April 2007 Archives

Forgive the self indulgence, but those of you who are new to this... thing may not have seen some of the older entries. This one, from August 2005, is possibly my favourite. Thank you JSC. Thanks a lot.

I know it's rare for me to post three times in a day... but I don't know why it's taken me so long to post this. Possibly because of the OK Go mania over their dance videos. This one's less well known but still amazing. It uses some high frame rate footage of stuff being blown up! Woo.

I am a fan of OK Go by the way... so it's ok to keep the music on this time!

[via YouTube]

The third in my semi regular series, everything looks better in slow motion, brings us a compilation effort of various other clips. The music's not really my taste, I'd recommend watching it without the sound - it's just as good!

Shown are: a cigarette lighter (number 1), a man with water in his mouth being punched (!), a man being slapped very hard, a cigarette being lit and smoked (I think), a man being hit by a water balloon, a water balloon bursting, a small explosion, a missile being fired, an automatic machine gun, another gun, bullets being fired trough various objects, various explosions...

I think the bullet through a water bottle is my personal favourite.

[via YouTube]

Entries like this are relatively difficult to write (and, for that matter, to categorise) and so forgive me for the stream of consciousness nature of it.

Websites such as YouTube have come under fire recently for not doing enough to discourage cyber-bullies [BBC News].

Meanwhile, Tim O'Reilly, author of a number of computer based books, has written a draft code of conduct on blogging that suggests readers should be warned if they are about to be exposed to "crude language" [BBC News].

While I don't necessarily agree that it's needed - a lot of the internet is based on trust after all - I can see its merits. My view is that when you flag something up as forbidden, as something that is a little bit taboo, there's a much greater urge to investigate it. Think of a small child and a freshly baked pie. Or a shiny, tantalising button labelled "Do Not Press"... the single thing running through your mind at that moment is "I MUST press that button." It's something that's forbidden.

However, a standardising thing like that, a system to let people decide whether something's right for them could be good. And it's something that is appearing in other walks of life.

Take, for instance, the new food labelling ideas. There's no unified industry approach to that, some use same coloured boxes with information in, some use a traffic light system to indicate high, medium and low levels of a particular ingredient or nutrient... but having different systems in different shops, or from different food companies, just makes things that more complex! You have to work out what the label is telling you and I think that's much less effective in highlighting things to a consumer. Certainly, I totally ignore them through a complete lack of understanding...

So, I understand the reasons behind the code of conduct but unless it's tackled the same way by everybody, is there a point?

And also, what use is the internet, blogging in particular, without the freedom to say what you're thinking about right now?

While I'm at this typing lark, I want to think about some of the more creative efforts available on YouTube. There's an increasing presence on there of re-enactments of various things, be they films or of scenes from people's lives.

This one-man Goodfellas cyber-homage is a particularly good one. Do I need to point out the language involved...? I'll leave it to you to decide whether clicking the link is an appropriate thing to do.

I added my Last.fm quilt of top albums to the main page of the site tonight. It will update itself over time as I listen to more and more music, it currently reflects the last 10,000 (nearly) songs I've listened to.

Below is my top artists quilt. Enjoy it!

Well, I've been out of a full time teaching position since Christmas and it feels like an eternity... or it did until I sat down and thought about it.

This year I've had 5 employers, two of them the same company, and the end of the financial year has sort of hit me in an odd way. It's made me look back on things.

Last March I left what was initially a weekend job I began way back in September 2000 with a tremendous sense of, well, relief in order to begin my teaching career proper! I initially had one term covering maternity leave which was extended to two terms for various reasons. That took me up to Christmas.

So, employer number one was the temporary job - I was on comission for part of it and that kept dripping through until June. Employer number two was Leeds City Council.

The third and fourth wage givers are both teaching agencies - giving me casual supply work. I love it, but it's hard work.

The fifth one is the temporary weekend job again. I'm back there and I hate it. I have to organise people and direct them in things they should really know already. After all, even though I worked there for five and a half years, it was on a different department, a different world. And yet I still have more working knowledge of the place than all the others put together. It's a strange position to be in.

Anyway... that time between Christmas and now has given me brand new challenges. There's been changes in my life, changes in the life of the closest person to me and I don't necessarily like it.

I'm not saying I'd rather be back where I was a year ago, or even three months ago, but I don't like the way things are now. I don't enjoy my days, but thankfully, they're flying by.

This entry was originally part of a separate blog. I've merged them together now to make life easier.

All the dates that the entries were originally published have been preserved.

I wish I'd have had time to do this while it was still all fresh in my mind... if I'm honest I don't remember a huge amount about the race. There's a few factors here. The first being the time of day. 2am is not a time when my brain is at its best - and because of the nature of one of my jobs, I rarely get to see races live these days - so I had to get up to watch it live. I say get up... I pretty much didn't go to bed. So I'd been up at 7am the previous morning and got the sleep after the race at 5am. Then was up again for work at 8am! My own stupid fault I guess and I'd like to say it was worth it.

This brings me to the second factor of forgetfulness. It really wasn't much of a race. No huge moments to remember.

Sure, there was Lewis Hamilton's excellent debut to finish third and Kimi Raikkonen's victory on his debut for Ferrari, a feat not achieved for the marque since Nigel Mansell in 1990 (I think - certainly one Michael Schumacher didn't do that). There was also David Coulthard's near lethal overtaking move on Alex Wurz. But apart from those what else happened?

(click photos for biggability)

McLaren looked quite fast, World Champion Fernando Alonso finishing second and Hamilton third - although had their strategy favoured him the rookie could've beaten the champion.

Renault looked fairly mediocre after their title winning success of the past few years, although is that down to the quality of their drivers?

Ferrari were dominant - Raikkonen winning but Massa nowhere due to an engine change, is that a sign of weakness?

Honda were woefully slow, although they put into force their new green ethos by not reaching the final qualifying session and therefore not having to complete the ludicrous fuel-burning section. If that's not saving the planet, I don't know what is...

BMW could just show that their excellent testing form isn't a fluke. Nick Heidfeld finished fourth after a solid run but Robert Kubica's gearbox got stuck in fifth gear - again, a sign of weakness?

The Toyota's were 8th an 9th - hardly surprising, but they have the biggest budget (apparently) of the grid and don't ever seem to make progress. I'd be embarrassed!

Adrian Newey's Red Bull car still lacks development, David Coulthard providing his memorable near-decapitation move and Mark Webber could only manage 13th.

Williams were respectable after an awful last year. Nico Rosberg finished 7th and Wurz suffered at the hands of Coulthard.

Toro Rosso skirted around the issues of legality (there's the massive row going on about theirs and Super Aguri's cars - they are both seemingly updated versions of other peoples: the Toro Rosso of this year's Red Bull and Super Aguri of last year's Honda) and Liuzzi brought it home in 14th while Scott Speed failed to finish after a puncture.

Spyker did well for a team that has been through the change from Jordan to Midland to Spyker in recent times. Adrian Sutil finished 17th but Christijan Albers didn't finish after losing concentration while adjusting his earpiece!

Finally, Super Aguri who had an impressive weekend despite the distractions (see the customer car row). Takuma Sato reached the final section of qualifying and eventually lined up 10th on the grid, impressive for a team that didn't even exist 18 months ago. He eventually crossed the line in 12th. Anthony Davidson, starting his first full season on F1 after 3 lacklustre outings in previous seasons, finished 16th - but was in agony throughout the race after being winded and later in the hospital after a collision with Albers.

[All photos via Autosport.com - the copyright remains with their original owners]