Fink's Links #47

Merry Friday! So as the world starts to get back into "normal" mode after all the fun of Christmas (which seemed to zip past all too quickly this year), lets take a little look at all the cool new things that popped up through the tubes -

Lets make a start with an interesting journey inside the mind of an autistic savant...(he's actually written a book which would probably be worth a read)...

OMG! My teacher attaches McDonalds job application forms to failed tests! Genius... ;)

Bathe in the awesomeness of The Ultimate Geek Weapon...

A one-use only electric bath duck (please make sure you have made the right decision)...

MS Paint competition - best gaming moments of 2008 (some amazingly good, others amazingly funny)... ;)

Suck on some tasty Absinthe lollipops...

Some really awesome light painting shots...

Learn a little about the pneumatic tube system employed for postal delivery that was in use in late 19th Paris...

Legend of Zelda medley - A Capella Voices and Violin

See a Victorian flea circus chariot in action...

Rejection letter from Disney, circa 1938 "Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparting the cartoons for the screen"...

Some urban exploration now, an abandoned mansion in Beirut and some looted Soviet nuclear lighthouses...

Hack your brain - how to hallucinate (legally)...

...and to finish up with a Flavour fail and an amusing Restaurant name fail...

That's your lot! There will be more next week and you can find previous round-ups through this tube...!

Police abuse anti-terror laws to detain innocent photographers

This is starting to get really rather annoying, more stories of photographers being criminalised by police who are blatantly abusing anti-terror legislation, even going so far as to lock some photographers up (although not for terribly long, admittedly)...! 

I've only had one brush with the authorities personally, which was when I was through customs and approaching my gate at Gatwick airport, I took a very quick snap of the doorway and ramp to the plane (on a small point and shoot) and then got surrounded by officials demanding that I actually delete the picture from my camera...not really having a leg to stand on (as they could detain me or stop me getting on my flight), I yielded and wiped the shot (but not all the others I had taken in the airport ;) and was allowed to proceed, but hearing the Association of Chief Police Officers saying "Police officers may not prevent someone from taking a photograph in public unless they suspect criminal or terrorist intent. Their powers are strictly regulated by law and once an image has been recorded, the police have no power to delete or confiscate it without a court order"...

This makes me a little angry, as they obviously used their position to bully me into doing something even a police officer has no right to do without lawyers locking horns before a wigged gentleman...

However, it looks like we are (while not actually having a list of defined rights at the moment) at least starting to be able to guess where the invisible line is drawn...and about time too...

Now if someone could just tell all the police officers what their own Chiefs think about the matter we can all get on with our enjoyable, harmless hobby (or full-time job as the case may be)...

Widemouth Bay and Bude at Christmas

Back to the break now, we spent ten minutes or so defrosting Poppy the Beetle and letting the engine warm up a little bit and then (extremely cautiously) picked our way along the ice covered roads towards Widemouth bay, which looked astonishing (normally only being privvy to it in clement conditions) with the thick covering of ice -


- nothing was stopping Flyingpops though, so we splashed on down to the sea -

- where I got a nice shot of the beach -

- it was (however) a little on the chilly side, so our stay was reasonably brief...next stop was Bude (just a few minutes drive away), as we left we spotted this guy running along the beach with his dog carrying a skull and crossbones and an anarchists flag -

- (a little odd), he looked like he was going to carry on all the way up the cliffs before we left him in our dust...

Bude was much the same as last time I was here (for Tim's Stag do) -

- we checked out the shops (Flyingpops buying a very posh new knitted hat for a couple of quid) and found a gift shop we had been told about which had everything (except the fudge) discounted by 75%, so Flyingpops went a bit mad buying model Campers and Beetles, Cream Tea themed mugs and other touristy bits that had obviously not been selling too well over the summer...and laden down with carrier bags we popped into a little pasty shop -

- for a spot of lunch -

- before heading back to the site to show off our pirate booty and get ready for our trip out in the afternoon... ;)

Easy Tilt Shift Photography

Wow, check out tiltshiftmaker.com, it basically lets you convert any picture (with very little effort) into a tilt shift image (i.e. makes it look like it is actually a shot of a tiny scale model, rather than a real scene) - there is one caveat though - you need to view the pictures large for it to *really* work, so click the below and take a look (if you hit the "all sizes" icon above the image you can view larger versions), the original pictures are linked to from Flickr if you want to compare them with the tilt shift conversions -


- a bit of fun, anyway...there are, of course, some much better examples on their flickr stream (if you like this sort of thing)...looks like good targets are shots with a large depth of field...

Have a go! ;)

Static 19 at Hedley Wood

So after our very pleasant stop in Okehampton (I think we'll be going back in the summer time to explore the touristy things properly) we headed off for Hedley Wood, only about an hour away...

...where we took posession of our new home for the next (almost a) week, the rather frosty static number 19 -

- immediately closing all the doors and windows (goodness only knows why they were wide open!) and lighting both the gas fire and the oven (which we left both open and on until the whole place was warm enough to allow us to stop seeing our breath and remove our coats)...I did a quick ninja mission to swap the TV in our static over with the (unoccupied) one next door, as the one we had was missing a SCART slot (and I had all these new games burning a hole in my Xbox), then we settled in (dumped most of our stuff in the second bedroom, filled up the fridge) and then nipped down to the clubhouse for some supper (deep fried scampi and chips) -

- which was looking every bit as festive as ever, quite the most wonderfully garish display! That night we shunned the bedroom (as the heater in there was woefully inadequate at combating the distinct lack of heat outside in the darkness) instead snuggling up with a sleeping bag, hot water bottle and 4 blankets on the sofa-bed in front of the gas fire in the living room...(Flyingpops even kept her wooly hat on)... ;)

The next morning we discovered that the hot water didn't work (never got above tepid), so abandoned any thought of showers (and put in an emergency call with the owners via Flyingpops' dad), boiled the kettle made hot tea and coffee and contemplated how we were going to spend the day...it was so icy outside that it actually looked like it had snowed, so we decided to make a start with the most logical place to go in such circumstances...yes - the beach -(obviously)! :)

OMG! It is COLD!

Seriously, -6.5C in daylight...that is pretty cold! I took a little walk around the place (wrapped up very warm indeed) -

Fink's Links #46

Lovely to be back at work, isn't it, but at least it's Friday again!

Lets make a start with a tilt shift video of some monster trucks doing their thing (some of the shots do look amazingly like little models)...

Nope, tapping it on the top is not going to fix it I'm afraid...

Revolutionise your throw-ups by buying a can of glow-in-the-dark paint! It even has an LED to both help you aim and charge up the glow after application!

Witness a ninja protest at pirate festival...(it's a meme thing, you may not get it, and if not thank yourself for "having a life"(tm)... ;)

On the same theme, man tries to Karate Chop 100 coconuts live on TV (suffice it to say, it doesn't go too well)...

Watch a map of the world showing (in time lapse) 24 hours worth of air travel...seriously looks like the UK is rammed!

National Geographics most viewed photos of 2008...

Enjoy an animal Kaleidoscope...

A small, but perfectly formed collection of urban street art...

Watch a lady with a deliberately split tongue doing her thing...(SFW)...

Check out the (soon to be released) Star Wars Force trainer...

...and last, but definitely not least a funny sign fail and a great "guest speaker fail"...

More internet goodness next week and you can find previous round-ups over here...!

Have a good one!

Okehampton at Christmas

We set off quite early in the morning, diving around the M25 and then shooting down the A303 (mostly)...I actually slept for quite a bit of the journey down with my head resting on a pillow against the window, until the rising sun forced me to a wakeful state...

...(that's actually a picture of the sunset but you get the idea) we stopped off to buy some water (and ready-mixed Ribena drink for Flyingpops) at a service station about half way down and then woke up a very sleepy Dawn (who had been working at the nightclub in town until the early hours) at about 9am by calling her mobile just as we were pulling into town...I'd never been to Oakhampton before and was quite keen to look around the place, so we dragged our luggage up to her flat which is located in this charming shopping arcade, dragged Dawn out of bed, quickly exchanged Christmas gifts -

- and then headed straight out for breakfast -

- not opting for the amusing credit crunch breakfast we passed on the way, but to a favourite little cafe of Dawn's down a little alleyway filled with shops (this town was actually *full* of little independent places, the only chains that seemed to be in evidence were the supermarkets) which made a refreshing change -

- the food was very reasonable (£6 for a full English), and actually extremely tasty, even the sausage (which can be a bit of a minefield in the breakfast stakes) -

- funnily enough, it turns out that it had recently been visited (well, the upstairs Bistro part, anyway) by Gordon Ramsay for an upcoming episode of Kitchen Nightmares (which was quite exciting), so we were quite confident the fridges and storage areas were sparklingly clean (if nothing else)...can't wait to watch the show (just hope it wasn't too nasty beforehand)! ;) Anyway, when we had finished that somehow Flyingpops still had room left for a pasty, so we stopped at a small bakery (and she bought what was called a "cocktail" pasty, which turned out to be just an extra small example -

- I was absolutely stuffed so I contented myself with sniffing in the apetising aroma...the rest of the day saw us explore more of the town (although all the interesting stuff (museum/castle/Dartmoor steam railway) was closed thanks to the time of year) so we contented ourselves with a lunchtime pint in the local pub (which had some very interesting windows) -

- a spot of shopping in the supermarkets, and then I cooked us all up a tasty roast dinner, filling the evening with some quality Wii and Xbox 360 time in Dawns front room...a very pleasant stay...

Christmas Update

So we then had a few days off, including my Birthday (unfortunately had to work on Christmas Eve, but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes) got an absolutely huge number of games (including everything I wanted from the Chrismas releases for the 360 - most played of that little lot so far are probably the most recent COD (which is like the older ones rather than COD 4, which is a bit of a shame as COD 4 was rather good) and Fable II (which has completely absorbed me to the point of stopping my replay of Fallout 3) although I've nearly finished that already with all the hours I put in over Christmas)...!

Christmas morning (after enjoying Midnight Mass at St Peters in Tandridge where we got Married earlier in the year) -

- we awoke at home (for the first time ever) to presents under our tiny live Christmas tree -

- rather later than intended (don't think we woke up until about 10am!) and had a lazy breakfast of four minute eggs with soldiers -

- before heading over for a fantastic meal of roasted goose at my parents and even more piles of pressies in the afternoon (very spoilt)! ;) Boxing day was another roast dinner (beef this time) at Flyingpops folks and then with barely a chance to catch our breath we were busy packing the car ready for an early start to begin our New Years break in Cornwall, first stop over was to go and visit Flyingpops' friend Dawn (who has recently moved to Okehampton) about an hour away from where we would be staying...

Woolworths Closure

So time for some updates about what we have been getting up to during the Christmas and New Year break, starting with a pre-Christmas visit to a soon to be closed Woolworths store (specifically the one in Redhill) -

- and what a scrum it was, just hundreds of people all fighting to look through the remains of the stock -

- all just shoved on the shelves in the boxes they obviously lived in while being stored out the back -

- I scored a bit of a bargain in the shape of a ceramic speed peeler (at 60% off) and Flyingpops managed to get about 20 packs of coloured pencils, crayons and paints (to keep visiting children quietly amused), all the DVDs and games weren't being reduced by much though (at the point we were visiting, anyway)...when it came to be time to pay, we joined the queue of about 40 fellow shoppers and waited patiently, watching (open mouthed) as a succession of people brazenly strolled out through the frantically beeping security barrier with things tucked under their coats - apparently the security staff had been early casualties...

Flyingpops then had a ten minute argument with the extremely young till supervisor, who finally yielded and took the correct amount of money off the items she had picked up (no wonder the queue was going so slowly, all the prices on the system seemed to be wrong)...while I got asked if I needed any help by a stressed looking manager who (I'm guessing) didn't want me taking pictures of his plight...I sympathised, as it's got to be terrible to find yourself out of work just before Christmas...

It's going to be an odd high street now with Woolworths gone...I wonder what will fill the space?

Back to Work...

Ah well, all good things must come to an end I suppose, had a fantastic break, will talk more about that later on...this morning though, we awoke to an inch of snow (and here I must note that not a single flake was witnessed over the entire Christmas break - it just had to happen when I couldn't enjoy it!), so we were out early scraping Poppy the Beetle clear then driving extremely slowly to Earlswood Station, which was equally snow-bound, predictably the trains were delayed, but not by much, and of course (so much for all the hype and closure for super speed training before Christmas) the Jubilee line was closed this morning due to overcrowding (so I had to use the secret entrance)...still, I'm now staring out the window at a blizzard dusting east London, so it's not all bad...just wish I had packed my proper camera! ;)

On our way home...

On our way home...
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

...stuck in huge queue on the A303 near Salisbury Plain, zzz... :(

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry for lack of posts, having a rest... ;)

Been taking plenty of pictures though, so lots of updates to come... ;)

Fink's Links #45

I know - it's Boxing day - and trust me, I'm relaxing with a beer and cold cuts at Flyingpops folks right now (if everything has gone according to plan!), this I wrote before Christmas and scheduled...heh, cheated... ;)

So just in *case* you are bored enough to be on the internet today, it's link time!

Lets make a start with a Tetris ice cube tray...yep, too late to ask for it for Christmas now!

An ingenious Umbrella/knuckleduster combination, so you can carry your briefcase, hold your umbrella and still lash out at others during difficult commutes in the rain...! Why has it taken so long to fill this obvious gap in the marketplace? ;)

A really interesting animation made from 45,000 still photographs (thank you Times newspaper)...

Take a look at this really odd ID card this blogger found in a Chinese made wallet...

Discover that the Spanish are building a Lord of the Rings theme park (in Spain)...might be tempted to pay a visit when they've finished it (if it's any good)... ;)

Check out these really cool imbedded-looking Shuriken 'fridge magnets...

Meet Wooly Tiny (a minature laser-cut mammoth skeleton)...

Try to prevent yourself fainting as you discover something interesting actually happened in Second Life...

Scratch your head in a confused way at the antics of South Carolinas Banana Derby, people really still force animals to do this kind of thing...?

Watch as a couple of guys pour loads of concrete into a huge ant nest (and then dig it up when it has set)...sad because lots of animals died, but annoyingly extremely interesting to see the amazing chambers and huge tunnel network that is revealed...

...and finally a titter-worthy childrens book fail...

More links next week and you can find previous round-ups back in this direction...!

Now get off the internets, eat some cold turkey, consume too many chocolate liquors and fall asleep in front of the TV...it's the LAW! ;)

Happy Christmas

We hope you have all been good boys and girls and Father Christmas delivered you all nice presents...!

Wishing you a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS and Best wishes for 2009!

FinkAngel & Flyingpops,
Colin the Camper & Poppy Matlida ;)

Happy Birthday Fink

Please all join me in wishing my darling husband a very happy birthday...

  

 Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Fink,

Happy Birthday to you.

We have been fairly busy celebrating over the last few days and are off tonight for a meal so expect pictures and a write up soon.

Love you Fink x

Fink's Links #44

Friday again! And just because you were ever-so good last time and finished up your greens, it's link time -

This week we kick things off with "One Whale Extracts his revenge" (the true story behind the classic tale Moby Dick)...

A nice collection of Shoe-tossing GIFs...hehe...

Watch the happiest dog on the planet...

This link is with my Dad in mind an archive of every Radioshack catalogue (pretty much) since 1939...

...and then (quite literally) the saddest dog on the planet (for it's lack of ability)...no need for a garden fence with this puppy!

Read about Jill Price, a woman with perfect "episodic memory" (and no, it isn't nice)...

Learn about the vast secret tunnel network under London up for sale (hmm, that would speed up the commute, might be a bit costly to heat and light it though)...!

World War II as an online multiplayer game chat interface (rather amusing)...

A rather interesting book-case...

Watch a guy who I confidently predict is going to be *very* dead *very* soon mucking around with a very patient Great White shark...

Check out El-E the robot assistant for the disabled...(closes eyes - (Homer voice) - mmmm...point laser...machine brings beer)... ;)

Following the theme - America announces free prescription guns for the elderly and disabled...

Discover that helicopters can just spontaneously fall to bits thanks to an effect called "ground resonance"...that's the last time I think about getting in one with more than two blades then!

...and finally an excellent menu fail and a funny breakfast option fail...

More links next week and you can find previous round-ups over here...! Make the most of Saturday and Sunday! ;)

Secret Santa - Hunters Biltong

Hehe, second year in a row a -killer- Secret Santa pressie! Last year's gift has been useful about 100 times (from fixing broken glasses, replacing a fuse, countless "have you got a pen?" requests etc. etc.), and this year (although obviously not going to be *useful*) I get a large bag of Hunters Biltong (classic variety)...it was all I could do to only eat one strand for my breakfast! 

So naughty... ;)

Our Tiny Christmas Tree

Here we go, finally got around to taking a picture of our tiny Christmas tree...it's a live, pot grown spruce pine, apparently they grow about a foot a year, so next year it should be a little more impressive!

Had a bit of trouble actually decorating it though, almost every single decoration we owned was *way* too big (put the bauble on the branch and it simply sagged towards the ground and fell off), the smallest set of lights we could find in the house was a set of 200(!), which frankly would have completely buried the poor thing, so Sunday morning was spent on a bit of a mission to find the absolute smallest of everything on offer...

Tesco was a let down (only coloured light sets, or ones far too long), Woolworths we skipped thanks to a report that they had been already stripped of everything good, Dorking Car boot sale yielded a tiny set of hand-made painted wooden stockings and presents (for a pound), Dorking Garden Centre netted us a small pack of white glass baubles, but again no suitable lights...we finally scored a white set of 20 (just what we were after) from Knights in Betchworth (they even tested them for us before we left!) along with some adorable little hanging signs that say all sorts of festive catch phrases...and actually, it was Knights that had by far the best selection of Christmas decorations (for both inside and out) having turned over at least half the store to the purpose, so if we ever need any more, I know where I will be heading first... ;)

New Timetable - New Earlswood woes

So yesterday the new Winter timetable came into force, Flyingpops was over the moon as our normal train has now turned into a "fast" train (i.e. it doesn't bother stopping at Merstham/Purley/Coulsdon) getting in 10 minutes earlier, however, I am a bit miffed...first off it's now only 4 coaches (which isn't nearly enough, it came in to Earlswood today "full and standing" and 99% of the time we used to get not only a seat, but also seats together, from the looks of things this is now going to be rather unlikely moving forward), secondly it then wastes much of the advantage of not being a stopping service by adding in a coupling up maneuver at Redhill which also doubles the potential for delays (if one or other bit of the train is running late)...thirdly, and this isn't really a big deal, but I have a slightly more "schmoke and a pancake?" attitude to the commute than Flyingpops, preferring to relax and watch movies/TV or play games, using it as quality recreation time (rather than plugging away on a Blackberry)...now it's about 10 minutes shorter (although don't get me wrong, I like getting into town earlier as the tube is less likely to have got itself into a pickle)...it's just that a whole TV episode used to fit into the commute, and now it doesn't...

Humph...