tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354097042024-03-05T09:02:57.965+00:00Random DrivelMindless Ramblings and Pointless Anecdotes from the Keyboard of Tom DaveyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-48313931422428659172009-09-18T02:56:00.003+01:002009-09-18T03:01:05.693+01:00Look what I foundThe asute amongst you will have already noticed this photo on facebook, but I needed something to make a new post about, so I'm putting it up here too:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOhEATx4Ki_FRbJuEfONfwwMUWNLPrbwu3x9Glm10rInC5U5-FvLYF6iWnRazg7-Wu_tBTGkEXaTs_XUuQi9oPaTASrATs4-bmrol07LlFO8yPzIp6RQnnfYzJMOE7fNj711GZCw/s1600-h/DSCF1689-1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOhEATx4Ki_FRbJuEfONfwwMUWNLPrbwu3x9Glm10rInC5U5-FvLYF6iWnRazg7-Wu_tBTGkEXaTs_XUuQi9oPaTASrATs4-bmrol07LlFO8yPzIp6RQnnfYzJMOE7fNj711GZCw/s400/DSCF1689-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382620842102353362" border="0" /></a><br />I found the screw (not the penny, that's just there for scale) with my back tyre on Tuesday, which made 3 punctures of my inner tube (the first 2 from the screw going in one side & out the other). After an hour of trying the patch it failed, I had to go and buy a new tube. Boooo.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-59802543313667299042009-07-03T00:23:00.003+01:002009-07-03T00:28:09.396+01:00Something that I found in my picture archiveThe photo is from February 2006, I've just put the caption on properly now in the traditional style of a demotivator. Enjoy.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKZ__dCEp7guG9P4C0VC3jAxIUU2Pft8Qx1-_LW-TldRgQyD5G_UfMrpF6SIQOZcQmPi5eQ15HBO7CTnXirygDgotU-h5VFSdAl3WyOs8JU6szuNoXbIbLu7ltSW_oFnYxMbqSAw/s1600-h/2+halves+empty.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 281px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKZ__dCEp7guG9P4C0VC3jAxIUU2Pft8Qx1-_LW-TldRgQyD5G_UfMrpF6SIQOZcQmPi5eQ15HBO7CTnXirygDgotU-h5VFSdAl3WyOs8JU6szuNoXbIbLu7ltSW_oFnYxMbqSAw/s400/2+halves+empty.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354008487472678002" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-4909911191122693002009-06-21T13:07:00.002+01:002009-06-21T13:18:02.621+01:00More politico reality-warpingThis is from our latest Lib Dem 'Focus' newsheet (number 89):<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOv7xcPggH9YOP1HkNUFGJwgiV9IHN3sElUTykcDK_DN8_C8UduJC2WoxJOkp8_K_F139TaGELx0p302Hn9t9bZ5gyaSIrxTWALxjJ9_9NqJPDUjaWCMGwdNjehMTYbY5X-nm03w/s1600-h/lib+dem+graph.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 303px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOv7xcPggH9YOP1HkNUFGJwgiV9IHN3sElUTykcDK_DN8_C8UduJC2WoxJOkp8_K_F139TaGELx0p302Hn9t9bZ5gyaSIrxTWALxjJ9_9NqJPDUjaWCMGwdNjehMTYbY5X-nm03w/s320/lib+dem+graph.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349751866624973298" border="0" /></a><br />I'm not sure what they're cheering about - the message of this graph is not 'only the Lib Dems can beat the Tories' (which plainly, they didn't), it's 'the Lib Dems recieved a slightly less round thrashing from the Tories than anyone else'.<br />I notice that the statistic that they've chosen to present is also very narrow, 'councillors <span style="font-style: italic;">in Cardiff North</span>' - not Cardiff as a whole.<br /><br />I may be back with more once I've actually read it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-18511117450084527972009-06-10T13:48:00.010+01:002009-06-10T14:00:26.059+01:00Photographic Self-Promotion #6, Castell CochA few weeks ago, I decided to use some of my copious free time to cycle to Castell Coch and take some photos (I also ate a banana, and drank some water). You may notice that the castle itself is not in any of the photos, so I suppose you'll just have to take my word for it that they were taken there.<br />Castell Coch was built by The Marquis of Bute in 1871 (completed 1891) as a hunting lodge, and was barely used.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb54p18kW0xKtSjP0KM93EHcnz8UKfBnK0dG6wZtSBIEDGNzOF5jaYfI-ttdDcOInHYOxRE78hldTD-J7qmq6c35AoGEW0ADKYMm5-XPPsghSgPbc-6ybHmQgAYyh10euwOc9xyA/s1600-h/DSCF0448.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb54p18kW0xKtSjP0KM93EHcnz8UKfBnK0dG6wZtSBIEDGNzOF5jaYfI-ttdDcOInHYOxRE78hldTD-J7qmq6c35AoGEW0ADKYMm5-XPPsghSgPbc-6ybHmQgAYyh10euwOc9xyA/s200/DSCF0448.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345681928100436418" border="1" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0f69q7ztTkDO2VACRmJvZ0mwp3fICmx7ofeL1uQ6c_ZOJKESwgIY2gX7gi1MYV17jXzUGw4IrLQapYPwBymkep8B5vhlpezaazrZgSdSz11PJGTEOt3EkNuPQkmap3tcMPoZoDg/s1600-h/DSCF0444.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0f69q7ztTkDO2VACRmJvZ0mwp3fICmx7ofeL1uQ6c_ZOJKESwgIY2gX7gi1MYV17jXzUGw4IrLQapYPwBymkep8B5vhlpezaazrZgSdSz11PJGTEOt3EkNuPQkmap3tcMPoZoDg/s200/DSCF0444.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345681824573843090" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhIog_jHG-yivaIlzRF4vI8FijDNZTjJp-r6-b7HYKiCHTFWfTvtR9yuOEEsZzbl91-Tm4bm_rQ2qRUvsbDKxJKxaZ4ieFDax_fRH_HopZ0Mt75B6ut4EH2x5aBwQpH0LG-OBOTw/s1600-h/DSCF0468.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhIog_jHG-yivaIlzRF4vI8FijDNZTjJp-r6-b7HYKiCHTFWfTvtR9yuOEEsZzbl91-Tm4bm_rQ2qRUvsbDKxJKxaZ4ieFDax_fRH_HopZ0Mt75B6ut4EH2x5aBwQpH0LG-OBOTw/s200/DSCF0468.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345682419273234578" border="1" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoaU4CWkTYAOH-EGO27GdunxIPLzRnYtNxA4y4ceTyLwTEdC4LwQNV26vt921qwgHaWLsVOltFUR0YtvCysoQrhH-tFofgc8iJgSi1bDNGCDowcpcxFh98FIesHnB2WtEQPc_wfg/s1600-h/DSCF0465-1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoaU4CWkTYAOH-EGO27GdunxIPLzRnYtNxA4y4ceTyLwTEdC4LwQNV26vt921qwgHaWLsVOltFUR0YtvCysoQrhH-tFofgc8iJgSi1bDNGCDowcpcxFh98FIesHnB2WtEQPc_wfg/s200/DSCF0465-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345682342596294994" border="1" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ1paoo1MeD0a7E3j1aI_DpIeFMFVcFOqznZnp5BfvmDClyqHijHZ1zHuJXZTUEInfAUKCMk8HV58V1zGgLMGLB7ueka9z65MtTDIkf7M97m9G9wk7Skjzuy55hsY8YcpcGSVi3Q/s1600-h/DSCF0447.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ1paoo1MeD0a7E3j1aI_DpIeFMFVcFOqznZnp5BfvmDClyqHijHZ1zHuJXZTUEInfAUKCMk8HV58V1zGgLMGLB7ueka9z65MtTDIkf7M97m9G9wk7Skjzuy55hsY8YcpcGSVi3Q/s200/DSCF0447.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345682230563189362" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCnudVvQuG4E8gGdCiueUw5S_WzRmLTc3slpPWtO9Vaub0JeRX5vnLIYJonSosdHgs63YdVCXkMNAIO0qY504b5U_qnZ5P64bFaBw46Mul9YpY1HkgxsgP6GIbPaTjGZ2-rkIP5g/s1600-h/DSCF0474.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCnudVvQuG4E8gGdCiueUw5S_WzRmLTc3slpPWtO9Vaub0JeRX5vnLIYJonSosdHgs63YdVCXkMNAIO0qY504b5U_qnZ5P64bFaBw46Mul9YpY1HkgxsgP6GIbPaTjGZ2-rkIP5g/s200/DSCF0474.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345682509471076386" border="1" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcG2bZCdpGPE762B9pujTFGQZ0w67TCtKDsVBl6sPVkCy82XZ6XnQYzmaYTETtHEiDYXkjrD3pvjRMWVxjQocRZ9rIaWz_VhaYEJx8lIAmNvfgD7kaIUbLIbgWPGx13ObPmRez6Q/s1600-h/DSCF0442.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcG2bZCdpGPE762B9pujTFGQZ0w67TCtKDsVBl6sPVkCy82XZ6XnQYzmaYTETtHEiDYXkjrD3pvjRMWVxjQocRZ9rIaWz_VhaYEJx8lIAmNvfgD7kaIUbLIbgWPGx13ObPmRez6Q/s200/DSCF0442.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345681727788764274" border="1" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-26153404835461747942009-06-09T11:29:00.005+01:002009-06-09T11:41:11.077+01:00Photographic Self-Promotion #5, More St. FagansDespite being taken more than 9 months later, this next bunch of pictures from St. Fagans are the next set (chronologically) of interesting pictures that I have.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflvOO_Ttk2PBjiYn_OvTHloWm2WV8owvlLKRhFB38CVJi1eQJMuGCgVDbLf-aJoEoy6Slwwmc5hpVzQLfqA31Yq1mrtlH5KYNvnO0X-grm1SlTbhigS9t7nuXnM9yX9v3rqfLwg/s1600-h/DSCF6979-1.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflvOO_Ttk2PBjiYn_OvTHloWm2WV8owvlLKRhFB38CVJi1eQJMuGCgVDbLf-aJoEoy6Slwwmc5hpVzQLfqA31Yq1mrtlH5KYNvnO0X-grm1SlTbhigS9t7nuXnM9yX9v3rqfLwg/s400/DSCF6979-1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345274925680706498" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsuJxQspRZuBWE0Kh1SMOFlZgEDJ9qFuLTOTGKy_gKuSwc0JigWic76IwEp_WpsOnnACYKakKK7yRJ64RjwtBLivRV-_X6S1IAu68haXpWROdMcpdG0i6xJUXuSmy6caw8ukMT6w/s1600-h/DSCF7022.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsuJxQspRZuBWE0Kh1SMOFlZgEDJ9qFuLTOTGKy_gKuSwc0JigWic76IwEp_WpsOnnACYKakKK7yRJ64RjwtBLivRV-_X6S1IAu68haXpWROdMcpdG0i6xJUXuSmy6caw8ukMT6w/s400/DSCF7022.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345275368086887250" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxMbJqRIkEfO_Kss_RdfoTYGIDUAiMwLlsLFHwec-yARicBJx8uFoyEFc3tjb1WzazboYd2JK6LQkLKth5ZOFitANTYNkD0S_DLyASRBty90FcAVJqQQO4n81qwbpATX8G50MvLw/s1600-h/DSCF7010.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxMbJqRIkEfO_Kss_RdfoTYGIDUAiMwLlsLFHwec-yARicBJx8uFoyEFc3tjb1WzazboYd2JK6LQkLKth5ZOFitANTYNkD0S_DLyASRBty90FcAVJqQQO4n81qwbpATX8G50MvLw/s400/DSCF7010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345275102120690434" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-4442541480469917802009-06-09T00:51:00.003+01:002009-06-09T11:29:51.245+01:0095% of blogs abandonedNews just in from the nerd community, apparently 95% of blogs are abandoned. Well, now it's (95% -1).<br />Don't worry, I have some new photos for more self promotion in the pipeline. I also have a photo of the complete rood screen, and very rood it is too (I may have to censor it before I put it up!).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-19391008152167618932008-05-03T17:43:00.005+01:002009-06-09T01:01:56.127+01:00Photographic Self-Promotion #4, St. FagansIt was a bit flooded, this is the path to the timber circle:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia_P2gj89DtDOfxDKm016hrhTWJSOzvxyl1CABzyjDkwok7619z9d-Un4eTqsq6REziFPyGsb69dM17xHYM7jO9C4EHYWRdAiNG8TbndJimxz5Lvh3dZxiCTNct4yXLzx9S3eJSA/s1600-h/DSCF6170-2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia_P2gj89DtDOfxDKm016hrhTWJSOzvxyl1CABzyjDkwok7619z9d-Un4eTqsq6REziFPyGsb69dM17xHYM7jO9C4EHYWRdAiNG8TbndJimxz5Lvh3dZxiCTNct4yXLzx9S3eJSA/s400/DSCF6170-2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196194519153689330" border="0" /></a><br />And this is the shiny new church which they've built:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJBqnqfbtIZ4ovV46BdOfmCh_dqBF_GE_OwFeBhHEDf_oZrsFeXLanDUjRJ8K0cwvhbMGWA5suLHmkS82-I8EpoYNxtwIxKxSvT84kp3TPKyw7V8vcYoz5uy9ykOfsYVd1dDaWRQ/s1600-h/DSCF6166-1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJBqnqfbtIZ4ovV46BdOfmCh_dqBF_GE_OwFeBhHEDf_oZrsFeXLanDUjRJ8K0cwvhbMGWA5suLHmkS82-I8EpoYNxtwIxKxSvT84kp3TPKyw7V8vcYoz5uy9ykOfsYVd1dDaWRQ/s400/DSCF6166-1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196195283657868034" border="0" /></a><br />It's apparently called the rood screen, but I can't see what's rood about itUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-36052558755822213872008-04-30T21:14:00.003+01:002008-05-01T01:21:16.463+01:00ElectioneeringHulloooooooo.<br /><br />I'm back again with another serious post, this time about the impending local elections.<br />I have only just gone and looked at the official candidates list, and it appears that in my ward (Gabalfa) there are 2 each from: Labour; the Lib Dems; The Conservatives & Plaid, and one from the Green party. This leaves me with the dilemma of having no protest vote or independent to vote for. I also cannot fathom what any of them stand for:<br /><ul><li>From Labour and the Lib Dem's escalating war of leaflets, I gather that both of them stand for opposing each other and telling me that I must vote for them to keep the other out.</li><li>From Plaid, the Conservatives and the Greens, we have no information at all (well, the Conservative may have popped some drivel through the door a few weeks ago, but I've forgotten what it said), but Plaid have a standing policy of trying to force Welsh down my throat and The Greens are opposed to nuclear power and western civilisation in general.<br /></li></ul>I also can't truly gauge the mood of the neighbourhood; a quick scan of the street has: 1 house voting Lib Dem; 1 Conservative; 1 Green; 1 voting Labour who have managed to put a sign up in their neighbour's garden too; no-one voting Plaid; and several people voting for a variety of estate agents.<br /><br />On another note: Gerard for the win in Ely!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-55377268112623933142007-09-23T03:12:00.000+01:002007-09-23T03:21:09.621+01:00Petty Grumble #3Baby Talk.<br />No, not what babies say; what people say to babies.<br />In particular what they say as they cradle them up & down to try and get them to stop crying. My Grandmother is the worst offender for this, her favourite phrase when trying to get my newest niece, Lexi, to stop crying is "it doesn't matter".<br />I mean, what's 'it' that doesn't matter? The Northern Rock fiasco? The rugby result? Foot & Mouth disease? I suspect that Lexi has not the time, the inclination nor the comprehension to care about any of these things. 'it' probably refers to her being hungry, being in need of winding or being otherwise discomforted, and for a baby, these things do matter and no amount of telling them otherwise will make a h'apeth of difference.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-25238489574528359582007-08-26T21:35:00.001+01:002009-06-09T01:03:11.732+01:00Fly TippingThat's an unpleasant title, isn't it? So is the subject itself. Fly tipping makes the place look a mess, there's no question about that (although if you're on the lookout for stuff that you can re-use, following the advice of the wombles, it's a gold mine).<br />What, however, is the best way to deal with it?<br />Well, I saw in the local rag yesterday a piece that Cardiff Council plans to spend £20,000 on CCTV at popular fly-tipping sites to try and catch the nefarious types, along with a battery of other expensive measures.<br />Dear Cardiff Council, here's a clue:<br />The best way to combat fly tipping is to make it easier to legitimately dispose of your waste than to fly-tip it.<br /><ol><li>At fly-tipping hotspots, and this is a real innovation; leave a skip for people to put rubbish in!</li><li>If someone's bin if full to bursting, it means that they have a lot of rubbish and it needs collecting. Leaving their bin, full, at the kerbside is utterly counter-productive and a danger to public health.</li><li>Make municipal dumps easier to use (like not requiring people to own cars to be able to use them). There's a dump around the corner from where I live, apart from very bulky items, it would be possible to walk around there with rubbish, but we have to drive instead - if we didn't own a car, we simply wouldn't be able to dump our rubbish.</li><li>Stop charging for commercial waste disposal - it's rubbish, it goes in the dump, that's what dumps are for. Making it hard for people to do that (by charging a really substantial amount of money) is going to make it harder to get by without fly-tipping - legitimate tradesmen who do things properly have to pass that cost on to their customers, who are now more likely to go with the cheaper option of using cowboys.</li><li>Structure your recycling rules such that if in doubt, you put things in the green bag, rather than the black one.</li><li>When people call up to get bulky items collected, have enough capacity to be able to offer them an appointment within 24-36 hours, rather than next week. Most people don't want an old sofa to sit in their front garden for a week before it's collected. Nor do they want dangerous items like old fridges to sit around any longer than necessary.</li></ol>See; simple, sensible, solutions - I suppose that means that there's no chance of the council employing me now :-(Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-52810429707867696012007-05-18T21:56:00.000+01:002007-05-18T22:56:39.837+01:00I have a serious point to makewould you believe it?<br />Anyway, my serious point regards John Sweeney's piece about the 'Church' of Scientology on Panorama. Unfortunately, I was nominally revising, so didn't see the entire piece, but that's somewhat immaterial. What I want to discuss is the major talking point, John Sweeney losing his temper. See this video (from the scientology people):<br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hxqR5NPhtLI"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hxqR5NPhtLI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br />And then there's the BBC's version:<br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WA5VsSF6FZA"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WA5VsSF6FZA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br />Now, it should be noted that even in the BBC's version, he's losing control of his voice, but in the CoS version, the sound is actually distorting - either they're using cheap equipment OR they've deliberately manipulated it to make it seem like it was louder than it was.<br /><br />Now, my point on the whole issue is this, this Tommy Davies character could have wound John up, made him explode, and got a great capital out of it. Maybe he thinks that he did.<br /><br />He didn't. See the thing he didn't do was <i>shut up</i>. Had he allowed John to shout and then calmly responded he may have managed to acquire the intellectual high ground. As it was he just kept his condescending monotone waffle talking right through him (which also shows the value he has for his own point of view). Maybe he was hoping that by continuing to talk and winding John up further he could keep him shouting and come out on top.<br /><br />It didn't work. You see, the thing that Tommy failed to realise is that we've all seen his type before and most of us aren't impressed when we see the archetypal 5-year-old putting his fingers in his ears and going "la la la la, I can't hear you". That's what Tommy is doing and it's the last refuge of someone who realises that his argument has run out of steam. Another five year old would probably have hit him. Maybe he was hoping to keep John shouting and try to look good for not being a raving madman.<br /><br />It failed. I, and I suspect many others, saw past the shouting man to the other man who was deliberately winding him up. Being the person losing their rag is bad; being the person who deliberately winds them up is worse.<br /><br />Now, back to Tommy. If you watch the BBC clip right through, you'll see another little gambit with the roles reversed and this time John demonstrates far better how to deal with an angry shouting person. John is talking about the CoS and qualifies it with the phrase "some say it's a sinister cult" and Tommy leaps on this and goes off on one about religious freedom and storms off, refusing to answer John's really very valid point about freedom of speech. (While it maybe be Tommy's right to hold whatever religious beliefs that he wants, it's equally Johns right to label it a sinister cult.) Now, it's interesting to notice that it takes him a good few seconds to erupt, during which time it becomes clear as to where John's line of questioning is going. Is it taking Tommy a while to wrest back control of his anger behind those dark glasses or did he figure out what the question was going to be about and quickly backtrack so he could shout about some side topic before leaving quickly? Also, if he has such great faith in his beliefs why does he get so angry that someone who doesn't share them doesn't put so much stock in them? (Which, in fact, wasn't even the case since John was simply quoting a oft-repeated popular opinion of scientology).<br /><br />Kudos to the BBC for tackling this head on and not letting the CoS silence them (or at least getting a lot of it out there). The CoS may have thought that agreeing to do this would give them some good publicity and show the world that they're going mainstream. It hasn't. They're the same bunch of raving nutters and winding a BBC reporter up to the point of getting him shouting has only reinforced that view. Perhaps they thought they could break and discredit the BBC. They haven't. It's going to take quite a lot to shake the BBC's reputation for (normally) quality journalism and this wasn't enough. Go for a smaller fish.<br /><br />So, in conclusion, a few tips for Tommy:<br /><ul><li>Don't wind people up.</li><li>Don't talk over people.</li><li>Don't go for the condescending monologue, it doesn't look good.</li><li>Don't go banging on about your right to hold religious beliefs; it doesn't extend to forcing others to respect them or not call them a cult.</li></ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-43879779137613790372007-04-16T19:33:00.000+01:002007-04-16T19:39:22.984+01:00Exams(this is my fourth attempt to write this post)<br />My exam timetable has finally come through and it's na' lookin' good! I know the rest of you will doubtless be as shocked and apalled as I am at this travesty - I have an exam at 9:00 AM on a Saturday. A Saturday! There are no suitable words to express my horror at the prospect of this dreadful event.<br /><br />Anyway, enough drama-queening.<br /><br />My new jacket was looking highly stylish yesterday as was my new tie! Although I wore the jacket when I sat down, which creased the back and then I took it off to sit down and hung it from the back of the chair, which then creased the collar...<br />Here are some more photos from last weekend:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/Thomas.Davey/RiO-J5AxLmI/AAAAAAAAABk/u_YRbSaLVYY/dscf3590.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/Thomas.Davey/RiO-J5AxLmI/AAAAAAAAABk/u_YRbSaLVYY/dscf3590.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/Thomas.Davey/RiO-ypAxLnI/AAAAAAAAABs/hYH5cAfWGnE/dscf3567.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/Thomas.Davey/RiO-ypAxLnI/AAAAAAAAABs/hYH5cAfWGnE/dscf3567.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/Thomas.Davey/RiO_GJAxLoI/AAAAAAAAAB0/SFDz3Q9XHLo/dscf3626.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/Thomas.Davey/RiO_GJAxLoI/AAAAAAAAAB0/SFDz3Q9XHLo/dscf3626.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/Thomas.Davey/RiO_VJAxLpI/AAAAAAAAAB8/nEfWyRIhaas/dscf3630.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/Thomas.Davey/RiO_VJAxLpI/AAAAAAAAAB8/nEfWyRIhaas/dscf3630.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-88830561841333977262007-04-13T11:34:00.000+01:002008-12-11T02:07:34.884+00:00*nonchalant whistling* Reduxok... so I've been away even longer this time. I just don't get much time to write my blog. My thanks to the people who have commented on my blog - at least someone is reading it (sorry about not publishing your comments earlier, I'd forgotten that I'd turned comment moderation on). Not a great deal has been happening (that's, of course, not true - I just can't think of anything to write about) but I too went for the walk at the Brecon mountain centre on Monday and, er, well, I got to the top. I also got the opportunity to chuck a disc around (which was nice) and take some arty photos.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRSxCsaK7iQ9B5NW2ZlhbSSpdnqGijzNWP-_Ll6MebxLVOmXUpJktvGbjIbUWhRj6lWZSKRFgXYW_hh8-TaN6gmqzEO-quUcXxX_Dae6rczbeC-1y5ZJif1ujJ7YlaQZ-SefdXIw/s1600-h/DSCF3658.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRSxCsaK7iQ9B5NW2ZlhbSSpdnqGijzNWP-_Ll6MebxLVOmXUpJktvGbjIbUWhRj6lWZSKRFgXYW_hh8-TaN6gmqzEO-quUcXxX_Dae6rczbeC-1y5ZJif1ujJ7YlaQZ-SefdXIw/s320/DSCF3658.JPG" alt="Arty photo" title="Arty photo" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052871581252005458" border="0" /></a>I was also impressed with my own ability to run around the circle without falling over in pain.<br />Another interesting happening this week is my acquisition of a new suit and a dinnerjacket and an additional jacket - I shall be the most handsomest young man on the cruise this summer (which, if last year's cruise is anything to go by, will be a win by default). I was might impressed at how much the jacket cost, since it came from the Next shop at MacArthur Glen and was... (*drumroll*) £14, down from £75. Although, the dinnerjacket was free so that was better. Whilst I was at the factory outlet village (which I shall henceforce go back to calling MacArthur Glen, since it's shorter) I took the opportunity to pop into Moss Bros. and get a proper dress shirt - you can always tell when you've bought a shirt from Moss Bros. because it comes attached to the cardboard with real metal pins rather than plastic clips. Anyone doing some sewing and want some pins?<br />I also went for a bit of a walk on Good Friday & Easter Saturday. On Good Friday we went to 'the canal' although quite where it is is a mystery. Anyway, I took some photos there:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiUrydMOPnAmiq8yMRU4CJzLIe7t48c6ISX8cLoBhIWubH0fz6d79Xg4rWFqu4-wC-21e8SHcBSHEDd9WvhXSX0Eap7bMcNYQAfPCQbOhHDHNyuRPeJln2kMipjmNxGV_c4rkP0Q/s1600-h/dscf3564.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiUrydMOPnAmiq8yMRU4CJzLIe7t48c6ISX8cLoBhIWubH0fz6d79Xg4rWFqu4-wC-21e8SHcBSHEDd9WvhXSX0Eap7bMcNYQAfPCQbOhHDHNyuRPeJln2kMipjmNxGV_c4rkP0Q/s200/dscf3564.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052867977774443986" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXUXon1WIJ5p9YQ_coDymE9XmlUeESB4GDswlVefLf66WjEeVHi50qf4w0Udmazc3WqF9wU3JqB0sJdVV9H1xhT53SK4W5ctAMmCRR6X7VZRnqaItqJ9hyphenhyphenuMGEQdmDFxQcBFdfQ/s1600-h/dscf3575.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXUXon1WIJ5p9YQ_coDymE9XmlUeESB4GDswlVefLf66WjEeVHi50qf4w0Udmazc3WqF9wU3JqB0sJdVV9H1xhT53SK4W5ctAMmCRR6X7VZRnqaItqJ9hyphenhyphenuMGEQdmDFxQcBFdfQ/s200/dscf3575.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052868630609472994" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyjUFbMqxUKSXoBHwHYe1MAusw2cb999JopWr2gEZmgjSusQc1Nfo5X7zdd1X8TNhR_3Vsd8JAnKpYquVJMDePDEORdECHpwN0WchNIEINLfSg7UW9XWXceyPRsWFZesf_8y0w9A/s1600-h/dscf3562-1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyjUFbMqxUKSXoBHwHYe1MAusw2cb999JopWr2gEZmgjSusQc1Nfo5X7zdd1X8TNhR_3Vsd8JAnKpYquVJMDePDEORdECHpwN0WchNIEINLfSg7UW9XWXceyPRsWFZesf_8y0w9A/s200/dscf3562-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052867724371373506" border="0" /></a><br />Then, on Easter Saturday we went on an arduous walk up a mountain (well, we drove to the car park at the top of Caerphilly mountain and walked a few hundred yards (sorry, meters) over to the trig point). I took some photos there too:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGWfiT-fvH_3te1JhPlTzKmRlzpjprQ5rmGLZX6eToCUHBs-9-DXp9FZOsRQmmqYKVwTt318KYIQATynngwUSHWkF9EORd2zQCWgHs-fvosKo73GFuQ46a4NifVB1ymAOxQ2Tyxg/s1600-h/dscf3615.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGWfiT-fvH_3te1JhPlTzKmRlzpjprQ5rmGLZX6eToCUHBs-9-DXp9FZOsRQmmqYKVwTt318KYIQATynngwUSHWkF9EORd2zQCWgHs-fvosKo73GFuQ46a4NifVB1ymAOxQ2Tyxg/s200/dscf3615.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052869605567049202" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL9-IJSblX18T5TKOok4kDCx-5LH_PaGOd8q2Nw98x_efx3PexOaCqRpz_mR5pFdj3IB6bCesu0U7sXs5sQrKjLyAvG1wOUqTf20tkrWDp-UREcbrbfADY3vp-UBIVIyFWZ6hEHQ/s1600-h/dscf3619.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL9-IJSblX18T5TKOok4kDCx-5LH_PaGOd8q2Nw98x_efx3PexOaCqRpz_mR5pFdj3IB6bCesu0U7sXs5sQrKjLyAvG1wOUqTf20tkrWDp-UREcbrbfADY3vp-UBIVIyFWZ6hEHQ/s200/dscf3619.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052869846085217794" border="0" /></a><br />Then we went over to The Wenallt, and I took some more photos there:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JBzX1qUjQ5YYmhyphenhyphenHQSAv-08vi_w0rSBcET3y66Gs0WBeVKOS6hWQbNinm7vCM9yWPDtVS3YROZs4fs9mT0OZYBijH4e2wngyo2jMPOag_cLLVAbMYhj0ESexJCkglEb8YAa06w/s1600-h/dscf3624.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JBzX1qUjQ5YYmhyphenhyphenHQSAv-08vi_w0rSBcET3y66Gs0WBeVKOS6hWQbNinm7vCM9yWPDtVS3YROZs4fs9mT0OZYBijH4e2wngyo2jMPOag_cLLVAbMYhj0ESexJCkglEb8YAa06w/s200/dscf3624.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052870301351751186" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtkP7BR3EGPK5E5SzqKOztGba3Mw7fo0dwLGq6iFYtvd5kHrafu0BXOS4fpL05zigdzmDvCm_dO8hnNGWWLt94nnAaf5hb4r7k9WD3Rg-ArqwBHiYnmLVzvrHarDlUp1yd2KPrQ/s1600-h/dscf3627.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtkP7BR3EGPK5E5SzqKOztGba3Mw7fo0dwLGq6iFYtvd5kHrafu0BXOS4fpL05zigdzmDvCm_dO8hnNGWWLt94nnAaf5hb4r7k9WD3Rg-ArqwBHiYnmLVzvrHarDlUp1yd2KPrQ/s200/dscf3627.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052870546164887074" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAivQNjGhsO2a8gXQJIDK4WeyL6Twe90yE-iK4AJfbT_titkGq2E2VBK8YKgCbdP3Jc8Wsx8EOwXOvz8z_ICJbsktHizKczS8aP5I3kbdEkgYjpE8AwaVWjuMbSdocuXtTZfskgw/s1600-h/dscf3631.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAivQNjGhsO2a8gXQJIDK4WeyL6Twe90yE-iK4AJfbT_titkGq2E2VBK8YKgCbdP3Jc8Wsx8EOwXOvz8z_ICJbsktHizKczS8aP5I3kbdEkgYjpE8AwaVWjuMbSdocuXtTZfskgw/s200/dscf3631.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052870799567957554" border="0" /></a><br />Then we popped into my grandmother's house on the way home and I took a photo of a daffodil there:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_kzmSrAbPsR3YFz0zSFvX-eqMA1Wd2_-QAufwvpsNGfMKPWP44xei0ZqzrvHejaHIYkWFo6cKY-UXREVWcet83Op6oL5cY4ePiPZ3rclfquXsS38QZWU09ili2kMwBgW8pTMGXA/s1600-h/dscf3652.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_kzmSrAbPsR3YFz0zSFvX-eqMA1Wd2_-QAufwvpsNGfMKPWP44xei0ZqzrvHejaHIYkWFo6cKY-UXREVWcet83Op6oL5cY4ePiPZ3rclfquXsS38QZWU09ili2kMwBgW8pTMGXA/s200/dscf3652.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052871319259000386" border="0" /></a><br />Isn't the world a photogenic place?<br /><br />Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to be getting on with.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-1168194288440617702007-01-07T18:12:00.000+00:002007-03-22T23:11:40.546+00:00*nonchalant whistling*Away? me? never.<br />Anyway, something exciting to write about. I got some spam. Actually, I get lots of spam, but this particular bit caught my eye. It's a phishing attempt to get the details for my nonexistent PayPal account. Here's the text:<br /><blockquote><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dear valued PayPalr member:</span><br /><br />Due to concerns, for the safety and integrity of the paypal<br />account we have issued this warning message.<br /><br />It has come to our attention that your PayPalr account information needs to be<br />updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to<br />reduce the instance of fraud on our website. If you could please take 5-10 minutes<br />out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into<br />any future problems with the online service.<br /><br /><br />However, failure to update your records will result in account suspension.<br />Please update your records on or before within 24 hours<br /><br />Once you have updated your account records your paypal account<br />service will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.<br /><br />To update your PayPalr records click on the following link:<br />https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run<br /><br />Thank You.<br />PayPalr UPDATE TEAM<br /></blockquote>The interesting thing that first leaped out at me was the fact that whoever wrote it couldn't spell 'PayPal' for toffee (except in the message subject). The second thing was that it referred to PayPal customers as 'members' and the third thing was the fact that it described PayPal members as 'valued'. That was the dead giveaway - PayPal doesn't value its customers, it makes them sign terms of service which allow it to change the terms of service unilaterally and assume agreement and allows them to 'fine' their customers by draining their bank accounts if it doesn't like what they use the service for.<br />Spammers 0 - 0 PayPalUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-1161715455326959812006-10-24T19:23:00.000+01:002006-10-31T20:56:40.516+00:00Photographic Self-Promotion #4, Another FjordJust one this time:<br /><a href="http://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf1158zh1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/9858/dscf1158zh1.th.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Ok, I'm certain this is the last night when it got dark now (I think...). I think I must've taken this one from indoors in "The Observatory" one of the many bars/lounges on the ship, it's also the plushest of them all. I wandered up there (it's on the uppermost 'proper' deck) after the late-night buffet ended (at midnight). There was a pianist (called Anne-Tina) playing various pieces of music as we swept majestically through the night along the fjord, past the lights of the small isolated cummunities. It really is a quite indescribable feeling to be sitting right at the front of the lounge, right by the huge wrap-around windows (overlooking the bow from practically the top of the ship), in a deep armchair with relaxing piano music, and the gentle vibration of the ship's engines as we just cut through the night, going north for the morning. Going past the lights on the shore just reminding you that people still live up here and we're just quietly passing by their homes.<br />Did I mention that I'm going again next year? so I can do it again.<br />That's all for this installment.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-1161703661966975452006-10-24T16:23:00.000+01:002007-03-01T23:44:02.520+00:00A mighty humourous incidentHi-l-l-arious it was. On Sunday evening, I was sitting a bit awakwardly, because by back & legs were aching a bit (as they do from time to time) and my Mum asked me why this was (as I'd been unusually ache-free the day before) and I said that it was due to a variety of factors, including having spent several hours that day sat on pews. Mum asked me if they were ok, having been sat on for several hours and which one I'd been sitting on (Matt, Cathryn or Dan). A real wit, my Mum.<br />My! how we laughed!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-1161702779668782582006-10-24T15:42:00.000+01:002006-10-24T16:12:59.690+01:00Petty Grumble #2The Queue at Ikea.<br />We were fourth in line behind a bunch of people (all with moderate amounts of shopping) and it took over half an hour to get to us (there were over a dozen people behind us before we got to the end). It seems the cashier was new (or incompetent) and was scanning things very slowly and also had no clue about how to use the tills, of which there were only four open (which didn't help). The twit infront of us had, rather cleverly, decided to pick up a cushion from in the store (For those of you not familiar with Ikea, what you do is nick a bunch of the free little pencils and then when you spot something you want to buy, you write it's product code down on a piece of paper which you haven't nicked because it's not worth the effort). So, back to the story, the woman infront of us had picked up a cushion from the store. Now, obviously they can't run the cushion through the till and sell it to her because they have to put it back on display. Eventually, the cashier figures this out and trys to imput the code for the cushion in to get one brought out that could be bought. He types it wrong and it comes up as £80 (which he manages to input twice). Much head-scratching and button pressing ensues, to no avail and he eventually decides to call his supervisor to take the item out of the sale. So, this bloke who looks like the outer piece of a set of Russian Dolls (except that he's not dressed like a Russian peasant woman) comes up, turns a key in the till and wipes the item out of the transaction. It still takes about another 10 minutes for the last few items to be run through. (By this point I'm sitting on a bench with my nieces at the other end of the checkout area, so don't see what's happening.) All in all, I spent far, far, too long in Ikea of Saturday night, partiularly because the only thing I came out with was another big lbue Ikea bag to there'd be one more available for when I get coerced into sorting my dirty washing out.<br /><br />Grumble.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-1160694749699843532006-10-13T00:07:00.000+01:002006-10-13T00:12:29.710+01:00Photographic Self Promotion #3, A fjord... somewhereIt's terrible, I don't remember the name of this fjord, we passed through it on out way from Bergen to Olden. Here are some photos:<br /><a href="http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf1088td5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9184/dscf1088td5.th.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://img96.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf1095li4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/5580/dscf1095li4.th.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf1096se7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/492/dscf1096se7.th.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />There's not a great deal to say about it, other than the fact that it was spec-tac-u-lar. It was the last night in which we had a sunset for about 10 days (I think) and we met our ship's sister ship, the Boudicca (that'll give you google-jockeys something to use to try and figure out what our ship was called).<br /><br />More photos soon (lots more)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-1160496711687665922006-10-10T17:05:00.000+01:002006-10-16T18:28:15.366+01:00JJB Sports updateI got some trainers today! woohoo!<br />AND I was served by an enthusiastic man with a South African accent (I think). Hooray for £11.99 trainers.<br />Whilst queuing up for to pay (actually, I wasn't really queueing, I was just standing there) the person next to me drew my attention to something on the shelf behind the desk. A tiny, dinky, tinsy little pair of pink addidas trainers. Apparently going for the bargain price of £14.99. Yes, that's right, you can now buy (child) size 0 trainers, for £3 than I paid for my (adult) size 9's which they're going to grow out of within a month. I don't know what very small people are supposed to do with trainers either, play 5-a-side football perhaps, or run a marathon before they can walk.<br /><br />The world is going crazy around me, why won't it let me take part?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-1160392088607715432006-10-09T11:59:00.000+01:002006-10-09T12:08:08.613+01:00Dumbing downNowadays, it's not uncommon to hear somebody railing against 'dumbing down', often of kids TV (everyone thinks the incarnation of Blue Peter from when they were a child is the best). However, I've found an exception ot the trend; the music that kids listen to. For instance, in the traditional children's song, 'Old King Cole', Old King Cole (in one of the later verses) calls for his pipe and he calls for his bowl and he calls for his fluters 3. Fluters! The term for people who play the flute is flautists. On the other hand, the kind of music that children listen to today, such as the Kaiser Chiefs exposes them to words like "Lairy", meaning (from wiktionary.org):<br />"Adjective<br />(Australian) vulgar and flashy<br />(English) aggressive, confrontational "<br />So, I think we can conclude that the future generation's intellectual development is not being stunted by the music they listen to.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-1160250635862814662006-10-07T20:41:00.000+01:002006-10-07T20:50:35.876+01:00Photographic Self-Promotion #2, Bergen2<a href="http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf1065tk1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/9162/dscf1065tk1.th.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This is another photo of bergen. These are the buildings facing along the front of the harbour. They're built of wood and are about 150 years old.<br />As well as being build from wood, they're effectively built ON wood as well. Over single one of these buildings is built on a giant sort of raft of logs, all of which have been submerged in the harbour of Bergen for about 150 years. The reason that the buildings aren't just falling into the sea is that the harbour water is sea water and as such is salt water. Apparently, the salt preserves the logs rather than rotting them. Clever.<br />One of the buildings (which is currently undergoing restoration work) is, rather unfortunately, in rather a bad state; it spent about 20 years as a fishmongers. Fishmongers use a lot of freshwater ice (and just a lot of fresh water), this was allowed to flow freely through the floor (hey, it's water falling into the sea, what could possibly go wrong?). Freshwater does rot wood and so large parts of the fountations of that particularly building are literally rotting away, which is obviously not good for that building and probably not good for the surrounding buildings either. But, they seem to know what's going on and are working on it, so the old building ought to stay standing.<br />Yeah, ok, not all that interesting a story really, but I needed some text to go with the picture.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-1160082226392199062006-10-05T21:51:00.000+01:002006-10-05T22:03:46.403+01:00Photographic Self-Promotion #1, BergenSome of you may know that I went cruising around Norway and to Spitzbergen (Svalbard) this summer. I don't have many interesting anecdotes to tell, but I do have lots of photos (1,215 to be precise). So, over the next few weeks I shall show off a selection of photos.<br />Our first stop is Bergen:<br /><a href="http://img300.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bergenxq6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/5579/bergenxq6.th.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This was also our first port of call. This photo was taken from one of the hills (or possibly mountains, I'm not entirely sure how high they are) overlooking the city. The focus was deliberately on the leaves on the right, but clearly the aperture was too wide to get good focus on the rest of the frame.<br />Anyway, two interesting points the make about Bergen in general. Firstly, during the Second World War, the Germans managed to take Bergen without a shot being fired, they just snuck in at 5am, raised their flag on the ancient fortress in the town and then a few hours later the townspeople woke to find themselves under occupation.<br />The other interesting point is not so dark (I deliberately put them in this order). Grieg (of Hall of The Mountain King fame) lived in Bergen, you can even go and see his house (but we didn't because we wanted to go on the coach tour and see the whole town and couldn't do both). An interesting point about the hall of the mountain king is that it was one piece that was written in full orchestra score from the incidental music that Grieg was asked to write for a friend's play. Grieg wrote quite a bit more music to go with the play than the 8 pieces in the Peer Gynt Suites, which are also not in any kind of order with respect to the storyline.<br />If you zoom into the centre of the picture really closely, there's a white blob, that is our ship.<br /><br />More to come.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-1159893958929434722006-10-03T17:12:00.000+01:002006-10-03T17:48:57.196+01:00Petty Grumble #1This will hopefully become a series.<br />Today's grumble: JJB Sports.<br />I need some new trainers. I even managed to pry some money out of my parents to get some. Today, after uni, I went into JJB to buy some trainers. After sitting around for half an hour trying on a few of the pairs that were in the stacks of boxes (not the ones actually 'on display' you're not allowed to try those) and failing to find a single member of staff to help me. JJB either doesn't employ staff, or deliberately disguises them as customers so that the real customers won't approach them.<br />Three people sudenly appear and their attention is snapped up by a woman in a baby-pink tracksuit and a schoolboy in a shirt undone (by at least 2 buttons) at the neck and no tie (shock, horror). Finally, open-shirt seems satisified and moves off with his mother in tow to pay for the trainers and I attempt to subtley catch the eye of the assistant now departing with the other pair of trainers that open-shirt tried. Subtletey doesn't work with the minimum-wage slaves at JJB.<br />So, I explicitly ask the obviously apathetic member of staff in two huge hoop earings and a neckless that have both clearly come from the bargain bin at Chavs 'R' Us. "Have you got any Silver Shadows in size nine?" I ask, motioning towards the area of the shelf where is situated a trainer with "Silver Shadow" emblazoned across the side. I just recieve a blank look and realise that I'll have to try again, "these things" I say, pointing directly to the shoe in question.<br />"oh, er, I'll have a look" she says with a suprised tone. I don't know what she's suprised about. The fact that someone wants to buy a pair of trainers (wouldn't think that would be a suprise to a member of staff in the shoe department of a sports store, but you never know), the fact that a porky blob like me wants to buy a pair of trainers, or the fact that interest has been shown in a pair of silver saddos, a style of trainer at least four years old (I know because I had a pair about four years ago).<br />So, after sitting around for a good five minutes waiting for her to come back, she finally appears at the other end of the store, mouths "we haven't got any" to me, then turns around and walks away. Clearly the induction training at JJB does not teach the staff that people who come in and express interest in buying a pair of trainers probably want to buy some trainers. So, without a member of staff nearby to help me and still no closer to finding a pair of trainers than when I came in, I left. Without trainers and with fourty minutes of my day missing.<br /><br />GrumbleUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35409704.post-1159831082553605452006-10-03T00:04:00.000+01:002006-10-03T00:18:02.563+01:00She's Firin' on all Cylinders, Cap'n!It was suggested to me that I create a new blog through which to unleash my creative outlets upon the poor, unsuspecting, sitting-duck that is the world. (Since my old blog had a silly name, silly content, was rarely updated and had a readership consisting solely of me).<br />So, er, here I am and ready to ramble <strike>at</strike> to you. Sadly, it's now nearly midnight and I'm not feeling very witty. What I am feeling is tired.<br />Anyone, something quick to talk about. Scientific papers. My tutor gave me a few to peruse today (first day of term, by the way) and they seem to be written witht he express intention of not being understood by anyone. Least of all me! So, (yeah, yeah, bad style to start a sentence like that, but it's a presposition you should never end a sentence with.) So, I decided to go through the paper phrase-by-phrase and put it in language that the common man (i.e. me) can understand. It took me twenty minutes to go through the first four lines of the abstract - what I wrote out was two thirds of a page long, still not particularly easy to understand and not really a translation of very much. I then came up against a sentence that I couldn't get my head around and simultaneously ground to a halt & realised the flaw in my plan - I can't write it out in my own words to help me understand it if I don't understand it in the first place. Frankly, being outsmarted by a piece of paper is quite hard to stomach.<br /><br />I shall now retire.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1