I was browsing YouTube music and came across this; these landscapes are so evocative, I had to wiki it to look at them in detail. Simply awesome.

My seven-year old daughter wrote a note to the tooth fairy and asked her what her name is. God bless the internet!

For those who remember the "Thundercats" cartoon (fondly or not) this is a must.

Irene posted a link to these pictures on Facebook, and they're well worth a look. A Russian photographer has blended images taken during the Great Patriotic War and those of today.

http://fima-psuchopadt.livejournal.com/2564781.html

And so I find myself taking a day off work for the first time in two years. Not because I'm bed-ridden, but because what I've got is highly contagious and in a (badly) air-conditioned office, that's not good news. I daresay I'll still find plenty to do, aside from lying in bed feeling sorry for myself. Ordering Lego for Christmas, for example, even though virtually every item is showing as out of stock. Is it just me, or is the stock in shops dwindling every year?

"No, I don't want to wait 24hrs for it - if you haven't got it I'll go somewhere that has!"

Except no-one has. Not unless you check in advance. No wonder internet sales are growing so rapidly. We made a special trip to Newcastle to see Fenwicks window and find some aforementioned Lego, but unless you're a fan of Star Wars or Indiana Jones, you're out of luck. We weren't quite empty handed when we came back, but it felt like it.

Away from the economic chaos and political enthusiasm (long may it continue) a little aside.

Justina Robson's (ongoing) Quantum Gravity series is well worth a look. I must confess, the book notes of the first novel "Keeping It Real" didn't really fill me with hope. It just smacked too much of well-trod cliches. But wow, it is a roller-coaster ride. The reviews on Amazon say all that need to be said, though I will emphasise its' best to read the books in order (Book 3 is just out). Oh, and there's some pretty graphic sex in it.

I understand the author is from Leeds. Somehow that makes perfect sense.

Seemed like a good idea...

Name a CD you own that no-one else on your friends list does:

Peter Ulrich - Pathways and Dawns.
http://www.themysterium.info/pp1.htm

Once of "Dead Can Dance" featuring the now very famous Lisa Gerrard.

Name a book you own that no-one else on your friends list does:

Women, Sex and Rock N Roll by Liz Evans

Featuring some of the ladies who have created my favourite music. All hail Kristin Hersh!

Name a movie you own on DVD/VHS/etc that no-one else on your friends list does:

Tricky. I hazard a guess at "La Reine Margot", a magnificently raw re-telling of the Massacre of St Bartholomew.

Name a place that you have visited that no-one else on your friends list has:

The Isle of Delos, birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. A truly wonderful place where dreams take wings. Also Stonehenge at Sunset and Avebury Stone Circle.

I've enthused about this previously, so I shall let the BBC do the talking.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tms/2008/09/durhams_success_a_cricket_fair.shtml

In between studying for my next Microsoft exam, I found time to go to the latest Narnia movie. Yes, I know it's been out in the States for ages, but it's only just come out here. I hadn't read the book, though I have a vague recollection of the story from the dim and distant past. I was pleasantly surprised. The critics don't seem to like it much, but I actually found it more engaging. The question is, will they go beyond "Dawn Treader"? The next in CS Lewis' series is the last to feature (two of) the Pevensey children, and I have a suspicion they will be tempted to wrap it up there. As one astute observer put it, the Narnia chronicles were not written as a series: it's more Silmarilion than Lord of the Rings. Still, I guess it all depends how many people go see it and buy the DVD.

Yeah, right.

Work is hell, hours are long, all I'm fit to do when I get home is pretty much pass out.

But a new guy starts on Monday, which will help.

And I've passed a computer exam. Not the one I *really* wanted, but I feel a lot happier with myself. I was beginning to wonder if I could still do exams. I'm getting too old for all this studying milarky.

Those links that appear of the top of the page are great. Today, a link to one of those NASA photos that really has a WOW! factor.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/01/04/comet-wild-zoom.html

A new Year is as much about looking backwards as looking forwards, and this year has been that bit different in part due to my participation in the local Parish Council. I think it’s one of those English anachronisms that hasn’t got an equivalent elsewhere, but basically the Parish Council is the lowest tier of elected Councils which gets to deal with the issues at ground level that the larger, more political councils (the County Councils) can’t be bothered with. Like the Village Christmas tree.

As the Chair of the Council, many things drop unexpectedly in my lap, but once we’d decided as a Council to put up a tree this year (after an absence of two years) I didn’t realise how much I’d have to do. Fortunately the Council has a part-time paid employee, the clerk, who does most of the organising. Except this year she managed to arrange a weekend away when the tree was supposed to be put up. So, the scene is this. I’ve agreed to put the lights on the tree on the Saturday and connect them to the shiny new outside power-point that’s been put in the ground 5 yards or so from the Community Centre (=Village Hall). The tree is, so I thought, being put up on the Friday, so all would be well for Sunday when the local church is having carol singing around the tree.

I show up at the appointed time (9:30) Saturday morning in the freezing cold and ice, to find the tree absent (though fencing in place) and the Community Centre locked. The tree, I had learned from an answer phone message, is locked in the Community Centre. I stand around in the cold for half an hour cursing when one of the local window cleaners’ boys sees me and says “Waiting for Gordon are you? Ok, I’ll get him out of bed.” Twenty minutes later the window cleaner comes around with his lads in tow. Hurray! The day is saved, for this chap is also the guy with the keys for the Community Centre. After a fortifying brew, we all haul the 12 foot tree out, find a spanner from somewhere to undo the fencing and erect the tree. A shade before 11am the electrician turns up and says “Great! I was wondering how we were going to get the tree up. I rang round a few people, but no-one wants to come out on a day like this.”

And so, I thank you, the window cleaners of Ouston, for making it a Happy Christmas. With luck, things will run a bit smoother next year … or should that be this year?

Happy New Year, everyone!

Failed again. I ask myself ... why do I put myself through this torture? Not sure.

I am going away to lick my wounds and plot a new cunning strategem. I'll be back... maybe not today or tomorrow, but damn you Cisco, I'll be back!

This month is a hectic month. Remember that computer exam I failed? Well, I'm having another tilt on the 19th, which means my on-line time is pretty limited. If I'm a bit tardy - sorry. Hopefully things will pick up after the October half term (22-26th).

They weren’t favourites, but by ‘eck the boys done good.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cricket/story/0,,2152408,00.html

It’s real Roy of the Rovers stuff… well, it would be if this was football. [Soccer, to our friends over the Pond ;) ]

Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. The club is based at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street. [That’s a couple of miles from my house]. Granted first-class status in 1991, Durham is English cricket's newest first-class county.

Durham CCC was founded as an official entity on 23 May 1882, and the nascent club played its first competitive match on June 12 of that year, beating Northumberland by 4 wickets at the Ashbrooke Ground, Sunderland. The club established an enviable record as a minor county: becoming the first minor county to beat a first-class county in the Gillette Cup; winning the Minor Counties Championship a record-equalling seven times between 1901 and 1984; and putting together a record of 65 matches without defeat between 1976 and 1982 that remains unbroken to the present day.

So says Wiki. Some First Class [Premier League for Cricket] Counties have been around a hundred years and won nothing. Durham have done it in 16. It’s nothing short of a miracle. Congratulations to all, and perhaps especially Mr. Collingwood, whos lads so convincingly trounced India on Monday’s ODI. Even if he is a Sunderland fan ;)

I'm not sure quotes always translate out of context, but here's a few quotes from some of my games to give context.

Game: Brand Awareness GM: Rob Edwards

Description: You are Brand, and triumph is within your reach. You let
yourself sleep, safe in the knowledge that now you finally have the Jewel of
Judgement in your control, you could delay the decision about what to do
with it a little longer. What you didn't expect was that when you awoke you
would not be alone. Worse, all the people in the room with you each claim
that they are Brand and that you and all the others are imposters. You
cannot let the others have the Jewel, only you know how to use it properly,
but what to do when you are all so precisely matched?

After much head-scratching by the assembled Brands:

"Come on - we can sort this out. We are a genius!"

There was one thing the seven Brands could agree on - GET CORWIN!!

There's not many games where:
a) Corwin dies within the first 1/2 hr
b) You hear a GM say "Ok, you reach into shadow and retrieve a blender and dump Corwin's corpse in it."

Alan can sincerely say he has not laughed so much in a very long time. I thought I was going to rupture something.

Game: One Tree Hill GM: Me

Comment on the economic importance of Ygg:
"There will always be tourists."

Best example of Amber diplomacy:
"I heard that Rebmans were the result of Dworkin's short-lived mermaid fetish."

Rebman Princess's comment on the usefulness of captured Amber knight:
"Can we play with him?"

Amberite response:
"You will execute him, or play with him first?"

Amber delegate's comment on religion:
"I worship the Tree from afar."

Player comment on arrival of water via hotel room service:
"Aha! The man with jugs is here!"

Rebman delegate's official response to bad news:
"Eeeeep!!"

... it hardly does the Con justice, but anyone who went will tell you of its greatness.

I made it back in one piece, even having time to pop into Oxford to see Mel and have a cup of tea (*waves*). As ever, it all seems over too soon and dragging yourself away is the hardest thing. Next years' Con seems too far away.

At least after all that driving my brain was functioning enough to come up with a cunning plan. It's always good to have one or two, and I think I will be occupying that Friday night slot again next year, hopefully to good effect.

There's not many good news stories about, especially where the Middle East is concerned, but there is the odd ray of sunshine. In a world of intolerance, it's good to know that reason can still win through sometimes. Welcome back, Alan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6267928.stm