Saturday, November 01, 2003
Argh stupid radio news people
"A man has been taken to hospital after falling into a vat of acid. The man fell into the caustic soda...". Now see, if he'd fallen into a vat of acid with caustic soda in it as well he probably would have been ok, what with the whole neutralising thing. Grrr.
So anyway, I'm having a fun Saturday night - getting annoyed with the griminess of the cooker, so deciding to swipe it down. Only there's large bits I can't get clean, but I can't leave it now, because it's obvious that someone's tried and failed to clean it. So decide to make a more industrious attempt, so take the grids off to soak, only to realise that that would mean clearing the sink first. A gunky and pungent while later and there's stuff buried under Fairy foam in the sink and little progress on the stove. So now I've flooded the hob (well ok so it's just this side of flooded, I'm not [that] stupid), and left it to soak. I have a hunch most people don't have to leave their stoves soaking, but hey-ho.
Other stuff: isn't it great the way parents (mothers in particular) can with a few words put one in a state in which listening to Kerrang! radio (the joys of digital) in the cold and dark seems like a good idea. That's nearly down to Placebo album level.
Actually digital radio's odd. Because I just realised that there are tons of London stations (no more not daring to move in case the reception goes), but there is none of the local stuff. Not that that's bad though.
And they have cunning scrolling across the screen things. Which is cunning until you realise only a few stations have dynamic stuff (i.e. now playing X by Y), and most have the same message indefinitely. It's also disconcerting when you happen to catch the screen saying "GH TERROR ALERT". What? What did I miss? I'm guessing that's High..., but why is it? And then waiting through the other blurb (call us, text us, email us, read the website, ring up and talk about the website, ring up to get the email address to ask for a request, your name here, coming up next, what you've just heard, yes those last two were the same, and yes they are the same as what is now playing, dogger, fisher, German bight, moderate at first, becoming poor later, you still here? sierra whisky foxtrot to alpha gamma ray of light by madonna), to get it saying "BAGHDAD ON HIGH...". Oh right, so nothing unusual then. And then thinking I'm not supposed to be thinking that, am I? Oh well, but now it's REM (again - they must be getting more airplay than The Darkness, and that's really saying something (possibly not completely good)), so it doesn't matter because my nipples have gone. Confused? Everybody Hurts, and it always happens, and no I don't know why.
And now for the obligatory link, but as I haven't been on the computer much today, there isn't anything particularly new about it. National Institution (maybe). Still expect it to be Finnistere not FitzRoy though.
Damn useful, especially for those who have problems caused by that amphidrome in the middle of Salisbury Plain. And yes there is such a word as amphidrome - it's an area where there's no tide. There's one in the North Sea, and one in Wiltshire. Yes I know Wiltshire is landlocked, but the amphidromes occur where isotidal lines cross. Isotidal lines = lines linking places in which the high tide occurs at the same time (like isobars do for pressure). Theoretically these should be fairly evenly spaced, but there's these silly things called continents that get in the way and wreck the pattern. So round Britain the tidal flow splits and moves in different directions at different rates, and so you get different effects - like one place having insanely large tides, and another having none at all (because the peak of one tide meets the trough of another). It's just basic interference patterns. But because one of the points without tide is on land you get lots of interference, and so some places get weird echoes of the tide. For example round Poole gets a weird hiccup effect, whereby there are two high tides and usually two lows in the space where they would normally be one.
And it's not fair! I can hear fireworks but not see them. But they're going to be around all week (and having had them for most for the summer [many big houses near here], they don't seem so special, or may it's just I'm not 8 anymore). Yes it's close to Guy Fawkes' night (aka petrified dogs and hyperactive car alarms week).
Anyhoo, off to do oven stuff.
"A man has been taken to hospital after falling into a vat of acid. The man fell into the caustic soda...". Now see, if he'd fallen into a vat of acid with caustic soda in it as well he probably would have been ok, what with the whole neutralising thing. Grrr.
So anyway, I'm having a fun Saturday night - getting annoyed with the griminess of the cooker, so deciding to swipe it down. Only there's large bits I can't get clean, but I can't leave it now, because it's obvious that someone's tried and failed to clean it. So decide to make a more industrious attempt, so take the grids off to soak, only to realise that that would mean clearing the sink first. A gunky and pungent while later and there's stuff buried under Fairy foam in the sink and little progress on the stove. So now I've flooded the hob (well ok so it's just this side of flooded, I'm not [that] stupid), and left it to soak. I have a hunch most people don't have to leave their stoves soaking, but hey-ho.
Other stuff: isn't it great the way parents (mothers in particular) can with a few words put one in a state in which listening to Kerrang! radio (the joys of digital) in the cold and dark seems like a good idea. That's nearly down to Placebo album level.
Actually digital radio's odd. Because I just realised that there are tons of London stations (no more not daring to move in case the reception goes), but there is none of the local stuff. Not that that's bad though.
And they have cunning scrolling across the screen things. Which is cunning until you realise only a few stations have dynamic stuff (i.e. now playing X by Y), and most have the same message indefinitely. It's also disconcerting when you happen to catch the screen saying "GH TERROR ALERT". What? What did I miss? I'm guessing that's High..., but why is it? And then waiting through the other blurb (call us, text us, email us, read the website, ring up and talk about the website, ring up to get the email address to ask for a request, your name here, coming up next, what you've just heard, yes those last two were the same, and yes they are the same as what is now playing, dogger, fisher, German bight, moderate at first, becoming poor later, you still here? sierra whisky foxtrot to alpha gamma ray of light by madonna), to get it saying "BAGHDAD ON HIGH...". Oh right, so nothing unusual then. And then thinking I'm not supposed to be thinking that, am I? Oh well, but now it's REM (again - they must be getting more airplay than The Darkness, and that's really saying something (possibly not completely good)), so it doesn't matter because my nipples have gone. Confused? Everybody Hurts, and it always happens, and no I don't know why.
And now for the obligatory link, but as I haven't been on the computer much today, there isn't anything particularly new about it. National Institution (maybe). Still expect it to be Finnistere not FitzRoy though.
Damn useful, especially for those who have problems caused by that amphidrome in the middle of Salisbury Plain. And yes there is such a word as amphidrome - it's an area where there's no tide. There's one in the North Sea, and one in Wiltshire. Yes I know Wiltshire is landlocked, but the amphidromes occur where isotidal lines cross. Isotidal lines = lines linking places in which the high tide occurs at the same time (like isobars do for pressure). Theoretically these should be fairly evenly spaced, but there's these silly things called continents that get in the way and wreck the pattern. So round Britain the tidal flow splits and moves in different directions at different rates, and so you get different effects - like one place having insanely large tides, and another having none at all (because the peak of one tide meets the trough of another). It's just basic interference patterns. But because one of the points without tide is on land you get lots of interference, and so some places get weird echoes of the tide. For example round Poole gets a weird hiccup effect, whereby there are two high tides and usually two lows in the space where they would normally be one.
And it's not fair! I can hear fireworks but not see them. But they're going to be around all week (and having had them for most for the summer [many big houses near here], they don't seem so special, or may it's just I'm not 8 anymore). Yes it's close to Guy Fawkes' night (aka petrified dogs and hyperactive car alarms week).
Anyhoo, off to do oven stuff.
