May 2008 Archives

I am currently experiencing a rather severe speed issue with my broadband connection. Normally I connect at about 8000kbps Downstream and 448kbps Upstream which works out to an exceptionally good 8mb connection. I'm lucky and live within a couple of hundred yards of the exchange.

Anyway, since Thursday evening I've been experiencing some really awful download speeds; sort of in the realms of old ISDN speeds. After changing numerous router settings, cycling the power on the router and the PC I ended up checking the BT forums. It had been reported that a lot of people were experiencing problems across the network and a problem in one of BT's main network hubs had been identified as a possible cause. I went to bed on Thursday thinking it'll get sorted sooner rather than later.

I got up Friday morning and discovered the problem was still persisting. A check on the forums indicated that the problem most people had been experiencing had been resolved. Obviously, my problem was unrelated. Further changes to router settings and other tests carried out and all to no avail.

Checking the BT Speed Tester website; which I didn't even know existed until yesterday morning, gave me an indication of the problem:

The Performance Tester is now testing Broadband connection. Your configured download throughput speed for this service is 135 k.

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 135 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 7968 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 83 kbps

Digging around a bit I discovered that this figure should usually be about 500 less than your normal Downstream. 135k works out just under 17k/sec and is about 2% of where it should be. 7968k works out at a theoretical maximum of 996k/sec; although in practice I've only rarely seen over 800k/sec a few times.

BT's support site states that the IP Profile is set at the local exchange level and is used to help manage data coming down your line to ensure that it doesn't try to deliver too fast for you to handle. Further reading in the forums also suggested that this was a method that BT employed to cap users that had fallen foul of the Fair Usage Policy (FUP). Although this tended just to be managed during Peak Hours.

I could understand if I had fallen foul of the FUP. I do a fair bit of downloading; mainly TV shows form the US that I hate waiting to watch in the UK. Other people in the house also use the internet and I have an XBox 360 that is also connected to the net.

What I can't understand however is that if I have fallen foul of the FUP then BT never gave any indication that I had and may have just capped my service without informing me first. It seems a bit harsh that if they have capped me then they've done so very severely. I've seen posts on their forums that suggest caps ranging from 750 kbps to just under 2000 kbps but none as low as a permanent 135kbps cap.

I've sent an email to their Tech Support people and will await their response.

If you've ever noticed really slow browsing speeds that bear no correlation to your actual connection speed then you may have problems with your DNS setting. DNS, Dynamic Name Service, is a method by which the address you type into the browser address bar is converted into numbers that help the browser route you to the correct website.

Most ISPs will assign these automatically or give you a couple of sets of numbers to type into your network connection settings or your router.

OpenDNS is a free, independent service, that replicates this service. Where OpenDNS triumphs over a regular ISP's DNS provision is that if your ISP has a problem with it's DNS servers then you can't browse the web. OpenDNS has a network of DNS servers and their system automatically uses the closest working server to you. If they have problems they have multiple DNS servers that just automatically take up the load.

The website has instructions on how to set up various routers. Be sure to print out or make a note of any existing settings before you start so that if things go awry then you can reset the settings back to their originals.

Less than nine months after launching Leopard, Apple have just released a third update for their latest OS. OS X 10.5.3 claims significant improvements to Spotlight searching, wireless connectivity, the Automator, Spaces, and Time Machine, plus a number of other core and standard applications.

By comparison, Windows XP was released in October 2001 and it's only now getting a third major update in the form of SP3. Windows Vista was released in November 2006 and has only recently had SP1 released for it.

It begs the question of was Leopard fully finished when it was released 8 months ago or are Apple really that keen to continually update their products. I would hope the latter.

In his own words, Dad got some bad news and some good news today.

He had a follow-up appointment at the hospital today concerning his toes. Apparently, just removing the affected toes isn't an option. The consultant has informed him that they will need to remove his remaining leg. That's the bad news. The good news is that Dad can decide when to go in and get it done. They're not going to force him into doing it at the first available opportunity.

"Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death, I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing." - At the entrance to the SR-71 base, Kadena, Japan

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"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3." - Paul F. Crickmore (test pilot)

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The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire. 



"There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky." - From an old carrier sailor.

If the wings are travelling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe.

When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash.

Without ammunition, the USAF would be just another expensive flying club.

What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; if ATC screws up ... the pilot dies.

Never trade luck for skill.

Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.

Progress in airline flying: now a flight attendant can get a pilot pregnant.

Airspeed, altitude, and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight.

A smooth landing is mostly luck; two in a row is all luck; three in a row is prevarication.

I remember when sex was safe and flying was dangerous.

Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!

Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag for the purpose of storing dead batteries.

Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it.

"The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you." 


- Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)
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"A pilot who doesn't have any fear probably isn't flying his plane to its maximum." 


- Jon McBride, astronaut
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"If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible." 


- Bob Hoover (renowned aerobatic and test pilot)
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Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you.


"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime." 


- Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970

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If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to.

You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal.

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives, the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks, "What happened?". 


The pilot's reply: "I don't know, I just got here myself!" - Attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot).

I sat down and watched the latest Indiana Jones adventure earlier this evening. Happily, it can be summed up in just one word.

Brilliant!

It's 2 hours of high adventure; very much in the style of the previous 3 movies. I had read some disparaging comments about the movie prior to watching it, but it had also received praise from some critics. Whatever you've heard please ignore the comments and watch it on it's own merits. It really does stand up as a classic matinee-style adventure.

I've heard that although nothing has been discussed a fifth movie would be welcomed by some of the cast and crew. I can honestly say that I hope they do make a fifth movie; as long as it maintains the standard of the series.

The BBC pre-empted Doctor Who last night; ostensibly for the Eurovision Song Contest. But if you actually look at where shows have been airing recently and where they will be airing in the weeks to come that's not exactly true.

Doctor Who has been airing at 7pm during it's current run and looking ahead 3 or 4 weeks it will continue to air at that time. The Eurovision Song Contest didn't start until 8pm last night. Shows that normally run in that time-slot are I'd Do Anything, followed by The National Lottery 100-1 and then Casualty.

If they had dropped Doctor Who and just moved I'd Do Anything into it's slot I could've understood. After all, I'd Do Anything generates good business and ratings for the BBC. However, the rescheduling went even further than that.

What the BBC actually did was they pre-empted The Kids Are Alright from it's pre-Doctor Who slot, also pre-empted Doctor Who, shortened The National Lottery down to just the draws and then finally pre-empted Casualty.

They aired a repeat of The Weakest Link Paranormal Special at 5:50pm and followed that with I'd Do Anything at 6:50pm and then the National Lottery draws leading into the 8pm start for Eurovision.

So, whereas Casualty was pre-empted for Eurovision, Doctor Who was actually pre-empted to make room for a repeat of a quiz show. Now, I'm not totally convinced of the all around merits of Eurovision, but at least that only comes along once a year.

If the special episode of The Weakest Link had been a new Eurovision special I might have seen the reasoning, but a repeat of a paranormal special that had no relevance to the rest of the evening?

The BBC could have easily dropped The Kids Are Alright and Casualty as they did last night anyway and then moved I'd Do Anything into the slot vacated by The Kids Are Alright without dropping Doctor Who at all

With Doctor Who taking a break next year I would've thought the BBC would have been more accommodating of their main cash cow. There was nothing stopping them holding the special over until Doctor Who ends it's run; especially considering the lack of relevance.

Watching Click this morning Kate Russell recommended a site called Planet Scicast.

Planet SciCast started life as an idea from TV kids science producer Jonathan Sanderson, who has worked on programmes like How2 and Big Bang.

Planet Scicast is partnered with NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, ETB, the Engineering and Technology Board, IOP, the Institute Of Physics and Planet Science, a website from NESTA.

Planet Scicast is four things:

1. Some training in schools on how to make mini movies of science demonstrations.
2. A big UK wide competition to get children, young people, teachers, parents, science communicators and science/engineering/technology professionals all making mini movies to send in to Planet SciCast.
3. A web resource of all those movies and the written up activities and experiments, for the use and amusement of all the above.
4. Finally, a discussion about who's job it is to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers with entertaining science related material.

With Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull opening this weekend I thought I'd share some trivia about the previous 3 movies.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

• Iran and Iraq are both shown on a map, although the area, in the 1930s, was called Persia.
• The map showing the path of Indy's flight includes Thailand, which was called Siam at the time.
• During the fire fight in Marion's Bar, Indy's gun changes from a .38 revolver to a Colt .45, back to a .38, then back once again to a .45.
• Set in 1936, the sub-machine guns used are German MG-44s, which weren't designed until 1944.
• When Indy pushes a stone block out of a wall to escape from the crypt, it bounces as it hits the ground.
• When Marion is tied up in the German tent, her hair is under the gag tied around her mouth, then over it, then under it again.

Temple Of Doom

• The movie opens with a scene in a night club. After the fight is over, and Indy and Willie make their escape, the name of the club is seen as they drive away - Club Obi Wan.
• 'Temple Of Doom' is actually set before 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark'.
• The original dress for Willie in the opening "Anything Goes" scene was destroyed by an elephant in the jungle scene when it ate the back of the dress.
• When they arrive at the plane after the club scene, the man that walks them to the plane is Dan Aykroyd.
• When the lava pit is opening to sacrifice Willie, listen for the same sound as Darth Vader igniting his lightsaber.
• Just like Indiana was named after George Lucas' dog, Willie was named after Steven Spielberg's dog and Short Round was named after screenwriters Bill Hyuck and Gloria Hatz's dog.
• Indy charges after the guards with a sword just before going on the bridge, then has to make a quick retreat when they chase him. Remember Han Solo and the chase of the stormtroopers on board the Death Star? Harrison Ford is one brave man...
• Some of the action scenes in in this film were actually written for 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', but were dropped and incorporated into this one.

The Last Crusade

• Hitler signs his name with the wrong hand when he autographs the diary, and actually spells his own name incorrectly.
• Trying to find his father, Indy goes through his father's mail, revealing a stamp which wouldn't have been issued at that time.
• The airship Indy and his father looks very much like the Hindenburg which exploded the year before. It is not the Hindenburg, but in fact the Graf Zeppelin II, her twin, which was ready for commercial operation in 1938. However, the the dirigible never carried a paying customer and was instead used for reconnaissance of the English border just before the war.
• When young Indy is in the lion's cart, he cracks a whip that cuts him on the top of his chin, hence Indiana's chin scar. But actually Harrison Ford got that scar when he crashed his car while trying to put his seatbelt on.
• River Phoenix, who plays the young Indy, played Harrison Ford's son in the 1986 movie "The Mosquito Coast."
• In the scene in the zeppelin where Indy talks with his father, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery both elected to shoot the scene wearing no trousers because it was so hot and they didn't want to stop every ten seconds to wipe sweat away.
• During the fighting scene on the tank. Indy is punched and hits the periscope while the solders inside watch. One of the solders says to the other "The Americans - they fight like women" in German and then gets hit by the periscope.
• During the scene with Hitler in Berlin, there is one shot where some books to be burnt are shown. If you look closely, you can see that one is "Das Kapital" by Karl Marx.

Celtic were crowned champions of Scotland for the third consecutive season this evening thanks to a 1-0 win away at Dundee United. Rangers, who had started the night level on points but with a 4 worse goal difference, lost 2-0 at Aberdeen. For long periods of the season Rangers had been in pole position but a couple of poor results handed the advantage to Celtic, and they refused to let it slip.

Mozilla released the rc1 version of Firefox 3 last weekend. It's a lot more stable than the Beta versions and is significantly quicker at rendering web pages than Firefox 2 ever was. I've been using it side by side with Firefox 2 on my main PC since Sunday evening and although not all of my existing extensions work, I'm happy enough with it.

It is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux from here.

Manchester United have beaten Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after drawing 1-1 after extra time. Cristiano Ronaldo put United ahead after 26 minutes and United could have had 2 more before Frank Lampard levelled the score just before half-time; thanks to a fortuitous double deflection. Chelsea bossed the second half but couldn't make their advantage count. Both teams had chances in extra time and Chelsea's Didier Drogba was sent off for a stupid slap on Nemanja Vidic.

Crisitano Ronaldo had his penalty saved by Petr Cech before John Terry slipped whilst taking his penalty and hit the post. The tie was decided when Edwin Van Der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka's penalty and handed Manchester United their third European Cup. Iin the 50th anniversary year of the Munich Air Disaster there cannot be many better tributes to the Busby Babes.

Tonight is the night. A night of destiny for either Manchester United or Chelsea. Tonight is the Champions League Final. Kick-off is 7:45pm BST; 10:45pm Local Time. The game is being shown live both on Sky Sports and ITV1 in the UK. It'll be carried live globally by a myriad of other channels.

There's no disguising who I'll be rooting for. It's won't be the blues of Chelsea. I'm a die-hard Manchester United fan and I'll be glued to the TV for the entirety of the game. If anybody tries to contact me, they will be ignored. The only way I'm leaving the front of the TV is if the house burns down around me.

The press conferences yesterday gave some indication of the mood of both teams.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was 15 minutes early for his and happily joked with Wes Brown and Rio Ferdinand before proceedings started in earnest. In buoyant mood throughout, he made reference to not letting down the Busby Babes, exuded confidence in his team and ominously predicted that they can get better. He ended proceedings with a beaming smile and his arms spread wide, "I love you all, I've come to spread peace."

By contrast, Chelsea manager Avram Grant was in a glum and dour mood when he arrived for his press conference 15 minutes late. He responded very defensively to a stream of questions regarding his relationship with Chelsea's owner, the support he has received from the club and questions about his future. Whilst Ferguson is fully aware of the huge part he has to play it would appear that Grant feels differently, "I am a very small part of this."

Both teams should have full squads to choose from when the teams are announced prior to kick-off; although a rash challenge by Claude Makelele on Ashley Cole in a training session caused some concern for Chelsea. Cole resumed training after some treatment but moved gingerly and eventually left training early.

A statement released on Chelsea's official website stated "In a challenge with Claude Makelele in front of hundreds of cameras and the world football press, Ashley Cole hurt his right ankle. He was treated, it was tested, then strapped - but after consultation between Grant, club doctor Bryan English and physios Dave Hancock and Thierry Laurent - Cole resumed and took full part in the final training game - only disappearing down the tunnel after the players had listened to Avram's address and been stood-down for a final kickaround."

Come 10pm this evening; or thereabouts, the destiny of this season's Champions League trophy will have been decided. Hopefully, as a Manchester United fan, I will be celebrating by then.

Here's a list of Web sites that render more useful the streams of information generated by Twitter's users. Some you may know about; others are more obscure. But if you're a Twitter user who has yet to explore the world built around Twitter, you owe itself to check these out.

• Hashtags -- Track tags designated by a # in Twitter.
• Loud Twitter -- Post Twitter updates to a blog.
• Politweets -- Tracking political discussion on Twitter.
• Quotably -- Threads Twitter conversations, with varying results.
• Summize -- Yet another Twitter search engine. Also uses topics trending up.
• Terraminds -- Another Twitter search engine.
• Track This -- Track packages using Twitter.
• Tweetburner -- Track links you share on Twitter.
• Tweeterboard -- Find Twitter's most influential users.
• Tweet Scan -- Search Twitter using keywords.
• TweetStats -- Want to know just how addicted you are to Twitter? Graph your usage!
• TweetWire.com -- See links submitted to Twitter organized by category: Election 2008, tech, sports, celebrity.
• Twist -- Graph and compare usage of keywords and topics in Twitter.
• Twistori -- What Twitter users are loving, wishing for, feeling, hating and believing, right now.
• TwitLinks -- Links submitted to Twitter by a select list of tech luminaries.
• TwitPic -- Because a picture is worth more than 140 characters.
• Twitslikeme -- Find other Twitter users who may share your interests.
• TwittEarth -- Live Twitter updates shown on a spinning 3D globe. Very similar to Twittervision 3D.
• TwitterBuzz -- Popular links on Twitter.
• Twitter Census -- Ask a question, use this to tally the results.
• Twitterfeed -- Send an RSS feed to Twitter. Great for alerting friends to blog posts.
• Twitter Guide -- Not a tool, but a nice Twitter explainer and etiquette guide.
• Twitterholic -- Find out who has the most followers, friends or updates.
• Twitter Local -- Find local Twitter users. There's also an Adobe AIR application you can run on your desktop.
• Twitter Quotient -- Rates your Twitter activity.
• TwitterSnooze! -- Temporarily unfollow someone, then re-follow them at an assigned time. WARNING: Saves your Twitter name and password to its servers until it re-follows.
• Twitterverse -- Common terms being used over a given period of time, arranged in tag-cloud fashion.
• Twittervision -- Map Twitter updates on a map or a 3D globe. There's also a Mac OS screen saver.
• Twubble -- Searches friends of your friends to suggest more people to follow.
• @timer - Send this account a message and it will respond with a reminder at the time you specifiy.

As most everybody is already aware Russell T. Davies has already announced that he will not be at the helm of Doctor Who when season five is broadcast in 2010.

BBC Wales have today announced that Steven Moffat will take over the role of Lead Writer and Executive Producer. He will join as Executive Producer on season five by Piers Wenger, who is taking over from Julie Gardner, who is also stepping down.

Season four is currently just past half-way through it's 13-episode run and then Doctor Who will return in 2009 with four specials. Season five is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC One in 2010; planning for which is apparently already under way.

Moffatt previously wrote the episodes The Empty Child, The Girl In The Fireplace, Blink and Silence In The Library; the two-parter that will be broadcast when Doctor Who returns from it's Eurovision enforced break.

It's great news that the BBC have decided to go with somebody that already has a history with the show.

It wasn't my idea but we have a new puppy. She is only 7 weeks old and has been named Petra.

She is every bit as cute as she looks in the picture but I'm just not 100% certain that I'm ready for a new dog so soon after losing Tasha.

Jon Lester threw a no-hitter last night as the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 7-0. Lester, who missed the end of the 2006 season after he was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, threw 130 pitches to complete his first ever MLB complete game. It was the first no-hitter in the majors since Clay Buchholz threw one last September; also for the Red Sox, against the Baltimore Orioles.

I very much doubt that I am the only person that remembers Airwolf with fondness. Anyway, a guy called Steven Stull from Atlanta created a full-size replica. It was originally intended for a museum in Tennessee but has now found it's way into private hands and was recently auctioned for $60,000.

For all you Flickr fans have a look at Tag Galaxy; a rather spiffy new way to browse Flickr.

Miro: A free application that turns your computer into an internet TV video player. You can download it here for Windows, Mac, or Linux.

RadioPaq: RadioPaq is a portal that makes internet radio simpler than ever, with visual, interactive and on-demand services for news, podcasts and global stations.

PaperToys: A website full of paper toys, models, cut-outs, trains, airplanes, paper party gifts, party hats, paper cars, paper motorcycles and cards.

Congratulations to Portsmouth who just beat Cardiff City 1-0 in the FA Cup Final at Wembley. The goal was scored just before half-time by Nwankwo Kanu after a mistake by Cardiff's goalkeeper Peter Enckelman. It wasn't a particularly good or exciting game but all credit to Harry Redknapp's team.

Portsmouth will join Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City in the UEFA Cup next season.

The Premier League season that just ended was the first in the new 3-year tv deal and as a sign of how much extra money has gone to teams this year, Bolton, who finished 16th, received £32m; the same amount that Manchester United received last year as Champions. Derby, who were relegated with the worst record ever in the Premier League, received £29m. A total of £940m was paid out this year; with £815m paid to Premier League clubs, £77.5m going to the Football League and another £47.5m going to charities and other good causes in Britain and abroad.

Over the next two season Reading, Birmingham City and Derby will receive £11.4m in "parachute payments" to ease the burden of relegation.

Television revenue for 2007-08 season (2006-07 in brackets)

1. Manchester United £49.3m (£32m)
2. Chelsea £45.6m (£30.9m)
3. Arsenal £47m (£29m)
4. Liverpool £45.4m (£28.4m)
5. Everton £42.1m (£25.3m)
6. Aston Villa £42.3m (£22m)
7. Blackburn Rovers £40.2m (£22m)
8. Portsmouth £40.4m (£23m)
9. Manchester City £39.7m (£21m)
10. West Ham United £36.8m (£21.1m)
11. Tottenham Hotspur £36m (£27.3m)
12. Newcastle United £39.2m (£21.2m)
13. Middlesbrough £34.2m (£20.5m)
14. Wigan Athletic £33.4m (£18.4m)
15. Sunderland £33.6m (£6.5m*)
16. Bolton Wanderers £32m (£24.6m)
17. Fulham £31.3m (£20.4m)
18. Reading £30.6m (£23.6m)
19. Birmingham City £29.8m (£6.5m*)
20. Derby County £29.1m (n/a)

Total £815,175,812 (£502,533,570)

* denotes parachute payment for clubs promoted from the Coca-Cola Championship.

I originally wasn't going to bother buying myself a copy of GTA IV for a while. This was mainly due to the fact that I can't really afford to at the moment with not working.

Anyway, yesterday I finally got a refund of my account balance from KJC Games. I'd previously played a PBM with them; Quest. I hadn't had any turns processed in a long time and decided to close my account. Although I had just over £43 in the account they reimbursed me just over £32 after taking off the 10% bonus I had received when I put the money in the account and a £5 administration fee. Anyway, PayPal then went and took another £1.30 in fees.

So, since the money was already in my PayPal account I thought "What the heck!" and ordered a copy of GTA IV for the XBox 360 off eBay. Cost me £30.98. Anyway, logged into eBay this morning and discovered I had a new message. Clicking on it, thinking it was a dispatch notification, I discovered it was actually a £5 voucher that eBay had sent me on May 2nd. I though "Great, can use that for a future purchase." Only to discover that it expired on 14th May 2008; yesterday. I could've saved myself £5 by using the voucher and didn't even know I had it. Damn!

TECHNOLOGY:
Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
It changes every hour and is currently set to:

Q. How many televisions do you have in your house?
Four.

Q. How many computers do you have in your house?
Five.

BIOLOGY:
Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right-handed.

Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Both of my big toe nails.

Q. What is the last heavy item you lifted?
My Dad; he fell out of his wheelchair.

Q. Have you ever been knocked out?
Not in a fight, no. But, I've been knocked out with anaesthetic.

BULLSHITOLOGY:
Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
As cool an idea as it would be I would imagine I would freak out and try to avoid it as it got closer. So, no, I'd prefer not to know.

Q. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
I wouldn't.

Q. What colour do you think looks best on you?
Black.

Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item?
Yes, paper to keep secrets when younger.

DAREOLOGY:
Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for £100?
I've already done that.

Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for £200,000?
Maybe the left one.

Q. Would you never blog again for £50,000?
You'd have to take my PC and internet access away and that'd drive me nuts; so, no, I couldn't do that.

Q. Would you pose naked in a magazine for £250,000?
It'd be scary for the readers; but I'd do it.

Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for £1000?
Yeah, why not. As long as there were suitable quantities of water etc available afterwards.

Q. Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for £1,000,000?
I'm tempted to say 'No', but the truth is that if the person truly deserved to die then 'Yes'. But, it would have to be proven unequivocally that the person deserved their fate. Maybe a Child Molester or Rapist.

DUMBOLOGY:
Q: What is in your left pocket?
It's empty.

Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
Never seen it, so I don't know.

Q: Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
Carpet.

Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower?
Stand.

Q: How many pairs of shoes/trainers do you own?
Five, maybe Six.

LASTOLOGY:
Q: Last person who texted you?
My Brother-In-Law, Russell, with a non-PC joke.

Q: Last person who called you?
My Auntie.

Q: Last person you hugged?
My Sister-In-Law. It was her birthday yesterday.

I've found a couple of really cool websites, a mind-blowing Firefox extension and a wee bit of PC nostalgia.

First up is Dungeon & Dragons Adventures; a pretty useful resource for all the D&D geeks out there. It includes Adventures, Articles, Downloads and Forums.

Next up is CyberNet News; which has a host of technology news and productivity tips and is the site where I discovered the most jaw-dropping Firefox extension I think I've ever seen.

Tab Effects is a Firefox extension that takes advantage of Direct X 8 and higher to add a rather awesome transition effect when switching tabs.

The nostalgia is a clone of the Flying Toasters sceensaver that Berkley Systems released as part of the After Dark series on the PC way back in 1989. Anyway, ToasterClone works under Apple OSX and Windows.

Quick Online Tips was featured on BBC Click over the weekend and is quite a useful resource. From their 'About Us' page:

Quick Online Tips is a popular blog regularly publishing Technology news, smart blogging tips, new media, web 2.0 services, useful computer software, advertising and how to make money online.

Go and have a look.

As Pewari mentioned in her podcast the other day we rarely get an extended period of good weather here in the UK. And where I live in Cumbria it's even rarer. The closeness of the local lakes and mountains to the sea tends to result in a lot of rainy weather.

However, having said that, the weather here has been really good since last Monday and looking at the forecast for the coming week it's not going to get significantly worse. There's a few cooler, cloudy days forecast for the week ahead but no rain ahead.

Now that my toes are healed I may take the opportunity one day this week to pop into the hills and take a few photographs. I'm tempted to pop down the coast to the Eskdale valley and take a visit to the Roman Fort up on Hard Knot Pass.

Manchester United won 2-0 at Wigan and Chelsea could only draw 1-1 with Bolton; resulting in Manchester United winning the Premier League by 2 points.

At the foot of the table Fulham survived but Birmingham City and Reading joined Derby County in being relegated.

Roll on the Champions League final in a week and a half.

Today is the final day of the FA Premier League season and the title can still be won and lost.

Manchester United and Chelsea both sit atop the table on 84 points. Manchester United are away at Wigan Athletic and Chelsea are at home against Bolton Wanderers this afternoon.

If Manchester United beat Wigan they will almost certainly be champions. The only way Chelsea can win the title if Manchester United win today is if they beat Bolton by 18 goals more than Manchester United beat Wigan. Possible, but highly improbable.

If Manchester United only draw against Wigan then Chelsea just need to beat Bolton and they'll be champions.

If both Manchester United and Chelsea draw their games then Manchester United will be champions.

If Manchester United lose at Wigan then Chelsea just need to draw against Bolton to become champions.

If both Manchester United and Chelsea lose their games then Manchester United will be champions.

At the foot of the table only Derby County have been relegated so far.

In order to survive, Birmingham City need to win today and hope that both Reading and Fulham lose.

For Reading to survive they need to get a better result than Fulham. If Fulham and Reading both win then Reading need to win by 7 goals more than Fulham win. Not impossible, but considering their positions, highly unlikely.

Fulham have the best chance of the three to survive. If they win, they survive. If they draw then they are safe as long as both Reading and Birmingham don't win. They could still be safe if they lose as long as Birmingham and Reading both lose also. However, if they lose by 7 goals more than Reading then they would be relegated.

There is also the possibilty that Fulham and Reading could both survive. They would both need to win and then it would need Chelsea to absolutely destroy Bolton.

The elder of my sisters mentioned to me that she was thinking of getting a new hard drive for her PC because she kept on getting warnings about her C: drive getting full. I couldn't remember what motherboard she had nor what size or interface her hard drive was. I advised her to download and run Belarc and bring me the results on a usb stick.

From that information I was able to determine what motherboard she had and what hard drive she had, and then suggest suitable upgrade paths. She currently has an 80gb IDE hard drive which is partitioned into 2; 1 for Windows and Applications and 1 for Games. What I've suggested is that she moves all of her Games over onto a new larger SATA drive and repartition the 80gb as just a single partition and use it as her boot drive. She can get a decent Maxtor 320gb SATA drive for less than £40 and a good Samsung 500gb for less than £45. I suggested paying the wee bit extra and getting the Samsung.

She also mentioned getting a DVD Writer; because she only has a DVD-ROM drive and a CD-RW drive. She can get a 20x Samsung DVD-RW for less than £15. Although she will be able to fit the new drive in without taking anything out I think it might be an idea to remove one of them; probably the CD-RW.

She'd also mentioned previously that a lot of her games were failing to run thanks to a Direct 3D error. I took the opportunity to download the latest Catalyst drivers for her; she has an ATI Radeon 9600 Atlantis, and put them on the USB stick. I told her to install them when she got home and give me a ring if she had any problems.

She later phoned to say that the installer had come up with an error whilst trying to install the Catalyst Control Center. It appeared that it thought it had a new version of CCC installed. I told her to just carry on and then reboot. When she rebooted the ATI drivers wouldn't initialise so I told her to go into Add/Remove Programs and remove the CCC in there. I then told her to go into the ATI install folder and just install the new CCC. It installed fine and we thought the problem was licked. However, after another reboot the graphics were still underwhelming so I suggested just reinstalling the whole driver set again over the current installation. After yet another reboot everything looked hunky-dory and her 3D games were working.

As an aside, there's quite a number of people with AGP versions of ATI's graphics cards that are reporting errors whilst trying to start 3D games. AMD, who now own ATI, have a link to a hotfix on their website that resolves the issue. It's available from here. From my past experience with the errors I was getting prior to upgrading to my new motherboard and processor I think the problem is with nForce 2 motherboards.

Scoot ordered some merchandise recently and handed me a copy of the catalogue he used. The company offer a wide variety of music merchandise such as t-shirts, long sleeves, hoodies and jewellery. They can be found here.

FreeApps.co.in is a website that lists a variety of free applications intended for a variety of purposes. I can heartily recommend Pidgin (or it's MacOSX equivalent Adium), Audacity, FileZilla, Firefox, Foxit Reader, Open Office, VLC and µTorrent. I'm actually going to download Scribus; a free DTP package, and see if it's any good.

I'm becoming really disillusioned with the entire job hunting process. It's been almost 6 months since I had my previous employment terminated, and in that time I've probably made close to, if not over, 200 applications and only had 4 interviews; 3 with the local NHS Trust and 1 with the neighbouring borough council. A lot of the applications I've made haven't even been acknowledged by the employer. I'm beginning to wonder if the prospective employers are even looking past the fact that I was fired to see what sort of qualifications and experience I can offer or if they're just looking at the fact I was fired and then dismissing my application out of hand.

However, I will continue to soldier on. I still have a couple of applications out there; including 1 that really excites me.

I think I've just put my back out. My Dad was in the back garden in his wheelchair and ended up slipping backwards down the path and out of it. Luckily, he hasn't injured himself beyond one or two little scrapes but he needed help getting back into his chair. I felt something give as I was helping him back into his chair and now any twisting motion causes pain in the lower left of my back.

You are Spider-Man
You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.
	Spider-Man		80%
	Green Lantern		60%
	Robin		55%
	Catwoman		50%
	Hulk		40%
	Supergirl		32%
	Batman		30%
	Wonder Woman		27%
	Iron Man		25%
	The Flash		20%
	Superman		20%

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

You are Mr. Freeze
You are cold and you think everyone else should be also, literally.
	Mr. Freeze		54%
	Venom		33%
	The Joker		29%
	Dr. Doom		29%
	Dark Phoenix		28%
	Poison Ivy		27%
	Lex Luthor		21%
	Mystique		20%
	Riddler		18%
	Apocalypse		18%
	Green Goblin		16%
	Two-Face		16%
	Kingpin		16%
	Magneto		14%
	Catwoman		14%
	Juggernaut		12%

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

I had an appointment with my podiatrist this morning; and as it turns out, it was my last one. She's happily informed me that the toes are fully healed and I don't need to dress them anymore. The bits of dead skin that are on top of the toe matrices will disappear over time. I'll still have annual check-ups with the diabetic podiatrist but don't need to visit my normal podiatrist unless something crops up. It feels weird just wearing socks with no dressing but I'll get used to it.

Open Doors is another of those seemingly simple flash games that are a lot harder that they first appear. I'm stuck on level 13.

Listropolis is a site that aggregates lists. The lists include such gems as The 10 Most Sexually Unappealing Craigslist Postings, Superior Alternatives to Crappy Windows Software and 9 Outrageously Handy Websites Everyone Should Try.

Blank Is Like Blank is a website of 'Analogies To Live By.' I especially like the 'Using a semicolon is like barbecuing' analogy.

I'm off to cheer Newcastle United on this afternoon and then I'm off roleplaying this evening. Have fun.

One of my friends has just bought a new PC through his catalogue. It's based on an Intel E2180 dual core processor and has 2gb ram, 250gb hard drive, 17" LCD monitor and comes with Windows Vista Home Premium pre-installed.

There's no documentation with it beyond the quick set-up guides and there's not even any paperwork relating the the system warranty. It gets better though; the only discs with it are the Foxconn motherboard disc and a copy of Nero Essentials 7. Windows Vista doesn't have a disc with it and would appear to be only available as a recovery partition on the hard drive. I don't know about anybody else but I've always thought providing the OS just as a recovery partition on the hard drive as one of the stupidest innovations ever. I understand that all you actually pay for is the licence as part of the purchase price of the PC but just for a wee bit of penny pinching why not also provide the disc?

I know that if you have a problem with the PC the recovery partition is available without having to hunt for it. But, what happens if there's a catastrophic failure of the hard drive? How would you go about reinstalling Windows if the drive is so badly shagged that even the recovery partition is unusable? Or if the drive is so badly shagged that it needs replacing?

Since, he already has a licence I'm going to hunt around and try and find an untouched copy of Vista to download and burn for him.

Anyway, one of the main reasons he bought the PC was so that he could play Oblivion and he can't. It would appear that the integrated Intel graphics is not powerful enough to run it. But, I've found a little utility called Oldblivion which purports to help get Oblivion running on older unsupported graphics hardware. However, it doesn't support the Shivering Isles expansion. I am going to pop round later, after the football, to try it out for him.

These toilet signs are quite funny.

Compulse is another of those deceptively simple-looking flash games.

I'm not the world's biggest Star Wars fan; in fact you could even say I'm not really a Star Wars fan. I enjoyed the movies for what they were but that's about as far as it goes. Anyway, after watching the GeekBrief this morning there is now one piece of Star Wars merchandise I would love.

The R2D2 DVD Projector is just that; a DVD projector built into the body of a remote control R2 unit. It retails in the USA from NikkoAmerica for $2999. It's available in Europe for €2799; which equates to just about £2199, from ExclusiveStarWars.com.

Cali Lewis mentioned a rather useful website in yesterday's GeekBrief podcast; Down For Everyone Or Just Me? is a website that enables users to check and see if a website is really down or if the problem is actually with their own connection.

Do you have a favourite website that you enjoy visiting but are annoyed that it doesn't have an RSS feed?

This is where Page2RSS comes in. Just give it a URL of a website that doesn't have an RSS feed and it'll supply options to subscribe to an RSS feed that it'll create for you. All the feed entries point back to the Page2RSS page first but it feels like a small price to pay for such a valuable service.