tech-tastic

Got to love a bit of impulse buying eh!

Wombling around Tesco's yesterday (*a major supermarket chain in the UK), I got drawn into the vortex that is their 'technical/gadget section'. In there was something very exciting that I had noticed the other week and had, subsequently, researched on the internet - but, to no avail.

Firstly, the background to this situation, now as bad as it is (and I know it is bad) I have a wee tv in my bedroom that I quite like to watch before going to bed. Nothing like relaxing tired eyes, that have been staring a computer screen all day, by going to bed and staring at a tv screen.

Anyway, living in this Medieval area of Britain I can only get channels 1-4 on my bedroom telly (running off bunny ears). Or, I could only get channels 1-4 until, very mysteriously, a short while ago, Ch3 (or ITV) disappeared off the radar scope. Weird (and, yes, I tried everything to get it back, except for re-wiring the telly).

I don't know what happened because I don't remember reading anything in the paper about a TV mast being de-commissioned or a stray Israeli missle hitting it (the way they're spraying them around at the moment, nothing is safe). All of a sudden, one day out of the blue, I was reduced to 3 channels ("of crap", I'd like to add).

So, in Tesco's, I had eyed up one of these wireless video (or whatever - DVD, video, PC) transmitters. Now I was pretty sceptical of their real-world effectiveness and, furthermore, would not normally buy a piece of kit like that from a supermarket. Nonetheless, in a fit of carefree abandon, I threw it into my trolly, doubling my food bill, and bought the little gizmo!

Having got it home, I pulled it out of its box (read the instructions - I must be over 30!) and began to start plugging it in. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it worked, or sort of!

Amazing, just like that, I could now watch Freeview (digital telly - with about 30 channels) from my bed. Admittedly, at first the remote would not work, so I had to walk 50 paces down the hall and into the lounge to change channels and it completely screwed my wireless internet connection. Eventually, I got both of those problems resolved and I was able to relax in bed late last night, listening to Radio 3's 'Late Junction' with Verity Sharp (great name, especially for a music presenter), as I was dozing off.

It is, probably, a very expensive way to listen to radio, involving 2 tv's, a digital tuner, a wireless transmitter & receiver, not to mention the millions of electromagnetic waves that must be bouncing around this house and their associated cancerous implications.

But, late last night, I was in heaven - 30 channels of crap to watch on tv with an additional 50 radio stations to listen to! I don't normally give a company like Tesco's a thumbs up (typically, going out of my way to try and buy fruit & veges from local traders), but credit where credit is due - that was a pretty good deal on a techy piece of kit... and my regards to the children in the sweatshop in Shanghai who probably built the thing too...

* it must be so helpful to foreign language readers of this blog that I, helpfully, explain that Tesco's is a big supermarket chain, but don't give any lead as to what 'wombling' is, earlier in the sentence... It'd be a bloody good dictionary that translated wombling... (or a kids one from the 70's, I suppose).

busy times indeed

in the last week, I have:

- baked my first ever loaf of bread,
- installed & got running - Apache, PHP5.0 & MySQL on my localhost,
- had enjoyable e-mail contact with a jolly nice chap who writes a bloody good blog,
- wrote a quote for a life-changing amount of money (relative to my life & remember, I don't get out much),
- helped a disabled woman back into her leg because she was sooo pissed that she fell over horrifically in a bar and was too wasted to (a) get up (b) deal with it & (c) re-attach the aforementioned artifical leg.

It's been a funny ol' week...

quoth the raven

In an e-mail I sent to someone this morning...

"Well, how about that eh? Who'd have imagined that the Italians would have successfully elbowed, dived, goaded and faked their way to a World Cup victory! Not bad for a bunch of guys who'll probably be playing in the 3rd division for the next year"

...and that was the World Cup. The biggest, allegedly, sporting event on the planet and what are to be the enduring memories - elite, absurdly-overpaid sportsmen, faking, diving, rolling, writhing and screaming in agony from non-existant tackles all over the pitch. This is the message being broadcast out to young folk all over the world - this is the way to play sport (...& live life). This element of the game could be eradicated if they had the desire & balls to do so (yes, tragic pun). My heart goes out to all the PE teachers out there who now have to try and deal with a billion youngsters imitating their onscreen heroes.

I don't just blame the Italians, everyone was at it, but they were just somewhat more successful than others. Zidane, in the Final, was a bloody idiot obviously, but I look forward to hearing what actually happened out there. The deliberate brutal elbow to McBride (American) by the Italian defender will be remembered as the most violent moment of the tournament. Australia humped out of the tournament by an Italian dive in the penalty box in the dying seconds of overtime was another sad moment for many neutrals. Molti Squalo!

On a final note though - well done to Germany, everyone, & I mean EVERYONE, thought you folks put on a fantastic tournament. It was a pity that you didn't get to the Final as it seemed it would have been a wonderful finale (DE vs FR). It was refreshing to see so much support from all over the UK for you folks in the playoff against Italy (everyone hoped you'd win).

So there it is folks, early in the 21st century and that was the biggest sporting event from the biggest sport on the planet. Mixed reviews from many pundits on the tournament, but I'll go with - 'good start and faltering finish'.