Occulomency

Sounds like synaesthesia smells.

Today has been good.

I get the feeling my luck is in. 

So much so, even Tattinger was half price at ASDA.

Good times.

 

Ah. Gunpowder.....

I like blowing stuff up.

I Know I Say This Every Year But.....

It's my Birthday. I'm 40.

You may ply me with genuflection etc.... Now!

Weather vs Climate

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Britain doesn't have a climate, it has weather.

This last few days we have had lots of weather, but sometimes it can pay off.

My car, this morning looked kind of cool.

This is just a bit weird for me, but Elvis 2 has heated seats so it's not so bad. It also means that I can wear Flossy.

It also causes us to wrap the kids up.

So now they look quite cute, eh? Well, I think so.

The question of what the weather is doing does have an effect on one's mood. Today it was crisp, cold and bright. Really very nice actually.

Trouble is that most of the time it is dull, damp and miserable.

Anyway, we are looking at another house as a prospective purchase.

This one is a little different again, but the question is one of weather. The first time I looked at the place, the local pub looked like this:

Not exactly inspiring is it? Looks like a thousand other pubs selling gassy lager and soggy pies in that surly way that only the Brits can truly pull off.

But then we went back today for a better look at the area.
A play in the park, a look in the local shop, you know, a recce before we can actually get inside the house (which we can't look at until next week).

The pub looked like this.

So we've found the location for chez Levey, just maybe not the house, but I think settling on a local pub is an important step... Don't you?

Thanks go to Flossy for keeping me snug, and to Mamod for making the coolest toy ever (and to the Prof, for buying them for my Christmas Prezzies).

Oh yes, and very well done to Mr Mowbray. Now what did Leo build for Donald & Jean?

I like my women like I like my coffee....

So that would be served in a mug that proclaims my standing as 'not a number, but a free man' then....

OK, quite a lot to cover in this post, and not that much time today. Firstly, did you see Lewis Hamilton on Top Gear... 1:44.7 in the wet! I was, well staggered. But it not the most surprising thing on the show, no. The most amazing gob-smacking thing was that James Blunt, that squeaky-voiced self rhyming slang in a crap beard, came across as a nice bloke who failed to irritate me at all in spite of how much i thought he would. Cock-sucker.

So, Andrew,  yes I have read the Steven Moffat short story on which Blink was based (find it here, other people). I agree that Blink was the best single Doctor Who episode, but all of my favourites are written by Moffat, The Empty Child/Doctor Dances from series one, The Girl in the Fireplace from two and now Blink. Even the Children in Need special this year was stunning. He just has the knack of writing the wibbley-wobbley timey-wimey stuff.

What you say about Hartnell is interesting, I am obviously a Tom Baker fan for the same reasons of the contemporaneous Doctor being the one you bond with , but Tennant and the current production team, directors, writers et al have produced not just the best Doctor Who ever, but certainly the best UK science fiction TV show ever made (including the Prisoner).

Torchwood just wound up pissing me off. There were several problems for me.

Firstly, not enough Captain Jack.
Secondly, too much gap-toothed Welsh bint.
Thirdly, wide-mouthed frog boy could never, and I mean never, be sexy.
Fourthly, the stories were often crap (Cyberwoman... Hurrumph).
Fifthly, it was far too self-consciously adult. Too much girl-on-girl action and not enough bloody plot.

Heroes is great. Cannot wait until Wednesday. Yes I am familiar with the X-Men, and Heroes is a very well done rip-off.

Yes it was the Dalek Master Plan.

You should watch Battlestar Galactica, start with the mini-series, I can provide a copy if you wish.

I like Rose, Martha and Donna.... Does that make me a bad person?

OK, Gig review time.

Tuesday we saw:

one two. Paul from OMD & Claudia from Propaganda (and another bald bloke from who cares where). Bloody good. Played some new material that sounded like OMD with a girl singing, and some OMD & Propaganda. Top stuff.

Slightly disconcerting to see that, without my glasses, Claudia Brucken looks very like Beevers when dancing on stage. Really quite spooky.

Following them were the Human League. Phil was in a good mood and so a good time was had by all. Actually they were very very good. My favourite bit had to be the design of the concert hall that made a 30 foot high shadow of Susanne Sully appear on the wall performing a passable impersonation of a Vietnamese prostitute.

They finished with Electric Dreams.  Happy Fraser.

Then on Wednesday we saw the Kaiser Chiefs. Also very good, and highly entertaining. Only a week or so before we see The Verve.

I'm in Epsom as I type this waiting for a Radiologist to turn up for some training. It's 3:15pm, and I haven't had Breakfast yet.

I am Fungry......

Complications

How to multi-region a Samsung DVD HD870. I've managed it, finally.

First, follow the link to this page:
http://www.samsung.com/pl/products/d.../dvd_hd870.asp

By clicking on the "tutaj" link at the bottom download a file called "DVD_HD870_upgrade.zip".

This containsan ISO file "Samsung_DVD-HD870_DivX_Firmware_Upgrade_Disc_Image.iso" which contains firmware version: "030907.03.87iHXEXEG"

Burn the ISO to a CDR and put the disc in the HD870.
It lists the current and new version on screen and asks you to select 'total' (???) to continue.
It then says loading for about 2-3 minutes.
The tray then opens.
After another 2-3 minutes of saying "loading" the unit turns itself off.
Turn it on and select which language you want for the menus (Press 1 for English).
You are then able to sucessfully enter the Multi-Region hack/fix (press Repeat, "No-Disc" disappear, enter: 57538, see 2, enter 9, turn off).

I have tested the HD 870 with Region 2, 4 and 1 discs and they play correctly.

I do not know if there are any other issues which the newer firmware fixed (I've read reports of better remote response) but my priority was to be able to play my R1, R2   and R4 discs, so I'm happy.

Thanks to DEZ (dgcorp) for the information. Legend.

In other news I took Alistair to Papplwick Pumping Station yesterday.

It is a stunning place, really.  This site has some very good pictures which still do not convey the majesty of the place. It is huge Victorian engineering with a level of pomp and circumstance that was never designed to be seen by the public. It was made grand because it was a grand idea, providing a polluted city with clean water using the latest technology. 120 odd years on, it is still amazing.

In motorsports, Alonso is a cheating, workshy, marmite chinned, conniving bastard and I wish to see him sacked before the next race please Ron.

And Colin McRea. Tragic.

All along the watchtower

So I'm doing a bit of freelance consulting for a training company whilst they figure out a replacement. I'm hopeful that a permanent job is quite imminent.

It was a nice journey over the Pennines on Tuesday, the heather was out creating quite a magical view across the bleak moorland. Thwacking through there in RX-8 was, well, bloody wonderful actually.

I did get blow away by a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder which just appeared out of nowhere and bent the laws of physics into a pretty bow before disappearing in an amazing wall of noise. I didn't bother trying to keep up.

So, today I'm going to talk a little about Apple fanboys.

A new series of iPods was announced yesterday. I'll just bet that thousands of sad little trolls have just put their 5th generation iPods on eBay and immediately bought a brand spanking new one just to try to keep up with the minimal changes that Apple have made in an attempt to find a new method of separating the fashion conscious from their money.

I mean, the iPod touch is impressive and desirable, but it's just got 8 gigs of memory which isn't enough. The new Nano is too large, and big woop that it does video.

The new shuffle hasn't changed, and the iPhone, well it just is a bit limited being locked to one provider.

This leads me to the iPod classic. Yeah it's got a bit  more storage, and yes it's got all rounded and sexy and yeas it now does cover-flow (whatever the frak that is) and yes it comes in a sparkly silver jacket, but does anyone really need 160 gigs of storage? Do they? Aren't people just buying this because it's the latest 'must have' from a cynical multinational company?

How many have Apple sold to these fanboys? A bloody ship-load, that's how many.

By the way, mine should arrive next week......

Bugger.

Galactica Actual......

Hmmm....

Well the tough thing about playing chicken is knowing when to twitch.

I twitched. I have got a second interview for the (rather excellent) job I went to London for on Friday.

I am doing some ad-hoc consultancy work in Cheadle on a strictly day to day basis. If London fraks up, I'll reconsider that option. I did manage to squeeze an extra 40 quid per day out of them.

At least I dont have to go and bloody live there. It's grim up North ye knows...

Now, Dave Scott was the lucky number 7 on the Moon. Commander of Apollo 15 he had a bit of a torrid time on the lunar surface dealing with a very recalcitrant core drill.

His main problem was that the  adjustment on his space suit was slightly wrong and the ends of his fingers butted up against the fingerpads of his gloves. By the end of his second EVA his finger ends were black with bruising.

Lego Bricks in their current form, (name derived from Leg Godt or Play Well in Danish), was introduced in 1958. The company is older, dating from the 1930s, and the concept of it's automatic binding bricks dates from a product released in 1947.

The wonderful thing about Tiggers........

I received this note:

"Re your note on website re hyperdrive.  Just to clarify -  I’m enjoying it as much as I’d enjoy watching wookies and tigers mating."

Aw come on,,, 'They're bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy,
      fun, fun, fun, fun, fun' Aren't they?