Thursday, May 29, 2008
News
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
No pain no gain my arse
Yesterday I went jogging for the first time in oooh, about three years. I was gone for a total of 8 minutes. Maybe it was the fact that I felt the need to throw my shoulders back and run faster every time I passed a pedestrian so that it looked like I knew what I was doing or maybe it was not warming up properly. Whatever it was, I can barely walk today without looking like some sort of hobbling geriatric.......
Labels: Personal
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Environmental
Fair play to this kid that's looking into ways to bio-degrade plastic bags. Shame that like a lot of these 'green' stories it sort of misses the point. Plastic that is 'in the wild' (blowing around the fields or floating in the ocean) can't be targeted this way. I doubt these microbes would fare very well in the sunless, airless conditions of a landfill and if you are going to all the trouble of collecting them up specifically to do this, why not just recycle them?
Interesting science and possible useful somewhere down the line but little practical use at the moment really. Unless he can find some that produce hydrogen as a side product...
Also on the list of inpractical ideas is this one. It's not a bad idea as such and I can see it coming in one day but not practical right now. I mean, how do you work it out? Take a vegan that drives to work and a meat eater that cycles. Bet their CO2 emmisions are similar due to the cost of producing meat but how do you prove someone never eats meat? It's also not like the last carbon trading scheme implemented is working well...
Interesting science and possible useful somewhere down the line but little practical use at the moment really. Unless he can find some that produce hydrogen as a side product...
Also on the list of inpractical ideas is this one. It's not a bad idea as such and I can see it coming in one day but not practical right now. I mean, how do you work it out? Take a vegan that drives to work and a meat eater that cycles. Bet their CO2 emmisions are similar due to the cost of producing meat but how do you prove someone never eats meat? It's also not like the last carbon trading scheme implemented is working well...
Labels: Environmental
Monday, May 26, 2008
Weird
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Interesting
A look into the use of steroids from a writer doing research for a book. Scary stuff.
on the same vein - Bigger, Stronger, Faster
on the same vein - Bigger, Stronger, Faster
Labels: Interesting
Interesting
Music
Forgot to post this a few days back when I spotted it.
Weezer - Pork and Beans.
How many do you recognize?
Weezer - Pork and Beans.
How many do you recognize?
Eurovision
So once again the UK is down there at the bottom of the Eurovision Song Contest but that's ok as it's not like it matters or anyone really cares or takes it seriously is it? Ok, so maybe Terry does. Not that these comments are much of a surprise - I didn't watch much of the contest but old Tez was sounding more and more bitter towards the end. Was starting to get on my nerves truth be told. And implying that the Spanish song was rubbish and we deserved more points is a laugh when the UK public actually gave that song a point!
I think blaming it all on 'political voting' is also a bit much. As far as I know it all goes on public phones votes nowadays and I'm less inclined to believe that Joe Public is thinking about sensitive political issues when they text in and more that they just feel a bit more loyalty to their nearest neighbours (who are also likely to have similar music tastes). It's not like we get points from Ireland every year for similar reasons is it...
And of course the fact that we keep putting in junk songs couldn't have anything to do with it could it? This years entry wasn't bad but was instantly forgettable. Better than some of the shite we've entered recently anyway.
Some countries/regions will have an advantage (as frankly the UK has few friends to vote for them) but I reckon if we put in something good from the pool of talent (up and coming or not) this country has rather than the endless stream of dross from people trying to rekindle their career or reality TV show runners up, we might at least finish top 10. Then we could legitimately complain about the voting. Maybe we should just say "f*ck it* like some countries seem to be doing and blatantly not care anymore.
I'll agree that the BBC should stop funding it however.
Personally, the Icelandic entry (This is my life) was my fave (followed by Greece). If you do go to that Myspace page, check out Vid Sigrum Ad Avi. It might sound familiar to some of you UK folk.....
I think blaming it all on 'political voting' is also a bit much. As far as I know it all goes on public phones votes nowadays and I'm less inclined to believe that Joe Public is thinking about sensitive political issues when they text in and more that they just feel a bit more loyalty to their nearest neighbours (who are also likely to have similar music tastes). It's not like we get points from Ireland every year for similar reasons is it...
And of course the fact that we keep putting in junk songs couldn't have anything to do with it could it? This years entry wasn't bad but was instantly forgettable. Better than some of the shite we've entered recently anyway.
Some countries/regions will have an advantage (as frankly the UK has few friends to vote for them) but I reckon if we put in something good from the pool of talent (up and coming or not) this country has rather than the endless stream of dross from people trying to rekindle their career or reality TV show runners up, we might at least finish top 10. Then we could legitimately complain about the voting. Maybe we should just say "f*ck it* like some countries seem to be doing and blatantly not care anymore.
I'll agree that the BBC should stop funding it however.
Personally, the Icelandic entry (This is my life) was my fave (followed by Greece). If you do go to that Myspace page, check out Vid Sigrum Ad Avi. It might sound familiar to some of you UK folk.....
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Video
Now I don't like glorifying violence but really, this is a fairly naff fight involving such weapons as a plastic bag and a rather surprising one at about 1:05 (which is also the best bit of the video).
Points for the music too.
Points for the music too.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Tales from France
I think if I had to take one thing away from my holiday last week it would be that France is very nice. I'm not so sure about the French but France itself is good. I also found I turned into a mewling kitten of a man as Miss C speaks French whilst I don't. My common sense or ability to use even the odd words (or simply read from a menu) went and I became reliant on Miss C for everything. Hell I even managed to say "Hello" to a shop keeper instead of "Goodbye" whilst leaving her shop at one point. I am intelligent really tho - honest.
Of course like most holidays there were good bits, bad bits and some great bits. So rather than give a detailed rundown of my trip, here are a few of the high (and low) lights.
Bad: Finding the hotel we were staying in for a few nights was not exactly what we'd have chosen. Ok but modern conveniences were not it's strong point (press the button every 20 seconds to keep the shower going etc..)
Good: Wandering around and finding an orchestra playing outside the Palais des Papes one night as they did a pre-record bit for a TV show that was going to be broadcast from there the next night.
Bad: Losing a contact lens whist out and spending an hour trying to decide if having 50/50 normal/blurred vision was better than closing one eye and having 100% normal.
Good: Finding the best restaurant for mussels I've ever been too - the Belgocargo - where you get a large saucepan full each. It didn't even matter that I flicked food all over my shirt at one point.
Bad: Crappy bus ride to see a roman theatre only for there to be a thunderstorm whilst there. Then finding we missed the train back by 3 minutes and the next one not being for two hours...
Good: Finding a bar to sit in whilst waiting for that next train only for them to put the FA cup final on the telly. Miss C was most pleased.
The rest are all goods really. Some cracking sunny weather. Trying some interesting foods (missed out on the frogs legs but did try escargot and steak tartare). A visit to the Musée d'Orsay to name but a few.
Of course like most holidays there were good bits, bad bits and some great bits. So rather than give a detailed rundown of my trip, here are a few of the high (and low) lights.
Bad: Finding the hotel we were staying in for a few nights was not exactly what we'd have chosen. Ok but modern conveniences were not it's strong point (press the button every 20 seconds to keep the shower going etc..)
Good: Wandering around and finding an orchestra playing outside the Palais des Papes one night as they did a pre-record bit for a TV show that was going to be broadcast from there the next night.
Bad: Losing a contact lens whist out and spending an hour trying to decide if having 50/50 normal/blurred vision was better than closing one eye and having 100% normal.
Good: Finding the best restaurant for mussels I've ever been too - the Belgocargo - where you get a large saucepan full each. It didn't even matter that I flicked food all over my shirt at one point.
Bad: Crappy bus ride to see a roman theatre only for there to be a thunderstorm whilst there. Then finding we missed the train back by 3 minutes and the next one not being for two hours...
Good: Finding a bar to sit in whilst waiting for that next train only for them to put the FA cup final on the telly. Miss C was most pleased.
The rest are all goods really. Some cracking sunny weather. Trying some interesting foods (missed out on the frogs legs but did try escargot and steak tartare). A visit to the Musée d'Orsay to name but a few.
Labels: Personal
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Aaaaand back.
Proper post in the next day or so once I finish catching up with emails/work/washing and that sort of thing.
Ahhh, good old (cold) blighty.
Ahhh, good old (cold) blighty.
Labels: Personal
Monday, May 12, 2008
Back shortly
Much as I'd like to make more use of my spangley new blog layout, I'm actually off tomorrow on one of these.
Catch you all in a weeks time.
Catch you all in a weeks time.
Labels: Personal
Film
In the news
According to this BBC article (plugging one of their own programs), UK homeowners "'favour' price falls". Or, looking at the figures in a slightly less headline grabbing way, 68% would prefer prices to stay the same or rise. So that would be most not preferring price falls then....
Labels: News
Video
Whilst I post a large amount of stuff on here, I don't very often go back at a later point for another look. Some things however are worth going back later to check on. Take the following person for example - a man with a tendency to quote himself. I linked to him back in September 2006 and there is some nice new content on his site. The quotes section is especially great (one reminds me of The Sphinx and the one about being defeated is just obvious...)
I'm not going to link to his website however watch the following and if you like what you see, I'm sure it won't be hard to find for yourself.
I'm not going to link to his website however watch the following and if you like what you see, I'm sure it won't be hard to find for yourself.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Animation
Done
Well, almost. As you can see I finally managed to get my act together and get my new template live. It took several hours of trying to get things looking the same in IE6, IE7 and Firefox but this is about as close as I could manage. And it still looks a bit pants in IE6. Meh.
There are problems. After carefully making sure the date perfectly fitted in the little date bar I made, it wasn't until things went live that I realized I'd been using a different - smaller - date format on my test page. Luckily I should be able to sort that out in with CSS rather than having to modify the date format itself. Having switched on 'post pages' (individual web pages for every post I have) and having nigh on 3500 posts now, republishing the whole site takes a while. And when I say a while I mean somewhere between 3-5 hours. So I want to avoid that where possible.
Thanks for the feedback so far - keep it coming. Anything that doesn't work, doesn't look right or you just think is a bit rubbish. Praise also welcome of course. And as Mr Poons says, I have gutted my links a bit but I'm looking at repopulating the blogroll soon but probably not til I get back from holiday next week.
There are problems. After carefully making sure the date perfectly fitted in the little date bar I made, it wasn't until things went live that I realized I'd been using a different - smaller - date format on my test page. Luckily I should be able to sort that out in with CSS rather than having to modify the date format itself. Having switched on 'post pages' (individual web pages for every post I have) and having nigh on 3500 posts now, republishing the whole site takes a while. And when I say a while I mean somewhere between 3-5 hours. So I want to avoid that where possible.
Thanks for the feedback so far - keep it coming. Anything that doesn't work, doesn't look right or you just think is a bit rubbish. Praise also welcome of course. And as Mr Poons says, I have gutted my links a bit but I'm looking at repopulating the blogroll soon but probably not til I get back from holiday next week.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Interwebnet
So my new blog layout is progressing slowly - very slowly. I asked advice from someone with a lot more creative talent and web design skills than me and the advice I got:
Still, it's nice tosteal get inspiration from other sites which is why I've been looking at these. My fave so far is this one.
"I tend to flounder around for ages shuffling images, text, styles and colours until one day they seem to slot into the correct places"Cooo, seems I'm a designer after all as that's what I've spent the last couple of weeks doing.
Still, it's nice to
Labels: Internet
Video
Interesting
Looks like it might be best to stay on the good side of your boss in future or risk being blacklisted.
Labels: Interesting, News
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Video
Now I did a few silly things when I was younger - taping myself on cassette pretending to commentate a horse race or doing Hi-de-Hi impressions spring to mind as a couple of examples. In this digital age however kids need to be a little more careful unless they want to go down in interweb meme history forever....
TURBO!
Speaking of going down.
TURBO!
Speaking of going down.
Big brother and all that
Although the UK may have almost as many CCTV cameras as there are words invented by J. K. Rowling, it's not cutting crime apparently.
Now whilst this may seem like good news for those who don't like having their picture taken 400 times on the way to the corner shop, it's not so good if you actually read the article. Seems to me that Chief Inspector Mick Neville is simply bigging up his new job as head of Viido by issuing a headline grabbing statement. CCTV doesn't work currently as police are too lazy to look through footage and there isn't a(nother) huge database detailing our lives but he's going to fix that! Yay.
Maybe he can give other countries access to this stuff whist he's at it? Or just leave it lying around for anyone to see. Better yet, post it on t'interwebnet.
Now whilst this may seem like good news for those who don't like having their picture taken 400 times on the way to the corner shop, it's not so good if you actually read the article. Seems to me that Chief Inspector Mick Neville is simply bigging up his new job as head of Viido by issuing a headline grabbing statement. CCTV doesn't work currently as police are too lazy to look through footage and there isn't a(nother) huge database detailing our lives but he's going to fix that! Yay.
Maybe he can give other countries access to this stuff whist he's at it? Or just leave it lying around for anyone to see. Better yet, post it on t'interwebnet.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Interesting
I am still about - bank holiday weekend laziness and all that don't you know.
Anyway, should you be planning a holiday anytime soon you may want to avoid some of the following places due to the weird mythical creatures what do live there.
Anyway, should you be planning a holiday anytime soon you may want to avoid some of the following places due to the weird mythical creatures what do live there.
Labels: Interesting, Weird
Friday, May 02, 2008
Weird
Frustrated seal tried to get it on with penguin
"The 100kg seal first subdued the 15kg penguin by lying on it. The penguin flapped its flippers and attempted to stand and escape - but to no avail. The seal then alternated between resting on the penguin, and thrusting its pelvis, trying to insert itself, unsuccessfully.Is that not how you are supposed to do it then?
Labels: Weird