Archive for July, 2008

Hellstrom’s Hive. What happened next?

July 26th, 2008

I’ve wittered on about the fabulous Hellstrom’s Hive before. If you’ve read it and want to know what happened next then you’re not alone. I’ve got a few ideas for where to take the story that I may or may not develop. I have done a bit of work on a continuation. A potential opening [...]

Soapbox and Twitter

July 26th, 2008

Since I started Twittering I’ve been posting things that used to appear here on the Soapbox, like Song of the Day, as tweets instead. I can see this increasing with Twitter been used for short posts and this site being used for longer screeds. My 3 latest tweets also appear in the sidebar on the [...]

Vindicated!

July 22nd, 2008

When I was thinking of buying a drum kit, I searched for info on the web to show that it was a good way to get exercise. I was looking for justification to spend the cash. I couldn’t find any info to show that it was good exercise. A study showing that drummers are fit, [...]

Blowhards…

July 18th, 2008

I agree with what he said about what he said regarding this twaddle.

Christened the wok

July 16th, 2008

I used my new wok earlier. It was as quick to cook something myself than it would have been to jump in the car and drive to the take-away. Plus it tasted better, was healthier and probably cheaper as well. Only took 10 minutes to clear up afterwards. First use of the wok was as [...]

Audiobooks and reading

July 13th, 2008

I’ve discovered an interesting thing with audiobooks and real books (both paper and electronic). If I try to read a book via audiobook for the first time then I find it hard to sustain my interest. On the other hand if I use an audiobook edition as a way to reread a book I’ve actually [...]

Ordered a 16GB iPhone

July 11th, 2008

Was out at lunch today to get cash. Dandered into a Carphone Warehouse. “Have you any iPhone’s left?“, I asked, “Or are you all sold out?“ “We’ve got some 8GB ones here, but they are reserved for people. If you come back after 2 we’ll have released any that haven’t been collected yet.” said a [...]

Chinese Food Made Easy

July 9th, 2008

The new BBC TV show called Chinese Food Made Easy looks interesting. I love Chinese food. Probably be better, healthier and cheaper to cook my own. Don’t know if I have the time though. Looking forward to the new show. Update: It was good show. Looked gorgeous on BBC HD. I’m going to do more [...]

No TVital in Belfast this year :-(

July 7th, 2008

There won’t be a TVital festival in Belfast this year. Piss!

Song of the Day: The B52′s – 52 Girls

July 7th, 2008

More happy music.

Internet speed bump

July 6th, 2008

VirginMedia sent me a letter a while back saying that my cable internet connection would be increased to 10Mbps at some stage in over the summer. Looks like it’s been done. I don’t know when it happened but in the last day or so I’ve noticed much faster downloads. I’ve just done a speed test [...]

UK NHS 60 years old today

July 5th, 2008

Worth celebrating. Universal health care, free at the point of delivery. An essential part of a civilised country I think. Worth noting, despite the impression given by certain people, that the Conservative Party have been in charge of the service for a lot of that time.

Good riddance

July 5th, 2008

Jesse Helms is dead. Finally acceding to the plea made in the marvellous MC Hawking ditty. Good fucking riddance. Tip of the hat to Pharyngula.

Journey to the Ants – Hölldobler and Wilson

July 5th, 2008

Just ordered a copy of Journey to the Ants by Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson. It’s a book about how ants evolved and how they live in various habitats and colonies. This book seems to be a more accessible study of the subject of ants than their academic focused The Ants. The latter is [...]

Sold the iLiad

July 3rd, 2008

I sold my Iliad. It was just to small to use for A4 PDFs and too big to use for fiction. Plus the Sony eReader is perfect for fiction and I have that. So the iLiad is off to a new home in sunny England!