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Loading ...Well that’s what you get for trying to upgrade to IOS4 before work. I’ve now got to do the school-run and drive to work with the lap-top and Touch next to me on the passenger seat so that I don’t interrupt the back-up.
Isn’t technology wonderful.
Still, at least I know with the new tablet that the battery isn’t going to run out with ten minutes to go.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...I’m sure that there are gazillions of other posts like this out there on t’internet but ……..
Just where in the hell do American border guards get off?
I’m pretty sure that getting into the Soviet Union pre the downfall of the Iron Curtain was easier than crossing from Canada to Buffalo.
Firstly, there’s the attitude. Every other country I’ve been to – even Gatwick at five in the morning – the security folks, whilst trying to look shrewd, are armed with “How can I help you?” The in-bred halfwit that we encountered at the border gate though was 100% “Why the fark should I do anything for you?” He was actively pissed off that we weren’t Muslims, smugglers or toting AK-47s – anything to give him a chance to start pumping lead in our general direction.
Secondly, the brains. Or the total lack of. This was clearly an individual who had failed the “this is how you flip a burger” test. After exhausting his list of reasons of why we might be Al-ky-hee-dar, he had to radio over to Duane II to come up with a reason to pull us in. Duane II was clearly slightly brighter and managed to come up with a reason – wait for it – Dad crosses the border reasonably frequently.
Yes, that was why we got pulled over and had to start filling in forms. Because they have no issue with Dad going into the States, they’ve got an issue. That’s persecution of the right.
Lastly, what are they actually trying to protect? Forgive me the denizens of the place but – to be brutally frank- Buffalo is a bloody armpit. It’s a gentle vista of rotting heavy industry and depression. They even have the cheek to show posters of Niagra Falls – and you’d need a bloody long neck to see the images that they show.
So Duane. This post is for you. It’s for you portraying an entire country as a bunch of w@nkers and for slowly driving the entire tourism industry elsewhere.
I kept my green “you’re allowed into America” card. Not because I’m going to frame it, but because it’s meant to be valid for three months – meaning I won’t have to jump through hoops again to get into North Carolina. At least, that’s what it says on the card. Reality? Let’s wait until May to find out.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...My oh my, I wish I could have been at the post-launch party of the iPad. It must have been like attending a wedding reception where the bride has been jilted at the altar; “You look absolutely lovely darling. So where are you going on your hon ……. ah …… ummmm …… errrr ….. more tea vicar?”
In fact, Stevo’s speech must have been just as good. I imagine it to have been a little like the opening scene of The Party – with Peter Sellers.
After all the hype and speculation, Apple have launched ……….. a big iPod Touch. Absolutely inspired! No multi-tasking, no video-conferencing, no 3G (unless you pay extra), no physical keyboard (unless you pay extra). All that, and a hefty price-tag for a staggering 16Gig of storage. It’s got a ten-inch screen – which doesn’t fold. So, if you’d like to try the experience of an iPad and only spend twenty quid doing it, visit your local home store, buy a twelve-inch mirror, chuck it in your back-pack and see how long it lasts.
Even the normally vociferous fan-bois are strangely mute – and that must be saying something.
Maybe I was being naive, but I was looking forward to a true road-warrior piece of kit. All I can do on my Touch, with web-cam chatting, multi-tasking, 3G/Wifi – always connected and proper MS Office integration. I could have lived without the keyboard, and I would have gladly paid the Apple premium for the product. I mean, how hard can it be?
We’ve had the Nokia N97 (close, but no cigar), the Nokia N900 (a “computer” with some phone functionality), Sony Ericsson’s latest attempts (piss-poor OS and battery life). Someone, somewhere out there must be able to produce this “Netbook killer”.
We got our youngest a Netbook for Christmas; OK, it’s got Windows XP home on it at the moment, but it multi-tasks, runs flash in the browser (and any other plugin you’d like), has Office 2007, integrated web-cam, key board that even my lumbering fingers can use, folds in half to protect it when not in use, has a five-hour battery life and only cost two-hundred quid.
There’s a football (soccer to you Americans) chant, the second line of which is “and you know you are”, and this – sadly – applies to Stevo here. Yes, I know that Apple have a reputation of launching a hobbled product and then “upgrading” it a year later to what it should have been in the first place (iPhone. I’m looking at you), but even the most die-hard fan-boi would struggle to justify this one. With previous products, when whipped out in public we derided them but secretly yearned for one. With this baby though, it will just be “Oh. You’re one of the dicks who lobbed out for a big iPod Touch”.
This could go on – and is all over the internet – but I have to go. I’ve got some fan-bois to bait.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...I was a little dismayed to receive this email from the Henley Standard – together with this accompanying Solicitor’s letter – regarding their award-winning website. Seems as though their “webmaster” has been a little lax. Strangely enough though, this hasn’t made it into the newspaper itself.
Naturally, I’ve asked them ;
The reply, was less than useful.
I’ve posted this to Slashdot, in the hope that someone there can advise what they would do in these circumstances.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Great day, lovely people, wonderful occasion. You can find the photos here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/atomicvindaloo/sets/72157622697595769/).
This is a first pass at the photos I preferred (not blurred, eyes closed, daft expressions etc).
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Sorry – that should be Santander shouldn’t it.
Has anyone else found that their automated fraud detection is a tad over-zealous?
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It rained last night. Yes, rained. There wasn’t a hurricane, monsoon, tempest or tornado – but rain, and a little drizzle this morning.
And because it rained, only one thing can happen in Henley, and I’ll give you a clue as to hat that one thing is …… my normal journey to work to three times as long and I ended up having to drive twice the distance.
“Why so RagingAardvark?” You ask.
“Simple.” I reply ………..
“That’s a bit rich.” You might comment.
“Rich, my arse.” I’ll reply again.
I watched some dappy bint load her kid into the back of a Touareg or similar seven-seater at the top of Greys Hill, drive him to school, block the entire road for ten minutes whilst she faffed around, then round the block back to home – where she spent another ten minutes trying to parallel park the said tractor. She finally gave up and left it blocking the road.
“So?” You say. “She wanted to make sure her snowflake got to school in one piece.”
That may be so. However, the distance from her house to the school is exactly fifty-two paces – I know, I measured it myself.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...As you can see, I’ve amended the geo-location icon on the right to use Google Latitude (as that’s the one that is generally live) – add me if you want …….. the domain name of this site at gmail.com.
I’ve also added Ovi to the N95 8Gb – have a dig around for Ragingaardvark and, again, add me as a contact if you want.
Who knows, I may even jump into bed with the devil one day and get a Twitter account too.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Wow, the Bluebells are good this year; For reasons known only to themselves, they’re thick and heady with a beautiful perfume. Walking Shelby in the woods each morning, I can smell the flowers from a hundred yards away.
Perhaps it’s something to do with the cold nights and hot, sunny days that we’re having at the moment – the dew starts to rise just before six in the morning, the sky is clear and the fragrance fills the air.
This time of the year, the Chilterns are a magical place. Despite the fact that it’s forecast to hiss down this weekend, I’m going to take Shelby on a mission on Saturday – whilst Jules battles the plebs in Tesco and Jenny goes to a birthday party. I’ll take the camera with me (if it’s not too tropical)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...One of the reasons I’ve been busy, was preparing for and attending the SAS World Wide IT conference in Cary this April. I went out early to spend a few days with Dad – who drove down from Canada. The flight out was pretty uneventful, apart from being seated with a bunch of rugby players attending a tournament at Duke the following weekend, and I’m happy to say that we all stayed at the Embassy Suites this time – rather than the much flashier Umstead.
Sunday was golf at Prestonwood and, this time, we played the Fairways course. Apparently, this is meant to be easier than the Highlands course we played last year but, for someone of my technical ability (read, none whatsoever) the course proved to be rather challenging. The “no more than ten shots counted per hole” rule was called into play a few times, I lost six balls (found two), nearly caused an RTA with a wayward golf-ball and managed to hit someone’s house. One the bright side, I wasn’t overly troubled by the numerous bunkers – beacause I either didn’t manage to reach them or avoided the fairway all together.
Monday was a wander round the Umstead State Park. How on earth I have managed to avoid this all these years I really don’t know. It’s an absolutely beautiful place – pretty deserted, great trails and wonderful scenery. Including the walk to and from the park, we managed to clock up just under twenty miles – which is, apparently, Dad’s total walking for three years.
Shopping next – to keep the folks at home happy and then into the conference.
Flight back on Friday was a bit of an event. Take off was about six-ish in the evening and due to land about the same time in the morning at Heathrow. All well and good you may say. However, about forty or so minutes into the flight I detected a definite decrease in aircraft noise. The captain came on the tannoy with;
“Ladies and gentlemen. Please don’t panic, but I have an important announcement to make.” (Cue screaming and wailing from some folks.)
“We have lost power to one of our engines and, because of this, are unable to attempt to cross the Atlantic.” (More hysteria)
“We are currently carrying too much fuel to attempt an emergency landing, so will circle on full flaps until we have burnt enough fuel to do so.” (Sobbing and tearing of hair)
After an hour and a half, we had lost sufficient weight to make the emergency landing at Boston airport – along with a cavalcade of fire trucks alongside and behind us. Everything in the airport was closed, so we were penned into the departure lounge until 01:30, when they managed to find a plane with two functioning engines so that we could resume our journey.
We eventually arrived in Heathrow (with the captain announcing “Thank you for flying American Airlines. The airline that gets you there.”) At just before one in the afternoon. Great trip!
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