Face the facts

Test how good you are at remembering faces here. For other tests and more on the mind and body, check here. The Disgust survey is particularly interesting...

Random Irritations and Joys No 111

Random Irritations of Life: This bloody bug I've caught that's making me feel so lousy..... Annoying buffer ads in progammes (Lost, Malcom in the Middle, CSI).... Windows - will it ever work?
Random Joys of Life: Watching a full moon rising in the twilight.... brilliant TV (West Wing, Bodies, Broken News) the English winning weekend (cricket, footie and both ruby codes)....

57 Channels and there's too much on....

One of the most useful things I've found on the web has to be Digiguide. At 9 quid a year it beats any listing guide hands down. And now I need it more than ever. Even just having Freeview and Telewest's basic package here at Wolf Towers, we have access to more channels than we could ever need. So planning a night's viewing requires precise planning. The main problem is that the stuff we want to watch all seems to pop up at the same time, so tough decisions have to be made. What to watch? What to record? What to put off until it's repeated later in the week? When to watch the stuff we've recorded? We've still got the whole of Rome and about three episodes of Nip/Tuck to get through. This doesn't leave much time to watch the DVDs we have piling up getting dusty, and it's a good job I have a bit of a travel to work or I'd never hear any music. And it grieves me to think that the last time we went to the cinema was to see War of the Worlds, and of the great movies we've missed since. To make things worse, now Telewest have launched a service called Teleport, which will have movies and TV progs on demand, that you will be able to use just like a DVD, with pause, fastforward etc.... sorry, I'm off for a lie down... or maybe watch that episode of House I haven't seen yet.....

Aerial View

There are two things guaranteed to send a tingle down my spine and give me goosebumps (why are they called goosebumps?) One is the opening bars of Star Wars, the other is tinkling piano at the start of Wuthering Heights. Whenever I hear it, I'm transported back into another time, (as described in Sandi Thom's I wish I was a Punk Rocker) watching gobsmacked at the TV when this beautiful waif appeared on Top of the Pops. From then I was hooked. While my mates were lusting after the likes of Debbie Harry and Siouxsie Soiux, my bedroom was dominated by a massive poster of Ms Bush, as the record player belted out tracks from The Kick Inside and Lionheart. So imagine my excitement as the days countdown to the release of Aerial, Kate's new offering. Excitement tempered with trepidation though, as with the aformentioned Lucas films, time builds an expectation that seldom delivers. And twelve years is loooong time, so the expectation is sky high. The first single, King of the Mountain, is promising, (though I think the video is awful) and reviews have in the main been favourable, so hopefully my apprehesion will be misplaced.

Arrrrrrrrggghhhhh!!!! Part 3

As you can tell, I haven't posted for a while. One of the reasons I'm holding in my hand. My power supply got so cosy with the motherboard it decided to fuse with it so they could never be parted. Not without a screwdriver and a lot of swearing, anyway. The power supply was three months old, but I managed to get a refund (cheers, Maplin) So, got a new supply and motherboard from ebuyer. Plugged it all in, switched on. And smelt the smell of computer death - burning plastic. An examination of the motherboard revealed the problem, and back went the motherboard for a replacement. This time no burning, but the board wouldn't recognise my windows installation. Or my partitons. Or anything. So I've had to wipe the drive and start again. Still, I had a load of clutter on it, and now I've got lots of free space to fill....

Not sure if this is good or bad....

Random Irritations and Joys No 110

Random Irritations of Life: People with buggies who think that gives them the automatic right to get to the front of the bus queue.... the whining teenager (at bus queue with buggy) with her belly hanging over her too tight jeans moaning to her moronic boyfriend that she pays for everything for the (screaming) baby -wrong! I pay for everything through my taxes that you get in benefits....
Random Joys of Life: It's another bank holiday weekend..... England making Australia follow-on in the Ashes... seeing a fantastic rainbow outside.....

Ten Steps to Better Photography

From the Shutter Stock forums:

1. Buy the biggest and best latest digital camera with as many buttons as you can find. That surely will help you take better photos won't it?

2. Replace the aforementioned camera with the latest biggest and best digital camera with even more buttons the following month because by then it will surely be out of date. More buttons = better photos?

3. Try to sell your camera from step 1 at half it's original price to go towards the new camera which is already cheaper than the one you intend to replace it with. The more you spend, the better photographer you are. Right?

4. Realise you'll never sell the camera from step 1 unless you half its price again.

5. Have some really original ideas such as photographing your feet or clouds. No ones ever thought of that before have they? (I'm guilty ;-)

6. Never use a tripod for landscapes or real close up stuff. After all, a real photographer can handhold for 2 or 3 seconds easily can't they.

7. Explain to everyone that blur is in fact an artistic statement.

8. Have another original idea and take a photo of a flower. Remembering not to use a tripod, especially if it's a macro shot.

9. Only ever use the built in flash on your camera. After all, it's perfectly placed right over the lens and is powerful enough to reach the moon isn't it?

10. Go back to step 1

Red Bull gives them wings.....

One of the small joys of taking the bus to work (make that the only small joy...) is watching the clips from Red Bull on the Crystaleyes screen. The company has invested a lot in extreme and mainstream sports, from F1 to cycling to my favourite, the Red Bull Air Races. These guys are amazing. Check out the site, as the pictures will do them far more justice than my words could. They're at Longleat this weekend, and I really wish I could be there....

Mr Flip Floppy

Male holiday makers now have another excuse besides (or instead of) the beer for their lack of performance when they get that equally drunk girl back to their room. German consumer magazine Oekotest recently did a survey of flip flops (invented by Da Vinci, apparently) and found they contained a broad range of toxic chemicals, including phthalates, suspected of acting like hormones and causing damage to major organs. According to the German Association for Environmental Protection (BUND), phthalates can cause permanent impotence in men. The tests also revealed high amounts of lead, zinc and other toxins. Even small amounts of these toxins - much lower than in the sandals -have been shown to affect the immune and hormonal systems of animals. Of the twenty-five pairs tested, forteen were failed. Of the others, three were deemed inadequate, one pair adequate and four satisfactory. Maybe they should have warning messages printed on them like cigarette packets..... but then someone would create more of these....

Circle of Wife

Newcastle's Moot Hall is the first court building in the country to be granted a licence to host civil weddings. "The Moot Hall has a grand old staircase," said Ian Cuthbertson, Newcastle Crown Court's accommodation manager. "You can imagine the bride sweeping up and down it, with the guests watching from the balcony." Clive Martin, head of marketing, said: "So many marriages end up in the courts, we thought we would redress the balance by having some start there." The first ceremony, on 23 September.

Voice in the Crowd

Statistic time: there's a blog born every minute. The blogsphere has almost doubled in five months. It is set to double again in the next five. The info comes from Technorati, a blog search engine that tracks the tags that people put on posts in their blogs. Thirteeen percent of blogs they track update at least once a week, and 55% of new bloggers are updating three months after they began, which is higher than I thought it would be. That's a heck of a lot of voices, all hoping to be heard, from people sounding off about their day, their football team, or the their ex's, to campaining blogs, political blogs and just downright wierd blogs. Some will be heard by many people, some will fall on deaf ears. Using the next blog link in header bar is a good way of dipping into the diversity of blogs out there. But if you do, just remember to come back, eh.....

Fail? Not in my dictionary

At a meeting of the Professional Association of Teachers, retired teacher Liz Beattie suggested that pupils should not be told they have failed a test, but have "deferred success". She suggests that telling the little darlings they have failed can undermine their enthusiasm. The suggestion has been given short shrift in all corners, but I think it could be applied to other aspects of life. Prisoners could be said to have "deferred freedom", ill people have "deferred health". The jobless are just "deferred employed", the poor "deferred rich", and if your lottery numbers haven't come up (again) you're just "deferred lucky". Death could be just "deferred life" (if you believe in reincarnation) and life "deferred death". For myself, it cheers me up no end that I can say to the bank manager that my finances are in actual fact "deferred in the black"..... In a related item, pupils at Uplands Manor Primary School in Smethwick, West Midlands will see their mistakes (sorry, deferred perfections) in green rather than red ink. This is to decrease the "negative impact" that is associated with the colour red. That also implies that the pupils are too stupid to simply start regarding that green has the same impact as red.....

Five Stages of Sex

Smurf sex: at the start of the relationship, you do it 'til you're blue in the face.
Kitchen sex: you're together and you do it in every room in the house.
Bed sex: you're getting in rut, so you only do it in bed.
Hallway sex: when you pass in the hallway, you tell each other to **** off.
Court sex: you go to court to get screwed by your wife.

Brain's Trust

Apparently I have a slightly female brain. Well, according to this quiz I do. Try this to see if you're one of the 2% that think differently, it will have you scratching your head. For more mental workouts, try here or here.

Random Irritations and Joys No 109

Random Irritations of Life: People protesting that Extras is different from The Office. It's not, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining.... People raving about Catherine Tate. I managed ten minutes of the first episode of her last series...... The increasing use of "babymother".... People attacking the freedoms that allow them air their opinions...
Random Joys of Life: Getting home just as it starts to pour down.... my typing getting better.... watching Open All Hours on DVD..... my first pictures getting accepted by Shutterstock.....

Slow down, you move too fast....

.... said Paul Simon in his Fifty Ninth Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy). So too said Carl Honoré at the recent TEDGobal conference. The author of In Praise of Slowness, Mr Honoré cautioned against the 'road runner culture' that pervades our world more than ever today. He got the idea for his book when he found himself contemplating a book of one minute bedtime stories. It was a wake up call for him as he asked himself: "Has it really come to this that I'm ready to fob off my son with a sound bite at the end of the day?" It forced him to reasses his life, and the book grew out of that. His does not advocate that we should all slow to a crawl, but that we should find the right pace for things. Choice was another topic raised at the conference. Barry Schwartz spoke of his experience of finding "175 salad dressings. 40 toothpastes, 75 ice teas, 230 soups and 285 varieties of cookies" at his local supermarket. While some choice is good, the bewildering amount we have in many aspects of our lives can be counterproductive, he argued. Too much choice paralyses our decision making, as we get hung up on the thought of making the wrong one. This leads to self-blame and even depression. Hmmm, maybe I should stop looking for that 25th hour in the day and make the most of the other 24.....

Smokin' Bacon

Just click here. Nuff said......

Frozen Contacts

Get ICE on your mobile, without having to put it in the freezer. ICE, which stands for In Case of Emergency, is the idea of a paramedic. When attending scenes, he found that people rarely had any contact details on them, but most carried a mobile. So, by putting ICE, then a contact name and number in the address book, emergency services can quickly find the right person to get in touch with. Find out more here, and here, and follow the guidelines. In the present climate, it's an excellent idea. Unfortunately, there are malicious people sending out spam saying that putting ICE into your mobile will trigger a ringtone download or a virus. This is completely false, and shows what saddos there are out there that would try to undermine a good cause....

The Price of Success?

A lot has been said, screened and written about recent events in the capital, and their effects have been felt throughout the country. There are plenty of other sites offering information and opinion doing a far better job than I could. Two I've come across are London Stands and We're Not Afraid. The first is selling t-shirts to show support, the second has galleries of photos sent in by people all the over the world, all with the message We're Not Afraid. As a Midlander, I've always had a disdain for London, the recent Olympic bid a case in point. Previous bids by Manchester and Birmingham were treated with derision, but we were all expected to back the London bid. When the result came through, the impression I got was that people were more pleased that the French lost than that we won, and I thought it would make Londoners even more smug than they already are. If one of the other cities had been victorious, one wonders if things would have been different.....

Arrrrrghhhhhh Part 2

As my memory seems to be having to be constently defragged by Maxmem, I thought it would be a good idea to add some. No problem, I thought, so I popped open the case and took out the stick I have in there to make sure I got compatable additions. Rebooted after putting it back in and...... nothing. No boot screen, no bios, just a lot of whirring of drives and clicking. Tried again, and again, and again. Nothing. Mild panic starts to rise up as I reopen the case and check the memory. That's ok. Try again. Still nothing. Ok, the panic is picking up now as I try various things like unplugging everything, taking the memory out, plugging things back in, but to no avail. So it's trip round my mate, who has a quick look at the motherboard and points to a part that has melted. (The pic here isn't my board, even I would have spotted it if it was....) Fortunately he had a spare board, as he regularly builds systems for other people, which meant I didn't have to wait to get a replacement. So I've been cautiously putting things back together until now things are back to normal. (And I've sent off for the extra memory) But it's reinforced to me the necessity of backing up important stuff, as you never know what's going to happen.....

Saying Thanks To Those Who Gave The Most....

This week marks the middle of the period between VE and VJ day. The British Legion has organised a series of events, culminating in the Nation's Biggest Thank You on July 1oth. For more info on what's happening where, check out the Thank You site.

Free Online Games

On the same site as the frog shoot (see item below) are many more free online games, some classics such as Pong (left), the fiendish Asteriod Lander and PacMan, others modern flash games like Yetisports OrcaSlap (I kid you not). It's part of a site called student free stuff, which, as you would expect, has lots of links to free stuff, and not just for students. Well worth a look....

Frog In The Throat

The frog with the blown pupil has annoyed a lot of people, but not for the reason you might think. Thanks to the saturation coverge on ITV, with the Axel F tune appearing two or three times in each ad break, many people downloaded it from Jamster and their telephone provider MBlox to their mobile phones. Unfortunately, they got more than they bargined for, as their phones were bombared with texts offering more ringtones. Annoying enough, but then people found that they were also paying for the privilege at £3 per text! Instead of a one-off download, they had unwittingly entered into a subcription service, with Jamster sending premium rate reverse charge texts. Some people have manged to get refunds, but it takes a certain amount of investigation and badgering to do so. If you've been affected by this, contact Icstis to complain. If you want to vent your frustration, go here (My best is 40).

Federer Express

Well, Wimbledon's over for another year. Britain's brief obession with Tennis has flourished and faded, much like the weather. The strawberries have been eaten, the champagne quaffed, and the home countries' hopes raised and dashed by "tiger" Tim Henman (left). This year has been especially tough for Tim: not only didn't he make the second week, but it seems his supporters are about to desert him and hitch their wagon to a new star: Andy Murray. The youngster will be first to tell people he has a long way to go before he can begin to challenge for titles, but already the media has him pegged as the New British Hope, with headlines like Henman Zero, Murray Hero. Henman Hill has been renamed Murray Mound, or Murray Field, in keeping with the hopeful's nationality (Murrayfield being the home of Scottish rugby). I hope Andy Roddick, beaten by Roger Federer to make it three titles in a row for the Swiss, can get a refund on that second airplane seat he's booked with his American Express card....

Live8 Gr8 Part 2

Well, Hyde Park's finished and we're onto Philly. Pity BBCi's coverage has finished as some of the other concerts are still going on as well, but I'm flagging now so I'll be off to bed soon.... I'll be heading off to the land of nod satisfied though, with storming sets from Robbie (who got the biggest reaction of the night by far ) and The Who and Pink Floyd, who showed the youngsters how it's done. The only low points were the dreadful Pete Doughety, Velvet Revolver and Maria "I've got a massuse and here's my new single" Carey. But that won't detract from Brian Wilson, Pet Shop Boys, The Cure, Def Leppard Bon Jovi and all the other great acts we've seen..... My only worry is that after all this, after Edinburgh, after the G8 summit, it will all fade away and nothing will change, and suddenly another 20 years will pass, and while these events will be history, poverty and suffering will not....

Live8 Gr8

Whatever your opinion of the movtivation behind it and whether it will make a difference, Live8 seems to be a great success.... Thanks to BBCi I'm flicking between all the concerts.... at the moment I'm having to decide between Madge in London and The Pet Shop Boys in Moscow - tough choice but I'm sticking with the Material Girl for now..... highlights for me so far have been Annie Lennox, Razorlight, Keane and Brian Wilson, but there's much more to come....

Arrrrrrgh!

Sods Law: I was perusing the bloggerforum site and came across a thread "why I moved from blogger to moveable type". Moveablye type is another blog service with from what I can see two main differences: it's more difficult to set up, and unless you have the free version with no support, you have to pay. As I read some of the comments about all the problems people had had with Blogger and how much better MT was, I frowned, thinking, "Well, I've never had any problems..." Came today to do a little tinkering with the template and most of it had disappeared! Fortunately I had a backup of the html, but it was pretty out of date, so I've had to spend a while recoding parts of it, time I was going to use for posts. Bugger.

Random Irritations and Joys No 108

Random Irritations of Life: People waffling on when they know they've lost the arguement and won't accept it..... documentaries about airports..... the never ending laundary...... Photoshop playing up..... hearing Ben Stiller and Steve Coogan are doing a movie of The Persuaders.....
Random Joys of Life: The solitude of being the only person on the beach as the sun goes down... realising that there are still parts of this green and pleasant land that are still green and pleasant (but won't be if two jags has his way).....

Mulitple Pics in Blogger....

Blogging tip: If you want to put multiple pics in a blog post....



Hello will allow you to do it.....



and it's easy to do... after the first caption, stick two of these (shift plus the \ key) on the end and publish. The picture will then be queued rather than uploaded. Repeat the process until you have all the pictures you want, then press publish and all the photos will upload at once. Bostin! I've used these photos to demostrate as the Summer Solstice will be soon upon us here. Where has the year gone.... only seems five minutes ago since I was unwrapping me Christmas prezzies!
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Milk in first.....

Want to know what it means to be British? Then the government has the thing for you in the shape of a 120-page A4 book intended for prospective British citizens. Entitled Life in the United Kingdom - A Journey to Citizenship, it is described as "a compendium of information about living in Britain". If you want a taster of what's in the book before splashing out £9.99, take the test here. Some of the answers may surprise you.... Although according to these articles, we may not need to leave home to travel.... (if the title of this post has you baffled, watch the dinner party at the end of Carry On Up The Khyber....)
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Don't be a Phisherman's friend

Scary stuff on the Money Programme tonight. It dealt with hi-tech crime and the various ways computers and the net are being used steal our identities, empty our bank accounts and hold business to ransom. Phishing is as hated and dreaded a word as spam nowadays. But while spam is a nuisance, phishing is far more serious. Emails proporting to be from a bank or other institution ask you to follow a link to a website to verify your details. Those details include things like expiry dates and PIN numbers. These things a bank would never ask for. The Mailfrontier site has a test. Try it and see if you can spot the real emails from the Phishes. Then head over to here to see some more examples. A more insidious method of obtaining details is keylogging. An attachment in a spam message, (usually saying you've won something or involving celebrity nudity it seems) if opened, releases a virus that sits in your computer recording every key pressed. This information is relayed to the hacker without the victim even knowing, who extracts the information he wants. When the hacker has infected a number of computers, which can run into thousands, he has created what's called a bot net. He can then use this army of slave pcs to bombard a website with so many requests - again without the hosts knowledge - that the site slows or crashes. The site is then effectively held to ransom, which is what happened to Blue Square, the company highlighted in the programme. They called in the Hi-Tech police unit, who traced the hijackers to Russia, showing that this is a global problem. Its not all doom and gloom though, and with care these attacks can be avoided. Things to do are:
Never open attachments from people you don't know. Delete them. Even attachments from friends should be virus checked first, as they may not know that the attachment is infected.
Check carefully any emails asking for personal or financial details. View the examples of phishing emails and learn what to look for.
Get protection. There are many good Anti-Virus and Firewall progammes out there, free, shareware and commercial. An anti-spyware prog is an essential nowadays as well. Tap in the terms into a search engine and should find ones to suit you.
When filling in forms, use the drop down menus as much as possible, as these use the mouse and the information is not recorded by keyloggers.
Above all be alert. We need all the lerts we can get.....I know, I know, but I couldn't think of another way to end this post....


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Click here or the piggy gets it....

If there's only one link you click on this site, make it this one, especially if you live in the UK. You may have seen Martin Lewis on Tonight With Trevor McDonald or heard him on the Jeremy Vine Show. If not, go to his website and I'm pretty sure you'll find something that will save you money. He has hundreds of thousands of regular readers and subscribers to his email newsletter, all on the lookout for a bargain or a way cut the household expenses, and who wnat to share those findings with everyone else. Financial apathy is what keeps the fat cats fat. Help them to go on a diet. And if you're tempted by those ads by BT and others that people are returning to them in droves because their rivals are all rubbish read here. It'll give you something to think about on that topic and a range of others....
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Edukashun, Edukation, Education?

In the "you couldn't make it up" column: While those who want to learn are being soundly stung for the privilege, whose who don't are being "bribed" with cash and ipods in an effort to get them back into education. Laudable though it may be, it does seem to send out a confusing message: show willing and you have to pay, be reticient and you end up better off. Also, in a world where communication has never been more important and varid, it seems more and more children are growing up not meeting their proper potential in reading and writing, leading to a call for a review in teaching methods. Is it me? The most I got at school was a gold star, and I didn't know anyone in any of my classes who couldn't read or write to a respectable standard. Fortunately I was taught before those who thought they knew better began tinkering with the system. Then tinkered some more. And some more. And some more, until now teachers and children are seemingly driven by whatever league table or statistical survey is approaching, and choice is an illusion.
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There by the slip of a finger go I....

When coming up with the name aeowolf, I thought I'd found a unique moniker. How naive. I asked a friend to check this site, giving him the address www.aeowolf.blogpsot.com. A few minutes later I got a puzzled reply asking when I'd got religion. A quick check and it turned out that that address is hosts a site called Amazingbiblestudies.com, describing itself as a "SEARCH ENGINE/DIRECTORY—World’s highest hitting English sites in major categories. Also a Mega-site of Bible, Christian & religious information. Nearly everything you wanted to know about THE BIBLE." Not what I had in mind when I started these ramblings. But not as bad as it could be. I know there are cases of slight misspellings of brand names being registered as domains to host porn! So I might let my fingers do a bit of wandering on the keyboard and see if anything else comes up.....

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Sugar Rush

For as long as I can remember I've been met with looks of disbelief and a "How many?!" when I tell people I have four sugars in my tea. So I guess by the terms of SugarShock.com I'm an addict. I also seem to have all the symptoms they describe, but then I seem to have all the symptoms of most aliment sites I visit. I've switched to Half Spoon to help cut down, but I'll be studying the SugarShock site to see if there's anything else I can do to reduce my sugar cravings...
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In the Dog (cat?) house

These pics are just a fraction of the many that can be found at SillyEnglish..... They have loads of video clips too -- try this one for starters.... If you do visit the rest of the site be careful as it contains nudity and stuff that some could find offensive -- if you're blonde, for instance.....
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Testing Times

Want to know the job you're meant to be doing? Or what kind of dog you are? Perhapes you have a burning desire to discover which Desparate Housewife you are. Maybe you just want to try an old fashioned IQ test. If so, the place to go is Tickle. They have tests for almost anything you can think of to help you uncover your real self. Apparently I'm a Bernese Mountain Dog, a Subtle Flirt and Lynette. Which is a shame, 'cos I wanted to be Bree.... I wonder if they have a test to find out if these tests are addictive.....

The Force is strong with this one.....

I waited for all the hoopla to die down before I saw it, but it was worth it. Of all the prequels, this one felt the most like the original movies. Of course, this probably because it has many more references to the earlier -- or do I mean later -- episodes. After episodes one and two I was willing this one to be good, and though it has its faults, I wasn't disappointed. Anakin's slide into the dark side is well done, showing the reasons for his turning. The fights and battle scenes are up to the standards we expect now, and everthing is set up neatly for A New Hope. As in all his performances, Ian McDiarmid acts everyone off the scene as Palaptine, and gets all the best lines.... when he says "rise" to the new Lord Vader I got goosebumps, just as I got a lump in my throat when Owen and Beru Lars hold Luke upto the twin Tattooine suns, echoing the iconic scene in A New Hope. My only real gripe is we didn't see enough of the Chewie and the rest of the Wookies! (Does Chewie ever tell Luke he's met Yoda? Just a thought....) All in all the film works as bridge between the two sets of films and as a piece in its own right, and I'll be off to see it again in a couple of days. Hopefully I'll spot some more of these, and not notice any of these (I only noticed the marching feet out of sync -- the people on this site are really eagle eyed -- or just seen many, many times.....) Away from the Sith, I do have grumble with Mr Lucas. In a recent interview about the release of an "enhanced" THX1138, he said that any previous versions of that movie and the first three Star Wars would not be released again. I'm disappointed by this, as I don't like having my memories tinkered with. They struck the right balance with the recent releases of the Alien series, having both original and extended versions on the same disc. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, either.....

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Random Irritations and Joys No 107

Random Irritations of Life: People repeatedly stabbing at lift buttons thinking it will make the thing come quicker.....IT WON'T.... the Toucan adverts on Channel 5..... sealed magazines - I don't buy anything blind.... having so much to do I don't know where to start....
Random joys of Life: Sticking your hands in a warm tea cosy on a cold morning..... getting an unexpected reward at work..... Hugh Laurie in House, almost as much of a hero as Dr Cox from Scrubs......

Bang Bang

After much use and abuse, the power supply on the PC went bang in a big way, giving me a fright and that feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. Fortunately, though, my fears were unfounded and it hadn't fried anything else with it, and all the drives were ok. But it gave me enough of a scare to start backing up my important stuff again, something I'd been neglecting. In a neat piece of serendipity, I came across Streamload. It's an online storage facility giving people a whopping 10gigs of space! You can upload as much as you want, but if you want to get the info back you have to pay for it. Also, if you have a Gmail or Hotmail account, you can use the space there for more than emails by using Roamdrive to upload files and folders.

Rise, Lord Vader - just don't monologue....

If Darth/Anakin followed these rules, espisode IV would be very different -- and a lot shorter as well..... and other movie heroes/villians might like to look here for help, too...... I particularly like the wholesale candle rule....

Random Irritations and Joys No 106

Random irritations of Life: leaking trainers..... lying taxi firms (ten minutes my arse!).... computers blowing up.... waking up with a headache but not doing anything to deserve it the night before.... only getting three points on Ken Bruce's PopMaster..... a young ingrate hissing at his father for looking at cheap trainers while his mates were around.....
Random joys of life: taking in the breathtaking views from Edinburgh Castle on a beautiful, clear, sunny day..... seeing how happy my friend Lorraine was with her new husband.... getting two days off for bank holiday....

If there's anything more important than my ego I want it brought out and shot...

The start of my relationship with H2G2 came about by accident. As a firm Radio One listener at the time, I didn't even know where Radio Four was on the dial. We'd bought the Radio Times for the Christmas TV schedule. While flicking through it, I saw a little caption highlighting a show called the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. In my youthful innocence I thought it was about astronomy, and as it was something I was interested in, I retuned the radio... and the rest is history. I taped the remaining programmes, memorized chunks of dialogue, bought the books, watched the admittedly dodgey TV series, and now we have the movie. And..... it's not as bad as I'd feared it would be. It looks good, with an English feel that reminds people of the Python movies. It's a bit of rollercoaster, which is only to be expected, as the movie doesn't have the luxury of time that the other formats do. And that's the movies' biggest failing. Cherished lines are missed, rushed or thrown away, leaving this viewer disappointed. As did Mos Def's performance as Ford Prefect, though his was the only duff performance. But the opening sequence put a broad smile on my face, as did the cameo of the TV Marvin. If they do decide to go the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, I reckon I'll be along for the ride....
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Random Irritations and Joys No 105

Random irritations of Life: Reminising on an event/music/TV show and someone telling you they weren't born at the time... bright sunny days and a busted motorbike....
Random Joys of Life: Goosebumps watching the Episode lll trailer.... trying out new widgets from konfabulator.... watching Michael J Fox in Scrubs while I type this....

Water Water..... nowhere

The things we take for granted.... we suddenly had no water coming from our hot water taps. A phone call to the council (our landlords) brought the reply that it would take upto three days for someone to come out and see us. It got me thinking how much hot water we would use - or not now- in those three days. We've already boiled a dozen kettles just doing minimal stuff, and there's only two of us.... and while I was looking for a suitable pic to head this item I came across this site, which made me think even more....
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We shall remember them....

Well done to Brum for putting on a fine VE day celebration. The parade of old soldiers with with their flags and medals brought a tear to the eye and the people dressed in 40s gear looked fab. The ration books were a neat idea, though some of the older members of the crowd took it a little too literally as they thrust the books at the poor cadets handing out the freebies shouting "two dairy milk!"
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I always know where my towel is...

Hitchhikers has taken £4.2 million in its first week in the UK.... as Zaphod would say, Neat. I haven't seen it yet meself, and I'm a bit apprehensive to do so, as I've seen many things from my past "reimaged" or "updated", all for the worst. At least Douglas Adams, the creator, had a hand in the prodution before he died, so that's encouraging... From what I've read so far it's a Marmite Movie, fans either love it or hate it. Guess I'll just have to go and see which camp I end up in....
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Random Irritations and Joys No 104

Random Irritations of Life: People who can't take simple instructions.... people who prove Ford Prefect's view that if people stop talking their brains will start working.... people who think sport equals football.... people.
Random Joys of Life: Looking out of the window at field of brilliant yellow rape seed swaying in the breeze.... watching a thrilling Ruby League match (though I prefer Union)..... the first cup of tea in the morning....

You're Hired!

Wednesday nights will be empty without the drama of The Apprentice. Well done to Tim for getting hired, though I was rooting for Saira at the end. It was marketed as a reality show but it was far better than that, and educational as well as entertaining. I can't wait for the next series, just hope they get another good mix of candidates....
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You'll just feel a little prick...

If I needed anymore incentive to go to Blood Donors, this would be it... from the excellent site The Sci-Fi Desktop Wallpaper Web...

Random Irritatons and Joys No 103

Random irritations of life: Superbikes on TV reduced from live races on the beeb to highlights all over the place on 4.... waking up with a headache after doozing off.... the grit in my left eye which won't go away..... explorer freezing while writing this blog....
Random joys of life: MotoGP is still on the beeb - and the Doctor wins again.... and the other Doctor is getting better.... Suzukis doing well... watching the sheet lightning at 3am this morning turning night into day.... new episodes of Hitchhiker on radio 4, the only medium to do it real justice...

Random Irritatons and Joys No 102

Random irritations of life: bad dubbing on adverts (e.g. vanish, intercasino), some are so bad the sound and vision don't even seem to be in the same time zone, let alone the same advert.....my Epson R300 not wanting to talk to my computer, so I only get half a print or a load of gibberish, while I watch my inks visibly draining.... the bus I catch from work coming in convoys, so there's none for ages then two or three at once, causing a mad scramble....the most boring election campian I can remember, which makes people too apathetic to vote - a true crime.....and to those who don't vote, don't moan later.....
Random joys of life: Married With Children on ITV3.....an hour of Bundy Bliss every weeknight.......light, warm evenings to come home in.....sending rude emails to friends that open them at embarrassing moments at work....getting paid today......tomorrow being Friday and I'm off until Tuesday.....

For England, Harry and St George....

Happy St Georges Day to all us Englanders! Over the years the cross of St George had fallen into disfavour, hijacked by the more xenophobic sections of our society. But lately the country has found a new pride in its flag, becoming something to be proud of rather than ashamed. We still have a way to go, and I doubt we'll ever have to same celebrations as our Celtic cousins, but at least we can unfurl our red and white banners today without stigma....

Who should I vote for?

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

Labour -6
Conservative -3
	Liberal Democrat 12
	UK Independence Party 17
	Green 14

You should vote: UK Independence Party

UKIP's primary focus is on Europe, where the party is strongly against joining both the EU constitution and the Euro. UKIP is also firmly in favour of limiting immigration. The party does not take a clear line on some other policy issues, but supports scrapping university tuition fees; it is strongly against income tax rises and favour reducing fuel duty.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For


Gee, guess I'm not as Liberal as I thought I was....