Monday, August 31, 2009

Dance Little Liar

Friday I went out at lunch time to have a walk and some fresh air. Not good to sit in the basement all day. I cant help wondering what is going on with the world, Macclesfield seems to be full of mobile phone shops all the major networks plus at least one independent.

I bought the new Arctic Monkeys album from the little independent music store in Macclesfield, they are lucky to still have somewhere that sell music. I was in Altrincham a few weeks ago and the only place that sells music was Tesco, and they basically don't stock much beyond the charts.

I quite like Humbug, they have recorded something which sounds unmistakable Arctic Monkeys but also is a little different. I could hear the Queens of the Stone age influence in places. I think it is a grower album rather than an instant hit like Favourite Worst Nightmare.

On the way back to work the heavens opened, I was absolutely soaked by the time I got back to the office. I have to sit there dripping wet for the afternoon :( I did however finally manage to get the project I had been struggling with to completion before I left.

Friday night I went round to Phil we got some beers and rented a couple of films. New Town Killers in which a Glasgow youth has to survive one night whilst hunted by two sharp suited but brutal financiers. It was actually a pretty good film like a take on "the game". We also watched a trashy Steven Seagal film, "the plot" of which involved zombies / undead, Seagal came riding to the rescue, mindless but watch-able, after 6 or 7 beers.

Strangely enough Saturday night (after a log of painting) I also ended up at Phil's this time watching True Blue. Its a TV series from American, the premise of which is the Vampires have come out and live amongst people. This allows all sorts of racial and social issues to be explored. We watched the first two episodes and was really hooked.

Bruce was telling me today that a mutual friend of ours who used to be an open source evangelist now works for Microsoft! Which reminded me of a story about Microsoft destroying the culture of one of the games companies they bought. I wonder if the imminent take over of the company I work for will change the culture, I kind of hope so just not in the Microsoft way.

I spent the weekend painting my bathroom from nicotine stained magnolia to bright white, looks pretty nice if I do say so myself. I ended up just painting it white, which is a lot nicer than the nicotine stained magnolia colour on the walls or the weird purple grey colour round the window.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Humbug

Had a lan party on Saturday, only the second one this year the last one was held in January. I expected it to be busy, however I wasn't expected a pose of new players to arrive 45 minutes before the start time! We ended up having 22 players, which was pretty manic in Quake III. It was great as it enabled a several different games to be run with enough players. It was pretty hectic for us though, the pizza order was huge, 17 pizzas, 3 1/4 pounder burgers and 8 chips.

Phil got to show off his new 3D setup, and one of the new guys won CS 30 0.

Nick turned up later in the evening to collect some money off Martin, I think he was quite surprised how busy it was. Ian came in too and he was surprised to find me behind the bar, so surprised he took a photo!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

ID Cards fail

I have never been a fan of the ID card scheme. I think its an expensive and ineffective solution, that despite assurances wont solve the age of problems of fraud criminality and bureaucratic mistakes, indeed someones already managed to clone the cards in 12 minutes. The Register seems to agree so do the Banks, even retailers think twice.

Obviously if the cards themselves are prone to fraud, and ineffective methods of proving our identities the government and the IPS really has other ideas Really its not the card they are interested in but in producing mega databases of everone which can be used in all mannor of ways. I really think that this will mostly impact normal people criminals will simply used cloned cards and never have a real identity.

I certainly will not be registering or queuing up to get one once the scheme goes live in Manchester (which is one of the Trial areas).

Thursday, August 13, 2009

He's A Pirate

One of my friends works for a security company, I think he should be driving one of these!

Options include, flag holders and gun case with compartments for 2 machine guns, awesome stuff.

Monday, August 10, 2009

iPhony

Saw this in Wired magazine, as ever US centric but most of the reasons have meritc nonethless

Robots

People who work on production lines have for a number of years had their jobs replaced by robots. Now even if you work in a resurant watch out!

The Register has a story about a Japanese resturant where the Miso Raimen is prepared by two industrial robots.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

1983

I have just watched the third and final part of Channel 4 Red Riding trilogy. Its been a dark ride through corruption with artistic licence intermingling facts into the stories. It has been a weird series I have had to read up on the Wikipedia site to try and piece what was real and separate the truth from fiction.

I spent the day practising my carpentry skills fitting a new lock. It was required for my house insurance the all the locks complied to a standard. The garage door was an old two lever lock whereas everything should 5 a 5 lever mortice. The never lock was slightly bigger so I had to chisel out bits of door and door frame, in order to horseshoe in the lock and striking plate. I also did a few other bits wood varnishing my step and

It was a really nice day, I took storm for a really long walk to the Woodford Recreation ground, leisurely walking across and playing catch. I passed by both Ian and his Brother Jono as I was walking. Jono seemed a bit worked up, apparently he had some sort of argument with his neighbour. Ian looked tired he was busy unloading his van.

Next doors young son Mackenzie came round to see my mum and Storm. Storm worried me a bit he is normally very calm with him but tonight I got the feeling he was getting angry. I wish I knew more about how to control him.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

One year on

I just realised today is the 8th of August. One year since the start of the Beijing Olympics and coincidentally one year since I got the keys to my house. Given I still don&39;t live there this is somewhat of a sore point.
Today I went and burned some more paint off the bathroom door and surround. I also managed to finish painting the garage walls white. It looks pretty good and reflects the light a lot better now, so the garage is brighter and a nicer space.

I have found the balance between the perfectionism my dad suffers from and doing things half arsed.

Friday, August 07, 2009

Every Day Is Exactly the Same

"I belive I can see the future, Cause I repeat the same routine". Trent Reznor's lyrics pretty much entirly summing up my life at the moment. Work and decorating are pretty much my routine at the moment. Broken only by walking the dog and drinking a few bottles of peroni.

Fortunately there is some light on the horizon. My friend Kath is coming to visit me next weekend. I am taking a long weekend off no work just time for some R&R. I would like to go visit the Banksy exhibit at Bristol museam, but I am not sure if I can be bothered to drive down there yet.

Harry Patch (In Memory Of)

I wanted to write something about the death of Harry Patch. The Today program had an excellent obituary including his interview in 2005 where he basically recounted the real horror of war. Its really worth a listen. My grandfather fought in the first world war so hearing someone describe the conditions he would have experience is quite shocking. So shocking in fact that Patch himself never spoke about the experience until after his 100th birthday. I never met met Granddad but from what my dad has told me he never said much about the war, my great Aunt told me it changed him as a person, I am glad I don't have to fight.

Thom York was so moved by the interview that he wrote a song in memory. Its available on waste for only £1 with all profits going to the British Legion. The song itself is a haunting tune, the lyrics all taken from Patches own words arranged with some incredible string work. On its own it would be an interesting song, its just all the more poignant now.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Tyre swing

Friday night I had to do so work until late setting up email for a client.

After another weekend of working on the house, I managed to strip the door to the garage, and paint 3/4 of the garage walls. It looks a lot cleaner and brighter now, and the smell that used to permeate has now dissipated. All it took was getting rid of the old carpets, cleaning and stripping back all the paint.