30th September 2016 - End of another Month and something Fishy

Thought for the day:" Exercise makes you look better naked - so does Tequila - your choice.."

So another month passes by. St Teilo Installation yesterday went well and everyone seemed to enjoy. A good list of officers with no recycled masters for a second year - well with me as an exception last year naturally, having done it twice before ...

So, today I took up another treasurership - I was the one that said I would not get any further involved - does not work sadly - but not too much work involved really - if you say it fast..

A few aches and pains as I start the day - but that might be exacerbated by a copious amount of lubrication last night - a dirty old job but someone has to do it .... But it was the end of a successful year. 

So looking through some old photos I came across this little set from 2009 - Scurvy Scum and the attack of the 6ft Crustaceans - and of course the only weapon to really affect them - the Holy Ukelele of Antioch.....

Ready for Battle

The killing blow

Lobster anyone ???

October starts tomorrow - not really sure where the year is going ...


Cheers !

29th September 2016 - Getting around to Command & Control & Gin

Thought for the day :"Step aside Coffee - this is a job for Alcohol"

So, a friend finally got me a present today and I suppose I should get a round tuit ...

In other news - this blast from the past came to me from 1997.. the time when we were just starting the STORM Command and Control System in Dyfed-Powys Police - which replaced the system I had written for deployment of resources - one of the 23 systems I wrote in my time at Dyfed-Powys Police.  It was a system that had flaws - it was designed by people who did not understand the tasks required and had a user interface that was never designed by someone who had to sit at the screen.

But it was the way forward at the time ..  Article quotes Chief Superintendent Alan Jones - I seem to recall writing most of it ..

Which brings me to other historical facts


On this day in 1736, the British Parliament passed the Gin Act. This put tax of twenty shillings a gallon on gin, sparking the Gin Riots, demonstrations of such passion and violence that it was found necessary to put a double guard on Kensington Palace.

This evening, I will be mostly Gin Rioting.

St Teilo Installation this afternoon - allowing me to get out of another Chair...  May slow down one day ...

Cheers...

28th September 2016 - Armour and Installations

Thought for the day: "There is a special place in Hull reserved for the inventor of the auto-correct"

enjoyed this photo that came up on my history book today ...

Was early in my LARP career, when I chose to enter the Viking "Hammer of Thor" competition that required you to have extra heavy armour and be able to wield a Hammer - I had the former but not the latter - but thought the armour was too good to miss as an opportunity.

I sneakily left the camp and got into the armour - and then returned with the visor down and entered the competition as Nod of the House of Hamage  - I managed to enter the ring and then called on everyone to shout my name - "Nod Hamage ... Nod Hamage"   this soon turned into the call "No Damage" as - not having the skill to use the hammer - I could do no damage with it even if I hit my opponent - needless to say - I did not last very long .. Here we can see the aftermath - a very hot individual - Armour is heavy and hot to run around in...

Of course - I am not able to do much running around today - The Specialists have looked at the back and determined that there is no direct nerve issues that require operating and so it is just a long haul to get better - keeping some exercise and not staying in one position too long ...

"This too shall pass"
Just been a long time coming ....

So.. have a picture of a dragon

Installation tonmorrow - best get back to the book

27th September 2016 - At the Cutting edge of Technology

Thought for the day:"Give up Carbs?? Over my Bread body"

A couple of days ago I was in Tesco and bought some new razors for my Mach 3 shaving kit. I am always a little shocked about the price of these replacement razors - don't get me wrong I accept that there is a lot of technology going into making the things - with lots of blades and to be fair I only cut myself shaving when I have used a set of blades until they are so blunt that they could be used safely by a chimpanzee with epilepsy. But - on the shelves you have sets of throw away razors which are plastic and come in big bags for about a pound. But the Mach 3 are £14 for 8 - even on offer! 
As a result they also come in fine packaging which I am probably paying more for than the technology...

But at that price - it is no wonder that they come in fancy plastic boxes - which are clear so that you can see what is inside them...

Now, a number of people have differing views about the trend in supermarkets towards the "self-service" and "pre-scan" technology... I understand the opinion that says that one member of staff can now look after 6 or 8 or more tills and therefore a number of jobs are being lost. However, I find the convenience of walking around and scanning as I go - and putting my stuff straight into a bag outweighs any other personal considerations. The occasional time when I am chosen for a random check are few and far between. I look around the shops and see more staff collecting shopping for home delivery and think that this is a fair change from duties at the till so I am unsure that there are less employed these days.

So,.. the connection between my razors and the self scan - well I tried to have a shave with my new razors this morning - and found that I could not open the packaging...  A closer look tells me that the plastic case is an electronic alarm case - which presumably can only be opened by one of those fancy electro-magnet fixtures by the till..  Yup - my razors are still in the case because they went straight into the bag without thought - other than shock at the price..  and short of a hammer I do not think I can  get into them. Luckily - I have another week or so on my blunt blades and did not cut myself this morning - but I now have a quandary - can I find the receipt to show that I actually bought the blades and did not walk out without paying ??  I cannot recall the alarms going off as I left - so maybe it is defective - or maybe it will sound the alarms as I walk back  into the store - Do I trust my innocent face to get me through is ordeal?   We shall have to see...

In other news - I saw these two pictures today - which also tells us how far technology has moved - both have the same computing power so I am told...

 The first - I am reliably informed is the Raspberry Pie that can be used by kids to develop skills in coding and computing .. the second is self explanatory -

I will let you know what happens as long as I am not in jail for returning to the scene of the crime with my razors...

Off to the specialist now to see about my back - wish me luck  

26th September 2016 - Monday - all Change

Thought for the day:"My good deed for the day - gave up my seat on the bus to an old lady - how was I to know she had never driven a bus before?"

Monday and time to change the wallpapers and covers ...

Only a couple of days until the installation in St Teilo so better keep my head down and get on with the learning...   It is a day of rain today with weather warnings for all across south wales - so a day to stay in I think ...

25th September 2016 - Oops - Maybe the wrong weekend

Thought for the day :"Adolescence: A stage between infancy and adultery"

Well, I may have done a silly thing...  After a lodge yesterday morning, and having a weeken (sort of) free, it seemed like a good idea to go to the Bard Fest that was being held down in Mitcheldean..  Now Mitcheldean sounds as though it is quite near as it is just down nt he Wye Valley, but in reality it is 97 miles and a two hour journey..

However, it was a nioce day so the Bothy was duly loaded with insturments and bedding and a bottle of wine for later - and off I went down the motorway, Vollsanger, the Drunken Monk Teddies, A raven from Asgard and a rat...

Sadly, when I got to the site - sat nav taking me to the doorstep, it all looked very quiet - in the sense of no cars and no sounds of revelling ...  It all looked completely deserted - but puching the door it opened surprisingly and I wondered around the building - which to be honest is quite impressive - a sort of up market youth hostel with everythign smelling of wood burners and smoke.

In a back room I surprised an old fellow who quite clearly was not expecting company - and I apologised and said I would have to find some wi fi to see where they had changed the venue to..  However, he asks me what I was expecting and as soonas I say a "group of bards" he says that I am a week early and the Bard fest is scheduled for next weekend !!!

Oops!

Well... it only remained to turn around and head on home - vis the toll Gate of course for a glass of beer and some convivial company...
Ho Hum - maybe getting a little old ...

Cheers !

24th September 2016 - think I may go Barding

Thought for the day :"Warning: Drinking alocoholic beverages before pregnancy can cause pregnancy"


In the Dark Knight, the joker was meant to walk away while the hospital exploded. But instead he stopped walking and in a moment of improvisation, he began smiling and fidgeting with the detonator.

Casablanca (1942). The scene of Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) putting Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) and Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) on a plane bound for America with the help of Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains) is chock full of memorable lines. But the line listed as 5th in AFI's '100 Years...100 Movie Quotes' wasn’t even part of the original script. According to reports, Bogart said the phrase “Here’s looking at you kid” multiple times to Bergman while teaching her to play poker between takes, and they just used it in the film.

In Good Morning Vietnam (1987), none of Robin Williams' broadcasts had scripts written for them. He improvised almost every word.
“Gooooood morning, Vietnam! Hello campers, remember Monday is Malaria day! That’s right, time to take that big orange pill…” - Robin Williams.

In the Game of Thrones season two finale, Iain Glen’s character Ser Jorah Mormont, tells the Dothraki to steal gold and jewels from the house of Xaro Xhoan Daxos. “Mas ovary movekkhi moskay,” says Mormont, a line of approximated Dothraki entirely of the actor’s own invention.The improvisation was required because the Game Of Thrones language consultant, David J Peterson, was unavailable when the request came through by email. Judging Glen to have done a good job on the faux-Dothraki, Peterson retrofitted the fictional language to explain the words.


Cheers:

23rd September 2016 - Of films and things

Thought for the day :"The Titanic was built to last, let that sink in."

Some more Film specials...

The Shining (1980). Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duval) and her son Danny (Danny Lloyd) hide from the deranged novelist Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) in a hotel bathroom. As Jack begins chopping through the door with a fire axe and sticks his face into the splintered opening, he utters a phrase previously made popular by Ed McMahon on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson – “Here’s Johnny!” The line, which was not part of Kubrick’s original screenplay, turned out to be the most memorable part of the movie and was totally improvised by Nicholson.

A Clockwork Orange (1971). Alex (Malcolm McDowell) breaks into a happy song as he and his “droogs” perform a bit of “ultra-violence” and rape. Reportedly Kubrick filmed this scene several times and was disappointed with it each time. He told McDowell to just “do anything he wanted.” McDowell decided to belt out “Singing in the Rain” and Kubrick was so thrilled with how much more disturbing and improved the scene was that he acquired the rights to use the song immediately.

Full Metal Jacket (1987). Originally, R. Lee Ermey wasn’t even cast in the role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman but after Ermey submitted a tape of himself spewing insults at group of Royal Marines for 15 minutes straight, Kubrick cast him immediately. Ermey, a former Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, wrote 150 pages of insults and Kubrick estimated that almost 50% of the character’s dialogue was improvised by the former drill instructor.

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980). As smuggler-turned-hero Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is about to be encased in carbonite, Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) reveals her love for him. The script called for Leia to say “I love you” to which Solo initially responded with “I love you too." But Ford decided that Solo wouldn’t say something like that and instead, changed the line on the next take to simply “I know.”

and when it comes to films of course - there could be a new Green One - From the Pirates event...

Cheers

22nd September 2016 - Some Links ...

Thought for the day :"It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens."

A few film thoughts I found today .... not all things are scripted - these are some that came from the actors doing something unexpected..

Midnight Cowboy (1969). As Dustin Hoffman is walking down the street with Jon Voight’s character, Joe Buck, a yellow cab nearly runs him over which leads Hoffman to bash on the hood and shout “I’m walking here!” before retorting to his on-screen partner, “Actually, that ain’t a bad way to pick up insurance y’know,” all in his unique New York parlance. Apparently a taxi driver ignored the closed set and drove through, causing Hoffman to famously react off the top of his head. As well, Hoffman kept pebbles in his shoe as a trick to ensure his limp would be consistent from shot to shot.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). While chasing Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) after she’s been kidnapped, archaeologist and adventurer Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) runs into a large sword-wielding bad guy dressed all in black. Instead of fighting him with his signature whip, Indy simply pulls out his revolver, puts the man down with one shot and moves on. The original script called for a long sword fight but a day earlier Ford got a severe case of food poisoning and didn’t have the energy to film the scene as written. After a frustrating discussion with director Steven Spielberg, Ford came up with the idea to just shoot him. The scene was immediately changed and has become an iconic part of Indiana Jones mythos.

Jaws (1975). While throwing chum into the waters in an attempt to lure the deadly great white shark within range, Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) gets his first look at exactly how massive the killer shark truly is. Shocked and terrified he stands up and says the now famous line to Orca Captain Quint (Robert Shaw) completely off-script, “You’re going to need a bigger boat.”

and so to bed ...
Cheers

21st September 2016 - Images of Caldicot

Thought for the day:" My Grandma sleeps with a gun, she has glockcoma  "

So a chance to look at a few photos from the weekend ....   We came out of retirement as the Early Medieval Alliance which had booked the 4th September decided to move to the 18th September - which was already booked for the Moon to go to Ammanford for the Wild Boar Fayre, so we duly decided that we would join Destrier the Jousting Troop and Blaeddau Ddu the Viking Group - together with old friends frome the EMA for a weekend in Caldicot - and the weather was glorious...

Here are a few from the weekend...

More tomorrow I reckon
Cheers !

20th September 2016 - Back from Caldicot

Thought for the day:" This guy at the Re-enactment had his left side cut off - he's all right now!"

A Welshman, Scot and Englishman are walking when they come across a lantern and a genie pops out and grants them one wish each.

The Scot says: “I am a sheep herder, like my dad before me. I want my country to be full of lovely sheep farms.”
Whoosh, and so it was.

The Englishman was amazed and says: “I want a wall around England to keep those damned Scots and Welsh out.”
Bang, there was a wall around England.

The Welshman says: “Tell me more about this wall.”

The genie says: “It’s 200 feet high, 100 feet thick, it goes all around England, and nothing can get in or out.”

The Welshman says: “Fill it with water.”

Meanwhile - Back from Caldicot Castle...

Cheers!

15th September 2016 - Off to Caldicot

Thought for the day : "How often do I make chemistry jokes? Periodically."

So - off to Caldicot in the eralies tomorrow and not likely to have intertweb for the weekend..
So ...

Double Taverns for the weekend..

Cheers !