It first came to my attention whilst reading Stephen Bates’s Diary in the Guardian. It has since snowballed to become prime viewing on You Tube. What am I on about I hear you ask? It’s BBC weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker‘s latest gaffe:
Perhaps he could bring the 70′s children’s televison show of Fingerbobs back to life? 
I decided to install and have a play around with Oracle’s virtualisation application. It is superb for either trying out different Operating Systems or as a sandbox/test bed for your current system.
VirtualBox was installed on my Windows partition but was easily directed to create and store any virtual machines on another partition. This is due to the fact I use a very small SSD for my OS and like to keep it clean and mean.
I’ve evaluated both the latest Mac and Ubuntu offerings and I can see similarities between the two – quite impressed with Ubuntu 10.4 – but I’m unsure whether a Mac justifies its hefty cost. Either way, I’m more than happy with Windows 7.
Following on from my previous post, a Turkish national has celebrated his wedding. Nothing unusual about that except that it resulted in the deaths of three of the wedding party and numerous injuries!
The groom lost control of the weapon as he tried to fire in traditional celebration but lost control of the AK-47 (firing into the air as a means of celebration is commonplace in parts of Turkey) by all accounts.
Whatever next I wonder? Will Turkey claim that they merely traditionally danced their way into Cyprus?
After dancing outside their kebab shop in New Zealand – to celebrate a good day’s takings – a Turkish man was accused of domestic violence.
“We’re always dancing, I’m happy to dance with my wife and family [...]” said the accused. Apparently the dancing moves mimic the actions of punches, kicks, slaps and choking! A fair mistake made by the passers-by who contacted the Police in that case!
This traditional dance originated in the Black Sea area of Trabzon and is named the Kolbasti.
Kolbasti translates as “caught red-handed by the police”.
Indeed.
Story over at the BBC with YouTube video of the Kolbasti that looks nothing like domestic violence.
Just bought a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo as an addition to my networked devices. It will be used for file and print sharing, backups and media streaming. I have installed two Hard Drives and they’re set up in a RAID configuration should one Drive fail.
It has built-in Apple iTunes 7.0 server and its media server connects (much more easily than through your PC) to any popular network-capable media streaming device like the 360 or PS3 for example. It will save power as my PC does not need to be switched on to share files, images or music. If you use torrents to download the officially licensed BitTorrent client queues the torrents on the ReadyNAS – much quicker than downloading off your wireless connection.
Take a look at the Netgear ‘How-To’s page for further information.
It has been quiet here lately as I have been both under a little pressure and not very well. 
During this time I have read two outstanding novels and they are thoroughly recommended. They were;
The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver
Another high paced offering with its usual twists and turns. Just when you think you have it all worked out, there is another surprise awaiting the reader. It is made more magical as it involves illusion and ‘tricks’ which are used – and described brilliantly by the author – by the perpetrator of the crimes. Another superb Rhyme and Sachs thriller.
The Treatment by Mo Hayder
It was described by a critic from the Guardian as being “One of the most frightening books I have ever read.” I would change the word frightening to ‘disturbing’. Its main character DI Jack Caffery could be considered as an anti-hero and the author is extremely capable of plumbing the dark side of human nature – or injecting real life emotions – instead of glossing over them. I challenge you to read this book which may make you recognise that we all have hidden demons inside!
What with everything that is – or has recently happened -in my personal life it may be considered a little late in the day to post about the latest stable release favailable for download from WordPress. As the title of this post suggests it is version 3.0 and also known as Thelonius (in tribute to Thelonius Monk the jazz pianist and composer).
I could say how much better the dashboard is, how the default theme has vastly improved but why not watch the video tour below instead? You have the option to switch to the High Definition (HD) version by clicking ‘HD On’ towards the top right of the player. The video and other relevant content can be accessed from here.
We finally managed to collect the wedding photo’s and there is our own taster gallery provided below. The photographer for our special day was Eric Smith and there’s a link to his far superior gallery where you can order prints as well. Our music – before, during and after the ceremony – was provided by the Caradog String Quartet who were first class. Finally, we held the wedding ceremony, reception and evening party at The Wharf where the staff went above and beyond what was necessary. A big ‘Thank You’ to Nicole’s mum (Debbie) for creating our unique cake too.
You can view all the wedding images and place orders for prints here.
Thanks to everybody involved for helping to make the day so wonderful.
For those gamers who have a Gold account with Xbox LIVE, you can download the demo’ for Crackdown 2 now. If you should unlock any Achievements whilst playing the demo’ these will be transferred to your account when you play the full retail game…nice one Microsoft and Ruffian!
At the recent E3 2010, Microsoft unveiled a new Xbox 360 console. It now sports a glossy black sheen and boasts a 250 GB Hard Disk Drive and Wi-Fi connection. Its appearance is superior to the older models and is available from the 16th July with a price of just under £200. Microsoft report that it is whisper quiet and although it has more cooling vents, I will hold off purchasing for two reasons;
I will wait a good 12 months for any (predominately) overheating issues.Take a look at the IGN video showcasing the new improved console;
Also what was previously known as ‘Project Natal’ was rebranded to become Kinect probably due to the play on the words ‘connect‘ and ‘kinetics‘? This combined with the new console may take some of the Wii players – or casual and family gamers -although the hardcore 360 gamers will wait for a compliant shooter before purchasing. Microsoft state that “Kinect brings games and entertainment to life in extraordinary new ways, with full body play. Arms, legs, feet, and hands, with Kinect there are no controllers, just you. It’s so natural, so intuitive that technology evaporates, letting the natural magic in all of us shine through. All you need to do is jump in.”
No doubt that both of these items will end up in my little gaming room at some point.
