Sure I’m ignoring this blog a bit but who the heck is reading it anyway. It’s more of an outlet for my frustrations.

So I get married next week, it’s a little bit hectic at the moment trying to get everything together but its coming along. It’s also nice to see an Offaly man in charge of the country. Being a fellow Biffo and considering my father is a strong FF man and a Brian Cowen supporter for many years it does feel like the entire midlands community has achieved something through one mans rise to the top. But that’s not the subject of my rant today. My rant is all about how its getting to expensive for me to commute anymore and I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it.

I was listening to Live Drive this morning as I usually do once I reach reception range and Sarah was talking about the removal of the Toll, it got me thinking about the new toll that is being introduced. I remember about a year ago hearing that this toll would be in stages and that you would be charged more as you drove further along the M50. As I found out this morning its not like that and there will just be one toll close to the existing position. This new toll will be freeflow and uses tags, videos and the like to monitor traffic and who’s paying. What worries me is that a toll system like this could be deployed further down along the m50 to catch even more people who only take a short hop from maybe firhouse to the red cow junction. If this happens someone needs to be fired, well maybe tortured first, then fired. It bad enough that prices are rising on stuff so fast its getting more difficult for us to live comfortable let alone drive to work to earn the money to help us live comfortably.

I decided to calculate how much I pay annually in my commute. I’ve been re-considering public transport again lately and need to know if the jump is worth it. I use the N6/M4 as the roads are of much better quality than what I drive to get onto the N7. On a dark morning on my way to the M7 I’ve had too many close calls to justify using it. Bearing that in mind; lets first break down the costs.

Toll on M4 = €2.70 one way, twice a day = €5.40, 5 days a week = €27, 52 weeks a year minus 5 weeks holidays and sick days is €27 euro by 47 which gives me a toll total average of €1269

It currently cost me €20 euro a day on fuel, a lot more than it did a year ago. I drive a 2L Diesel Toyota Avensis. I chose this care for several reasons. Mainly due to Toyotas reliability records from my point of view, I spend a lot of time in that car so I needed some thing comfortable as I’ve fairly tall and broad and it helps to have something that can carry around you and just about everything you need while also pulling a trailer at weekends. So at €20 euro a day on current fuel prices, it comes to €100 a week and then taking into account or 47 weeks that’s about €4700

Next is the bit were I make my government contribution (HAHAHAHA, as if they are not taking enough already). Tax for my car is €590 a year.

Service also adds up nicely. Lets take a ball park figure for €300 for service of the car. That includes new break-pads, filter replacement and a general check over. The basics as such. Add on top of this two tyre changes a year. 4 new tyres will set youback about €400 euro. Tyres do not last long when you add up the mileage and once again you have to put your safety over the cost of 4 bits or rubber. So the service cost is about €1400 a year just keeping the car on the road.

And lastly I am adding about €200 euro for the various thinks like a speeding fine or the unexpected puncture. It may seem like not so much but thankfully in the years I’ve been driving I’ve only incurred 2 penalty points and that was for stupidly answering my phone in the car.

Anyway to throw a total on all this.
€1269
€4700
€590
€1400
€200
——-
€8159

Sure adds up. Now subtract that from a yearly wage after tax and see how much of a bit it takes out of your take home.

So you can see my reasons for re-considering public transport. You may ask why I’m not already using public transport so I suppose I’ll give you a brief explanation.

I live in an area of Offaly that is serviced by two buses in the mornings, one at 6am and the other at 6:30am. These are run by a private company and are fairly reliable. In addition to that they take about 20 minutes to get me to my closest train station of Tullamore. My last two trips on a train to and from Dublin are not a trip I want to repeat. I ended up being sick from fumes that came in through the window. Now some people may argue other wise but everytime I’ve used the trains in this country I’ve boarded a piece of machinery that was probably older than myself. In one case two station personnel had to close the carriage door with their shoulders that in turn could not be opened again for the rest of the trip. The trains leave late, arrive late and get cancelled at the last moment. Even when I get to Dublin I have to either get the Luas to Abby Street and then walk to St Stephens Green or get the 120 bus over to St Stephens Green and then get a Luas from there to Sandyford. Before I add up the public transport section I will note that I will not leave my car in the Tullamore train station. My mother did that before and came home to the fire brigade extinguishing what was left of it. I’m blaming anyone in particular but there is a very large halting site beside that station. Possible just a coincidence.

Anyway to add all this up. Bus to Tullamore, 20 minutes. Train from Tullamore to Hueston is about 1hour 10 minutes. Bus to Stephens green or luas and walk, lets say about 20 minutes with traffic. Then the luas from the green to sandyford is only about 15 - 20 minutes. This does not take into account all the waiting in between when you miss one or another.

So time wise it’s about 2 hours 20 minutes and to be honest you can round this up to 3 hours due to delays and such. I know this because I have tried it several times in the past as an alternative and its taken me at least 3 hours. So that’s about 1 hour more than using the car on a bad day and it also ties me to having to go at exact times that may not suit me. So leaving home at 6am to catch a bus would have me in work for about 9am. so then leave work at 6pm to get home closer to 9pm. Not much of a life is it?

Ok, for the cost of public transport. Bus to Tullamore I’m not sure of but I’d say its about€2.50 each way. An annual ticket cover the train and the luas is €3650. Its funny you can buy a ticket that covers Dublin bus and trains or the luas and trains but not one that covers all three. So going on that its; an annual total of €4825 a year for the public transport option. It would be a saving of €3334 over my car commute when you add it altogether but I think when it comes to it I’d pay the extra €3334 a year for the comfort to travel in private, when I need to and keep the extra 470 hours a year driving saves me the public transport would have me stand on a smelly over crowded unreliable train. I’m sure you probably now think ‘What the hell is complaining about?’. I think that public transport should offer a faster easier travel solution. Not one where private methods are still proving to be more effective even if they are more expensive.

There is now a shop section to the site. It’s just an affiliate thing but it contains some stuff thats mostly related to my workplace. Lots of in jokes.

If you want a t-shirt design printed or have an idea for an item let me know.

The shop is HERE.

Regards

Tom

Now that it’s been two weeks I think I can officially say I’m off the smokes. Now I’m sure I’m not out of the woods just yet but it’s become so much easier in the past few days.

I decided two weeks ago on the way to work that it was now or never and decided not to buy any. Then on my two hour trip to work with no shops on the road inbetween I managed to do so without worry. Then the irritability set in.

It’s a side effect that I knew I get without a smoking but it was amplified this time, mainly at home though. So fair play to Steph for putting up with it. I was an absolute prick for a few days, about three to be exact. I did not want to watch TV, talk to people, eat my dinner, do any work or be a sociable person at all. I though about going back on the smokes on the 2nd day just to stop the moods. It was at this stage that I decided to call the national smokers quit line for their info pack to get some help. I might as well have wrote ’smoking is bad’ on a few sheets of paper and posted it to myself. It was as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.

To get to the point, the irritability wore off and the cravings eased. It was helpful that the lad beside me in work also gave up so it broke the usual habits in work. At home its the same routine and I promised not to be one of these born again ex smokers who are all fire and brimstone when it comes to smoking, as if they were the greatest evil on earth. I still let people smoke in my car, although they do nearly have to out the window as since I’ve stopped 2nd hand smoke kills me.

There was a point to this somewhere, ahh yes. I was wondering if you are an ex smoker, did you do it cold turkey or use an aid? Personaly I went cold turkey but alot of people use Nicotine Replacment Therapy(NRT). It’s just something I’m curious about.

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Tom

I was stumbling around today and came across this website of bad album covers. No doubt hilarious but the misguided 60’s, 70’s and 80’s are a reliable excuse. In fact here are a few examples of the badness that’s held within.

Ken should shoot his publicist

Stryken should shoot themselves

Anyway, so we all agree this is quite hanus and is probably best forgotten. But upon another stumble click I came across rcrdlbl.com . This is a great site to be honest, featuring lots of free new music but while browsing through the artists I could not help feel that Kens photographer above was back in business. This is not meant to take the piss out of the bands in question, just highlight how bad their publicity shots are.

First up is Abe Vigoda picture from this site. Not the actor or some other bands with the same name I found on google.

They also include another promo shot that makes me wonder what the hell the guy on the left is up to.

Next up is a gray Jesus and someones spare room, in the form of Dinosaur Jr.

I’m looking for a larger quality copy of this and will change it once I do.

This next is from a band called HEALTH and all I can say is wow. Harry Enfield character competition look alike maybe.

The following HEALTH are Hercules & Love affair who to be honest just scare me.

Anyway, you get the idea, the list goes on and on and on. I was going to pass comment on a band called Blood on the wall, but they are pretty good so I refrained.  Not saying there is anything wrong with these other peoples music, but ye all scare me too much to listen.

Tom

It’s been one of those pain in the ass days today. I was doing some DIY today and was just putting expanded foam into gaps upstairs when the top of the can ruptured. Basically covering my hands completely. Anyone who is familiar with this crap knows how much fun that is. After about 15 solid minutes of washing with gritted soap and hot water, my fingers were still sticking together so I just decided to let it set. Anyway after that I decided to head off shopping with the missus. In hindsight this was a bad move. After spending too much time sitting about outside changing rooms I was getting fairly pissed. Especially as people going by kept looking at my quite grotesque hands.

Anyway, we left and on our way home I noticed something was not right in the car so I pulled into a services station. Quick check and I found we had a flat tyre. I pulled over to the air and set the psi, connected the nozzle and selected the flat tyre setting. Poof, any air pressure that was in the tyre had suddenly left. The air pump had just done exactly the opposite of what it was supposed to do. The screen was now flashing err 10. I don’t care what it mean but I knew I was not going to be pumping my tyre off this machine. Into the shop I went to seek assistance only to be informed they knew nothing about the machine and had no other pump. So there was nothing left to do only change the tyre. After unloading the spare I proceeded to loosen the nuts. All was going smooth until it came to the security nut which would not budge. Every time I applied pressure it slipped off. One time I put too much pressure and when it slipped I squashed my baby finger which is now numb at the tip.

I got out the torch to look closely only to discover that the little groves in the nut had been partially sheered off. I was furious as I only got the tyres balanced and rotated a few weeks ago so it was the garage that has done this. Anyway to finish the story I had to call my brother who went and got a pump and drove to where I was.

It’s not a bad day by some peoples standards, hence why I added the kinda bit to the title. To jinx myself further I did this post and the day is not even over yet.

Tom

If you are Irish and in a tech industry they you will no doubt be aware of the hardship the Hosting 365 have experienced today. If not then read here.

I feel bad for them in a way as I think it was the inital bad wording on this post that caused such an outcry. They stated that they had taken some non critical servers off line to solve the issue but a few customers who could no longer reach their servers took this to mean that it was there servers. This sparked off a few angry comments and got the ball rolling. It’s an entertaining read if you are a H365 compeditior or not hosted by them but my heart does go out to the poor guys on the fron tline of their support. No doubt they are taking a screaming for something they are getting no updates about and have no control over. It will be the manager who made the bad decisions or budget cuts that is responsible, and he/she is gone home at 5pm with nobody screaming at them.

To summerise, I’m with blacknight without issue for a few years now. I cannot recommend them highly enough. But in all fairness to Hosting365 it is a leap year so this is your allowed day.

Tom

I was told about this chair on Vikingdirect.ie last week and figured for €50 euro its not bad and I need a new computer chair so I went for it. It arrived yesterday and its an absolute bargin for the price. The listed price is €149 and I think its worth even more. Good build quality, very solid and easy enough to assembly.

Anyway, here is the link and here is a picture.

Doing a few minor site changes and adding some features so please be patient. If the site is not rendering properly just hit refresh and all should be ok. Oh as for the projects, one of the them is finally nearing completion. Just waiting for stuff to arrive in the post.  Word of advise never set a deadline when you are counting on the delivery of an e-bay purchased item.

That’s it for now .

Tom

This is a brillant clip where a guy posing as Gordon Freeman calls a radio station with his story about the Gman sightings.




I am forever starting little projects and never finishing them. It’s a curse. It’s not as if I run into issues and get frustrated, I generally start, work on it for a few days, get distracted and never come back to it. So now its time to finish them. Not exactly a new years resolution just something I decided to do while cleaning up my comms room.

Yes I am fortunate enough to have a comms room/workshop in my house (not a garage). I have tons of computer bits and pieces all over it and decided to start clearing it out. The more stuff I can across to put onto e-bay the more I realised it belonged to this project or that project. I started a new one a few days ago and its going well and could quite possible be completed in one go without the need for a project restart. It involves Linux MCE and some old world book encyclopedias. I won’t divulge much more incase I do not finish. As soon as I do photos will be up here.

Oh yes, My LFSproject that is linked in the top right did get finished to a certain extent. I built a working system in the end. It was to be part of another project that did NOT get finished due to finance issues more than anything else. I will have to do it all over again once that project gets finished so it will stay there for the moment.

That’s it for the moment.

Tom

Before I start for those of you who have not seen the film there are lots of spoilers contained within. So you know, you have been warned.

I went to see this last night without much of a clue as to what it was about. I thought it was some sort of thriller considering it has Will Smith in it and I had not seen many previews.  What I got was a poor 28Days later.

Now before you attack my references or reasons this is just my opinion and I now know its based on a novel by the same name but from what I read (I have not read the book yet) it omits many elements of the book.  Also its good to point out I do not like surprised based horror movies. Things jumping out suddenly are just not entertaining for me. You might as well just go to an abandoned industrial estate and hang about for the same effect. I don’t mind some of them as it’s what the movie is all about but I expected so much more from this. Not sure why.

My main issues with the movie are the actions of the main character and the settings. Firstly with the ridiculous premise that the world best hope for curing this disease is staying on his own in a house in New York City and after three years is still doing so. Surly if the army knew he was doing this research and when they discovered what was going on he would have been moved to a location in the world where they experience extended sunlight in certain seasons. If they army moved their resources to less populated places then the chance for survival is greater. This does raise questions as to how the hell do you get food and electricity in these remote places but if enough survivors moved there a community could survive. There is also the issue of extended periods of darkness. Two options for that are either move or prepare. If you are in a low density populated area the chances of having many of these monsters to deal with is quite slim. Plus as they are most likely to come out in the few hours of darkness at the start due to hunger, simply pick them off and your sorted. Probably over simplifying it but it looks like they did the same when making the movie. Granted it’s a different time now to the when the original book was written but if the option to fly was not there and I had two options as to where to go in America if this type of thing happened. It would be a military base/Fort Knox type building or the Googleplex. The military base or secure area due to fact that fully functional humans have difficult getting in there as is so it gives you more security than a New York house. If you were held up in a place like Fort Knox you have great security and resources available to you. Now the first option may be obvious but why the Googleplex you ask. Well firstly it’s manned with the latest technology (more than your average New York house) and the large solar panel array. If he can get the power he needs to survive in the house from three small generators then the solar panels could be used to store power and keep the place flood light at night. Sure, your a shining beacon on a hill drawing attention to yourself but again the population density is a lot lower than New York so there is going to be far less of these night stalkers or what ever they are hanging about. You are in an area with more open areas so there will be a lot more re growth of natural plants and natural food supplies. Ok so that’s my gripe with the location. Let’s push that all aside and pretend you are limited to New York.

The bridges have been destroyed and you are all alone in Manhattan, an island and you are the only human. If your alive after 3 years fair play. As pointed out on one site, the subways and sewers would flood after only a few days without maintenance. Your living off preserved food, so what the hell are these monsters living off? The population of Manhattan either evacuated, survived, became monsters or bled out. Not giving a lot of food for monsters as there does not appear to be a lot of wildlife roaming around New York last time I was there (some may beg to differ). 3 years is a long time for your food supply for these monsters to last. Even with the massive population of the island surly a lot of the monsters would have been killed by army or other survivors before you became the last person. If it was me I have spent my days alone, I would be flood lighting areas at a time, lobbing grenades into dark areas and cleansing the island bit by bit. If they can be sedated then grand, capture some and use the hospitals to keep them. Then once I’m happy that their population is well under control let my guard down a bit. Will Smith seems to have his guard down from the start. Walking around hunting animals in long grass, if these monsters were smart enough to copy his traps after one night who is to say they could not set traps in the grass for day light time also. Long grass is a fecker of a place to see clearly and 3 years is a long time to plan.

I am ranting now; well I have been from the start. There are a few other small things about the film itself as opposed to the story or premise. Surly the bridges would completely collapse as opposed to just the middle. They are suspension bridges after all. I though the city would look more run down after 3 years of no intervention. Ivy and the like grow like crazy if unmaintained yet most shop fronts look fine. Since these creatures are ultra sensitive to UV light they would have to find the darkest of dark places to hide during the day and even at night UV is still present. Although it’s so low it has little effect on humans but from the movie we see these guys skin burns up under a UV lamp. How can they even roam the streets at night without slowly killing themselves?

That’s it for the moment. I look forward to someone telling me how wrong I am or even agreeing with me. I’m not normally this pedantic about a movie but just something about this annoyed me.

In a tangent off my last port about shock and the changes it can bring. This is a talk given at TED by Sherwin Nuland. It gives a personal look into the development treatment and his own personal experience with the treatment.




Below is a short movie by Alfonso Cuaron based on a book by Naomi Klein.

Her book is about global free trade and the myth that surrounds its origins. Tracing it back to Milton Friedman and how the people he influenced are still influencing us today. One of the most poignant quotes from him is “Only a crisis, actual or perceived produces real change.” This is just a short movie but you get a feeling for the impact this type of thinking promotes and how it has affected the world.




I’ve jumped on the bandwagon like grandad and some others and did one of these profile things. After answering so many questions I decided that I was not bothered to read up on when it means. Maybe later. There is work to be done after all.

Although I do fall into some 3% group, but I’m guessing alot of people do, just to make us all feel special.

Well a happy new year to all, hope its a good one.

It was a quite christmas this year for me but a nice one. Lots of eating drinking but not much xbox due to live being down for most of it. Apparently it was due to a high influx of new accounts combined with the new movie download service. That aside I spent many days sitting on the couch watching Top Gear and looking at the cold outside. While sitting I was thinking of what I should do for the new year, resolution wise that is. The usual ones when through the head such as give up smoking and join the gym but wen I though them out a bit I figured there were doomed to fail. I live in the midlands and drive to Dublin everyday so getting time to go to the gym is impossible. As for the smoking, for those of you who sit in Dublins morning and evening traffic, I think I’d go postal if I did not have a smoke. I am thinking of giving it a shot in Feb when I’m used to the drive again but for the moment the Bensons stays put.

I finally decided to give up soft drinks. I noticed that I drink an awfully lot of coke, and most people that know me will agree. I’m overweight but not by a huge amount and considering my wedding is only 5 months away I wanted to loose a few pounds/kilos/stones/tons. I figure I drink a minimum of about 2 to 3 cans of coke or another soft drink a day. Not much by some peoples standards but too much by mine. Considering that my apatite has lessened in the past few months and I am eating better the weight is not going anywhere so maybe this might be the main cause.

Time now I though to do a bit of searching for justification that soft drinks are as bad as they are made out to be.

After a quick search I found this article online. I know is from a few years ago but I doubt things have changed that much. Basically a study by the Harvard School of public Health in the US found that one extra can of soft drink a day and add up to 15 pounds to your body a year. Well if one can is doing that what is 3 or 4 doing to me. Aparently its due to how the carbohydrates are interpreted by your body. Some further searching brings up pages and pages of info about coke in particular. www.onemansblog.com had a similar post to what I’m on about here. Also a few years olf but John states the following.

• There are 12 ounces (340 grams) in a can of coke.
• There are 39 grams (1.38 ounces) of sugar in a can.
• 340 grams / 39 grams = Coke is over 10% pure sugar!
• If you typically drink the equivalent of 6 cans a day you are consuming over 8 ounces or 1/2 pound of pure sugar per day.
  • 24 oz. at lunch
  • 2 cans during the day
  • 24 oz. at dinner
• That level of sugar consumption equates to about 15 pounds of raw sugar per month, or 182.5 pounds per year. (This happens to be about my body weight.)
• Don’t drink that much Coke? Well, 3 cans a day still equals 7.5 pounds per month or 91.25 pounds per year that your body has to either burn off or store as fat.
  • Sweet Tea has almost the same amount of sugar
  • Sweetened Coffee counts too. A heaping tablespoon of sugar is about 20 grams

That all looks mad when you add it up, what the hell am I putting into my body. He also links to this great breakdown from Healthbolt.com about what happens to you body when you drink a coke. I’ve posted it below.

• In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
• 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
• 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
• 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
• >60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
• >60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
• >60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

Not the most pleasant of processes is it. But I did notice some thing between some of the articles. The one from HealthBolt says that after 20 minutes you get an insulin burst but the study from Harvard says that the problem is that you don’t. To quote the MSNBC article that I linked earlier;

Unlike other carbohydrates, the main sweetener in beverages — high-fructose corn syrup — does not spur production of insulin to make the body “process” calories. It also does not spur leptin, a substance that helps moderate appetite. For these reasons, beverages are not as satisfying as foods containing similar amounts of calories and fly under the radar of the body’s normal weight-regulating mechanisms, many nutrition experts say.

Personaly I’m more inclined to agree with a Harvard study but either way they both agree that soft drinks are bad. So all this has definatly made up my mind that even though its a small resolution the impact can be huge. But these articles are from 2006 and have conflicting info in them so I wanted more proof. So I found this 2007 article from a UK newspaper about some of the serious side effects of the chemicals in soft drinks.

At this stage I’ve read that much about soft drinks that they now scare me. I’ve read much more than linked here and won’t bore you any more with it. My fiance suggested that I maybe have a can a week to help with the removed sugar buzz but after reading the true health risks I’ll stick to the water for the moment and see if I can cold turkey it.

The big question that still remains is what do I mix with my whiskey and vodka now.

After updating my Xbox 360 several times I just noticed tonight that the default skin had changed and that the new movies download is now available. There are 24 movies available but there is no info on the IE xbox site so I listed them below. I have marked which have a HD option also.

The two available formats, Standard Definition and High Definition.

The prices appear to vary per movie but for 300 its 360pints for SD and 540 for HD whereas superman III is 250points for SD and Zodiac is Three Kings is 380points for HD

For those unaware, points are currently 83 euro cent per 100.  So for the newer releases its about 4.50 euro for a HD rental.

The Standard definition is 480p with the HD version being 720p. Some movies offer both options, some only one or the other. It’s better than most offerings and it is the easiest option for most who don’t have a HTPC or want to fork out for a blue-ray or HD-DVD player. That is if the quality is as good as claimed.

There is also a preview included with each movie. I have a four meg internet connection and the preview buffered in a few seconds but from the preview I can’t say much for the picture quality.

I chose the 300 preview and sure, some bits are nice and clear but the picture quality from the preview is defiantly sub DVD quality. I’ll have to clear off the credit card and download a full movie to see what the HD quality is really like.

Again using 300 as an example the download size is 1.2GB for SD and 5.1GB for HD. Even though broadband in Ireland is improving we are still along way off being able to select and watch a 5.1GB movie. I could drive to my local xtra vision, grab a pizza, watch the movie and still be finished before some of these would be downloaded. I do not know yet if you can buffer up and watch as you download. Once the credit card is workd on I will let you know.

As for the rental terms. You get 14 days from when you download to watch the movie or 24 hours after selecting play. You can watch it as many times as you like withing this 24 hour period, but really, why would you want to.

The Movies;

• 300 HD
• Analyze This
• Clash of the Titans
• Demolition Man
• Executive Decision
• Eyes Wide Shut HD
• The Fugitive HD
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone HD
• Lethal Weapon 4
• Looney Tunes Back in Action
• Mars Attacks
• The Matrix HD
• The Matrix Reloaded HD
• The Matrix Revolutions HD
• Oceans Eleven (2001) HD
• The Perfect Storm HD
• Risky Business
• Space Cowboys HD
• Superman III
• Swordfish HD
• Three Kings HD
• Training Day HD
• Zodiac HD

This along with our new ability to play Divx means the life of my Xbox has just been extended. Don’t get me wrong, its got great games but since I bought the Wii I’ve used the Xbox less and less, it seams this update for some reason has pull me right back into its Redmond claws.

*UPDATE*

Just noticed on the xbox site, for 24 hours from midnight on the 28th of December. The HD version of 300 will be available for just 100 points (83cent). It a short space of time so don’t forget it.

I kind of feel bad posting this incase the people below read it. If they do then please don’t be pissed, you have to see the funny side of it.

I was asked to call out to an office this evening as they said someone had stolen the inside of their cd-rom tray. At first I was not sure what them ment and presumed that the tray had been removed but it was explained to me that the inside of the tray had no proper shelf to place the cd onto. It’s kind of hard to understand right now but by the end you will get it.

Anyway, they had a replacement drive left by the pc when i got there so I powered on the machine to have a look. All booted normally and i pressed the open button on the drive. Sure enough it appeared that the innards of the CD-ROM tray was missing. It had me baffled for a moment until i noticed that the DELL logo was not quite right. It turns out that they had removed all the pc’s from the office to paint and put this onc back in upside down.

Lucky there was nobody in the office as I spent about 5 minutes laughing. I can’t seem to find an image of the bottom of a cd-rom tray but from your own pc you can gather what they were looking at.

Can’t wait for this movie. Unlike most comedy’s these days, these guys are funny.

I know Grandad had a bit of rant about the Irish roads but here is my own satirical approach to driving in Ireland based on stuff I see. I broke them up a bit so you can see which part relates to you most.

Phase one: Skittles

Skittles or ‘pedestrians’, which ever you would like to call them are often found placed in towns and villages around Ireland. Your mission is to show as little regard for them as possible and pick up a few bonus points by seeing how many you can take out as you whizz though a town at top speed. Points and awarded for certain techniques and accomplishments. If you see a group on the stripy walk of death or “Zebra crossing” as some people call it, speed up as they are not expecting you to do that. It great fun to see the terror in their eyes as they flee.

Phase Two: Other drivers

Other cars, these guys are a pain in the ass. They expect you to let them know what your are up to and stuff like that. Why should you, you are invincible in your little box, screw them. You only decided at the last minute to turn off so how do they expect you to have time to turn on your indicator. It’s vital that you drive as close as possible to the car in front of you so you can let them know you are there. Other wise they might forget and go too slow or something.

Phase Three: Motorways

You own the lane you are in, remember that. You have the right to drive what ever way you like in it. It does not matter if the speed limit on the motorway is 120KMh, you get into that overtake lane and claim it. Don’t mind those people flashing at you or beeping, they are just encouraging you to take whats rightful yours. If at any stage you decided you have enough of this over take lane, just change. Indicators are not needed. The beeping and flashing is just people congratulating you on the maneuver.

Look I could go on, and probably will at some stage but this is an old draft i decided to publish.

Stumbled across a site the other day with some great examples of Binaural recordings. This method has been around for years, don’t know why i never came across it before. Some examples below.

Remember, in order to get the desired effect, you must wear headphones.

Example 1 

Example 2

There are also some famous recording using this method.

Enjoy