Too hot!

We complain when it's cold ... and now we're complaining that its too hot.

Having spent the week sat in an office at 35-degrees, the latest Weebl cartoon cheered me up ;o)

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/wab/cold/

Family Portrait :o)

Rush Hour

Hmm ... no one is going to believe why I was late for work ;o)

The Hoff

I thought I'd swing the topic away from work for once ;o)

My sister sent me this link, and it's one of those videos you watch the first time with a slack jaw ... then a second time with a wry grin; checking over your shoulder to see if anyone is looking your way.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3382491587979249836

I can't figure out whether is good-funny ... or baaaad-funny. It's either a clever attempt at self ridicule, or its a vain, lame, baaaaad music video :o)

Thanks Sis!

PS: Only 3 days to go. Eeeep!

Not Long Now!

Sorry I've not been posting much lately. If you're desperate for some updates, we've decided to document the final 7 days of the Experience TV project on the Starbucks Blog.

Check it out ... we're either going to succeed or fail, but either way it will be dramatic ;o)

AGHHHH!

Ah, that's better. Now, lets see what happens this week :o)

Lost for words...

I really want to talk about that damn place, and everything that's happened in the last two weeks, but I find myself lost for words.

.... nope .... not a single word to attempt to explain what has happened and why. If I ever find out, I'll let you know.

Some of you will know the cryptic nonesense of which I speak. The rest of you will have to remain in the dark for now :o)

Goodnight.

Mmm ... purdy

Yet more graphical nonsense. Shame I don't have time to animated it as we'd planned :o(

3D Heaven

I've spent the last few days working on some 3D sequences for the museum's TV Heaven area. I got bored tonight, and started throwing the logo around ...

... I think I broke it :o)

Ooops ...

Miss T discovers that the delicate Nissan Micra is not suited to off-road use.

Spider vs. CCTV Camera

I installed a CCTV camera at my house a few months ago. Not because I'm paranoid, but because we can't see our driveway - and it's always nice to know our cars are still there.

So - as always - I got bored with the simple setup whereby I could watch the camera on our TV. So I installed a motion-tracking CCTV DVR ... you know, as you do. Basically - whenever anything moves on my drive way, it records the video and emails me a picture...

...so you can imagine my reaction when this appeared in my inbox:


Hmm. A 4-foot wide, glowing spider. That's something you don't see every day. I think I'll lock the door tonight! :o)

Summer is finally here!

I took this photo from the end of my garden. It's official. Not a cloud in the sky. Summer has arrived :o)

BBC does it again ...

Once again I find myself untrusting of the BBCs reporting of technology and science related stories. Here's a nice example:

BBC News: Changing the Face of Wireless

This is a straight forward piece about the future of wireless networking, and how it should help ease the confusion over existing systems.

First of all there's this quote:

"That wi-fi world is full of letters and numbers, a bit like the real world but a lot more complicated."

What the heck does that mean? That has to be the most random thing I've heard all weekend. And whilst that had me stumpted, I continued reading:

"What's happened is the digital world had caught up and demands 10, 11, 12 megabits per second throughput, and 'b' and 'g' and all its variants can't deliver that."

10 megabits? 'b' and 'g' can't deliver 10 megabits/second? Last time I checked 802.11b topped out at 12Mbps, and .11g at 54Mbps ... with Netgear and Linksys offering 108Mbps options. I can see where this quote might have originated: from a discussion about digital media and sustained data rates over wireless ... but existing WiFi systems can easily handle a 10Mbps stream of data. And speaking of data, how many people have the regular urge to pump over 10Mbps of 'digital media' for a sustained period over their network? The average DVD would only need about half that bandwidth to play; digital TV requires even less. This demand from the 'digital world' must be coming from something else, but - of course - they don't state what.

And finally:

"In June 2004, the IEEE started working on the [802.11]N standard and two years on they still have not agreed anything."

They report that fact like it's a bad thing. We've got a perfectly decent - and (if you ignore the 108Mbps offerings) a standardised, compatible wireless system. The brains behind the first two standards are now working on a third (802.11n). They're not going to throw the whitepaper together over beers at the pub ... creating an internationally standardised wireless protocol takes time, I imagine.

I don't know how they do it, but the BBC had once again taken random pieces of information about some current and future technology (seemingly gathered in one phone call, and an afternoon spent on Google), and merged it all together to produce a 'story'. I don't mind the odd bit of 'dumbing down'. After all, not everyone knows the details about wireless networks, and these stories are supposed to inform a wide audience. But it infuriates me when they dumb-down a story to the point where it doesn't make any sense. That doesn't help anyone - it just serves to confuse people, or make them believe something is just so, when the opposite is true.

For a story that set out by saying that the world of WiFi is confusing for consumers, it's done a remarkable job in generating yet more confusion.

To sum everything up using a common expression of mine: "Nghhhh!".

(Have you ever had one of those days where all these little things get to you? :o)

Back to work ...

Well. That was fun. Almost four weeks has gone by without me doing my 'actual' job. I've had so many things to do lately that the core part of my job (and quite honestly, the fun and creative part) has had to be put on hold.

The end of the b.Tween festival marks my return to work, and I'm kind of looking forward to it. Sure, to say there's a backlog of editing for me to do is an understatement! Still, unrealistic deadlines have the effect of focusing the mind, and I fancy a challenge at the moment.

So, for the next 8 weeks this blog will be my forum for venting my frustrations, and hopefully a few moments of pride :o)

Stay tuned ...

Darth Calls In

Google video: Genius!

b.Tween Marathon

Ughh ... that was a long week. I've worked a 63 hour week, and every minute of it on my feet. My legs ache!

Hopefully the result was worth it. We were hosting the b.Tween New Media Forum, and as the name suggests - the technical demands were high. Unlike most events we host, this one had over a week of preparation time - and it needed it.

There was a massive demand on network bandwidth and connectivity, including rolling out a new WiFi network in many areas of the museum (Which, incidentally, I forgot to secure before I left yesterday - so if anyone wants free WiFi, head to NMPFT this weekend!). The event was also webcast, which caused me the biggest headache and a sleepless night prior to the event.

All that said, an hour into the first day of the forum I think I'd pulled it off. Everything was running smoothly, and for the first time in a week I could relax.

My only regret was that I was too busy to see any of the presentations. :o(

Ah well. Back to my normal job next week ...

Eurovision!

It's that time of year again. Large swathes of the country coalesce into groups to celebrate an evening of audio-visual torture ... and we're no exception.

As usual, my money is on the Moldovian entry. I doubt they'll win, but there's something about them that appeals to my insane nature.

Updates later...

Registrar: Check.

Today is the day: I'm confirming the date and time of the registrar for our wedding. So - we've got the venue booked, and the registrar. I know we've got a long way to go yet, but if nothing else happens -- at least we'll still get married :o)

I would tell you where and when it's all going to happen, but I'm afraid I can't afford for the whole of the internet to turn up on the day. Sorry :o)

UPDATE: Job done. 1400 on the magic date. It's all downhill from here, providing my credit card doesn't run out :o)

Log cabin anyone?

We've finally decided on a venue for our wedding next year. We searched high and low; looked at stately homes and posh hotels ... and then we found this place. It's a log-cabin retreat seemingly in the middle of nowhere. :o)

New Month - New Look

Well? What do you think?

I thought it was about time I sorted out this blog-thingie of mine. I was never happy with the old layout for all sorts of reasons ... the number 1 pain being that it could only display images that were 400 pixels wide, and Flickr serves them at 500 pixels. While the pictures look fine on my Mac (which does a fine job rescaling them on the fly), my photos looked awful when viewed on a PC (Hmm!).

Besides, there's something peaceful about this harbour template. I'm not sure exactly where a lighthouse fits into my life, but I'm sure it's a metaphor for something ;o)

Anyway. I hope you like the new layout, and I'm very sorry I've been such a slacker and havent posted squat for 5 weeks.