Ampleforth, Spiders and Evolution

Still feeling the after effects of whatever I've had , but well impressed with the cotage which sensibly has it's own wifi , though I feel this will be a growing trend. Ironic that I cant get a phone signal so cant recieve calls or texts but can use my phone to surf the net and listen to online radio stations. You can see the cottage here.

Anyway this was up during the night and noticed a spider in the bath (there are lots of arachnid vistors to this cottage but what can you expect is such a rural area). This morning it was still there and it got me wondering. Spiders are essentially intelligent creatures and ceramic baths have been around for 150 years or so , so why have they not learned to climb out of a bath yet. More pertinently a spider arriving in a bath from the plug hole is like a driver arriving in a cul-de-sac . Eventually you realise that you've made a mistake (unless the place you want to go is in the cul-de-sac) and then you leave the way you came, This is one area where spider show a distinct lack of intelligence.

Lot's of people can't be doing with spiders and it's basically humans cannot deal with creatures with more legs than them that move faster than them. I'm generally ok with spiders as they cull the insect population , but would prefer it if they keep out of my way.

Given the amount of arachnid action today there can only be one one song for the June's Tunes:

It's Four In The Morning .. And I Feel Awful

Well it isn't it's actually 1:48 , but while trying to sleep since 8 pm last night have kept being woken up by coughing fits and an extremely sore throat coughing up some not very nice stuff. It's times like these when I get scared the ITP may come back, but last couple of times I thought it was happening I've recovered sufficiantly. Just found this ITP support site which includes an article on a (nearly) nude St Andrews Calendar , information here.

Just glad this has occurred at the beginning of my holiday at a weekend , which means , as I can't sleep, I can write this post. The fact I can write this means that I must be on the mend , last night I was only fit to drop into bed. Symptoms 'flu like aching , very sore thoat as soon as you lay down tickly cough kicks in , but you are actuallly too tired and weak to get up , but you have to to spit out the horrible phlegm to get it out of your system (swallowing is not an option).

Anyway for some reason the phrase "Four In The Morning" popped into my mind which I've just realised was a syruppy counry and western confection by Faron Young , but the one that I was thinking of was the song by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme from their triple album Consequences that they put out after splitting from 10CC (who have already featured in my June's Tunes). So here is the wonderful song , the kettle is on and I'm going to make myself a cup of tea!!

Now I've found the video , the song is actually called Five O'Clock In The Morning , memory not fully populated , it's still a fantastic song , have a listen. Just checked the albums on Amazon and they will now leave a serious dent in your pocket and there is not much available on download.

Windows 8 Maps and Scottish Pirate Metal

I'm still getting to grips with Windows 8 so this may be an unfair rant. One of the problems in building intuitive interfaces is that the user has to guess what the designer wants the user to do and the designer has to pre empt what the average user will do.

So I was presented with a map roughly centered on Newcastle , with a Bing logo in the bottom left hand corner (and we all know how rubbish Bing searches are) , so that doesnt bode well for the package. Eventually I discovered that a right click on the bottom of the screen brings up a menu with a directions button whicjh I selected , put it my start and destination post codes and it drew a blue line on the map....

...and that was it , no printed directions , no opportunity to put in detours. So went back to Google Maps and got what  I needed.

Anyway it's sunny, and I will we driving down despite having a cough , cold , maybe hayfever and feeling quite rubbish. This day in 1692 an earthquake destroyed Port Royal in Jamaica , a notorious pirate haven . Article here. This gives me the inspiration for todays June's Tunes , the Scottish Pirate Metal (how niche can you get)  band Alestorm

Five Inches of Pleasure ..... 500 Posts .....Spiritual High ..... Becoming More Like God

and this is my 500th post, and it is music related. Every so often something just comes into my head, and one of the things I liked about the CD single heyday (is that the right spelling ?) were the remix singles. Two that stuck in my mind were Spiritual High by Moodswings featurg Chrissie Hynde and Becoming More Like God by Jah Wobble featuring Sinead O'Connor.

These are just the tip of the iceberg and the Moodswings CD dropped through my letterbox featuring six versions of the song clocking in at forty minutes , currently on my CD player. It cost me just under three quid including postage. The Jah Wobble one was on sale at £25 so I think I will leave that for the time being , maybe just invest in the new deluxe version of Take Me To God. Anyway I've include Youtube copies of both tracks for you to enjoy.

Can My Phone Read My Mind?

A friend of mine had posted on Twitter about tge general incompetence if tge contestants.  This called to mind the excellent Mitchell and Webb Apprentice sketch so I thought I would send her the link from Youtube. The recommendations are usually Charlie Brooker and music related. Top of the pile today was a Mitchell and Webb cricket sketch.

It's just coincidence but it would give Derek Acorah a series!!

Life is just a TLA and Iron Maiden

It's the sixth of June already. We're half way through 2013. Another work day. And need a piece of music for today's June's Tunes. It's funny how sunny weather is quite uplifting but when it's grey you can easily feel down . It that what they call SAD (Seasonal Affected Disorder) . Yesterday I was told I may have had a TIA , and the doctor spoke as though I should have known what he meant . It's a sort of mini - stroke that leaves little or no trace barring the damage it does. So in theory you could have one and not be aware of it. TIA stands for Transient Ischaemic Attack which would have disturbed me even more if he'd come out with that !

Still it's just another TLA (Three Letter Acronym) , anyway here's today's tune ,ad it's the sixth we'll go for Iron Maiden's 666 - The Number Of The Beast:


   

Oh by the way Maiden England are playing The Doll at The Black Bull soon . Check here for details.

Trailing Spaces and TIA

Whenever you parse a string in any programming language you should usually exclude trailing or leading spaces. This is because usually they have been but there accidentally, It means that comparisons will fail if you do not remove the spaces.This has happened four times to me today on web forms.

It's amazing how many basic rules seem to have been thrown out of the window with the new programming regimes . Fast and cheap , standards gone , and we have to live with it.

In other news com back from hospital with the news that they think I've had a TIA except I still cant use my little finger properly. So it looks like its just going to be a long slog to regain the use of it once more , either that or I stick to playing bass!

Anyway today's tune for June  is The Hospital Song by 10CC , I'd forgotten how good this was :