"The Lady" is coming!

Gosh, this is a hard one, both to get the head around *and* decide how to deal with...the situation is thus - with the development of imaginative and abstract thought, an (utterly immaterial) "enemy" has arrived in our lives - Thomas is (slightly) obsessed at the moment with theoretical situations whereby "The Lady" can deny him things, hide things or scold him - nope - not anyone we know, not even a real person, but after some time considering the situation (after being assured by Thomas that, if we weren't diligent, "The Lady" was about to take our TV away) I think I have worked out where she came from (and perhaps how we can banish her)...

Picture Thomas (for example) in the Supermarket, bouncing around watching the trolley piling up with yummy food, even being able to hold bits (to yells of) "Hewp Daddy holdin' PEEZE!!", but when he goes to take a hearty bite of (e.g.) jalapeño pepper, is told "No Thomas, we have to pay the lady first! Don't eat it!"...or when yanking litre-sized glass bottles of olive oil from the shelf (that we don't need) being told "Thomas, *don't* drop that, the lady will be upset!", or getting on a bus "Come back here Thomas, the lady won't let you on the bus without getting a ticket!"...it seems fair to say that this horrible old lady has a lot to answer for, frankly, when it comes to toddler rights and merits some discussion about quite where the line is to be drawn...

So, if even only to narrow down *which* particular "lady" we are supposed to be worrying about, it's time to start referring to people as their occupation, rather than just their gender, in the supermarket we will have to pay the "shop keeper", on the bus we will pay the "bus driver" (and so on)...and hopefully (as we subdivide the barrier) that will be the end (or at least dilution) of that!

Whatever will be next? ;)

A very strange dream...

...last night, dreamed that we (Flyingpops, Thomas and I) were on our way to Oslo (destination obviously the result of predictable influence from the recent terror atrocity) to go and visit a museum/zoo (bit far to travel, but okay) but when we got there I remembered that I was responsible for setting up and overseeing a modern day-twist on a Shakespearean play before we could do our visit (of course I would be! Thanks unconscious mind!), so I set about recruiting Norwegian actors, allocating roles, rehearsing and then finally to the actual performance, which went...perfectly okay...getting a nice round of applause, and then we went to this museum/zoo and Thomas kept on tearing off around the place and climbing up things or running down steep slopes too fast, only to fall off or tumble over...but each time he was...perfectly fine...

So we had the *perfect* setup for (at the very least) a decent anxiety dream, but what happened in the end was a worry-about-it-if-you-like-but-everything-works-out-okay-in-the-end dream...

Never known anything quite like it! *shrug*

Finks Links #144

Friday!! That means it's link time once again! So, please check out -

A nice video about 3D printing...

Life on a lost shipping container...

A swimming pool on the 57th floor (hotel in Singapore)...

Connecting to the Internet using a 1964 300 baud modem...

Methanol Fire = SCARY...!

The Internet of Things infographic (from Cisco)...

Canopus (French nuke test)...

The ghost shuttle...

Inside a Google server module...

A "Super Earth" spotted only 40 light years away...

...and finally - Just what I've always wanted!

Enjoy the weekend everyone! ;)

Android Spam Notifier bar - How to Remove Zoosk

Ah well, that was nice while it lasted...you know, having my device all to myself, the only apps running being the ones *I* want to run...about a week ago a strange little star started appearing in my notifier bar prompting me to "Find local singles in my area" from a company called "Zoosk" (this was after I updated a few apps), so I knew *something* had installed some push advertising onto my 'droid without my permission. The only problem? I kind of like all my apps...

Thankfully there was a fairly simple, two step solution to the problem (follow me in this direction if you have a similar issue) -

1) Go into the "Market" app, hit the "Menu" button, choose "Settings" then scroll down and uncheck the box next to "Receive interest-based ads", then hit back until you get back to the home screen...
2) Next, go into "Settings", choose "About phone", choose "Phone identity" then go here on your PC browser - http://www.airpush.com/imei/ - carefully type in your EMEI number (from the phone screen) and then hit "Submit"...

...and that, for the time being at least, should be the end of the spam messages and (for bonus points) let you carry on with your existing apps without interruption or removal...if, by some horrible development those steps don't work, then make sure to only update/install one app at a time, keeping an eye open for spam and then leave very negative comments in the marketplace for the evil culprit... >:(

Oh, and for the record, the evil app in question on my phone was "Blogger-droid" (which I still think is very useful and good, *despite* this little hiccup)...

BBC UK 3G Survey App

Thought I would give the BBC's new Android App a little try, basically it's does two things -

1) Gives you access to graphs and (Google) maps showing where your signal has been either 3G (full internets), 2G (crap or zero internets) and no signal at all
2) Upload this information to a company called Epitiro who are going to put it into a highly detailed map (with everyone else's results) and make it available to all on the BBC website (most mobile provider's coverage maps are extremely vague, so this will be just about the biggest independent survey of UK network coverage ever conducted, assuming enough people join in, of course)...

It's *only* available on Android at the moment, and I strongly suspect it won't ever appear on the iPhone/iPad simply because Apple don't want you seeing the holes in their coverage (and can control which apps are approved for use on their devices), they have even hidden signal strength information behind an engineers code (as I mentioned previously)...bit silly...

Anyway, I've been running it for three days now, my preliminary results are as follows - 80.2% of the time I have 3G coverage, 16.8% of the time I only have access to 2G and 3% of the time I have no network coverage at all...so actually not *all* that bad (considering the amount I travel around the place), but that does equal 12 of the 72 hours I have been using the app where (had I needed to) I wouldn't have been able to use the Internet on my telephone...hrm... :S

Anyway, I'll keep you posted with results (if they change dramatically) and let you know when the map is up and running (it's supposed to be ready sometime late July, early August)...read more about it over here (if you are interested in this sort of thing)...

Back in the Witterings...

So last week we were lucky enough to have a week staying in "Caravan Bella", the last time we were there (Flyingpops reminded me) she was still breastfeeding baby Thomas(!), this time he was all *over* the place, exploring (almost) as excitedly as the Apartamento in Spain... ;)

The first day of the break we spent largely on the beach, Thomas finding plenty of mischief to get into, splashing -

- digging with his "Bob the Builder" Backhoe loader -

- sliding down the dunes -

- and snacking on sand (and a little food) in his little UV tent -

- and when we got tired of the beach we came back to the caravan and had a little walk in the fields out the back (although the terrain was a bit challenging for Thomas with all the churned earth) he still had a great time trying to work out where the "Wabbits!" were hiding... ;)

Back from Holiday...

...updates to follow, as usual, but suffice it to say we had a lovely time, had great weather, and pretty much the beach to ourselves (most of the time)...

Sneak peek at some of the pictures over here (if you are interested)...

On the beach...

On the beach...
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

...in beautiful West Wittering...wish you were here! :)

Finks Links #143

Friday!! Link time!

Proof that Dyson Airblades are definitely from the future...

How to Tennis!

An optical illusion in Paris...

A lovely new (live, streaming) camera for the ISS... ;)

109 tube journeys that are quicker on foot...

Baroque Obama

Working in an Indian call center...

NASA's got a brand new bag!

Listen to a Thunderstorm on Saturn...

Polar Bears originated in Ireland (of course)...

STEP AWAY FROM THE BELL!

...and finally a McDonalds Maths fail and a great emergency escape priority fail...

Enjoy the weekend everyone! ;)

Toddler Memory (or Ramps and Rainbows)

Once...just *once* (and this must have been at least six months ago), when Thomas and I went on one of our highly-prized "Daddy Walk(s)!" (a very popular weekend occupation thanks to the close proximity of a) SWINGS! b) COWS! c) TRAINS! and d) AIIIPANES!/HEWICOPTERS!) instead of doing our usual walk into the woods (I forget why) we decided to head towards the hospital (just to start with) where we found a big ramp in the footpath and zoomed down it - Thomas laughing hysterically ("That was a ramp Thomas, did you enjoy that?" and next on our "long-way-round" route we then happened upon some paving where (presumably) a child had spent some time carefully drawing a rainbow with lots of colours of chalk...I stopped the pushchair and pointed it out to Thomas, telling him what it was (which he repeated "Oooh...Wainbow!") and then off we sped to find the cows, dogs, cats (etc.) without a backward glance...

Last weekend we had to get some money out (ready for the aforementioned hair cuts) which was a great excuse for a Daddy Walk, and the nearest free cash point happened to be in that sort of direction, so (Thomas strapped into his push chair and equipped with plenty of dried mango and "Agua por favor!") we followed a similar route...not only did Thomas get *very* excited when we approached the location of the ramp (saying "RAMP! RAMP! WHEEEEE!!!!") *astonishingly* when we passed the (obviously now completely plain) paving slab where the chalk rainbow had been all those long months ago (where we had spent all of about 6 *seconds*)...he pointed down and said "WAINBOW!!!", I frowned for a minute, observing the total lack of clouds/rain and then suddenly the memory returned to me (OMG! Are you *serious*?) "WOW! Yes Thomas! VERY clever boy! There was a rainbow drawn here, a chalk rainbow"...and spent the rest of the walk home in a slight daze...absolutely staggering...

So, one *very* important lesson (from one impressed, but slightly shaken parent to another) - Watch *very* carefully what you say around your little one (it's *ALL* going in)...

More information over here...

Toddler Cooking

Flyingpops gave me pause the other afternoon by saying "This is what you were waiting for wasn't it? It's so good to see you two pottering around together"...and I was like "Eh?", but on reflection I actually think it's true, just lately Thomas' comprehension and ability to intelligently participate has absolutely *rocketed* (not that he wasn't extremely clever before) meaning we've been able to engage in increasingly complex ways...rather than just "What's this Thomas?", or "Can you see the (whatever)?" it's becoming conversation - "What do you fancy doing Thomas?" "DRAWINN!", "Okay, what shall we draw?", "Outside! Chalk!", "Oh, okay, you want to draw on the blackboard outside?", "Blackboard!" (once outside) "Okay, what are we drawing?", "House! Tree!", "Okay, here we go" (scribble, scrape)..."Daddy, Chalk Thomas!!", "Oh, okay, here's some chalk for you", what are you drawing?" "A CIIIIRCLE!!!" (and he draws a large, messy oval - Saying "Egg!" as if he meant to do that all along) etc. etc. ;)

Cooking is another fine example, when I'm in the kitchen rattling pots and pans, Thomas is usually to be found standing at the gate yelling "OPEN! OPEN! COOKIN' PEEEZE!!", if allowed, he runs in shouting "STEPS!! UP!! SEE!!" (and again, if allowed) he climbs up the steps and hangs on at the top, pointing out and naming everything he can see (and trying to eat anything tempting looking). When it comes to preparation he knows how to add a drizzle of olive oil to a pan, add a pinch of salt to heating water (he, in fact, reminded me the last time we boiled some potatoes) season meat with pinches of salt and pepper, can go to the garden on request and retrieve chives, rosemary and/or thyme (usually mixing them up, of course as they all look fairly similar, and admittedly gets lost trying to find mint, but that's a bit high up for him) and obviously also stands a better-than-average chance of being distracted by the odd ant/woodlouse...it's amazing how enthusiastic he is, and how generally *capable* he is becoming...he can even (when watched) carefully stir sauces on the hob (as long as you remind him they are hot each time he goes to put the spoon in his mouth)... ;)

Another of his tricks is to help crack the black pepper for the week using the pestle and mortar (although I have learned only to put a *few* pepper corns in there for him to bash away at or he just eats it by the handful, much to Mummy's displeasure and Daddy's stifled snigger)... ;)

The most impressive achievement so far? Asking him to tell me how we went about making pasta the other day (retrospectively) and him (thoughtfully) answering (including some fairly long finger sucking pauses) "Onion...chop...OIL! Frying! MEAT! Maaato! COOOKING!!!" - Okay, there were a few more things that went in there, but that's a basic bolognese recipe right there (quoted from his memory) if I have ever heard one, and he, not even two years old!

Well done, clever boy! :)

Thomas' first (real) hair cut

Okay (I admit) he's had a tiny little trim once before (just to stop his fringe getting in his eyes), but this was the first time he has had a *proper* haircut (as he was starting to look like a 70's version of Owen Wilson from the film The Wedding Crashers)...although when we asked him first thing in the morning if he wanted one, the curt response was, of course, a firm "NO".

Anyway, bribed with a great big handful of "TWIGETTS!!!" he practically flew up into the high chair and sat there very quietly, watching his hair vanishing onto the floor-

-where Mummy harvested a little handful to put into the baby memories book before Daddy swept it up and put it in the bin...the good thing, unlike some of his little friends, whose first haircut permanently removed their cute baby curls, Thomas' just sprang back up (the minute the "HAIR TIP!" was removed (just a little bit shorter)...looks like he's got something more in common with Daddy then... ;)

Finks Links #142

Friday again, already!! Where are the weeks going? Anyway, on to this week's links-

An incredible (advertising - but still cool) game - Magnum across the Internet...

A juggler giving up on the dream...

Runaway truck ramp...

A very large cactus...

Meanwhile, in Belgium...

Watch a video of Volvo's crash avoidance technology in action...

History of the Giant Squid...

...and finally just a very slight translation fail...

Enjoy the weekend everyone! ;)