Thursday, November 30

Dumbass

Always, always check the details of your ebay auction carefully before you submit it..
Otherwise you might set the "Buy It Now" price for your auction for a Playstation 3 for only $0.99 - whoops

Labels: , ,

Tuesday, November 28

The Great British Swizz??

According to BBC News (who else? They are my Oracle on everything in the big, wide world), those late night Quiz Shows on channels ITV, five, et al (you know, "The Great British Quiz" and suchlike) are being "looked into" as it is suspected they are a bit of a lottery.

If you've never seen these shows, you really should - as they are completely hypnotic.. They all have the same format: a lateral thinking question is posed (and constantly shown on the left hand side of the screen), they have a bubbly presenter to tell you, over and over, that "all the clues you need are in the question" so we may as well all "call in now, and win thousands of pounds". Although I've never called I will admit to staring transfixed at these things some times for up to an hour, I have argued with Mrs R about what the answer might be, and have scoffed at the ridiculous answers that the half-pissed sounding people who do call in offer up..

Apparently though, only 0.5% of callers actually get through to speak to the on-air presenter (only to be told they're wrong, although not in the context they really should be told that they're wrong) with the rest being kept on hold indefinitely on a premium rate number. It really is a genius scam and is compelling viewing if you have insomnia.

Just goes to show that there is one born every minute..

Labels: , ,

Ouch..

..someone is not happy after queuing up all that time for their PS3..
(thanks for the tip off, Mr C)

Before anyone comments, I'm pretty shocked to read some of this.. and am not simply jumping on the "XBox 360 is great" bandwagon.  However I do feel slightly more justified in my purchase now :)

(from: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/20/arts/20game.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)
Howard Stringer, you have a problem. Your company's new video game system just isn't that great.
 
Ever since Mr. Stringer took the helm last year at Sony, the struggling if still formidable electronics giant, the world has been hearing about how the coming PlayStation 3 would save the company, or at least revitalize it. Even after Microsoft took the lead in the video-game wars a year ago with its innovative and powerful Xbox 360, Sony blithely insisted that the PS3 would leapfrog all competition to deliver an unsurpassed level of fun.

Put bluntly, Sony has failed to deliver on that promise.
 
The PS3, which was introduced in North America on Friday with a hefty $599 price tag for the top version, certainly delivers gorgeous graphics. But they are not discernibly prettier than the Xbox 360's.  More important, the whole PlayStation 3 system is surprisingly clunky to use and simply does not provide many basic functions that users have come to expect, especially online.

"What's weird is that the PS3 was originally supposed to come out in the spring, and here it came out in the fall, and it still doesn't feel finished," Christopher Grant, managing editor of Joystiq, one of the world's biggest video-game blogs, said on the telephone Saturday night. "It's really not the all-star showing they should have had at launch. Sony is playing catch-up in a lot of ways now, not just in terms of sales but in terms of the basic functionality and usability of the system."

 
Sadly for Sony, the best way to explain how the PlayStation 3 falls short is to explain how different it is to use than its main competition, Xbox 360. When I reviewed the 360 last year, I wrote: "Twelve minutes after opening the box, I had created my nickname, was in a game of Quake 4 and thought, 'This can't be this easy.'"

I never felt that way using the PlayStation 3. With the PS3, 12 minutes after opening the box I realized that Sony inexplicably does not include cables to connect the machine to a high-definition television.  Keep in mind that one of Sony's main selling points has been that the PS3 plays Blu-Ray high-definition movie discs. But high-definiton cables? Sold separately. The Xbox 360, by contrast, ships with one cable that can connect to either a standard or high-definition set.

Then, before you are even using the PS3, you have to connect the "wireless" controller to the base unit with a USB cable so they can recognize each other. If you bring your PS3 controller to a friend's house, you'll have to plug back in again. The 360's wireless controllers are always just that, wireless.

If there is one thing one would expect Sony to get perfect, though, it would be music. Wrong. Sure, you can plug in your digital music player and the PS3 will play the tunes. But as soon as you go into a game, the music stops. By contrast, one of the things I've always enjoyed most on the Xbox 360 is being able to listen to my own music while playing Pebble Beach or driving my virtual Ferrari. Doesn't seem too complicated, but the PS3 can't do it.

In that sense it often feels as if the PlayStation 3 can't walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. In the PS3's online store (which feels like a slow Web page) you can access movie trailers and trial versions of new games, but when you actually download the 600-megabyte files, you'll be stuck watching a progress bar crawl across the screen for 20 or 40 minutes. Astonishingly, you can't download in the background while you go do something that's more fun (like play a game). On the Xbox 360, not only are files downloaded seamlessly in the background, but you can also shut off the machine, turn it on later, and the download will resume automatically.

The PS3's whole online experience feels tacked-on and unpolished. On the Xbox 360 each user has a single unified friends list, so you can track your friends and communicate with them easily, no matter what game you are in. On the PlayStation 3 most games have their own separate friends list and some have no friends function at all. There is a master list as well, but in order to communicate with anyone on it, you have to quit the game you are playing.

But the list of the PS3's disappointments remains, from its undersupported voice chat to its maddening cellphone-like text messaging system. (In frustration I ended up plugging in a USB keyboard.) Overall, Sony seems to have put a lot of effort into cramming as much silicon horsepower under the hood as possible but to have forgotten that all the transistors in the world can't make someone smile.

And so it is a bit of a shock to realize that on the video game front Microsoft and Sony are moving in exactly the opposite directions one might expect given their roots. Microsoft, the prototypical

PC company, has made the Xbox 360 into a powerful but intuitive, welcoming, people-friendly system. Sony's PlayStation 3, on the other hand, often feels like a brawny but somewhat recalcitrant specialized computer. (Sony is even telling users to wait for future software patches to fix some of the PS3's deficiencies.) The thing is, if people want to use a computer, they'll use a computer.

Labels: , ,

Monday, November 27

Q: How do you get a baby astronaut to sleep?

A: Rocket..

Boom! Boom!
Ahh the genius that is Basil Brush.

How do you get a normal baby to sleep is more of a pressing issue at home. Our little cherub is nearly six months old now and yet still will wake up at least twice during the night.. And more often than not, the second time she wakes up (any time between 5:30am - 6) she refuses to go back to sleep. Unsurprisingly Liz, who is bearing most of this nocturnal burden due to the fact that I need to get to work during the week, is beginning to show the signs of having six months of infant-induced sleep deprivation. I try and do as much as I can, but working 40-odd hours a week and needing some sleep to support that, I do tend to feel a tad helpless at times.

So between that, and the fun at work at the moment, there is no refuge where things are "normal" and, as a result, feel a bit mental myself. Alcohol abuse has got me through the weekend but for the sake of my liver and the organs around it, I really need to cut this shit out.

I'm praying for Christmas at the moment, the yuletide festivities will probe to be a welcome distraction from the current stresses and strains, and also will give forth two weeks off - joy.

Right, well little 'uns settled for about five hours now.. so I'll sign off..

Labels: , ,

Friday, November 24

24 hours later..

Still convinced I did the right thing last night by emailing out my CV, so I guess it cannot be the wrong thing, can it? After all I've slept on the decision, I have been back into work, and have calmed down (a tad, although not completely), and it still feels right. So I must be right.

I never knew until yesterday that the company I worked for had so little regard for the people they employ. In fact "little regard" is a tad weak, contempt for the people they employ would be closer to the mark. And that's what pushed me over the edge.. I know work has been a bit shite for a while, but I always thought that I could bimble along, doing my job and both parties involved in this "contract of employment" would be happy.. that would seem not to be the case..

Despite it being 24 hours later, I am still being threatened by "the messenger" that I will feel the full wrath of the HR Director if I refuse to give up my free time and come in and bail out the company that holds me in such contempt. Bring it on, I say.. If they make it that difficult for me to work there, then I shall seek advice from a solicitor about where I stand.. An industrial tribunal wouldn't look kindly on their bullying tactics.

It's a shame it's come to this, and I felt bad about having to send out the CV last night (it took 4 cans of lager, and two very large brandies to dig me out of the melancholy state I got myself into).. It's not something I do lightly.. but, sincerely, fuck 'em if that's their stance

Labels: , ,

Thursday, November 23

Right, that's it..

Tonight I will be mostly updating my Curriculum Vitae.

Today the developers on our project were told that they would have to do compulsory overtime in the evenings and weekends.. And we're talking in the run up to and including Christmas and New Year.

Why?

Because we hadn't been working up to scratch?
Because we'd been slacking off?

No, because people in responsibility for running our project are incompetent twats, who have not performed their job properly, not got machinery and processes in the production plant in place in an adequate time to deliver the requirements to us, so -consequently- deadlines are now stupidly tight for software to be delivered.

And how was this news broken to us?

Did they say that they'd dropped a bollock and needed a favour, offering a juicy incentive for people to give up their free time to come in and bail the company out of the shit?

No, they got all heavy handed, offered the shittest of incentives for clearing up their mess for them, and basically said, it's do that or walk.

Fuck em, I'll walk.
I refuse to be treated like that.

So I'm off to pastures new, no doubt I'll not be missed, but I don't care what they think anymore.. I'm not spending one more minute away from my family for those snide cunts.

Labels: ,

The dichotomy of it all..

I wonder how the average Sun reader is reacting to the latest news to travel in from Europe this morning?

Seeing as that paper has been famously anti-Europe in the past, carrying scare stories about how Cadbury's Chocolate would be banned under EU law and how Brussels was stopping certain shapes of bananas getting to our shops (their xenophobia is second only in fact to the Daily Mail, whose daily "Argh! Foreigners and Immigrants Will Get You!" headlines never seem to bore the aging readership in Conservative clubs up and down the country).

So how is the paper reacting to the news?

That news, of course, being that a ruling in an EU court could mean that taxes on alcohol and cigarettes only need to be paid in the country in which the products were bought, and the UK could not slap their usual excise duty on such products when they arrive here.

The EU court must decide whether someone who buys alcohol or tobacco from another country, and arranges for it to be delivered to their door, can avoid paying excise duty in his or her home country. This could potentially lose the Treasury a shit load of cash, of course, as if you were to order your cigarettes from some of the cheaper EU countries they could cost you just over seven quid for 200 (not including postage, of course).

So I wonder how The Sun is telling it's "white man van" readership today that the EVIL people in Brussels are going to give them an opportunity to get their 20 Bensons seven times cheaper than they would be able to buy them in the UK. Damn those pesky foreigners and their cheaper taxes, damn them all..

Oh, and talking of Europe - top of the group, baby,

Labels: , ,

Wednesday, November 22

NIN HD

News is a bit thin on the ground this morning, so I thought I'd post this link about the new Nine Inch Nails performance DVD, "Beside You In Time". Interestingly, the disc will be released on normal DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD (hmm.. think we finally have a release to justify the purchase of a HD-DVD drive for the XBox)..

The post is a little geeky, and technical, as it discusses the unique technical difficulties in getting a performance video onto these new formats, but I found it kinda interesting..

NIN in HD.. quality!!!

Before I go though, why did BBC Three decide to "sneak" series five of Family Guy onto their channel? Why not a big fanfare? It's the funniest thing they've got on the channel by a long shot, and yet it's been slipped onto the schedules at 11:30 in the evening with no announcements or anything.. Dickheads at the beeb, they are. And because of that I missed two episodes. Fuck! Still safely series linked in the Sky Plus planner now..

Labels: , ,

Tuesday, November 21

Who's Exhibiting?

Yay!

It seem that the Daleks are invading Manchester.
Now before you all start rejoicing and wondering what can be done with the land afterwards, I mean that they're coming to the Science and Industry Museum, next year no less.

Aye from the 31st March - 5th November you'll be able to get "up close" with Daleks, Cyberman and a whole host of other Doctor Who props (including stuff from season three when it's been broadcast!). Tickets (starting at a measly £4.50 are already on sale on TicketWeb and you can see what is likely to appear at the Doctor Who Exhibitions website.

Exterminate! Exterminate!

Labels: , ,

Now this is funny!!

How the Italians tell the time (originally I received this as a mail attachment, but god bless YouTube for allowing me to simply share this with you all):



Is this authentic then Pedders?

Labels: , ,

I know how Iain Dowie feels

I got sacked in the Manager mode of FIFA 07!
The cheek of it!

Okay I had a couple of bad results including a three-nil defeat by Portsmouth, but still, I was eighth in the table just after Xmas and was progressing nicely in the cup, so what gives?

If life imitates art, old Benitez better watch his back! ;)

Labels: , ,

Monday, November 20

Dread

Another monday morning..
Ugh..

I have that Monday feeling I used to get when I was in school, "Oh no, not another week of this shite".

Aye 'fraid so..

It is that grim at work at the moment.. As I've stated earlier, it's only the coolness of the people I work with that makes this job semi bearable at the moment. Trying to resist looking at websites like jobserve (always remember, you need continuous employment to get a new mortgage and that is on the cards for the future), but it's getting harder and harder not to point my browser in the general direction.

Still only four more working weeks and I break up for Xmas -phew! Really looking forward to Kirstyn's first Christmas, and of course all of the other festivities (booze, turkey, gifts, turkey, seasonal goodwill, turkey, etc, etc).. Should be excellent..

And in other good news, I've finally increased my gamerscore (see above) after it was sat at 70 for about a month. I don't know how some people find the time to increase this score (it can take a hell of a long time to unlock game achievements and get these points), and you should see some of the scores out there, we're talking tens if not hundreds of thousands. It's a system just not designed for thirty-somethings with two kids, I tell you..

Labels: , ,

Sunday, November 19

Ti c Tac Toe

Had a trip down memory lane this afternoon courtesy of Film Four, when I watched WarGames for the first time in blummin' years. I used to think this film was awesome when I was a kid (and it's probably respobsible for shaping an interest in computers and a career in programming, alas neither of them got me a shag from Ally Sheedy).

Good news is, it's still as good as it ever was, and I was surprised just how ahead of its time it was. See? Some old films don't suck

Hello Professor Falken
Want to play a game?


Quality

Labels: , ,

Friday, November 17

Needles

So tomorrow I will have to make my annual trip to the local surgery.
Because I have asthma, I have to get a flu jab once a year, you see, and tomorrow is the first of two "opportunities" to get sorted for another year.

It also means that I will have to sit in the "Waiting Room of the Living Dead" as, of course, most of the people who actually qualify for a free flu jab are pensioners.. and they'll all shuffle in looking like a weekday post-office queue magnified.

Am hoping that this year's jab will have more of a fighting chance to do it's job properly, compared to last year seeing as I have given up the cigarettes. I must admit that these cooler mornings aren't as problematic as they used to be. I mean I know it's not properly cold yet, but even so not spending the first five minutes of every day hacking my lungs up is certainly an improvement.

In other news, saw the last episode (until 2007 anyway) of Lost last night. Yes, yes, I've had it downloaded for over a week too, just not got around to watching it yet. Was good stuff, cannot wait to get sat down in front of Sky One in the new year for the rest of season three.

Labels: , ,

Thursday, November 16

Us Brits love the Queen

Not the monarch, you understand.. no the Royal leeches on society should still probably be shot or at least forced to work in McDonalds to earn their keep, "Would one like fries with that?"

No, according to the Official Charts, Queen have the best selling album in the country.

Which album, you say?
Is it "A Night at the Opera"? "A Day at the Races" per chance? Surely it isn't "The Miracle" (for that was truly woeful).

No.. it's Queen's (first) "Greatest Hits".. beating the second place "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles by over 600,000 copies.

There's something wholly depressing though, don't you think, that it's a "Best of" album that holds the top spot. It's a symptom of the general state of the music industry at the moment. I mean, it seems fitting that this "news" breaks just before Christmas, a time where seemingly every band in the known universe rushes out another "Best of" album for clueless fuckwits to buy for family members when they lack the time or the inspiration to actually go looking for a proper gift.

Yeah compilations are what sell, aren't they..?
Look how many "Now" albums there are.. people just don't have the attention span to listen to an album by the same artist all the way through these days it would seem, well certainly not unless all of the songs have been played to death on commercial radio stations anyway. And it's just going to get worse with random generic MP3 player playlists meaning that people no longer have the concept of listening to an entire album anyway..

Don't know where I'm going with this, and am very aware that I'm doing the "Grumpy Old Man" rant at the moment.. hmm.. better have a brew and step away from the internet methinks..

Anyway congrats to Queen.. I'm sure Roger Taylor and Brian May can whore themselves out for another couple of million on the back of this revelation whilst the tormented ghost of Freddie Mercury looks on in despair at how they've dragged a once great band through the mud of greedy commercialism.

Whoops, off again, bye now

Labels: , ,

Tuesday, November 14

Well it's about time

First bit of common sense I've seen from the World of Politics for a while, this..

The government is proposing to fine the parents of children/teenagers who behave anti-socially.

About bloody time, I say.
These parents have obviously done fuck all about the behaviour of their offspring in the past, so it's about time they sat up and realised that parental responsibility means more than just claiming child benefit on behalf of the little fucked up brats who go round smashing up hard working people's property. And giving ASBO's to the little shites themselves does no good, as they collect 'em like we used to collect Panini football stickers and wear them with pride.
The teenage hooligans have no fear of the police (who they know cannot touch them) or respect for the locality for which they live in. However, maybe they will not be granted as much freedom to commit acts of vandalism and violence if it hits mummy and daddy in the pocket.
Well done John Reid, I've been saying this should be done for months and months.

Labels: , ,

Monday, November 13

More money than sense..

Nearly a grand to own a Playstation 3?
There's one born every minute

Labels: , ,

Fuck it

We always play better when we have absolutely no fucking chance of winning the title anyway. Still, there's always 2007/2008.

By the way, I take it back about what I said about this new version of Blogger, these labels are a very nice way of giving alternate access to your blog (and it's interesting how some topics come up again and again). Only labelled about 150 posts so far, but will do the lot eventually..

Labels: , ,

Sunday, November 12

A Day of Rememberance

It was a sad moment this morning when I turned on the news to hear that Edwards No. 8 nightclub in Birmingham had been completely destroyed by a fire, as I spent a lot of my nights out whilst studying at Uni there.
I enjoyed many nights there, drank a lot of beer in there, partied with a lot of my friends from Uni there, heard some quality music there and generally built up an appetite to head to another quality Birmingham establishment, Mr Egg. I'm so glad that all inside the club escaped safely.

Okay, so I've not been there for years, and probably never would have headed back, but it's still a damn shame to know it's gone..




So Farewell, Edwards, thank you for providing the soundtrack (and, what a soundtrack) to my time at Uni and getting me drunk at the same time (cheaply too they always seemed to have Molson lager on a special deal).

Labels: , , ,

Friday, November 10

What was all the fuss about?

So I've moved my blog to blogger beta.
Wow.

Are you impressed.
I thought it might be a bit more spangly, but so far I am struggling to find any difference.

Apart from the fact, of course, that you need a google account to log in.
A more cynical man than myself might suggest that this is just an exercise to get more people signed up to google. I of course would never say that at all.

Labels: ,

Lull

Welcome to the dark, lengthy lull that is Friday afternoon.. God it's depressining, as you find yourself so close to the weekend and yet (and this is the spirit-crushing part) you're still sat in work.

I used to handle Friday afternoon's by having two pints of premium strength lager in quick succession at Friday lunchtime, as it tended to dull the pain. However, at my current place of employment I would not be allowed back on site if I'd consumed any alcohol at lunch (and as tempting as that scenario sounds, I also wouldn't get paid - bummer). So rather than have a nice relaxing pint at lunchtime, I'm going to sit here and spread my disgruntlement via the interweb.

To cheer myself up, I might upgrade my blog to the new version of blogger. Should this blog now disappear up it's own arse as a result, it's been nice posting...

Labels: ,

Escapism

Worry not, gentle reader - this is not a continuation of yesterday's post
(Although my thoughts are still consumed with that, I'll admit)

No, I'm talking about another form of escapism. With babysitters in place, the wife and I (still.. sounds.. odd..) nipped out to the cinema last night and saw one of the best movies I've seen in a hell of a long time: Martin Scorsese's The Departed. This is Scorsese at his best, he's not done a film this good since "Goodfellas". It's got a killer cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen and, unbelievably, Ray Winstone!). And is a brilliant (if violent, and very sweary) tale.. See this movie, for it is fucking awesome.

Other highlight of the night, we got the trailer (a certificate 18 trailer no less) to the new Tenacious D flick, "The Pick of Destiny", which was so genius, I had to include it below:


Labels: , , ,

Thursday, November 9

Quandary

I am becoming aware of the fact that, once again, it's only the people I work with that make coming to work in any way enjoyable or rewarding any more. The job itself is beginning to suck a tad.

This situation happened the last place I worked. The job ended up being awful with the company not investing in the majority of the staff, leaving them working with redundant technologies and treating them like dirt. I ended staying too long, stuck in a rut, mainly because the people I worked with were so sound.

I've either been very lucky in that respect or, in general, Software Engineers are a pretty sociable, easy-to-get-on-with bunch (despite the "geeky" stereotype). It does help that conversations can vary between discussing the relative merits of an actresses arse one minute to reminiscing about 8-bit computer games the next. And when it comes to beer (not that I get the opportunity for the long drunken sessions that I used to very often these days), they drink it like someone's just about to take it away from them. These are my kind of people.

Now I will admit this company is better.. They have invested in my skill set (I can now code -to a greater or lesser degree- in C#) and the financial reward is a tad better admittedly. However, some things still suck..

And anyway, I thought that things were going to change next year.
The plan was to get back home, to North Wales.
Indeed originally the plan was to get a pub, but I think that may well be a few years off yet. So we were just going to move somewhere a bit more leafy and quiet, where it's a nicer environment to raise children and I could be a bit closer to my kid sister. For a while I planned to commute, but I can honestly see the daily battle with the M56 meaning that I'd eventually look for something closer to my new green and leafy abode. So there was a "Sell By" date on my current role. It also meant that I'd stay here until I moved as you don't want to move too often in jobs, and also it's good to have continuous employment when applying for a new mortgage (See people, my life make look like lots of random decisions strung together, but there is some thought going into it. Not much. But some).

However, now it would appear that my lad will need a Cochlear implant for his profound deafness which, between the preparatory stages, the operation itself and the after care, could see us needing to be in the same health authority for at least another year (as the care we're currently getting is fabulous, so we're loathe to go somewhere else and risk his health suffering). This means Wales could be off the "to do list" until at least 2008.

So do I stay or do I go?
Employment wise I mean..

This may be a knee-jerk reaction, admittedly. It's been a shit week at work and I'm probably just blowing off steam a little, but the thought is in the back of my mind, niggling away, knocking on my conscious stream and saying "update your CV you twat". It's not helped by the fact I keep receiving job adverts via email offering me positions of up to 40k. Decisions, decisions.

Guess I'll see how the next couple of weeks pan out. But things had better start improving soon as if I'm stuck geographically for another 12 months then other things may well have to change!

Labels: ,

Wednesday, November 8

Genius

Now I thought 2 litres of Coke and Mentos mints was fun, but these guys have taken it to new levels of genius..

(May take a while to stream - patience)


Labels: , ,

Disappointing

I mean, I should be all, like, "Yay".. and really pleased and looking for the cheapest pre-order prices and everything.

Or I should be enthusiastically telling people that this would be a perfect gift idea for Xmas, and then hoping I find it under the tree come Christmas morning.

This should be an exciting time.

But it's not.

You see when I heard there was to be a Foo Fighters live album, I was really chuffed. I've seen this band live several times and they really know how to put on a good show.

However, now I've seen the tracklisting for "Skin And Bones", I'm bitterly disappointed. We didn't want a pretentious live album, Mr Grohl, we just wanted the four main Foo Fighters blasting through the live favourites for 80 minutes. However we get an album with no "Monkey Wrench", no "This is a call", no "Learn To Fly".

Shite.

So I won't be asking Santa for this for Xmas..

Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, November 7

Cool!

I like this.
You'll soon be able to get TV downloads to your Xbox 360 via the marketplace.
Presumably this will all be in HD too..
Mwwaaahaaahaahahaha.. Mr. Murdoch - you can stick your SkyHD up your arse

Labels: ,

Pea Soup

The fog this morning was cool..
It was just dense enough to soften the edges of objects in the middle distance, obscure anything a long way away and yet still clear enough to pelt along at 80 miles an hour safe in the knowledge that nothing was going to emerge from nowhere and cause you to have to slam on or take evasive action.
It really gave everything an otherworldly and ethereal quality (and before anyone asks, no ethereal was not today's "Word of the Day", that was obfuscate - so neh!), it was like driving through a Peter Jackson movie or as if a 70's prog rock band had left their dry ice machine on the hard shoulder. Anyway, it was very cool indeed, and it's only a pity that I couldn't operate the camera on my mobile and drive in the outside lane at the same time otherwise I'd have some nice shots to illustrate this posting. Remember kids: using your mobile whilst driving is illegal. Tut tut.

It's getting a bit nippy in the mornings though isn't it?
Anyone would think it was November or something.

So Guy Fawkes' night has been and gone, Halloween is but a dimming memory (everything over a couple of days is a dimming memory when you get to my age it would appear) and so it must be nearly Christmas.. and more excitingly New Year. I sat excitingly as we have babysitters for New Year's Eve so will be out for the first time in three years.. so have to plan now what to do..

Labels: ,

Monday, November 6

Yay!

nine inch nails are touring again in 2007..
You can get tickets from today on the GigsAndTours.com website!

I'll be there 25-02-2007

Copse

I recently started subscribing to "Word of the Day" emails.. partly because there's nothing quite like getting spam that you actually asked for, but mostly due to the fact that probably one of the most knowledgeable people I have ever worked with left the office recently for a better job (and who can blame him for that).  The problem with our colleague departing, however (apart from the fact that he was great to work alongside) was that he took all his knowledge with him.. You see he had studied classics, he knew Latin.  Indeed he seemed to know something interesting about almost everything, it was rather like being on Q.I. whilst being at work.  Anyway, the I.Q. of the entire department dropped by about 50% when he left, so I hoped that "Word of the Day" emails might begin to fill the intellectual void that was created when he left. Because the, you see, "Word of the Day" mails (from Dictionary.com, in case you're interested) not only give the definition and pronunciation of a word, but also will furnish you with several quotes containing the word and will also attempt to explain the origins of the word, so it is all very educational and Quite Interesting..
 
Take today's example.

Copse
\KOPS\, noun:
A thicket or grove of small trees.
 
"A lit window shone from between the trees below them, then vanished again as the car dipped over a ditch and passed through a copse." -- Kate Bingham, Mummy's Legs
 
"Among the mountains, hills, streams, waterfalls, and little copses, the child rejoiced in 'savouring the delights of freedom' that stimulated his boyish dreams and reveries." -- Suheil Bushrui and Joe Jenkins, Kahill Gibran: Man and Poet
 
Origin:
Copse derives from Old French copeiz, "a thicket for cutting," from coper, couper, "to cut." It is related to coupon, at root "the part that is cut off."
 
So there you go..
My other goal, to use the "Word of the Day" every day is proving to be tricky, however.  Mind you at least today I can say "I updated my blog, telling everyone about the word copse.  That word again: copse"

Labels: ,

Thursday, November 2

This is an advertisment

Horrible mis-use of my blog, I know, I'm sorry..
But does anyone want to buy a Canon Photo Printer..??

Never been used. Was an unwanted free gift. Retails around £90 new.
Why pay for photo processing any more, when you can do it yourself?

Okay shameless plug over.. normal posting will resume shortly

Labels: ,

Lost and Found

So I'm downloading (as I type, actually) the fifth episode of Lost..
However, my bandwidth won't take a battering for much longer as it would appear that Lost series 3 will be starting on Sky One on November 17th.

From the digital spy forums:

Lost Scheduling

  • Sky One and Sky Two

  • Starts 19th November 2006

  • Core Episodes: Sky One, Sundays 2000–2300 (opening night 2200-2400)

  • NB – Opening night is likely to see a red button multi start (TBC)

  • 22 episodes

  • Plus peak time repeats on Sky One and Sky Two in the following slots

  • Sky One Tuesdays 2200 - 2300

  • Sky Two Wednesdays 2200 - 2300

  • Sky Two Sunday 2000 - 2100

  • Plus one hour special on Sky One and Sky Three “Lost: A Tale of Survival”


  • NB: Lost Series-3 breaks on 17th December 06 and resumes again on 11th February 07. This is due to US ABC Network current scheduling commitment.


  • As it returns to ABC on 8th Feb (after the break) and Feb 11th is when it returns to Sky, we'll only be a few days behind the Americans!! (and seeing as I rarely see it before the Thursday anyway, I'll only have to wait an extra 72 hours).

    I do feel sorry for people who've got Freeview boxes, though. Sky have been very sneaky buying this third series (particularly as it's the best of the bunch so far)..

    Anyway no more caning my broadband for episodes of Lost - now I'll only nick all the bandwidth for XBox live demos!!!

    Labels: , ,

    Wednesday, November 1

    That's torn it!

    Whilst most of Channel 4's broadcast of "The Secret Policeman's Ball" was largely disappointing (with the exception of Russell Brand), I will be forever grateful to it for introducing this sketch

    Hilarious!

    Labels: ,