Archive for 2007
Wii Shoulder 30 Dec 2007
I have invented a term which describes a condition affecting several members of my close family along the lines of tennis elbow, it is called Wii Shoulder. My little sister received a Wii as a Christmas present and now those of us who indulged in a little too much bowling, were too zealous at [...]
Stamping Butterflies 30 Nov 2007
I’m not sure I’m enjoying each new book from Grimwood more than the last. The only book that really didn’t sit well was Redrobe, and perhaps the later Arabesk books (the series seemed to go a little too out there). Stamping Butterflies takes a long time to get going, you start with three [...]
Discovering New Music 25 Nov 2007
There’s an interesting article on the San Francisco Chronicle site about how TV adverts can launch a song, it also mentions the shrinking options for launching a new band into the limelight:
Further complicating the matter is a decline in overall band exposure. For the most part, radio has been unwilling to break the Top 40 [...]
The Government and Data Protection 21 Nov 2007
Only yesterday was I watching a programme featuring a story about how Customs and Revenue were doing things like assigning National Insurance numbers to people despite them already being used and sending out someone’s complete history of confidential details to the wrong person and getting outraged about their incompetence (I’ve worked for two branches of [...]
Pratchett at Waterloo 19 Nov 2007
Ironically, after writing a post about Terry Pratchett, I walked past someone who I believe was he today at Waterloo. I’m not positive, but he had the trademark hat and beard. I couldn’t stop and confirm (I had one minute to catch my train), besides, I don’t stop to pester celebrities, I’m British.
Pratchett on Fantasy and Sci-Fi 14 Nov 2007
After finishing Hogfather recently I was hunting on You Tube for clips from the Hogfather special that Sky showed last year to see whether it was worth buying it (I probably will, but a cheaper single-disc version seems to be due later this month so I’ll wait). Anyway, I stumbled across a BBC interview [...]
The UK in Space 4 Nov 2007
There’s was an article on BBC Online recently which had an interview with Alan Thirkettle, who is a Brit working for the European Space Agency (Esa), where he says the UK urgently needs to get into manned space flight.
I, personally, think that space developments are one of several strands of research that will [...]
High-Altitude Cooking 2 Nov 2007
I was reading the recipe on the back of a packet of cake mix my mum bought the other day (I was calling out the ingredients she needed) and found that it had a separate set of instructions for people living over 3,500 feet above sea-level. I thought this was odd but when I [...]
Flyte 26 Oct 2007
The second book in the Septimus Heap series carries on the wacky notions, action, adventure and inventiveness of the first. Septimus is slowly growing into his role, but limitations on his magyk abilities mean the problems he faces cannot simply be solved with a charm and he has to rely on others and his [...]
Skybreaker 25 Oct 2007
Another great action story from Oppell which starts a few years after the events of Airborn. Many of the great characters return and this book, more so even than the first, has a feeling something like a 30’s swashbuckler, where the odds are long, the technology rudimentary and yet men (and women in this [...]