In 20 mins time I'm of to Malta. Yay - bring on the relaxing! Was intending to post properly before I left but broken servers, knackered air conditioning and leaving speeches stopped me.

Anyway, catch you all in 7 days time (unless I happen to find internet access over there....).

Labels: Personal

Soooo cute! Jump from bell to bell.

Labels: Games

Labels: Amusing, Video

Are we on the brink of an energy revolution?

Labels: Environmental

Eight medical conditions that give you 'super powers'.

First time I've ever found myself thinking "Having syphilis sounds cool!"

Labels: Random, Weird

It really bother me sometimes when I see the wastefull attitude of some people who work at the university. Today for instance, a printer with a problem. Options given are spend £140 on a replacement part to fix the problem or £250 on a new printer. To me it seems a no brainer but guess which option they went with.

And the guy that thought computers should be classed as 'consumables' because of their "disposable nature nowadays", so he could buy them out of a different part of his budget.

Rant over.

Labels: Random, Work

Not convinced about this plan to fit cameras and microphones to every plane seat in order to detect potential terrorists. I'm sure there would never be any false alarms...

And detectors in the doors of the plane to detect explosives. Surely it would be better to detect them well before they ever reached the plane (which is what I thought all those other security checks were supposed to be for).

Labels: News, War on Terror

My dreams of a house that talks back to me when I get in from work get one step closer.

"Lights 40%. Fire photon torpedos!"

Labels: Gadgets

Sorry for the lack of posts - keep seeming to get sidetracked with stuff at work. Couple of hours fixing a laptop here. Forty minutes moving desks about there. Before you know it, the day has gone. I should be making the effort however seeing as I'm off all next week.

Did I forget to mention that?

Only realised the other day that I'd talked about my exciting valentine holiday plans but not said when I was actually going. Well, it's next week. Miss C and I will be staying here and here (although they seem to have broken their webpage at the moment). And as I'm paying or this out of my little windfall a whie ago, I'm looking forward to room service, cocktails, lazing in a spa and lots of other nice holiday things like that.

Roll on next week!

Labels: Personal

Scrotum Art. SFW as long as work don't mind you looking at pictures of mens testicles.

Labels: Arty, Weird

The future of clean energy and waste disposal? Sounds too good to be true...

Still, I remember reading stories from the Warhamer 40K universe when I was much younger that featured industrial planets where the surface would become covered over thousands of years with waste. The same waste would be mined much later when something useful was found in it.

Seems we may have spent years burying our rubbish only to start wanting to dig it all up again.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Sasquatch.

Labels: Random, Weird

Now who wouldn't want one of these for a little boating trip on a warm summers day. Doesn't say if they work on land too tho...

Labels: Arty, Cool, Interesting

I've not been to the dentist in about ten years. It's not something I'm proud of but you know how it is. Finished uni and then moved here permanantly and finding a dentist was just put on my 'to do' list (somewhere near "be sensible" and "do grown up stuff like get a mortgage"). Because I never had any problems I never had much incentive to sort it out.

Still, I've been aware of a small cavity developing for a while now so this morning I finally got around to going. As I sat there in the waiting room - trying to avoid looking through the year old 'Reveal' magazine sat on the table to find out which bikini diets really work for fear of being seen by the security camera - I started wondering what the dentist would say when they found out how long it had been. Would he/she fix me with a dissaproving stare or simply look into my mouth and utter "Oh. My. God....."

As it turned out neither were the gase. He asked me a few questions, poked around, zapped my head with cosmic rays and then sent me on my merry way with another appointment in three weeks time.

That's when I might have to face the drill....

Labels: Personal

Scary or interesting? You decide.

Labels: Gadgets, Technology

Giant pillow fight.

So that's in your neck of the woods R - did you go? :)

Labels: Random

Wow, that has to hurt.

Labels: Interesting

Ever wondered what a lobster looks like without a shell? Wonded no longer (scroll down a bit). Hmmm, that's not doing much to convince me to eat one really....

Labels: Interesting, Weird

Just what we needed for the light dusting of snow we had last week, the Yuki-taro robot snowplow. Fear our soon to be robotic overlords!

Actually, I think we may be safe for a little while....

Labels: Cute, Gadgets, Robots

I think Kilroy may be losing it. Probably a result of all that taning lotion seeping into his brain....

Labels: News, Weird

One of the best computer games of all time without a doubt is Total Annihilation. It was one of those games that proved that it wasn't how good something looked, it was about how much fun it was to play. So I was very interested when I read a couple of years ago about an unofficial follow on called Supreme Commander being done by the people that made TA. Then I forgot all about it. Until last week.

The game is due to be released tomorrow I believe but a demo was released just recently. So I set my computer to downloading the 1.1GB file over the weekend (my ISP is going to love me) and two and a half hours later... found the download was corrupt.

Bugger.

Quick trip into work and one short download later and I have the game installed at home. I load it up and my first thought is "Oh...." - and not in a good way.

Maybe I'm being harsh as it is only a demo and maybe it's lacking some stuff but all the game is is TA as it was, with slightly better graphics and less units! Ten years and that's the best they could do? I wanted war on an epic scale - huge tanks, giant robots, cool looking laser cannons and a couple of hundred different units to choose from - and this is really not it.

This demo did it's job but not really in the way I think they would have liked. This game is definitely not going on my 'must have' list. For anyone else thinking of getting it, you may want to hunt out a cheap copy of the original game for a few quid (make sure it has the Core Contingency expansion with it) and play that instead. As a bonus you can download all these extra units which I collected together ages ago. The zip file includes all the offical extra units, the TA patch file (TA1X-31C.exe) and a load of fan made units which I hand picked (and in some cases adjusted to make more balanced for gameplay).

Labels: Computers, Games

Midomi - sort of a cross between iTunes and X-Factor. Surprised they don't have a 'Lowest Rated' section although just browsing through some of the latest recordings seems to do mostly the same job...

Labels: Amusing, Music

Practical? Maybe not but it's still an amusing alarm clock.

Labels: Amusing, Gadgets

As some of you may have noticed, Blogger finally let me switch to the new version. I'll do a little tweaking of the template shortly (of course it'll be completely updated soon anyway.. *cough*... honest) so don't even try clicking the labels links at the moment as they don't work. I know how to fix it tho.

Labels: Blogs

Would you really buy a sex doll off the internet if it had this description? I especially like:

"Inside and outside coordinates 4 sets to inspire the egg (to be possible to put in oral area, breast, g-enitals) lets you feel 5 kind of shock waves to bring the sextual affection fervor..."

Labels: Internet, Weird

Seems Intel are sticking their tongue out at AMD with the release of a new processor. Ok, so it's not a comercial one but still.

May not matter anyway as the first comercial quantum computers are revealed tomorrow apparently...

Labels: Computers, Technology

I work shifts in this job which means every third week I have to stay until 6:20pm and lock the building. It's not an exciting job as all it really involves is wandering around checking that all the windows are closed, locking doors and turning off lights. Something that bugs me whilst I'm doing this is the large number of monitor lights I see blinking away happily long after the person using the computer has buggered off home for some tea and a night in front of the telly. Is it really so difficult to turn off the monitor when you leave? Or the computer? Or the printer?

Where did this soapbox come from and why am I standing on it?

(I could tell you about the person I dealt with today whose computer wasn't working as nothing was happening when he turned it on. After several minutes of troubleshooting I fixed it for him by getting to turn the monitor on... but I won't)

I was also sent a link to Local Cooling earlier on today - a small app that helps reduce your computer power consumption. It's basically a more obvious user interface for the built in 2000/XP power settings. It has it's downsides as technically the energy consumption estimate is only that - an estimate - which makes the whole "You have saved 0.143 trees" readout a little unreliable. Still, it's easy to use, brings the little known computer power settings to peoples attention and gives a visible indication of progress to make you feel like you are 'doing something positive to save the world'.

For this reason I'm taking a slightly closer look at it to see if there is any chance that we might actually get it distributed here at the University. For a uni in what was/is an 'Environment City', we do a lousy job of being green. Given that we are switching to the new Core 2 Due processors with their SpeesStep technology, it makes even more sense to tweak the power settings.

Chances of them buying the idea for the 'green' angle? Not much I think. Now money saved on electricity, that's another matter.....

Labels: Environmental, Technology

Kill Zombies - nuff said.

Labels: Games, Timewaste

No lights, blind waiters - sounds like and interesing eating experience. Also good for when you are on a blind date....

*tumbleweed*

I'll get my coat......

Labels: Food, Interesting

Oh man, I'd look so good with a Jet Setter. If only I had some hair... :/

Labels: Amusing, Cool

So I've blogged some pretty weird stuff over the years but a cat with a spanking fetish has to be right up there with the most unusual. I swear I saw nipple clamps too.....

Labels: Weird

Mircale fruit - a special type of fruit containing 'miraculin' which makes sour things taste sweet. Sounds like a joke but appears to be true. And I want some.

Labels: Interesting, Weird

It's pretty laughable really. The Government wants to encourage people to be greener and yet the money allocated for Feburary for grants for people who want to install solar panels or a wind turbine was used up in under half a day. The public interest is oviously there so why is the money allocated to the project so paltry? As the article says, the £25 million or so a year put aside for that is nothing compared to the estimated £1 billion which will be generated from the new 'green' air tax.

Labels: Environmental

Lost your car keys? Don't worry.

Labels: Interesting

Does a chair count as a gadget? Ah well, it's still a very cool folding chair.

Labels: Gadgets

Although I installed it a few week ago, last night was the first time I sat down and had a proper look at Vista. As students have now started to bring in laptops with Vista loaded on I thought I should at least get a vague idea of where everything is now so I don't look like a total idiot spending 10 minutes trying to find the Control Panel.

I started slowly - just randomly clicking stuff as there wasn't anything specific I was trying to do. I changed the background, looked at system properties etc.. Then I tried to find how to turn Aero on and had to use the Help to find out - not that I could turn it on as apparently that machine is far too slow. A computer that was up until 6 months ago running City of Heroes can't even run the OS properly now. Not that I find that a huge loss as although it looks pretty I'm not sure I can see much use for it?

As I started to play around a little more and open up more windows, I noticed things were starting to slow down. I bring up the task manager and find that he tiny preview of the screen saver I'd selected is actually using about 50% of my CPU usage. I'll admit that this computer is not the fastest going but 50% just for that? Then I notice that the Task Manager itself is using 40%. The tool you use to monitor system resources is using a huge part of those resources itself.

At this point I gave up. Think I'll just stick a copy of Debian on there instead.

Labels: Computers, Technology

And quite fun too. Draw it and watch it dance.

And just because I'm imature, a dancing thingy - teehee.

Labels: Amusing, Arty

The Top 10 most Embarassing Geek Photos. That one of old Billy Gates is a classic. He's so dreamy...

Labels: Random

Having no TV at home, I've been trying to bulk up my DVD collection slightly. I've bought a few odds and ends - Series 1-4 of Red Dwarf, complete Firefly and Serenity, Leon, The Iron Giant (which I think is a great film) - but one thing I've had my eye on and not yet bought is any Simpsons DVDs.

Oh I've been looking for them on eBay but they are far too popular to get a real bargain. I've seen people buying them for more than they cost new for goodness sake! So I've got bored of bargain hunting today and just went and bought series 2-5 from here (although they are still pretty cheap). Best thing is, even if I bought all nine series it would probably only cost as much as a TV licence. Plus it gives me about 30% of the usual Sky One schedule (the other 70% being Star Trek repeats and programs called "When pets/storms/children/police chases go bad!").

Bring on the endless hours of the Simpsons.....

Labels: Personal

It might tell you that you're going to get fired and develop some horrible illness but it's still very cute. Hello Kitty Tarot deck.

On the other hand a woman with a turtle obsession is just plain odd. And no, not that kind of turtle.

"Heroes in a half shell - turtle power!"

Labels: Random, Weird

And I thought Friday's were supposed to be quiet days where I do no work. Instead I get to shift furniture around. Anyway, this seemed nice and cheery for a friday link:

Bouncy.

I also need to go here and tell Aunty Beeb what I think at some point over the weekend (thanks to Mr Poons and Bonus for pointing me to it).

Labels: Personal, Random

You tell them Jeremy. Maybe now the BBC will stop sending people to give pointless news reports from places where there is nothing to see simply so they can be 'reporting from the scene'.

Labels: Environmental

Lavender and tea tree oil give men norks. Might want to consider changing that shower gel you use (unless you want a nice pair of jublies)....

Labels: News, Random

Is this the future of old people? Seems the logical next step to me.

Labels: Amusing, Animation