Can U guess what it is 2

A length of metal tile edging.......



Cut to size as required.

Can you guess what it is yet?

Can U guess what it is yet 1

A piece of mahogany measured up and planed to size.

Day out with the kids?

Next time you go shopping with the kids and start to feel the strain, spare a thought for this spider from The States. Yes, that's her (or his) family riding piggy back! (Piggy back??)

Go on click on it for a closer look, it won't jump out at you.

Look! I'm still here!

Hello Blog!

Yes, it's been a while (Dusts off a few cobwebs). You see I've been keeping my head down of late. These days you never know what is just around the corner, and unfortunately I've seen a couple of good mates fall along the employment wayside, victims of the economic debacle which surrounds us. Luckily, I still seem to have lots to do at The Mill, so I've kept myself more than busy in that direction. Anyway Blog, you can't complain, I have been keeping you topped up with tasty Tweets on the sidebar. So you always know what's going on down at the old Balloon Festival.

So, what has been happening? Well apart from the day to day, heads down, no nonsense, mindless(!) grafting I've been on my travels again. A few days on the West Side of Obama's land. Here are few water related pics that I hope will help to fill the empty spaces of late.



Keeping cool in the city



"OK, c'mon who had the curry last night?"







I've always wanted to do the classic long exposure waterfall shot. So here I found myself with plenty of material and no tripod. So I had to resort to a little improvisation with some rocks and my hat to form a stable base. Then using the shutter delay meant I did not have to touch and thus risk moving the camera to take the pic. I was quite chuffed with the results!

Laws of Tupperwear and other hermetically sealable containers

Law 1

The probability of finding a matching lid to any given container decreases as the number of containers in a given cupboard increases.

The probability of finding a matching lid to any given container will also decrease as urgency of requirement increases.

Law 2

The packing efficiency within a given cupboard decreases as the number of containers is increased.

Also - Critical mass.

Critical mass occurs when the number of containers is such than any attempt at matching a lid becomes impossible.

When critical mass occurs:

It is not possible to close the cupboard door fully.

Containers will randomly self eject onto the kitchen floor.

National Shrimp Day

Just read a notice in the Mill canteen. May the 14th is National Shrimp Day.

So excited!

That's the way to do it!

1: Hear absolutely brilliant, but until that point never heard before, track on Planet Rock.
2: Listen to lyrics and remember a phrase.
3: Google said phrase and obtain identity of track.
4: Hit Amazon MP3 seach.
5: Download.
6: Own track before its finished playing on the radio.
7: Result!

Sorry about the unnanounced hiatus - not planning to shut up shop just yet.

Steam Pipes

I have been having sooo much fun lately. I guess everyone knows what a Nintendo DS. Well I've been monopolising the Bromite's over the last few weeks on account of finding a fantastic piece of plug in software called a DS-10 from Korg which is a full blown synthesiser! In fact it's not just one, it's two identical ones plus four very configurable drum pads,some effects and a sequencer, all for less than £30.00. Amazing!!



The really groovy bit it though is the way you can assign two of the controls to the touch screen, thus giving you the ability to produce some really interesting stuff without having to resort to twiddling knobs. I guess, because it's more like writing, once you have "learned" the shape you draw on the screen that gives you the sound you want it's much easier to remember that shape rather than the position of two knobs.

I could go on for hours here, but instead I'll leave you with something percussive I "cooked" up last night, one take, no multi tracking, no external effects, all you hear came out of the one DS with just a little fading in. This is very much work in progress... and I have plans for it.

Steam Pipes

New Acronym

Saw a label tied to an obviously broken gizmo today annotated with an acronym I have not seen before. The keeper of the gizmo explained the meaning of the four letters.

"Failed Under Continuous Testing".

I laughed my socks off!

Progressive work in progress.

It’s been a little while since the last post. Work and stuff has just got in the way. Mostly work. The thought of typing away some stuff at lunchtime sometimes just isn’t appealing, and a few minutes away from the desk becomes something to look forward to.

Saying that, the work is not all bad though. I have been spending time away from this desk doing “proper work”. My mate J lives in the depths of The Mill. He’s got a nice little secluded area to himself. This little oasis contains things like bits of metal, tools, wire, transistors and soldering irons, you know things you need to to do Proper Work. What is also nice is that J and I share similar tastes in music. Music which is continuously emanating from speakers connected to J’s computer. Such is the isolation of this little haven in the hustle/bustle of the rest of the place that we can listen to what we like at resonable volumes without upsetting anybody.

We do get occasional visitors who use the facilities, like the chap yesterday. After being in there for 15 minutes he was forced to query, pointing at the PC. “What the hell is this!?”

J and I smiled at each other. “Tales From Topographic Oceans”, “you mean you don’t know it”!?

Text Sensations

Just noticed a bag of Walkers "Taste Sensations" Chicken and Thyme flavoured crisps in The Mill canteen.

What got me was the other text.

"Contains real ingredients"

Eh??? does that mean that their other crisps contain imaginary ingredients!?

Surely anything you chuck in, chemical, natural, squirrel, builders bum is an ingredient?

Wheelclampski

The last post indicated how a lack of knowledge of the Polish language could lead to a hilarious case of mistaken identity. I'm not one to poke too much fun at other nationalities interpretation of the English language, let's face it, compared to a lot of our European neighbours the standard Brit's multi linguistic skills are practically non existent.

However, to redress the balance, here is something I found in my archives while clearing up. It was given to me quite a few years ago now by a friend who had links with a Polish club who were getting a bit fed up with people using their car park for anything but coming into the club for a drink. The old boys at the club decided to draft a note that could be left on the windows of the perpetrators as a friendly message to say that they had now procured a wheel clamp and would use it if they felt it necessary.

A gem from the Emerald Isle

This is so absolutely hilarious, just had to share, enjoy.

In or on?, that is the question.

Through a strange chain of thoughts something occurred to me on the drive into work

When you go somewhere using a car you go in it.

When you take a train, plane of boat you go on it.

By the end of my journey (in the car) the logic behind this had me really confused.

At first I thought, aha, if you pay to travel then you go on it. Sorted!

But then I thought about going in a taxi. Which you really should be paying for. (Unless you have very fast legs and don’t live in that particular town)

In fact the taxi really upsets things. Because I then thought, OK, if you own the mode of transport you go in it. That must be the rule. e.g. “We could go in the plane to the continent this weekend dahhhling”. But then again you definitely go in a taxi, which in 99.9% of cases does not belong to you.

School mini-busses are also a bit tricky. Teachers take their charges to the hockey match in the mini bus. However, a year trip to the Natural History Museum would definitely go on the coach. Yes?

There must be some logic to all this?