No More Shorts

I'm getting some made....

That does it. I'm starting a new campaign. I've seen things at work over the last couple of weeks which would have driven a lesser man to madness and worse. This has got to stop. Fortunately the weather has been kind to us for the last day or so, with a fall in temperature ridding the coffee room with some of the more horrid apparitions. But I'm not taking any more chances. It stops now, and it stops here.

I'm talking about the practice of wearing shorts to work. If your job is a footballer, or some other sporting profession then shorts are fine. But once you come off the playing field the shorts should replaced by proper slacks.  There is probably a Geneva Convention or something about things like this. And if there isn't, there should be. Sign up now. Banish those knees.

The Letter K

Maureen Lipman (great actress, wonderful writer and born in Hull) wrote in her column in the paper today that Neil Simon (famous playwright) reckons only words with a K in them are funny. Apparently chicken is funny, whilst tomato is not. I told number one wife about this.

"But cheese is funny" she said.

I could not have put it better myself. Case closed.

Samsung Q1 First Impressions

I'm going through a gadget frenzy at the moment. Only a few days after my first tiny PC (the Motion LS 800) arrived, now I have a second one to play with. This time it is a Samsung Q1. I must say I'm impressed. The Motion machine is very neat, made of aluminium alloy and has a screen that is visible in bright sunlight (and looks pretty amazing in the office). The Samsung is shiny black plastic, and is a proper realisation of the "Ultra Mobile PC" (UMPC), an evolution of the Tablet PC idea.

The Motion machine costs around twice the Samsung, and so you would think it was better. Well, it is and it isn't. It has the advantage of a proper touch screen, using a wireless stylus which lets you rest your hand on the screen as you write. The Samsung has the cheaper touch sensitive screen, which renders it is all but useless as a note taking device. The Motion also has a slightly higher resolution and physically larger display. But I don't like it as much as the Samsung, because of two things it hasn't got.

Firstly it has no fan. All the cooling is done by convection. Therefore it gets warm, very warm. So warm that if you give it something hard to do (charge the battery whilst installing Microsoft Office for example) it first complains it is too busy, and then it shuts down completely.  Using the wonderful Speedfan program I can watch the processor get hotter and hotter until things go pear shaped. I'd be very nervous about performing development work or playing with images on this device.  The Samsumg has a tiny fan which pumps warm air out of a vent in the back. Consequently I can be much more relaxed about giving it demanding things to do.

Secondly the Motion machine has no kickstand. This is a terrible omission. The Samsung has two, one which angles the machine slightly, and another which stands the machine at 80 degrees, the perfect angle for using it or watching DVDs. You can stand it up and use it, which is as it should be. For the Motion I had to buy a Bookchair (these are great by the way) so that I can use it on the desk.

The Samsung will be going with me to the Imagine Cup Finals in India as my main machine. I'm going to use it for photo processing, blogging, listening to music, watching movies and a bit of software development. I'm pretty sure that it will more than do the business.  The screen is  a bit tiny, but it has this amazing "Auto Scaler" button which squeezes down a 1024x600 screen onto the display with surprisingly useable results. It also works very well with an external monitor/dual desktop configuration. I'm writing this on a 1280x1024 monitor full screen, while the Samsumg shows me Outlook alongside on its smaller screen. Very nice.

I'll have a full report about life on the road with a Q1, and the usefulness of the UMPC in general, when I get back.

Bin Boggled

The kitchen bin has broken. (actually it broke a long time ago, it is just that the first time it broke it was brand new, and we didn't have the heart to replace it). However, now it is properly, as in more than one piece, broken. This poses two problems.

1. We now have to obtain a new bin. Particularly difficult as properly working bins seem very hard to get hold of these days. The ones in ASDA were pre-broken, and I've yet to find a design which I think is solid enough for my lot.
2. How do you throw away the old dusbin?

Profound Questions in York

I wanted a go in a red boat. But nobody else did. Wah.

We went to York today. There were rumours (nay, legends) that a branch of "The Only Place In The Country Where Rob Can Buy Things That Fit 'Cos He Is Tall (tm)" had reopened in the city. And was having a sale. Wowee.

We turned up at ten past ten to a shop full of "Sale signs" which was locked with an iron gate. The notice on the side said "Open 10:00 on Saturdays". Such is life. After drink at Starbucks and a Rocky Road (which with hindsight was probably a bit risky, given my state of excitement I probably should not have sugar rich cakes) we went back and found that the shop was now open.  Nothing much for sale unfortunately, but I did get a couple of shirts. (it has just occurred to me that there is no reason for me to assume that you have any interest in the fact that I bought two shirts today - but remember that you are hear for the kwality of the riting. Oh yes).

Anyhoo, then we went walkabout around York. Profound questions abounded. The York Psychic museum had a number on the door you could call to arrange a meeting.  Why? Surely they would be expecting you whatever time you turned up. And next to the roadsweeper was one of those things that helps you pick stuff up from the floor. A sort of remote hand thing. But it was lying on the floor. I do hope he has another one he can use to pick it up.

Maybe it's the heat.