September 2007 Archives

Get a Job!

Reading the news this morning, Jeremy Kyle's on the way down it appears. This is after claims yesterday an alcoholic guest on the programme was plied with lager, and earlier in the week a judge branded the show "a form of human bear-baiting".

Maybe, finally, the show is being seen for what it is, and will go the way Kilroy went, and disappear from the screens. I somehow doubt it, there's always going to be a void for this sort of thing. And, lets be honest, that's all the independent tv companies seem to be chucking out at the moment.

What depresses me most is reading Jonathan's blog, and realising where all the TV money should be going. Instead, it's being spent on all these trash shows. I guess it's a measure of society, everyone likes to see everyone else suffer. And, I have to admit, I do enjoy some of these, like Airport, just for the insight into how impatient some people can be. But dragging people in front of the camera's, to then record the arguments? :-(

And It's Done!

For those that know, it's over, and it was ace :-D Best day I've had, enjoyed it immensely :-D

For those that have no idea what I'm on about, I'll have to tell you later. Least until it's all made official ;-)

Anyway's, I'm off down Our Mutual Friend, there's a few pints I need to buy!

Hmmm, Can I go Eurostar Next Time?

After mentioning my first flight on a 146 from London City the other week, I caught this news on FlightGlobal today - Swiss has removed damaged Avro RJ100 on floating pontoon at London City. Reading through the story, and the links to other news, it didn't half hit the runway with a thump. And if it's not fit to fly out, I can't imagine what it sounded or felt like for any passengers on the flight. I wonder if it's too late to rearrange my trips onto Eurostar...

It's Official

The Saudis 'buy Eurofighters from UK', announced lunchtime today.

There's also talk of a ship buy in the Guardian's report - The British defence giant has secured an order for 72 Eurofighter Typhoons in a contract worth £20bn over the next 20 years.

Shares have been rocketing the last few days, will be interesting to see if they continue on their way up, or settle down.

Colin McRae 1968 - 2007

Colin McRae and British rival Richard BurnsCaught the news of the accident during the Grand Prix this afternoon, and didn't believe it at first :-( But as the day's gone on, and the tributes flood in, the truth we've lost another motorsport champ before his time.

It's nearly 2 years since Richard Burns lost his fight with a brain tumour, and as with him, it's a legacy of a golden age that they leave. For me, there was only one guy who could roll a car and still keep going :-D

Like Burns, he'll be missed.

A Sad Battle of Britain Day

Busy with work stuff this weekend, so no chance to get to any of the "Battle of Britain Day" celebration airshows (need to get to a show JJS). Sad news, then, reading this story from the Shoreham Airshow tonight - WWII aircraft pilot dies in crash :-(

[UPDATE]YouTube video of the day, including the "Missing Man" flyby.

Echinacea Does or Doesn't?

After my comments not so long ago about Echinacea, (Echinacea helps cold prevention, Echinacea helps cold prevention), and preparing to pump myself full over the coming months in an attempy to jump the gun and, hopefully, not get my usual winter cold/man flu, Ian sent me the following Google search for Echinacea, on which is links to 2 stories on the Beeb, one saying yes it does, and one saying no it doesn't.

Back in 2002, it seems the view was no, and a few years later, in 2007, a view that it does work. Confused? I'm off to get my dose of vitamins and Echinacea, not that it'll work, eh :-(

It's Getting Closer!

The all new Aifix website, and club will be launched very soon. And another taste of things to come has been revealed on one of the Airfix forums, The Airfix Tribute Forum.

I'm not publishing it here as it's all a little hush, hush, so if you're interested (anyone...?) you'll have to get across there, register, and find out ;-)

[UPDATE] More appears daily, including info on the club, so keep looking back. Am told it's going live proper next week sometime. Airfix is back :-D

Brum, brum!

Rushed up to Hull today to help sort a few things out, one of which was Ian's Golf. He'd gone to sell it the other week, for it to die the day the guy came to collect it. Bugger :-(

Anyway, after several chats with mates in Club GTI, a surf of the forum, the conclusion seemed to be it was the distributor, or more specifically the Hall sender that had bust. Not something you can easily test on the car, but fortunately there was a scrappie in Hull that had a Jetta GTI with a distributor and ECU. I'd thought it's worth getting the ECU, better to be safe than sorry. So, toolbox in hand, me and Nige went there this afternoon to strip the car of the bits we needed. And, best of all, we got the lot for £25 :-D

Even better still, it didn't need all the bits in the end. The easiest part to check was the small black plastic box on top of the ECU. Unplugged the one on the car and plugged in the new one, turned the key, and the car started up :-D Five minutes, and all's back to normal again, hurray :-D

We're all off to get drunk now, full of the joy of fixing the car :-D

Lego NXT Updates

National Instruments announce new version of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Robotics software. Improvements appear to be an update for Vista (booo ;-)), and probably more practical, improved memory usage. Not that I've been doing much development with mine recently. I've not even gotten the videos up on YouTube :-(

But, more importantly, was this find - The LEGO sets Man was not meant to know!, a book about the stuff the boffins at LEGO play with, but never make it to the shelves, for rather obvious reasons. A Christmas pressie, perhaps ;-)

Briscoe Goes Red!

Hull KRAnother of the worst kept secrets, confirmation Briscoe's signed for KR. I wonder if he was just waiting to make sure we'd still be in Super League before making it final.

Just waiting for the rest of the team to move across the river, and then sign over the deeds to the KC, and so complete the transformation of the city rugby team ;-)

When The Red, Red, Robins....

Hull KRHull 6 Hull KR 42 :-D :-D Says it all, the Robins are safe in Super League next year, and demolished the Airlie Birds in Hull’s 202nd derby clash between Hull FC and Hull KR at the KC Stadium :-D It makes it 90 wins for the Robins, against 112 wins for FC. And, with survival in Super League, there's another set of derby games to look forward to next year :-D

After last years battle to the top of League One and promotion back in October last year, it's been touch and go the last few weeks, with some surprise wins, and too many heavy defeats. Off to have a beer or 2 now to celebrate :-D
[UPDATE]
Links to various reports and pics of the big match :-D
DERBY DAY: Fans inside the stadium
SportHull Forum | Demolition derby
SportHull | It's a red rout

Big Game For Tigers in League Cup

Hull City get a big game for the next round of the league cup, bet it'll be a sell-out 25,000. Pain that it's a mid-week game, otherwise I'd be up there like a shot. Of course, do we run the risk, don shirts, and find a pub in Stevenage to watch? Any Spurs or Arsenal fans fancy joining me and Andy watching the game down the pub, and supporting the opposition? ;-)

About Alan Bell

Lapsed: electronic engineer, scout leader, project controller.
Now: Oracle Primavera training consultant, business support manager, occasional website designer.

About this Archive

This page is an archive of entries from September 2007 listed from newest to oldest.

August 2007 is the previous archive.

October 2007 is the next archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.