Interesting stuff & some other stuff

Interesting stuff... for geeks
I've been using an RSS aggregator by the name of NewsGator which aside from having the funky aspect of keeping track of my feeds (and keeping track of that across multiple pcs), also has a neat little 'save' option for all the posts.

Now the reason I'm talking about this is that NewsGator allows me to publish the rss feed of what I have saved, so if you're curious about what kind of funky things I read and like, check out my Clippings Collection, I don't save much, but anything that I find especially funny or interesting does get saved to it...


Old news
Quite a while ago now I started to write about my experiences of London getting bombed, what I personally felt on that day and what I saw from those around me... There were a lot of other people more affected by me, but I guess I'd wanted to get down on paper (well on the pc anyway) what I'd felt...

I'm not going to post any of that up now it's no longer relevant or appropriate, I just want to share that one of the reasons I was so shook up (as was matt) is that I usually walk from Moorgate station and through Liverpool St Station to work. And while I would of been fine 'cause I don't catch any of the particular trains attacked, I would of been in the thick of it if there hadn't of been a broken down train on the Northern Line... Literally I would of been walking through Liverpool St Station at just before 9am. Not nice to think about, not nice at all...

Sorry about getting all depressive there, just something I needed to get off my chest, even now I (and just about everyone else in London) am jumpy when I go into the tube or pass through a crowded/popular concourse.. I'm just glad that the people responsible are being chased and being caught.

B

Post from Cath 7th July...

Hi all

In some repects it seems a little odd to be posting celebratory things today but I very much believe that it is absolutely the right thing to do. Been a tough day no doubt, but it has also put so many things into perpective. London was buzzing after winning the 2012 Olympics yesterday, and that coupled with the success of Live 8 at the weekend (although some would argue the 2 conflict somewhat - discuss!) has made today yet more poignant. The real point is that London is truly resilient and even as a northerner who has reservations about the London attitude, today has proved a great deal. Personally speaking the relief I felt knowing that not only Andrew but also close friends were safe was immense. Really makes you remember what is important...so here are some photos from our very happy engagement party last weekend.

Hope you enjoy them
Cath
x


nice shirt!


just when you thought it couldn't get worse...


family resemblance?


the morning after the night before...

Small update

Matt has heard from Andrea, she's ok as is Mark.

Looks like it was just contained to a couple of key public transport hubs, it's also the G8 today so:
- no real surprise that it's happened today
- announcements that it's not going to affect the G8 summit

I think it will affect the G8 summit, but not to the benefit of whoever has set these bombs off, if anything there's likely to be more support and actions that are aimed against these terrorists....

At this stage there hasn't been any real word on who is responsible... wait... just in there is an announcement that there has been a message received from a group claiming to the European arm of Al Qaeda and claiming that they've now enacted revenge against the UK for what has been done in Iraq. If I find a link I'll post it.

Latest facts:
- all public transport now closed in London (not sure if that's only central)
- 6 explosions have occurred (2 near where I work!)
- everyone is keeping very calm, just walking to wherever they need to get to
- still having troubles on making calls internationally and on mobiles (but apparently that's clearing up)

Lots of love to everyone, having trouble accessing my emails ('cause the server is down), but when it's up I'll respond to any emails

B

I'm OK

Just want to do a really quick post and let everyone know that I am alive and ok.

What I know thus far (and I haven't checked the news sites yet):
- there's been 2-3 bus explosions in Central London
- there's been 2-4 bombs found (some may of exploded) on trains/tubes/stations
- At least one of those has been at Liverpool St Station (which I walk through to work every morning)
- All embassies have been closed in London
- The army has been called into Central London
- No public transport into London, the word is: go home!

I know thus far that:
- Cath is OK
- Matt is OK

Unknowns:
- Andrea (she works in Green Park, so I have concerns about her safety)
- Mark
- Maz

The mobile networks are pretty much flooded so not getting any signal out, and have been having difficulty calling internationally....

More when I know...

B

Quote of the Day

"In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.
- Ellen DeGeneres

News!

I've got no idea on how to even announce this, so I'm just going to blurt it out

WE'RE ENGAGED!!!

Myself and Cath up in Liverpool

A special ring, almost one of a kind

Plenty of you already know about this, and great big thanks to everyone for their congratulations and really nice words! :-D

B

PS: I was going to put up something really soppy, describing why I asked and the fantastic response I got from Cath, but I think I was sopping even me out! I love you Cath and am incredibly happy you said 'Of course!' :-D

Today's quote (for the travellers amongst us)

"Isn't air travel wonderful? Breakfast in London, dinner in New York, luggage in Brazil."

Found on: Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters

B

Dr Karl & brief mention of Glastonbury

Just quickly want to say, had a great time at Glastonbury! Even with all the mud and water :-D All part of the experience I say! I will be doing a post about it soon (when I get some of the cool pictures up), but before I do that just wanted to let people know that...

Dr Karl is podcasting!!!
Dr Karl for those who don't know (re: the non-Australians) is a science commentatory who has a regular spot on the Australian alternative radio network Triple J where he'll answer all sorts of odd questions like 'Where did the carrots give you night vision myth come from?' or 'Why are eggs, egg-shaped?'

To read his articles check out:

• Great Moments in Science
  
• Home Work (where he revisits questions that were too tricky for him)

Gotta say it mad me really happy to see that I can still listen to my favourite show (even now that I'm on the other side of the world), so if you're like me and need your fix of Dr Karl, or are just intrigued by this crazy scientist read the instructions on how to grab his podcast (or if you're a geek just grab his feed)

B

Beating Cancer - in a big way!

A friend of Cath's (a girl our work named Rachel) was diagnosed with no less than 2 forms of cancer in 2003 (she is better now)... And with a very good friend is now scheduled to climb Kilimanjaro for
"... getting to the top to stick two "v"s up at cancer and prove that it has not beaten us, as well as raise stacks of cash for charity"

Some history
The two girls doing the climb are:

• Rachel 'At the end of 2003, Rachel, 29, was diagnosed with two forms of cancer. She is now better and planning to raise money climbing Kilimanjaro'
  
• Allie 'When Rach was diagnosed with cancer I didn't know what to do. I was shocked, angry and most of all felt it so unfair that such a young, bubbly and vibrant friend of mine had been struck down with such a nasty illness.'
  

They have set a goal of raising £10,000, and thus far have been able reach approximately £7,000.

Note: They are paying for the trip, This will not come out of money raised

How can you help?
Firstly go read up on their amazing story at: Great Heights

Throw a link into your blog or website/email it round... (don't forget to include that the climb is scheduled for June/July 2005)

Send them a message of support climbing_greatheights@yahoo.co.uk

Finally, go Sponsor them!

B

Geeks & Nerds in relationships

Quite recently I’ve noticed quite a few articles and postings on the web about how geeks & nerds are great to have as partners:

• NY times article 'Geeks make better lovers' (linked from scoble)
  
• Why Geeks & Nerds are worth it
  

Though I think my favourite one by far has been 'Dating an Apple Developer' which is more of a guide/advice for girlfriends of developers and how to interpret (ie: deal with) our occasional obsessive behaviour…

Advice like:
There is nothing like being the one there when he completes something new.
I can honestly say it’s the greatest feeling in the world to be the one there when Justin gets out of the chair (for the first time in weeks) and is beaming at me (through red, puffy eyes) and dying to show me his newest creation. Somewhere between the annoying profanity and the lack of sleep he created something wonderful.

With some very useful comments by other readers as well, like:
As a side note, I just wanted to mention that this doesn’t give developers free reign to geek out all the time and contribute nothing to the relationship. And S.O.’s should be careful not to get too permissive about their developer’s behavior: It’s one thing to be flexible and understanding, but it’s another if that flexibility and understanding are completely one-sided. Then it’s just bad and unhealthy.

I liked this article so much that I’ve forwarded to Cath, who hasn’t really experienced the ‘full-on intense deadline approaching must get this code out tonight I’ll go to bed when it’s done please can I have another coffee work damn you FIGJAM!’ moments that she’s going to have in store for herself…

B

PS: In posting this Cath has actually been asking how HTML works and how those pretty blue lines appear under certain words... ;-)

It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up.

From: W. Somerset Maugham Quotes - The Quotations Page

Just thought it was a really cool quote, found while I was using one of the new-ish google labs sites: Personalised frontpage which allows you to setup your own stuff (to a point) in the blank spot underneath... Good way to check gmail and some news headlines. :-)

B

My right toolbar

For those who have noticed, sorry about the right pane disappearing (the box with who I am, and links to various stuff).

Because I went and posted up a couple of images that are tad too wide, it's moved that box to the bottom of the page, so if you really want to see it, scroll down... :-)

B

Liverpool wins!

Well it's been a few days, but I figure that most of the people who read this blog aren't big Soccer followers so you may not of heard what has been front page news over here for the last few days.

Liverpool has won the UEFA Champions League!!!

The lowdown
Myself and Cath made for one of the big Liverpool fanatical hangouts in London Extra Time where we watched what was one of the most amazing games, where Liverpool went from being down 0-3 (at half time), and within a 6 minute period (9 minutes into the 2nd half) scored 3 goals to bring it even.... You don't ever see that in a soccer game, let alone the European championship final!

Then to top that by winning in a penalty shoot out (after about half an hour of extra time)!


Some cool fans who happened to be standing in front of us


Intense looks as the penalty shoot out is on...


Jubilation as Liverpool WINS!!

....

For the Aussies (and whoever doesn't follow this soccer shinagins)
Champions League is the top most European cup where only the top teams out of all of Europe get to compete (so we're talking a fairly big deal here), one of the interesting things about this particular game is that Liverpool will not be playing next season..

Why I hear you ask...
Well as far as I can make out, UEFA being the governing body of 'football' has a rule that only the top 4 teams from the countries local league get to compete in the Champions league, and well... Liverpool only ranked No. 5.. There is no clause that allows for the reining champions to be in the competition...

No doubt if I got any of these details wrong I'll be corrected, and if you spot anything just post it in a comment :-P

So till next time...
B



and yes I am calling it soccer just to wind up these Europeans... ;-)

Actions speak louder than words

While reading my favourite web comic Questionable Content I noticed that he had some recommending reading, so I checked out Bunny a very odd-ball comic, and saw this:



I like that motto! :-D

B

I like monkeys

Saw this on Slashdot in response to the new HoneyMonkey project from microsoft, it cracked me up!! :-D

Enjoy...

B

-------------------------------------
sigh...

I like monkeys. The pet store was selling them for five cents a piece. I thought that odd since they were normally a couple thousand each. I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. I bought 200. I like monkeys.

I took my 200 monkeys home. I have a big car. I let one drive. His name was Sigmund. He was retarded. In fact, none of them were really bright. They kept punching themselves in their genitals. I laughed. Then they punched my genitals. I stopped laughing.

I herded them into my room. They didn't adapt very well to their new environment. They would screech, hurl themselves off of the couch at high speeds and slam into the wall. Although humorous at first, the spectacle lost its novelty halfway into its third hour.

Two hours later I found out why all the monkeys were so inexpensive: they all died. No apparent reason. They all just sorta' dropped dead. Kinda' like when you buy a goldfish and it dies five hours later. Damn cheap monkeys.

I didn't know what to do. There were 200 dead monkeys lying all over my room, on the bed, in the dresser, hanging from my bookcase. It looked like I had 200 throw rugs.

I tried to flush one down the toilet. It didn't work. It got stuck. Then I had one dead, wet monkey and 199 dead, dry monkeys.

I tried pretending that they were just stuffed animals. That worked for a while, that is until they began to decompose. It started to smell real bad.

I had to pee but there was a dead monkey in the toilet and I didn't want to call the plumber. I was embarrassed.

I tried to slow down the decomposition by freezing them. Unfortunately there was only enough room for two monkeys at a time so I had to change them every 30 seconds. I also had to eat all the food in the freezer so it didn't all go bad.

I tried burning them. Little did I know my bed was flammable. I had to extinguish the fire.

Then I had one dead, wet monkey in my toilet, two dead, frozen monkeys in my freezer, and 197 dead, charred monkeys in a pile on my bed. The odor wasn't improving.

I became agitated at my inability to dispose of my monkeys and to use the bathroom. I severely beat one of my monkeys. I felt better.

I tried throwing them way but the garbage man said that the city wasn't allowed to dispose of charred primates. I told him that I had a wet one. He couldn't take that one either. I didn't bother asking about the frozen ones.

finally arrived at a solution. I gave them out as Christmas gifts. My friends didn't know quite what to say. They pretended that they like them but I could tell they were lying. Ingrates. So I punched them in the genitals.

I like monkeys
-------------------------------------

oh and the original article is kind of interesting as well.

Cool links

A friend just sent me a couple of links that I thought were hilarious!

• When Biscuits Go Wrong (a little ditty about trying to find some mango biscuits)
  
• Biscuits explained (I'll let you figure out what that one's about)
  

Thanks Eva!

B

I'm number 1!!!

Just for a bit of a laugh, I put into Yahoo! The term 'London Biscuit' and found out that my blog is in the top 2 entries!! :-D
See: Yahoo! Search Results for London Biscuit (Note: Search results may vary depending on when you run it)

Whereas Google didn't even return me at all... (I got to about the 12th page before I said stuff-it) :-(

/start techie discussion
One of the problems with the google search engine is that it's based on what links to your site not what you've got on your site... So as a consequence because there's only a couple of sites linked to this here blog I don't get that high a rating on google, yahoo on the other hand finds me right up there...
/end techie bit

Anyways, I thought it was cool! :-D So thanks to everyone who occasionally visits and reads about whatever it is travelling through my mind at this point in time.. :-)

Have a nice day!
B

Turkey and Anzac day

Just recently I've come back from Turkey (well not that recently as I've been slack in posting anything), was over there with a couple of friends (Matt, Fish & Lydia) to do a bit of sight seeing of Turkey (Istanbul in particular) and to pay our respects at the Anzac Day dawn service....

The Dichotomy of attendees...
I know that lots of people have described the rubbish and general yobbishness of the crowds that attended the services, however I'd like to point out a few things I noticed (and some that I heard of from other attendees). The Aus gov site points out that "Rubbish disposal is provided and visitors are encouraged to respect the nature of the Gallipoli environment and dispose of rubbish thoughtfully or, where possible, take their rubbish with them." however I for one saw not one single rubbish bin, though I did see what I thought were supplied rubbish bags for collection.

Things I saw:

• With all the crammed space (17,000+ in space for only 13,000), I did not here of one single complaint, everyone was good natured and helped out all the new people arriving through the night to find a bit of ground to camp out on, lending a hand when necessary.
  
• Complete silence and respect during the appropriate moments during the night and at the dawn service (very moving actually)
  
• A fair bit of rubbish left about (but also quite a fair few people cleaning up their own stuff)
  
• Someone blowing up a beach ball and throwing that around at the Lone Pine service
  
• Lots of people sitting/lying/falling asleep between the gravestones at Lone Pine (then again I fell asleep sitting up on the stand a couple of times)
  
• A veteran (looked WWII age) being one of the people sitting between the gravestones, and thoroughly enjoying the attention of two cute girls sitting next to him.
  
• Standing ovations for every single one of the veterans making their way to the reserved area
  
• A mexican wave going round the stands 7 or so times
  

So yeah, it was bizarre I got to see the full range or respect through to thoughtless inconsiderate-ness (is that even a word?). It also makes me wonder about what is needed for the Anzac day ceremonies? From all that I've read and heard about the young Aussies and Kiwis who gave their lives, they were known to be larakins and trouble makers, up for a bit of a laugh but ready to risk all when it came down to it.. Do we want to mourn and show our respect for these people by being sombre or celebrate the joy and laughter that was in their lives?

I don't know the answer, but I am reminded of the tradition with a lot of Scottish and Irish funerals, where you'll have the actual funeral which is very sombre and respectful, but then you'll have the wake, where you celebrate the persons life with a party and talk about and joke about what they did, you remember how they were when they were alive, not that they are no longer with us. Both elements are important, it is just a question of balance and when is the right moment to show either....

I'll let everyone else decide what they think is the most appropriate balance, for me, I am glad that I've been to the Anzac Cove dawn service, don't think I'll go there again for Anzac day though.

B

Google Maps, Local Expands To UK

Just reading about Google Maps for the UK!!! :-D How cool is that? 'specially as their directions and searching for things like:

• My local chippy
  
• Scotland Yard
  
• How to get to Scotland Yard (if you live on Buckingham Palace Road)
  

Or as I saw in some of the comments on Slashdot (where I heard about this):
"Type in: 'My Job'
And it goes to New Delhi...
Wow, those google people are so smart."

Cheers,
B

Secrets and privacy

What do you do when you have something burning you up inside, it could be anger it could be joy, and all you really want to do is shout it out from the rooftops to have everyone hear. But this thing is also someone else's secret and so you can't?

How do you let it out?

Silence
I've always prided myself that when a friend asks me a question I will answer as honestly and completely as I can, with only one exception to that rule. That I will not share someone else's secret unless explicitly told too, and even then it'll be a big judgement call. I think this is why (well one of the reasons) people trust me, you can tell me your fears and desires and they'll never pass my lips....

This rule has stood me in good stead for .. well all of my life... but sometimes there is a difference..

Difference
What if it is my secret as well? part of me wants to share what I feel with the world, I don't need to give the details or spill any secrets but I want to share what I feel. All strong emotion can be like that I believe... Both the one's that can make you so furious you can't even see straight and you just want to lash out and hurt whoever is causing that pain in you (even if it is actually yourself causing the pain), as well as the uplifting and joyful one's where you want tell everyone how happy you are, and that you want to share that happiness with them and bring a smile to their faces as well..

Breaking the silence
But what do you say? You need to deal with more than just the secret, something you think is good and wonderful to share, can be seen by the other as terrible and a violation of that trust.. You have your own needs to take into account, as well as theirs... Then of course there's ways and ways of sharing.. a private conversation in a lounge room is one thing, through to phone calls, email, blog posts. Each one expanding the audience and what 'control' you can have over who hears what you have to say... Do you want/care that complete strangers can read/hear about your intimate secrets?


As to whether I have something to share, and if it's joy, sorrow or anger? Well, you can guess as much as you want, I always have elements inside me that I only show to select few, or maybe this is just one of those random thoughts going through my head on the ethics of holding your own and others secrets. Either way I think it's worthy of a rambling post, food for thought?

B