Category Archives: General
Elite Dangerous – Is this love?
The announcement that Frontier Developments were going to produce a new version of Elite caused a stirring in my, long inactive, game-related synapses. Since original Elite I’ve been a dormant gamer, other than brief interests in long-ago versions of Doom and … Continue reading
Posted in General, PC Stuff
Leave a comment
Not Smiling
I recently received a letter from Smile, the Internet bank advising that my credit card is due to expire. They’re quite right, it expires at the end of August 2013. The next part of the letter came as a complete … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment
Cycle Navigation by GPS
When you use a SatNav in a car, the objective is usually to get from Point A to Point B in the most efficient manner. When you cycle, it’s more frequently a requirement to get from Point A to Point … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment
Minack Theatre to Porthleven
On Thursday 9th August, Colin, Chris and I set out to do a walk with overnight camps from the Minack Theatre. Colin and I had previously walked from Lands End to the Minack so this was a natural progression for … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment
Coast Path – Fowey to Pentewan
After a long break from Coast-Path walking, Colin Kelly and I set off from Fowey at 1045 and headed West. No particular goal was in mind but Colin thought it would be good to reach Charlestown. The first section to … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment
RIP Len Sassaman
I only met Len once at What The Hack in Holland back in July 2005 but chatted to him about Mixmaster on various occasions. I’ll never forget the exchanges between him and Frog-Admin in which Len always came out the … Continue reading
Posted in Anonymity, General
Leave a comment
Welcom Bay – Perrenporth
Don’t know why I’ve left it six months to publish this article. Oh well, better late than never! This was a walk undertaken by Tim Clayton, Colin Kelly and myself. We started from Welcom Bay on the 11th September 2011 … Continue reading
Posted in General, St Mellion
Leave a comment
It’s the little things
Just a quickie to say thanks to the driver from Burcombe Haulage who stopped in St Mellion village on the A388 during rush hour to let me cross over with my dogs on Monday evening. Apologies to the commuter zombies … Continue reading
Posted in General, St Mellion
Leave a comment
Bull(shit) Fighting
Today the most popular news story on the BBC News Website is this one about Bullfighting. Some would argue that it wasn’t Bullfighting but rather a show with lots of guys teasing a bull to make it chase them round … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment
Hi Sue!
I recently discovered that Sue Appleby (our neighbour), is a follower of my Blog. She describes it as interesting but a bit Victor Meldrew-ish. So I’m no longer just a cynic, I’m also a grumpy old man. I would vow … Continue reading
Posted in General, Rants, St Mellion
Leave a comment
Google Earth’s Centre of the UK
When I start Google Earth, it centres my view over the United Kingdom. If I don’t tilt, turn or otherwise move the view and just zoom in, I eventually get down to an altitude of about 411 Metres. At the … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment
Breakdown Cover – Tip of the Iceburg
I feel compelled to do a quick Blog after yet another pressure call from The AA. This time they were offering me accident insurance, last time it was car repair insurance and in between there’s all the emails telling about … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment
Bye bye Wimble Womble
This morning Lou discovered that our ferret, “Womble” had died in the night. She’s been looking weak lately and old age was taking its toll on her. Lou thinks she was about 11 years old. We got her from the … Continue reading
Posted in General, St Mellion
Leave a comment
Speeding Ticket
If you own a powerful motorcycle, I think speeding tickets are an almost inevitable eventuality. I did quite well and rode my current bike for over five years before I got caught and even then it was on the A4174 … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment
The Half Blood Prince
Yesterday Lou and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at the Vue Cinema in Plymouth. The film was pretty good although inevitably some chunks had to be cut out to squeeze the 768 page book … Continue reading
Posted in General, Rants
Leave a comment
Why is profit not enough?
A couple of recent news reports and a company email have got me pondering about profit. It seems to be a modern culture that making a profit is simply not good enough. The margin of profit must grow, year upon … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment
Nine Dart Finishes
I felt a need for distraction from work for an hour so I wrote a Python program to calculate the possible ways to do a nine dart finish in a standard game of 501. There are 3944 possible ways to … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment
Disposable Society
A few years ago I bought a cordless drill/screwdriver from Focus, a big UK DIY chain. It’s a 24v model CCHD24 made by a company called Champion and it’s served me very well. Now the battery is failing to retain … Continue reading
Posted in General
3 Comments
What the Hack – The sequel
I can’t believe it’s four years ago that I went to What The Hack at Liempde in Holland. Now it’s almost time to dust off the rucksack and check out the tent in preparation for Hacking At Random. Anyone fancy … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment
Motorcycle Road-Tax Petition
I’d love to see a lot more names on this Government petition. Why on earth should motorcycles be exempt from tax relief for non-polluting vehicles? In summary: Changes to the law mean cars emitting less than 100g of CO2 per … Continue reading
Posted in General
Leave a comment