Feeling Better

Feeling much more chipper today :-D Had a really nice night last night, got to relax and chill without any stress. We've even booked our trek for CRY (which some of you already know about), more info on that to come.

On a completely unrelated note, I subscribe to the rss feed of Astronomy Picture of the Day, and whenever there's a really nice one I all of a sudden have a new wallpaper, in particular todays pic of the Andromeda Galaxy is simply stunning!

Keep smiling!
B

Ed: Forgot to change the title of the post as it crashed half way through... my bad.

Nothing to see here, move along...

Feeling a bit melancholy today (not really sure why, could be the dreary gray skies, the bit of a hangover from the drinks last night)... But anyways going to listen to some cool music and try and insert some humour into my day. So onto some random updates

• Christmas is here!! (well almost) and we've got our Xmas tree up! :-) Actually me and Ryan went out and bought a 7'' tree, so the star at the top is almost touching the ceiling.
  
• Matt moved out, and our new housemate (A.J.) moved in... Nothing interesting to really say here, other than sounds like Matt's being enjoying the sun down in Melbourne (even if his luggage didn't arrive with him!)
  
• I've finished my archaeology course, and have been thinking about what I'll start up in the New Year... I'd quite like to do something with my hands, though my suggestion of Woodcarving has been scoffed at :-P
  
• Mark (of Andrea & Mark fame) had his 40th just recently, and a merry time was had by all down at the local Lebanese restaurant :-)
  

That's all I've got today... For everyone out there have a very merry Christmas!

B

Gambling as 'insurance'

Spotted this from one of those 'Oddly Enough articles': Man loses bet by staying alive

Turns out this guy placed a bet in order to insure against a possible inheritance tax bill..

• If he died before the first week in December his wife would of been handed a £3000 bill from the IRS
  
• So thinking laterally he approached a bookie and asked what odds he would get for him dying before the deadline
  
• Getting odds of 6/1 he placed a £500 bet that he would die

So if he died, his wife would of been able to cover the tax, all for the 'insurance premium' of $500.

Kind of morbid but I like that lateral thinking... One thing I ask myself though is, does this mean that when you insure something you are in essence placing a 'bet' that your belongings are going to be stolen/broken/etc..? In essence betting against yourself? Of course you could look at as that insurance agencies are all crooks.

B

PS: Wonder how long it'll be till you can get an insurance policy to cover these kinds of uncertain taxes?

Welcome to GIANTmicrobes!

Was reading Neopoleon.com, and he just got one of the coolest gifts!!

GIANTmicrobes!

We make stuffed animals that look like tiny microbes—only a million times actual size! Now available: The Common Cold, The Flu, Sore Throat, Stomach Ache, Cough, Ear Ache, Bad Breath, Kissing Disease, Athlete's Foot, Ulcer, Martian Life, Beer & Bread, Black Death, Ebola, Flesh Eating, Sleeping Sickness, Dust Mite, Bed Bug, and Bookworm (and in our Professional line: H.I.V. and Hepatitis).

fantastic! :-)

Ed: tottally stuffed up the first couple of posts of this, so now formatted and got the correct text!

Random links #something or other

Was doing some trolling, and came across a friends blog (who I hadn't realised had started blogging, shame, shame, shame! [not sure if that's for me for not realising or for her for not telling me]), anyways welcome Taggs to the blogging world!

But moving on, following random links, came across Miss Otis Regrets, loving the writing style there!! And I wish her luck in her admirable goal of:

the pursuit of the perfect top five. The perfect list (in order of virility and aesthetics) of male specimens.

RSS Feeds:
For anyone who's setup a blogger account, you can usually subscribe by using their address /atom.xml (I think it's on by default, but the link to it isn't on the templates), so:

• For Taggs: http://taggsorama.blogspot.com/atom.xml
  
• For Miss Otis Regrets: http://rafstar.blogspot.com/atom.xml

B

Songs that are stories

Was listening to the good 'ol iPod on my way into work this morning (makes the tube ride go much faster), and just as I got in I started to listen to Rock 'n Roll is where I hide (Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes), and it got me thinking, there are some really good songs out there that are actually stories (or more commonly known as Ballads), that take you through a plot line, character development and all of that... Some of my favourite ones are:

• Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (particular from Murder Ballads)
  
• Dave Graney (obviously)
  
• Dire Straits (Ride across the River being a good candidate)
  
• and my all time favourite.. Dead Eyes Opened Remix (always reminded me of an Edgar Allan Poe poem, thought it's not..)
  

Any other great storied music tracks? Ones that you'd recommend or that really speak to you?

Evaluating security risk

Escaped...From a Twisted Mind: The Human Side of Security
very funny post on an additional item in the SANS list (humans are the biggest security risk)

H1.4 How to Protect Against Vulnerabilities
- Unfortunately, patches to Homo sapiens have resulted in significant and harmful sequela such as holy wars, cola wars, communism, reality TV, and global warming; therefore, the current version of Homo sapiens is considered unstable and non-patchable.

Ah, I needed that laugh! Thanks David & Rick

Life & the Universe

Not feeling particularly chipper today... You know those days when you can't seem to get anywhere or do anything right?

But at least I got a small smile today, A Serendipitous Intention linked to that cool Introvert article I recommended.. Not sure if it was 'cause of my post that she found it, but I'd like to think so.. :-)

Anyways, I'm off to try and actually do something right today (wish me luck!)...

B
PS: Well done Old! I know you're tetchy, but you're doing well quitting smoking!