Something Blue

This image caught my eye. A lot of this stuff is a bit too self indulgent but occasionally the odd one stands out. Fluorescence [6] is quite nice too.

Pipetree R.I.P.

Today seemed like a good day to get out in the garden and finally get rid of the old tree that once grew up behind the shed. Having hacked down the branches last year with the help of Siân's parents we were left with the tree stump and root system that would inevitably extend beneath the garden wall.

So, after digging down a couple of feet all round the stump I decided to move in towards the trunk only to find that the roots were going straight down a 7" earthenware pipe that someone had buried upright. This led me to 'phone a friend' and get confirmation that I wasn't about to discover an ancient sewer system that would require an emergency plumber on a Bank Holiday Monday (thanks, Dad!)

After further excavation Siân found the bottom of the pipe and we managed to finally cut the whole thing out. The monster was finally slain and would mock us no more. Rest in Peace - Pipetree - 1/5/06.

Let's get this settled once and for all

Had a good night playing Settlers of Catan. Two games with the standard expansion set and one monster game with the Cities & Knights expansion. (Apologies to all for ruining any plans they may have had for Sunday but it was never my intention to play till 3am!)

The game has lost none of it's appeal. In fact, it possibly becomes more appealing because, like Scrabble, you just want to finish the current game and start a new one. I'm sure the next time we play there will be less comradeship and a little more rivalry. That may also give one person a clear advantage rather than allowing three or four of us to nearly get to the end.

Thanks to Simon for expanding the game and thanks to Jemma and Tony for bringing carrot cake.

Life's Not Always A Bowl Of Radicchio

Thanks for the link Craig.

It is important to remember that there are always others less fortunate than ourselves and that humility is something we should all aspire to.

It is also good to laugh a bunny rabbits doing funny things.

What's Your Poison?

Inspired by this scene of devastation, I'm expecting this one to be quite tough, but then I'm not a big drinker. Have fun, but only in moderation.

Here comes the sun

This evening was possibly the best weather we've had for outdoor shooting. Many people thought the same and at times we managed to have upwards of 12 people shooting. I hope to spend some more time tuning my bow next time (and eliminate the chance of stripping more fletches) but I was quite happy with my overall performance at 50 yds.

Blur the Technicolor

Managed to rise and shine quite early to make the most of an overcast but very still morning. Simon was especially eager to get out and try his new longbow and I wanted to try the clicker on my recurve bow. It's amazing how much 'feel' the longbow has compared to a modern recurve. Not surprising really when you bear in mind it's one piece of wood rather than various layers of composite materials bolted together. Our success rate in hitting the target at 60 yards with the longbow probably peaked at 50%.


I'm not sure Simon will let me play again though after I shattered an arrow on the target stand. This was all the more upsetting because it happened to be the one that he had spent 3 hours making, rather than one of the 'bought' practice arrows. Makes you wonder though why knights went to the trouble of wearing metal suits of armour. Apparently wood is equally effective at repelling arrows! It is also worth noting that without a traditional full arm bracer, the bowstring can be a painful reminder of the kinetic energy in a 40lb bow. Given that this bow has the ability to shoot well over 100 metres it is difficult to imagine how 16th century bowmen could ever draw and aim a 160lb bow.

Name the cars

A nice easy one

Can you name all the bands?

Don't know if I can do anymore of these. It was way to hard to find iconic band names that weren't "metal". No-one sticks to the same logo these days!

Can you name all the movies?

"We love you Pam", says Bob

Sadly Leanne has left the PRMC and she will be greatly missed. As will the sound of her laughter filling the office or her screams of terror when something remotely flappy or crawly got within 50ft of her desk. Karen's lucky dip idea was great, and the pink theme definitely works for all things 'Leanne'. We wish her all the best in the future and hope she retains the sense of fun that does her so much credit.

I can hardly let the other thing go unmentioned, for fear she ever lives it down. Perhaps a clue will suffice:

Not As Hard As Golf

Shooting arrows outdoors - in the sunshine? Who'd have thought it? Well, we made the most of a good Easter Monday and dodged the showers until teatime. Jon had fun too, and showed good form for a beginner. He even managed a hit from 60 yards.
I think I need to start playing with a clicker; prinicipally to ensure consistent draw length. Will try again later in the week.

Happy Easter

So far avian flu has not had an effect on the sale of Creme Eggs, but to quote Gary Larson, "the Chickens are restless". This can only be good news for chocolate bunny sales.




Indeed, our Easter Egg hunt was actually a bunny hunt. Plus, I got to play with my new camera and hunt down all seven victims

More Clocks

Must be lots more interesting clocks out there. Here are some more of my favourites:

Timeline clock

Clocks are Great

Yugo Nakamura is my new hero. I thought I'd see what time it is in cyberspace and was immediately drawn [pun intended] to his "Industrious Clock". Why not get interactive and explore some of his other works like Entropy via his site yugop.com

Clocks are rubbish

So how far away is 30 seconds? The current definition of a metre [The length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second (where one second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom)] has several degrees of complexity that you won't find in the original definition from 1799 [One ten-millionth of a quadrant of the Earth]. The answer therefore is 5,588,470 miles (assuming you are a photon)

The question I really wanted to consider is how long is thirty seconds? My current favourite answers are 0.000347 decimal days or 011/0000 binary seconds.

A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy 30 Seconds Away...

Bunnies in space. We love it. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.

Why didn't I think of that?

It sometimes seems that every good idea has been exhausted. That is, until someone comes up with a new one. Recently, Alex Tew came up with the MillionDollarHomepage, now Kyle MacDonald is trying to trade one red paperclip for a house. Check his progress over the last 9 months and view each of the ten trades that has so far earned him "One Year in Phoenix".

eatdogcatmouse

Saw this the other night and thought it was cool. Kwok Fung Lam's digital short film can be found on the Channel4 website. It's a frantic tale of revenge and relentless eating. Before Mouse finds a way to the delicious cornfields it is eaten by Cat with dire consequences for the food chain. Click here to play all the characters! My best score is 45.

Whassat?

Ever seen something eyecatching, grabbed your camera and snapped the moment for posterity?
Ever wondered why you didn't get closer or just not bother?
Things seem much nearer in real life...
Feel free to guess at these 9. I'll publish the results in due course..