Monday, July 26, 2004
Lot's goin' on at the moment. Had my first ever driving lesson on Tuesday—very scary, but kind of fun too. The instructor's a nice bloke, but he doesn't take any prisoners, and made me drive along the A10 for a stretch at nearly 50mph. Granted it was a dual-control car, and he kept a hand on the steering wheel, but even so... Next lesson this Wednesday.
L bought a new kitchen on Saturday. There's a bit of a delay, so guess when it's timetabled to arrive? 14 September—my birthday! This is actually a good thing, though, as my dad will be able to come and stay around that time to oversee operations (he's an old hand at DIY). I daresay there'll be time for a few beers in amongst the work.
Went to see The Lion King in London yesterday. Very impressive! The costumes (or, rather, puppets in most cases) are outstanding. Some characters are, in the conventional Western manner, played by a single costumed actor, but most are Bunraku puppets. An actor on stage controls a lifesize puppet, so effectively that the audience pays no attention to the human presence on stage (in this production they generally wore grey to make them less noticeable). Lots of Javanese-style shadow-puppetry too. Great songs, and the set is minimal but very effective.
Hopefully this court ruling marks the beginning of the end for SCO, who, by all accounts are an opportunistic, money-grabbing bunch of w*****s.
Great story segue oppo coming up... The world's smallest fish has recently been confirmed to science; it lives off the coast of Australia, where, one hopes, it doesn't encounter too many monster waves. I find the idea of these 30-metre waves terrifying (in an exciting because I live well inland kind of way)—my fear of heights has a matching fear of depths. Next time you're floating about on a little boat in the middle of the Pacific, just pause to contemplate the terrific depth and volume of water beneath you!
L bought a new kitchen on Saturday. There's a bit of a delay, so guess when it's timetabled to arrive? 14 September—my birthday! This is actually a good thing, though, as my dad will be able to come and stay around that time to oversee operations (he's an old hand at DIY). I daresay there'll be time for a few beers in amongst the work.
Went to see The Lion King in London yesterday. Very impressive! The costumes (or, rather, puppets in most cases) are outstanding. Some characters are, in the conventional Western manner, played by a single costumed actor, but most are Bunraku puppets. An actor on stage controls a lifesize puppet, so effectively that the audience pays no attention to the human presence on stage (in this production they generally wore grey to make them less noticeable). Lots of Javanese-style shadow-puppetry too. Great songs, and the set is minimal but very effective.
Hopefully this court ruling marks the beginning of the end for SCO, who, by all accounts are an opportunistic, money-grabbing bunch of w*****s.
Great story segue oppo coming up... The world's smallest fish has recently been confirmed to science; it lives off the coast of Australia, where, one hopes, it doesn't encounter too many monster waves. I find the idea of these 30-metre waves terrifying (in an exciting because I live well inland kind of way)—my fear of heights has a matching fear of depths. Next time you're floating about on a little boat in the middle of the Pacific, just pause to contemplate the terrific depth and volume of water beneath you!
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Bastille Day
Bonjour, mes petits amis! Random triviette for Bastille Day: the Marquis de Sade (Donatien Alphonse François, if memory serves) claimed to have been instrumental in persuading the mob to storm the Bastille. He said that he was imprisoned there when it happened and that he shouted revolutionary slogans to persuade the people to attack that symbol of Royal authority. In fact, though, I think he was moved from the Bastille to a different prison before 14th July, so it's probably not true.
Well, I've pinned down the memory problem to the 256 MB card. I'm OK with that as that's the cheaper one and the older. Might just replace it with another 512 MB to take the beast to over a gig! I don't really need that much RAM (CK runs best on a tad over 512, but not that much), but y'know... Reckon I might also get new fans and a PSU to sort out the noise problem I've been going on about for months. I'll give Whispertec a go. Before TheSims 2 comes out (17th Sept) I'll need to get a new graphics card, but I'll leave that till later in the summer to get the best deal.
Intrestin' stuff from the BBC News site:
London Zoo now has a pair of Komodo Dragons for breeding. I love these beasts. Did anyone else see that programme where Steve Irwin got chased up a tree by a Dragon?
Evil Chimp Boy has asked for emergency powers to postpone the US presidential election in the event of a terrorist attack. This is such blatant game-playing. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if he declared that elections should be postponed until the current 'state of war' is over (i.e. never).
Botswanan San (formerly known as 'Bushmen') are taking the Botswanan Government to court over its resettlement policy. It doesn't sound as though Botswana acted maliciously in this case, but this is typical of the failure of 'Settled' states to understand the needs of Nomadic peoples. When Mongolia became a satellite of the Soviet Union in the 1920s one of the first demands of the Soviet planners was that towns and permanent factories be created. Prior to that pretty much the only permanent settlements had been the Buddhist monasteries (which were of course suppressed by the communist authorities). This sort of imposition of settlement is tantamount to cultural genocide, albeit an unthinking genocide.
Here's a great article about a bloke who's turning the tables on Nigerian email scammers, by wasting their time, and even, occasionally, getting them to pay him. Great stuff—I love the picture of the Nigerian man with his painted breast!
Sad news for Kakapo lovers (which ought to be everyone, as our planet—and therefore us too—depends on genetic diversity): some of these lovely little birds have died of blood poisoning caused by soil bacteria.
In the wake of more security scares, Internet Explorer has had its market share dented by other browsers, principally Firefox. Firefox is free, and it's better than IE—give it a go now!
Well, I've pinned down the memory problem to the 256 MB card. I'm OK with that as that's the cheaper one and the older. Might just replace it with another 512 MB to take the beast to over a gig! I don't really need that much RAM (CK runs best on a tad over 512, but not that much), but y'know... Reckon I might also get new fans and a PSU to sort out the noise problem I've been going on about for months. I'll give Whispertec a go. Before TheSims 2 comes out (17th Sept) I'll need to get a new graphics card, but I'll leave that till later in the summer to get the best deal.
Intrestin' stuff from the BBC News site:
London Zoo now has a pair of Komodo Dragons for breeding. I love these beasts. Did anyone else see that programme where Steve Irwin got chased up a tree by a Dragon?
Evil Chimp Boy has asked for emergency powers to postpone the US presidential election in the event of a terrorist attack. This is such blatant game-playing. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if he declared that elections should be postponed until the current 'state of war' is over (i.e. never).
Botswanan San (formerly known as 'Bushmen') are taking the Botswanan Government to court over its resettlement policy. It doesn't sound as though Botswana acted maliciously in this case, but this is typical of the failure of 'Settled' states to understand the needs of Nomadic peoples. When Mongolia became a satellite of the Soviet Union in the 1920s one of the first demands of the Soviet planners was that towns and permanent factories be created. Prior to that pretty much the only permanent settlements had been the Buddhist monasteries (which were of course suppressed by the communist authorities). This sort of imposition of settlement is tantamount to cultural genocide, albeit an unthinking genocide.
Here's a great article about a bloke who's turning the tables on Nigerian email scammers, by wasting their time, and even, occasionally, getting them to pay him. Great stuff—I love the picture of the Nigerian man with his painted breast!
Sad news for Kakapo lovers (which ought to be everyone, as our planet—and therefore us too—depends on genetic diversity): some of these lovely little birds have died of blood poisoning caused by soil bacteria.
In the wake of more security scares, Internet Explorer has had its market share dented by other browsers, principally Firefox. Firefox is free, and it's better than IE—give it a go now!
Friday, July 09, 2004
Howdy all! Well, Marco was evicted, praise be. All down to my hate campaign, I daresay. Don't feel nearly so strongly about this week's eviction, but Ahmed wants to go, and it seems only fair to give Becki a bit more of a chance, so I voted for Ahmed.
I've been a bit busy this last week drawing up milady's Natal Chart. I use Astrodienst to get the data, and then draw up the chart and work out the aspects and significances myself. I somehow manage to believe and disbelieve simultaneously, but at the very least I enjoy the arcane terminology and the pretty planet symbols.
I've also been rather perturbed by my computer's current illness. I've had the Blue Screen of Death quite a few times now since Monday. Various error messages, but all seeming to indicate a memory problem. Even had the Power on Self Test refusing to let me continue until I'd 'corrected' the processor speed setting (wasn't anything wrong with it, though, and it let me boot eventually)... Trouble is I'd been using two of the three memory banks, so there are various possible explanations:
A new study suggests that social factors might be more significant than genetic ones in short-sightedness. I'm glad of that—I'm very myopic, and don't like to think of myself as a genetic failure! [And, before you comment, remember that I have full editorial power here!] I suppose what's really going on is that (for the common type of short-sightedness anyway) one inherits the potential to be short-sighted, but it's one's lifestyle that determines the actual outcome. Genotype vs phenotype...
More research into the causes of autism. Hopefully this'll put the final nail in the coffin of the whole daft anti-MMR thing, but somehow I doubt it. Journalists aren't scientists, and if they can make something into a 'better' story by creating a false controversy, they will. They might argue 'public interest', but I fail to see how it's in any way in the public interest to continue to report the now retracted comments of a small group of scientists, when even if they had been correct the harm done by the three individual innoculations is greater than the supposed harm done by the single one.
Fahrenheit 9/11: hopefully this'll administer the k/o to Chimp Boy's hopes of re-election. I'd actually like Mike Wilson to release his Michael Moore Hates America 'film'—the massive discrepancy in box-office takings would be quite telling!
I've been a bit busy this last week drawing up milady's Natal Chart. I use Astrodienst to get the data, and then draw up the chart and work out the aspects and significances myself. I somehow manage to believe and disbelieve simultaneously, but at the very least I enjoy the arcane terminology and the pretty planet symbols.
I've also been rather perturbed by my computer's current illness. I've had the Blue Screen of Death quite a few times now since Monday. Various error messages, but all seeming to indicate a memory problem. Even had the Power on Self Test refusing to let me continue until I'd 'corrected' the processor speed setting (wasn't anything wrong with it, though, and it let me boot eventually)... Trouble is I'd been using two of the three memory banks, so there are various possible explanations:
- Card 1 (256 MB)
- Card 2 (512 MB)
- Bank 1
- Bank 2
- Graphics Card RAM (64 MB)??
- Some other hardware fault
A new study suggests that social factors might be more significant than genetic ones in short-sightedness. I'm glad of that—I'm very myopic, and don't like to think of myself as a genetic failure! [And, before you comment, remember that I have full editorial power here!] I suppose what's really going on is that (for the common type of short-sightedness anyway) one inherits the potential to be short-sighted, but it's one's lifestyle that determines the actual outcome. Genotype vs phenotype...
More research into the causes of autism. Hopefully this'll put the final nail in the coffin of the whole daft anti-MMR thing, but somehow I doubt it. Journalists aren't scientists, and if they can make something into a 'better' story by creating a false controversy, they will. They might argue 'public interest', but I fail to see how it's in any way in the public interest to continue to report the now retracted comments of a small group of scientists, when even if they had been correct the harm done by the three individual innoculations is greater than the supposed harm done by the single one.
Fahrenheit 9/11: hopefully this'll administer the k/o to Chimp Boy's hopes of re-election. I'd actually like Mike Wilson to release his Michael Moore Hates America 'film'—the massive discrepancy in box-office takings would be quite telling!
Friday, July 02, 2004
A chihuahua named Willy is acting as an ambassador of hope for leg-deprived animals everywhere. Call me an evil, Old-World snob, but I can't help thinking that the wheelchair could've been made a little more tasteful. (But, then, I suppose the chihuahua is not an inherently tasteful breed of dog...)
An American chap claims to have written down his every thought over a three-month period. I find this quite hard to believe. I wouldn't/couldn't do it for four reasons:
Marco off Big Brother has to be one of the most irritating people on television at the moment (and that's saying something when so many TV 'personalities' are professionally irritating). I beg you all: please, please, please vote for the eviction of this preposterous, spindly, shiny, unhealthy, gangly, braying spider-baby-seal thing.
I noticed the following signature in a post on the Paradox Crusader Kings forum:
Reginam occidere nolite, timere bonum est, si omnes consentiunt, ego non, contradico.
'Don't kill the queen, it's good to be afraid of it, if everybody agrees, I don't, I oppose it.'
Reginam occidere nolite timere, bonum est si omnes consentiunt, ego non contradico.
'Don't be afraid of killing the queen, it's good if everybody agrees, I don't oppose it.'
Rather clever, n'est-ce pas? Here's an account of the origins of this Latin pun.
An American chap claims to have written down his every thought over a three-month period. I find this quite hard to believe. I wouldn't/couldn't do it for four reasons:
- I simply have too many thoughts to be able to write fast enough to record them all
- I'd get locked into a vicious cycle of thoughts about the process of writing my thoughts
- I'd probably get locked up if my notes were discovered
- Most of my thoughts are so banal that they even bore me
Marco off Big Brother has to be one of the most irritating people on television at the moment (and that's saying something when so many TV 'personalities' are professionally irritating). I beg you all: please, please, please vote for the eviction of this preposterous, spindly, shiny, unhealthy, gangly, braying spider-baby-seal thing.
I noticed the following signature in a post on the Paradox Crusader Kings forum:
Reginam occidere nolite, timere bonum est, si omnes consentiunt, ego non, contradico.
'Don't kill the queen, it's good to be afraid of it, if everybody agrees, I don't, I oppose it.'
Reginam occidere nolite timere, bonum est si omnes consentiunt, ego non contradico.
'Don't be afraid of killing the queen, it's good if everybody agrees, I don't oppose it.'
Rather clever, n'est-ce pas? Here's an account of the origins of this Latin pun.
