tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63565332024-02-07T09:17:49.620+00:00The Mortal WombatA place where the Wombat can freely rant across the metaphorical plainsThe Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comBlogger245125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-49588253270252606672010-06-15T11:40:00.001+01:002010-06-15T11:42:35.108+01:00SEOing my websiteI've been working recently on a new project with my website (Jon Coe's website). At the moment it's hosted (very generously) in a dusty corner of a friend's webspace, but I'd really like to rent my own unmanaged server (partly because I enjoy getting my hands dirty with that kind of thing, but mainly because it would give me more control over the set up). It looks as though the cost would be The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-13144695150614179572009-09-01T20:20:00.003+01:002009-09-01T20:57:13.701+01:00Long time no post...Blimey! Has it really been two years?! Well, yes, obviously it has.I'm not convinced that I'm all that likely to resume regular posting, but you never know. So what's happened since May 2007?First up, Felix has grown... a lot. He's still a titch in terms of physical stature, but intellectually he's a giant. I suppose I would say that, wouldn't I? Could Bertrand Russell, at only two years old, The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-90709409339705062612007-05-24T07:32:00.000+01:002007-05-28T08:08:18.484+01:00His Dark MaterialsExciting! Just found out that the first of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy will be released as a film in December. The UK title of the book was Northern Lights, but it seems that the film will be coming out under the US title, The Golden Compass.The actress playing Lyra looks about right, and they've got Nicole Kidman playing Mrs Coulter, which is spot on (apart from the hair colour).The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-74966453451895169452007-05-05T09:01:00.000+01:002007-05-05T09:03:15.853+01:00Felix PicsI've posted pics of Felix's first couple of weeks.The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-39677829364148752292007-04-16T09:37:00.000+01:002008-12-09T19:23:51.077+00:00FelixThere's something I've been neglecting to mention for the last 9 months...L and I are pleased to announce the birth of our little boy, Felix.I was so in awe of L at his birth. Despite not having slept for 36 hours, she did it all with only 1 codeine, 2 paracetamol, and the better part of a cylinder of gas and air. We managed to get the pool at the Midwife Led Birthing Unit, so he was born The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-14397130743839281302007-03-11T10:17:00.000+00:002008-12-09T19:23:51.427+00:00A False Widow?Took the patio table and chairs out of the garage yesterday. As I was setting them up L noticed an unusual looking spider making a web on one of the chairs. Its head + abdomen length was about 7mm, and it was shiny and dark with brown splodges and a creamy band at the front of the abdomen. My first thought was that it was a Black Widow(!), so we carefully put it in a glass, and looked it up on The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-40656419210358104322007-02-16T08:08:00.000+00:002007-02-16T08:23:05.864+00:00How I spent Nadia and Kev's Christmas presentNadia and Kev got me book tokens for Christmas. I spent most of them on educational household material (some of you may be able to guess what kind of material, and others will just have to guess—stop chortling at the back, Miller). That left me with about eight quid to spend on a work of fiction for my own personal pleasure.I went straight to S and picked up a Will Self collection of short The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1169891747371052642007-01-27T09:45:00.000+00:002007-02-16T08:24:03.345+00:00Umm. I haven't been saying much recently, have I?! Well one exciting thing recently (over a fortnight ago, actually, but that's up-to-the-minute reportage by my standards) is that I've passed my driving test.I've been out on my own a few times, but I'm going to need a lot more practice before I feel at all competent. I still can't quite believe that I'm allowed to drive without L-plates or The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1165913135338794122006-12-12T08:29:00.000+00:002006-12-12T08:45:35.373+00:00L asked me this morning when the shortest day is, which made me remember some research I did in September 2004 into sunrise and sunset times.If you go to the US Naval Observatory's Astronomical Applications site, choose 'Data Services' > 'Table [...] for an entire year', and put in your location's coordinates (Cambridge is 52d 20m N, 0d 5m E), you'll get a table of sunrise/sunset times for the The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1164875739480395382006-11-30T08:07:00.000+00:002006-11-30T08:35:39.506+00:00Hostroute destroyed my familyA fortnight ago I was dismayed to find that my website was broken. The site was accessible, but it was displaying MySQL error messages. When I went to Hostroute support (Hostroute is the company that provides my webspace) I discovered this entry in their staff blog. Due to quite unbelievable levels of ineptness their contractors had done a system rebuild on the server without checking that they'dThe Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1161789972154180682006-10-25T16:26:00.000+01:002006-10-25T16:26:13.213+01:00 Amazon river 'switched direction' The Amazon once flowed east to west (a very long time ago). (tags: amazon rivers brazil south_america) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1161530674178464812006-10-22T16:24:00.000+01:002006-10-22T16:24:34.336+01:00 The life of Mohammed A well-presented account of the life of the prophet Mohammed on this Islamic site. (tags: islam mohammed quran) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1160466388715191552006-10-10T08:38:00.000+01:002006-10-11T19:19:15.360+01:00An Inconvenient TruthWe went to see An Inconvenient Truth on Saturday. The film centres on a lecture on climate change given by Al Gore, which doesn't sound like gripping subject matter, but really it was. I haven't been to many films where the audience has applauded at the end.I'd always thought of myself as reasonably ecologically responsible, but perhaps just a tad lazy. The film made me realise just how The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1159975502274920212006-10-04T16:25:00.000+01:002006-10-04T16:25:02.730+01:00 Darren Naish: Tetrapod Zoology Excellent cryptozoology blog. (tags: forteana cryptozoology darren_naish) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1158333820998220262006-09-15T16:23:00.000+01:002006-09-15T16:23:41.183+01:00 FreeICT A website set up by Anna Fairhurst, providing links to useful free ICT resources for schools. (tags: freeict education schools ict) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1157815398397410572006-09-09T16:23:00.000+01:002006-09-09T16:23:18.483+01:00 Saddam 'had no link to al-Qaeda' A 2005 CIA report released by the Senate's Intelligence Committee on Friday showed that there was no evidence of formal links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda leaders prior to the 2003 war. No shit. (tags: errorism saddam_hussein al_quaeda iraq usa) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1157642585656371152006-09-07T16:23:00.000+01:002006-09-07T16:23:06.036+01:00 'Goat-free roads made me speed' A Swiss man caught speeding on a Canadian highway has blamed his actions on the absence of goats on the roads. (tags: comedy driving speeding canada switzerland goats) Blair set to outline quit plans Twat. (tags: politics labour tony_blair) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1157210570733900262006-09-02T16:22:00.000+01:002006-09-02T16:22:50.823+01:00 Baby boom for near-extinct rhino Scientists in Indonesia have found evidence of four new rhino calves on the island of Java. Javan rhinos are one of the rarest mammals in the world. (tags: animals conservation rhinos indonesia java) Belgian town bans school French The Flemish town of Merchtem, near Brussels, has banned the use of French in its schools. (tags: belgium languages The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1155655333652964112006-08-15T16:22:00.000+01:002006-08-15T16:22:13.716+01:00 Experts meet to decide Pluto fate Astronomers are gathering in the Czech capital, Prague, hoping to define exactly what counts as a planet. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) hopes to settle the question of Pluto, which was first spotted in 1930. (tags: astronomy planets pluto) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1155050543200985242006-08-08T16:22:00.000+01:002006-08-08T16:22:36.126+01:00 Babies 'spot mathematical errors' Babies appear to be puzzled by puppet weirdness. (tags: babies child_development intelligence) Evolution reversed in mice US researchers have reconstructed a mouse gene from 500 million years ago. (tags: genetics evolution mice) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1154445720132890072006-08-01T16:22:00.000+01:002006-08-01T16:22:00.330+01:00 Brazil to take penguins back home Penguins stranded on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro will hitch a ride back home to Antarctica with Brazil's air force and navy. (tags: penguins brazil south_america antarctica) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1153408913630708962006-07-20T16:21:00.000+01:002006-07-20T16:21:53.733+01:00 Britain 'had apartheid society' Recent research, exploring the idea that the Anglo-Saxon invaders of the Dark Age achieved genetic as well as cultural dominance by the imposition of an apartheid system. (tags: asnac dark_age anglo-saxon england apartheid genetics) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1151940062411609902006-07-03T16:21:00.000+01:002006-07-03T16:21:03.200+01:00 The New Bilenky ViewPoint Tandem This tandem design is so cool. At over three grand, it might be hard persuading L, though... (tags: cycling tandems bilenky viewpoint) Bikecentennial Airbag Helmet I wonder why this helmet design never caught on? (tags: cycling helmets comedy) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1151335367479482882006-06-26T16:22:00.000+01:002006-06-26T16:22:47.573+01:00 Hitler cats! A blog dedicated to cats that look like Hitler... (tags: cats hitler comedy) The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6356533.post-1150640801635642312006-06-18T15:10:00.000+01:002006-06-18T15:26:41.656+01:00Can't really remember what else I was planning to blog about, so, umm...For a couple of reasons, I've been thinking a lot recently about the impact of rising sea-levels. It occurred to me that it would be cool to have a UK map with contour information such that it would be possible to see how the coastline would change with different sea-levels. Alex Tingle has produced a map similar to the kind The Mortal Wombathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13279566800087269086noreply@blogger.com