Friday, November 28, 2008

A Stay In Hay


Took a trip to Hay on Wye recently to celebrate our anniversary. We were the only guests in The Old Post Office B&B in Llanigon which despite it being a little chilly was up to the usual Sawday standard.
Hay is quite a pretty town but seemed cold in a number of ways. The shop keepers generally seemed friendly to each other but we never really seemed to generate a warm welcome. Still, the book shops kept us amused for quite a few hours and the drive round the black mountains was pleasant enough.
Oh, and whilst the loan car from Listers made it all possible it was nice to get home and swap a dirty white A3 for a clean black one - complete with new radiator.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Plastic Rabbit

"A Chinese sweet maker has stopped domestic sales of one of its best-known brands after it was found to contain the industrial chemical melamine. The company, Guanshengyuan, has already halted exports of the popular White Rabbit candy, made from milk. It is the latest development in a spreading food safety scandal involving milk contaminated with melamine. Traces of the chemical have also been found in Hong Kong and Japan in products containing Chinese milk. They are among a growing number of countries which have already banned or restricted imports of Chinese products containing milk."
news.bbc.co.uk

"Food Standards Australia requested last week that wholesalers and importers voluntarily withdraw White Rabbit brand sweets from shops pending testing for the toxic substance melamine, a plastics industry by-product.
In China, milk products containing melamine, including baby formula, has been linked to the deaths of four babies and is responsible for more than 50,000 falling ill. The NSW Food Authority confirmed it had tested White Rabbit confectionery imported from China and found it contained melamine."

theleader.com.au

Friday, September 05, 2008

Berkshire



We had a lovely time staying with Keir and Louise Lusby (yet another Sawday selection) at Whitehouse Farm Cottage. The pair also run a studio in Shepperton which designs and fabricates props for film and TV so it was quite exciting to share the breakfast table with stories and examples of their work.
On Sunday we caught up with Helen and Benny who were the perfect hosts. After lunch we took a whistlestop tour across Smith's Lawn, stopped briefly at the new Savill Gardens visitor centre and were treated to a river cruise before checking out the ancient oaks near Cranbourne, the polo stables at Flemish Farm and back to their cottage for a lovely dinner!
On Tuesday we took an excursion to the somewhat disappointing Brooklands Museum and the impressive RHS Gardens at Wisley. Finally, our break was wrapped up with a trip into London on Wednesday to the V&A.

Run Rabbit



Goodbye BT & Sky, Hello Virgin.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Thug's Bunny

"Roo the monster rabbit cannot find a home - because she's a real thug's bunny. The rare European giant rabbit, who weighs more than 15lb and is the size of a medium dog, has been snapped up from the pet shop by two different owners.
But both soon returned her - saying she was too much of a handful and kept chewing their woodwork.
Tracy Simpson, who cares for Roo at Pets At Home in Elgin, Moray, said: "Her new owners thought would be a nice, quiet pet.
"But Roo's full of life and likes munching on things. It didn't go down well."
Now she is going to live with a staff member." Daily Mail


Thanks Hetty

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Rabbit + Ladybird

"Children's publisher Ladybird has partnered with digital company Violet, creator of the Nabaztag Rabbit, to make some of its traditional tales available via the digital device. It is the first UK-based publisher to partner with the French digital pioneer.
The Nabaztag identifies books using the "Ztamp" system designed by Violet.
It recognises a book via the "Ztamp" glued under a book's cover, retrieves the story from the Violet server and then reads it out loud. Users can navigate through the chapters of the story by moving the Rabbit's ears."
more here

Friday, August 08, 2008

Alec Azam

Presto - The new short from Pixar, being screened alongside Wall-E, stars Alec. If Pixar did cartoon bunnies they'd probably be the finest in the world. Well, they have and he probably is.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Wordl

wordl is a really nice app that lets you create groovy word clouds out of any text. Size, frequency, font, layout, etc. can all be tweaked. Good for spicing up any presentation or web page.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Lanterns & Locks



Stanford Hall played host to the 2008 Fireworks Championships hosted by MLE. We arrived early - thanks for the tip Karen - and enjoyed a picnic/feast before the three competing teams put on a 10 minute display each. Pyromania won (just ahead of Spitfire) and MLE closed the night with an outstanding display.
Sunday was less frenetic as we met up with my parents on Indulgence near Hartshill. After a pub lunch, Carys took the tiller for a short while before we all parted company at Atherstone

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Jasper & Smokey

"Jasper is the white and grey one and Smokey is the grey one... They are only 8 weeks old and I can fit them both in one hand because they're sooooooooooo tiny!"

Thanks to Kim

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Trossachs

Spent a pleasant week in showery Scotland staying with the family at Tigh Mor. We were able to check some more castles off the list as well as a long overdue catch-up with Mark & his family in Allandale. Go-Ape was a great experience and one that I plan to repeat locally (although the 426m zip line is one of a kind in the UK and only found at Aberfoyle)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Don't Mess With The Bunny

Check out Big Buck Bunny to see the latest effort from the Peach open movie project supported by the Blender Institute.

Disney, it ain't, nor Dreamworks either!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Peak District



Spent a couple of days away in Derbyshire and managed to get away from it all. As is our custom we opted to make the most of EH and NT. Definitely preferring the English Heritage lot as the Trust often comes across as being a little snooty about how you should enjoy their property.
Mr Sawday did us quite well for lodging as usual.

Dark Impact


Team Lagomorph Racing

Finished the Tamiya 1/10 scale RC Buggy I bought earlier in the month. I'm quite pleased with how it all came together and the final chrome look is certainly eye-catching.

FIA GT Round 1 Silverstone


Team Lagomorph Racing

Although foggy and damp the day was well worth it. Lots of action as the drivers struggled to cope with a cold track. The main event was probably the most exciting with the final places only decided on the penultimate lap as the Jet Alliance DBR9 and Vitaphone MC12 finally found a way past the UK based GigaWave team on their first outing with the Aston DBR9.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Scientists Create Genetically Modified Super Tree Rabbit!

Scientists from University of Washington have managed to combine rabbit genes with those of poplars to create a tree capable of mopping up toxins from the environment.
Whilst the benefits of removing pollutants such as benzene and chloroform may sound appealing, the ecological and ethical impact should not be ignored.

read more here

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Unsound Ground Sound

Tuesday night was the night of "The Big One": The largest quake since 1984 - although we should never forget Dudley '02 and the devastation that brought. The limited damage was felt over an enormous area and some West Midland villages are only just beginning to deal with their wobbly chimblies. It is hoped that most roads be open again by Monday and that patio furniture be restored to its natural state in the coming week.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Boogie Bunnies

From developer Artech Studios on Xbox Live Arcade comes Boogie Bunnies. Just like any other puzzle game setup, you’ve got a grid of “blocks” or bunnies in this case, and at the bottom you have a single bunny that throws other bunnies of random colors into the fray as every few seconds another row of bunnies enters the grid. As you can see, they are all randomly colored and the goal is to get three of a kind in a row; sideways or linear, or in a 90 degree pattern

It Was Dead When I Found It, Guv'ner!

04 February 2008 - Sowetan News

Three security guards arrested after they were found in possession of a dead rabbit in Mpumalanga appeared in court on Friday on charges of being in possession of a dead animal.


They were not asked to plead and were released on a warning – pending their next appearance in the Komatipoort periodical court on March 12 .

Moses Thwala, 31, Ernest Mbebe, 32, and Bongane Shongwe, 23, were arrested last Thursday after they allegedly picked up a dead rabbit at the Marloth Park community game reserve.

“I don’t know why we were arrested. We didn’t kill that rabbit; we found it dead after it was knocked down by a car,” said Thwala.

An Mpumalanga Parks Board spokesman said: “We arrested them in terms of an act that forbids people from picking up dead animals in the park.”

– Given Mahlalela

Monday, January 28, 2008

Lapins (Encore Plus)

Yersinia Pestis Bunny

A 50-year-old man has been confirmed with New Mexico's first plague case of 2008. The man was hospitalized, but now is recovering at home, the state Department of Health said Friday. It was the first case of plague ever reported in an Eddy County resident, the department said. The man most likely was exposed to plague while hunting and skinning rabbits a few days before falling ill, authorities said. The department plans an investigation in the area to look for plague in other rabbits.
- Albuquerque Tribune (Link here)

Yersinia pestis is a Gram-negative facultative anaerobic bipolar-staining (giving it a safety pin appearance) bacillus bacterium belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae. The infectious agent of bubonic plague, Y. pestis infection can also cause pneumonic and septicemic plague. All three forms have been responsible for high mortality rates in epidemics throughout human history, including the Black Death that accounted for the death of approximately one-third of the European population in 1347 to 1353.
- Wikipedia

Saturday, January 26, 2008

mynabaztag/tag

Finally managed to wake up the bunny thanks to Simon's help and the not insignificant piece of information that resolved the connection to Violet's server.
All's good now and life with a wi-fi rabbit promises to be interesting. You can create you own profile on the Nabaztag website and send me a message to mywarren. Alternatively you can send me a message via my Facebook page.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Strong Bunny Week


This week is National Bunny Week.


Check out the website for hints and tips on rearing a healthy bunny.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Bunny Saviour

Thanks Jeff, for this link from Stupid.com

"...The question that screams at us is, "Why would someone make this?" It is just TOO STRANGE.
Not surprisingly, we bought this item at a closeout sale. It is the sort of curio that nobody in the world can sell but a website called Stupid.com. We don't have many (some might say that even ONE is too many), so if you want to own a Rabbit Nativity, you should grab one now."