England's Rock Art - the website launch

Image154
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

We were invited to attend the launch of a website today - England's Rock Art

B took the photos used for the scrolling images on the front page, and they were also used for the front cover of the extremely flashy-looking brochure!

It was a great day where the volunteer team demonstrated the survey techniques, displaying models which could be viewed best wearing 3-D specs!!!!

Yay! I have two Solfest tickets in my sweaty inbox

Phew ... the tickets for Solfest were released today and as with anything else well saught-after yet trumpetted, the website didn't make it long after the 9am opening.

After two hours pressing redial, B finally managed to speak to a real human willing to take his credit card details so woohoo with purple stripes, we are going to Solfest again!

Wooo... Supergrass, Chas & Dave, Roisin Murphy, Alabama 3, The Pipettes ... gonna be a guddun! Can't wait.

Solfest 2007

Solfest 2006

My New Website!!

I've invested in a "complete package" product which on first attempts seems as easy as blogger to use - that is to say, easier once you know how but better than trying to use html.

I've put up some photos of some of my jewellery creations - but I have a shop on there with the intention of at least making the software pay for itself!!

I'm quite chuffed with it - and although there's room for a blog on it I'll probably keep this one going with general stuff and keep t'other one for stuff to do with making jewellery.

So! Please take a look, browse about, and let me know what you think!!

cheers

www.pebblesfromheaven.co.uk

Back from the Dead

OK to be fair we've been back online for 2 weeks but isn't that rediculous?

"They" can get broadband to remote island communities but "they" can't manage to supply a 21st-century housing estate to fulfill demand.

I presume someone had to die in order for us to get our line. Or something. I had to take desperate measures - I emailed the ceo of BT. It worked; I was in regular communication with an Openroach man who was very very helpful and sympathetic but unable to change the fact that here we have the "wrong sort of wires". But at least I didn't have to ring that stomach-knotting, head-banging, bloody-awful, should-be-outlawed helpline any more.

In order to survive the technological famine, I've had to persuade myself intellectually that I don't need the internet, no-one's interested in my views and no-one will miss me anyway. So I've mentally "lost the urge" to talk rubbish (online anyway).

Plus, I have my new job to occupy me! Wayhey! I get to play with goo all day and pretend I know what I'm talking about. It's great!

So sometime soon I'll tell you all what else we've been up to during the blackout. It just might take a while for me to get used to the idea.

Addicted to Flickr

Well it's quite easy - you join up, create a member name, icon, profile if you want to, and start posting loads of pics (which I'm not exactly short of) and other people view them, sometimes comment on the (usually complimentary!)

It gets very addictive, when you get other people praising you and you feel part of a group and so you join in and post back, have conversations, etc etc. Before you know it, you actully give a damn whether your photos are removed from such-and-such a group because they don't fit in with the group moderator's idea of what the group is all about.

So you set up your own group, (sod 'em!) and invite other people and they post pictures to your group and comment on each others pics and it's all one happy family.

Then, you start reading the more political threads about whether you should support yahoo really, or who owns the photos and read the small print etc etc ... all gets a wee bit involved.

So anyway that's where I'm at - when I log into my computer, the first thing I do is check to see if I have any Flickr comments, and if anyone has joined my group or posted more photos, etc etc ...

great stuff!

Makes me wonder where the future lies for this sort of repository. The day all the electricity dies, will all these photos cease to exist? How sad would that be?

Addicted to flickr

Well it's quite easy - you join up, create a member name, icon, profile if you want to, and start posting loads of pics (which I'm not exactly short of) and other people view them, sometimes comment on the (usually complimentary!)

It gets very addictive, when you get other people praising you and you feel part of a group and so you join in and post back, have conversations, etc etc. Before you know it, you actully give a damn whether your photos are removed from such-and-such a group because they don't fit in with the group moderator's idea of what the group is all about.

So you set up your own group, (sod 'em!) and invite other people and they post pictures to your group and comment on each others pics and it's all one happy family.

Then, you start reading the more political threads about whether you should support yahoo really, or who owns the photos and read the small print etc etc ... all gets a wee bit involved.

So anyway that's where I'm at - when I log into my computer, the first thing I do is check to see if I have any Flickr comments, and if anyone has joined my group or posted more photos, etc etc ...

great stuff!

Makes me wonder where the future lies for this sort of repository. The day all the electricity dies, will all these photos cease to exist? How sad would that be?

Leopards can't change their own spots

I was incredulous when I read this report on the BBC website.

It talks about an experiment undertaken to see how microorganisms are affected by being in space, in micro-gravity. The result was that "the bacteria were almost three times as likely to kill infected mice compared with standard samples held on Earth".

It contains the paragraph:

"These bugs can sense where they are by changes in their environment. The minute they sense a different environment, they change their genetic machinery so they can survive," Professor Nickerson said.

What a complete load of rubbish! Microorganisms don't have brains - they can't think for themselves. And even if they could - do you think they'd know what to do, in order to make themselves better? GAH!

I can't believe that a Professor could speak like this. It's against any true scientist's instincts to come out with this sort of crap - and if she didn't, the BBC have twisted her words and portray her as a daft blonde, or worse, they consider their readers to be thick. Hmmm yes that could be it.

What is much more likely is that the cells less likely to reproduce under micro-gravity conditions are dying without copying, and the ones which move well and reproduce successfully, survive. Thanks to their quick life-cycle the effects of natural selection will become apparent quicker than in other, slower "lifeforms"*. The Hfq master regulator could be important in this process, according to the Arizona University website. Hmm that makes the story much more interesting and informative.




*I'm allowed to use this word because it's a space story.

The Weak End

And so this is Friday. And what have you done?

I signed up for broadband today. Not that I don't already have it - but I'll be sacrificing it when I leave my job and I can't stand the thought of being without it, so took the plunge. BT have promised me that no, there's no problem whatsoever with the fact that I have a dacs-split on my line. No problem at all. Just for the record.

See Cadbury's has recalled some more chocolate no for being crap but because they forgot to put the "maybe nuts" label. But what about those poor souls who are allergic to elephants? I think they need another label, just in case they are sued.

The sun is shining and the chavs are loitering. Summer is here at last...

More Mutterings and Chunterings

So we've just returned from a trip up to Argyll, fantastic it was too.

I have lots to blog about, and I still have to upload photos from other previous blogposts too, so I have decided to sign up to Flickr-Pro and link to photos stored there. Hopefully this will be quicker than using the Blogger photo-upload process which is pants, quite frankly. I've added a cute little gizmo on the right of the main blog page to preview pics too.

This is all because I really enjoy blogging but I want to be slicker and more economical with my time .... to be perfectly honest I equally prefer being out and about taking photos and enjoying life!! But can't help chuntering on here either.

So let's see how it goes.....

Silent Wispa

I read today that Cadbury's (of salmonella outbreak fame) is bringing back Wispa, after an internet campaign including 93 groups on Facebook.

Well:

1. I'm on Facebook and I've never seen these mythical groups (but admittedly only have 12 contacts). Just checked and the number has increased to 102 groups. Makes me wonder what other essential groups I am missing out on.

2. I hadn't even noticed Wispa wasn't around any more... it's bit like finding out someone that used to be famous has died

3. Doesn't this smack of desperation to you? A PR stunt to be seen to have the customers' interests at heart, rather than the reality of taking the money and running...


And it's gonna be called Wispa Classic. Yawn! Bad move! That sounds like they will accompany it with the other varieties that killed its popularity in the first place, like the version with caramel on the bottom which just Didn't Work.

I might try one for old times' sake - I liked them in their own way. As everyone knows, the only decent way to eat a Wispa is to dunk it in warm tea - not hot as it'll just disintegrate. Or, nibbling the outer layer to reveal something that resembles a big turd. Ah! What fun.

Space chasing - wooooooo

Last night, I had a tip-off about the overhead pass of the space station and shuttle, at about 10.30 pm.

I stood out in the back garden with a compass ("they" said it should be seen moving west to east at about 77 degrees), wondering if I would be able to see anything in the still-a-bit-light sky, and with the orange streetlights glaring. The sky was incredibly clear though, amazing considering our pathetic summer weather.

After a while in the back garden, I realised that the house was in the way - doh! So I went to the front and stood leaning against the front of the house, watching the skies.

(Was that it? No it's flashing and slow, it's a plane. They said it would only take at most 7 minutes to totally cross the sky so it'll be quite fast. )

Then, wow! A bright light, like someone running across the sky with a torch! No flickering, coming from the south west and not too high up to have to crane my neck. I shouted for B but he was unimpressed and obviously immersed in something more fascinating and rare (!)

The first, brighter object was the Space Station. B made it downstairs for the last few moments of it's passby. Then, when I was alone again, another light appeared, in the same pathway... meanwhile B had phoned his Dad, who was now outside in Dumfries watching it!

I tried to watch through my little binoculars but 1. they were too crappy (no surprise) and 2. these things really scoot, so I couldn't follow it quick enough!

Weeeeeeeee!

It was all made a little bit more exciting because I accidentally watched the space shuttle launch last night; I found it while flicking through channels at about 6.30pm. The shuttle's on its way to dock with the station. I suppose this spectacle happened quite often, the difference being that it would be only the station not the shuttle. I will have to keep an eye out for it in future!


bbc webpage

heavens above website, from whence came the diagram above

nasa space station website

nasa shuttle website

New camera! Canon S5 IS

It's sexy, it's black and shiney and it's mine!

So it only came yesterday... I wanted a better macro and zoom - took me ages to work out how to do the macro properly and I really need a tripod to make better use of the zoom ... but here are some examples that I've taken already.

No, really, I'll say that again -

This is about 1cm across:

Vic likes it!

Return of the Surfer's Curse

Apologies for not updating my blog recently - I have loads of ideas and things to talk about but the thought of spending ages editing images and manipulating the mouse just fills me with dread.

The reason for this is the reappearance of my RSI - a condition which some people have no sympathy for (me included, before I got it). It comes and goes (which is a good sign, really) and I try to reduce the sypmtoms by massaging and stretching and resting etc... this usually does the trick. I also try to actually rest it as much as possible, especially at the weekend.

So there you go! Crap but true - I am a victim of my own obsession.

No Broadand?

Pure class! (Sack the typist)

Lunar Eclipse!

Piccy taken by B from our backyard

Albert Spamus - and the vials

Sounds like an alternative rock group, doesn't it.

It's really a poem found on this blog, which is strangly absorbing!

I've long been fascinated by spam - the mail filter for my work email is virtually non-existant so see plenty of it.

I'll have a go with a recent delivery:

believe what I came across
It is pretty much a hookup site
for nymphos

that's not all,
you won't even have to pay

don't pick lemons

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