attached|earth|free|living|technology

outta here - and over there

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 21:11:40 +0000

Okay, crazy cats. In case you wondered, 15 months ago, the blog moved to here:

blog.andrewweir.co.uk

check it out, update your RSS reader and say hello)

Get involved!

outta here - and over there

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:47:28 +0000

Okay, crazy cats. The blog is moving to here:

www.andyweir.blogspot.com (in a few hours, blog.andrewweir.co.uk will point there too, but in the meantime, check it out, update your RSS reader and say hello)

Get involved!

this might help

Tue, 2 Sep 2008 21:45:56 +0100

LOADS to say.

Had a plenty of ideas, and you know, like a good batch of chilli, you leave it overnight and when you eat it the next day (*not* for breakfast), it tastes all the better.

except I never get ‘round to blogging on the *next* day, and that idea is lost. forever.

so, I’m taking action.

I’m going to try and be more disciplined at using evernote to clip things and keep notes. I’m also going to try getting on twitter.

follow me there (or maybe I’m following you?).

interested in Google’s announcement of Chrome today. Hmm...

not for Mac, eh? No surprise, there’s 97% more PCs than Mac. For now...

that’s the question

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:08:27 +0100

to blog, or not to blog.

it’s been nearly two months since i did this last, and that not for want of trying.

infact, I’ve been brimming with ideas, things to talk about, things to share, thoughts to expand on. but I’ve not done it.

i’ve spent a fair amount of time in the past few months with Jenny & Beth (of whom there are new pics on FB here or our website here and here), at work, on my bike (covered about 450 miles, I think), done some decorating, listened to over 150 podcasts (and really learned a lot), spent time helping people move house, doing some interior decorating for family, i’ve been walking, a *tiny* bit of running (ie not enough for my liking, playing drums, guitar and PA, and in it all, doing a fair amount of thinking.

why have I not shared it? I’m wondering if it’s because I can’t update things from work (when on lunch) as I use iWeb to put the blog together.

i really like iWeb, as it’s pretty visual, reasonably flexible, as long as I don’t want to do too many fancy things. which is ideal as I don’t *really* know how to do anything fancy in HTML...

so I’m thinking I might activate my blogger account, or perhaps get a wordpress blog going (wp seems to get a better rep?) and see if that’s more practical.

the nagging thought I have is something Joseph Jaffe said recently. he’d fallen out with blogging as “it’s just too much like writing an essay, all that formatting and links - I’d much rather press record and just have a conversation”.

might be onto something there. might get me a webcam for the Powerbook and get some vlogging on the go?!

positivity

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:19:57 +0100

On Stevie Wonder’s splendid “A Time 2 Love” album, there are a great many songs that are quite simply great. One of my favourites is “positivity”.

Following a conversation with McColleague yesterday, and a few subsequent conversations, I got a last-minute place on a course at work today. This was a session with Jack Black (alas, not he of “school of rock” fame), of MindStore. He talked about a few things - the importance of being energised, positivity, the importance of dreams and using both parts of the brain.

I’m still working through some of the chat, and will have more to share in the next few days, but bottom line is that it’s been a continuation of the kick-up the pants that I have been feeling from God in the past few weeks.

Really, I’m ready to dream again.

Off to bed, quick.

In other news today, Beth ate some food. Not milk, but some Baby rice. And loved it. Fantastic.

Check out the video here.

Nuclear waste anyone?

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:14:27 +0100

I have been working at home today. Which is a great thing, and a privilege that I don’t like to abuse too often. However, it needed to be done today, to get some space to realise what I am doing/meant to be doing and how to get on with it.

So, imagine my surprise when sitting at the kitchen table, Beth enjoying a bottle and Jenny getting ready to go out for the morning when two representatives of the Lothian & Borders Fife Service appear at the door....

“Can we come in and do a fire inspection?” they asked.

My response was to spend about 15 seconds looking like an idiot (only 15 seconds, you say, that’s impressive!) while my brain tried to figure it all out. I failed and Jenny said, “it’s alright, I asked them to come...”.

So, in they come, have a look at our smoke alarms and, despite the fact that they work (as I do check and change batteries frequently), they offer to replace them (they’re about 15 years old, apparently).

So we have new smoke alarms being fitted, get to answer a questionnaire and then BOOM, they’re gone.

All well and good. Until I look at the remains of the old smoke alarms, which our friendly neighbourhood fireman asked me to put in the bin. And I notice the very distinctive look of the trefoil nuclear symbol. The self-same symbol that you see on the side of things that carry plutonium (1.21GW anyone?).

“What is that all about?” is the only question I’m asking. Is this the kind of thing you can put in the recycling bin? Surely you don’t want to put them into a waste bin for either landfill or incineration. Do you?

And anyway, what’s two smoke alarms containing nuclear waste doing in my house? And I didn’t know?!

It seems that it’s been making the smoke alarm work and it’s perfectly safe.... according to the World Nuclear Association:

“The World Nuclear Association is the global private-sector organization that seeks to promote the peaceful worldwide use of nuclear power as a sustainable energy resource for the coming centuries”

So they would say that, right?

A bit more digging and it appears there’s no need to worry:

“americum oxide is an alpha emitter. The "radiation" doesn't pass through paper let alone skin. That's exactly why it's used: it can pass through clean air but not smoky air.”

But what warning do you get of the nuclear-nature of the device - nothing on the outside... just make sure you don’t paint it!

Anyone else got a nuclear-powered smoke-detector?

three gee

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:06:24 +0100

A few days ago I got an email with a genuine offer for an iPhone free if I took a new mobile phone deal. I elected not to as there were murmurs of a 3G version being on the way.

Tonight, I have been amazed as I watch the keynote address from the WWDC conference in San Francisco. Amazed is a pretty strong word, but it has been pretty cool to see how Apple have responded to the criticism received after the initial iPhone launch - by opening up a Software Developers Kit that makes it a real posilbility to see the iPhone take a huge slice of the mobile device market. I’m sure there’s a few companies not-too-happy today...

Check it out and be amazed.