Ian Robinson’s Soapbox

David Lee Roth? Spotted doing a bluegrass version of the Van Halen song Jump. It’s actually pretty good stuff! Van Halen are reforming for a tour as well.

Went to see Smokin’ Aces last night. Weird. Bizarre. Strange. Drivel. Funny. Violent. About 2 hours of mindless mishmash. Good for escapism. Some parts try to be profound but fail. Quote from the girl I was with about 10 minutes into the film: Like watching a train wreck I didn’t care though as I was [...]

The first mailing for one of the OU science courses I’m taking this year was delivered yesterday. S343 – Inorganic Chemistry. It covers the chemistry of the transition elements. Started reading it today. Happy days. I love chemistry

UPDATE: AAUC have removed the entry referenced below from their June 2007 calendar. Apple WWDC was very late in the year in 2006. August in fact. Hopefully this years will be earlier. Just seen that the Australian Apple University Consortium have an event calendar that has WWDC 2007 as running from Sunday June 10th to [...]

Still recovering from gum work. So eating a lot of Weetabix and Soup. I am so looking forward to a bacon butty or a big plate of chicken and chips when my mouth heals. Lightly toasted bread, buttered hot, very crispy streaky bacon, thinly sliced tomatoes, a big mug of piping hot tea… Bliss city

Be a while since I’ve done anything on YAPT. Just posted a new build. See the YAPT page. Here is a screen shot from the latest version: Click Picture for larger view

There is an ongoing programme to redevelop the docks area of Belfast. A plan has just been submitted to redevelop the Titanic Area where the infamous Titanic was built. I’ve always wanted a house by the sea. But I also like city living. Getting an apartment in the Titanic area with a view over Belfast [...]

The American Dialect Society have chosen plutoed as the word of the year. It means to devalue or demote someone or something. Heh! I still agree Pluto is not a planet!

. . .when all through the house not a creature was stirring! I’m really looking forward to the new toys and software that will be released over the next few days. I hope there is a iPod phone. I hope it works with the Nike+ shoe thingy. I really hope said iPod phone isn’t a [...]

I recently (2005 to 2006) had some orthodontic work done to straighten my upper Social Six teeth. The social six are the visible incisors and canines in the upper jaw. I got the straightening done via lingual orthodontics where the braces are placed on the back of the teeth and can’t be seen. This worked [...]

I’m not one for new year resolutions. The fact that the Earth has made another orbit of the Sun doesn’t seem like a reason to make promises that’ll get broken. If you want to do something then just do it irrespective of the date! Having said that it is time for me to get back [...]

There are several private organisations working towards the development of non-governmental space vehicles. See this video of a TEDtalk by Burt Rutan on his efforts with SpaceShipOne. Rutan is now working with Virgin Galactic and Richard Branson to offer private sub-orbital flights. They are also going to build a space port called Spaceport America in [...]

Each year The Edge asks prominent thinkers a simple question. This years question was What are you Optimistic about? Why? The responses are up. I’ll have to have a think and decide what I’m optimistic about. I’ll post it in the comments. Update: I’ve posted my optimistic predictions for 2007 in the comments.

There is an excellent version of John Lennon’s Imagine performed by Queen and Paul Rodgers at their Hyde Park gig. Why is this entry filed in the Music and the Atheism categories? Roger Taylor’s reaction to the no religion too… line. Apparently in the USA that line is often changed to read as one religion [...]