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....