Updates from March, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Ven 6:20 pm on March 1, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: calm, , cars, driving, morons, road rage   

    Folk, it’s actually easier to drive well 

    See this guy? He's doing it wrong.

    As anyone paying attention to me on TwitBook will have noticed I’ve had some… “issues” with People recently.  A lot of this has stemmed from driving.  The last few days (noticeably more so than previous recent driving) I’ve seen some terribly, aggressive, inconsiderate and down-right dangerous driving from people of all ages, races, genders and manufacturer of car (that’s right – this isn’t an Audi / BMW driver rant!).
    What’s really getting to me is how much more effort it takes to drive in this manner.  I don’t care how urgent someone thinks their journey is I can guarantee them that it is not important enough to risk their life, my life and the life of the family in their car – OH yes, I’ve been seeing men and women with young children in their car driving in an amazingly dangerous way. (More …)
     

  • Ven 12:37 pm on January 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Indian food, poppadoms, puppodums, spelling   

    Even Sharwoods can’t spell poppadom 

    image

    The packets themselves say “poppadoms” yet the box they’re stacked in day “puppodums”.  Madness!

     

  • Ven 10:01 pm on November 23, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , cookies, mince pies,   

    I’d have been mad not to! 

    Behold the joy of mince pie cookies! Amazing stuff, Tesco :D Bargain at 18p a pack reduced on their date. Late evening shopping for the win.


     

  • Ven 11:41 pm on October 30, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Autobot, Halloween, Pumpkin, Transformers   

    Pumpkin In Disguise 

    The brilliant pumpkin carved and given to me by Aimee :D  I’ve been incredibly impressed with it! ^__^

    Click to see full size

     

  • Ven 5:42 pm on October 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Planning a low-power low-noise media PC – advise? 

    Starting to plan a small form factor low power drain low noise media PC so figured it’s worth while asking around the internets for advice from anyone that might have gone down this path before.

    It’ll be intended to:

    • View and record Freeview TV
    • Watch DVD / downloaded video (potentially blu-ray too but that’s a low priority right now)
    • Output full 1080p via HDMI
    • Spotify / ripped music jukebox
    • Not be used for any sort of 3D gaming (but a spot of SNES / Mega Drive emulating wouldn’t go amiss)

    It’ll need to be able to be on permanently for scheduled TV recording (or be able to come out of standby automatically to catch the show),  so low power drain is important.  So any thoughts on what I can get away with to make this all happen?  I’ve seen pretty impressive performance from Intel Atom CPUs – would that cut HD playback though?

     

  • Ven 5:56 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Playing with a macro lens.. it’s a bee! 

    A fine fellow with a fascination with guy-liner presented me with a macro lens a while ago.  Gave it a spin around a garden on a sunny day :)

    clicketty for bigger

     

  • Ven 12:28 pm on June 6, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bread, , geese, , , park, pond, weather   

    Ducks Don’t Eat When It’s Not Sunny 

    I have a theory that ducks have developed the ability to draw nourishment from the very air when the sun is not shining brightly enough to entice folk to come throw them treats otherwise why else would people only go feeding them when it’s sunny?

    Read on…. (More …)

     

  • Ven 1:40 pm on June 2, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: beer, madness, Mr 70, table   

    The Tale of Mr 70 

    While enjoying some time out on the town in Leeds there was a small mater of dispute between our gathered folk and a gentleman we later have come to affectionately know as Mr 70.  To call it a territorial dispute would be, perhaps, an overstatement but none the less the Tale of Mr 70 takes many (few) twists and turns in an epic voyage of loss, rediscovery and abandonment…. read on. (More …)

     

  • Ven 1:04 pm on March 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: birthday, , ice cream, , toys   

    Reasons being a ‘grown up’ is awesome 

    Kinder Egg - Chocolate AND a toy!

    1. You can buy a Kinder Egg whenever you want.

    2. Ice cream is a valid foodstuff for any meal, any time of the year.

    3. Getting new toys is no longer limited to Birthdays and Christmas

    4. Staying up as late as you like incurs the wrath of no body (except Future You the following morning).

    Throw me some other reasons – there must be more!  Commenting, as ever, is freely open :)

     

  • Ven 9:15 pm on March 18, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: road sign, tank   

    Best Road Sign! 

    This is the best road sign I have ever had the pleasure of seeing in the UK.  Enjoy!

     

  • Ven 12:45 pm on March 2, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: asda, jam, shreddies, soup, toast   

    Jam jam jam 

    I was really trying hard to resist heating up my soup now… so very hungry!
    It seems bowl of asda own-brand shreddies wasn’t enough this morning.
    Should have had jam on toast as well.
    I GOT JAM IN A SQUEEZY BOTTLE!  It is AMAZING.
     

  • Ven 12:32 pm on February 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: analytics, rice, site stats   

    Uncle Ben more popular that UK Broadband Tax 

    Of the two posts yesterday the coverage of my 2 minute Uncle Bens rice gathered 50% of the days traffic with my posting about the proposed UK Broadband tax gathering a mere 5%.

    Speaks volumes to what The Internet holds important methinks ;-)

    Comments, thoughts?

     

    • Maku-neko 5:52 pm on February 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      The Internet does rite, ignore the silly tax it shall, nom-nom it most certainly will.
      *belly growls*

      • Ven 3:38 pm on February 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

        Yes, feast the interwebs shall… feast on our tax :D

  • Ven 11:30 am on February 23, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2 minute rice, Food, Spiderman   

    Uncle Ben vs Uncle Ben 

    Gotten very hungry but also pretty busy and lunch isn’t till around 1:30pm for me today… Uncle Ben to the rescue! I jot these words as his 2 minute rice delight spins in the microwave to bring warm happy food to my belly. Way better than Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben. All he ever did was give advice and get killed. Uncle Ben gives good rice.

    *ping* Yush! Now to feast. Then to look forward to mixed grill times tonight. It’s a good food day.

     

  • Ven 8:19 am on January 27, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: dreams, rain, sleep   

    I dreamt it rained last night… 

    …then when I woke up it was raining outside! See, who says dreams don’t come true :D Some might say I dreamt about the raining because I heard it in my sleep but what if the rain happened because it heard ME dreamining about it?

    Posted by Wordmobi

     

    • Anonymous 7:03 pm on January 27, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Um.. why did it make this so far down? Odd. Hey, anyone else that’s not Me reading this just ignore it. Nothing Interesting is on the go here.

  • Ven 3:57 pm on December 24, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    The snow continues! Photo-evidence included. 

    There was a very real risk that the snow, pretty though it is, was going to scupper my Christmas movement plots.  Thankfully I was able to escape my street and make it to the clearer less-iced-over main roads :)  Have had a couple of, how shall I put it…, interesting driving moments – mostly involving hills and Science.  More specifically the aspects of Science dealing with gravity, momentum and friction (or lack-thereof).  Anyway, bygones.  None of my motion-based missions have resulted in slipping and falling or myself or myself contained within a car so all it well :)  I’m where I’m supposed to be for Christmas now so time to chill.  In celebration of this I post up three more pics from the snowy time all from today.

     

  • Ven 6:18 pm on December 11, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , COLD!, frost, morning,   

    Look how cold it was this morning! 

    Dawn Frost

    So very cold that all the frost on the lid of my car was stood up!

    Clickety click to see the pic in a little more detail.  Nearly gone through an entire bottle of de-icer on just two frosty mornings.  Think it’s time to figure out where my ice scraper and gloves have landed.

     

  • Ven 5:14 pm on December 5, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: center parcs, , father christmas, reindeer   

    I Found Christmas! 

    It’s a stark contrast to the chaos of Average Urban Cityscape. Christmas in your standard city, such as Leeds, is not a fun affair. People dash around in a stress-fuelled panic hurriedly gathering tributes they think their loved ones will enjoy / tolerate / feign enjoyment of and tat for those they may feel obliged to purchase for (co-workers, bosses, teachers and the like) yet they do not actually enjoy this.

    I remember the hunting of suitable items to present as a token of love and or affection and or respect to people that were important enough being a fun a joyous thing. Well, a fun thing. Well… a thing. Point being it wasn’t the madness it is now. It just isn’t possible to *feel* Christmas in your average city centre / shopping establishmentarianism. Step away from the traditional hives of commerce and forced smiles, however, and a shining beacon of Seasons Joy emerges.

    Sherwood Center Parcs has snow machines, twinkly lights wrapping around the trees, white wire-framed models of reindeer, elaborate trees and swans all equally lit (lit, I think, with lights although they might just be glowing with Christmassy Joy). There are real reindeer next to the house that Father Christmas is preparing to voyage the world bringing gifts and joy while simultaneously answering children’s letters and even greeting them personally – the man is nothing short of a Legend. All the people are smiling, the children are bursting with grins and bouncing with excitement. Everyone is being pleasant – even with strangers! I kid you not. I was taking a picture of the Village Square looking all nice and lit up and get this… people saw what I was doing and actually waited for me to be done before walking in-front of the camera. Bliss :D

    Of course I am painfully aware that once I leave here later today I shall be leaving behind some of the Christmassy feeling I have gathered up but it genuinely makes me happy to know that there is at least one place, away from the mess of the obligations of Christmas, the stress of tribute acquisition, the headache of planning travelling around to see as many people as possible, where Christmas and the feeling that goes with it have been saved.

     

  • Ven 11:14 am on December 5, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Socks   

    Not all black socks are alike 

    It’s amazing how difficult a morning routine involving black socks.

    The idea having many black socks it intended to make the waking-up-going-to-work process that little bit easier – when you’ve got to leave a 8.30am and sleep until 8.07am every second counts.  Diving out of bed and into the shower provides enough wake-up-power to the mind to enable what I like to think of as ‘getting dressed’  One of the earlier, but critical, steps in this process is the Donning Of Socks.

    The sock draw opens to reveal a murky black cottony sea.  A hand dives in and clutches at fabric blindly, pulling free a lonesome foot-glove.  That’s the easy part.  Assuming this first step has yielded a satisfactory article (not too many holes, not too thin, not too much like leggings) then The Mission begins.  You must understand… not all black socks are alike.  Some are longer, some are stretchier, some have a thin white line across the toes.  It is paramount that two socks of the same ilk be Chosen to adorn the feet of a day.  There have been occasions where the mixing of dissimilar black socks has been the only option open (save going sock-less which tends to lead to blisters and the such) and these experiences teach that, ultimately, once the initial horror of sullying your feet with such mis-matchery has subsided there is no real difference.  In the panic of Morning Routine however the Donning Of Socks remains an important ritual to get right.

     

  • Ven 11:24 am on November 14, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    Big-screen Shiny 

    My housemate got a shiny 42″ HD tellybob. Originally we were going to go halves then two things happened: his parents offered to put towards as Christmas pressy and I got all nay-sayer about HD.

    Thing is… now it’s here… and it’s a bit shiny. Still got my awesome Sony trinitron old-style telly in the lounge for my Wii and when I want to watch a DVD & The Shiny is in use (& because in a house with two gamer geeks being able to fire up more than one console at a time Is worthwhile). The Xbox 360 looks immediately better – suddenly there’s details before unseen *gasp*. DVD up-scaler does a fine job of making standard-deff video looks very good and there’s still a plot to hook my lappy up to it ;)

    May have to dig up the HD version of Transformers movie for a watch… Could see that being pretty nice.

    So, in short, I deal myself a slice of Humble Pie and admit that it is’ in fact, pretty good stuff this HD lark.

    Posted by Wordmobi

     

  • Ven 5:02 pm on November 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ba humbug, , Leeds, Merion Centre   

    Baaaah humbug… But just for now 

    Tis a cold lunchtime, the summer is a dimly lit memory hiding in the uncharted dark waters of the attic of my mind where only ghouls and characters from 80s kid-flicks dare to roam. Must be Christmas time. Oh.. Wait.. I think I’m wrong there. A glance at a calendar tells me that November is still very much with us and here to stay, for the time being at least.

    You’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s time to don red pixie hats, swill eggnog and embarrass yourself infront of the Boss though. The shops have the christmas gifts and decorations out and some terrible *terrible* people at The Merion Centre in Leeds saw fit to put all the lights, decorations and tree up in their shopping centre.

    For me it’s ruined Christmas for now. The coming of the German Christmas Market on Millenniuum square brings me some Christmas cheer, and a litre of fine Germanic beer will only help, but until December has solidly taken root it’ll be ba-humbug from me. Which means everyone can expect their gifts and cards to be a touch on the late-side ;)

    Posted by Wordmobi

     

    • Aimee 5:18 pm on November 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Yoo’s useless, Can’t even moan properly – MerRion Centre :p

      Misanthropist you. Gonna start calling you Euclio ;p

      xxxx

  • Ven 10:33 am on October 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    There Is No Cloud 

    Over the years there have been a great many technical terms bandied around. Many of these have come into popular use – many of even the least technical people will understand what an Ethernet port is now – and often this has served (much to the disgruntlement of the techie elitist types, or Nerds as they are commonly known) to improve understanding of all this computer jiggery-pokery that seems to prevalent in our daily lives now. (More …)

     

  • Ven 11:12 pm on October 6, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    Need to shave 

    I mean it’s getting quite fuzzy around the face area now.  If I’m honest I can’t actually remember when I had a trim around the chops… must have been over a week ago.

    I know in the grand scheme of things it’s not that big an issue and I suppose it’s keeping my face a little warmer in these colder mornings but I suppose the scruffiness should be tamed.  Once again left it too long for the electrical shaverizer so to the mega-fusion-multi-blade it shall be.

    I’m sure shaving isn’t really as exciting as Gillette tell me it is.

     

    • Aimeeeeeeeeeeee 11:22 pm on October 6, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DON’T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      Save the snugglefuzz for meeeeeeeeeeeeeee

    • Ven 11:30 pm on October 6, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      It’s ok, I’ll grow some more for you ;)

  • Ven 12:49 pm on September 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    Noodles are, in fact, awesome. 

    The amazing awesomeness of awesome noodles should never be underestimated.

    There are, of course, many fine varieties of noodle – the cup noodle, the ramen noodle, the soba noodle, the instant noodle – which are all awesome in their own way. This way is commonly known as “awesome”.

    I frequently enjoy instant noodles – the Ko-Lee noodles, Kimchi, Mr Noodle (or Noodle-san as many, i.e. me, affectionately call them), and enjoy ramen and such noodles from fine noodle-based establishments in Leeds (Fuji Hiro, Little Tokyo – never ever Wagamama).

    From this I conclude that noodles are awesome.

     

  • Ven 12:48 pm on September 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Points! Now with added Points! 

    Karl earned a smoooooooooth 10 points for correctly knowing that I devoured Chicken flavour Ko-Lee noodles.
    Paul netted himself 5 points for calling SHENANIGANS!!! on Karl.

    Paul T: 5
    Alun: 35
    Tiggs: 10
    Jonny Mc: 20
    Marc: 50
    Gareth: 8
    Ruth: 60
    Fish: 35
    Elric: 12
    Joe B.: 10
    Caroline: 70
    Karl: 75
    Johnnio Martinez: 80
    Aimee: 100

     

  • Ven 6:54 am on August 12, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    Commenting tweaked on SpaceCookies… you may post a comment without registering and without even posting your name or email address *gasp*. This is probably a very silly idea but we shall see how it goes. Wanted to remove barriers to commenting (not that I expect anyone will).

    On with the day rejoicing! Hmm, Firefox tells me that’s how that should be spelt but ‘rejoyceing’ seems much more sensible to me but then who I am to ponder such things – some people find that rain makes them wet and that warmth makes them dry.. madness.

     

  • Ven 4:10 pm on August 11, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    So yeah, should probably think about getting some side-bar widgets on the go. Sticking with this *very* basic theme for the time being. Will do the trick as no others really seem to fit what I want (or have links to gambling and bingo sites rooted into them with some crazy-ass base64 encoded madness).

    Just watched first ep of Avatar: The Last Airbender – catching up a little late as this appeared in 2004 – which I though was just peachy ^_^ A western animated series, with some oriental influence, with a good story, interesting characters *and* good animation?? Well my word… how rare! Of course my challenge is to get it all watched before the M. Night Shamone film appears.

    Right.. mostly pointless post – good. Sleep seems prudent. ZZzz…

     

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