Got a few photo's from the trip to Cuba with Nash and Gaz (Gringo Star).

photo's

ITER Decision Delay

Because the French didn't back the US in 'THE WAR ON TERROR' or as everyone else calls it Bullying by George W Bush (miserable failure - does the W stand for wacko), then there is a split decision between Japan and France. Brilliant, it is not as if ITER is already ten year behind schedule). Well will have to wait for another couple of months while the politics is still being fought.

Was going to talk about last nights program with Louis Theroux where he interviews this nazi white supremacist idiot, but can't be arsed. I watched already for my skin to boil and all I saw where loads of thick yanks (I realise this is a tiny proportion of America and most Americans are OK, apart from the racists and the ultra right wing including of course, George W - miserable failure) blaming everyone else for their being un-educated, obese fascist trailer park trash. I couldn't hate them anymore than I could hate a hyena for being vicious scavengers, unfortunately they haven't been bought up properly, they haven't been educated and they generally don't have very much else to do apart from hate something that is different from themselves.

We should give them their own island some where away from the normal people and let them go one with there sad little existences. We wouldn't need to fear any reprisals from them later down the line as these lot are so stupid that three four generations down the line they will have trouble tying there own shoes laces let alone causing any trouble. Ah yes I did talk about it

Eddie Izzard - Sexie Tour, Wembley

Very funny show and he is a complete mentalist (more random than Smart, no really). It is wierd that you have come to see some one live and he is that far away you have to watch him on a screen, but thats what happens when a comedian does Wembley, I suppose. He wore a basque and short mini skirt which must mean he is trying to leave his action tranny persona into someone less mobile and more restrictive (I would imagine).

WE WON A AWAY GAME - Blackburn 0-2 Aston Villa

I can't believe we have won three games in a row. All we need to do now is stay up, win the Carling Cup and I may not even moan for a while about them being rubbish (well maybe)

Lord of the Rings - Return of the King



What a movie, went on for well over 3 hours and at the end I did not feel tired I could of watched it again. For me this was one of the most eagerly anticipated films ever and it didn't disappoint showing the brilliance of Peter Jackson, to not only to do justice to the book but also add something to it. Can't wait for the extended DVD to come out next November and then I am going to take a day off for a 'Lord of the Rings' session

There are approximately two billion children (persons under 18) in the world. However, since Santa does not visit children of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or Buddhist (except maybe in Japan) religions, this reduces the workload for Christmas night to 15% of the total, or 378 million (according to the Population Reference Bureau). At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that comes to 108 million homes, presuming that there is at least one good child in each.

Santa has about 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 967.7 visits per second.

This is to say that for each Christian household with a good child, Santa has around 1/1000 of a second to park the sleigh, hop out, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left for him, get back up the chimney, jump into the sleigh and get on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 108 million stops is evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false, but will accept for the purposes of our calculations), we are now talking about 0.78 miles per household; a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting bathroom stops or breaks. This means Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second -3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second, and a conventional reindeer can run (at best) 15 miles per hour.

The payload of the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized Lego set (two pounds), the sleigh is carrying over 500 thousand tons, not counting Santa himself. On land, a conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that the 'flying' reindeer could pull ten times the normal amount, the job can't be done with eight or even nine of them - Santa would need 360,000 of them. This increases the payload, not counting the weight of the sleigh, by another 54,000 tons, or roughly seven times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth (the ship, not the monarch).

600,000 tons travelling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this would heat up the reindeer in the same fashion as a spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer would absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy per second each. In short, they would burst into flames almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them and creating deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team would be vaporised within 4.26 thousandths of a second, or right about the time Santa reached the fifth house on his trip.

Not that it matters, however, since Santa, as a result of accelerating from a dead stop to 650 m.p.s. in 001 seconds, would be subjected to acceleration forces of 17,500 g. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of the sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force, instantly crushing his bones and organs and reducing him to a quivering blob of pink goo.

Therefore, if Santa did exist, he's dead now. Merry Christmas.

While on my works xmas do, I was introduced to the game of bar billiards which after a few games and a few pints turned out to be a blinding game, although nobody could decide on the rules. I didn't realise the game was so harsh as there is one skittles that if is knocked over you lose your entire score! Never again will I think its a game for old men (unless of course I have turned into an old man).

Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea - Come on the Villa!!!

Well well well, we beat the cockneys!!! What a goal by Juan Pablo. Lets win the cup (I am sooooo going to the final if we get there)

Stairs are finished


Well the boys from Glenscape Have finished the stairs and done a marvellous job. The only unfortunate problem is that I now have to start doing the rest of the garden which I am really not looking forward to in the slightest. By summer the garden will be done.

Wichita Lineman by Glen Cambell

I heard this at the pub the other day, you all have heard although you may not have had a name for it, Iimmediately got home and played it and it is absolutely beautiful. Thought I would shove the chords down

Gm7                       Bbmaj7         F                    Gm7



I am a lineman for the county       and I drive the main road



Dm7               Am7       G          D



searchin' in the sun for another overload.



                          Am7                               G



I hear you singing in the wires,      I can hear you in the whine



Gm                 D        Am7                  Bb



And the Wichita Lineman       is still on the line.





Am7   Bb (hit once and let ring)



 

Gm7                     Bbmaj7         F                      Gm7



  I know I need a small vacation,      but it don't look like rain.





    Dm7              Am7                  G              D



And if it snows that sounthern load won't ever stand the strain.



                         Am7                                    G



And I need you more than want you,       and I want you for all time.





Gm                  D         Am7                    Bb



    And the Wichita Lineman          is still on the line.





Am7     Bb     Gm7     Bb     C     Bc     C      G

Colonels abroad - Nash

Hi folks,

We are now back in Cusco after doing the Inca trail. The 1st day was a bit annoying as the 1st 3 hours were spent messing around in Cusco getting tickets and fuel (basically stuff that couldve/shouldve been done before hand). Once we got to km82 where the trek starts and got moving things were good and it was a nice easy first day to get the lungs and legs working.

The second day was supposed to be the difficult day and technically I suppose gaining 1400m in the sun is hard but I was in camp at 10.30am and that was the end of that day as far as trekking went, a bit disappointing as I would have liked to carry on til at least 3pm but wasnt allowed to. The weather wasnt great, with loads of cloud everywhere once we had got over the 4200m peak on day 2 but it cleared up at 4.30 everyday and we got some good shots including a close up of a hummingbird.

Day 3 was kinda the same with most of the 2st bit spent waiting for our guide to get to a ruin and explaining that it could have been a resting place, a military post or a religious site but nobody really knows. Then pointing some rocks out and saying that it could be a puma, lama or condor but again nobody really knows. Eventually she gave me permission to go off at my own pace for the rest of the day, so I started off and got into a rythm like ive never had before and basically started jogging the Inca trail, I flew past everyone of the tourist and then all the porters until I finally passed our porters and they started chasing me down the mountain laughing and shouting to catch me before the campsite, they got me with 400m to go. I spent the next 4 hours waiting for the next tourist to get in.

Finally on day 4 the weather at the start was appaulling so I went off again with an American called Graham and we were the 1st at Machu Picchu and you couldnt see anything at all ... bummer. We waited about and everyone else showed up and we all had tours around the ruins and then waited up on the hill for random gaps in the cloud so we could get some snaps. Eventually the cloud cleared for about 10 mins and a huge cheer went up around the mountain so we got some good shots in the end. After that Will and I raced the bus down the hill, path vs road and beat them in but we now cant walk properly. Overall a brilliant trip despite the weather (Sheff ... the gap jacket certainly is waterproof) and throughly recommended. Weve made friends with about 8 or 9 other travellers, most of whom are heading the same way as us so more company has been found.

Thats the lot as far as what Ive been up to.

Nash
xxx

Garden - Day 4

We are getting there!!! It is bloody big

Nano Flying V Guitar Played

Researchers at Cornell University played the flying V guitar which is no bigger than a blood cell. How cool. This is useful by the way as it demonstrates how we could substitute’s modern electronic components for nano components.

The researchers recently observed that light from a laser could cause properly designed small devices to oscillate, and this effect underlies the nanoguitar design. The nanoguitar is played by hitting the strings with a focused laser beam. When the strings vibrate they create interference patterns in the light reflected back, which can be detected and electronically converted down to audible notes. The device can play only simple tones, although chords can be played by activating more than one string at a time. The pitches of the strings are determined by their length, not by their tension as in a normal guitar, but the group has "tuned" the resonances in similar devices by applying a DC voltage..

Garden - Day 2

Even the cats joining in!!!

Underworld Live (Seems a suitable subject for my 1st posting)

Rick and Karl are confirmed to perform live on John Peel's show on Radio 1, December 10th. The performance will be "live-to-air" from the BBC's Maida Vale studio.

Garden Part 2 has started the first part started in May. If I go at this rate we may finish the garden by 2005. Builders have knocked the steps down and are about to buiild my step/veranda/store/recylce place. Note to self, need catchier name

Previous Blog Links

It has begun
OK, let’s rant

Has anyone got any decent ideas for an Xmas present for the girlfriend, struggling at the moment, any ieas would be most welcome! I made a fantastic carrot cake at the weekend by the way!! Anyhow Im off to kill a few japs TTFN!!

Dublin

I have been planning a bit of a surprise trip for Ailsa for months and finally last weekend was it. In the morning I bought up Ailsa a half pint of Guinness and by dinnertime we were in Dublin drinking the proper stuff. Ailsa had done her best to cram as much into the weekend as possible but with a few spies and a lot of phone calls, I was able to un-arrange most things. Had a top time and Dublin was beautiful, and even had three 'lie in's', on the first night went to see Radiohead (review below) who were absolutely brilliant.

Went to the Guinness Store house to see how the black gold was made and then sat in this circular glass bar which looks over the whole of Dublin while drinking the best pint I have ever drunk (Banks's not included), it was nice.

Went to the cinema and saw 'Thirteen' which is a graphic depiction of a teenage girl's rebellious shift after falling under the influence of a wayward friend. It has been described a cinematography contraceptives. It was a good movie but extremely difficult to watch at points. I think what it captured so beautifully is that there are points through out our lives where we all yearn to be noticed, to be one of only a handful of people that stand out in a crowd and also that we all wonder what we are going to do with our lives to make us special. The difference is when you older you have a greater awareness of self and have more tools in the locker to deal with these paranoia's and fears, where at the start of your life they make you wonder how could things be so unfair and whether things could ever feel better again. REVIEW

Good Restaurants
Tante Zoe' - Great Cajun/Creole restaurant in Temple Bar (Crow Road)
Da Pino - Nice little Italian, good pizza!!! (Parliament St)
Blazing Salads - Had to go there and even I was impressed with salad afterwards (Drury Street)
Gruel - Top brunch and breakfasts - good soups and salads!! (Dame Street)

RADIOHEAD have ended their 2003 world tour - in the same city they started it over six months ago.Since May the band have been on the road across the world in support of their current album 'Hail To The Thief'. As well as playing two UK tours, the group have also played a massive two-legged North American tour, various festivals, and shows on mainland Europe. On Thursday the band played their second and final night at the Dublin Point venue, the same town that they started the dates in mid May. As well as playing 'Creep', which is becoming a semi-regular part of the band's set, Radiohead encored with the unreleased 'Big Ideas', a 'lost classic' written around the time of 'OK Computer'. It was truly incredible, people whinge on that their albums are not the same as 'The Bends', well 'The Bends' and 'OK Computer' were truly amazing albums, but when you listen to the new stuff live you get a sense of exactly what Radiohead are trying to do. Superb!!!! and tom even moves know!!

set list

1. '2+2=5'
2. 'Sit Down. Stand Up'
3. 'Where I End And You Begin'
4. 'Morning Bell'
5. 'Exit Music (For A Film)'
6. 'The Bends'
7. 'Kid A'
8. 'Sail To The Moon'
9. 'Go To Sleep'
10. 'Paranoid Android'
11. 'A Punch-Up At A Wedding'
12. 'Creep'
13. 'Just'
14. 'You And Whose Army?'
15. 'The Gloaming'
16. 'Idioteque'
17. 'There There'
18. 'Pyramid Song'
19. 'The National Anthem'
20. 'A Wolf At The Door'
21. 'How To Disappear Completely'
22. 'We Suck Young Blood'
23. 'Karma Police'
24. 'Big Ideas'
25. 'Everything In Its Right Place'

Oh yeah me and Ailsa also decided to get married as well, which is nice. Your all invited to the party!!

George Bush - Miserable Failure

Can't beleive I missed this (thanks Sal), the crazy guys in the ether decided to get popular search engines to link George W Bush and Miserable Failure together, basically thought I just help confirm my belief that George Bush is a Miserable Failure