Postal experiments

Some US researchers did a series of postal experiments and published the results online. They mailed various packages via the US postal service to see if they were received and how long they took to arrive. They purposefully didn’t wrap items and chose very heavy, strangely shaped, suspicious, seemingly sentimental and even disgusting items. The results are interesting and hilarious.

In once case they wrapped and posted a brick. It arrived as a “plastic bag containing broken and pulverized remnants of brick. Inside was a small piece of paper with a number code on it.”. They also posted a small bottle of spring water, which they observed the postman open and drink during his round.

19/1/2005 Add Comment

maternal influence

My mum now reads my blog. She’s explained very clearly that the swearing must stop and I’m no longer allowed to publish my opinions on religion.

I wonder how this blogging thing will change our relationship. When we see each other we usually talk about what’s been going on in our lives. If she gets to read it all here then that’s kind of a spoiler. If I don’t find new ways of entertaining my mum I fear she will stop cooking for me. note to self: do more things and don’t write about them all in your blog.
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14/1/2005 4 Comments

Indian cookery episode 1 – The kitchen menace

I attended the first lesson of an NCFE in Indian cookery last night. My culinary skills are a little rusty. For example, I had trouble remembering how best to slice a tomato. This is probably because I’ve never sliced a tomato in my life.

Meat. That’s a new one too. I don’t even eat meat. I learned that Chicken flesh is actually *flesh*. Pink and bloody. That’s certainly more than 6 degrees separation from your McNugget.

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13/1/2005 1 Comment

dismatched

I have two pairs of the same black trainers. One pair is newer than the other and I wear them for work. To distinguish them apart in the morning sleep haze, I threaded white laces into the scruffy pair. This worked well.

Today I am sat at my desk at work wearing one new trainer and one scruffy trainer with a white lace. I only noticed on my walk accross the car park. I wonder if anyone will notice.

11/1/2005 Add Comment

Elvis 70 today

To celebrate the 70th birthday of Elvis today I mostly swanned about in my pajamas and watched Bubba Ho-Tep. Actually I was blissfully unaware of the King of Womanising’s birthday and it was just a co-incidence that I watched a film depicting an aged Presley fighting a redneck mummy.

In a relatedly bizzarre co-incidence, Louisa came up with an article showing what Mr. P. might have looked like if he’d lived on. Bruce Campbell had a better take on it in my opinion.

People who think that Elvis faked his own death to get out of the public eye obviously have no idea what kind of person it takes to be a rock and roll celebrity (or anything other egotistical attention-seeking psychopath). Now I’m not saying he didn’t do it to avoid paying taxes though.

8/1/2005 Add Comment

cars cars cars cars moss

me and my VW CorradoMy VW Corrado came back from the garage shortly before Christmas. The exhaust and immobilizer are now working perfectly. All I have to do now is fix up the electric sunroof, perhaps replace the heating controls, and touch up some paintwork and it’ll be ready to sell.

It will be kinda sad to give it up though. It still looks and sounds great; but ’tis just a car, I won’t really miss it.

My Seat Leon Cupra company car replacement for it is actually faster. Even though the Corrado is a 2.9l and the Seat is 1.8l, the Corrado is 190bhp and the Seat is 270bhp! I’ve never driven anything so fast; it’s pretty stupid really. I’ll get a nice sensible slow diesel next time. Next time.

I met up with my old school friend Neil Moss last week. Shame he hasn’t fattened up as much as me over the years.

4/1/2005 Add Comment

a short review of a Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson

If any of my science teachers at school had anything like the enthusiasm or insight of Bill Bryson, I’d probably be working for a pharmaceuticals company by now (thank goodness). In a Short History of Nearly Everything he explains how we think the universe, the earth and humans became the way they are. Just as interestingly he tells us the process we went through to find it. For example, he tells us of the first evidence of hereditary traits, which particular monk made the experiment, the various scientists that ignored it for decades and the particular guy who tried to pass it off as his own work after the monk had died.
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1/1/2005 2 Comments

half man half biscuit

The singer out of Slip Knot went to Rome to see the Pope, and the Pope said to his aide:
Who the fucking hell are Slip Knot?
Who the fucking hell are Slip Knot, in relation to me getting out of bed?

If you grew up in England, I urge you to buy a half man half biscuit cd today. They are on the independent label Probe Plus so you can do it without selling your soul to the evil music industry.

31/12/2004 Add Comment

Selected photos of 2004

Of all the photos I took in 2004, these are some of my favourites.

 

31/12/2004 Add Comment

Venice and Christmas

I am now back in the UK after spending a few days in Venice hiding from family with my girlie. I’ll get photos up soon. I seem to have some kind of ear infection that makes me feel like I’m still aboard the Venician floating bus stops. It’s making me sick.

I also came to work today only to find it’s some kind of bank holiday. Although I do not work for a bank, my colleagues have decided not to come in. I’ll be going home early and claiming an extra day’s holiday. (I did wonder why the roads were so quiet this morning.
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28/12/2004 Add Comment

Yimou Zhang’s Ying xiong (Hero)

Great Chinese film about some badass assassins. Some amazing martial arts sequences but well balanced with a great story. Stunningly beautiful scene composition, impressive sound engineering and generally great direction make this film unmissable. Even better than House of Flying Daggers.

It seems you can’t buy a UK or US region disc yet because Miramax have purposefully prevented releasing it (they scared it would outsell their Kill Bill rubbish?) but you can pick it up on import.

12/12/2004 Add Comment

suited and booted

Generally speaking, in my own experience, I find people dress smartly only when they aren’t as good as they need to be. This seems to doubly apply in the field of IT.

That isn’t to say scruffy people are immediately capable.

(Upon normalising the above, you get: “humans aren’t generally as good as they need to be”.)

30/11/2004 Add Comment