tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60861582024-02-24T10:11:04.541+00:00Me and my lifeKinda like a diary for public viewingBreezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.comBlogger247125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-1093071953023889792020-10-30T00:24:00.001+00:002020-10-30T00:24:58.227+00:00Out Of Sara's MindWe've (wife+I) watched a couple episodes of Out Of Her Mind, a new drama starring Sara Pascoe. I ended writing quite a lot talking about it elsewhere and thought it was enough to turn into a blog post.Sara is a comic I have enjoyed watching, even seen live as audience for a UK TV Play show with her and Katherine Ryan (who I'm also a fan of).I won't spoil specifics of the plot but I will talk Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-5981599109184573212016-06-27T00:52:00.001+01:002016-07-01T00:55:35.785+01:00Brexit BluesThe UK EU referendum on 23 June 2016 has been a very divisive campaign and result. The result was: 52% Leave versus 48% Remain (actually 1.9% each way). Pretty close!
I tried to clear up some claims made by the campaigns in a previous post on this nearer to the referendum, but whatever the reasons were (much single-issue immigrant campaigning by the tabloid media ie. Rupert Murdoch's Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-75577891894045674092016-06-15T04:26:00.000+01:002016-06-19T17:16:28.057+01:00QuadcopterI'm flying! Well, I'm a pilot, but not onboard. Radio controlled (R/C) Quadcopters have intrigued me for a while and I've played a bit with other peoples' - a couple of DJI Phantoms outside, and a small toy twin-rotor helicopter inside a work office (doesn't really count). So recently I did some research and picked a mini-quad sized "drone" (preferring not to call them that now after my reading) Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-68947087848309752482016-05-09T21:31:00.003+01:002016-06-29T13:03:39.209+01:00Brexit or Bremain?UPDATE: See also my follow-up post with thoughts after a few days of the results being known and some of the immediate financial risks being noticed (will be linked to once ready)
On 23 June 2016, the UK electorate will visit the polls (or some ratio of them will bother to) to decide whether we should remain in the EU.
There are big campaigns - Vote Leave ("Vote Leave Ltd"), Leave.EU, Remain, Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-67540362692588027052016-04-11T02:55:00.000+01:002016-04-11T02:55:12.314+01:00Its been many years since I last changed the page design here and especially since Blogger grew some new templates and new features for templates which required overwriting the old one/various bits of upgrade work (am guessing), I just went with a new design. Hope you like it (constructive comments welcome). It also ought to (their demo hints at, anyway) work better on mobile. I'm most worried Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-78584053784999277612016-04-06T05:36:00.001+01:002017-11-22T00:14:05.199+00:00Sofa/Bed - The Hunt for Red (or purple) September
Friends. Relatives. Tall friends and relatives (over 6'/182cm). Last minute layovers and too-expensive hotels. Small flats and no spare bedrooms (yet). What to do? Sofa bed!
We've both (wife and I) owned and experienced various furniture from the cheaper end of the sofa bed market, both to sit/sleep on ourselves and to provide for guests. They are a handy way to provide a bed of some sort to Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-28674634097654873072016-01-03T14:44:00.003+00:002016-01-03T14:44:59.788+00:00Tech Wedding LessonsI got married in February 2012 (this post was originally written 6 Feb 2012 but only just published in Jan 2016), and it was an international wedding. Being a software developer computer geek, I wanted to try and involve some technology along the way and thought that judicious use of some apps/software, whether homegrown or 3rd-party, would make some things easier.
But first, what else did I Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-37970478593972191562016-01-03T14:25:00.001+00:002016-01-03T14:25:23.734+00:00Linux default/non-default web browser link openingAnyone annoyed in linux running non-default browser; click link elsewhere, starts default app w/ lots restored tabs (slow), new window etc.
'course, instead I could keep browsers slim, close down tabs lots more often or start a new session afresh each time. Not happening.
So back in May 2015, I wrote a script to be my new default www browser. When I click on links now in any app (that Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-51233312584957618982016-01-03T14:11:00.000+00:002016-01-03T14:25:49.287+00:00Lens RentingI bought a new DSLR (back in late 2008), so I finally have a decent digital camera. I had a digital compact for a few years back around 2001, but it was of the old style - annoying delay between button-pushing and shutter-firing, only 2Mb or so, and being a compact I had almost no real control over the exposure or focus (and what exposure control there was via +/- half-stops took about 5 Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-53667501365920900602016-01-03T14:09:00.000+00:002016-01-03T14:09:08.188+00:00Binocular/camera 'pod supportTripod. Makes I've been looking at: Manfrotto / 3 Legged Thing / Vanguard / Giottos
Head: joystick style grip ball head - Manfrotto 2 is perfectly suitable but no longer made. There's a cheap chinese copy without the tension adjustment (even if it says it has one, thats an out of date description; ignore it) and the trigger is hinged the other way round for ~£40 by the time you add p&p. Or Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-75593064500548441472015-11-08T14:43:00.001+00:002016-01-03T14:26:38.415+00:00Grocery shopping
It's a bit of a chore. So here's how we split it because some people are blinded by snobbery about brands but some of the ones traditionally lower down the scale do have some worthwhile value for some types of food.
We prefer Iceland for frozen veg (not meat), Lidl for fresh vegetables (& fruit too mostly), but the default for everything else is Sainsburys due to convenience for us and it'sBreezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-62976898926773393262013-12-11T14:00:00.002+00:002016-01-03T14:48:25.420+00:00Bitcoined Paypal futurePaypal's president David Marcus (from the LeWeb conference) said..
"I think the retail chains will have to reinvent themselves," he said. They'll be showrooms where people can check out products then buy them later online. They'll be logistics centers where people can pick up items quickly that they ordered online. They'll be warehouses from which companies can ship products quickly to online Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-14843806817821868472013-10-22T04:06:00.002+01:002013-10-22T05:26:27.562+01:00CERN Openday Weekend 2013Awesome!
We got tickets to the CERN openday weekend for 2013 (28/29 September) and got to see the ATLAS detector, 100m underground! I have yet to write anything of note in this post but I want it up there to remind me... Come back soon!
Tags: [tagname] Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-78070504357616624012013-10-22T04:05:00.001+01:002013-10-30T02:48:36.346+00:00Oggcamp '13Oggcamp is an unconference (aka. barcamp) about open source hardware and software and that means that it mostly involves lots of Linux and Arduino's/Raspberry Pi's. I've been to everyone so far and so we (with the wife) found ourselves trekking up to Liverpool this year again for 2013's installment.
The name "Oggcamp" comes from a combination of being a barcamp, and the "Ogg" because ogg/theora Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0Liverpool, Merseyside, UK53.405823820321238 -2.965575606823676953.405823820321238 -2.9655756068236769 53.405823820321238 -2.9655756068236769tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-12447762244464639542013-10-22T02:44:00.002+01:002013-10-30T02:47:16.077+00:00Starship Century Symposium, London (Oct'13)I attended my first ever astronomical conference (symposium or whatever you wanna call it) today. I've always been interested in astronomy and more recently learnt more and kept up with hopes, ideas, and plans for potential future (unlikely in our lifetime) inter-stellar travel. I regularly go to (and even organise) star party(meet) events in London(UK) - yes, we can see stuff. I also follow the Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD, UK51.509503900000013 -0.1400201999999808351.507033400000012 -0.14506269999998084 51.511974400000014 -0.13497769999998083tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-6770061291551743942010-02-28T20:15:00.001+00:002013-10-22T04:08:18.757+01:00No Cows PleaseI'm lactose intolerant. Not to a lethal sensitivity, but enough to care about selecting alternatives. So a while ago, shortly after a health foods supermarket opened up in my old town, and not having tried out any options other than goats and soya milk for a while, I thought I'd give all these new (to me) options a go...almond milk - ok, not bad
Hazelnut - ok. Noticable flavour though; not that Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-28357177262460062612008-09-14T14:52:00.003+01:002013-10-22T04:07:51.183+01:00OSM m,Linux and my Holux M-241Ok, so you've probably figured if you've read some of my recent twitters that I've become ever so slightly addicted to openstreetmap mapping.I'm so involved I co-organised a mini mapping meet in Farnham (Surrey, UK) recently and dramatically improved the coverage and detail there; I took one of the most involved sections around the town.It appeals to the slight OCD tendency many geeks have and Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-22865812728715207202008-08-19T23:53:00.003+01:002008-08-20T00:46:17.781+01:00Moot PointI've seen a couple of episodes/shows recently where they question the phrase "moot point" - one of them being Earl. Earl's simpler brother thinks it must be "mute" point, as in "not worth mentioning" mute. This bothered me a little; and I suspect some people who don't know any different will take this use over the proper term. Not that they'll be reading this blog either (ho hum), but it Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-34338694847108544602008-07-26T11:13:00.003+01:002016-01-03T14:33:33.342+00:00xkcd conundrumThis post was originally written on 7 October 2008, shortly after the related xkcd cartoon was published.
I only discovered XKCD relatively recently (within the last couple of years, '06/'07) and it's not always as funny as it can be, but this particular cartoon got me thinking what I would do:
And over there, we have the labyrinth guards. One always lies, one always tells the truth, and one Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-14470249773379915652008-07-21T21:22:00.009+01:002008-07-22T20:47:46.621+01:00Opera Link Sync the bees kneesI LOVE Opera Link synchronisation. I had a feeling it would be a bloody useful feature, and it f'in well is! What is it? Well it's only really useful if you run opera on at least one of your PCs, and you use multiple machines regularly (even if you don't use Opera on all). Seeing as Opera runs on just about anything (Linux, Windows, Mac, almost any smartphone, PDA, or any that can run Java J2ME Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-38329712698319800042008-07-14T00:16:00.003+01:002008-07-14T00:29:35.155+01:00Public Windows BSODsA post over on slashdot caught my eye, referring to a post on publicly visible overpowered uses of Windows:
1. To display a static green arrow over the open TSA security lanes at Detroit Metro.
I kid you not, at the main security checkpoint to get into Detroit Metro there are monitors over each metal detector. The ONLY thing those monitors ever display is a big green arrow pointing down. Oh, Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-29816959117256151382008-06-25T12:57:00.005+01:002008-06-25T13:26:08.968+01:00PiM SynchronisationHoly crap it's been a while since a post. Watch the twitters instead...
I couldn't be bothered to think up a clever title, so I'm going with direct. I've had a thing about calendar, notes, todo's and address-book synchronisation for a while (a few years). I finally got round to trying out various solutions in the last few months, and lots and lots of google searching on various related phrases.
Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-41248168558663735162008-02-12T01:04:00.000+00:002008-02-12T01:28:42.681+00:00Cloverfield leaf-elledOk, again, excuse the absolutely horrible and rather-stretched pun of a title (clover-leaf? levelled?... yeeeeeessss). I went to see Cloverfield for a movie's meetup via meetup.com - well actually it should have been Sweeney Todd, but they sold out just before I got to the kiosk. Others had booked in advance, and I almost did, doh! But anyway. The usual level of non-specific spoiler applies as Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-740953144855531902008-02-04T00:04:00.000+00:002008-02-12T01:35:33.728+00:00Why Linux? Top TrumpsI know why I chose Linux and continue to run it as my O/S of choice on both my home and work PCs, but what about you?
I listen to the Lugradio podcast and over the last few episodes, they've had a "Top Trumps" of each of the presenters to examine which parts of the Linux world keep them devotees and how much they take part in/enjoy those aspects. This got me thinking about mine and wondering Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086158.post-77413560338246886522007-10-09T13:06:00.000+01:002007-10-09T13:44:23.086+01:00Jumped the lights?Oops!
Breezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14357683832636496389noreply@blogger.com0