The footage of the devotees of this guys cult on the breakfast news are astonishing. Rows of people adorned with large foam elephant heads.
"Aum Shinrikyo during its formative phase deployed an array of exotic (for Japan) symbolic forms mostly of Indian provenance, designed to emphasise Asahara's guru status. These included elephant-head (Ganesh) masks worn by devotees. Devotees also sometimes wore replicas of the head of Asahara himself. Indian-style clothing, long hair, beards etc. were reminiscent of the garb of Indian renunciants. Some believers wore a ceramic 'purusha box' and technical-looking 'astral teleporter'. On the other hand, catchy musical tunes and choreographed dance steps which owed more to modern cartoon culture than to Indian tradition were used in the group's publicity and recruitment activities."
http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/easia/aum.html

Posted by jaffs at 11:47 AM | Permalink

Will the retard who keeps sending me really obvious viruses by email please desist.
I have your cable modem address: modem-166.cust-176-3-212.adsl.unite.net.
I also have some other details that came from your mail headers.
I am sure some of my clever past and present colleagues will assist me in explaining what they are.

Posted by jaffs at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Way back long long time ago I made a declaration to install Linux on a PC at home. Last night I started with Mandrake 9.2.
It's an ironic use of the penguin BTW, I could never seriously put that on my blog, especially for the amount of effort I put into the install, which incidentally isn't complete but I don't see there being much of a problem doing so.
I was hoping to get my hands dirty and learn something, but the install consisted of me lying on my backside watching a nice series of slick looking graphical installation screens. It recognised everything I needed it to, it recognised the presence of windows and asked me if I wanted to dual boot, I initially did that, but then thought why bother.
So I started again but then it wanted to reformat my hard drive, so I made a cup of tea watched some telly came back and it was still trying to do it, so I got bored and went to bed.
So I'll get it up and running at the weekend, play with it for a bit then I'm going to install Debian for a bit of craic, I just can't resist breaking things.
Oh if none of you have upgraded your blogs to version 2.63+ do it, the automated thumbnail generation part of the upload file is great.
We are hoping to use it in work as a way of storing some stock photography, I just thought I'd post that here to remind someone about that central install of Moveabletype...'whistles innocently and leaves!!'

Posted by jaffs at 08:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was in Coleraine today, when I am driving I always like to listen to Radio Ulster for comedy value. It cracks me up; today's talkback was about 'the way we used to live'. How soft people have become with regards to taking risks in this day and age.
People like my Dad call in and tell everyone that the roads are grand and what is everyone complaining about. I picked my Dad because he commutes between Portadown and Derry/Londonderry. He's a graphic designer and can easily work from home as he did yesterday, but on days like this he gets in the car and drives to Stroke City so he can sneer at those who commute a few miles and don't make it in. He drives up the Western side of the Lough through Stewartstown/Moneymore/Tobermore and takes the country roads up to the Glenshane.
Anyway this bloke phones in from 'LONDON'derry as he put it, and says that all Roman Catholic kids stay at home in weather like this, whereas the protestant kids all have a strong work ethic and try their hardest to make it in through thick and thin. I kid you not, he was serious.
Another even funnier call came in, this woman calls in and says she left her ironing out on the doorstep in a bin bag this morning, to be collected by her ironing lady.
The bad news for her was that it was also the day the charity people were collecting their bags from doorsteps in her area. They drove off with hers...oh how I laughed!!

Posted by jaffs at 03:20 PM | Permalink

Lovely snow, not a very exciting shot, but this is out over the roof tops from my den in the attic.

Posted by jaffs at 08:30 AM | Permalink

I am going to attempt to upgrade my blog very soon to play with the new Image:Magick features of movabletype. My blog may disappear for a short while. But faithful readers don't worry I have exported all my posts in case of mishap, I couldn't leave the word-wide web without this invaluable corner.

Posted by jaffs at 12:26 PM | Permalink

So I gets in to work slightly later than usual in the hope that I could have a chat with those on picket. 8.10 am and not a sinner out picketing.
I resigned from the union on Monday, one out all out just aint going to cut it for me. Walk along my street in East Belfast and see what support there is for the strike.
The number of job losses in East Belfast and across Northern Ireland have been huge in recent weeks the seat belt factory in Dundonald, the notebook producers on the Castlereagh Rd, the Shipyard, Shorts etc etc.
The present economic climate is not the place for this sort of industrial action IMHO.

Posted by jaffs at 09:35 AM | Permalink

I really can't sing the praises of this hosting company enough, I pay them a tiny amount to host a selection of domains. Their customer service is second to none; request for a Perl module Image::Magik sent at lunchtime, personal reponse from Mr Gradwell himself just now to tell me it is now up and running on the web server.
Gradwell.com are great!!!
No nonsense great quality, and they take direct debit monthly payments which means I don't notice the money going out.

Posted by jaffs at 05:18 PM | Permalink

Two things to warm the heart on this cold day, Plus TV are doing re-runs of Bullseye in the morning when I am getting ready for work.



The other great news is that Raleigh are re-releasing the chopper in April:
http://www.raleighbikes.com/new/news/news_07.html
Incidentally a bowen is new english for a bearer of useless gifts,
From Jim Bowen, the presenter of '80s UK TV quiz show "Bullseye", which was renowned for its spectacularly inappropriate prizes. E.g. a speedboat to be shared between two families living in a terraced street 200 miles from the sea. "Your Grandma's a right bowen - she's only bought me *another* pair of socks"
http://www.langmaker.com/db/eng_bowen.htm

Posted by jaffs at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Sometimes you read an article and it expresses something that you feel perfectly, I wish I had written this article;

Rather than "piling up damp teddies and rotting flowers" people should go out and do some real good, he urged.

In his report, Conspicuous Compassion, author Patrick West said people were trying to feel better about themselves by taking part in "manufactured emotion".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3512447.stm

Posted by jaffs at 03:17 PM | Permalink

I work a lot with content uploaded and authored on windows machines and I often get files littered with those ^M's.
I used to use this:
tr -d '\015' < in-file > out-file
but this works nicely in vi:
In command mode:

1,$s/^M//g

The ^M in the substitution above is typed as Ctrl-V Ctrl M.

Posted by jaffs at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

In the hope that a reader of this blog may have some inside information on cheap convenient accomodation in Newcastle, England in July time for 18 blokes on a stag do,Please leave a comment if you do.
I have mailed the University of Northumberland Halls of residence to ask if a student society could stay for a short time in their halls of residence, but they might have me sussed.

Posted by jaffs at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I aint feeling comfortable with the call for action which my union has instigated.
I think I will resign from the union, as far as I can see 6% over three years is fair enough and the local pay structures, I am not overly concerned with at the moment, I may regret saying that.
It just seems so wrong with this sort of thing on the news, it was very sad watching the interviews with those who lost their job today.
This link provides some background information.

Posted by jaffs at 09:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I really enjoyed my short trip to Amsterdam, it's a really lovely city. Particular highlights for me were the double decker trains, I don't get out much and these impressed me. ;-) The German ICE trains were very handsome also.
Schipol is a doddle to get round and a lovely airport, lovely airy place loads of natural light, plenty of space and great qulaity cheap food.
The food was excellent all round, despite getting a dodgey stomach after eating a dubious prawn chow mein in a chinese restaurant on the egde of the red light district. The dark beers were lovely, full bodied, treackly ales..we just have nothing similar here.
I was presenting a gaming technologies showcase at the webct conference.The presentation went well, unfortunately I have left my presentation on a jump drive somewhere in the Netherlands with all the source code for the Flash QTI parser that I wrote. I also borrowed the jump drive from a colleague so I'll have to replace it, which is annoying.

Posted by jaffs at 09:55 PM | Permalink

Just spent a few days in Amsterdam presenting at a conference and boy am I in love with that city. I'll write more when I wake up.

Posted by jaffs at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

http://www.metronomy.com/

Posted by jaffs at 08:01 PM | Permalink

I have nicked this from their front page this week. I have not laughed as much in ages, it's a great talent being able to say so much with just one image:

Posted by jaffs at 08:41 AM | Permalink

Nonsense

Posted by jaffs at 08:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have to blog this poem, Russel posted it the other day and I have found myself returning to the post to read it every morning. I think it is fandabidozi:

Job Davies, eighty-five
Winters old, and still alive
After the slow poison
And treachery of the seasons.

Miserable? Kick my arse!
It needs more than the rain's hearse,
Wind-drawn to pull me off
The great perch of my laugh.

What's living but courage?
Paunch full of hot porridge
Nerves strengthened with tea,
Peat-black, dawn found me

Mowing where the grass grew,
Bearded with golden dew.
Rhythm of the long scythe
Kept this tall frame lithe

What to do? Stay green.
Never mind the machine,
Whose fuel is human souls
Live large, man, and dream small.

- R.S. Thomas

Incidentally whilst checking the spelling of my chosen adjective, this disturbing website appeared.

Posted by jaffs at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)

http://forums.somethingawful.com

Posted by jaffs at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Top valentine's day tip, personalise and order your cards online at Moonpig.com

Posted by jaffs at 03:01 PM | Permalink

This guy's got style:
He said: "If Dad had got me these things in the first place I wouldn't have had to steal his card."
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_864171.html?menu=news.quirkies

Posted by jaffs at 12:05 PM | Permalink

I got 12 out of 20.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles/index.shtml

Posted by jaffs at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Check this out, you have to register and it takes 15 minutes to perform a search, but it has pulled back some impressive results for me and pointed me in the direction of some very useful websites. Don't search for your own name as the first search unless you are famous, I should have read the manual first.
Search Tuna.com

Posted by jaffs at 09:35 PM | Permalink

My fishing club (Gilford Angling Club) owns Kernan Lough in the drumlins between Gilford and Banbridge. The old boys often talked about a group of people drowning in the Lough in bygone years, it often has an eerie feeling when you are fishing into the dark on your own on the far tree lined bank.

A quick trawl uncovers :

TULLYLISH, a parish, in the barony of LOWER IVEAGH, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER; containing, with the post-town of Gilford (which is separately described,) 10,501 inhabitants. The parish formerly was part of the property of the powerful family of Maginnis, Lords of Iveagh; it was forfeited in consequence of the part taken by the head of the family in 1641. At the commencement of the war which broke out in that year, a body of Protestant women who were sent by Sir Phelim O'Nial from Armagh to Claneboy, were forced to cross Lough Kernan, in this parish, during a severe frost, when the ice having given way when they were in the middle of it, the whole party perished
http://radiocarbon.pa.qub.ac.uk/local/townlands/Down/T/tullylish.html

The BBC has a rather interesting piece relating to the Secrets of Kernan Lough:
"And further sayth, that about the beginning of March, 1641 about four score men, women, and children of English and Scottish were sent by direction of Sir Phelim O'Neile from the County of Armagh downe to Claneboys, in the County of Downe where they were met by one Capt. Phelim M' Art M'Brian, and his company of Rebells (most of his owne Sept), which said CaptaiI Phelim and his company carried and forced all these protestants from tkence into a lough called Lough Kearnan in the same county In which Lough, he and his said company forced (them upon the ice) and drowned them all, both men, women, and children, spareing none of them at all."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/northern_ireland/ni_6/index.shtml

Posted by jaffs at 12:46 PM | Permalink

Around Portadown if you were a hardened drinker and a bit of a looney bin, it would not be uncommon for the term 'Hammerhead' to be used to describe you.
I wonder is this a term used outside the area, or does it stem from this:
'Mick vividly remembers the lighters and the lighter men; his parents were lock keepers at lock No. 9. He talks enthuiastically of the characters he remembers, of Hughie Fox who captained the Fox, of a frightening man named Davidson but known as Hammerhead. This poor fellow died of exposure, alcohol and malnutrition.At the inquest into his death in Newry Workhouse, a witness stated he probably hadn’t had his boots of for the last 15 years.'
http://heritage.iwai.ie/waterways/newry_canal1.shtml

Posted by jaffs at 10:40 PM | Permalink

Check out the rateable value of your house:
http://vla2.nics.gov.uk/sl5/search.asp?submit=form
I got a letter through the door yesterday to tell me that someone from the rates agency had called and could I call them. I am loathed to do this, my rates are in some blackhole and are a paltry £18.00 a month, my neighbours are a lot more.
I don't know why this may be, you can compare your rateable value with those in your street at the above url. It looks like my secret is out now though, they are on my trail, thankfully the civil service are on strike, I have tried to call them three times today and I just can't seem to get through to tell then they should be charging me so much more, I am trying so hard aswell!!

Posted by jaffs at 02:24 PM | Permalink

This is great news for anyone with flash anywhere on their site, particularly for someone like an educational institution which could feasibly have hundreds of flash objects used for online learning scattered around their platform:
http://www.dmxzone.com/ShowDetail.asp?NewsId=5703
Looks like some laborious work to be done in the coming weeks.

Posted by jaffs at 08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

http://www.ninis.nisra.gov.uk/
In my postcode area 49% of births last year were to unmarried mothers.
It makes me so proud!

Posted by jaffs at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Was taking ebay photos earlier and this creepy creature appeared when the flash bounced back off a green vinyl. Obviously it would have been much more impressive if the image wasn't actually on the record.

Posted by jaffs at 07:10 PM | Permalink

I bit the bullet last night and ordered the Sony dvd camera http://www.camerasdirect.co.uk/desc.asp?id=3021 from these guys, the price was 200 less than the Sony site and they threw in a free portable Pico 2 dvd player, thus avoiding the possible conflict with the 8cm dvds not playing on my dvd player. Just need to find somewhere that sells the media for them, amazon have a 2 week lead time on the blinking things. I guarantee they end up like Betamax. I like them though it seems shoddy buying a digital camcorder to have it write to tape.

Posted by jaffs at 10:19 AM | Permalink