Party Time

Machinery has been arriving on campus for the Summer Ball which is on Friday. This is part of some ride or other. I've noticed that they are setting up some dodgems in the car park. Which strikes me as kind of funny.

Fox's Liquorice & Aniseed

Hmmm. Sounded a reasonable idea in principle. Take two flavours I quite like and then merge them into a single confection. And they were doing two for the price of one at Waitrose (we are not posh - we just went there to buy sweets).

Good thing I didn't actually get two packs. They taste horrible. And it is a sneaky kind of horrible too. The first couple of seconds in your mouth they don't taste too bad, it is as if your taste buds are trying to make sense of the mixed messages they are receiving. However, slightly later they decide that both tastes are horrible. And they are.

If there is anyone with no tastebuds, or who wants to build a little tiny sweetie wall for their Hansel and Gretal scale model, or who needs a torture method that won't leave marks (apart from a black tongue) then they are welcome to get in touch and take the bag off my hands.

Soon, before I get tempted to try another one to prove to myself that they aren't that bad....

The Awful Truth

Last week at Collectormania I saw a poster for the new Star Wars film which scared me deeply. I'm putting this information out into the public domain because then "they" can't catch up with me and silence me for ever. Even so, read on only if you dare know the truth....

The poster was a picture of the people involved with the new film. I looked with mild interest at the assorted wookies and so on. Then my eyes alighted on the picture of director and it hit me like a large heavy thing designed for hitting hard.

George Lucus is Rolf Harris.

The resemblence is scary. And surely not coincidental. And I bet they've never been seen in the same room together. Only one thing puzzles me: If my theory is true, and I'm pretty sure it is, how come someone so gifted, so able to put together such moving pieces of art which have touched so many people around the world actually managed to produce something as poor as "The Phantom Menace"? Rolf, you should be ashamed of yourself....

Gizmondo GPS Power

Got the firmware in the Gizmondo upgraded on Saturday. This means that the Global Positioning System now works. Above you can see the machine telling me I'm at the university (I actually knew this - but it is nice to have it confirmed)

Whistle and I'll come to ye....

Sunday finds us in Covent Garden. Lovely place to spend a while. Good food at Pontis, lots of interesting things to look at and stuff going on. And they have a gadget shop or two. Bought some nice toys including a keyfinder thing. If you lose your keys you whistle and it chirps and flashes to let you know where they are. These have been around for a while but this one was quite cute, had a blue led, and only two quid.

When we got back after our six hour return coach trip and I'd had a cup of strong tea to get things going again I of course got out the keyfinder and tried to play with it. I seem to have forgotten how to whistle. Nothing worked. Fortunately, I have in my possession a swanee whistle. So if you see me wandering round the house sounding like a clanger, you'll know I have lost my keys....

Update: I have now located the particular note which makes keyfinder work every time. I'm now perfecting this particular pitch. Yes, I'm teaching myself to whistle in case I ever lose my keys.