Posts from 2006

Tough week. Lots of driving to and from the bleak, industrial North. Lots of head scratching, pouring over computers and log files, talking to different people, all working together to try to fix a difficult, long standing, non-reproducible, high-profile problem.

Arrive home. After the emotional reunions, hugs and tears, I am immediately asked to fix a difficult problem that is (thankfully) reproducible. Son took advantage of my absence to buy another PC game. Game launches splash screen and immediately crashes.

PC meets minimum spec. Graphics card meets minimum spec. Lots of people have similar problems. Maybe they can't read books. Read FAQ. Upgrade graphics card to latest Nvidia drivers. That should do it. Still no joy.

Uninstall and reinstall game completely. Read interesting snippet in README that is presented post-installation.

The 4 year old GeForce2 MX400 card does not support Pixel Shader 1.1 (silly me) so this graphics card does not actually meet the minimum requirements.

Sigh. Uninstall game again. Turn off computer. Pray that son doesn't ask about the possibility of upgrading the graphics card.

Dear Red Lorry

You are a similar size to yellow lorry. You are a similar weight to yellow lorry. You have a similar size engine to yellow lorry.

When yellow lorry slows down going up an incline, the laws of physics mean that you are also likely to slow down. Consequently, there is little point attempting to overtake yellow lorry. Unless you shed your trailer or engage turbo boost mode, you will simply hog the middle lane. You may eventually pass yellow lorry on the flat after 17 minutes and 9.4 miles. Alternatively, you may have to abort the manoeuvre and lose face.

So please just sit behind yellow lorry and unwrap another man-size Yorkie.

Yours sincerely

Motor car

Just returned from the annual torture of the seemingly simple task to renew two parking permits. Yes folks, we have to pay for the privilege of parking our cars in a nearby road, miles from our house.

To secure the parking permits, you need a wad of paperwork. In fact, you probably need to produce fewer documents to adopt a Romanian orphan. If you have two vehicles registered to one person but used by two different people, the documentation requirements and level of complexity increases exponentially.

This year, I didn't do too badly. I only had to make two separate trips and enjoyed one lengthy, heated discussion. Despite this, my paperwork was still deficient in two areas but the kind lady let me off with a thinly veiled warning: 'I'll issue the second permit on this occasion but next year, please ensure you bring everything with you.'

Just encountered two very talented buskers, attired in an immaculate dinner jacket with bow tie and a lovely, long, sparkly dress, singing the most beautiful opera.

I was about to toss them 3 Norwegian Kroner but found they only accept credit cards.

Rugby players spend a lot of time physical training Compared to other form of sports. I have read the Rugby laws mentioned on this site. Its a gripping sport which targets the grip strength and the active mindedness of a player. American football and rugby league are also primarily collision sports, but their tackles tend to terminate much more quickly. For professional rugby, players are often chosen on the basis of their size and apparent strength and they develop the skill and power over the passage of time. In modern rugby considerable attention is given to fitness and aerobic conditioning as well as basic weight training.

There really are some sick people out there.

TechCrunch (with a focus on the UK) launches.

[Via BlogHerald]

I honestly didnt think I would see this Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wear a Red shirt again, let alone score in the Premier League.

Three long, hard years fighting a recurrent knee injury. Well done Ole.

Norton Canes Services - M6 (Toll). Three clocks behind the till:-

Clackett Lane - 13:59\ Norton Canes - 13:57\ Watford Gap - 13:58

You genuinely could not make it up.

I was enjoying a stroll along The Embankment yesterday morning, dressed in my Pearly King outfit, listening to ChasnDave tunes on my iPod, munching on cockles and mussels, when I noticed banners hanging from each lamppost proudly proclaiming We are Londoners'.

The letter 'D' was shrunk to accommodate the rest of the letters. Just like a kid writing a Thank You letter to Auntie Joan and suddenly realising he's going to run out of space.

Inevitably, this brilliant campaign is the brainchild of Ken Livingstone and sponsored by British Gas so if you pay the congestion charge or are struggling to meet the recent increases in your gas bill, rest assured your money is being spent very wisely.

Or, as Doug once memorably commented: 'And your point is ?'

All together now - 'Knees up Maather Braawn'.

I heard an interesting interview on Radio 5 yesterday with UK blogger, Tom Reynolds. Tom works for the London Ambulance Service and his blog is a mixture of amusing anecdotes and real-life experiences.

I really like Tom's blog title ('Random Acts of Reality'), his tagline ('Trying to kill as few people as possible'), the dry sense of humour (summary of his recent holiday) and his general writing style.

Tom started his blog in 2003 which has just been made into a book ('Blood Sweat and Tea') which is pretty remarkable.

Most definitely, one for the blogroll.