Musings of a Guinness Drinker

Now Crickets Popular

2005-09-16T10:44:00.000+01:00

I guess now we've won the Ashes crickets a little more popular so its going to make the news a little bit more. Today in The Times theres a story about Balmoral Cricket Club playing on a pitch marked out seven feet to long.

All hail amateur cricket, but surely those groundsmen can't be too popular?

Stop Urban 4x4s

2005-09-14T18:51:00.000+01:00

I don't agree with 4x4s being used in the urban environment because of all the obvious reasons. I wont list them all again here because Stop Urban 4x4s list all the points against them and a heap of other stuff far better than me. I ask you though, to sign the petition and email your MP as I have done.

I know I'm not alone in my disdain of these vehicles being used pointlessly to get little Johnnie and Mary to school down the road. So please atleast sign the petition.

The Times reports that in France they've been taking slightly more extreme action than leafleting said 4x4s.

Unplanned Post

2005-09-14T18:47:00.000+01:00

I wasn't really planning on blogging on here again, the plan was to have atleast limited usability of the new site by now but through reasons within and outside my control it isn't ready yet.

The plan is to have the new site atleast able to let me write to and read from the database by the end of the week so that it can be used instead of this site. I'm only throwing this up and a few more relevant posts I don't really want to leave and forget about like other issues. So here goes for a quick evening blogging session before the football.

Site Note

2005-09-03T14:02:00.000+01:00

PHP - I'm getting there. I understand that.

MySQL - A bloody nightmare.

Observation

2005-09-03T13:59:00.000+01:00

Ben Folds must be really cleaning up at the BBC with the intro to Landed being used on most if not all of their Grandstand documentary report things.

Site Under Construction

2005-08-27T18:45:00.000+01:00

Cross Posted at Rain Stops Play

Having spent the last couple of days looking for an ideal set of blogging scripts and having amassed quite a collection, I've made some decisions;

I don't want to use PHP because I don't understand it.

I cant understand why any sane person would try and use MySQL, its another damn good reason not to use PHP as far as I'm concerned...

I'd rather use ASP becuase I already have an understanding of it, thus I'm more likely to achieve anything at all.

I'm going to write my own set of scripts in ASP because I can't get any of the downloaded scripts to work.

I'm well aware that to start with my own set of scripts will probably look rather ropy, be riddled with small problems (not bugs) and misbehave for a little while. I am confident that in a little while, being no commital on timescale then the blog can be transferred here and live happily ever after.

Here's to hoping...

Brinkster

2005-08-25T14:52:00.000+01:00

Today I created an account over at Brinkster with the object of gradually moving this blog over there. I wont give you the domain yet because its all going a bit wrong at the moment.

The last time I used Brinkster was back in college when it was a free server about three and a half years ago. I won't lie, I've done more of my ploughing through and now I can't get the thing to display any files. After half an hour floundering with the file system thats OK now, but I still can't get it to display a test page that works offlline, but can't be displayed online, not even in the view file mode. Going through the domain name to the page is, at present, a pipe dream.

As soon as its all done though, this blog will be moving over to the Brinkster account, where everything will be nice and shiny and workable and not have blogspot.com tagged on the end.

If anyone has any experience in Brinkster and reckon they can point me towards the light, a little help would be greatly appreciated.

Age Old Browser Problem

2005-08-24T10:57:00.000+01:00

I know a while ago I looked at my browser preference comparing Opera and Firefox. I know I said I prefered Opera because of the mouse gestures. Well over time I've become a Firefox user Why? I'm not entirely sure but its my Windows browser du jour now.

This morning I downloaded it for Mac. Whilst setting up Live Bookmarks for RSS content, something I never did on the PC, I found a big bugbear. For reasons that escape me I downloaded an RSS aspp for Windows. It instantly struck me that Safari deals with RSS Content in ways far more to my liking.

In Safari it builds a webpage with all the headlines in order, and as much text from the first paragraph or so as you want. In Firefox however, Live Bookmarks are as the name suggests, just bookmarked headlines. Not as cool or useable I assure you. I use the first paragraph to take an educated guess as to if the articles going to be worth reading. In Firefox I just dont have this privilige.

My guess is that for now, I'm going to continue with Safari and hope someone at Firefox creates something more like the Safari method of dealing with RSS.

A Quick Musing on Football

2005-08-23T22:43:00.000+01:00

Banning the 'magic sponge' could end seasons.

My Ankle

2005-08-22T08:08:00.000+01:00

I've just got back to playing football in the last week. Last night my ankle went in to a hole in Coronation Park, thus I went over on it again and ended up spending three hours in Southport A & E.

The only thing I can take heart from this morning is tha the initall swelling doesn't look as bad as last time, and the pain doesn't feel as great. Same rules apply though, keep off it for atleast today, lots of ice, and from tommorrow onwards slowly start to put a bit of weight on it. I'll see how I get on.

Work are a bit stuck though, I was meant to be working full time this week to cover holidays but I'm having to take atleast the best part of this week off. Keeps it interesting for them though, boss didn't sound to pleased though...

Mac OS X X11

2005-08-20T19:35:00.000+01:00

This evening I downloaded a port of Open Office for the Mac. Whilst I ploughed in to this I ignored all the warnings about needing an understanding of X11, it does something to make things work that shouldn't really run, dont ask me what exactly it does or how it does it. I don't know.

Having ploughed through clicking continue, I've now installed Open Office, but I'm buggered if I know what to do next, when I click to launch Open Office I'm asked to point it towards X11 so it can run. Where is it? I'm running OS X 10.4.2 and I did find a package called X11SDK.PKG I double clicked this to install it, but where exactly does that reside on the OS. Presuming I need to find that to point Open Office to it does anyone have any information that can guide me onwards.

I'd normally ring Chris and ask him but he's buggered off to Benidorm on holiday so I'm kidna screwed. I know Matt occasionally checks this, and now I'm kinda hoping you check in the next couple of days, failing that its open to all and sundry to mock my inability with Macs.

Cheers in advance to anyone

Chris

McFly

2005-08-18T18:01:00.000+01:00

Who told McFly it was a good idea to cover Pinball Wizard by The Who?

It wasn't

Personal Flickr Address

2005-08-18T12:06:00.000+01:00

I've thought Flickr is a particularly cool photo sharing site for a while now. This morning I found out I can create a link to my photo's, if anyone cares its http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacksoncannery/.

Matts doppleganger

2005-08-18T12:02:00.000+01:00

Jacob is JOHNNY BRAVO!! O_O,
originally uploaded by Bohemianess.

I don't know why I've ever not noticed the resemblence before but I feel Johnny Bravo may be styled on a certian Matthew Gill.

Sorry if you don't know Matt, if you do, you'll agree. To quote Mr Gill himself on MSN this morning;

"taller blonde buffed up guys"

I think that settles it....

Worlds Coolest MP3 Player

2005-08-17T23:07:00.000+01:00

I've been helping Dan loook for an MP3 player this evening. He wants an MP3 player that isn't an iPod because they "Aren't revolutionary enough" despite the fact I'd argue its the iPod that made portable MP3 cool a couple of years back. He wants about 1gig of flash memory. He wants to pay not very much hard cash for it.

I showed him a few of the more popular products, but Dan has dug this bad boy out;

The Qoolqee X Sports 512MB on Advance MP3 Players

I challenge you not to be impressed by the design of that. It makes the iPod look mundane in style. Dan isn't taking it though because its £79.99 and only 512mb. For literally £5 you can double the amount of memory, but style like that player cant be bought.

Mighty Mouse

2005-08-16T11:41:00.000+01:00

This morning my Mighty Mouse arrived for the iMac. It is, a beautiful piece of pointer engineering. Too get the most from it you do need OS X 10.4 installed, the most best described as being able to set buttons for different events.

The scroll wheel is light on the fingers and will scroll up and down, or left and right. The real joy of the mouse though lies in the second button. Having the right click makes a lot of things a lot easier, and a great deal more natural feeling. Having used a PC for so long sudenly not having that right click option took some getting used to.

Buttons three and four also make the mouse a fantastic thing to use, being able to click the scroll wheel to invoke expose and using the side bttons to call up Dashboard is

a) A lazy way of doing things, lazy being very goood

b) Probably a better way of doing things than F9 for expose, and setting up hot corner for Dashboard, though I suppose hot corners were Apples way of getting around the lack of extra buttons initially.

Overall using Mighty Mouse does improve the Mac experience a great deal, how long before they ship with it as standard, because I reckon its the one button and ctrl thing that could be putting a lot of people off converting across to the shiny pretty white side of computing.

Hippo Dung

2005-08-10T16:58:00.000+01:00

Watching Survival on ITV3 this afternoon I learnt several fascinating facts about Hippo dung;

It's the first solid thing a baby Hippo will eat

A Hippo relseases up to 20kg of dung at a time, thats a serious amount

I should probably have taken in more fascinating facts abot Hippo dung before embarking on this post

Orgasm Brain Data

2005-08-10T16:51:00.000+01:00

Sam just sent me the link for this story from Yahoo. Basically scientists in Holland, where else, have been monitoring brain activity during orgasm, and it conjures somewhat interesting mental images;

"Since it was vital to remain completely still in the scanner, volunteers had to have their heads restrained while being stimulated.

The rest of the body was free to move.

Participants lay naked on a table with their head inside the scanner - but had to wear socks to avoid cold feet."

Told you it conjured surreal mental images, those crazy scientists and their experiments, who exactly funded this study?

Cost of Trains

2005-08-07T19:53:00.000+01:00

I'm not a fan of taxi's, I see them as an extravogant, expensive unenvironmental way of getting around. On Friday how ever I got a Merseytravel train from Town Green Station to Ormskirk with Ste. The combined cost of the journey for the two of us to travel two miles on the train was £3.30. £1.65 per person.

A taxi from there to town, wich could carry four of us at a time would be £3, we've got taxis to town before but were by the station so I presumed it would be cheaper. Four of us on the train would have come too £6.60. Now for public transport that seems a little expensive for what is afterall a journey of only two stations and two miles in length.

One thing I don't understand is why they give us return tickets in the office because they're cheaper. It's no wonder trains run half empty, surely a single for the journey should be no more than £1. When a taxi is a cheaper option I can't help but feel that the train is a little over priced.

*If anyone cares I used this Gooogle Map Pedometer to measure the distance of the train journey. Apologies that the map starts focused in Canada, I don't know how to get it to start in Ormskirk but it is a particularly cool use of the maps*

Bring It On

2005-08-04T18:27:00.000+01:00

This is probably the funniest flash game I've ever played, Bring It On has one simple plan. Hit the Convicts home.

As much fun as the game is, its fun lies with the actor playing WG Grace screaming everytime you tonk someone with your willow. Who ever that guy is playing Mr Grace, he is a true legend and I wish good things for him and his Convict beating pals this summer.

Brevity is... Wit

2005-08-04T18:15:00.000+01:00

Best background joke I've seen in a while, it was painted on the wall in the background. If you care it was on The Simpsons on channnel4 on Wednesday, and the full proverb is "Brevity is the soul of wit"

Mac dictionary definition of brevity;

"Concise and exact use of words in writing or speech"

The proverb is actually it turns out Shakespeare and was in Hamlet. Again from Mac dictionary an explanation of the proverb for those still not clicking;

"The essence of a witty statement lies in its conscise wording and delivery"

The whole thing made me laugh for a couple of minutes, you might consider me sad...

Nasa Humour

2005-08-01T18:14:00.000+01:00

On the day the Astronauts on Discovery had to go on a Space Walk they were woken up this morning to Walk of Life by Dire Straits.

Apart from it being an awesome song its a beautiful joke.

Nasa, I salute you.

Respect the couch

2005-08-01T11:04:00.000+01:00

My Dad has got up and gone to work this morning complaining of the greatest injury ever.

He thinks he's pulled a msucle whilst he was asleep on the couch.

I think that, is beautiful.

Jukka

2005-07-30T19:53:00.000+01:00

I dont care who or what Jukka actually is/are, but Dan just sent me *Link removed at the request of S. Dove* this link for a cover of a rather well known song.

Jukka has/have covered True Faith by New Order. I dont particularly care for the original but recognise it as a song the world knows. To disembowel it like that is pretty cruel. It seems to be following on with a popular culture thing at the moment, to destroy old songs mercilesley with a cheap drum beat and a synth to make a few quid.

To that we say, all together now;

Must Grrrrrrrumble

2002: The Year Celta Vigoo Won The World Cup

2005-07-30T17:37:00.000+01:00

On the BBC Football website, found in this story about Kleberson s potential transfer.

To quote;

"Celta Vigo are also interested in signing the Brazilian, who was part of their World Cup winning team in 2002."

Quality Assurance Podcasts

2005-07-29T22:11:00.000+01:00

I stumbled accross this via involvement of Darren Barefoot, and whilst this is probably only relevant to me and a few mates from Uni *if they check this*, then QAPodCast is probably quite a handy thing to listen to.

These podcasts discuss issues with Software Quality Assurance and the whole testing process, and are, as a bit of lazy summer listenening worth listening to, if only to me, because I know my Quality Assurance was lacking in 'areas' last year...

Beer Harmony

2005-07-28T19:00:00.000+01:00

Go here, they'll tell you your ideal beer. BeerHarmony.

Apparently my ideal beer is Misfit Red.

I have no idea if its available in the UK but I'll endeavour to have a look for it.

Reasons rain rocks

2005-07-24T15:34:00.000+01:00

I've only just got in from work and it appears thankfully that its rained in almost the whole country except Ormskirk so far.

Cricket play has been suspended all day and starts at 3:45, and the British Moto GP has only literally just started.

Fantastic news, and by rights I should have missed all this because the Aussies would surely have taken the last five wickets by now with a 10:30am start.

I love rain a little more right now than I do for the rest of the year...

By Appointment Only

2005-07-23T18:03:00.000+01:00

I blogged on Thursday about giving blood, and promised to let you all know how I got on.

Not well...

Five of us turned up just after two and were promptly, like the guys infront of us in the queue told "Its appointment only today."

This means I trecked a very long way on bike and foot to make a donation I wasn't allowed to make. Grrr! I would have thought my 5% proof blood would have been welcomed with wide arms, to help with Mr. Best's next Liver transplant, but apparently not. Theres another meeting *for want of a better word* in September at Ormskirk Civic Hall, I'll endeavour to go to that one, but not happy I couldn't give my pint yesterday.

Karl Marx's Mum

2005-07-23T17:53:00.000+01:00

Just found this quote in The Week attributed to Karl Marx's mother;

"I wish you could make some capital, rather than just writing about it"

Giving Blood

2005-07-21T23:44:00.000+01:00

Tommorow I'm off to Skelmersdale Ecumenical Center with other Chris and a few of his mates to give blood.

I've never done it before, they all have. I'm quite scared, because I wouldn't describe the veins in my arm as being particularly prominent, it might hurt?

I answered the questions on the National Blood Service site and apparently I'm ok to donate so I'll go down and give them my pint...

Its from 2pm until 4:30pm and then from 5:30pm until 7:30pm if anyone fancies it, we're going for the first window of opportunity. Alternatively there is a full list of other places here.

I'll let you all know how I get on

Brain Sex Test

2005-07-21T15:38:00.000+01:00

I've just taken the Brain Sex test on the BBC site. Again this was emailed to me by Paul *he really does seem to shift some email everyday*. I too though, have a lot of spare time on my hands.

My results;

My brain doesnt have a sex apparently, when you take the test at the end a slider appears to show where you fall on the scale with comparisons for average female and male brains. Male brains score 50 on the slider towards the male brain, women 50 on their end of the scale, I scored 0 bang in the middle.

If you care about comparisons heres a breakdown of my scoring;

Part 1

Angles
Your score: 19 out of 20
Average score for men: 15.1 out of 20
Average score for women: 13.3 out of 20

Spot the Difference
Your score: 57%
Average score for men: 39%
Average score for women: 46%

Part 2

Hands
You said your right thumb was on top when you clasped your hands together.

Part 3

Emotions and Systems

Empathising
Your empathy score is: 2 out of 20
Average score for men: 7.9 out of 20
Average score for women: 10.6 out of 20

Systemising
Your systemising score is: 11 out of 20
Average score for men: 12.5 out of 20
Average score for women: 8.0 out of 20

Eyes
Your score: 7 out of 10
Average score for men: 6.6 out of 10
Average score for women: 6.6 out of 10

Part 4

Fingers
Right Hand: 0.98
Left Hand: 1
Average ratio for men: 0.982
Average ratio for women: 0.991

Part 5

Faces
Your choices suggest you prefer more feminine faces.

Part 6

3D Shapes
Your score: 7 out of 12
Average score for men: 8.2 out of 12
Average score for women: 7.1 out of 12

Words
Your score: you associated 5 word(s) with grey and you named 11 word(s) that mean happy. We are assuming that all the words you entered are correct.
Average score for men: 11.4 words total
Average score for women: 12.4 words tota

Ultimatum
If you had to split £50 with someone, you said you would demand £25
So far on the Sex ID test, men have demanded 51.6% (£25.80) of the pot and women have demanded 51.0% (£25.50), on average.

Theres all my results and yes, it took blooody ages to go through all the sections.

Cockney Rhyming Slang

2005-07-21T14:45:00.000+01:00

Paul and Anne, those lovely happy hard working employees at the Liverpool Echo(no official site fo the paper, but this is the same group thing) sent me the link for Cockney Rhyming Slang.

It kept them and me amused for some time.

Slang of interest;

Barclays Bank - Wank

Belinda Carlisles - Piles *personally I think Belindas lovely but its not my slang

Mahatma Ghandi - Brandy

Jimmy White - Shite

The Cockney Translator is fun, and I know how much you all care about how to go about ordering Guinness in Cockney Land;

"Pint of Guinness please mate" should be spoken as "Lor' luv a duck! Pin' ov Photo Finnish plz mate . Know what I mean?"

You Blew Me Up You Bastard

2005-07-18T14:45:00.000+01:00

You Blew Me Up You Bastard is a collection of people, yet to be killed by terrorists, with a quote from each.

The site has an active purpose should you be killed by terrorists, to quote;

"Thats where YouBlewMeUpYouBastard.com comes in. We'll store a photo of you, giving it large at the terrorists what done you in, and in the event of your body being blown to bits by a suicide bomber, we'll supply your disgusted image to all news services."

Once I've obtained a photo of myself from somewhere, I may just email myself in. Do the same.

The Thorn Tree Cycling

2005-07-16T13:20:00.000+01:00

I just found this thread on The Thorn Tree, via The Register.

I've spent the best part of half an hour sifting through the posts, laughing chronically, I'd say the first eight pages are fantastic reading, if not a little scary...

Avoiding MSN 7

2005-07-14T16:09:00.000+01:00

I blogged a while back about how much I hate MSN 7 with all its satanical features like nudges that can drive any sane person to the brink of insanity, I'm now MSN 7 free. Brilliant.

MSN for Mac doesnt have any of the fancy arse crappy features and is literally just a conversation tool, like the old MSN versions. On my laptop I've got MSN 4.7, which I realy like, beacuse again like MSN for Mac is literally just a conversation tool.

I'm a happy person, so you can stick your nudges and winks up your arse. I'm using MSN Retro...

New iMac

2005-07-12T11:25:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I took ownership of a pretty new 20 inch iMac G5, and already I can say with honesty

It trounces any Windows PC I've ever owned. Everythng works, its fast as hell, and theres more space than I've had in a long time, due in no small part to the fact I only have the iMac in the bedroom, whilst my old PC has been donated downstairs to my parents.

They are who'm I owe a rather large debt of gratitude to for funding the buying of the Mac, whilst I'm now left repaying the majority of the cost, they are writing some of the cost off as a 21st birthday present *along with the new bike they bought me, but thats saving them so many hours in giving me lifts to places, I think they were happy to buy that anyway*.

Thus far;

Dashboard is an inegenious idea, for accessing useful information such as local weather and a continuous BBC News RSS feed Chris found.

Air Port is appearing to be a legendary device because its finally allowing my laptop access to the internet which my Netgear router (nasty piece of electronic junk) refused to do.

The one button mouse is cool, but it is missing a scroll wheel, which I admit can be a little frustrating when I'm reading web pages, its a little weird not having one, even though the mouse does look incredibly sexual, and as Sam points out, not too distant a relation of a bar of soap.

Everything is so so much prettier

I love Apple...

RSS Rocks

2005-07-08T22:08:00.000+01:00

I've just downloaded and set up RSS Reader, an RSS application that could potentially make me very lazy. Rather than going to all the sites I go to to read news and anything else, from most sites the headlines can be retrieved straight to the RSS application. Essentially as the speedier thinkers amongst you will have figured by now, this means the articles come to me, rather than me go to them. Its very easy to set up, which suits me.

Despite the fact that quite a few RSS apps I stumbled across were charging to download, RSS Reader is excellent, and free. I know RSS can be set up through my browser du jour, Firefox, I like RSS Reader.

If anyone else fancies being lazy heres a selection of the RSS feeds I've added;

From the BBC;
UK News
Football

From Reuters
International News
World Football News

From Times Online
UK News

From The Register;
Odds & Sods

If you want to add any of these feeds, just right click the link and click copy link location, then add it as a new feed.

Welcome to the lazy side...

Catch The Beer

2005-07-08T22:00:00.000+01:00

I stumbled accross this undress the girls game thanks to Beer Bytes, though the game is hosted/owned by Pilsner Urquell. The basic idea of the game being catch the empty beer bottles as they fall down the screen, the more you catch the more clothes your selected lady takes off.

Food Supplements Directive

2005-07-03T22:34:00.000+01:00

Admittedly this doesn't have a lot of effect on me, but to people I know, like Dan the fitness freak, and my Mum the chronic back pain sufferer this has quite far reaching implications.

The Food Supplements Directive will ban pretty much everything for no good reason.

Dan chooses to take everything to keep his 'cut *his words not mine* torso, he likes to look like he does and its scientific proof that taking his Whey Protein Supplement stuff helps him do that, as far as anyone knows, safely too.

My Mum takes a lot of herbal rememedies and alternative medicines for her back, shes suffers chronically with it, and is some days stuck in bed, surely she has the right to take anything that makes her feel more mobile, and like she can achieve something in the day, if this directive goes through it could well have an adverse effect on her mobility, and consequently her standard of life. How can legislation approve that?

At the moment, as pictures lay testement my ankles a little bit dead, yet the thing I've found has done the most for the pain has been a Welsh cream very similar to horse linament. I presume should this directive go through, that too would be fall into the same catergories further down the line as being something no one has proved to work, but I really believe its more effective than any other creams I've tried on it.

Its like being told you cant concentrate your dose of something freely, yet I can drink coffee of any strength I choose, unhealthily so, yet its completely legal and ignored.

Confused? Even Mr and Mrs EU must be stumped by this piece of bureaucracy.

Luther Vandross

2005-07-03T22:29:00.000+01:00

Luther Vandross was a rather famous man, and I know this was a couple of days ago, but sadly he passed on, unnoticed by me this weekend> The guy was rather special, to rather a lot of people, so obviously deepest sympathies rest with him and his family after his long illness.

Knowhere: Arriba

2005-07-03T22:24:00.000+01:00

Preferrably theres nowhere I'd rather be less than Arriba most of the time, but Matt sent me this rather amusing thread tonight on the Knowhere site, linking to Arriba and its clientel.

3 Guinness Glasses

2005-06-27T17:54:00.000+01:00

More on the way,
originally uploaded by PatrickSmyth.

I just stumbled accross this per chance

Beautiful...

My Ankle

2005-06-27T17:52:00.000+01:00

Ankle,
originally uploaded by jackson_cannery.

I was playing football, I fell over, I heard something crack, this is the result

It hurts like hell.

21!

2005-06-22T17:25:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the lack of action at Cheetham Towers again, but this past week I've been mourning the passing of my youth. Tommorow I turn 21.

Thats full adult age when I should apparently be fully responsible. I'm really not responsible in the slightest, the worlds going to eat me!

Help...

Otherwise, I'll be in the Golden Lion from about 6ish, everyones welcome to come for a pint or 10 so if anyone chooses to come down thats cool... but for now, i you'll excuse me I must grieve

Ben Folds

2005-06-17T23:26:00.000+01:00

I apologise that this has taken so long to post, I should be strung up and punished for this taking a week.

Last Saturday I went, with other Chris, to see Ben Folds at The Lowri in Salford.

All I can say is the guy was impeccable live. He played a fine selection of old songs like Last Polka, Army and Where Summer B, along with a collection of songs from the new album, Songs For Silverman, which I appreciated more live than I do when I listen to the CD.

All in all it was a legendary night, and it defeats me how someone can be so good on the piano, yet look at it so inrefquently!

*Finishing on One Angry Dwarf was legendary, if I'd been bettin on it, I would of had that down as the opener, like it is on Ben Folds Live.

Sir Ben of Folds, we salute you...

Experimental Vegetarianism

2005-06-17T23:10:00.000+01:00

I'm making a bold change in my life. I'm going to experiment with vegetarianism. I haven't eaten meat today, and, AND... I had an apple with my tea in work!

Jesting aside, most of what I eat is crap, and probably 90% of the meat I eat is proccessed, I reckon my health has to benefit from giving up meat, because I wont be eating all the junk food, that my diet mainly consists of. I'm going to give it a few weeks,with exception of a meal next Saturday for my birthday. Everyone should eat the biggest steak on the menu on their 21st birthday.

It turns out from reading several articles on the net, humans werent deigned really to eat meat, our bodies are physically suited to plants and vegetables etc, so I'm going to have a stab at this veggie lark.

I can't be bothered linking to all the articles I read, so have a gander at the results of this Google search.

I concede that from searching the term "Humans Meat" it encourages the response of vegetarian based sites, though I was surpirised by the lack of pro meat sites. Am I on to something? The veg decides...

Carbon Sequestration

2005-06-15T17:13:00.000+01:00

Carbon Sequestration, a method of capturing gas produced by power stations and storing it under the sea out of harms way is getting £15 million of Goverment Funding.

I like the idea, as it is a genuine effort to cut the Carbon Dioxide emissions of our Country.

On a completely unrelated note, I want to let the world know I've finally got my evil nasty refuse to work WiFi Router working of a fashion. Whilst I still cant browse thet net on my Laptop I can view files from both my PC and Laptop remotely, which is to me, really cool. I think other Chris may have figured out how to share the internet too, I just need an adapter and a cable to get the modem in to the router. All broadband modems are USB, so why cant they just put a little port to take the USB modem on the back of the routers? Grrrr!

Diamonds are bad

2005-06-10T22:47:00.000+01:00

I found this article via Darren Barefoot.

10 Reasons Never To Own A Diamond on Ultimate Field Guide to the US Economy. I found this pretty eye opening. I never knew the history of diamonds was related to a company creating an artificial market, or that they were so heavily linked to slavery and war.

I admit that some of the research documents used to compile the facts are quite old, though I presume that largely they still apply today. Don't expect Diamonds off me now ladies!

Ben Folds on GMTV

2005-06-10T13:21:00.000+01:00

I woke up this morning and knocked the TV on to help me come too. Lo and behold, I switched it on, fell back on to my pillow to see Ben Folds was sat there behind a piano staring back at me. He was on GMTV to perform Landed, the first single from the album, and give the tour he's on at the moment a bit of a plug (the tour plug would have been a little bit more successful if he'd known where he was playing, after Southampton tonight).

The amusing part of the interview was the fact that neither presenters, Jenni Falconer or Ben Shepheard, seemed to know who he really was, and I doubt either had heard the album before they were told he was going to be their show.

*On a relevant note of where Ben Folds is after tonight, hes's at Manchester Lowry tommorow night. I only know this because I booked tickets several months ago now. Their is a problem though, said tickets haven't yet arrived. When I rang Gigs and Tours on Wednesday I was told that the tickets were printed and would be with me in a day or two, if you havent got them within 48 hours ring up. The tickets havent yet arrived, yet when I rang this morning I got an automated message saying all operators are busy try the website, and then at the end of the message the connection is terminated. To say I'm a little pissed/worried about the where abouts of my tickets and/or someone from the ticket supplier is a partial understatement. When I rang on Wednesday I was put on hold until soeone was available, today thats not the case, why?*

Update: The phones have finally been fixed so that I could be held to talk to someone, and after about ten minutes on hold got through to a guy that was able to duplicate the tickets for collection tommorow night, thank you sir.

Bathed In Beer

2005-06-09T23:56:00.000+01:00

I dream of this. The Cellar image of the day today shows three guys Bathing In Beer.

What we'd all give to be those lucky lucky guys...

Duck Density

2005-06-07T22:52:00.000+01:00

Duck Density has been set up by students at York University to measuse the density of duck populations in UK Universities.

Having a look around the site, its ingenious and has made me laugh a few times, I particularly like the idea of racing the ducks.

Edge Hill probably performs quite well due to the rather large and crowded pond next to the Faculty of Education, CMIST and LINC buildings.

Climate Care Calulators

2005-06-07T13:48:00.000+01:00

These calculators by Climate Care work out roughly how much it would cost you financially to offset the Carbon Dioxide you produce in day to day activities. It calculated roughly a £50 contribution from Cheetham Towers would help make us Carbon Neutral. Indiviually though, as a none driver I think I'm probably a car passenger for 1,000 miles a year max. My Dads a polluting lorry driver though which is something I hope he cries about every night!

I'm clean even though my parents very probably aren't.

It kind of seems to me that the younger generation are more prepared to change for the environment, but the generaton twenty years above me are very blasé about the problems faced. For example, I strongly oppose weed killers, fertilisers, slug pellets and the like, whilst all and sundry throw the stuff all over the garden. Natures proved itself to work over a few billion years so why tamper with it now, by adding chemical enhancement? Leave it all be, and everything will come good in the end like it invariably always does.

Famous Guinness Drinker

2005-06-06T13:18:00.000+01:00

Boxer, Ricky Hatton.

Mobile Clubbing

2005-06-03T22:20:00.000+01:00

Mobile Clubbing was pointed to me by Dan, the basic idea being turn up in a pre designated place and wait for the set time, before starting to dance to your MP3 player in the street. I think its a beautiful idea, or failing that Pillow Fights, working to the same principles.

This idea is ingenious, I like the idea, and will endeavour to organise one...

Dental Sex

2005-06-03T15:27:00.000+01:00

I know its linking back to Yahoo News but this as got me in stictches. Click and believe...

Southport Lawnmower Museum

2005-06-03T15:23:00.000+01:00

I've heard of it before, but found a story about it on Yahoo just now. Southport Lawnmower Museum. It claims to be the only site in the world, and personally, I think its quite cool I live so close to the place.

Picture of Everything

2005-06-03T14:04:00.000+01:00

I stumbles accross this just now whilst reading Gradin, and thought it was particularly cool. The Picture of Everything. Its a massive picture with what must be thousands of faces on it. What was particularly cool was clicking the Character Key, mousing over, and being told who everyone was.

Supergrass

2005-06-02T11:33:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday night Supergrass were absolutely awesome. They rattled off a load of the old songs from I Should Coco and In It For The Money. I didnt really expect that so that was a definite bonus, and the new songs they played sounded pretty cool to boot. Live, Supergrass are consumate professionals well worth the ticket fee.

The Leaves were a little dissapointing and didnt really seem to grip anyone in the crowd, but good luck to them.

A whole array of odds and sods

2005-05-31T14:13:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the complete lack of activiy at Cheetham Towers for the last few days, but somehow I dont seem to have been able to get around to finding time to post thus heres a collection of stuff I've been meaning to talk about.

Test The Nation
The other night I took the BBC Test The Nation 20th Century Quiz. I scored 56 when my age was taken into account. This apparently puts me in the top 20% of the population. To the other 80%, I say Ha!

French Open Tennis
Whilst I'm typing all this, Maria Sharapova *Kournikova v2, the same but designed to be a tennis player a little longer before modelling* is about to loose to Justine Henin-Hardenne, a fine example of a clay court player, I say Ha!

Supergrass
Tonight I'm going to watch Supergrass at Liverpool Academy. They're one of my favourite bands on CD, and unfortunately I've never before seen them live, I cant imagine them not being absolutely awesome though I'll write more about this tommorow and tell you exactly how cool they were.

Big Brother
Its all started again, and having watched an episode of Big Brothers Little Brother, I've already decided I dont like this years contestants and wont be watching it. It was better when it was full of ordinary Joe's, they held interesting conversations and sat round bored for 18 hours at a time. Now its just full of extroverts and attention seekers in the hope of two of them shagging to fulfil the voyeuristic needs of the teenage target mrket *typing that makes me feel old*

Real Ale
Last week I tried two new Real Ales, Directors, and Bombardier. I preferred the Directors, though Bombardier wasn't without its own high points. I cant find an official website for Directors, I apologise, but have a bonus link. Creation of Real Ale, found on CAMRA

MSN 7

2005-05-28T10:54:00.000+01:00

Like most MSN *I'd link to messenger but i cant be arsed* users users already probably have done, this morning I installed MSN 7 on my PC. I installed it largely beacause I was getting bored of reading "A new version of MSN Messenger is now available, click here" every time i signed in.

Now I've installed it, I can make a considered opinion (I used the beta briefly). Its crap. I've turned off all those really annoying features like winks and nudges that I dont want, so essentially I'm running it with the same properties as version 6.2. Whilst I'm running it with the same set up as 6.2 for the same usability its using an extra 12MB of RAM.

If it aint broke, dont fix it, and in the case of 6.2 being so good, dont mess with it.

If I didnt need MSN because its what all my mates used, I'd use something else, ideally open source, beacause that always seems to be stable and only does what its there for, in this case send messages...

Racism & Liverpool Fans

2005-05-25T23:13:00.000+01:00

I am going to show no happiness at all for Liverpool fans tongiht. My praise goes to Rafa Benitez and the team for what is probably the greatest comeback of all time in a European Final.

To the fans, as a whole I congratulate them for conducting them selves well. Though sadly to the minority I am going to question racist issues, humility in victory and sportsmanshiop. Having watched the 2nd half onwards of the game tonight I believe Liverpool deserved victory for the superhuman effort involved in the comeback from three goals down.

Though, to have to walk out of the pub with a bunch of Liverpool fans screaming 'fuck off' at me (thank you to the guy that pushed his mates out of the way so I could get to the door) and pushing me back in to the pub, for not supporting Liverpool, I believe you demonstrated pig headed ignorance, and a complete lack of grace in victory. Dan *An Arsenal fan* told me he left moments earlier, whilst i went to the toilet, to shouts of Munich, assuming that the people I was with were also Man Utd fans. It was conincidentally the same fans that screamed openly racist obscenities at the screen during the match. Listening to people scream "Fuck off *racist national abbreviation*" at Milan players was neither pleasant, or on several occasions accurate *You screamed Spic at one Portugese player several times".

It could just be me being bitter, but I can't wish any of these sort of fans good luck with defending next seasons trophy, or give condolance over tragedies their club has suffered in the last twenty years, when the same fans can show such strong racist, abusive tendencies in victory.

I appreciate it's only the minority but the minority as always ruin the image of the majority.

An Apology

2005-05-24T14:58:00.000+01:00

I'm going to use this post to apologise to Sara, Susanne and Sam, who apparently are all pretty pissed off after Friday night. I apologise for the behaviour of Ste and James who were apparently complete ~~cunts~~ loosers on Friday night. If I'd been a little more aware of my surroundings than I was, I would have attempted to quell them, though having been told what I have, agree they were completely out of line.

And for that, I apologise.

Youth Culture MSN Debate

2005-05-20T17:09:00.000+01:00

This is a log of a debate I had with Justin this afternoon about modern youth culture, and everything I hate about some aspects of it. Read on, and please comment, let me and Justin know what you all think, cheers.

With reference to screen names Life! is Justin, and Angela Lansbury (of Murder She Wrote fame) is me;

*I know the formattings a bit crap, but its taken from an XML file, and I cant really be arsed fixing it all, theres too much to be bothered with, but stick with it*

Life! wasting my life away
Angela Lansbury nothing wrong with that
Life! yeah there is
Angela Lansbury wah exactly
Life! life is supposed to be productive...
Angela Lansbury ney i disagree with that, thats the capitalist view
Angela Lansbury you aint here long, pointless wastin it workin
Life! that sounds like the guy from fight club
Angela Lansbury lol
Angela Lansbury its true though
Angela Lansbury i want enough income to support myself, but im nto bothered about 'teh trappings of welth'
Angela Lansbury the more money you got, the shallower your friends tend to be
Life! not allows, money changes people, but a strong person wouldnt let that happen
Angela Lansbury yeah but the people that chase weatlh end to be shallow and possesion driven
Angela Lansbury you need enough to be comfortable, but more than that is a waste
Life! there is a point of too much money, cost ya couldnt spend it
Angela Lansbury there is a point where you cant spend it, but way before that you hit a point where loads of people become plan materialists
Life! i would be happy to have enough money to pay debts etc and a little extra for fun
Angela Lansbury i like my gadgets, but way to many people care to much about waering designer clothes, bein seen in trendy places etc
Angela Lansbury the bad ting is its part of culture
Angela Lansbury disrealies is a prime example of everytihg i hate about culture
Life! wow
Life! wot*
Angela Lansbury its expensive, ts got bugger all atmosphere
Angela Lansbury people that go in there get proper dressed up in all teh shallow culture cool shirts etc
Angela Lansbury they only play the 'cool' music
Angela Lansbury an everyone in there is only there to impress
Life! and some places only play 'rock' music etc
Angela Lansbury they wear the rihg things, do the right things, say the right things
Angela Lansbury its just somewhere i cant stand
Angela Lansbury and it centralises its target audience around everything i dont like
Life! other people
Angela Lansbury ?
Life! dizzies attracts people
Angela Lansbury no one talks to a stranger in disrealies, you stand and watch at the bar, no one will talk to anyone, go into somewhere like the lion the horseshoes queens head, you cans triker up conversation wtih absolutely anyone
Angela Lansbury yeah disrealies attracts people cos htey think its cool, cos theyre told it is, so they go to do all the stuff i listed above
Life! the reason ya probably cant talk to strangers is cos thats the youth of today, where as other places are usually filled with more mature people
Angela Lansbury exactly, the outh of today eg majorityof people under 25 are pretty shallo fickle, and largely thick people
Angela Lansbury the 16-25 generation of now is probably the thickest of the last hundred years
Angela Lansbury they might have the best education, but general intelligence, switched on-ness, friendliness theyre rank bottom
Life! who can we blame for that tho?
Life! tv, society, us the older generation
Angela Lansbury we are the 16-25 generation
Angela Lansbury its the media, peer pressure
Angela Lansbury but the modern generation is completely out of it, can you imagine any other generation thinkin 'happy-slappin' is ok
Life! caveman!!!
Angela Lansbury i dont get where abouts that is funny
Angela Lansbury exactly, several thousand years ago
Life! respect has to be the biggest loss to society
Angela Lansbury yeah an everytihng goes hand in hand, people only get a little bit of respect now if theyre weaig the right clothes, doin teh right tihngs in the rtihgt paces etc
Angela Lansbury everytihngs a competition, an i dont buy into it
Life! im taking about general manners and respect etc
Angela Lansbury an even thats based in society over history, because everyone has always wanted to be better than their friends
Life! healthy competition
Angela Lansbury it sint though its plain one upmanship
Angela Lansbury competition takes place on a sporting field or in a game
Angela Lansbury anywhere else its pathetic
Life! true
Angela Lansbury almost anyone married to or goin ot with a footballer, and nearly all pop stars
Angela Lansbury should be hung
Life! why
Angela Lansbury theyre the offenders
Angela Lansbury well teh biggest offenders
Angela Lansbury you honestly tell me colleen mcloughlin is goin out with wayne rooney for his personal conversational skills
Angela Lansbury its cos hes paid 50grand a week
Life! they've known each other since school
Angela Lansbury only time you hear from her now its cos shes been out and blown 20grand on a shoopping spree
Life! *and why do you know her surname*
Angela Lansbury yeah but hses only with him now for the money
Angela Lansbury shes int he paper religiously
Angela Lansbury i read papers
Angela Lansbury mirror.co.uk and timesonline are in my bookmarks
Life! so your sayin she bites her tongut when shes with hi just so she can have his money
Angela Lansbury pretty much yeah
Life! how can you say that when ya dont know her or him
Angela Lansbury if he honestly did slap her *there must be truth in those allegations cos coke came within a hairs breadth of cancelling his contract* do you think she'd hang around
Angela Lansbury hes got a problem controlling his temper everyone knows that
Life! couples have domestic fights, arguments etc, thats life
Angela Lansbury yeah but violent fights
Angela Lansbury that goes down as battery assault attempted assault if it goes to police
Life! all we know of is a slap...
Angela Lansbury yeah but what kinda guy slaps his gf, an waht kinda gf accepts it
Life! someone who has anger management problem and someone who loves the other person
Angela Lansbury i dont bu it
Angela Lansbury an pop stars, are antoehr catergory entirely
Angela Lansbury they are there to be the icons to the disrealies generation
Life! domestic issues ahve been in society since day one and will always be here
Angela Lansbury doesnt make them right though does it
Angela Lansbury i just think colleens shallow though, cos shes hell ebnt on spending every penny she can on possessions
Life! it keeps some people happy tho
Life! like beer does to others
Angela Lansbury yeah but tahts going back to the earlier argument that its shallow materialsim
Angela Lansbury but beer invokes a mental state, waht do possessions invoke, one upmanship
Life! it makes people feel better about themselves, more comfortable in society
Angela Lansbury yeah cos theyre mentally weak and need to feel accepted by the incrows, cso theyre absorbed inev erything thats wrong with society
Life! some people dont know anything better
Angela Lansbury and thats where the problem lies
Angela Lansbury people cant see past the name on their t shirt
Life! wots ya opinion of me then when im out in my clobber
Angela Lansbury you look teh same as everyone else in disrealies trying to achieve the same as everyone else in there, ste's teh same and dan to an extent, but dans vain, but he can see past all the consumerism to a point, but hes still lookin for acceptance from people he'll probably enver know too
Angela Lansbury maybe its me not understanding what everyone else can see, i maybe wildly missing the point, btu from where i am it all seems utterly pointless competeing wth a bunch of people i dont know ro care about
Life! (h) dan
Life! if im the same then how come we go lion etc
Angela Lansbury thats the tinhg, you lot will go lion, but the big issue is people hwo will onyl go cool pubs
Angela Lansbury but you enjoy dressin up in all the cool stuff dont ya goin the cool oplaces, takin part in a bit of the lookin good for no reason stuff
Angela Lansbury theres so mch more to people than the way they lookbut society has driven everyone to a point where everythign comes down to appearance
Angela Lansbury we aint far from meltdown point at the moment, its gotta get better soon cso i cant really see how everytihgn can get worse
Life! i like to look smart, i can go out and look rough as hell, ive done it but i choose to look tidy
Angela Lansbury eah but you got the mental tihng where you are by nature meticulously tidy aint ya, everything has a place everything in its place etc
Angela Lansbury everyone in disrealies is there makint he effort to fit in
Angela Lansbury everyone in there are lookin for acceptance, so few people are in there out of choice of just generally goin in to have a laugh wiht their mates, people with teh lets hav fun mentality seem to go places like the lion queen head etc
Life! if all ya mates went to dizzies for a laugh would you join them or not, forget the atmosphere people etc, ya going there to be with ya mates
Angela Lansbury yeah if everyone was goin there for fun, but i dont beleive people are in ther for fun, cos 9times out of 10 on a friday gniht the musics so loud you literally have to shout at the person enxt to you, the atmosphere in there doesnt breed conversation
Angela Lansbury it breeds cool poses and appearances
Angela Lansbury loud music, and no light doth not a conversation dwell in
Angela Lansbury lets face it its dark for a reason
Life! ??
Life! i dont either of us is going to win this argument
Angela Lansbury cos everyone in there majorty are there to pull, and unless you look like kate moss or brad pitt, light dont help most people
Life! ive never seen anyone pull in there...
Angela Lansbury everyon trades phone numbers etc in there thogu dot they, its to put everyone in the mood for goin to somewhree like arriva
Angela Lansbury arriba^
Angela Lansbury its the same clientel
Angela Lansbury maybe it goes ack to school, i was never cool in school cos i didnt dig the cool culture like some of the kids, thus even now im out of school the stuff im in to largely isnt cool, so i dont enjoy ding the cool things cos i dont understand them, from outside looking in i dont see the fun
Life! the fun being music, pulling, etc
Angela Lansbury yeah i never have understood pullin someone for the sake of it, dont get that
Angela Lansbury i hate dance music, being a dj is not difficult unless your someone like tiesto
Angela Lansbury i dont like his music but i concede what he does isnt easy
Angela Lansbury but too mch chart music that everyone love and gets played in places like disrealies is just a drum beat with some simple synth, but of keyboard etc over the top
Angela Lansbury roller coaster in america 0-128 in 3.5 seconds
Life! agree to disagree

Hope you enjoyed, what do you think of the debate?

Disclaimer of the Day

2005-05-19T12:07:00.000+01:00

Rummaging for some sheet music to go away ad play with I've just bumbled over this disclaimer on Top Banana Sheet Music. To quote;

Disclaimer
Much of the sheet music on this page is borrowed from other pages on the internet without permission.
If you see any music that you recognise as belonging to you (ie you wrote/arranged/scanned it and you don't want me to have it then e-mail me and I'll take it off

Apart from some ropey use of grammaer *I know mine is'nt ace but shh!* what a fantastic way to distance yourself from work you've nicked from other people. Who ever you are, I salute you.

Malcolm Moneybags

2005-05-18T16:06:00.000+01:00

I've just stumbled accross Malcolm Moneybags on MouseBreaker, you've got to land Malcolm Glazer as close to the center circle as you can, or let him plunge to his death from the plane.

Salford Buccaneers grrr!

Tasty Ape

2005-05-18T13:37:00.000+01:00

The Onion is always out there, with the best erm, irrelevant 'news'. This week a new primate has been discovered in the Amazon basin, which cooks up fantastically.

On a more serious note, new diseases have been transmitted to humans by ape hunters in Africa.

Exam Stress

2005-05-17T17:14:00.000+01:00

I finsihed my exams yesterday so now I'm kicking round enjoying myself. I'm happy to say that today I've done bugger all so ha!

Tonight, I'm going to train with the Ropers Arms, as apparently they need some Sunday League players.

My life of bliss and lazyness now is nothing though in comparison to a lot of A Level students studying to come and live my life in University next year. I found these diaries on the BBC website just strolling along this afternoon with time on my hands (as I probably will until September). They have it so much harder than me and everyone I know that finished yesterday

May we all have a fun lazy laid back summer...

Pianist on the Beach

2005-05-16T21:07:00.000+01:00

This is kinda screwed up, but really intriguing. A man has been found on the beach, and after refusing to talk to anyone, up on being presented with a pinao apparently gave a fantastic performance. Still he wont talk.

Wembley Bridge

2005-05-13T10:23:00.000+01:00

With the new Wembley Stadium nearly completed, they're looking now for a name for the bridge that will link the stadium to Wembley Town.

To vote on the name of the new bridge Radio 5 Live is holding a poll here.

If anyones interested I voted for White Horse. I'm not big on voting peoples names for places, seems a bit vain to me, but the White Horse is recognised as a part of the first cup final, so its kinda sentimental in a way.

*It's Friday 13th today, and I've got an exam at 2:30, bit ominous?

Water Aerobics Rocks

2005-05-11T18:56:00.000+01:00

Last night me and Dan went to water Aerobics at the local pool. Despite being the only two blokes there, with thirty something women, mainly a few years older than us, we had a really good time. Once we figured out what the hell was going on, and everyone else got over the novelty of us being the only two guys I'd definitely recommend it as a good use of an hour.

Its a damn bit harder than it looks too. I'm not a dancer, nore do I have the rhythm and timing to be one.

Frozen Beer

2005-05-09T14:57:00.000+01:00

Frozen Beer,
originally uploaded by jackson_cannery.

I've just been in the freezer looking for some dinner, and stumbled accross these.

Four beers I put in the freezer for quick chill on Saturday night. Subsequently I forgot about them, and drank the beer that was in the fridge which went cold quite quickly, I proceeded to get drunk, and obviously forgot about them. I'm probably quite lucky they didn't explode in the freezer.

Right now they're on the back lawn defrosting in the sun, fizzing away like buggery.

We learn by our mistakes.

Drinkometer

2005-05-08T19:39:00.000+01:00

Just stumbled accross this, the Drinkometer at ION Design. It will tell you roughly how much you've spent on booze over the years, and what sort of drinker you are. I'm apparently a Homer Simpson and have spent roughly £9000 since I turned 18.

Exam Compensation

2005-05-08T19:31:00.000+01:00

This report on The Times site, details the extra marks students can expect as compensation to their exam grade for problems in preperation;

"An asthma attack and witnessing a distressing event on the day of the exam is worth an extra 3%, whereas a hay-fever sufferer receives just 2%. And if the student is afflicted by none of the above, they can always claim a 1% upgrade for a headache."

Its a world gone quite possibly mad.

Ben Folds Fingers

2005-05-08T18:57:00.000+01:00

i've got a new ambition in life. I've just watched the DVD from the new Ben Folds album Songs for Silverman and to quote him at a show;

"I've had to tape my fingers, because my finger nails are coming away from the finger, like they tend too when you bash the shit out of the piano."

I've never experienced finger pain from playin piano, I'm curious how much I'd have to play for that too happen.

No More Coursework

2005-05-06T22:53:00.000+01:00

Today, I handed in my last piece of coursework for the year. Now assuming everything passes (I'm not sure what the procedure is if i do) I've only got 3 exams and a week on Monday I'll finish for the summer.

To celebrate that fact now I've finished work, Im rocking on my own with a nice quiet pint of London Pride.

Tommorow I intend to get drunk and celebrate properly before I get my head down to revision...

BBC Swingometer

2005-05-06T00:34:00.000+01:00

We all know this is the only reason anyone watches the BBC Election coverage. This year they've put the Swingometer online for everyones amusement.

Deadlines

2005-05-05T14:04:00.000+01:00

My last assignment is due in tommorow and I can tell thee;

Its amazing what a deadline does for productivity...

No Chicken Pox

2005-05-05T12:02:00.000+01:00

I haven'g got Chicken Pox, Dan went back to see a Doctor this morning, apparently all is good because its just insect bites, I'd suspected as much because the spot things are all on my fore arm, below my t shirt line, and on my legs below where my shorts come to.

Still nice to know I'm not ill though.

General Election

2005-05-05T11:56:00.000+01:00

I've been and voted already this morning. I was at St. Bedes RC School this morning aboout 10 o'clock to have my contribution to the next Government. Whilst I believe Labour will win I can't stand them, apart from Gordon Brown, he's a bit of a dude, but not as cool as my men Charles Kennedy.

My big gripe though was lack of local Liberal Democrat candidate. Not to worry though, there was Green Party representation, so I voted them locally.

I've stood against the current Goverment, go do the same...

Apathy is not an option

Chicken Pox

2005-05-04T15:54:00.000+01:00

Until this morning I'd always believe you could only catch Chicken Pox once, thus the fact that I've had it when i was about 5 I thought I was now immune.

Apparenty I'm not, Dan has caught it for the second time, I went to the doctors today and there's a good chance I may be suffering a second dose. The spots on my legs look like they could be Chicken pox. Though I'm still hoping they're just bad fly bites I've picked up playing football.

Doing some reading about what I may have caught I've found out now where the name comes from.

Fact Of The Day

2005-05-04T08:53:00.000+01:00

Bob The Builder lives in Bobsville.

Smoking During Pregnancy

2005-05-04T08:24:00.000+01:00

This is in reference to someone I know, who despite pregnancy is continuing to smoke. I just rummaged this out from Baby.ie. The whole article is worth reading, if you're pregnant, but this bit is particularly relevant;

Smoking and the unborn child

We all agree that smoking is bad for your baby's health, but did you know the extent of harm that can be attributed to tobacco.

* You could have a miscarriage or stillbirth.
* You could have a premature birth
* Premature babies risk respiratory problems
* Your baby could have learning and behaviour problems later in childhood.
* You could increase the risk of Cot Death

The chemicals in tobacco reduce the flow of oxygen around the mother's blood stream. The flow of oxygen is vital for the healthy weight gain of the baby in the womb. Also the smoking causes a thickening of the blood vessels in the Placenta. The placenta is a vital organ, which joins mother and baby. If the placenta is not working 100%, you risk starving the baby of rich vitamins and properties needed for a successful pregnancy and a healthy baby.

Risking Clothes

2005-05-02T13:47:00.000+01:00

I went swimming this morning for the first time in probably a year or so with Dan and Hayes this morning.

Whilst there, in search of a game we invented Throw The Locker Key. The game is exactly as it sounds. Throw the key, it sinks then go and retrieve it. Fantastically chilidsh fun.

Toilet Paper & Aloe Vera

2005-04-30T19:10:00.000+01:00

Today me and Chris pondered the reason for some brands of toilet paper containing Aloe Vera. Whilst I'm waiting for Chris to get here so we can go to the pub, I Googled Aloe Vera. Heres the most relevant result.

Apparently it helps heal and relieve the pain of burns. I don't really feel I need to type any mroe on the subject.

New SFA Album

2005-04-29T22:25:00.000+01:00

Apparently Super Furry Animals are releasing a new album in August, to the majority probably not an important event, to me, always something to look forward too. I've just discovered a couple of fantastic quotes though by Gruff Rhys on NME that prove he spends little time on this planet.

Talking about a potential single ;

"‘Psyclone’, which is a song about a chicken crossing the road and getting hit by a meteorite. It didn’t look up and that’s the moral of the song,"

And then about future plans;

"I’m planning to be the only solo artist to split up, I thinking of doing it live on the internet."

Mr. Rhys, we salute you.

Proximity

2005-04-23T14:41:00.000+01:00

Discovered this game called Proximity the other day, as a consequence become rather addicted to it.

CSS Generator

2005-04-21T16:47:00.000+01:00

Looking for a Javascript web menu for an assignment I've just stumbled accross this CSS Menu Generator on Webmaster Toolkit. You specify colours, link and file names, it does the rest for you. Apart from just being an exceptionally clever idea, the resulting menu looks very stylish aswell.

The Pope Sings the Classics

2005-04-19T22:48:00.000+01:00

pope,
originally uploaded by jackson_cannery.

This made it too me earlier courtesy of the ever witty Chris's creative juices. Tongue in cheek, but I like it...

Analysing Email

2005-04-17T18:15:00.000+01:00

I had an email in my inbox today, from someone called Gemma Brown, she's picked my email address up from some forward, and thus sent me an emial asking for my forwards. I know a few other people that have had the email too, obviously its indiscriminate emailing to try and obtain as much information as she can.

I'm interested by the idea of analysing everyones mail so I'll contribute. Her email address is gmm_brwn_55@yahoo.co.uk if anyone else fancies forwarding all their stuff on to that address. *Paul, Anne, I'd be dissapointed if you didnt join in, because you seem to have made a fine career from passing time sending forwards on to me*

Apparently forward your gubbins on and you'll get an email of the results when they're published next January.

Newsnight Musical Manifesto

2005-04-15T23:04:00.000+01:00

I caught this on Newsnight earlier. The Musical Manifesto. Made me laugh a lot, I've never seen Charles Kennedy depicted as a Burberry chav before. *Needs Real Player*

Freedom of Liverpool Perks

2005-04-12T22:29:00.000+01:00

Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy apparently has the freedom of the city of Liverpool. One of the perks of this is that he can herd sheep accross the city when ever he wants without being arrested.

I found out this fascinating fact here.

Pointlessly Cool

2005-04-12T21:48:00.000+01:00

A Dutch bloke has put Ceefax online. Ceefax.tv is Ceefax, on the web. Why people aren't just using the BBC site I dont know, but this just seems cool with no reason.

Beaten by the Council

2005-04-12T21:30:00.000+01:00

I was unable to obtain a mower today sadly, but no one else turned. Apparently a few people said they'd come and watch had I been able to obtain a mower.

It turned out though that this wasn't even needed, as the local Council did it today. Maybe they read this blog and thought "I know, we'll save that nice Chris guy a bit of effort, he seems an upstanding member of the community, lets cut the grass for him and his buddies".

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Council for their effort in maintaning the quality of pitch we play on.

How to sleep with celebrities

2005-04-10T21:30:00.000+01:00

I see this as the answer to every blokes problem. We all have people we want to sleep with.

Personally its Carol Vorderman, Siobhan Donaghy, Amy Studt and Ashlee Simpson.

Now in a Blue Peter step by step guide, I'll show you how I can achieve this.

Take a picture of the object of your lust. Obtaining one from the website above for example unless its for use on a personal level e.g. girl in pub etc.

Buy a blow up sex doll, always easily available discreetly over the internet.

Place picture of desired celebrity on to doll

Bish bash bosh as it were, there infront of you can be anyone from Carol Vorderman or Lorraine Kelly, right through to Holly Vallance or hot girl in pub.

Try it, its far cheaper than wining and dining a celebrity...

Mooney Suzuki

2005-04-10T21:12:00.000+01:00

On Monday I went to Mancehster University to see Mooney Suzuki. I've never before seen a band play a live set with so much energy. They were the first band I've ever seen and been a complete fan staring open jawed at the stage in awe.

They played a set of songs all taken from Alive & Amplified, but to my happiness they played quite a few from Electric Sweat, the last album, which I never saw them tour. For me the definite highlights were Oh Sweet Suzanna which has possibly the coolest guitar riff in the world at the start, and the classic Young Mans Mind, to quote "In a young mans mind its a simple world, theres a little room for music and the rest is girls"

If you ever get half a chance to see them, make sure you're there crushed against the railings at the front.

Mowing Church Fields

2005-04-10T20:48:00.000+01:00

I propose an idea to us all. I'm sure its been done before, but I'm going to propose it again. Flash Blogging

I'll make a suggestion, then see who turns up to carry out the task in hand. Due to my considerate nature the task will always be a good will task, or something of benefit to people.

This week, to aid the local Council, and the fact its difficult to play football on it.

I want anyone possible, to turn up at Churchfields in Ormskirk, over by the football pitch. And we're going to cut the grass. Its not done regularly enough really, so as a good will gesture I propose it gets a charitable trim.

I'll be there for 18:00 on Tuesday evening. I dont own a petrol mower thus wont be able to actually mow, but I'll be there for motivation and leadership.

I look forward to seeing you all there...

Tiesto

2005-04-06T22:57:00.000+01:00

Tiesto,
originally uploaded by jackson_cannery.

On Saturday a good friend of mine Dan went to see Tiesto live for something like the sixth time at Gods Kitchen in Birmingham I tihnk it was. I cant say I'm a fan of dance music and only know of Tiesto through Dans fandom, though Tiesto is obviously still in touch with his fans.

After Saturday night some are going to be left with lasting memories not just because of the music but because of some nice personal touches. Some people in the crowd were passing up vinyl to be signed. Tiesto though was going one better and playing the vinyl to the crowd apparently, before signing it and passing it back.

That strikes me as particularly cool.

Dyer and Bowyer: Youth Icons

2005-04-02T18:30:00.000+01:00

I haven't seen it yet, though I will later, but I just caught this on the BBC Football site.

Apparently after Newcastle went three goals down to Aston Villa Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer, both of Newcastle, started brawling with each other and had to be seperated by Aston Villa goalscorer Gareth Barry.

Fantastic.

Drunk Fines!

2005-04-02T10:35:00.000+01:00

Apparently now bar staff are going to be fined £80 for serving drunks. What if I want to go out to get unconditionally drunk? Thats effectively making it illegal for me to get drunk in a pub. Madness. I agree some people turn into violent arseholes after too many drinks, but surely those people should be put on schemes like Pubwatch?

I like many of my friends who no doubt agree, this rule should be applied with sense, and only when someone is threatening violence, or is know to have a history of bieng aggressive when drunk should they be refused service. I've never had a fight in my life and feel that for a bar worker to be fined £80 for serving me would be very very unfair.

This sort of badly thought through rushed in vote winner is the exact reason I wont be voting for Labour in the election

Side note: Whilst I was doing a bit of research on this , I stumbled accross this PDF on Safer Lancashire. The section on alcohol abuse is quite interesting reading.