More stats spotting

"The weapon is used by 5,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States."

Is that really right? that many different law enforcement agencies spread over 50-something states? wow. police state anyone?

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Propper Preperation?

Morning chocolate fix was provided by the last 4 cubes of Dairy Milk that I had on my desk. But now what? That was the end of the bar. And whilst I do have several kilograms of chocolate in my kitchen drawers (what else would I put in the drawers?) I dont have any more here at work….

The first of the two blue pills I have here is rapidly diminishing too…

This will be the drawback of cycling then. Sugar fixes…

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Cheap Digital TV

On saturday morning some more Aerial installing chaps turned up to give me a quote. it came to a reasonable amount, and so I let them get on with it and install it. Yes, I know it would be cheaper to do it myself, but i dont have the kit, so why bother? For once I went with the buy-it-off-the-shelf option. Even if it did cost a little money.

So, my signal immediatly got better. and I decided to look for a digi box in the week. Sunday morning saw me going into Tesco @ Serpentine Green and buying a Freeview box.

Initial results were a wash out. Powering down, adn back on again however got the required results. I suppose the first scan was a mess because I couldnt see what I was doing, as I was still assembling my TV lashup. I have had to resort to feeding the image through my VCR as my TV dowsnot have a SCART socket.

And now, wow, it works. lots and lots of channels to flick through……

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Joys of Tea

As I was cleaning my cup out (well, a bit) at work, I was reminded of the following from Dr Who

Turlough: “I quite miss that brown liquid they drink here.”
Will Chandler: “Ale?”
Turlough: “No. Tea.”
Will Chandler: “What be tea?”
The Doctor: “Oh, a noxious infusion of oriental leaves containing a high percentage of toxic acid.”
Will Chandler: “Sounds an evil brew, don’t it?”
The Doctor: “True. Personally, I rather like it.”

Maybe I should have a cup that is a darker colour, and not a fairly bright yellow…

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Mmmmm Tasty

I like Jolly Rancher hard candy. I got some from Cybercandy a while back. I then decided i liked them. (previously i just liked the name….) I don’t know if they can actually be bought in the UK as standard. Anyway, someone was clearing out the samples they have, and a box labeled "help yourself" appeared. so i grabbed a few.

They are artificially flavoured. I really think the label only gives a rough indication of the real flavour. Its been bugging me since i started eating the one currently in my mouth, and i have finally worked out what it reminds me of. Antiseptic, specifically Savlon. Tasty.

Not that it has stopped me eating it, and still being intrigued by the taste….

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Feed on this

Following complaints from various people, i have reworked my RSS Feeds so they are now validating

Are you thankful for that?

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Not everything makes sense….

Whilst poking around Google’s new Scholar service, i thought I would look up Peterborough. Google then suggested that I might like the definition. Well. Why not? so clicked the link…. and… I got the following definition for peterborough Now surely the English place would have appeared in history just a little bit before the Canadian one. Mind you it could well be in that the database from whihc this data came is for american heritage (although I would suspect the cause of one place west of the Atlantic being called something is because there is alredy somewhere east of the pond called the same thing does have soemthing to do with heritage)

Look at the elevations in the Wikipedial Article on the Atlantic Ocean and note the “highest Elevation” hmmmm!

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Why oh why…

Why do companies give out "local rate" numbers a.k.a. 0845 numbers. the answer? to fleece us…

It seems they can make a profit on them. An interesting article by ofcom states this too, although its obvious that ISPs make money some how…

But it is a bit irksome that when i have to call custoemr services numbers I get 0845 or 0870 numbers. especially and mainly because these numbers cost me more than I would be paying for a real national call.

Yep, if they give out a number for international callers, I use that one insted….

"Having an 0845 number means that prospective customers can call your business from anywhere in the UK paying no more than the standard BT local calling rate." is clearly rot. I really should send the offending web page to the advertising standards authority, as BT have shaken up their prices now….

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Some People Should Know Better

I am having a Preffesional Development review tomorrow. So as ever am spending time reading the PD How 2 website. Its not very easy on the eye Blue text on a blue background is bad enough, but the blue images whihc the text merges into is even worse. And its not like the images serve a purpose.

Amazingly IE does have the ability to turn off images. Phew…

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Coming through the Smoke Screen

Steve does have some very good points about somoking in the wake of scotland moving towards banning smoking in public places.

I wonder how this will all fit into the work environment (like an engineering shop floor for example…) I think the office i once sat in whilst a chap smoked a cigar at his desk was a bit of a one off… We have smoking allowed on our shopfloor here, and there are concerns on what would happen to productivity if smoking was banned inside. The presumption is that people will then take smoking breaks, but why?

A lot of people I know have given the hours they work as the reason for smoking, but then I have been a member of one of the few if not only non smoking tech crew’s well, last time i checked… It is interesting to note how few of the Volunteer Crew when i go sailing smoke. We are almost a self selecting group, in taht we sail as volunteer crew having worked hard (amongst other things) on a previous voyage – and in my experience there is nothing more annoying than someone whinging "Can’t I have a fag break now?"

Smoking is somethign other people do. And frankly i think it is stupid… Not that my adictions or vices are without harm to myself. If i drink (alcohol), then that doesnt affect anyone else, If i drink coke, or eat chocolate (or consume other sugers) then that doesnt affect anyone else. Thrill seeking does not affect anyone else either. They may not necessarilly do me much good, but that is my own choice… and that really is the point, I can stand smoker being round me, but if they blow smoke in my direction, or it drifts in my direction then they should expect me to complain. Smoking is somethign other people do, but it affects me, and that is the problem.

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