Wednesday, May 30, 2007

WE ARE NOT ALONE

Discovered "Home On The Strange" via Orac who linked the latest 'Dr Who VS Jesus' ones.

I went back to the start and its like "Hhahahaaha OMG!!!1!!! thats us".
The first few are totally Rob's situation at the moment, and I'm going to buy him this.
Talks about sci-fi, roleplaying, Buffy obsessions, (channeled Meg's and Snerg I'm sure), girl nerds meeting other girl nerds, crapping on and on about nothing, the sometimes tricksy problem of meeting new friends after a certain age and life in general.

I haven't even got half way through them yet but I like what I see. The author's comments down the side are pretty cool too.
Check it out, you may see yourself staring back.

Friday, May 25, 2007

PSA

Since the events related below, I've been revisiting my neglected list of archaeology blogs. In case you're not familiar, I think For Battlers would appreciate Got Medievalin particular. No updates for a month but plenty in the archives.

Update, just 'cos:
You scored as Scientific Atheist, These guys rule. I'm not one of them myself, although I play one online. They know the rules of debate, the Laws of Thermodynamics, and can explain evolution in fifty words or less. More concerned with how things ARE than how they should be, these are the people who will bring us into the future.

Scientific Atheist

83%

Spiritual Atheist

58%

Agnostic

42%

Militant Atheist

33%

Apathetic Atheist

33%

Angry Atheist

25%

Theist

8%

What kind of atheist are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Monday, May 21, 2007

What is a place like me doing in a girl like this

This is Golda Meir, one time Prime Minister of Israel.



You get alot of pictures of her when you Google Image search "Meir." But I was not searching for that Meir, I was searching for the Meir which is the site of rock tombs which date from the Old Kingdom through to the Middle Kingdom periods of Ancient Egypt. And why was I searching for this obscure (no Wikipedia entry!) Meir?

Why, because I will be spending six weeks there in November/December this year doing archaeological fieldwork. As some of you know, I've been studying Egyptology at uni. I applied for it a month ago, had an interview Friday and got the good news today! Frack! All the lecturers have their own digs over there which they work November -- February when uni has Summer hols, but they only take four or five students so I wasn't banking on it.

But I got it! Wooooooo. The modern city closest to the site is Assyut. These are the standard tourist picture of Assyut and for the benefit of my mother if she's reading this, I'm sure all that stuff about it being the main centre of militant Islamism is waaaaaaay exaggerated. If they do blow me up, kindly tell Howard and Downer to frack off if they try to meet my returning remains at the airport.



Friday, May 18, 2007

Embedded In Vegas

This clown's turned to Evil.

Teller and me. He is soooo cute.
Penn and Teller Show

Penn loved Rob's shirt. Out of focus I know. Blame the cocktails.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Introducing... For Battle!

Because I was looking for through the post archives today for something else which wasn't there and wasn't very interesting anyways, I skimmed through a lot of nostalgia. So here, for the bemusement of the populace and for the purposes of predicting the future, is the title of everyone's first post (for a given definition of "first", where time-travelling Harry was involved...):

Harry (lying about his age): "Haloscan is crap"
Harry (cheating): "Helpful"
Harry (possibly not lying or cheating, but don't bet on it): "Part 2 of the destruction of Fyodor."
For Battle! (there is an account by this name, apparently): "Welcome"
Mindy: "I'll just make myself comfy"
Destructomeg (after her real first, which had no title at all): "Just coz I can..."
worldpeace and a speedboat: "...oh my god! oh thank you... thankyousomuch..."
Cozalcoatl: "Some Gods are Cooler than Others"
anti ob: "Getting Back to Fundamentalisms"
Stig: "Urban Web Myth" (though I preferred "Self-indulgent political optimism", which was only a couple of days later...)
Pippilicious: "I love Norwich in the Summertime..."
Amanda: "The Weevil Made Me Do It"
Mousicles: "Despair"
Mr Tops: "Hi Ho Chaps, Tops Here"
MrSnerg: "He only comes but once a year..."
DV: "ahhhh the day of flowers!"
Lord MattressHammer: "Water on Mars"

Monday, May 14, 2007

Free to a good home

I am in the process of trying to reduce the amount of stuff in my house. Specifically, we're trying to get rid of non-essential stuff so that we only have to deal with the essential stuff when making room for my brother and his friends to house-sit for us.

You lots can have dibs on this stuff before it all goes to St Vinnies.

Currently, trying to off load:
lots of comic books; Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Footrot Flats, Wizard of Id and Asterix & Obelix.
Various children's literature and videos (yes, VHS)
Several lead-cast Dragons, still in bits. (Think Warhammer minitures.)

No doubt this list will grow - i have collected an amazing amount of things over the years.

Specifically, i am trying to give the dragons away cos they will be binned otherwise. So, you lovely nerds out there, do you know anyone, or anyone's child, who might be interested in making lead minitures, specifically dragons? Having failed to do anything about them myself in the last 20 years, i don't think another 20 years in my custody are going to do them any good.
I don't have the crib sheets for the models anymore, but it is fairly easy to work out.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Eurovision Semi final wrap up

By the time most people read this, the finals will have happened and the winner will be old news but I feel the need to comment on the semi's.

I can't say that I'm fabulous at picking the semi's but this year I must be more out of step with the voters than usual.

I think Andorra should have been in the finals. They were robbed!

And I don't see what was so good about the androgenous Serbian act. I also failed to see the charm of Hungary (the word is Insubstantial) or Slovenia (erky soprano)

Other stuff of note.
I thought DJ Bobo and the Swiss vampires were almost odd enough to win. But they didn't make it through to the finals - which was also odd.

Moldova - one word - pants!!!?!

But I did think Georgia, Turkey and Latvia were good choices. Belarus was a Bond theme song and the Bulgarian drums were cool.

Your views will probably differ hugely.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Everybody Loves String!

Geekier than this it doesn't much get, but fortunately I know my audience...

Discover magazine is having a contest to see who can explain string theory in 2 minutes or less in a video.


Even if I wasn't biased by the fact that it was done by the friend of a friend (and by the fact that it contains a rubber duck) I think the String Ducky does a better job of explaining things than most, but most of them are worth a look. Go have a look if you've got a few minutes spare, and don't forget to vote for your favorite!

Monday, May 07, 2007

Overheard at Circular Quay

ya know, with the Sydney Opera House at one edge of your periferal vision and the Sydney Harbour bridge at the other. Blue water and ferries in the morning sun.

Female American Tourist: This reminds me of Boston, what do you think honey?
Male American Tourist: Oh absolutely. This whole town reminds me of Boston