The Thanksgiving rush is through. Time for the Christmas rush to begin.
I got asked something over Thanksgiving, and not just once. "Do they have Thanksgiving in Britain?" was the question in question. One too many 'question's there. So here's the answer. No. In fact, there are more countries that have Boxing Day off work than have a Thanksgiving. The whole history of the holiday is: white people were hungry, natives helped them out with food. The white people in Britain are the natives, so we'd have starved to death.
But that's not knocking the holiday. Any excuse for food and a sleep in the afternoon, says I.
They say life is full of little coincidences, and today I found one.
Background to this story: I had a car accident in the middle of the Australian nowhere in 1998 which eventually led to me meeting my wife (look for my October 29th 2002 posting in this weblog for the full sordid details). I was messing with MultiMap online today and found that there's a Lake Seabrook in the area I had my crash.
Some plucky GPS-bearing people went the 870kms (540 miles or so) from the town of Kalgoorlie (nice place, good beer) to the exact point that marks 30°S 119°E (quite literally out in the middle of nowhere). This page shows what the area looks like, and why I'm surprised someone managed to find me in the car after only an hour.
If you're wondering why someone would travel into the middle of nowhere just to find a specific latitude and longitude point, it's all part of The Degree Confluence Project. The goal of the project is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location. Everybody needs a hobby, and there's no better use for a GPS locator and a digital camera.
Listen : When The River Runs Dry - Hunters & Collectors ... World In My Eyes - Depeche Mode.
Monday, November 15, 2004
Just found a great site for all my family and friends around the world, worried about the election (and four more years of a man-chimp with his finger on the button).
Quite a lot of people just want you all to know that we're really, really sorry and if we had the choice we'd have two men called John calling the shots.
Which may not be such a long-shot, even after all this time. The Moderate Independent reports that Ralph Nader, the man that may have given George W. Bush the White House in 2000, is putting a bid in to get votes recounted. One blogger mentions the research of Dr Stephen Freeman that shows the immense improbability that the difference between exit poll numbers and 'counted' votes happened by chance. One chance in a quarter of a billion.
Seriously; we're talking the chances of winning the jackpot on a 6-from-49 Lottery (think New York's State Lottery, or Britain's National Lottery) and then winning double-or-nothing at a Vegas roulette wheel. With every scrap of the winnings. Six times.
Listen : Underwear Goes Inside The Pants - Lazyboy ... Amerika (Jam & Spoon So Kann's Gehen Mix) - Rammstein.
Quite a lot of people just want you all to know that we're really, really sorry and if we had the choice we'd have two men called John calling the shots.
Which may not be such a long-shot, even after all this time. The Moderate Independent reports that Ralph Nader, the man that may have given George W. Bush the White House in 2000, is putting a bid in to get votes recounted. One blogger mentions the research of Dr Stephen Freeman that shows the immense improbability that the difference between exit poll numbers and 'counted' votes happened by chance. One chance in a quarter of a billion.
Seriously; we're talking the chances of winning the jackpot on a 6-from-49 Lottery (think New York's State Lottery, or Britain's National Lottery) and then winning double-or-nothing at a Vegas roulette wheel. With every scrap of the winnings. Six times.
Listen : Underwear Goes Inside The Pants - Lazyboy ... Amerika (Jam & Spoon So Kann's Gehen Mix) - Rammstein.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Ah yes. I promised my sister that I would put a picture of her wedding on the blog as soon as she sent one. It's trimmed down a bit...
...but there you are. Congratulations to Wendy and Dave Wootton. No longer living in sin!!!
Listen : Brace Yourself - Brides Of Destruction ... Lovenest - The Wedding Present (I was quite happy with myself for these song choices).
...but there you are. Congratulations to Wendy and Dave Wootton. No longer living in sin!!!
Listen : Brace Yourself - Brides Of Destruction ... Lovenest - The Wedding Present (I was quite happy with myself for these song choices).
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Did I really miss that many weeks without posting on the blog? Hmmmm...
So, what happened. Four hurricanes hit the country. They may have been gentle reminders to all Floridians that God / Gaia was pissed off at them. I quite liked the fact that three of them were reminders not to vote for Bush (Ivan, Charlie and France's)... OK, you know this is sarcasm. Bush won his first election fairly a few days ago, but pundits on the TV are saying that Kerry's strategy was a failure.
Yet both candidates got more votes than any winning President in past US history.
If you make it to the 100m Finals at the Olympics, when nobody thought you'd get past the preliminaries because your running style was awkward, and then got beaten to the gold medal by less than two-tenths of a second, people wouldn't be saying "that was a disaster... he needs to radically rethink his entire running technique after that silver medal performance..." and yet that's what these expert pundits on the news are now doing.
Blah, blah, everyone's an expert. Here's another example, and it shows that you should make up your own mind instead of investing too much in the opinions of those on TV. When the US Dollar slipped against European currencies in late 2003, so-called "experts" in the financial sector were saying that it would rebound by the end of 2004. £1 in Britain would return to be worth $1.60 in the US instead of $1.80. Guess what? These experts that are paid a six-figure salary to predict trends got it wrong. British tourists still get an absolute bargain when they come to the States to shop because the dollar's so weak. It's still a dollar-eighty to one pound sterling.
The same with the election. Kerry didn't do bad at all. In fact, he posted the second fastest time in Olympic history (if we carry that analogy over), but got beaten on the day. He got more votes than Clinton, Bush the first and Reagan. So I'd say he did something right.
So, for the next four years, I'll be watching the figures. Unemployment, currency rates, promised spending amounts. Bush won by a whisker and if he fucks it up this time like he's done in Iraq, we'll let him know it in no uncertain terms.
Roll on the next election...
Listen : Lola Stars And Stripes - The Stills ... Kill The Poor - The Dead Kennedys ... Freedom Of Speech Won't Feed My Children - Manic Street Preachers.
So, what happened. Four hurricanes hit the country. They may have been gentle reminders to all Floridians that God / Gaia was pissed off at them. I quite liked the fact that three of them were reminders not to vote for Bush (Ivan, Charlie and France's)... OK, you know this is sarcasm. Bush won his first election fairly a few days ago, but pundits on the TV are saying that Kerry's strategy was a failure.
Yet both candidates got more votes than any winning President in past US history.
If you make it to the 100m Finals at the Olympics, when nobody thought you'd get past the preliminaries because your running style was awkward, and then got beaten to the gold medal by less than two-tenths of a second, people wouldn't be saying "that was a disaster... he needs to radically rethink his entire running technique after that silver medal performance..." and yet that's what these expert pundits on the news are now doing.
Blah, blah, everyone's an expert. Here's another example, and it shows that you should make up your own mind instead of investing too much in the opinions of those on TV. When the US Dollar slipped against European currencies in late 2003, so-called "experts" in the financial sector were saying that it would rebound by the end of 2004. £1 in Britain would return to be worth $1.60 in the US instead of $1.80. Guess what? These experts that are paid a six-figure salary to predict trends got it wrong. British tourists still get an absolute bargain when they come to the States to shop because the dollar's so weak. It's still a dollar-eighty to one pound sterling.
The same with the election. Kerry didn't do bad at all. In fact, he posted the second fastest time in Olympic history (if we carry that analogy over), but got beaten on the day. He got more votes than Clinton, Bush the first and Reagan. So I'd say he did something right.
So, for the next four years, I'll be watching the figures. Unemployment, currency rates, promised spending amounts. Bush won by a whisker and if he fucks it up this time like he's done in Iraq, we'll let him know it in no uncertain terms.
Roll on the next election...
Listen : Lola Stars And Stripes - The Stills ... Kill The Poor - The Dead Kennedys ... Freedom Of Speech Won't Feed My Children - Manic Street Preachers.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Obscene question of the day: What's the most money you've ever spent in one month?
I don't mean on a credit card or borrowed cash. How much of your own hard-earned savings have you ever shelled out in the space of one calendar month? The month of August isn't over yet, but we're over the $1,000 mark. By a few thousand. Add a bit more. OK, we spent three years' savings this month.
I've handled more in my life... I worked at a London rail station for a few years and pulled in over £100,000 two days running. Mind you, most of that was in credit card transactions and it was right before Christmas so maybe not. Never mind. I've never spent more than a few hundred of my own moolah at any one time. Until this month.
But hey, what's the use of having it if you're never going to spend it?
Beth's old Honda is seven years old, so we have been thinking of small SUVs for some time now. It was either going to be another Honda (the CR-V) or a 2005 Subaru Forester 2.5X. Thanks to the side impact rating in Consumer Reports, the Subaru won out. We fell in love with the Pearl Blue one on the lot and ended up buying it. Nearly fifty percent down and financing for four years.
As you may know from reading these web-log entries, we've been looking for a house. The breaking point came when we looked at the house with Duct tape keeping the bathroom tiles on the wall. So we looked at a plot of land for sale and we liked it enough to put in a bid. The bid was accepted, so we had a choice. Finance, or savings? Well, paying outright means we have one less bill to worry about. If we do see a house we like in the interim, we can sell the land... but we want to build our dream place, and owning the land gives us a sense of freedom. Including the closing costs and filing the deed at the Courthouse, that took the biggest chunk out of the savings.
I don't feel bad about it because it's what we were saving for anyway.
Oh, then the window wouldn't close on the Civic so we needed that put back on its tracks. The people at Burne Honda said they couldn't see it for a week but Beth had a word with them and it was done by mid-day the next day. She's great like that. The boys at the garage noticed the rattle under the car we've had and saw a loose plate near the exhaust so they fixed that into place for us too. Then they gave us a 10% discount for the parts. Nice one, gentlemen.
Listen : Float On - Modest Mouse ... Tax Loss - Mansun ... Dollars & Cents - Radiohead...
I don't mean on a credit card or borrowed cash. How much of your own hard-earned savings have you ever shelled out in the space of one calendar month? The month of August isn't over yet, but we're over the $1,000 mark. By a few thousand. Add a bit more. OK, we spent three years' savings this month.
I've handled more in my life... I worked at a London rail station for a few years and pulled in over £100,000 two days running. Mind you, most of that was in credit card transactions and it was right before Christmas so maybe not. Never mind. I've never spent more than a few hundred of my own moolah at any one time. Until this month.
But hey, what's the use of having it if you're never going to spend it?
Beth's old Honda is seven years old, so we have been thinking of small SUVs for some time now. It was either going to be another Honda (the CR-V) or a 2005 Subaru Forester 2.5X. Thanks to the side impact rating in Consumer Reports, the Subaru won out. We fell in love with the Pearl Blue one on the lot and ended up buying it. Nearly fifty percent down and financing for four years.
As you may know from reading these web-log entries, we've been looking for a house. The breaking point came when we looked at the house with Duct tape keeping the bathroom tiles on the wall. So we looked at a plot of land for sale and we liked it enough to put in a bid. The bid was accepted, so we had a choice. Finance, or savings? Well, paying outright means we have one less bill to worry about. If we do see a house we like in the interim, we can sell the land... but we want to build our dream place, and owning the land gives us a sense of freedom. Including the closing costs and filing the deed at the Courthouse, that took the biggest chunk out of the savings.
I don't feel bad about it because it's what we were saving for anyway.
Oh, then the window wouldn't close on the Civic so we needed that put back on its tracks. The people at Burne Honda said they couldn't see it for a week but Beth had a word with them and it was done by mid-day the next day. She's great like that. The boys at the garage noticed the rattle under the car we've had and saw a loose plate near the exhaust so they fixed that into place for us too. Then they gave us a 10% discount for the parts. Nice one, gentlemen.
Listen : Float On - Modest Mouse ... Tax Loss - Mansun ... Dollars & Cents - Radiohead...
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