Happy Birthday Herta!

 The inventor of the Currywurst, Herta Charlotte Heuwer, 30 June 1913 - 3 july 1999...

 

Claise th' border!!!!....

Scottish border blockade: SNP threatens police checks on roads leading from England....

 

Traffic reports. Not.

Local radio presenters who hit the traffic report button then subject us to their inane babble while I'm sat in a queue of traffic waiting to figure out if I have to find an alternative route home. AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH.......

Gasgasbones strap

S.M.A.R.T. Status : failing....

Last week, when I was importing some photos into my MacBook Pro, it just locked up and after several attempts to restart it, I eventually managed to check the hard drive using the Disk Utility. Turns out the hard drive is on its last legs. The "S.M.A.R.T. Status" was showing up as "failing"!

It's just over two years since my last round of visits to my local Apple Store with the previous laptop, and today I found myself checking in to see if they had any 'walk-in' appointments free. Luckily they did, and after a short explanation of my problem and a diagnostics check, the MacBook Pro was duly whisked away for a hard drive replacement.

As 750GB hard drives are no longer listed as an option, I will be getting an "upgrade" to a beefy 1TB! I just hope it has a bit of a longer life span...

24 hours later...

"Your product is ready for pickup "

Just restored from my Time Machine backup and 673GB free (think it was about 450GB on the old drive).
All back to 'normal'...

As hard as I look...

The 'house number' style CAPTCHA puzzles are getting more difficult...

Selling 101 : Atishoo, atishoo...

If you're going to sell The Big Issue, throwing them down and saying "Fuck this, I can't be bothered anymore" is not going to do your sales figures one bit of good!

A year on...

Seems I have been a little lax in keeping my readership updated with various happenings. Life is still going on and the only real update I can give is that I have buckled and finally joined the ranks of the iOS7ners.
I took delivery of a new "iPad mini Retina" last week. I'd grown weary of waiting for apple to release a phone with a bigger screen  and in frustration I leapt aboard the mini train.
I have to say I am quite pleased with the device and am slowly getting used to the snow blindness which seems to come with the new operating system.  I have discovered that if I go into the accessibility settings I can opt for a black background, though at the moment I can endure the whiteness...

On another front I  picked  up a Sonos Play1 speaker and Air Bridge  package. Have to say the sound quality is pretty good and the convenience of being able to control the speaker from any iOS device  or Mac which is running the Sonos controller is great. Listening to a lot of streaming music at the moment, in particular Soma FM's "Groove Salad", and have added various artists to my collection as a result!
I'm using the Play 1 in the dining room currently and it manages to fill the room without a problem. I'm so impressed I may be adding another Play 1 to another room. It's not as bass heavy as the Play 3 or 5 and for a speaker the size of a coffee can it can certainly belt out the tunes!

UPDATE: Added a second Play1, in the living room, to the Sonos system.

MacBook Woes with some to's and fro's..

So after seven, or is it eight, visits to my local Apple Store with no resolution of the freezing problem I was experiencing on my MacBook, I had ended up with virtually a new machine wrapped in a slightly worn skin.
With more RAM (up from 2 to 4 GB), a new hard drive (up from 250 GB to 500), a new Logic Board and finally a new Airport card I went away hoping that things had been sorted.
Unfortunately it was not to be.
After a few days the freezing issue crept back in and got to the point were it was freezing mid boot as well as doing simple tasks. I had been told to return by the very helpful guys on the Genius Bar and so today I did just that.
I expected to hear the stampede of Geniuses out the back door of the store as they spotted me arrive but no, I was greeted as usual. I sat down and explained to the allocated Genius (who I had seen before) that the problem was still there.
Enough is enough was the answer - we'll give you a new machine.

Surprise or what?

This is (was) a four and a bit year old MacBook (late 2008 model) and the Applecare had expired in December 2011, so to be informed it was being replaced was not what I'd expected.

Sure enough, after a short wait, a new MacBook Pro was brought out (13.3", 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 750GB hard drive) and handed over to replace the old MacBook.

I've railed against Apple previously over software (iPhone and Mac) but I cannot do anything but praise the staff of the Apple Store - they could quite easily have sent me packing with a 'we can do no more" attitude, but having waived the costs of the repairs carried out previously, the final solution was a new MacBook Pro.

MacBook back....

Been having some issues with the late 2008 MacBook recently. It had started to freeze up at odd times since installing Lion and refusing to wake from sleep. After various attempts to figure out the issue I took it into the Apple Store for a "genius" to check.
My 2GB of RAM was pretty much useless as the "genius" pointed out using Activity Monitor - just running a couple of YouTube videos dropped the spare memory down to around 20MB.
So, installed more RAM in the hope that would sort it out.

No use, still freezing, so back to the Genius Bar. Next diagnosis was a possible faulty hard drive connector cable and a overnight test bench session to see what was occurring.
News came back the other day that the hard drive was on it's way out.
I was tempted to install a 256GB SSD if the HD was the culprit, but in the end opted for a like for like replacement as the failed HD had lasted four years and if the new one lasts as long I'll be getting something a bit more modern by then.

So, having reinstalled everything from Time Machine I appear to be back up and running...

21/12/12

The end of the world didn't happen, so I wish you all....

New for 2012

Fed up of going for a slash and finding someone has finished off your pint of Bitter & Twisted? You can now leave your pint, safe in the knowledge only a blind person will quaff your ale!

The new BeerTeeth pint glass only available from the Phurphuxake Cornershop...

Still here....

Still being a curmudgeon...

2012 ticket fiasco...

Seems a lot of folk are getting blown out/off trying to buy tickets for the 2012 London Olympics...

...yes it does look a bit like a Simpsons character...

Ice balls II...

...and the quest for that perfect lump of ice to go into the gin & tonic goes on.

•••

The Muji ice ball mould (posted a few days ago) has had varying levels of success, with different mixes of water (plain tap, filtered tap, distilled, twice boiled distilled) and methods of freezing (straight in freezer, wrapped in freezer, in cooler bag in freezer).

The speed of freezing is producing cracked ice balls but by placing the Mujis in a cooler bag, the freezing process is slowed enough to result in a solid ball which, while clear towards the outside, is still featuring the spear-like 'air bubble tracks'.

It looks like an Xmas bauble but is in one piece and definitely melts at a far slower rate than your regular ice cube.

Twice boiled distilled water

Why all the fuss? Blame it on a G&T I had in Vegas in January this year at José Andrés' "e" restaurant...

It had a crystal clear ice sphere in it, more than likely produced using one of these... Ice Ball Maker

Another new gin, chin chin...

From the makers of the world champ vodka, comes a Gin...

The Most Complicated Gin in the World...

It is a relatively unknown fact that gin is made from vodka. So, unlike other gins, our gin is truly single estate from field to bottle.

We press our organically grown cider apples, ferment them into cider, then distil into vodka then re-distil this into gin by infusing eleven carefully selected wild botanicals and our naturally pure water taken from our aquifer that runs underneath our orchards.

The result is our full bodied, sharp, yet fruity gin with tears and true provenance.

Our botanicals: Juniper, Coriander, Angelica, Liquorice, Orrice, Orange, Lemon, Hops, Elderflower and Bramley apple.

...to make the perfect gin martini and the ultimate British Gin & Tonic

For more info: Chase Distillery / Williams Gin

High Dynamic Range photos

Have been experimenting with a bit of 'pseudo' HDR tweakery on my photographs using a bit of software called HDRtist Pro (£19.99).
The results can be quite good and as well as using multiple image exposures it can also edit single images to produce the effect of an HDR image.

I'm not going to go into the details of HDR, as there is plenty of info on the web, but the image above (with a vertical slice of HDR through the centre) demonstrates how dark areas in images can be 'brought out' to varying degrees.

A free version of HDRtist is available but it doesn't allow the same scale of manipulation as the Pro version.

Ice balls...

Silicone Ice Ball mould

Bargain...

Microsoft has paid £5 Billion for Skype...


Obviously nobody told them they can download it for free from the website..

Intermittnet...

in·ter·mitt·net/ˌintərˈmitnət/

Adjective: Internet service prone to a being less than stable at irregular intervals; not steady; argh


On.
Off.
On.
Off...

Months of pretty much rock steady internet it's started dropping out again - hope I'm not going back to the frustrating experience I had before...

http://phurphuxake.blogspot.com/2009/09/two-weeks-broadbandless.html

Global conspiracy...

Why do clothing manufacturers insist on stitching product care/information labels into the side seams of t-shirts?
'Seams' they always position these labels right around the point where the waistband of ones trews would be. And why use material for these labels with the abrasive quality of a coarse sandpaper?
Okay, it's not hip to wear shirts tucked in but, when worn as a base layer in cold weather, I'm sure I am not alone in secretly shoving my t-shirt down my trousers!

Yes, it is a slow day in the newsroom....

New gin in the cabinet…

 

Sipsmith Gin

Spotted - new Mini mini SUV

Life in the fast (mobile broadband) lane...

Picked up a 3 Mobile MiFi the other day for use with a recently acquired Wi-Fi only iPad.

Visiting the in-laws at the moment where any mobile phone signal is a rare thing let alone a mobile broadband one. Took my T-Mobile 3G modem and the 3 Mobile MiFi to try and help them figure out a way around the lack of any broadband service over a landline. BT are being useless in even giving them a date that a service will be even considered. Villagers have discussed a community satellite broadband system, but it is only in a discussion stage.

The T-Mobile couldn't even get up a fast walking pace, O2 (on the iPhone) wouldn't get off the starting blocks but the 3 Mobile has surprised me by getting speeds of 2.5+ Mbps.

The inlaws were so surprised that it bettered by about 1Mbps their previous broadband service in their old property, they asked me to go online and get them the 3 Mobile USB dongle modem.

For once a UK mobile phone company has surprised me by actually delivering a decent service and coverage.

Thumbs up for 3.....

Grip, grip, grip....

So the Nokians have proved their worth. We've had snow and quite a bit too.
The tyres gave so much grip it was almost like having four wheel drive - OK, I know I could have been halted by really deep stuff or extremes of the bad weather but the tyres were really such an improvement that I felt confident to tackle side roads where only 4x4s had ventured.
Big tick in the pleased box!

32000' over Glasgow. Release bombs!!!!

So its a travelling I will go once again.  On the road to Las Vegas and CES for the second year even though I said last year might be my first and last time.
Travel, by air at least, is becoming a real drag as I am sure my legions of readers will agree. 
You, well I, take advantage of park and fly deals with airport hotels and  cut out that "will-we-won't-we-make-it" lottery of driving down the same day as your flight. Travel the day before and have a cold beer and tasty snack in the bar then retire to your room for a restful nights slumber. Or not, if the air con system sounds like some throw back to a black country mill!
Ah well, just suck that up and rest easy in the knowledge that you can stroll to the terminal and check in. 
Except for the increasingly personal level of undress that one has to undergo just to get into the departure area. Shoes off, coats off, small change and spectacles, testicles, watch and wallet in the tray before stepping through the portal into the next dimension. How long before we are stripped bare to outwit the Jibjabistanis? Too late I fear, as the US implement their Xray-O-Vision full body scanners.  They can now tell which side you dress to!!!!
Delayed flight by 45 minutes (well an hour actually) and some lanky gibbon-like teenager in the seat in front all add to the pleasure of international air travel. I have to be careful not to fall asleep, even though my eyes feel like they have been irrigated with a cocktail of Vim and battery acid, for fear my snoring will set off the knee tap reflex of the person sat behind! Grab a paper or magazine and read dammit. Virgin have a quiet zone on some flights. Maybe they need a snore zone for us heavy sleepers?
Suck it up man!
So, I'll get in at 10.30pm (UK time) 2.30pm (local) and will have to struggle on for another 8-10 hours to slot into Vegastime with 4 hours sleep tacked onto a ten hour flight. Deeply joyble in the words of Mr Unwin....    

Filthwizardry

From our Motoring Editor, Buster Bloodvessel...

Don't go to kwikfit!
£468.00 for exhaust!
Guy lifted car (engine running) we walked underneath he put his hand over the exhuast pipe (engine running!)no doubt to help aid our hearing to any escaping gases and then burnt his hand.....
He then said (with a pained expression and one hand under his armpit) "It'ss aaa compeletee system umff" and to be fair it looked complete from the mainfold, Cat and box all one piece but only the box was "blowing" a bit.
"I'll get you a quote" we go to the office he gets on the machine and with one hand under his arm pit quotes me £400+ pounds i go "mmm" his grimey co-erks go "bloodyhell"!

I said "I only need the box" he says they can cut the box off the new system and I can hang on to it till I need to replace the cat.... - I said "you surggest cutting the new £400+ system in half"
With no doubt a slightly ironic - phased expression on my face (I couldn't wait to tell C there's £340 pounds of Cat and pipe under the bed)

I asked if they could weld a patch? all 3 filthwizards pipe up and say "were not allowed to weld here" (probably because they'd FACKING burn themselves!!!!!) I left on good terms saying I'd think about it and then ran to my car feeling I was going mad.

Then popped into my local garage had chat with a dude who said there thieving scum at KF (no sh#t) and you can buy boxes on there own from the main dealers for £60 and a sleeve kit to adapt it to the pipe, which I remembered from my days of working at Citroen.

I'm now going to have a beer and sit in a darkened room for a bit.

Nokians fitted...

Back in February I posted about trying to get my hands on some winter tyres. Well, the long wait is over - I had a set of Nokian WR G2 winter tyres fitted to the car today.

Now to await the ice and snow....

Mitchell & Webb...

...poke fun at modern computer stores....


Good job I'd finished my sake...