Real live action!!
Was passed this link this evening to some photos taken at UUC last night:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/miketullett/29a-oct/
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October 30, 2003
NTL Broadband
I have ordered the 600k broadband package, installation is next week. Has anyone got it installed? I read somewhere they just plug you into the back of the set top box. Is that the process if you already have cable tv?
I was looking at the linksys Wireless router. I know nyada about such matters but am hoping if I have one of these plugged into the cable modem I can use my Wi-fi card anywhere in the house, any advice about such a set up would be nice.
http://www.linksys.com/ntl/
October 29, 2003
aurora borealis
I know I saw it. We were heading for a walk tonight, we were out in Holywood and noticed bright green lights in the sky about 7.30. We stopped mesmerised for 15 or 20 minutes as the shapes morphed, twisted and disappeared. It really was a most impressive display.
I googled to see if it could be true and yes:
Newsflash 29/10/03 20:00: Aurora seen from Lancaster! Around 20:00 this evening, aurora was sighted from Lancaster. A broad band of green aurora could be seen to the north. Activity is currently very high and it seems likely that the display will get better. Unfortunately viewing conditions are not ideal due to cloud cover, but in areas with low enough light pollution, the aurora may be visible through gaps in the cloud.
So go and look to the North, and check Aurora Watch for more details, this seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity tonight.
Update
This picture is the closest to what I saw this evening.
October 28, 2003
Turner Prize 2003
This year's Turner Prize nominess have been announced. Jake and Dinos Chapman have entered in to the spirit of things by entering the 'tongue in cheek' (:-)) Death, which appears to consist of two inflatable dolls engaging in a sexual act on a lilo, but is actually a disguised heavy bronze cast Full article
Turner Prize Page
October 27, 2003
Trick or Treat
The first of the trick or treaters were out last night. Two within 5 minutes both using a new type of rhyme. In my day it was:
"Halloween is coming and the goose is getting fat,
please put a penny in the old man's hat,
If you haven't got a penny, a ha(lf)penny will do,
if you haven't got a ha(lf)penny,
god bless you."
These urchins last night came to the door and said:
Trick or Treat,
Smell my feet,
Give me something nice to eat.
I heard a great one a while back for giving to trick or treaters.
Chocolate covered brussel sprouts!!
October 25, 2003
Pumpkin Lanterns
On the case early this year because Rebecca's nephew leaves on Monday so I am making him a pumpkin lantern.
Rebecca told me about this woman Martha Stewart she has some amazing ideas for unusual lanterns.
The Pumpkin Snake
Rogues gallery of pumpkins
Haunted Halloween Village
Or alternatively view the complete Halloween listing.
October 23, 2003
Hub of the North
Took a few days off work this week, headed up to Portadown to aid in my Dad's rehabilitation after his gall bladder operation. Did what most men do when left to their own devices on a cold afternoon and ended up in the local.
Had an enjoyable afternoon of pints of stout and teenage amnesty when I try unsuccessfully to shock Dad with tails of my youth.
When searching for a link for the pub we were in I came across a very concise review of Portadown's pubs by the the Better Red than Dead Portadown FC fanzine.
http://www.brtd.co.uk/PUB%20GUIDE.htm.
Most of the pubs on the list don't have much of an interest for visitors to the town, but one bar which is within walking distance of the train station and is well worth a visit IMO is McConvilles. (Portadown's answer to The Crown.)
"McConvilles pub dates back to 1865 but moved to its present site in 1900. It preserves original wooden snugs inside, has etched glass windows at ground floor level and an iron door canopy and lantern. Local tradition has it that some of the Russian Oak fittings in the bar were made to the same design as that used on board the Titanic. There are original gas light fittings, now run on bottled gas."
It's a grade B listed building and the Campaign for Real Ale has a nice write up about it:
http://www.camra.org.uk/SHWebClass.ASP?WCI=ShowDoc&DocID=485
There is a gas lighter on the bar which is modelled on an infamous con man, picture and brief story here.
October 21, 2003
Unbelievable
Lad of about 14 calls at the house last night, gaggle of his mates standing round the gate smoking.
Very politely he says
"excuse me sorry to bother you, me and my mates are going round washing cars for whatever price you want, we have all the stuff and everything." My immediate reaction was no chance.
Then he says "We are raising money for...(my heart softened, and I began to wonder what cause had merited this effort from the crowd of gluebags) Funderland.
Word must have got round that I was a soft touch. Two kids called on Saturday night asking for sponsorship for a local football club's sponsored walk.They handed me a tatty flyer with three names on it all written in the same handwriting and same pen, the first name was Pop, the second Dazza and the third Glen (no surnames). The scam was so blatantly obvious I wanted to ask them if they were having a laugh, but because I recognised the kid as being from a rather well connected family I gave him a quid.
I really must get more assertive.
October 18, 2003
Four Feet
It's not often I quote poetry in this blog, preferring to leave it to the experts at
Constantly risking absurdity. This one however I found most enjoyable. It was in a book about coping with the loss of a pet that I happened to chance upon.
It's by Rudyard Kipling;
Four Feet
I have done mostly what most men do,
And pushed it out of my mind;
But I can’t forget, if I wanted to,
Four-Feet trotting behind.
Day after day, the whole day through—
Wherever my road inclined—
Four-Feet said, ‘I am coming with you!’
And trotted along behind.
Now I must go by some other round,—
Which I shall never find—
Somewhere that does not carry the sound
Of Four-Feet trotting behind.
Threat to indigenous fish.
The BBC News site has an article about the threat to Northern Ireland's Salmon from the breeding of native fish with fish farm escapees.
More in depth article from marine.ie.
Aswell as fish interbreeding, the threat to the environment from badly managed intesnive farms is immense, the fish are fed a diet of pellets infused with antibiotics, and often pesticides, causing discharges of nutrients and chemicals into the ecosystems surrounding these cages.
The aquaculture industry is very much left to itself to take responsibility for ethical practices, and as would be expected research based on increasing productivity often overshadows research into environmental impact.
I once considered a career in aquaculture even going as far as to do work experience on Maurice Dunlop's trout fishery on the Upper Bann at Tullylish.
He had a hatchery up in the mountains behind Mayobridge outside Newry where the fish were bred. They were very good quality and the hatchery was fed by a small mountain stream, it was a great place.
I did work experience there in February one year spending all day out in the ponds in waders grading fish and driving round the mournes, happy days!
Incidentally one of the best salmon farming operations in the world is on our doorstep Glenarm Salmon are stocked at low density and the conditions they are grown in are as close to natural as is physically possible, with the cages being flushed by strong tidal waters meaning the salmon are fully tailed and firm.
October 13, 2003
Inland Port ofPortadown
"It is not generally known that after the fall of France in 1940, the line of the Upper Bann linked with the Newry canals through to Carlingford Lough became a defensive position in case of German landings in the Republic of Ireland. This line of defence through from Lough Neagh to Carlingford Lough was to safeguard the east of Northern Ireland from German attack. To this end, the bridges at Portadown were mined and left ready for instant demolition. ".
from:
http://www.geocities.com/craigavonhs/rev/luttoninlandport.html
Belfastopoly
We definitely need a Belfast version of this:
Ghettopoly
October 12, 2003
Head Showered
Had a great day yesterday, went up to Portrush and had lunch in the Ramore...very nice indeed. I love being up there, it must be the same for everyone's university location. Driving through Portrush and Portstewart , recognising houses where you got up to all manner of naughtiness, houses where you used to party, houses where your friends lived, houses where you used to live, bars you used to drink in, clubs you used to frequent, clubs where you met your future wife,all rich with fantastic memories.
Hoping to go to this 'Big Boys Toys' exhibition today, the posters with Jordan plastered all over them have not helped my cause, but I am working on it.
October 09, 2003
Top Tip
If contacting an automated phone system and receive a "there is a long wait of so many minutes message", and are then asked to type in your customer number/account number, type in the wrong one (same number of digits but wrong number), you get put through to someone immediately on the last two I have tried. Not sure why but it beats the queue and you get to rectify it when you get to speak to someone.
how do i get back my escaped bird
That and other questions answered here apparently:
Some of the mental search terms that come here:
http://www.jaffs.com/trumpet/search.txt
Lazy
Just getting lazy with the old blogging recently, must try harder.
Lots going on at the moment, both in and out of work, and blogging seems like a distraction.
Rebecca's sister had a baby boy on Monday, 8lbs 12 ozs. The most fragile looking thing I have ever seen, and apparently that's a big one. They came over from England to have this one here, due to a bad experience with the first one. The family is heading to Dubai to live. Looking forward to going over to visit, don't have enough family/friends in foreign lands. I'll save up for a few years and go for a coffee in the Burj al arab. Imagine employing a full time falconer to chase the pigeons from your building.
"each Royal Suite boasts no fewer than 17 handsets."....that will come in useful.
I got accepted for promotion, but Human Remains decided not to give me the increment because I got made permanent at the beginning of the summer, so that counts as a promotion, and you can't have two in one year, so that was nice. My boss still told me, but started the sentence with "there's good news and bad news", sorry did I miss the good news bit?
Other exciting developments include the local kids resurrecting 'rap door run', it must be a karma thing. The problem with the kids in the street is they are slightly retarded and their hiding places are always the same. I'm going to wire the letter box up to a car battery for a bit of craic.
Reflectoporn (courtesy of Stray Toaster) is fantastic, and strangely appealing.
October 05, 2003
Blue Fin Tuna
Read in the paper of a 540lb bluefin tuna caught off the coast of Donegal this week, it's not as rare as you may think, there are people running commercial tuna fishing charters from Donegal.
http://www.tunacharters.ie/tuna.htm
October 04, 2003
Out of control moth
old memory(card)s
Clearing out some old memory cards and came across some photos from a fishing trip at the beginning of the summer.
Laurencetown (Upper Bann)
Wild brown trout from the Upper Bann
October 03, 2003
court case
A friend of my boss is being taken to court by an ISP. She owns a small Internet company and rents a server from a very dodgey ISP. A few weeks back she received a call asking her if she wanted her server patched, as it was exploited. She said yes, but wondered why they were asking, surely that is the ISP's business.
Last week she received a bill for patching the server, later that week she received a letter threatening to seize her assetts and taking her to court for
£14,000 of bandwith overuse. It appears the server was sending huge amounts of mail out, but nothing to do with this woman's company. I think his server was an open for sending mail through.
The bloke who owns the company sent really dodgey graphs (which Duggie analysed and declared virtually worthless) but no access logs, and has sent some very threatening letters through his solicitor.
This woman has panicked and is paying huge amounts of solicitor's fees, she has asked me if I know anyone who could act as an expert in this field, for advice or to act on her behalf as an expert should it end up in court.
I am convinced it never will, but the poor woman is being fleeced left right and centre by solicitors who know nothing of the technology.
If anyone fancies making contact and helping her out drop me a mail and I'll pass on her details.
Endsleigh & Gradwell
Two great companies and two great bits of customer service.
Gradwell.net confirm that IMO they are the best hosting company in the UK. I have a developer account with a nice shell account and easy to use system. I can host extra domains at £15.00 a year. I have 5 on my account and asked is it ripping the piss continually adding more, the reply from support was:
"We are content with the UKP15 that you pay to host each extra domain.
I have about 13 domains on my developer account, some customer have more.
You are nowhere near "too many" I am not even sure how many too many is as
the system is self limiting on disk space and bandwidth.
They also have a great soft limits policy
Endsleigh paid up for my stereo which got fried in the last storm. No quibbles, no questions, one call from their support asking me if I had Internet access, I said yes, he took me to the Sony site and allowed me the choice of a few stereos yesterday, I picked the one I wanted and it arrived by courier to my workplace today.
I get to keep the old one which I can flog on ebay as damaged, and my premium as only gone up by 8 quid.
October 01, 2003
hardware
Anyone got any good recommendations for a laptop and printer with a budget of about £1400? It's for a voluntary organisation that is expected to get a grant, and I work in computers so I am bound to know what to buy.