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From space, the Earth is a water planet. Oceans cover more than 70 per cent of its surface and are around 13,000ft deep. Yet, as this image shows, if every drop of water in the world was collected in a sphere, it would be just 869 miles across - barely big enough to cover Eastern Europe.
Image & Explanation Here
It's a lovely day today, took the day off to get caught up with some freelance work and thanks to the wonders of wireless internet connections I managed to work outside for a few hours. All the plants are starting to sprout, the clematis is close to flowering, the honeysuckle has developed big green bulbous leaves, the jasmine has taken a spurt and has reached the top of the wall it's been climbing for a year, the roses are showing sings of life, and an old pot that I had rocket growing in last summer has suddenly developed a rather nice crop again.
It's been a stressful few days, pressures outside of work have outweighed those in work for the first time, but I'll not go into details, just wanted to leave a reminder for myself when I go back and read this in a few months.
For those who remember Kick Start will be glad to hear that Duggie Lampkin and co are in Bangor this Saturday and Sunday for the World Trials Championship:
Event Info.
I have had an interesting weekend so far. Played 9 holes of golf at Ringdufferin near Killyleagh yesterday. I hate golf, probably because I am so bad at it. I lost 4 balls and went round 9 holes in 74 shots. However it was a pleasant walk.
The golfing event was for a mate who is leaving for Glasgow, he held a party last night, and we booked a stripper for the occasion. Photos are online on this domain, It's not really fair to give you a link, but the directory where they exist is sitting at root level and the directory name is not difficult to guess.
And here's a picture of a field of daffodils in Victoria Park a few minutes walk from my house. (Click for a bigger image)
I've been thinking about this recently after reading an article somewhere about it.
There's a great cheap way to get started on the nasa website:
http://education.ssc.nasa.gov/kap/kap.htm.
I've been looking at the kite kits on ebay, they are mini wireless cams that you can plug into the input on your camcorder, they work up to 800 metres.
I've just received this from an auction sniping programme, I know there is a few Perl modules for this sort of thing aswell, but it seems wrong to me:
My eBay User Id is cutlacks and I won this auction:
Title: 3 tobacco tins (Gallahers & Afrikander Smoking Mixture)
eBay item #: ###########
Winning Bid: GBP 4.30
My winning bid was placed for me by AuctionSniper.com
To learn how this service helps you win more eBay
auctions visit: http://www.AuctionSniper.com/?how=winningbidder
I've included my shipping address for your convenience.
Please reply with the total cost (including shipping) to this address,
as well as any payment methods you accept.
My address is:
Rebecca wanted a picture of one of her orchids printed in a big size, so I got all arty this morning and took this photo. It was taken at 5 Megapixels and I have ordered an A2 copy from photobox.co.uk, Hopefully one of you designer types can let me know if that's enough pixels for that size.
That was a windy old day, never seen a sand storm in Northern Ireland until today, came home and my pockets were filled with sand.
Not much else exciting happening at the moment, except the teenage spray painters are getting better, spotted this in the subway in Holywood this afternoon. (Click for a bigger image)
Does exactly what it says it does and works through any firewalls that we have tested it with: www.skype.com.
It's also available for Mac/Linux/Palm and Windows.
Nice resource on Voice Over IP from my hosting company.
Get your head round their new system.
One of my colleague's brothers is at number 5 in the unsigned section of CDWOW, you can listen to some tracks at http://www.galus.co.uk, and if you like it go buy it.
I just spent a few days getting my head showered as they say in Portadown. I like to escape the city for a few days every so often. It's funny saying escaping the city when you are talking about a city that you can be in the country from in about 5 minutes, but it just feels good for the soul to be amongst familiar places and faces.
I went fishing on Monday, it's the start of the trout season. I wanted to fish the river Bann at Tullylish but the river was in spate and was too muddy to fish with the fly, so I headed up to Kernan Lough for a few hours. I caught three nice rainbows about 1.5 pounds each. I only had river tackle with me which meant a box of small flies and a 9 foot, 6 rated rod. I found a muddler nestled in the corner of my river fly box and put it on fished dry on the surface. For those fishermen amongst you this would seem mental in March, but I lifted three fish in two hours on a size 14 dry muddler fished over the wave.
Spent today in Castlewellan Country Park which is where the photos below are from, lovely country park and the home of the National Arboretum and Europe's biggest maze, well worth the four quid entry fee
Part of the Belfast film festival a drive in movie behind St Anne's Cathedral, tune in to the frequency on the radio in your car and watch the movie:
http://www.belfastfilmfestival.org/section.php?category=Laganside%20Drive-In
Hello workmates!! It seems I have a few new readers from the office next door. You know it's time to give up when they ask what a blog is and why you have one. :-)
I need a new bandwagon to jump on...wiki perhaps? I'll confuse them with something else they haven't heard of...that will do the trick.
Joanne has a very honest post about stealing.
The post has given me a rich vein to write about this morning. I was always uncomfortable with stealing, and never really stole anything. The 'big boys' in the estate near where I grew up built a BMX track, it was a rather impressive one they brought diggers and JCB's in to do it, not sure where they got all the soil nor the machinery from but none the less it was great. I trundled over on my Grifter to have a go,and they wouldn't let me or my mate on, probably because we didn't help build it. They asked for 20p to have a go, so I cycled home, opened my Mum's bag and took 20p out. I hid it in the lense of a pair of swimming goggles which I had sitting in the rockery. (that sounds really random but it was summer and the plastic paddling pool was up). I'm not sure if money was tight or how they found out, but the 20p was uncovered and I was given the opportunity to confess, I jumped at the chance and admitted my dastardley deed.
Dad told me that there was only one thing for it and he would be taking me to the police station, I was 8 years old, and remember the drive down well, I was crying all the way. We gets down to Edward Street in Portadown and Dad parks up at the security barrier that blocked the road. I was absolutely convinced that he was going to take me in. He gave me a lecture about stealing, turned the car round and drove me to Robb's shell garage and got me a strawberry cornetto. To this day I have not stolen anyhting else except a MySQL and a Perl Programming book from Deathstar but that's the least I was owed so I won't count that.
Now I will admit to plenty of scams which were technically stealing, but none the less I have a definite moral divide in my confused head between these scams and stealing.
If anyone remembers the old pick and mix's in Wellworths, an island with the cashier in the centre filling the surrounding shores with all sorts of delights. There would be two weighing machines opposite each other on the East & West shores. You'd go round filling your bag with loads of sweets and watch carefully for another customer going to the first of the scales, when the cashiers back was turned you wedged a jelly teddy bear under the scale so that any amount of sweets would always cost the same 32 pence in 1986. She could never see the wedge from her side just the reading on the scale.
Another scam in later years was to fill the returned coins shoot on the coke machine with damp toilet paper so it dried and formed a plug. Someone would put a pound in for a coke, the can would be dispensed and 60p would fall down the shoot and get wedged by the plug. You'd come alond later in the day, remove the plug and your hard earned would fall out.
I remember a family in Portadown who shall remain nameless but they were four brothers and all members of my local scout group. They used to run the scout tuck shop and would be go to Holmes cash and carry to pick up supplies. They'd go up the back and get a 48 pk box of Tayto open it up and dump 20 odd packets out, then wedge in a box of Mars Bars for instance they'd then pile the flat bed trolley with more un-tarnished boxes on top of the scammed box and got to the cashier. She'd just scan the top box and multiply it by 5, thus making the brothers a tidy sum when they flogged the chocolate later.
Gareth Millar a candidate for the site VP here at my workplace has dumped his car on the grass beside the main bus stop. He has decorated the car with a large banner with Combat Clampers written across it. He was having a 'discussion' with the security when I passed this morning, and fair play to him he was sticking his ground and refusing to budge. I reckon he'll get clamped but something tells me that's his ideal scenario. So if you are a student on Campus; vote for that him, he's got a bit of backbone.
There was a post on a message board I frequent about ultimate cars, price being no objective:
I'd like one of these, but I'd also find it hard not to pick an Austin Healey 3000, my favourite car of all time, so if anyone has a spare 18,000 there's a lovely example on ebay at the moment......Yes Please!!!
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Whilst browsing through some of Rebecca's wedding magazines as you do, I found confotti where you can order confetti with your photo on each piece...how horrific!!
I was at a wedding on Friday in Eniskillen, great day out, one of those black tie events. The wedding was in a very nice little church just where you turn into Castle Archdale Country Park.
I really like Enniskillen, lovely people in that part of the world, very laid back.
The wedding was in Enniskillen so the bride could have her grandparents there, her grandfather is 94 years old and she didn't want him to travel too far. I thought that was a nice touch.
On a humming bird hawkmoth website:
An Internet site called “Jaffs Trumpet” lists sightings e-mailed by observers.
http://www.bordertelegraph.com/news/archivestory.php/aid/5951/Country_Diary.html
My Dad's a graphic designer. He calls himself a jobbing designer, and has no airs or graces. I needed some proofs for a freelance job for a client with a pretty tight brief. Mailed my Dad at 9.00 am he had fifteen yes 15 logos in my mailbox by 2.00pm. He claims he did them all in his lunch hour, but I think he's telling porkies.
I'd just like to tell Campbell how great he is, if he ever finds this blog!!
A map of where I have been (4 % of the world), generate yours here:
create your own visited country map
Anybody recommend a good company that will give me access to the Royal Mail's postcode database?
I have had a look at http://www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk, they have a per search pricing structure, which I think is pretty useful for the application I need.
Anybody used any others they would recommend?