Posted in Life, Photos, Travel on 12/30/2007 05:37 pm by foolhandy
After the excitement of London yesterday it was Clacton’s turn to entertain us today. And a fine job it did too. Grey skies, spitting rain, chips and knickerbocker glories complemented the brown sea beautifully. The pier was surprisingly busy (and not just of fishermen) and a lovely time was had.
Sabrina wanted the top picture as a memento, and below that are Helen, Alfie & I entering the seaside resort spirit. Note Alex’s decision not to join in…
Note also the faces we pulled - we weren’t just standing there you know - we’re actors darlings!
Finally, and again for tenderhooligan, here’s an apostrophe picture :
Boxing on the Wii is an odd thing. Helen hates it as she feels it’s too violent and aggressive. I however love it because it’s a great work out. Whatever, when videoed it makes funny viewing…
Ladies and gentlemen, I present Mr and Mrs Handy and their very different Wii Boxing techniques!
Posted in Life, Technology on 12/28/2007 11:17 pm by foolhandy
My sister in law is so athletically-orientated she once visited the Vallee de Mai in Seychelles (UNESCO Heritage Site and one of the wonders of the world) and wrote just “Hilly” in the guest book. We weren’t expecting much when she had a go at Wii Bowling then…
Nine strikes later (including six on the trot) and we were left reeling. No one has misjudged Wii Bowling potential this badly since londonarab back in the autumn.
CAR Magazine used to be my motoring magazine of choice. I bought every copy from about 1990 until I moved to Seychelles and it became too impractical and costly to still buy it. The writing and style was excellent and I treasured each one. Since the mid-nineties though all the star writers they had have either died (Russell Bulgin, LJK Setright, Phil Llewellin) or defected (James May, Paul Horrell, Jamie Kitman). Only Gavin Green (who left for a while anyway) and Georg Kacher remain but they are overwhelmed by the bland mediocrity elsewhere. So sadly in recent years it has moved so much up its own posterior, in an attempt to distance itself from Top Gear Magazine and compensate for its relative lack of writing talent, that it’s promotional blurb reads like minutes from a marketing focus group meeting :
CAR Magazine puts you in the driving seat of the world’s best cars - first.
We’ll take you to exotic destinations in the most sensational motors, or parachute you into group tests of key new models. CAR delivers true insight on upcoming cars, sensational scoops and the inside story on the design trends, technology, people and issues shaping your next car.
Every month, CAR is packed with stunning photography and the best, boldest writing, with 20 pages on the big stories. And we are Britain’s best designed magazine, having won two top industry awards in 2007. CAR has true pedigree as Britain’s oldest motoring magazine: we invented the group test, pioneered the drive story and coined the phrase ’supercar’.
If you’re an unconventional thinker who is fascinated by everything from supercars to city cars, and wants to access all areas of the industry, get CAR Magazine.
What nonsense…
Sniff Petrol is quite different. It’s now in blog form and features spoof adverts and articles about all things automotive. Not up its own posterior at all. Just fun. And cutting.
There was a time when I’d have been up in arms about Sniff Petrol’s attacks on CAR Magazine. But not now…
When a magazine for “unconventional thinkers” updates its website with interactive features it must expect an unconventional response. Click here to read how CAR Magazine, the most coffee-table of all coffee-table magazines had ‘Cillit Bang’, ‘Bum Gravy’ and ‘Prostitutes in the Ipswich area’ on its home page.
As a PS, I would like to mention Russell Bulgin again. So much of a hero of mine is/was he that I can even forgive him his dislike of convertibles. 43. Such a shame.
Posted in News, Science on 12/21/2007 09:08 am by foolhandy
It’s stories like this one, from the BBC website, about scientists discovering the missing link between land based mammals and whales that blow my mind.
I read the text and I understand that it all fits together and makes sense, but then I start to consider the time span that is being covered in moving from
to
and my head starts to whizz in the same way it does when I try and think about the size of the universe.
Indonyus way well be the missing link that leads to today’s whales, but the idea is at the very edge of my comprehension.
Posted in Technology on 12/07/2007 11:04 pm by foolhandy
After four years of being a Sony Ericsson evangelist and owning a T610 (still my favourite design), K700, K750, W810 & W880 I’ve got an LG. It’s as big a moment in my consumerist life as when I bought my first pair of Puma trainers after years of only wearing Adidas. How shallow it all seems!
My contract was up, Orange asked me what ‘phone I wanted, and so I looked at what was available. Helen has the K850i and it’s a good ‘phone - it just didn’t do it for me, and it’s been a little unreliable. I don’t do Nokia, and Motorola (the only other make I’ve ever owned) didn’t have a good enough camera in any of their ‘phones. So it was Samsung or LG. The LG Viewty is special, so I went for it.
Three days in and I’m impressed. There are areas of its functionality which I’ll never like as much as my Sony Ericssons (having to press the back button three or four times when a long hold should do it - not going back to the homescreen when you’ve finished a call, meaning you have to do all that pressing - the way that the T9 predictive text seems to switch itself on and off at will or stay on or off in all applications when you always want it on for texting and nearly always off for website addresses…to name just a few…) but it’s just such a lovely thing to use. The big screen is clear and well lit in the way that Nokias never seem to be, and whilst it’s not as responsive a touch-screen as on the iPhone (see below) it’s still far, far better than I expected and getting easier to use each time I operate it. The pictures I’ve taken seem good quality but I’ve yet to print one out yet to see how good it really is. My particular bit of gadget related joy is the way that the ‘phone vibrates very gently when you press a key on the touch-screen. Nice. I’m enjoying LG life.
It’s not a perfect ‘phone but I know I’m happier with it than I would have been with what Sony Ericsson currently has on offer. And after four years using variations on the same basic operating system it’s nice to explore something new.
So why didn’t I get an iPhone then? I’m an Apple user. I have a MacBook and an iPod. I’m typing this on an Apple keyboard plugged into a PC because I’ve yet to find a PC keyboard which types as nicely… Getting an iPhone seems an obvious thing for me to do. I had a play on one last week and it was such a fantastic device. The touch-screen was beyond what I thought was possible (especially when scrolling) and it was so well thought out in the way that only Apples seem to be - it puts the Viewty to shame in both areas.
But.
I get my broadband free with Orange. O2 don’t do broadband in this area. The iPhone is only on O2 so I’d have to move networks and end up paying an extra £15-£20 a month on broadband.
My Viewty is still a lovely bit of kit despite its little foibles and I got it thrown into my mobile contract for free. An iPhone would have cost me £269. It’s good, but it’s not £269 better than a Viewty.
The iPhone currently only holds 8GB of music, video and files. So if I want to be able to carry around all my music with me, which I do, I’m still going to need my £160 iPod Classic.
In short even with free internet browsing (which is almost offset by a higher minimum monthly tariff on the iPhone with O2 and the cheap data deal I get with Orange) the iPhone would cost me an extra £450+ over the length of my eighteen month contract. And I’d still have to carry my iPod around. I was happy paying a little bit extra for my MacBook because I was getting a much better product, but the gap between an iPhone and a Viewty, Nokia N95 etc. isn’t that great.
Maybe I’ll get a second generation iPhone when Apple stop taking the piss about the price. In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy my Viewty…
Secondly news of The FA’s alledged approach to The Special One for the England manager’s job. Really this is a no-brainer. They have to at least ask, because he is the overwhelming choice of the nation. If he does well then all is good, if he doesn’t then we got who we wanted and it didn’t work out -but we can’t complain… Come on FA!
Posted in Radio on 12/06/2007 08:14 pm by foolhandy
I’m a great fan of PM with Eddie Mair. I don’t get to hear it every day as it’s on Radio 4 for an hour from 5pm, which doesn’t always coincide with my journey home, but when I do catch it their is invariably some part that makes an impression.
Eddie Mair is superb and his interview today with Hilda Gibson, an ex-Land Girl who will eligible for one of the Government’s new badges of recognition, shows one of the reasons why. His cutting wit and knack of grilling slippery characters with the questions I’d love to be able to ask were put to one side in favour of his other facets as a broadcaster - warmth, soft humour and a generosity of spirit sadly lacking in much of modern radio. He also gave over nearly ten minutes of a one hour show to Hilda Gibson, which in an age where interviewers wheel their guests in, interrupt them mid-flow and then wheel them off is wonderful. It reminded me of the best of John Peel on Home Truths, which is no bad thing.
I encourage you to follow this link to the PM Blog and listen to the interview. It’s how radio should be.
Finally, a word must go to Hilda Gibson (and her poetry). What a wonderful woman. And she hates “basically” too!
