30 September 2010
29 September 2010
Podcasts
I am a geek in that I have a strong interest in science and technology (amongst other things). I am proud of the achievements of science and I thing science should be promoted and encouraged, especially amongst young people but also across the population in general.
Living in a country where the radio and TV are in a language I don't speak very well has forced me to seek other forms of mental stimulation for my drive to work and while sitting at home. I recently discovered podcasts which are a great way of getting something worth listening to onto your ipod/iphone.
If you are interested in science I suggest Radiolab, its a totally awesome science show. They have this unique style which takes a little getting used to, but when you do you will be hooked. Gareth first pointed me towards it and I was a bit sceptical at first. Now I love it. They do 1 hour podcasts of their regular radio shop and also special "shorts" which last about 15 mins and are perfect for my drive to work. I really can't recommend this show enough. I love it. Check out http://www.radiolab.%20orgb/ or go to itunes and seach on radiolab and download and enjoy.
Science weekly from the Guardian - another very good science show, worth listening to
If you want some history, A History of the World in a Hundred Objects is a great series of podcast shorts about history told though objects by the director of the British Mueseum. Again a perfect length for my drive to work and highly educational.
Finally if you want some politcis and current affairs the Young Turks offers an educated, informed and opinionated liberal view on American Politics. It is a fantatsic antidote to the idiots like Rush Limbaugh
To download a podcast, simply go to the very shit piece of software that is iTunes and search for your chosen cast. All the ones above are free so when you find them, follow the instructions download, listen and enjoy
Living in a country where the radio and TV are in a language I don't speak very well has forced me to seek other forms of mental stimulation for my drive to work and while sitting at home. I recently discovered podcasts which are a great way of getting something worth listening to onto your ipod/iphone.
If you are interested in science I suggest Radiolab, its a totally awesome science show. They have this unique style which takes a little getting used to, but when you do you will be hooked. Gareth first pointed me towards it and I was a bit sceptical at first. Now I love it. They do 1 hour podcasts of their regular radio shop and also special "shorts" which last about 15 mins and are perfect for my drive to work. I really can't recommend this show enough. I love it. Check out http://www.radiolab.%20orgb/ or go to itunes and seach on radiolab and download and enjoy.
Science weekly from the Guardian - another very good science show, worth listening to
If you want some history, A History of the World in a Hundred Objects is a great series of podcast shorts about history told though objects by the director of the British Mueseum. Again a perfect length for my drive to work and highly educational.
Finally if you want some politcis and current affairs the Young Turks offers an educated, informed and opinionated liberal view on American Politics. It is a fantatsic antidote to the idiots like Rush Limbaugh
To download a podcast, simply go to the very shit piece of software that is iTunes and search for your chosen cast. All the ones above are free so when you find them, follow the instructions download, listen and enjoy
Moped madness
This week is all about small motorbikes and being young and stupid.
The first one from Les goes to show what happens when you let a bunch of chav's lose with a moped and a roundabout. I then found a load more that were all similiar, here, here and here. Strangley enough they all seem to be German.
The next one is a must see and goes to prove that just cos the engine is small doesn't mean it isn't fast or very dangerous.
And then there is this guy who might just be a rocket scientist.
And finally a great three-parter on youtube showing the joys of the Yamaha fizzy and girls in 1970's northern England. Class
The first one from Les goes to show what happens when you let a bunch of chav's lose with a moped and a roundabout. I then found a load more that were all similiar, here, here and here. Strangley enough they all seem to be German.
The next one is a must see and goes to prove that just cos the engine is small doesn't mean it isn't fast or very dangerous.
And then there is this guy who might just be a rocket scientist.
And finally a great three-parter on youtube showing the joys of the Yamaha fizzy and girls in 1970's northern England. Class
23 September 2010
Demotivational posters
Do you remember seeing those utterly hideous motivational posters several years ago showing an eagle soaring with a very cheesy logo underneath? They were designed to hang in the meeting room in some crappy company and make you feel sick.
Well fortunatly they have been rendered largely obsolete by the rather excellent "demotivational posters" at verydemotivational.com. This is a user generated forum and I recently submitted a few. I am not sure of the process that gets them from submission to being on the website but I think it has something to do with users voting. I am rather demotivated to find that none of mine have yet made it.
So in the absence of any crap jokes this week, here they are...
Well fortunatly they have been rendered largely obsolete by the rather excellent "demotivational posters" at verydemotivational.com. This is a user generated forum and I recently submitted a few. I am not sure of the process that gets them from submission to being on the website but I think it has something to do with users voting. I am rather demotivated to find that none of mine have yet made it.
So in the absence of any crap jokes this week, here they are...
Geek Day - more analemma
A while ago I wrote a post about a guy who had photographed the Sun every ten days for a year. The subsequent pattern reflects the various movements of the Earth. This is called the analemma and is described here on wikipedia. Despite that explanation I was still having trouble picturing how all this stuff was moving.
The other day I was playing around on this site, which allows you to look at a map of the sky from anywhere on Earth at anytime (it is made by the same guy who did the Space Invaders game) and it occured to me that I could re-create the analemma. So I set my location to 60N/5E, which is pretty much at the Lair, then filmed a day by day movie for a year from equinox to equinox. The movie is here.
You can recreate this and try putting in different latitudes and see how it impacts the suns pattern. Its pretty cool.
(Now we just have to see how many perv hits I get on a site called karmasotra with a post called anal emma...)
The other day I was playing around on this site, which allows you to look at a map of the sky from anywhere on Earth at anytime (it is made by the same guy who did the Space Invaders game) and it occured to me that I could re-create the analemma. So I set my location to 60N/5E, which is pretty much at the Lair, then filmed a day by day movie for a year from equinox to equinox. The movie is here.
You can recreate this and try putting in different latitudes and see how it impacts the suns pattern. Its pretty cool.
(Now we just have to see how many perv hits I get on a site called karmasotra with a post called anal emma...)
22 September 2010
White water fun
Back in 1997 I drove from central Namibia along the Caprivi Strip into Botswana and then on to Victroria Falls with the goal of rafting the Zambezi. The first part of this was achieved fairly easily by signing up for a commercial trip, then things got interesting.
I had been on numerous river trips in the US and elsewhere and I had heard the standard saftey briefing enough times to give it. However it normal goes something like "if you fall out of the boat then bla bla". Here in the centre of Africa, the briefing was subtly different, it went "when you fall out the boat..." They even had kayakers following the rafts to pick up the swimmers and stear them away from the crocs in the pools.
We did the trip and the rapids were huge! I have never run anything like that, Lava Falls on the Grand Canyon was big and wide and ferocious, but these are narrrow and very fast and very fierce. We capized once but no harm was done, we portaged one rapid and had a great trip which was all too short.
I was chating about this on Friday night in the pub with Terry and on Monday he sent we the first of this weeks movie. Remember the river surfing in Voss from a couple of weeks back, well this takes it to a whole new level.
And just in case you think I am dissing Lava Falls - check this and this
I had been on numerous river trips in the US and elsewhere and I had heard the standard saftey briefing enough times to give it. However it normal goes something like "if you fall out of the boat then bla bla". Here in the centre of Africa, the briefing was subtly different, it went "when you fall out the boat..." They even had kayakers following the rafts to pick up the swimmers and stear them away from the crocs in the pools.
We did the trip and the rapids were huge! I have never run anything like that, Lava Falls on the Grand Canyon was big and wide and ferocious, but these are narrrow and very fast and very fierce. We capized once but no harm was done, we portaged one rapid and had a great trip which was all too short.
I was chating about this on Friday night in the pub with Terry and on Monday he sent we the first of this weeks movie. Remember the river surfing in Voss from a couple of weeks back, well this takes it to a whole new level.
And just in case you think I am dissing Lava Falls - check this and this
Bonus Wednesday Movie
Bonus Wednesday movie because it won't really keep until next week.
As spectator sports go, snooker is almost as terminally dull as golf (almost)
However there is always an exception and this is it.
Ronnie O'Sullivan comes to the table, then immediately asks what the prize for a 147 is. How utterly cool is that? But it gets better, because when they then tell him that there isn't one he proceeds to pot all the balls except the last black, leaving the ultimate ball as a protest. The Guardian says that he the ref had to beg him to finish. I am not so sure that was obvious from the vid, but its bloody cool anyway.
As spectator sports go, snooker is almost as terminally dull as golf (almost)
However there is always an exception and this is it.
Ronnie O'Sullivan comes to the table, then immediately asks what the prize for a 147 is. How utterly cool is that? But it gets better, because when they then tell him that there isn't one he proceeds to pot all the balls except the last black, leaving the ultimate ball as a protest. The Guardian says that he the ref had to beg him to finish. I am not so sure that was obvious from the vid, but its bloody cool anyway.
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