Occulomency

Spoilers.

I don't know if this is very, very cool, or far too expensive. 

Either way, you can buy me one here.

http://www.comparethedalek.com/dwo/dwo-customs.aspx

**UPDATE**

The site is down. Christmas is cancelled.

 

Where am I?

Well, tomorrow I'll be in Cliff House.

Woohoo!

Shazam

Now, lets see how much I can antagonise Undeniable with this post (it was great to chat with you yesterday, don't forget to give Keith my e-mail address).

Right.

This morning I was just blown away with a little bit of technology.

Shazam is a little bit of software that sits on one's iPhone. If you hear some music and you don't know what it is, you launch the application and it tells you what the track is called, who is playing it and sends you a link to the iTunes store so you can buy it.

It is amazing, and as far as I can tell, near enough infallable to impress your friends, if you have any left after banging on and on about the iPhone.

It was able to correctly identify the correct mix of Duran Duran's seminal 1982 album track 'Hold Back The Rain'.

IT Lives!

The best thing about my iPhone.

The very very very best thing.

One has to stroke it to use it.

Stroke it gently. Stroke it softly. caress it, cradle it lovingly in your hand. Never let it go.

No, really.

You’ll look really silly, and everyone around you will laugh and mock, much as they did when it wouldn't activate for three days.

But when it works, when it pops into life, when those buttons, widgets and gadgets squeeze themselves into existence on that Star Trek glass user interface. When you realise just how intuitive the user interface is as your fingers roam, stroke, tweak, pinch, probe, slide, swipe and tap across the glass. You get a feeling of being let in on a secret. The secret of how technology is meant to work, and is meant to lift your humdrum life above that of the savage, and closer to Time Lord.

The way you make me feel.....

Of course, when Jacques went to Norway, he had a profound effect on the people of that august nation.

Wortlethorpe Municiple Moon Programme

Yes, it must be one of the most well travelled books, but during unpacking, at the bottom of a box of long forgotten books, there lay in it's brilliant majesty, Graham Oakley's 1974 masterpiece "The Church Mice and the Moon".

Practically impossible to buy (hideously expensive on E-Bay and Amazon) and long thought lost, I'm stoked to have found it, and I'm not giving it back, so don't bother asking. Alistair loves it.

Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread.

BRMC Member No. 7

41 years ago today Donald Campbell lost his life in an attempt to break the world water speed record. Ken Norris, one of the Bluebird's designers, claimed that the accident was caused by engine failure.

One safeguard against Bluebird's nose lifting dangerously high was the thrust from the jet engine, which helped counter the lift. However, the thrust dramatically reduced in the seconds before the crash, causing the craft's nose to rise further.

He reached an unofficial speed of 330mph before throttling back the engine to slow down. As speed decreased Bluebird suddenly lifted up, nose first, rose into the air and somersaulted, before sinking. Norris said: "On the first run it was beautiful, absolutely steady. On the return run we had to contend with the wash from the boat itself, the slight swell and the wake from the water brake which he had used to slow down on the first run.

Campbell had tried to use the boat's water brake, a hydraulic ram that extended six inches below the craft when activated, however by the time the water brake was fully activated Bluebird had already become airborne, rendering it useless.

The answer to Cam's latin question is 'The Picard'. Loved the Mintakans....

Snaggletooth

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. I got better, then I got sick again, then I got better, then I got a bit sick, then I got better for good.

So, what have I been up to this last week? Lots. Went down to London on Monday, had a nice day, so
pent Tuesday in East Grinstead, good pizza for lunch. Had to go to Southampton on Wednesday, got there a bit early, dropped into the National Motor Museum. Took the following photos:

Pretty cars.

Since then I have had a meeting with a man who said 'Synergy' on multiple occasions.

Other than that, today I went to the NEC.

I saw these three Gentlemen in a rather spiffing live spin-off from a television light enteratinment show.

They had go-karts in suitcases, jet powered cars, lots of powerslides, football and some crazy motor-bike stuff. I'll post an album  when I sort the photos out, but trust me, it was a good day. Got a very cool Gulf colours tee-shirt.

The attached clasic car show was excellent as well, but infortunately we didn't have time to do it justice. Maybe next year. But the Top Gear boys were terrific. A good day.

Specialist Subject

Tricky, it could be either the 1931-2 (Supercharged Napier Lion 1450hp 12 cylinder in a broad arrow configuration) or the 1933 (Supercharged Rolls Royce 36,680cc 2,500hp 'R' type V12) varient of Malcolm's Bluebird. The rear end really didn't change very much between these varients, but looking at the tyres, I think it's slightly more likely to be the 1933 version, see the photo.

The reason the Napier engined Bluebird didn't last long was due to Sir Malcolm's determination to be the first to travel at above 300mph on land. The Napier just wasn't powerful enough, but did manage to get him up to 253.968mph  (so he could have outrun a Bugatti Veyron, just).

The Rolls Royce engined varient didn't last long either, chronic traction problems inherant with delivering the immense torque of the 'R' type on a surface as unpredictable as Daytona Beach caused Ried Railton (said car's designer) so re-engineer the car with twin rear driving wheels and a greatly improved streamlined body. One oddity caused by the innovating design of the powertrain was that the wheel base on the left side of the car was different from the right.

But I digress, was I right, is it the 1933 Rolls Royce car? The Rolls Royce engine man was Alf Poyser, lovely bloke....

102 - Makka pakka

Makka Pakka
Makka Pakka,
Akka Wakka,
Mikka Makka moo! (action: clap hands)

Makka Pakka,
Appa Yakka,
Ikka Akka ooo (action: clap high right, then low left, then back to centre)

Hum dum,
Agga Pang,
Ing, ang, ooo (action: turn around)

Makka Pakka,
Akka wakka,
Mikka Makka moo! (action: clap hands)



Makka Pakka is more rounded than Igglepiggle, smaller than any of the other main characters, and is a creamy colour. He lives in a little cave and likes cleaning things, including the other characters and his collection of stacking stones. Makka Pakka sleeps on a stone bed, often cuddling a smooth flat stone. He travels around the Garden pushing his trolley Og-Pog. The Og-Pog carries his sponge and soap, his red trumpet, and a bellows-like apparatus called Uff-uff which he uses to dry items after cleaning them.

And I'm not even drunk.

Juliet is very poorly with a nasty cold. Poor Jools.

I've finished the fight

Finished Halo 3! WooHoo!

As for the F1, well, Kimi came back from 26 points down a few races back to win  the world championship in the red car. Shame it wasn't Lewis, but I get the feeling that in the years to come, Schumi's records will be tumbling. The boy is very special.

Big big day tomorrow, leaving before dawn to get to Shepton Mallet as erly as possible, then after the lunchtime meeting, off up to Runcorn. One day there and then back to Nottingham for Thursday Afternoon.

All this, and Dumbledore has been outed.