Grafitti on the 435 Bus

Spotted this on the 435 the other night on the way home from Redhill...nothing odd you may think, a bit of grafitti on the bus - quite the usual number of individuals seem to be "gay", oddly named people are still routinely announcing that they are "4" other oddly named people and colourful meaningless scribbles that wouldn't look out of place in a 3 year old's colouring book are all perfectly in place just as normal...so what did I spot that made me smile?

In a medium that lends itself (on occasion) to acts of considerable creativity, and is as flexible as any artists pad, what form of expression is starting to appear that I (for one) have never seen before?

It's (most oddly) those used in the *extremely* inflexible creative medium (in a graphical sense) - the text editor - yes, people are using marker pens to grafitti simple ASCII text character representations of images...

<3 - a heart
(y) - as in choose (y) or (n), confirming the gayness as the correct option chosen
=] - an alternative smiley face

The mind boggles...  :S

Thames Clipper - Fare Dodging

Goodness only knows what's been going on the last couple of days, waiting at Earlswood for the normal train to London Bridge each day it's been delayed (only by about 5-10 minutes) but when it's pulled into the station it's already "full and standing" (like twice the number of people that are usually on it), luckily in each case we've got seats fairly near one another (so not anything like the end of the world, just a bit...well...strange)!

Yesterday the train managed to take about twice as long as usual to get into London. I *think* because it was so full, and the tracks were so slippery (leaves on the line) it just couldn't seem to get traction when it was trying to move away (luckily the tube was pretty empty when I got down there so it made up for it, was only about 5 minutes late as I leave a big buffer just in case of problems like this)...today we arrived at Earlswood to find it was delayed by 10 minutes, and finally crept into East Croydon at just about the time we normally pull into London Bridge...kissing Flyingpops goodbye there I told her I was going to have to leg it and flew towards the Jubilee line (praying for similar luck to Monday), but as I cut through the crowds I began to fear the worst as announcements echoed "Passengers please note, the DLR is currently suffering severe delays, we advise all customers to seek alternative methods of transport" (which basically means the Jubilee line), and lo and behold! When I got down the escalator the queue was backed right up into the shops in the vault...*never* seen it that bad before...so I span on my heels and rapidly reversed course, stamped back up the escalator and made a run for the secret footbridge (empty as usual) over to the London Bridge dock...

Damn...the queue there must have been 250 people (stretching right back up towards King William Street) and I now had 10 minutes to get to my desk...I trudged miserably to the end and peered over my shoulder to see if there might be a boat due soon and (Yes!) one was just pulling in...! The queue moved really rapidly -

- and I was getting seriously near the front, but we could all hear the two crew members counting people on (they can't overload)...I crossed my fingers in my pockets and scrunched up my eyes (pleasepleaseplease!)...and they called a halt to boarding two people behind me...phew!

So this, to my knowledge, is the first time I have been on a fully loaded Thames Clipper...and I have to say I wasn't terribly impressed with how they coped, for example, the ticket office at London Bridge was closed, and no-one was going up the queue taking fares, so when these hundreds of people got on, all of them still had to cough up...and guess how many people were selling tickets on board? One...

So it's no surprise to learn that 10 minutes later when we pulled into Canary Wharf only about 15 people had managed to buy them, then began this absolutely crazy scene where the two members of staff at Canary Wharf were both trying to issue tickets (their machines take *forever* to issue them especially if people are trying to pay by card) and check and punch (yes, they have a punch system like the old days on British Rail) existing tickets and check season ticket holders out...it didn't take long before the impatient crowd just gave up trying to pay and walked out via the entrance ramp, and of course when others saw the staff failing to check (or even really seem to care) many, many more people (I'm guessing about half the number waiting) just left the queue and legged it while the poor woman was struggling to juggle money (endless searches for change in terribly inefficient bum bag)/tickets (literally handfuls of paper tumbling into the water below the dock - now lost to any auditing process)/ticket machine/ticket punch/etc. etc...

Of course I did the right thing and waited and paid my money, but they really need to find a better payment system, it's all very well when 20 people use the boat on a normal morning, but all too often they seem to get caught with their pants down when the other services fail and they become the only option...normally it would just mean a huge number of people standing in long queues, however today, from the looks of things, it cost them a whole lot of money for their inefficiency...

Wedding photograph update

After absolutely *months* and many failed attempts to go through all the wedding photos and choose the tiny amount we are allowed to have printed for free as part of the package, this is our latest attempt at a solution...Flyingpops (with some incredible negotiation) managed to get every single picture printed out for around £70 (or about half the best price they offer!)...and I bet the guy in Jessops was cursing our name by the time he had finished, the photos were extremely high resolution (just around 8gb in total), it managed to completely crash their system the first time they tried and Flyingpops had to go back in with all the images files the next day so they could have another go, in the end they had to chop them up into batches (meaning they all came out in a funny order) and when she went to collect them (three days later) they came in two (jam packed) carrier bags...thus far it's taken two hour-long sittings, one for Flyingpops to sort them roughly into the right order and one to make a start on putting them into the two albums we have - as of yesterday night she has got as far as having her hair done on the morning of the wedding day...this is an epic mission...!

Autumn Sunset over Canary Wharf

Well well well...cherry on top of the amazing sunset, we look to be coming full circle again - they are putting up the Canary Wharf ice rink again (as I type) outside the window...looks like that's just over a year working here then... ;)

Fink's Links #38

Just in order to keep this blog in line with that original "blogging" concept from very birth of the "weblog" I offer to you my latest collection of everything decent "out there" that I splashed past during my week surfing the tubes...a firm and fruity selection this week -

We'll kick things off this week with a forgotten, 55 year old experiment that may explain the origins of life...

Guy spends 20 years building a fortress under his house by hand (and then decides to sell it)...

Got something really small you need to keep secret? How about some reproduction hollow spy coins (as used during the cold war era)...?

Cerberus as a puppy (hehe)...

Gaming's most evil pranks (and they *aren't* kidding - "The Maze" - is particularly brutal - you could probably argue child abuse)...

Did you know about the "Great London Beer flood of 1814"...? Lower lip quivering at the thought...

Find out about the man who reads dictionaries...

Take a nip of Dan Aykroyd's Crystal Head Vodka...

A fantastic collection of photographs of Sol...

A really wonderful pop-up book called "ABC123", don't miss the shockwave video at the bottom of the page...

Check out "The things he carried" an article all about airport "security theatre" in the US - "I focused my efforts on bringing bad things through security in many different airports, primarily my home airport, Washington’s Reagan National, the one situated approximately 17 feet from the Pentagon"...good read...

Keep safe if things spiral out of control at breakfast time with a knuckle duster shaped coffee mug!

Plantbot - walks your plant around the room finding the area of brightest sunshine...

...and lastly a great "mascot fail"...

All done! There will, no doubt be more next week, but if you crave further mental sustainance, then head in this direction...now clear off and enjoy the weekend...! ;)

The Amazing Race

This is just such an excellent treat....right off the back of discovering (thanks to a friend at work) that the televisual treat HBO's "The Wire" existed at all (the show that actually kicked American TV into life after years of total drudge - I'm now about 8 episodes into season 5 and have loved every minute of it), last week I discover another incredible US show called "The Amazing Race"...this one has been running for an astonishing 14 seasons(!) (very naughtily) without my knowledge and is just spectacularly good television (perfect material for me to consume on the commute)...in each competition 11 or 12 couples set off from somewhere in the States on a journey vicious race around the globe competing for a $1,000,000 prize...each stage is set in a different country and the teams must beg, borrow or steal their way to each objective and challenge (some of which look absolutely impossible) including booking all transport, one couple being eliminated at each stage if they make it to the "pit stop" last...no joke - it is just electric!

A load of episodes are available on YouTube if you fancy having a peek, or they run on Challenge TV on NTL/Sky from time to time too by the looks of things...

Why is there *nothing* like this being produced on British TV at the moment??  It's all just talent shows (which are sooooo boring in comparison)!

Come back Anneka Rice, all is forgivedid! ;)

GenderAnalyzer

Bit of fun for you now (well, if you do any writing on the internets), give GenderAnalyzer your URL and it will use it's funky AI backend to try and work out (purely from your style of writing) if you are a male or a female...

Thankfully it appears that I write like a man... ;)

Slippery Surfaces - Canary Wharf

It really looks like fog doesn't it? It wasn't though, it was extremely dense but very fine rain, you know the kind...you think "Well, this isn't too bad" and five minutes later it's like you have been standing in the shower...this lead to some absolutely *deadly* conditions on the highly polished surfaces around "The Wharf", especially as I have just given up on my nice black Nikes (they had developed several new ventilation points over the summer, which in the words of the immortal song are now "letting in water") for a pair of quite nice grey and flourescent orange Vans, which unfortunately don't possess much in the way of grip (strange considering they are a popular shoe of choice for the "sk8terboi" set)...alright normally (as long as I am near something I can grab on to) but this morning the train was cancelled from Earlswood (only the second time since I changed hours) meaning I was in a bit of a hurry - actually, it's always bothered me that...in places where moisture is occasionally inevitable, why voluntarily put down shiny hard surfaces? Like *all* Spanish bathrooms being fitted out with shiny tiles for example? Yes it looks pretty, but the potential for accidents is high (I slipped practically every day getting out of the shower in Mexico until I remembered to put a towel down before I started), do these property managers want to get sued?

Anyway, like the towel outside the shower, I've got a bit of a method worked out now to dry the soles quickly and stay under control, as I come off the wet (and perfectly grippy) pavement and onto the slippery concourse I propel myself a little like an ice skater, skidding in a fashion whereby I don't actually lift my feet off the ground, it only takes 4 or 5 little "slides" until I feel the grip start to return...admittedly it probably looks absolutely ridiculous, but I don't care about that one jot as long as I stay upright... ;)

Fallout 3 - Perfect starting character

So worth the wait...It...is...*Awesome*...! Oh and despite what anyone else says, it is "Oblivion with guns" (which is exactly what I was hoping it would be - Hurrah!)...So here are just a few reflections based on my starting character (I got about 8 hours in and then realised I could have made a rather better go of things, luckily I had a convenient save to return to)... ;)

Stats - firstly, when it comes time to allocate your SPECIAL stat points, make sure you put your intelligence as close to 9 as you can - that means each time you level up you get a *lot* more skill points to allocate (don't put any stat at 10, as later on you will find bobbleheads that give you a +1 to each stat, which would otherwise be wasted)...oh and two things you must do at the start - at your birthday party make sure you read the comic book you are given as one of your presents, it is a permanent boost to unarmed skill you won't otherwise be able to get, and in your next phase make sure you pick up the bobblehead on your Dad's desk (another one shot, permanent boost to medical skill)...

Skills - when you take your career exam, just answer all the questions at random and then when you get your results hit the reset button and choose your skills yourself - of all the skills probably the most useful to me initially was melee (three good reasons - ammo is in fairly short supply at the start, all foe will rush you (only one creature has sniped me, and it did wussy damage), and most enemies will die with 2 or 3 hits, even with a weak melee weapon)...a great strategy is to wake a foe up, then hide behind a pillar or tree, wait until they run up and then wallop them with a sledgehammer using VATS...Other skills - don't neglect small guns (fire ants don't play fair, it's best to take them down at a distance), science and lockpick (there are a *lot* of goodies hidden in locked/hackable places)...you may also want a reasonably good explosives skill, oh and paying other people to repair your stuff is very expensive, so that's well worth it too...again, don't deliberately boost any skill above 90%, as there are skill books (same as Oblivion) that boost each skill by 10% just laying around the place (easier to find than Oblivion too)...my favorite skill? I'm personally loving sneak, it's tantamount to having an enemy detector, if any foe comes into range the nice green "Hidden" message at the top of the screen changes to a bright red "Caution" allowing you to stop and scan the horizon, perhaps even getting a free critical hit/easy kill with a rifle (rather than just suddenly getting killed by a grenade or bitten in the arse by surprise), very useful skill indeed...

Perks - pick whatever you fancy but there are some absolutely must have ones - "Intense training" lets you boost SPECIAL stats (up to 10 times - makes up for having to put all those points into Int), "Educated" (boosts skill points per level even further - at level five I got 22 points - which is 105 extra points over the course of the game!), "Comprehension" - although if you save up the skill books (put them somewhere safe) until after you have a convenient moment to buy this perk then it can wait..and definitely don't bother with "Swift Learner", you will level up quite quickly enough without it...

I'm about 14 hours in now, not even done one bit of the main storyline and already seen and done some incredible things (been shopping at the super-duper mart, drank some radioactive water, made friends with some vampires, been set on fire, killed numerous people with spiky hair, saved a village from a science experiment gone badly wrong and disarmed a nuclear weapon (earning me a free house with robot companion), not bad for a days work)...can't seem to find the dog I was promised though...hmmm...(although he might be part of the main quest I guess)... ;)

Anyway, here's to the next 56 hours of play (if I ever get round to starting the actual game... :)

Update - Started the main quest now (fully explored about 50 areas before doing so and cleared them out, bringing me to level 12) and I am *so* pleased I took Melee - there are an awful number of very claustrophobic indoor areas where it has been completely invaluable, combine it with the Shishkebab and a high Strength (mine is now 9) and I'm flooring Super Mutants in 2 hits when they come around the corner...killed six (two of which had miniguns) outside the museum without drawing a gun! Hehe... ;)

Right, time to get definitive - Further update - I have now finished the game and have started it again as an Evil Character, this is my updated starting guide (it takes about an hour but is so worth it) -

When you are born choose an Intelligence of 9 and quite a high Strength and Agility (don't put any stat higher than 9 though, because of the bobbleheads you will find as you progress), read the book given to you as a present on your birthday (find it under Aid), and grab the bobblehead on your dad's desk in medical (do this now as your next chance is much later on in the game) - make sure you select Melee as one of your SPECIAL skills (see note above)...as soon as you get out of the Vault go to Megaton, get to the craterside supply store (down the slope and then right half-way up the ramp before the two headed cow) and accept the quest to help research the book, specifically the shopping one (super-duper mart), then go to Moriarties Saloon (up at the top at the back of Megaton) and find Lucy West, accept her quest too...next make a mad dash to Rivet Town (a huge aircraft carrier in the bottom right of the map) trying not to level up (sneak and avoid enemies - saving often), get to the Science lab (door on the left past the guard and all the way at the end) and on the table you will find the Intelligence Bobblehead (taking you to Int 10 - the maximum), find the bed in the common room where you can sleep for free (restoring all health) - you can now fast travel back here each time you are injured (a big help at this stage in the game)...

Note - (at some stage you are going to inevitably make it to level 4, as you can't avoid foe all the time, when you do, make sure you take the "Educated" perk, this will add a further 3 points to skills each time you level meaning at the earliest possible moment you are going to get the maximum - 23 - this makes an enormous difference to how powerful you are going to be at later levels)...

Collect all ammo along the way (it doesn't weigh anything) and keep your eye open for a Chinese Assault Rifle (the top small gun and my favorite weapon)...it will crop up randomly on enemies...

Now, fast travel back to Megaton, get into Lucas Simms house (the door is unlocked at certain times of day, or you can pick his pocket, or even kill him to get his key - make sure no-one is looking if you opt for the latter two options though ) and grab the Strength Bobblehead from his desk on the second floor - next make your way to the Super-Duper mart (switch quest and follow the map marker) and sneak all the way round to the back of the store (or complete the shopping sub-mission now by killing everyone and grabbing food and medicine if you like - you can now level up freely) and from behind the counter in the middle at the back grab the motorcycle gas tank and the motorcycle hand-break (they are next to each other by the broken floor cleaning machine), then fast travel back to Megaton, get back to the craterside supply and choose the Minefield subquest, make your way to minefield (following the map marker) and very carefully make your way through town (sneaking and disarming all the mines - watch out for the sniper too) until you see a lawn-mower, open the lawn-mower and pick up the lawn-mower blade), now pop into any of the houses and search the oven, making sure you grab the Pilot Light...(there is a good reason for all this, I promise)... ;)

Now, switch quests to "Blood Ties", complete that mission (convincing the leader of the gang to protect the residents of Arefu) and get the Shishkebab Schematics, fast travel back to Megaton and go back to the craterside supply, go to the work bench on the left on the ground floor near the grumpy bloke and build Shishkebab - You now have the most powerful melee weapon in the entire game - go to Arefu and tell them the good news, completing the quest, then fast travel back to the vampire den, talk to the leader again and ask him to teach you how to be a vampire, you will then be able to get 20 health back by drinking blood packs (which are quite plentiful and otherwise useless)...

90% of enemies will rush you, even ones with guns, so employ a tactic of hiding behind rubble or trees and waiting for them to come running over, then use VATS to slice them in half and set them on fire with Shishkebab...(hehe)...or sneak and backstab for double damage - this tactic is best in the "dungeon" areas but can work in the wilderness if you are careful, otherwise stick to the Chinese Assault Rifle (again trying to get sneak attacks)...always aim for the head or torso...

Fast travel to Megaton and save the game...now you are ready to begin the game properly with absolutely the best starting character...leave this save intact on the hard drive as you can use it for a replay (the game begs to be finished at least twice, once as a good character, once as an evil character, so this will save you a lot of time!) ;)

Moving forwards from here I personally boosted sneak/small guns/science/repair/lockpick/melee (but don't boost any skill above 90 until you have found the Bobblehead/skill books, as no skill can go above 100), best way to make money is to repair unwanted items yourself, then go to a trader (craterside is fine) get the sales lady to repair all your stuff and then get all your money back by selling your unwanted repaired items along with unwanted ammo (there will be lots you won't use - e.g. energy cells, 10mm rounds)...

Mindshare Pumpkin Carving Competiton

Yesterday we had a pumpkin carving competition at work...and with a certain female member of my team wanting some morale support, I agreed to enter with her...

Now, for the last week, not only have we been planning media, but also how to carve our pumpkin.  We had a few concepts (not knowing the size or quality of pumpkin we were being given)... and I liked the witch idea, using props, until someone pointed out that the nylon hair was a fire risk!  So, we went for the Punkin.. get it?   

I was chief scooper and got very very messy carving out the middle (and even got a sore hand from the spoon, until we remembered the pumpkin carving kit I bought in Woolies last weekend) and have to hand over all creativity and  carving to Izzie, who created the masterpiece (but I did suggest the coffee stirer teeth and hair!).  

At 4pm, the judges announed the winners... Two categories

1) Best Collective (we are in 4 groups at Mindshare, a bit like school house and there were 10 pumpkins carved per house and put on display)

2) Best Single Pumpkin

The results..

1) Our collective 'Fresh' (a bit like your house at school) came first - YIPPIE!  

2) Izzie and I got  very excited when we were in the final 5 finalists singled out for the 'overall' best pumpkin, yet sadly this wasn't to be and another 'Fresh'member won the overall prize.

Still, not to mind, we got 1000 points for out team today, a special mention in the results email and had loads of fun, so not a bad day in the office after all!

I SO don't want to be in the office...

...right now...I *knew* I should have taken the day off!

Roll on home time!

Oh, the links are just below this post if you came here hoping to fend off Friday afternoon boredom...think of me, dreaming of exploring a post-apocalyptic Washington DC while I do the accounts, won't you... ;)

Fink's Links #37

Almost weekless, again...! Just the weekend left now to keep us from running out of time - fear not though - just as the sun rises out of the oceans each day, if the proper rituals are followed then we'll have a nice fresh week to look forward to (when this one has finished playing with us), so I'd better get on with my little part of the magic and note down what I found this week seething in teh tubes(sic)...

Lets get ourselves off to a start with the birth of a new meme (I've seen it on at least 6 forums already as a reply to a sensible question - to much hilarity - so you may as well prepare yourselves)...

Now to a nice taxing (and equally random) segway by looking at "The Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever (apparently it is possible to solve in 2 questions - if your brain is the size of a planet and you have plenty of time to think about it)...

If you still have any thinking power left after that, check out this excellent talk by Susan Savage-Rumbaugh: "Apes that write, start fires and play Pac-Man"...

Criggo - A blog of amusing (mostly American) newspaper clippings... ;)

Check out some funny chess variants.... ;)

Next lets explore some amazing Mexican crystal caverns with National Geographic Magazine...

Time for a nice bit of urban exploration now, this time abandoned airfields (including the odd space shuttle)!

Discover how the other half drinks...somehow, I just can't rationalise the fact that anything enjoyed so temporarily can be worth anything like that much money, but hey, I'm not super rich...! ;)

A rather funny/cruel (and a little profane) T-Shirt (although some parts of the population won't get it)...

Retro photography now, with some new/old Rolleiflex lookalike 35mm Cameras from Japan (available in some rather funky colours)...not sure I could ever go back to film cameras now!

Check out an excellent opportunity to "take years off your life"...

...and last (but not least) a double-edged "Mens room fail"...(funny for two reasons if you are keeping up with your Memes)... ;)

So that's it for another week, there will, no doubt be more next week (assuming everyone else completes their rituals) and if you need proof that it works then you can see all the previous weeks links here...now go outside and play... ;)

Happy Birthday VodQueen

La la la la la la la .. 

Do Rei Me..... 

(just warming up so we are in fine singing voices)..

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear VodQueen

Happy Birthday to you..

You'll have to come around for a celebratory drink one night.. we have a new bottle of Vod in!

Enjoy your trip to Devon.

;o) 

Seety.co.uk vs Street View - Virtual London Walk

Thought I would check these guys out as they made the Metro newspaper...they are offering a virtual walk (using a Google Maps API) around some areas of London (they claim to driven about 1000km of London streets taking just over 170000 pictures as they were going along), and the result (if a little slow and clunky) is still quite impressive...it's just a shame that Google themselves are already in the process of doing exactly the same but for most of *England* for their Street map project...and if you compare the two...well...no contest really...the google interface is lightning fast, the pictures load immeditaely, scroll quickly and effortlessly and when you move they even merge into one another to create a reasonable impression of progression... ;)

But then Google's offering isn't online yet...so this is all we have at the moment if you do fancy a virtual walk around town...

Cue a slew of people finding pictures of themselves that they don't want appearing on the internet (and the odd mysterious artifacts)...

There and Back again - Earlswood to Canary Wharf

So last night wasn't too bad, with a bit of digging around I discovered that they have put on an extra (what they call) "semi fast" train (i.e. not "fast" meaning direct, but not a "stopping service" either) at just past six from London Victoria...

I zoomed from the office on the dot of close of business and legged it down to the Jubilee line (platform couldn't have been much busier, but when the train came we all managed to pile on somehow), changed at Westminster for the Circle and District line and arrived with about 5 minutes to spare - looking at the ravening hoard on the main concourse I decided to take a gamble and went for the mini display near the platforms where Redhill trains normally depart, as it's that much closer (so more chance of a seat)...as I waited, so a couple of business men were taking bets on whether it would leave from 18 or 19 ("It's got to be platform 19") and of course (as always happens at Victoria, and I had honestly forgotten) everyone broke into a run towards Platform 15 when it popped up, causing our friend who was poised to run through the crowd to the right to be left standing...I got my seat (phew) just starting to get comfortable when an announcement blared out "Apologies Ladies and Gentlemen, but there has been a mistake" (Oh No!) "this service will now not be calling at Purley"...queue a load of gasps and swear words and about a third of the people on my carriage got off again, making space for the desperate folks running up the train looking for space to clamber aboard...

Anyway, got to Redhill and they have actually got things rather well arranged there - from the plentiful "Here to help" staff in HVJs to the proliferation of very clear signs to the replacement buses -

- which didn't stop zooming past as I was waiting for Flyingpops to buy her ticket to Birmingham for her meeting today...

This morning we awoke to find that snow/hail had fallen overnight (the first time this has happened in October, in the London area since 1934), so it was a bit of a mad dash to get the car scraped and defrosted, then of course the *only* train I can get into London from Earlswood in the morning had a technical fault (probably the same one the car had) and was about ten minutes late (and totally packed when it arrived - managed to score a seat at East Croydon though), got into Victoria at about 0825 (pretty good!) - District and Circle was fine (took the secret entrance at Victoria to miss the crowds - shhh!) and then had to wait for about 12 minutes at Westminster for a Jubilee line train...

I *just* made my desk before 9am...

Certainly not loving it, but thus far I have *just* managed to keep to semi-normal commuting times (thanks only to these sparce semi-fast trains though)...anyway, only 5 more journeys to go before things should return to normal (wish me luck)...

Engineering works and disruption - Redhill to Coulsdon South

All the fun of the "fare" today...there are *week* long engineering works on the line that goes from Redhill to Coulsdon South meaning *all* trains from our area to London Bridge have been completely cancelled...two alternatives are left, (neither of them are particularly attractive) -

1 - Bus to Redhill, wait for a replacement bus service to Purley (and there are terrible road works along there that we discovered on Timmy's stag do), wait at Purley for a train to East Croydon, then wait at East Croydon for a service to London Bridge - estimated journey time - how long is a piece of string...?
2 - Drive to Earlswood as usual (wade through the crowds of people who have come from Redhill that aren't usually Earlswood passengers), wait on the wrong platform (no sign to tell us, thanks) for a train to Victoria (which is the wrong side of London completely for the Docklands), forget trying to find a seat and just look for any tiny space to crush into), this train then has to go the wrong way down the track, wait until nothing is coming (took about ten minutes this morning) and then sneak onto the Gatwick Express line (which is not part of the engineering works), get off at Victoria (where 3 of the entrances to the tube were closed today thanks to overcrowding by all the extra people trying to use it), get the District line to Westminster and then change onto the Jubilee line to complete my journey...

We did option two...and somehow, this total hash of a journey managed to get me into work about fifteen minutes earlier than usual...go figure...!

On the way home it's *five* separate stages on the railway alone (including the replacement bus through the road works), and the two tube journeys unless I can get on the train out of Victoria that leaves at 1710...somehow I get the feeling that this isn't going to be a very enjoyable week...

Fink's Links #36

Cool, it's Friday again! Woo hoo! Without any further preamble lets get on to the links (it's a really good mix this week) -

Firstly those unstoppable Japs are at it again with the "Tuttuki Bako Box", yes, if your lifelong dream has been to poke a virtual panda, your wish has just been granted...! ;)

A picture entitled "It's worth the extra $3.05"...I beg to differ, leave the restaurant NOW!

"You fell asleep watching a DVD"...do we really need a simulator...?

Play a little game of "Guess the film from it's Polish poster" - surprisingly difficult!

Watch some very impressive time-lapse tilt-shift videos by artist Keith Loutit...

"One Friday in April, 1968"...what one teacher did to educate America about racism after the assassination of Martin Luther King...you can watch a TV documentary about it on that site also...

The world without us (an interactive timeline)...

A very pretty "World sunlight map"...(almost up to date)...

Some more urban exploration, this time (rather forced "art" in the shooting style this time though I'm afraid, urban exploration should be a bit more gritty) an abandoned island castle...

CNET decides it's going to have a go cracking open the new iPod Nano...(not very carefully)...

Next check out a dutch "splat rug"...(*raises left eyebrow in Spock fashion*)...

I actually really want one of these - the aerogarden - a compact home, indoor hydroponics/lighting system...

...and finally a rather good "Payment fail"...

More links next week and previous weeks links are in this direction... ;)

Nokia Headphones - New heights of embarrasment

My love/hate relationship with my Nokia N73 continues - it's managed to learn a a new trick now, a very, very annoying one...the other day I was merrily continuing my journey through the top 100 classical tunes of all time when I arrived at London Bridge station, tutted slightly at the reduced gate entry for the Jubilee line but joined in the scrum, suffering some inevitable gentle knocks/the odd rucksack in the face/briefcase in the shins...as I shuffled slowly forwards though the neatly dressed queue, the track I was listening to drew to a jolly (kettle drum filled) conclusion and there was a short pause while the gremlin in the phone threw his newspaper to the floor and scrambled to flip the tiny record over...oddly the next track was of noticeably worse quality, but I shrugged and turned the volume up a notch or two (nearing maximum), got to the barrier and slipped in my season ticket and began my two escalator descent into the bowels of London...

The platform was quite busy, I had to wait for around five minutes, surrounded by a crush of fellow commuters but eventually a train with enough room arrived and I "twister"'ed my way into a fairly comfortable position (i.e. one with a good amount of head room and minimal back pain)...as we pulled away from London Bridge (after a couple of attempts by the driver to get the doors to shut without any limbs poking out) I started to notice a young couple peering up at me through the forest of clinging arms, talking quietly and giggling (and then looking embarrassed at themselves as they noticed me noticing them with my slightly confused "is this *really* a laughing matter?" expression)...and then one of my ear buds fell out (as they have a habit of doing) and it immediately became apparent that for the last 10 minutes, not only had I been enjoying Mozart's Klavierkonzert (and whatever had been on before that, and maybe before that) I had also been broadcasting it at full volume through the (excellent) handset speaker to all of those around me...*sigh*...

Face+Palm...(still, at least this time it was pretty far from the worst thing I could have been listening to)...

Free Thameslink season ticket holder

In a happy piece of good timing, yesterday I was the lucky recipient of a brand new (if a little garish) season ticket holder, courtesy of Thameslink, which is nice, because my last free season ticket holder (from the FT, in the ultimate goodie bag) was starting to get a bit tatty...this was also a little odd, as when First decided to buy Thameslink they spent a huge amount of time and money (and actually it wasn't even that long ago) changing the name and the livery of the service from Thameslink to "First Capital Connect"...so a rainbow coloured branding reversal seems to be taking place (Thameslink was a much better name anyway IMHO)...

So what was this actually all about? Opening up the tiny folded sheet tucked inside revealed something that put a bit of a (cruel) smile on my face - a happy-clappy season ticket holder in exchange for massive disruption to services until around 2015 due to underground works, crossrail works, platform works, track works, new trains (with aircon - gasp! Only had them for 10 years on the other lines!) etc. etc. etc. (absolutely none of which is going to change the fact that it's a one up, one down single line for much of their track, any problem along that bit of the line and the entire service grinds to a halt)...so actually it's just another load of reasons to give thanks and praise every day for not having to even touch that service with a barge pole...

At the Mountains of Madness - movie confirmed!

This is just a *complete* dream come true...(well, actually that should probably read "nightmare come true" thanks to the subject matter involved)..."Hobbit" director Guillermo del Toro (of "Pans Labyrinth" fame) has finally managed to get financing to film his movie based on Lovecraft's classic story "At the Mountains of Madness", he was originally trying to get it all moving back in 2006...I had feared it would never happen as at the time he was quoted as saying "The studio is very nervous about the cost and it not having a love story or a happy ending, but it's impossible to do either in the Lovecraft universe", which at the time filled me with equal amounts of respect (for his integrity), joy (that someone actually talented was going to try and faithfully tackle a Lovecraft tale on the silver screen) and total dispair (that as a result of trying to be true to the piece it probably wasn't ever going to see the light of a projector bulb)...

I now await this movie with fevered anticipation (and an appropriate amount of twitching)...

Deep Hollywood voice - "Millenia after the Eldar abandoned their hidden cyclopean city in the frozen wastes of Antartica, their alien shuggoth slaves live on...hulking in the dark...and they are pretty tired of the taste of penguins"...(although on reflection the studio will probably come up with a slightly better tag line... ;)