I can understand the popularity of to their target audience. I am not a teeny bopper, so the oeuvre of Justin Bieber is not aimed at me, but who am I to cavil at those who do enjoy his squeaky clean auto-tuned offerings. Live and let live, I say.
However, for something that falls into the 'what the hell were they thinking' category, I present Bob Dylan's Christmas Album ... :-)
I fought the law (and the law won)
A minor bit of drama yesterday.
Our house looks down over a wall onto the next street along, affording a view of the goings on down there. There is a block of maisonettes and a couple of council houses and it is generally pretty quiet. Not on this occasion, when I heard shouting and then the unmistakable sound of a police siren. I looked out to see a youngish man in a black t-shirt mouthing off in an incoherent ramble of 'Fooking fookers fookit' or words to that effect.
In short order two police constables were on the scene trying to calm him down making placatory gestures, but he was having none of it, puffing his chest out and squaring up in a classic gorilla-like aggressive stance. We then had a grandstand view of a third copper tackling him from behind and slapping the cuffs on before he knew what was happening.
He continued to struggle for a while before they hauled him up, put on gloves to clean up his bloody nose and then transported him off to the local nick to cool his heels for a while.
All human life is here, or at least in the neighborhood.
Our house looks down over a wall onto the next street along, affording a view of the goings on down there. There is a block of maisonettes and a couple of council houses and it is generally pretty quiet. Not on this occasion, when I heard shouting and then the unmistakable sound of a police siren. I looked out to see a youngish man in a black t-shirt mouthing off in an incoherent ramble of 'Fooking fookers fookit' or words to that effect.
In short order two police constables were on the scene trying to calm him down making placatory gestures, but he was having none of it, puffing his chest out and squaring up in a classic gorilla-like aggressive stance. We then had a grandstand view of a third copper tackling him from behind and slapping the cuffs on before he knew what was happening.
He continued to struggle for a while before they hauled him up, put on gloves to clean up his bloody nose and then transported him off to the local nick to cool his heels for a while.
All human life is here, or at least in the neighborhood.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Land of Confusion
Busy day, checking in code and making sure everything is up to date before my week off. Now it is long overdue time for a mojito!
The bank holiday weekend starts ... NOW!
The bank holiday weekend starts ... NOW!
Thirty Days of Music, Day 7
Day 7: One band/singer you're ashamed to admit you like.
Hmmm, this does not really compute. I have a rather diverse taste in music, covering just about every genre up to and including ambient Eskimo soundscapes, and I'm not ashamed about any of it. I will happily argue the toss about the musical merits of anything I enjoy until the cows come home.
I suppose the most desperately unhip genre that I enjoy is prog rock, with Genesis being the prime example. I fully see the need that there was for the year zero of punk back in the mid 70s, but prog at its best (and worst) exhibited some superb musicianship and soaring flights of imagination and whimsy. Here's a sample:
Hmmm, this does not really compute. I have a rather diverse taste in music, covering just about every genre up to and including ambient Eskimo soundscapes, and I'm not ashamed about any of it. I will happily argue the toss about the musical merits of anything I enjoy until the cows come home.
I suppose the most desperately unhip genre that I enjoy is prog rock, with Genesis being the prime example. I fully see the need that there was for the year zero of punk back in the mid 70s, but prog at its best (and worst) exhibited some superb musicianship and soaring flights of imagination and whimsy. Here's a sample:
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thirty Days of Music, Day 6
Favourite Band
My definition of a good band is a collection of individuals that manage to produce more than the sum of their parts when performing together. I think that Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys handily fit into this class. A diverse group of musicians, gathered around the charismatic Wills as band leader and front man, they were one of the pioneers of Western Swing drawing on influences from traditional folk, to blues and jazz, producing a catchy and engaging sound that grew to be immensely popular from the twenties and thirties right through the war years and beyond.
My definition of a good band is a collection of individuals that manage to produce more than the sum of their parts when performing together. I think that Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys handily fit into this class. A diverse group of musicians, gathered around the charismatic Wills as band leader and front man, they were one of the pioneers of Western Swing drawing on influences from traditional folk, to blues and jazz, producing a catchy and engaging sound that grew to be immensely popular from the twenties and thirties right through the war years and beyond.
I wanna be sedated
Dark and wet outside when I got up this morning and when I opened the door Daisy scooted past me and upstairs carrying a mouse in her mouth. I chased after her and managed to rescue the wee, sleekit, timorous beastie before she could either eat it or let it loose in one of the bedrooms. I let it go outside and distracted the cats with their breakfasts to give it a chance to escape.
Busy day at work, trying to catch up on everything I need to finish up before my week off next week. I could have done without extra stuff being loaded on to the to-do list as well. Hmmm.
Home, and it's chilly and gloomy again. Not a very encouraging portent for the bank holiday weekend.
Busy day at work, trying to catch up on everything I need to finish up before my week off next week. I could have done without extra stuff being loaded on to the to-do list as well. Hmmm.
Home, and it's chilly and gloomy again. Not a very encouraging portent for the bank holiday weekend.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thirty Days of Music, Day 5
Favourite female vocalist
Has to be Sarah Blackwood, originally of Dubstar and now part of Client. I love the way that she has kept her West Yorkshire accent as a perfect compliment to the electro-dance music that is her usual oeuvre. I first heard this track whilst drinking strawberry margaritas in a Tex-Mex restaurant in Edinburgh and it took me nearly the entire track to recognise that it was a cover version of an old Billy Bragg song.
Has to be Sarah Blackwood, originally of Dubstar and now part of Client. I love the way that she has kept her West Yorkshire accent as a perfect compliment to the electro-dance music that is her usual oeuvre. I first heard this track whilst drinking strawberry margaritas in a Tex-Mex restaurant in Edinburgh and it took me nearly the entire track to recognise that it was a cover version of an old Billy Bragg song.
One Perfect Sunrise
Up at the proverbial crack of the proverbial dawn, and there was a definite hint of a suggestion of a touch of a nip in the air. Feels like .... autumn. Say it ain't so! Anyhoo, this is a long winded way of saying I was up early, the car was covered with chilly dew and I was driving north on a fine and mostly sunny day.
For once the installation turned out to be problem free and mostly straightforward, apart from testing the timeout on internet logins which involved a fair bit of sitting around waiting for sessions in various states to timeout (well, duh!) with the correct error message and redirect. It worked, so hurrah, and I treated myself to a bacon stottie from a greasy spoon cafe in the local town centre that was a little bit like stepping into a time warp of thirty years or more into the past. Crappy 80s music, tired looking people, unemployment advice on the mugs of tea - yep, it's like the Thatcher years never went away, eh Dave'n'Nick? (oooh, little bit of politics!).
Back home again at a reasonable hour, and for some strange reason I suddenly felt very tired and very cold at the same time, requiring the swift application of a fluffy jumper and the heating being switched on for a bit.
Yep, definitely a touch of Autumn on the way.
For once the installation turned out to be problem free and mostly straightforward, apart from testing the timeout on internet logins which involved a fair bit of sitting around waiting for sessions in various states to timeout (well, duh!) with the correct error message and redirect. It worked, so hurrah, and I treated myself to a bacon stottie from a greasy spoon cafe in the local town centre that was a little bit like stepping into a time warp of thirty years or more into the past. Crappy 80s music, tired looking people, unemployment advice on the mugs of tea - yep, it's like the Thatcher years never went away, eh Dave'n'Nick? (oooh, little bit of politics!).
Back home again at a reasonable hour, and for some strange reason I suddenly felt very tired and very cold at the same time, requiring the swift application of a fluffy jumper and the heating being switched on for a bit.
Yep, definitely a touch of Autumn on the way.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Haikusday
Twelve degrees, rain,
The British summer lives down
To expectations
Two cats queue for noms
Meanwhile, ginger kitteh is
Catching her own food
Next OU course booked
Object oriented Java
Roll on October!
Carcassonne all stars
Fight for control of the game
Leader board grudge match
Big Brother Housemates!
This is Davina. I am
Coming to get you
Thermal Pigs on tour
From dive bars to stadiums
You ready to RAWK?
The British summer lives down
To expectations
Two cats queue for noms
Meanwhile, ginger kitteh is
Catching her own food
Next OU course booked
Object oriented Java
Roll on October!
Carcassonne all stars
Fight for control of the game
Leader board grudge match
Big Brother Housemates!
This is Davina. I am
Coming to get you
Thermal Pigs on tour
From dive bars to stadiums
You ready to RAWK?
Monday, August 23, 2010
Thirty Days of Music, Day 3
A song that makes you want to dance
The last song that I danced to was a mix of 'Pjanoo' by Erik Prydz vs Tears For Fears 'Shout', but the bit that really makes me want to jump around was used on the trailer for 'The Ballad of Gay Tony' which you can see here.
The last song that I danced to was a mix of 'Pjanoo' by Erik Prydz vs Tears For Fears 'Shout', but the bit that really makes me want to jump around was used on the trailer for 'The Ballad of Gay Tony' which you can see here.
Empty Houses
Weather : the cold, gray light of dawn gave way to a watery sunrise bathing the world in an autumnal air of damp gloom. Ceci n'est pas un Août.
I seem to be getting a good deal for my phone at the moment. I'm on a pay as you go arrangement with O2 whereby I top up by ten pounds a month (soto voce - I paid ten pounds!). For this I get 500Mb of web usage (which I use) and 300 text messages (which I don't). Out of the £10 I pay £7.50 for a Friends and Family package that gives me unlimited calls to Jan (and vice versa), who is the only person I ever call. Therefore I now seem to have fifteen squids worth of credit on there that I can't see a way of spending. I suppose I'll just have to call the Sydney speaking clock until it runs down or something.
In telly news, after a promising start Big Brother is lurching towards the inevitable disappointing dénouement. Can't say I'm overly surprised, really, but no doubt I'll watch the final just to see the lumbering beast being put out of its misery (apart from the unnecessary coda of 'Big Brother Ultimate' where they have assembled all of the most irritating and objectionable housemates of previous series who were either too vain, too venal or too vacuous to turn down the offer of appearing on the telly again). If they revived Big Brother as a format that stuck strictly to its own rules without trying to fiddle things to favour the producers' chosen housemates, it would be worth a watch, otherwise farewell and adieu to ten years of voyeuristic entertainment.
In other telly news, it seems that X-Factor are now auto-tuning the voices of the contestants, which surely takes all of the fun (for some values of the word 'fun') of watching the tuneless honkings of the early rounds of hopelessly deluded wannabes and borderline psychotics of previous series. I'd much rather play 'Rock Band' for an hour or two, to be honest.
Talking of Rock Band, I think that I am going to need to devote some serious time to the practice tutorials if I am ever going to improve my technique. I can't seem to get the hang of hammer-ons and co-ordinating my little finger on the lower fret, which seem to be essential for the more difficult songs like 'Enter the Sandman'. The World Tour mode is rather good fun though, and I now have a rather natty Cowboy hat, leather trousers and Sgt Pepper style jacket combo for my avatar, as well as a tour jet with our band name of 'The Thermal Pigs' emblazoned on the side. Aces.
I seem to be getting a good deal for my phone at the moment. I'm on a pay as you go arrangement with O2 whereby I top up by ten pounds a month (soto voce - I paid ten pounds!). For this I get 500Mb of web usage (which I use) and 300 text messages (which I don't). Out of the £10 I pay £7.50 for a Friends and Family package that gives me unlimited calls to Jan (and vice versa), who is the only person I ever call. Therefore I now seem to have fifteen squids worth of credit on there that I can't see a way of spending. I suppose I'll just have to call the Sydney speaking clock until it runs down or something.
In telly news, after a promising start Big Brother is lurching towards the inevitable disappointing dénouement. Can't say I'm overly surprised, really, but no doubt I'll watch the final just to see the lumbering beast being put out of its misery (apart from the unnecessary coda of 'Big Brother Ultimate' where they have assembled all of the most irritating and objectionable housemates of previous series who were either too vain, too venal or too vacuous to turn down the offer of appearing on the telly again). If they revived Big Brother as a format that stuck strictly to its own rules without trying to fiddle things to favour the producers' chosen housemates, it would be worth a watch, otherwise farewell and adieu to ten years of voyeuristic entertainment.
In other telly news, it seems that X-Factor are now auto-tuning the voices of the contestants, which surely takes all of the fun (for some values of the word 'fun') of watching the tuneless honkings of the early rounds of hopelessly deluded wannabes and borderline psychotics of previous series. I'd much rather play 'Rock Band' for an hour or two, to be honest.
Talking of Rock Band, I think that I am going to need to devote some serious time to the practice tutorials if I am ever going to improve my technique. I can't seem to get the hang of hammer-ons and co-ordinating my little finger on the lower fret, which seem to be essential for the more difficult songs like 'Enter the Sandman'. The World Tour mode is rather good fun though, and I now have a rather natty Cowboy hat, leather trousers and Sgt Pepper style jacket combo for my avatar, as well as a tour jet with our band name of 'The Thermal Pigs' emblazoned on the side. Aces.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Horse with no Name
A lazy Sunday, apart from a bit of ironing, with the usual round of dog walks, sunshine, games of Carcassonne and Words with Friends (in which I got royally flattened by Becs). The afternoon was mostly taken up with a bit of co-op Red Dead Redemption with Lufferov which was excellent fun, apart from one irritating twat who insisted on trying to set the raft that we were on on fire whilst we were being sniped at by Mexican banditos on either side of the river.
That's about it, folks!
That's about it, folks!
Thirty Days of Music, Day 2
A song that makes you cry
John Otway may not be the world's greatest singer, but he knows how to write a heartfelt song that combines sadness and optimism in equal measure. This genuinely made me well up the first time I heard it, and it still does now
Six Degrees of Big Brother's Drunk Monk
- David Vaughan the drunk monk of Big Brother is an
- associate of
- John Crowder founder of The New Mystics movement 'Sons of Thunder' linked to an evangelical group called
- Joel's Army a theocratic, militaristic sect linked to
- Juneau Christian Centre whose most notable member is
- Sarah Palin
Sunday Links
- Meet Yuri the Tiger Cub - ZooBorns
- Call of Cthulhu distilled into 120 ditzy seconds Like, totally squamous, y'know
- FlowerPower Draw with flowers. Groovy.
- BLADE RUNNER revisited Every frame from Bladerunner composited into a single 3.6 Gigapixel image that forms the basis for a stunning bit of video art
- 私信 High res images of Japan's most famous kitteh. Click through to embiggen.
- shuffler An intriguingly different approach to internet music radio, constructing playlists from music blogs by genre
- Doctor Who Time Travel Journies A crowd sourced spreadsheet detailing every time journey in Doctor Who, harnessing the power of the nerd hive mind
- Classic science fiction theme tunes sound even spacier slowed down The slowing down everything 800% meme still manages to produce some gems
- Vintage Calculators
- Battle of Britain: The cost A sobering interactive infographic charting the progress of the battle of Britain
- Mastermind Pick a specialist subject and sit in the iconic black leather chair. Unfortunately you don't get the famous 'I've started, so I'll finish' on the last question ...
- Evasion Every so often you get a game that combines being fun with being ROCK BASTARD HARD. Enjoy.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Highway Star
After my complaint yesterday I was rewarded with a sunny day (mostly) and it was warm enough to require my Panama for the morning walk. Hoorah! I made hay (or at least cut the grass) whilst the sun shone, so the garden was looking tidy too.
A much needed afternoon nap, and a trip out to the retail park to look at tellies - I'm being nagged, er, encouraged to choose a bigger tv and blu-ray player for the lounge and I have to go through my usual umming and ahing routine before committing to any techo-purchase.
Home to Rock Band, and the songs are really starting to get more difficult. The final tune on our set list tonight was the six minute Highway Star with a punishing guitar solo in the middle. Jan was playing drums on hard too, which was a spectacular achievement I think.
Ace fun for a Saturday night with a beer (or two).
A much needed afternoon nap, and a trip out to the retail park to look at tellies - I'm being nagged, er, encouraged to choose a bigger tv and blu-ray player for the lounge and I have to go through my usual umming and ahing routine before committing to any techo-purchase.
Home to Rock Band, and the songs are really starting to get more difficult. The final tune on our set list tonight was the six minute Highway Star with a punishing guitar solo in the middle. Jan was playing drums on hard too, which was a spectacular achievement I think.
Ace fun for a Saturday night with a beer (or two).
Thirty Days of Music
Lots of people seem to be doing this meme, so who am I not to follow the herd ... :-)
I love this song as a classic piece of Tom Waits, and the imagery of Burma Shave being a real place that you could escape to is a marvelously effective conceit.
The full list of prompts is as follows:
Day 1: Your favorite song.
Day 2: A song that makes you cry.
Day 3: A song that makes you dance.
Day 4: Your favorite male singer.
Day 5: Your favorite female singer.
Day 6: Your favorite band.
Day 7: One band/singer you're ashamed to admit you like.
Day 8: One band/singer whose popularity you will never understand.
Day 9: A song that reminds you of an ex.
Day 10: A song that reminds you of your father.
Day 11: A song that reminds you of your mother.
Day 12: A song that makes you want to have sex.
Day 13: A song you sing in the shower.
Day 14: A song from the year you were born.
Day 15: A song you liked in high school.
Day 16: The first song in your mp3 folder.
Day 17: The last song in your mp3 folder.
Day 18: An instrumental song you like.
Day 19: Your favorite love song.
Day 20: Your favorite breakup song.
Day 21: A song that makes you want to break stuff.
Day 22: Your favorite song from a movie.
Day 23: Your favorite duet.
Day 24: Your favorite cover song.
Day 25: Your favorite song from 2010 (so far)
Day 26: Your favorite movie video.
Day 27: One song in your mp3 folder you're pretty sure no one else has.
Day 28: One song that needs to never be played again.
Day 29: One song that gives you the creeps.
Day 30: A song you'd like played at your funeral.
I love this song as a classic piece of Tom Waits, and the imagery of Burma Shave being a real place that you could escape to is a marvelously effective conceit.
The full list of prompts is as follows:
Day 1: Your favorite song.
Day 2: A song that makes you cry.
Day 3: A song that makes you dance.
Day 4: Your favorite male singer.
Day 5: Your favorite female singer.
Day 6: Your favorite band.
Day 7: One band/singer you're ashamed to admit you like.
Day 8: One band/singer whose popularity you will never understand.
Day 9: A song that reminds you of an ex.
Day 10: A song that reminds you of your father.
Day 11: A song that reminds you of your mother.
Day 12: A song that makes you want to have sex.
Day 13: A song you sing in the shower.
Day 14: A song from the year you were born.
Day 15: A song you liked in high school.
Day 16: The first song in your mp3 folder.
Day 17: The last song in your mp3 folder.
Day 18: An instrumental song you like.
Day 19: Your favorite love song.
Day 20: Your favorite breakup song.
Day 21: A song that makes you want to break stuff.
Day 22: Your favorite song from a movie.
Day 23: Your favorite duet.
Day 24: Your favorite cover song.
Day 25: Your favorite song from 2010 (so far)
Day 26: Your favorite movie video.
Day 27: One song in your mp3 folder you're pretty sure no one else has.
Day 28: One song that needs to never be played again.
Day 29: One song that gives you the creeps.
Day 30: A song you'd like played at your funeral.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Free Bird
The weather can be summed up with the concise phrase : same old, same old. I am starting to despair of ever getting a decent run of sunshine this summer.
We had just settled down to watch the telly last night when we heard the unmistakable sounds of one of the cats bringing a bird into the kitchen. Fortunately (for the bird that is) it was Daisy who had done the catching and bringing in, rather than Doris who has the tendency to carry off her prey to a dark place for unspeakable purposes. We shooed the cats out and managed to rescue the bird - a little finch of some sort, I think - and put it in a box to give it a chance to recover. It perked up after an hour or so and managed to fly off, seemingly no worse for wear.
In other bird news, we have had a veritable feeding frenzy of blue tits, coal tits, great tits and even a bullfinch feeding off the seeds on the vine, and the ripening elderberries in the garden. There must have been twenty or more different birds swooping around at lunchtime. Fortunately the cats were all too busy snoozing to take advantage of this aerial bonanza.
Oh, and in corrections news, I have to admit that I was wrong to say that 20% of Americans are fucking idiots. Apparently, it's only 18% but on the other hand 31% of Republicans fall into said category of fucking idiocy. So there.
I hereby declare this Friday night to be well and truly ... open!
We had just settled down to watch the telly last night when we heard the unmistakable sounds of one of the cats bringing a bird into the kitchen. Fortunately (for the bird that is) it was Daisy who had done the catching and bringing in, rather than Doris who has the tendency to carry off her prey to a dark place for unspeakable purposes. We shooed the cats out and managed to rescue the bird - a little finch of some sort, I think - and put it in a box to give it a chance to recover. It perked up after an hour or so and managed to fly off, seemingly no worse for wear.
In other bird news, we have had a veritable feeding frenzy of blue tits, coal tits, great tits and even a bullfinch feeding off the seeds on the vine, and the ripening elderberries in the garden. There must have been twenty or more different birds swooping around at lunchtime. Fortunately the cats were all too busy snoozing to take advantage of this aerial bonanza.
Oh, and in corrections news, I have to admit that I was wrong to say that 20% of Americans are fucking idiots. Apparently, it's only 18% but on the other hand 31% of Republicans fall into said category of fucking idiocy. So there.
I hereby declare this Friday night to be well and truly ... open!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
515
Weather : Sun, tending to grey, tending to chucking it down by the time I got home. Summer time, and the living is chilly and damp ...
Not much to report today really. The stomach cramps of yesterday have faded, thankfully, and I slept a bit better too. The office was reasonably quiet today and hence I had a productive day sorting out the document viewer on the app I installed last week, getting the registration services installed on my test environment and even doing a bit of development work, shock, horror.
In other news, 20% of Americans are fucking idiots, not many boys got their exam results today and schadenfreude can occasionally be very sweet.
Not much to report today really. The stomach cramps of yesterday have faded, thankfully, and I slept a bit better too. The office was reasonably quiet today and hence I had a productive day sorting out the document viewer on the app I installed last week, getting the registration services installed on my test environment and even doing a bit of development work, shock, horror.
In other news, 20% of Americans are fucking idiots, not many boys got their exam results today and schadenfreude can occasionally be very sweet.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Strange Overtones
Weather : A bright start followed by a descent into a world of grey around lunchtime before ending up with a bit of sunshine to end the day - seven out of ten on the sun-o-meter, I think.
Yesterday had turned out to be surprisingly tiring, all round, and I finished it off with an hour on Rock Band playing 'Still Alive' (aka the song from off of the end of Portal) on guitar. Quite amusing to see the faux punk lead singer of our band 'The Thermal Pigs' singing along in the voice of the demented computer GladOs.
I had a bit of disturbed night last, after flaking out during Big Brother, and felt rough this morning. I had stomach cramps for most of the day, off and on, necessitating frequent trips to the loo. Not much fun.
Yesterday had turned out to be surprisingly tiring, all round, and I finished it off with an hour on Rock Band playing 'Still Alive' (aka the song from off of the end of Portal) on guitar. Quite amusing to see the faux punk lead singer of our band 'The Thermal Pigs' singing along in the voice of the demented computer GladOs.
I had a bit of disturbed night last, after flaking out during Big Brother, and felt rough this morning. I had stomach cramps for most of the day, off and on, necessitating frequent trips to the loo. Not much fun.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Haikusday
A cat duvet day
However, teh hoomin has
To go to London
User group meeting
Requires a formal approach
Suited and booted
Hit the road and drive
Park at Finchley Central then
Tube into London
Steel leviathans
Tower over the remains
Of Old London Wall
Genius playlist
Of female singers somehow
Adds Robbie Williams
However, teh hoomin has
To go to London
User group meeting
Requires a formal approach
Suited and booted
Hit the road and drive
Park at Finchley Central then
Tube into London
Steel leviathans
Tower over the remains
Of Old London Wall
Genius playlist
Of female singers somehow
Adds Robbie Williams
Monday, August 16, 2010
Over the seas
After the pleasant sunshine of the weekend, it was a return to overcast skies and a gloomy air this morning. Just perfect for a Monday morning in the office - happy happy joy joy. To make things even more tickety-boo, the milk for my morning coffee was on the turn after being in the temperamental fridge in our second floor kitchen over the weekend. Ack. To be fair, the sun did show its face by mid-day but I didn't get to see much of it for being stuck in the aforementioned office.
We realised that at least some of the problems from last week were down to the wrong environment being installed by the customer that I was then trying to patch on top of. I need to put a check into the install script to make sure that the code base is what we have asked for, rather than assuming that they will set things up as we have requested. At least it made for a productive end to the day when I got the app to fire up successfully.
In games news, I fired up DJ Hero for a spin (ho, ho, I am satirical) last night and jolly good it was too. I unlocked the Daft Punk set list and ran through eight tracks plus the bonus beat of a Daft Punk mega mix. To finish with I put the system into automatic party play mode so that I could jump around the lounge like a loon to a mix of Tears for Fears vs Erik Prydz. Aces.
In Echo Bazaar news, I am considering giving up on the Knife and Candle part of the game. I looked at some of the twitter accounts of the characters at the top of the leaderboard and there seems to a group of about five or six people running multiple accounts and collaborating on assassinations. I don't know if it is technically breaking any sort of rule of the game, but it's against the spirit of the thing, I think.
We realised that at least some of the problems from last week were down to the wrong environment being installed by the customer that I was then trying to patch on top of. I need to put a check into the install script to make sure that the code base is what we have asked for, rather than assuming that they will set things up as we have requested. At least it made for a productive end to the day when I got the app to fire up successfully.
In games news, I fired up DJ Hero for a spin (ho, ho, I am satirical) last night and jolly good it was too. I unlocked the Daft Punk set list and ran through eight tracks plus the bonus beat of a Daft Punk mega mix. To finish with I put the system into automatic party play mode so that I could jump around the lounge like a loon to a mix of Tears for Fears vs Erik Prydz. Aces.
In Echo Bazaar news, I am considering giving up on the Knife and Candle part of the game. I looked at some of the twitter accounts of the characters at the top of the leaderboard and there seems to a group of about five or six people running multiple accounts and collaborating on assassinations. I don't know if it is technically breaking any sort of rule of the game, but it's against the spirit of the thing, I think.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Good Morning, Morning
At last, a spot of summer sunshine worthy of breaking out mah favourite hat for the statutory two walks today! I think this is probably the sort of weather that suits me best - sunny and pleasantly warm without being oppressively hot, and with a touch of a breeze too. Smashing. Shame I've got to go back into the office tomorrow, really.
I was up at a civilised hour this morning. Not so early as to precede the lark, but late enough to allow a gradual restoration of the senses from the tangled webs of dream without unseemly haste. I even felt energetic enough to take advantage of the sunshine to cut the grass, although I didn't use the leaf blower today - it always seems to leave me sneezing from the dust kicked up.
A shower, a walk and a cooked brunch, interspersed with a bit of game playing and an afternoon nap as well made for a most enjoyable day all round.
In games news, I signed up for a game of Diplomacy via Facebook. I've not played for years and I'm not entirely sure how it will pan out, but I'm looking forward to it. It strikes me that it would make an excellent game for an iPhone/iPad implementation with a Carcassonne/Words with Friends style of play.
I was up at a civilised hour this morning. Not so early as to precede the lark, but late enough to allow a gradual restoration of the senses from the tangled webs of dream without unseemly haste. I even felt energetic enough to take advantage of the sunshine to cut the grass, although I didn't use the leaf blower today - it always seems to leave me sneezing from the dust kicked up.
A shower, a walk and a cooked brunch, interspersed with a bit of game playing and an afternoon nap as well made for a most enjoyable day all round.
In games news, I signed up for a game of Diplomacy via Facebook. I've not played for years and I'm not entirely sure how it will pan out, but I'm looking forward to it. It strikes me that it would make an excellent game for an iPhone/iPad implementation with a Carcassonne/Words with Friends style of play.
Sunday Links
- A Handful of Baby Tenrecs - ZooBorns
- Pigs & Tigers Rear Each Others Young Interspeche cuteness!
- Hitchens: 'We're all dying, with me it's accelerated' Another interview with Hitch, this one featuring Martin Amis as well.
- This Is How It Feels to Be Under a Nuclear AttackEyewitness accounts
- 1906: vintage color photos of Europe
- Doctor Who Springfield Style The latest incarnation of the Doctor and friends, Simpsonised on Springfield Punx
- The best five books on everything Like all the best ideas, simple and effective. Different people nominate their best five books on a range of subjects.
- 12 of the Most Ridiculous Books Ever Printed Including such essential tomes as Do-it-Yourself Coffins and How to Avoid Huge Ships.
- Where's the Benefit? A new collaborative blog keeping a weather eye on the changes to the benefits system
- YouSwear.com A babelfish of filth and profanity. Aces!
- Wikipedia Edit Wars The most vitriolic edit wars on Wikipedia
- The Twitter Neil Hopkins Daily A nifty idea. Sign in with your twitter account and it will give you a newspaper style summary of the top stories, videos and pictures every twenty-four hours.
- Solipskier Line Rider meets Canabalt. Try this flash version, and then buy it for your iPhone.
- That's Evolution Educational games with an evolutionary twist
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Deep Honey
From an initially unpromising start of black skies, driving rain and a temperature of 13 degrees that necessitated putting the central heating on first thing, the day brightened up considerably by the late afternoon. Not bad, all things considered.
Today has pretty much been a games day, with the usual round of Words with Friends and Carcassonne followed by an impulse purchase of a skiing game called Solipskier which is sort of cross between Canabalt and Line Rider, and a perfect fit for the iPhone screen. It started life as a flash game, and I'll link to it tomorrow for thems as is interested. Good fun in small doses.
After a lunch of left over pizza and pancakes cooked by Jamie who had got it into his head that he wanted to cook pancakes, we played another set of Abbey Road songs on Beatles Rock Band with yet more wonderfully psychedelic visuals to enjoy. Aces.
Next on the menu of sofa based entertainment was a rewatch of the first episode of Firefly which still holds up as a well written bit of telly. It's not Buffy, but then again not much is. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of them and then Serenity again.
By this time the sun had his proverbial hat on, so it was out with the dog and then off to Meadowhall for a mooch, a melon smoothie and a music based purchase of the original Rock Band for ten of your Earth pounds for the disk on its own. This may well be getting an airing tonight.
Today has pretty much been a games day, with the usual round of Words with Friends and Carcassonne followed by an impulse purchase of a skiing game called Solipskier which is sort of cross between Canabalt and Line Rider, and a perfect fit for the iPhone screen. It started life as a flash game, and I'll link to it tomorrow for thems as is interested. Good fun in small doses.
After a lunch of left over pizza and pancakes cooked by Jamie who had got it into his head that he wanted to cook pancakes, we played another set of Abbey Road songs on Beatles Rock Band with yet more wonderfully psychedelic visuals to enjoy. Aces.
Next on the menu of sofa based entertainment was a rewatch of the first episode of Firefly which still holds up as a well written bit of telly. It's not Buffy, but then again not much is. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of them and then Serenity again.
By this time the sun had his proverbial hat on, so it was out with the dog and then off to Meadowhall for a mooch, a melon smoothie and a music based purchase of the original Rock Band for ten of your Earth pounds for the disk on its own. This may well be getting an airing tonight.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Stop the Cavalry
Weather : more Autumn than August.
Today started with a slightly disconcerting event. I'd put the noms for the cats into their respective bowls and they all started tucking in as usual. I turned to the sink to run some hot water for washing up when there was a veritable feline stampede down the hallway and up the stairs, causing the glass cabinet en route to rattle with the impact. I went to see what they were up to, and all three of them were at the top of the stairs. It didn't take long for noshing to recommence and I never actually found out what they had been chasing.
In other noshing news, I contrived to drop half a bag of grated cheese onto the kitchen floor at lunchtime as I was making my ham, cheese and jalapeno wrap. Fortunately Barney the dog was on hand to hoover it up, although I did have to give the floor a wipe afterwards as well.
The support problem turned out to be an unusual case of somebody on a modest pension switching from a tax code with an allowance to a cumulative basic rate code in the same month as an overpayment was clawed back, leaving them with a negative net pay. The client is not entirely sure what they want the system to do in cases like this, so we are going to talk about it again on Monday.
Anyhoo, I notice from the clock that the big hand is on the seven and the little hand is pointing to the bottle of Pinot Grigio Rose in the fridge, so therefore it must be time for Friday night!
Today started with a slightly disconcerting event. I'd put the noms for the cats into their respective bowls and they all started tucking in as usual. I turned to the sink to run some hot water for washing up when there was a veritable feline stampede down the hallway and up the stairs, causing the glass cabinet en route to rattle with the impact. I went to see what they were up to, and all three of them were at the top of the stairs. It didn't take long for noshing to recommence and I never actually found out what they had been chasing.
In other noshing news, I contrived to drop half a bag of grated cheese onto the kitchen floor at lunchtime as I was making my ham, cheese and jalapeno wrap. Fortunately Barney the dog was on hand to hoover it up, although I did have to give the floor a wipe afterwards as well.
The support problem turned out to be an unusual case of somebody on a modest pension switching from a tax code with an allowance to a cumulative basic rate code in the same month as an overpayment was clawed back, leaving them with a negative net pay. The client is not entirely sure what they want the system to do in cases like this, so we are going to talk about it again on Monday.
Anyhoo, I notice from the clock that the big hand is on the seven and the little hand is pointing to the bottle of Pinot Grigio Rose in the fridge, so therefore it must be time for Friday night!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Metal Man
Weather, light showers - a weather condition prone to dangerous spoonerism ...
Work was irritating, running a remote install on a customer site that ran into a lot of niggly problems, some of which were down to the correct ports on the firewalls between different bits of the system not being opened properly. On top of that a support problem that I thought had been resolved weeks ago got bounced back to me for another look, so I'll have to have a go with that tomorrow.
I thought that my recent run of decent journeys home was too good to be true, and so it proved when the traffic ground to a halt tonight. There were plenty of flashing blue lights going past on the hard shoulder and there was a fairly comprehensively crunched car when I eventually went past. At least it gave me a good chance to catch up on podcasts whilst sitting still.
Home now, and time to sort out my photo post for today.
Work was irritating, running a remote install on a customer site that ran into a lot of niggly problems, some of which were down to the correct ports on the firewalls between different bits of the system not being opened properly. On top of that a support problem that I thought had been resolved weeks ago got bounced back to me for another look, so I'll have to have a go with that tomorrow.
I thought that my recent run of decent journeys home was too good to be true, and so it proved when the traffic ground to a halt tonight. There were plenty of flashing blue lights going past on the hard shoulder and there was a fairly comprehensively crunched car when I eventually went past. At least it gave me a good chance to catch up on podcasts whilst sitting still.
Home now, and time to sort out my photo post for today.
Podcast Thursday
- Fry's English Delight A welcome return for this series, with an examination of the qwerty keyboard as a tool for getting our thoughts onto paper.
- Great Lives - John Lennon It's a slightly sobering thought to realise that John Lennon would have been seventy this year. This is a fascinating retrospective look at his career, in which he was responsible for some of the most innovative music ever produced.
- Utter Shambles Robin Ince and Josie Long are back with an interview with comics genius Alan Moore - hurrah!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
A Week in the Life Photo Meme
Aim of the Game: For one week, you are to post photographs taken during the day.
Rules:
1. You must take between 6 and 8 new photographs per day.
2. Your WITL must be consecutive. No skipping days.
3. You must post your photographs at the end of that day, sometime after the last picture is taken.
4. Each photograph must have the time taken beneath and a title, with no other explanation.
You must post these rules at your first entry, then link back to it for the other six days so that people will know wtf you're doing.
Your post must say "A Week in the Life of [your name/username], Volume [whatever day you're on]."
PLEASE NOTE: None of these are intended to be good photos. They are quick snapshots taken in a second or two, with no preparation.
i have started mine and will post later in the day.
get snapping!!!
(H/T Elaine4Queen!)
Rules:
1. You must take between 6 and 8 new photographs per day.
2. Your WITL must be consecutive. No skipping days.
3. You must post your photographs at the end of that day, sometime after the last picture is taken.
4. Each photograph must have the time taken beneath and a title, with no other explanation.
You must post these rules at your first entry, then link back to it for the other six days so that people will know wtf you're doing.
Your post must say "A Week in the Life of [your name/username], Volume [whatever day you're on]."
PLEASE NOTE: None of these are intended to be good photos. They are quick snapshots taken in a second or two, with no preparation.
i have started mine and will post later in the day.
get snapping!!!
(H/T Elaine4Queen!)
Paperback Writer
Weather, Brighton breezy as the Mondegreen of the well known weather forecast couplet would put it.
The evenings are starting to noticeably shorten again and I found myself nodding off as the dusk fell last night. I think I'll have to start using my light again to keep my bed time at a reasonable hour. My energy levels and sleeping patterns are not too bad at the moment, but I think I will have to keep a weather eye on them as the year turns.
In games news, I downloaded the DLC episode of Alan Wake and made a start on it last night. Not to spoil over much for anyone who hasn't completed the main story line yet, but it looks to be an entertainingly nightmarish trek through some of the most interesting locations from the game. I particularly like the type-written words floating in the air, being a literal representation of the creative process at work.
I wonder if Alan Wake is the only author who still uses a manual typewriter? I imagine that most writers will use some form of word processor or other, and that a handful will use pen and paper, but a typewriter is a very different kettle of fish. I still have a fondness for the fiendishly complex mechanisms that translate a press of a key into the typeface striking the ribbon via a series of linking rods and joints. I haven't used a manual typewriter for anything serious for twenty five years or so, but I still find myself sometimes bashing computer keyboards with slightly more force than is strictly necessary.
The evenings are starting to noticeably shorten again and I found myself nodding off as the dusk fell last night. I think I'll have to start using my light again to keep my bed time at a reasonable hour. My energy levels and sleeping patterns are not too bad at the moment, but I think I will have to keep a weather eye on them as the year turns.
In games news, I downloaded the DLC episode of Alan Wake and made a start on it last night. Not to spoil over much for anyone who hasn't completed the main story line yet, but it looks to be an entertainingly nightmarish trek through some of the most interesting locations from the game. I particularly like the type-written words floating in the air, being a literal representation of the creative process at work.
I wonder if Alan Wake is the only author who still uses a manual typewriter? I imagine that most writers will use some form of word processor or other, and that a handful will use pen and paper, but a typewriter is a very different kettle of fish. I still have a fondness for the fiendishly complex mechanisms that translate a press of a key into the typeface striking the ribbon via a series of linking rods and joints. I haven't used a manual typewriter for anything serious for twenty five years or so, but I still find myself sometimes bashing computer keyboards with slightly more force than is strictly necessary.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Haikusday
From dank, smoky club
To final rooftop farewell
Hit that perfect beat
For years I wondered
Why the Fab Four sung about a
Paper bag rider
Just one more question
Where did Moriarty hide
All of the snipers?
If you quit your job
Then you may as well do so
With some panache
A gravy lagoon
With a sausage raft and
Cannonade of peas
When our time draws near
We all should aspire to this
Honest dignity
To final rooftop farewell
Hit that perfect beat
For years I wondered
Why the Fab Four sung about a
Paper bag rider
Just one more question
Where did Moriarty hide
All of the snipers?
If you quit your job
Then you may as well do so
With some panache
A gravy lagoon
With a sausage raft and
Cannonade of peas
When our time draws near
We all should aspire to this
Honest dignity
Monday, August 09, 2010
Milkman of Human Kindness
Weather : pleasant. We managed to watch about half of the last episode of Sherlock last night before griping stomach pains and general tiredness sent me to bed early.
I note the furore about free school milk over the weekend. I'm one of the generation that had their milk snatched in the early 70s, but I can't recall it ever being something that I looked forward to. In the winter the milk would be frozen with bits of ice in it, but it was worse in the summer when the crate would sit outside the classroom in the sunshine for a couple of hours before morning break. This would leave the third of a pint bottles curdled and sour, and I can still recall the vague feeling of nausea after drinking one. We were not allowed to leave any, even if it took the whole of break time to force it down, probably because there were starving children in India if I recall correctly.
The scheme nowadays only applies to children under five in pre-school nurseries and costs somewhere upwards of £50m to run. Malnutrition is not the same problem that it was in the post war years when the scheme was introduced (and originally for all school age children up to 16, which surprised me). A purely sceptical, scientific approach would make scrapping the scheme and replacing it with targeted alternatives a no-brainer. There would certainly be greater health benefits from providing overweight children with a bit of fruit or fresh veg for a snack instead of crisps and chocolate, for example.
So, why the outcry about milk, particularly from the sort of middle class parents who would be likely to pack their little Tarquins and Jocastas off with healthy food in their lunch boxes already? I suspect that we won't see the same complaints from the parents of the poor kids who pass fish and chips through the bars at lunchtime for their Turkey Twizzler deprived offspring.
It is more worrying that we seem to be heading back to government by spin and soundbite, where all policies have to approved by running them past the Daily Mail features writers first and then cost analysed with the net effect on Rupert Murdoch's balance sheet quantified.
Not a good precedent.
I note the furore about free school milk over the weekend. I'm one of the generation that had their milk snatched in the early 70s, but I can't recall it ever being something that I looked forward to. In the winter the milk would be frozen with bits of ice in it, but it was worse in the summer when the crate would sit outside the classroom in the sunshine for a couple of hours before morning break. This would leave the third of a pint bottles curdled and sour, and I can still recall the vague feeling of nausea after drinking one. We were not allowed to leave any, even if it took the whole of break time to force it down, probably because there were starving children in India if I recall correctly.
The scheme nowadays only applies to children under five in pre-school nurseries and costs somewhere upwards of £50m to run. Malnutrition is not the same problem that it was in the post war years when the scheme was introduced (and originally for all school age children up to 16, which surprised me). A purely sceptical, scientific approach would make scrapping the scheme and replacing it with targeted alternatives a no-brainer. There would certainly be greater health benefits from providing overweight children with a bit of fruit or fresh veg for a snack instead of crisps and chocolate, for example.
So, why the outcry about milk, particularly from the sort of middle class parents who would be likely to pack their little Tarquins and Jocastas off with healthy food in their lunch boxes already? I suspect that we won't see the same complaints from the parents of the poor kids who pass fish and chips through the bars at lunchtime for their Turkey Twizzler deprived offspring.
It is more worrying that we seem to be heading back to government by spin and soundbite, where all policies have to approved by running them past the Daily Mail features writers first and then cost analysed with the net effect on Rupert Murdoch's balance sheet quantified.
Not a good precedent.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Well, Saturday night turned out to be Beatles night round here.
We fired up Beatles Rock Band and played through the sections for Shea Stadium, Budokan and most of Abbey Road, five starring a couple of tracks on the way. I am really enjoying this game, particularly the collaborative aspect of it, and the chance to re-evaluate and appreciate some truly classic recordings. The presentation is superbly done, with the animated dream sequences that play alongside some of the more psychedelic numbers being mini works of art in their own right.
After that, and an evening meal of some rather nommy venison burgers we settled down to watch the Hurt Locker - Katherine Bigelow's take on an American bomb disposal team at work in Baghdad. Whilst it was a gripping bit of drama, it was a very narrow and one sided portrayal of the war, with no attempt to show things from an alternative perspective. On the plus side, it was very well filmed and the soundtrack certainly gave the surround sound speakers a good work out.
PS Just posted over on South Yorkshire Skeptics ...
We fired up Beatles Rock Band and played through the sections for Shea Stadium, Budokan and most of Abbey Road, five starring a couple of tracks on the way. I am really enjoying this game, particularly the collaborative aspect of it, and the chance to re-evaluate and appreciate some truly classic recordings. The presentation is superbly done, with the animated dream sequences that play alongside some of the more psychedelic numbers being mini works of art in their own right.
After that, and an evening meal of some rather nommy venison burgers we settled down to watch the Hurt Locker - Katherine Bigelow's take on an American bomb disposal team at work in Baghdad. Whilst it was a gripping bit of drama, it was a very narrow and one sided portrayal of the war, with no attempt to show things from an alternative perspective. On the plus side, it was very well filmed and the soundtrack certainly gave the surround sound speakers a good work out.
PS Just posted over on South Yorkshire Skeptics ...
Bear Ridge to Nettle Lane by Rachel Green
Bear Ridge to Nettle Lane by Rachel GreenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Collected poems
Of Derbyshire life, dog walks,
Memories and sheds
View all my reviews >>
Sunday Links
- Meet Kambiri the Pygmy Hippo - ZooBorns
- Doctor Who Cubecraft It's been ages since I linked to any papercraft, and you can't get much easier (or cuter) than this series of Doctor Who related cubecraft models.
- Past and present Sergey Larenkov takes pictures from the second world war and merges them with contemporary shots from the same location. Haunting.
- America in Color from 1939-1943 Evocative photography
- Same-sex marriage - the Big Picture Forget pettifogging arguments about constitutional minutae - *this* is what the debate about same sex marriage is all about
- Moon Graffiti What if Apollo 11 had crashed? A compelling short audio drama about the speech that Nixon would have given in the event of such a disaster.
- Photographing Hiroshima
- If an A Bomb Falls Sound advice in comic strip form from 1951 (*Aside* It's not. It's shit)
- The Hells Angels Take a Mini Break Amusing social documentary from 1973
- Every 2 Days We Create As Much Information As We Did Up To 2003
- Social circle and content What does Google know about you?
- Halo 2600 Halo old school style (Programming details here)
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