Red Special Mods

Ξ October 1st, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Mumble, Uncategorized |

Dropped off my slightly modded Burns Red Special at the The Oxford Guitar Gallery.

It’s to have its headstock resprayed [to remove Brian May’s signature], new locking Gotoh heads and Pearloid buttons, a white Nut and white switch set fitted.  That, together with the half-moon and replica trem-arm I’ve already added should make it MUCH nicer I reckon - and it’ll still be a lot cheaper than the new Brian May Super [which I’d also like!  But why oh why ruin the headstock with a signature and inlay!]

 

Glitch

Ξ October 1st, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Silly |

I bought a new jacket today, which, as always, fitted nicely around my chest, but was overly ambitious when it came to arm length.

So, straight from the jacket shop and into Pamir’s [a very good alterationist in Cheltenham] where Mr Pamir duly measured and pinned and I was sent on my way.

Now Mr Pamir’s shop is upstairs of what I was brought up to call a cobblers – read, re-heeling, and key cutting etc.  And, on my way out through that bit of the shop I caught sight of some rather nice boot polish – and stopped to ponder.

Whilst the polish appealed, I really needed some proper brushes to go with it; and I couldn’t see any on the shelves.  So, I turned to the shop assistant and asked “do you have any cleaning brushes to go with the polish?”. To which he replied, “No, sorry; we’re due some in on Friday”.  I thanked him, said I’d pick some up later, and made my way back to the car.

However, half way there [about 1 minute’s walk] I remembered that I’d forgotten to ask Mr Pamir about fitting some elbow-pads to the jacket.  So I about turn, and head back into the shop.  No one noticed me as I passed through the Cobblers.

When I’d sorted out the elbow-pads and returned back down again I once more found myself pondering the boot polish.

And, then wickedness surfaced!

I turned to the shop assistant and asked “do you have any cleaning brushes to go with the polish?

He started to reply, “No, sorry; we’re …” and then rather petered out as a puzzled look came over him!

So I put on an ‘oh my, what’s happening face’ and said, “did you notice a glitch in the Matrix just then?” and walked out.

 

When is 1″ an inch?!

Ξ September 30th, 2008 | → 4 Comments | ∇ Science |

And, I might add — whose N and E??

 

god - what a gas!

Ξ September 23rd, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Education, Philosophical, Research, Rhetorical, Science, Shite! |

This [updated] is a draft ‘missive’ … spent a week’s holiday in France and mostly listened to Richard Dawkins’ ‘The God Delusion’ whilst trolling around the place.  Anyway, it made me think once again about the origin of ’stuff’ [as Dawkins avoided it (for a later book?)], like believing in ‘invisible friends’.

Just a draft/daft right now; but I would welcome feedback; and lots of ‘argument’.

 

Very Sad

Ξ September 16th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Books, Maths |

I learned yesterday about David Foster Wallace’s [apparent] suicide.

There’s also the strange coincidence though - last night, I needed a new book, so I turned to my ‘to be read’ pile and at the top was ‘everything and more: a compact history of infinity‘.  It wasn’t until I was about to put it down, and spotted that the author had also written ‘Infinite Jest‘ that it hit me.

 

France: Day 1

Ξ August 25th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Mumble |

Our most recent trip to Deauville …

Last night.

On the ferry from Portsmouth, I was thoroughly enjoying myself: the ‘Lady’, me, the Sunday Times, a Kir vin blanc - and a nice cabin [for later].  But then the drunk Brits arrived!

The ferry was very quiet – like the car deck was practically empty, and yet the drunk Brits still found time to come along on the same trip as us.

“Oi, Gar-con – three more double shots over ‘ere” etc etc.  Swearing their heads off at the bar; how ashamed I felt.

At one point they went outside to play table tennis [in the dark]. “Do you know they charged me fuckin’ 20 quid for this! [waving a table tennis bat]”.  A ‘chap’ who was stood nearby having a cigarette, and simply observing asked, “do you have a ball?”  The answer was “of course I’ve got a fuckin’ ball you c**t!”

Oh, how I wish I was a black-belt in some martial art - that doesn’t require carrying around a big stick – although such an instrument would have come in rather handy; as I should have loved to knock each one of them overboard.

Today.  A beautiful breakfast in the heart of Deauville, and a sun-kissed day to help the lot go down [and my indignation subside].

Quote of the day:

  • Me: “Where’s the crossword babe?”
  • H: “Next to the chair”
  • Me: “Which chair?”
  • H: “The chair I was sitting in while you were asleep”
  • Me: “?”

 

No Number 10 for JC

Ξ August 19th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Rant, Silly |

Having previously been a signee to the petition to have Jeremy Clarkson made Prime Minister - along with 49,446 others - I was a bit disappointed in the Government’s response – which I’ve just been emailed.  It promised much, or so I hoped [”maybe they’d done it” I thought!] - “The Prime Minister’s Office has responded to that petition and you can view it here.  ”

Well, on that page, there’s a further message - “We thought long and hard about the request to make Jeremy Clarkson the Prime Minister and in the end we put our thoughts down in a short film on YouTube. You can take a look here. Well, what a funky government [not].

Well, if, as promised, they’ve embedded ‘their thoughts’, they’re pretty rubbish; which is quite normal for our government!

The video’s main piece is an image of JC’s framed picture – supposedly hung in number 10 alongside all our other Prime Ministers [which of course it wasn’t.  A shame that; they’d have shown more wit if they’d actually hung it there].

The video ends with a ‘But maybe not’ remark – I don’t know why; I’m pretty damn certain that JC would do a better job than most!

 

Oxford Terminology

Ξ August 10th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Oxford |

I love Oxford [University], and, although I’ve published this more locally before, I thought I’d make it more public now.  It’s probably of very little interest to non-Oxford people, but, you never know; it might give someone ‘out there’ a laugh [or provide vital information to a future Oxford applicant perhaps?]

Oxford University Terminology.

Let me know if you’ve got any questions!

 

Binary Watch Training Program

Ξ August 10th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Coding, Geeky, Programming, Technical |

It’s a bit ‘old hat’ nowadays, but, as I was perusing ThinkGeek the other night, and saw that this item was still a decent seller [indeed, top of the list in ‘watches’]; I thought I’d post a link to the BinaryWatch training program!

This is for this type of watch

Here’s a picture of the running training program.

Here’s the link to the program - zipped, and it should standalone [XP, Vista].

 

‘What do you think you’re doing Baldy?’

Ξ August 7th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Geeky |

WhenI first looked at this article on the BBC’s website entitled BT injects life into its network, I was immediately struck by the picture.

It reminded me of this you see …

Even the arm placements are similar!  Also, notice how, in the top picture, the engineer’s cocked right leg accentuates the illusion of his floating.

I’m sure that if I loaded up the movie, I could find a picture of ‘Dave’ where he’s looking more toward the camera!

Geeky eh!

 

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