New Toys

Well I got a new video camera last night and was out playing with it.  Another misspent evening in Tallahassee.   It's the sony Webbie HD.  It's small, light and easy to use but I'm not sold on the quality.  We'll see I'll update on my progress playing with it.

My justification for it was that we'd lost the video camera and it was my sons second birthday this weekend.  Hell you can find a justification for any new toy.  It also turns out the mother-in-law had our comcorder.

Anyway here are the results from my trial run.

3D Movies

It looks like the media to deliver home 3D TV is here.  However I believe that hard copy delivery of data is about to be an obsolete concept.  When every home has connections in the 100 Mbs range on average why would manufacturers of digital content go to the expense of building facilities to produce the hard copy.

It is a cool technology though and will be a great backup option for the huge amount of digital data we are about to start gathering.  I've just gone through the process of upgrading all my storage capacity to handle all the media I'm gathering.  The size of the drives, 1 TB, would of been staggering only a few years ago.

Rioting

I know rioting is a good laugh and it's impossible not to get carried away. But if you get busted you should pay the price. I think the bank is overstating the costs on this one but hey she smashed their shit they want thair money back.

I don't get anti capitalist. If you don't want the nice shit capitalism gives you fuck off and live in the third world. Especially these lazy layabout who blame their slovenliness on not being into the system. Yea the system sucks but we all have to do it.

However I do like the thought process:

"At the time she got caught up in the heat of the moment. She thought it would be a good idea to go into the [bank's] foyer. When she got inside she thought it would be a better idea to smash up the computer. She said she changed her mind and tried to throw the computer through the window instead."

I've had some brilliant ideas like this before and fully understand where they come from but I've also paid the price when caught.

A Good day to rant

It looks like today was a good day to rant at the news :)

Traitor to the cause & Enemy of the State

No shit people want to kill Martin McGuinness. I know a bunch of people who would love to see him killed.

During my time serving in the conflict he was head of the IRA army council and hiss younger brother Willy was in charge of the IRA in Norhtern Ireland. He is ultimately the person responsible for the Enniskillen attack and many more just as vile but unreported. You followed orders in the IRA or you got you kneecaps removed with a drill. He was a terrorist leader, Bush had him for lunch by the way.

So yes I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire. If he'd of given me a legal opportunity to kill him back in the day I would of jumped at the chance. In fact I'd of rather gone medieval on him. This is how I feel about him now after 20 years of mellowing just imagine how I felt then.

He was the leader of one of the best Terrorist organisations in the world fighting for a united Ireland. They trained the Libyans, Syrians, Hammas, FARC and had training bases in the middle east, South America, Africa. The were the McDonald's of Terrorism a branch every where. He gave that up and disbanded this organisation for the cash cow job as second minister without delivering a united Ireland. No wonder the ideologists want to kill him. That's what happens to traitors in the republican movement. He should of know this he has approved many punishment beating and killings.

You reap what you sow.

Our best warriors

This ruling on UK residency for the Gurkha's is an outrage (link). These guys are unbelievable and deserve everything that can be given. I've worked with Gurkha's in my time in the army and have the utmost respect for them. In fact I don't know of a serving or ex squaddie that does not.

They have fought in every war we've had since they joined us and have been one of the most effective units in those conflicts. Just to join the British army these guy can walk 1000 mile through the Himalayan mountains. Once they arrive at the selection course they are put through test that would cripple a seasoned squaddie.

One of these great men I had the pleasure of meeting was a CPL Tappa. A funny guy. Even though he'd been in the British army about 15 years at this point his English was still broken. The respect he showed me as a British squaddie was unbelievable to the point of embarrassment. Even though at the time he outranked me and was 10 years my senior he always called me Sir no matter how many times I told him to call me by my name. The quote that will always remind me of Tappa when out drinking was "We good Soldiers we fight".

He'd done his bit though, leading his section clearing trenches in some of the final battles of the Falklands war. The Argentineans did not give up against the Gurkha's neither as they had been told they did not take prisoners but ate them. He told me of having to kill enemy because they would not surrender. They would run out of ammunition and come at him with bayonets. As anyone knows you don't get into a knife fight with a Gurkha. As tappa told it he told them it was a bad idea and then woosh woosh woosh no more. He carried the mental scars of war, you could see them just below the surface. His were not as bad as some I've seen but they were affecting his life. His career record highlighted this. He was good at his job and battle proven so he'd get promoted and then the switch would flip and he'd end up a private again.

Under these new rules this great servant to our nation would not get residency. Is this right? He is just one of thousands.

We owe them and it's time to pay up.

Get a life

Wow these silly cows need a slap. I'd freak the fuck out if someone started trying to look like me. Mind you I don't think anyone would want to look like a fat northern bloke :)

Check the article here.

Ryan's latest idea

Well the brother in law just sent me this video and said he's building it at my house.  I'm in.  I'm just not paying his medical bills.

Happy St Georges Day

Happy St Georges day to those of you with the good grace to be born English.  No green beer or outlandish American party here for this one.  Which is good as I'd have to spend the whole day explaining to people that no they are not English because they went to London once.    

I'm glad we are finally getting to recognise our day.  The Scottish and Irish have been able to shout about themselves for years.  If we're doing it, it's been regarded as arrogant or even racist.  Fuck that I think we should shout.  Hell we have a lot to shout about, we did rule half the world you know ;)  We've given the world the industrial revolution, Evolution (Yes it is real bumb ass), The Web, and the cat scan among other things.

Yes we've been tw*ts in the past.  Hey you can't rule the world by being nice all the time.

I'm and avid English nationalist but also a fervent unionist as we are stronger together than apart.  As I've traveled the world I've realised how much alike the home nations are.  Americans may may be our cousins but the home nations are our brothers.   Brothers that will kick the crap out of each another after a few pints but brothers none the less.  You take the accent out of it and culturally we are virtually identical, a bunch of idiots that like a drink and a good time.  

I classify myself a Yorkshire man, English man and British subject in that order.  For that reason this day is mine.

Here's to England's Day

Happy St Georges day

God Save The Queen 

Code Comments

I've just had this sent to me by Stu.  More of these comments should be put in code to cheer peoples day up when their fixing it.

stop(); // Hammertime!

This particularly amuses me.  If you don't code you won't get most of them.

And here's a good one to go with it on coding standards.  The hardest one I've had to deal with is one contract where all 'if' statements had to be written what I consider backwards i.e. if condition = variable or if ('John' == nameVar) {statements...}.  This messed with my head for a long time.

The French and their hollidays.

I know the French are easy targets but they set themselves up.

I was about to buy something on e-bay the other day and the only place in the world I could find it was the French e-bay.  I took a pause just before I pulled the trigger on the item to make sure I was going to buy it and it wasn't just one of my many impulses.

On returning to the site guess what?  Yep the french seller had gone on Holiday. I got the message at the top of the screen.  Firstly, I didn't know you could set e-bay up to go on Holiday or is this just a feature for our industrious friends of the cheese eating variety.  Secondly, where in the world are you that you cannot access the Internet.

Need less to say if Piere does not get back from holiday by next week Adolf is getting the sale.

Here's a link to the page.

Idiots caught up in Google street view media frenzy

These people are idiots.  They complain about invasion of privacy from google street view yet they  live in the country with the most surveillance cameras in the world.

Classic English idiots jumping into the hype the tabloid press pump out.

My house has been on street view since it was launched and I love it.  The only regret I have is I never swept the leaves up in the front garden.  I've used this tool in many cities to find a building I'm looking for.

Red Friday

I've just recived an e-mail that I've attached below from a friend of mine I used to be in the army with.  The idea is simple and brilliant. 

 I see the rection from the public depicted in the story all the time here in the US in the usual over the top American way.  They love their troops and are not afraid to show it.  I have never witnessed this reaction in the UK.  We are British, reserved, it is implied how we feel and it does not need to be said.  Well it does need to be said.

We had a saying in the Army "Civvies only like us when they need us".  Lets change this.  I for one will be wearing red on fridays from now on.

Thanks Red Dog

Here's the e-mail it can say it better than me:

RED FRIDAY
 
 
Terry

 Last week I was in  West London attending a conference.

 While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer.
 
I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen.

Moving through the terminal was a group of soldiers in their uniforms,  as they began heading to their gate everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering.

When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for, it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red blooded Briton who still loves this country  and supports our troops and their  families. Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young  unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we  can go to school, work, and enjoy our home without fear or reprisal.
 
Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men and women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of the male soldiers.

He knelt down and said 'hi,' the little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her.

The young soldier didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy.

Suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.

The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Corporal and had been in Afghanistan for 5 months now.

As the mum was explaining how much her daughter, Courtney, missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up.

When this temporarily single mum was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second.

Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military looking walkie-talkie.

They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.

After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, 'I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you.'

He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a Kiss on the cheek.

He two finished by saying 'Your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon.'

The mum at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet he saluted Courtney and her mum.

I was standing no more than 6 feet away as this entire event unfolded.

As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause.

As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own.

That young soldier in one last act of moment turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.

We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices.

At the end of the day, it's good to be British.

RED FRIDAYS
Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing Red every Friday.

The reason?

British men and women who support our troops used to be called the 'silent majority'.

We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for Country and home in record breaking numbers.

We are not organized, boisterous or over-bearing.

We get no liberal media coverage on TV, to reflect our message or our opinions.

Many Britons, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of  Britain supports our troops.

Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that every Briton who supports our men and women afar will wear something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make Great Britain on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football team

If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family, It will not be long before Britain is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once 'silent majority’ is on their side more than ever, certainly more than the media lets on.

The first thing a soldier says when asked 'What can we do to make things better for you?' is...'We need your support and your prayers'...

Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example; and wear something red every Friday.

IF YOU AGREE -- THEN SEND THIS ON

IF YOU COULD NOT CARE LESS THEN HIT THE DELETE BUTTON.

IT IS YOUR CHOICE.

THEIR BLOOD RUNS RED---- SO WEAR RED! ---

Lest we Forget.

A cool city bike park

Who said you need tons of down hill for a killer bike park.  Check out the builders here.

Attack Monkeys

This is an example of the stupid shit you come up with when traveling every weekend mountain biking.  My best mate Stu and I spent the second half of last year going to mountain bike centers in Scotland (second only to whistler) every weekend.

Anyway, we got to talking about what we would build if we had our own park and what features we would have.  Finlay we got to what wildlife obstacles we would have.  Whistler has it's grizzlies, California it's mountain lions and Florida it's gators.  After much discussion we settled on attack monkeys.

You know the kind, you are about to hit the skinny and they jump on your back and push your helmet over your eyes.  Your just about to cross it up over the 10' gap and they start throwing pine cones at you.  Your just about to rail a berm and they put sticks in your spokes.  You get the picture.

Any way we came to the conclusion that we needed these on my local trail.  As it's a fight club rules trail I shall refer to it in all future posts as WTWK (We Tell We Kill).

We needed a plan to get them over here from the UK.  As Stu pointed out they don't travel well.  The plane would have to make an emergency landing after about half an hour.  As his parents are coming out to see me next week I suggested he subdue them with some spiked bananas and put them in his mams case.  This lead to us wondering what the possible discussion would be like at customs.  Find our best guess below.

Officer: Anything to declare mam?

Margie:  No.  

Officer: What's this?

Margie: Erm a stoned attack monkey!  

Officer:  Is it on business or pleasure?

Margie: It's an attack monkey they always mean business.

Anyway, next time you are on the trail and you get a stick in your spokes beware as it may be an ambush and some attack monkeys may of escaped from WTWK.

The way to develop a bike.

I've been following the blog of Shedfire (the guy who designed the on-one bikes) on the development of his new bike the Ragley to be built by Linskey in Tennessee.

This post is in the cable routing and I love it he had a great idea.   through it out there and the user comments helped him with the design.

Here's the article.

Soft Footballs

I know I'd take a free football any day of the week but come on.  They give the kidds soft balls because the regular ones are to noisy when kicked.  What no one slams car doors around there or is the whole town padded to keep it quiet for the delicate residents.  Smells of to many retired people to me.

This article was sent to me by Stu.

Yeh sign me up I'd love to go.

Holiday packages to war zones.  You come home with a flack vest shaped tan.  Check the loonies out here.  The army will pay you to go if you realy want to people.

A bike park in the south

I've just found this.  I cannot find any more details and the sight seems to be down but the prospect of a bike park near Ashville NC should be fun.

Athiest mountain bike ride

This posting is fine but I wonder how long it would take SORBA to pull the counter group ride.  As far as I can tell religion has no place in mountain biking.  Especially as other faiths would not be tolerated in the same way.

I suppose we are in the south and the god squad try to push their personal beliefs into everything.

----------------------Follow up------------------------------

Well that topic caused more debate than I ever thought it would.  We are still in the south though God, Guns and pickup trucks.

The answer to this one would be niether

Who's the best parent ?  Niether! 

The good old days :)

How much has realy changed I still have to fix shit for the wife :) 

The next Lady Diana

It looks like Michelle Obama is going to be the next Lady Diana.  The next female icon of our age to be put on a pedestal.  More

Sametime Aware View Columns

Well I've just found an undocumented feture of sametime aware names columns in views. In R8.5 you are only able to have one names column showing the online status. You can set the "Show online status" check box on as many columns as you want but it will only work for one. Supprisingly that one column will be the right most enabled names colun in the view.

As usual this limitation is not mentioned anywhere in the documentation, help or online forums.

It's a great feature but a shame about the limitation and the lack of documentation of it.

If anyone knows of a solution to this please let me know.

Hiking Tires

Vibram Hiking tires, check the article out here.

Bear Bells

Apparently bear bells are today required for riding in the BC area of Canadia.  Straitline have come to our aid with bike specific bells to let those wandering grizzlies know that lunch has arrived.

Check out the promo video here.

Straitline telling the story is funny(here).

The scary side of education in the US

I just spotted this link on twitter (a rather famous cyclist posted it).  It looks like Texas is going to mess with science now.  It's amazing how local officials can control what our kids are taught here in the US.  Could this not be mitigated by a nationalized self governing school body.  Education should be run by educators or am I just being a Communist.

When little Bri gets to school and come home with this rubbish he'll get one answer.  Either your teacher or the person who tells your teacher what to teach are f**king idiots.  

Christianity, 2000 years of scientific meddling.  We are still re-learning things we knew back then because it was banned so their stories would work.

OK I'm a heretic

When to buy your new mac

My ipod is getting old (G1 mini) and starting to randomly disconnect itself from the car stereo.  Anyway, as we all know you buy a new iPod and a week later apple release a new one.  They seem to be the best secret keepers in the world, governments all over the world could learn from them.

So while doing research on which model to buy next I came across this site.  It is not official figures on where things are in production but a best guess on production life cycle figures from the past.

It looks like I'll be waiting for the new touch and hoping my mini does not blow up in the meantime.

Mac Buyers Guide