October 2010
3 posts
Fowey, town and river, from Polruan
It was a bit of a damp day but the view was still quite good. Posted via email from James’ Photos | Comment »
Lerryn, Cornwall
We had a wander along the riverside last night. Amazingly, the weather cleared and the rain stopped. See and download the full gallery on posterous Posted via email from James’ Photos | Comment »
Panorama from AutoStitch
The view from out holiday cottage in Lerryn. Not bad, and ridiculously quiet. Posted via email from James’ Photos | Comment »
September 2010
27 posts
Pope warns that Christianity is being...
On Friday, in in his keynote speech to MPs, senior members of British society and religious leaders at Westminster Hall, the Pope he warned there were some people who wanted to see “the voice of religion be silenced”. He called on those in attendance to seek ways to promote faith “at every level of national life”. He added: “I cannot but voice my concern at the...
Areoflot's efforts at lunch were pretty dreadful
The choice was meat or fish; I chose poorly. Ignoring the fact that it looked like someone had already eaten the “meat” dish I got stuck in and played “identify the animal”. I lost and am unable to report which species of animal (if any) was killed in the production of this “meal”. The chicken salad was also pretty grim. Chickens are evil little birds but...
Queen and Pope's opening addresses in full
Here is a link to the text of Mr Ratzinger’s speech - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11329273. It’s pretty awful and just goes to show how useless he is as a Head of State. One bit that stuck out is this: “As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the twentieth century…” He doesn’t elaborate on what those atheist...
Aeroflot's breakfasts are only for the desperate
Breakfast on the Aeroflot flight from Yerevan to Moscow. Flight isn’t too bad but breakfast is a new low in airline catering; I was desperate. Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
Photos of Yerevan, Armenia
I had a wander around Yerevan this morning, from the hotel to the Republic Square and around the block. More photos later, probably. Seems like a nice place. See and download the full gallery on posterous Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
The Hotel Pool; terrible...
The hotel pool looks good - I may get to try it tomorrow, with luck. See and download the full gallery on posterous Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
Tourist trip to Tehran? Anyone?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tourist trip to Tehran before, but here is an advertising sign from a shop in Yerevan. Maybe next time… Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
Student immigration levels unsustainable, says...
via bbc.co.uk Which of course begs the question “what level would be sustainable?” and the article doesn’t really answer that one. It would be interesting to see this data broken down by college/university and the level of qualification pursued. That would give us a much better idea of what was going on because, on the face of it, attracting lots of paying foreign students, 79%...
Anti-Pope rhetoric is overdone, says Vatican
The Vatican believes that the British media has somehow exaggerated the UK’s hostility toward the Pope ahead of his visit next week (see story on the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11270257). That may be true, but if you have a flick through some of the BBC’s reports on the world-wide scandal of paedophile Catholic priests (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10407559) you’ll see that...
Slightly less blurred photo of Moscow bar
Now with added Waiter. Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
My Pork Leg arrived
Should have known. Their menu is disturbingly literal and when they say Pork Leg that’s exactly what they mean; a huge piece of pork on the bone, with patella, garnished with mini gherkins and a lettuce leaf. No veg at all, and none in the rest of the menu (I counted it, twice). Weird meal. Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
Made it to Moscow
So I’ve made it to Moscow. I’m through the International Departures security check (two very attractive, but extremely bored, young women scanning bags but not, as it turns out, conducting pat-downs) and waiting for the transfer to Terminal F (from D). The retail brands are familiar: Upper Crust, TGI Fridays, a pub etc. Might give one a go when I get to F, just in case they try to...
So I'm in a bar in Moscow airport...
… I’ve ordered Pork Leg and Diet Coke, they take Amex, they have Newcastle Brown on tap and the clock above the bar appears to have been acquired from the Great Western Railway, London. If it were not for the Russian TV station and the smoking at the next table I might think I was at home. Almost. Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
There seem to be people living in the terminal
It’s a bit like a Tom Hanks film. These guys (sorry, awful photo) seem to be living here weird. Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
My first flight with Aeroflot
Ok, so I’m halfway through my first flight with Aeroflot, heading to Moscow on the first part of a two-leg journey to Yerevan, Armenia, and they’ve just served “lunch”. Despite my fears, everything seems to be ok, so far. Aeroflot are running reasonably new Airbus A321s that seem to be in good condition and the staff are friendly and polite. The on-board literature, not...
Galileo was Wrong? Scriptural Geocentrism...
Er, well no, actually. These people (http://www.galileowaswrong.com/galileowaswrong) think the Sun goes round the Earth and I can’t work out if they are ignorant, ill-educated, mad, stupid, deceived or simply fraudulent (they have books and DVDs to sell, and they haven’t published their evidence on their website, so I suspect they’re knowingly flogging “theories” they...
Protests against US Koran-burning sweep...
This is totally ludicrous (link to BBC story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11258739). The Koran is just a book, like the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto; printed ink on sheets of bleached tree pulp, bound with leather and glue. It has little or no intrinsic value, it isn’t magic or...
Passport update - all good
Well, not quite all. The first set of photos were rejected because there were shadows behind my ears, but £5 and five minutes in the photo booth produced an acceptable set and, after killing several hours in Victoria (not a lot of fun) I know have a shiny new passport. Government bureaucracy generally has a bad reputation, but the fast-track passport service works really well and I can now book my...
The disruption of Friday's routine
Normally I work from home on Friday, exchanging the commute for a more restful start to the day that might include a trip to the gym and a little breakfast with the wife. Today, however, I’m on my way to Victoria to get my passport renewed (it has only five months left to run) so that on Monday I can make a last-minute visit to Armenia (you need six months on your passport before...
Pondering Bibles and trains
I can’t help feeling slightly disturbed by people who read the Bible on the train. Obviously people are free to read whatever they like but a two thousand year old religious text drafted by ignorant goat herders and wandering loonies strikes me as a strange choice; are there no modern novels about mad prophets, genocidal gods, murderous kings, implausible healings, bizarre rituals, crazy...
Duke Nukem Forever to launch in 2011, 13-years...
Duke Nukem Forever has a launch date? Doesn’t seem likely. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11198237 Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
Trains, nails and annoyance
I’m on the train to London (nothing noteworthy there) and the lady sitting next to me (a regular from Winchester) has so far spent the entire journey filing her nails. It is incredibly annoying. Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
Quote of the Day
I have no idea who Columellama was, but he clearly had his head screwed on; anyone who has tried to get a gang of hostile engineers to do something they’re not keen on will sympathise. Nowadays, I make it a practice to call them into consultation on any new work … I observe that they are more willing to set about a piece of work on which their opinions have been asked and their advice...
Science and Religion; the God-squad get it wrong...
Stephen Hawking’s new book, The Grand Design, is upsetting people even before it has been published. The extracts published in The Times have prompted all sorts of headlines from critics and religious apologetics, desperately seeking to justify their world views in the face of Hawking’s prose. So what has he said to upset them? Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe...
Galaxy Tab unveiled as Samsung's first tablet...
via bbc.co.uk And so it begins. The Android fans will doubtless hail it as the new king of the tablet market but it’ll be interesting to see how it sells (and, of course, what it can do). First impression, having not yet read the specs, are that it has an enormously wide border for such a small screen. Posted via email from Myryama’s Musings on Apple | Comment »
Danish rocketeers build one-man space rocket
via bbc.co.uk They must be a bit mad. Or a lot mad. Or completely barking. Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
Quote of the Day
I don’t like to think of myself as overly cautious, but I have a certain sympathy for the bloke who provided today’s quote.Quote of the Day Herding Cats If you can’t afford to mitigate the risk now, be absolutely sure you can afford to resolve the problem later when it happens. - Introduction to Universal Risk Report, The Risk Management Research and...
August 2010
29 posts
Dry-Erase Board Paint for the Home | Kids Room...
via ideapaint.com This idea is just brilliant. Instead of a pin board, a blackboard or a white board, just cover the walls in a dry-marker paint and get to it. We’ve got a blackboard in the kitchen that we made by painting a patch of wall with blackboard paint and surrounding it with a wooden “frame” but a whiteboard that took up the whole wall would be a very much better...
HP iPAQ H2200 Pocket PC. Want one?
What do you do with old computer components or electronic items? I’ve got an HP iPAQ H2200 with case, dock, charger, Wifi adapter and flash card and I literally can’t give it away. Admittedly it’s a bit old and it’s runing an obsolete version of Windows, but there’s nothing wrong with it and it would do a perfectly good job for someone prepared to use an out-of-date...
Visa restrictions: No visa required
Britain often finishes near the top of the charts published by The Economist but normally that’s a bad thing. This time (http://www.economist.com/node/16885221?fsrc=rss&story_id=16885221) it is a good thing; British citizens can travel without visas to 166 countries making us, on this measure at least, the world’s least restricted travellers. I think that’s pretty cool. ...
Flowers from the Lake District
See and download the full gallery on posterous Posted via email from James’ Photos | Comment »
UK economy grew 'more than first thought'
Shadow education secretary Ed Balls said that the previous Labour government could take credit for the most recent expansion. “Those figures are for the period for April, May and June, which are absolutely determined by what was being done in the previous year,” he said. “The question is whether that pattern, which you see confirmed today, which I think is a vindication of...
New Mexico GOP candidates deny global warming...
It’s a bit scary, really. The idiots listed in the article linked below exhibit a key failing of politicians; they accept only the evidence that supports their current set of beliefs and policies. This isn’t too serious when you’re deciding how you set your income taxes but is a bit of a bugger when you’re deciding your environmental policy. New Mexico GOP candidates...
HDR Photo of Southampton Airport Parkway
Ok, so the subject might be a little dull, but the image is mildly interesting because of the way it was taken. Pro HDR for the iPhone takes two shots at two different exposure settings (one to capture the dark area of the subject, the other to capture the bright) then combines them into a single High Dynamic Range image. The results can be quite dramatic (present example excluded). Posted via...
Anti-Littering Campaigns in Turkey and Iran
Litter is on of my pet hates. Why would anyone think it was ok to drop their rubbish along the side of the road or in a park? I can’t work it out, and it seems that it’s a problem in some parts of Turkey and Iran as well. Anti-Littering Campaigns: An Idea Whose Time Has (More Than) Come in Turkey and Iran : TreeHugger...
Quote of the day, Leo Tolstoy
I don’t really agree with Mr Tolstoy on this (there aren’t that many people to whom quantum mechanics could be explained, for example) so I’m posting this because it isn’t often that I get to disagree publicly with famous authors. I look forward to reading this reply. The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea...
Disposing of a body on the cheap
What do you do if you’re an Eco-conscious serial killer with a stack of bodies to dispose of? You can’t bury them (dog walkers always find shallow graves, sooner or later) or cremate them (too much CO2 released into the atmosphere) or feed them to cattle, but fear not, New Scientist have a neat, green way of dumping bodies (see link below). Dissolving your earthly remains will...
Quick update on the state of my car
Looks like only the tyre was damaged but I haven’t yet heard from the garage that they’ve fixed it. This is a bit of a worry; if it isn’t fixed by Monday I won’t be able to get to work. Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
Tyres, motorways and priority recovery
It’s all fun and excitement on the M27 this afternoon. Coming home from the station the wife and I hit an obstruction in the road which seems to have comprehensively destroyed the nearside rear tyre (see photo below). We are now sitting at the edge of the motorway waiting for the AA (we are apparently a priority, so they’ll be here in an hour) to tow us home. I don’t think...
The slow, whiny death of British Christianity :...
I hadn’t come across Johann Hari before, but this article (http://www.johannhari.com/2010/08/10/the-slow-whiny-death-of-british-christia… is really good. I don’t really like to make fun of minorities; it normally feels a bit wrong, especially if the minority in question is defenceless, exploited or disadvantaged. None of that applies to the Church of England and, as Johann points...
TweetDeck Not Available for Android; A Warning
You probably haven’t heard of TweetDeck but it’s a Twitter client and it is pretty good and, when I was using Twitter, I like using TweetDeck. If you have a look at their website you’ll find that they have version of their client for various desktop and mobile operating systems, the exception being Android (although they’re working on it). That hasn’t stopped someone...
It's the strangest thing...
…but about an hour ago we had a burst of rain of unnecessarily dramatic proportions. That’s not the strange bit. Someone, who shall remain nameless but was, in fact, the wife, left the door from the dining room to the garden open so, when I went downstairs a few minutes ago, I almost drowned in the pool of water that had gathered by the dining table. I’ve cleaned it up, of...
West Quay, Southampton, verybored
The wife is buying a coat and I’m sitting outside John Lewis waiting for her. I’d go to Waterstones but I don’t want any books, or Starbucks if I wanted coffee; instead I wait and hope that she will tire of shopping. Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
Largest tidal power device unveiled
via bbc.co.uk It’s an impressive piece of engineering, but at only one megawatt it isn’t exactly world-changing (at least, not on it’s own). A few thousand of these things might make a difference, but are there that many sites around our coast? Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
Erroneous road signs
There’s something not quite right about this sign, from North Carolina: Source: BBC Posted via email from James’s posterous | Comment »
More solar power plants take shape
As if the Abengoa Solar Collecting plant wasn’t good enough, here is news of another, even larger plant to be built in California’s Mojave desert. It’s only one plant, of course, but it’s better than nothing. Oh, and they seem to have a solution to the problem of not being able to generate power at night, which is pretty good for a solar power station. BrightSource to...
A new Worst Film Ever
SyFy is really good at finding bad films. Actually, they excel at finding truly awful films that should never have been made. Tonight, for your delight and delectation, I give you Riddles of the Sphinx, a new candidate for Worst Film Ever. I won’t bother to explain the plot (it makes no sense) or the characters (they’re dreadful) or the special effects (unimaginably awful). Suffice it...