A perfect weekend of walking in dream-like conditions with brother Phil, cousin Adrian and five otherlucky people. Can’t wait til next year! Day one; Carneddau – including the second highest point in Wales, Day 2; Moel Siabod and a good ridge and great views of all the 3,000 footers from the summit.
Driving me mental
Microsoft’s Virtual Earth: “Now you can have maps that don’t just have satellite views: Microsoft’s Virtual Earth now lets you walk or drive around the streets and see a street-level view”.
Hmm.
You can explore street-side views by ‘driving’ (with your mouse or with the arrow keys on your keyboard) our ‘Sports Car’ or ‘Race Car’ along streets in the map or you can also ‘Walk’ along the street. When the car is on a street that has street-side images, the car headlights turn on and you can view the front, right, and left views through the car windows above. When there are no available views, a ‘no view’ screen is displayed. Simply drag (or ‘drive’ with keystrokes) the car to a different place to continue browsing.”
It’s just dreadful, but young technology always improves. It looks like the bastard son of Google Earth and a bored tourist’s photo album.
That feels good
My hamstrings hurt. Three of my toes are blistered, one of them badly. My calf muscles feel like they’ve been pummelled by a steak tenderiser. What a lovely feeling to have the running season back! I came 13th out of 190 in the Radcliffe 12 mile trail race – not the usual fell race but a much flatter course. It was a challenge and sufficiently vaired under foot to keep your mind occupied. i went off from the start like a bullet and knew I was likely to suffer after the half way mark, but suffering’s good, isn’t it.
Special mention to the only uphill section of canal in the whole world, which went on for about a mile. No locks, just ‘flat’ water. The tow path felt like it was about one in ten. Maybe it was just my imagination.
When Minnellium intorduced Boards of Canada to Eminem
I know the mash-up stuff went on a good few years ago now but I still love the idea of combining two bands / styles. This one was fun to put together anyway – give me any comments – hope you enjoy it….. Stan (mp3, 5.1 mb)
Near my office window
Sixteen panning mini photos of the NCP car park on Whitworth Street as seen from the third floor of Bridgewater House. Tell me you’ve seen this before, and I’ll be surprised.
Click here to view this and a series of other photos all taken within about three hundred metrees from my place of work on the new work camera over lunch time. All tweaking done in piccasa.
Them were’t days.
Fantastic poster. Says more about britain in the war than you could ever get across on one sheet of paper. Ace. Simple but funny.
What I enjoyed today
One of my favourite never-made-it internet musicians is Spitznagel… this is a person who makes his music so eclectic and lacking in boundaries – I always enjoy a listen. Avant Garde and sometimes very challenging, it’s always a rewardeing listen…. have a listen yourself to Black Moon, by SPITZNAGEL
Mausoleum in Birmingham Peace Gardens
Ages and ages since I’ve done a photo merge thingy. This building sort of made me want to do one. Amazing mausoleum in the peace gardens in Birmingham. Almost overpowering.
Tune: “Forget all this occurred”.
Forget all this occurred is my latest tune that has been in the making on and off for 18 months or so.
I never got round to having a good sit down and finishing it off, but I’ve sort of done here. It’s hosted on ACIDplanet.com and you can listen in slightly lower bitrate WMA format or join Acidplanet for free and download it as a full blown shiny MP3.
Google ?? But not as we know it.
After holding out longer than any other major internet company, Google will effectively become another brick in the great firewall of China when it starts filtering out information that it believes the government will not approve of.
Another brick in the great firewall of China. It can’t last.
BBC – Radio 4 – Farming Today
My brother Phil was talking at length about grass on BBC Radio 4’s – Farming Today this morning. You can use the ‘Listen Again’ feature to hear him taliing about controlled grassland experiements looking at different combined traits from various species and their effects on things like surface run-off and the effects on people living in flooding catchments…. as opposed to using other interventions to stop flooding…. if you’re interested.
A new poem
Haven’t written a poem for ages and one worked its way into my head this morning on a drizzly cycle commute into work…..
Lesley Judd
God, she was good –
all these years and she
still gives me wood.
I didn’t actually know her
like that Singleton witch
or Percy Thrower,
But I still get the itch.