Sat 6 Jan 2007
It’s our first show for 2007, and time to have a chin-wag about:
* Freaky weather.
* Is the Southern Hemisphere the worst hemisphere?
* Summer Christmases.
* Our anniversary celebrations.
* James Bond and a martini update.
* Lame superheroes.
January 6th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Zan,
From what I understand the proof of a liquor is basically twice the percentage of alcohol in the bottle. 80 proof gin would be 40% alcohol. Hope this helps.
Al
January 7th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
You know, I think that was the most boring voicemail I have left for you to date. To help make up for that, I’m going to give you some useful information and tell you where your chickens are going. The next time they disappear, just check in your house’s crawlspace. That’s where you’ll find ‘em.
January 9th, 2007 at 12:32 am
From the sounds of it, your summer is colder than our winter right now. This should be the coldest week of the year here, with the average temperature being freezing. But it was 70 degrees Saturday. I don’t know what that is in celcius, but people were comfortably wearing t-shirts and shorts. It’s been an unreasonably warm winter, but this weekend was actually scary. Animals are coming out of hibernation and plants are starting to grow.
Interesting about the snowy Christmas iconography. I was hoping you’d say, “Of course there’s no snowy Christmas decorations here! What are you, fucking stupid?”
On wristwatches, I can’t wear them either. Although it’s much less a skinny arm problem than an always touching my skin problem. I have a fear of jewelry. I don’t know why, but I freak out if it touches me. And I think the wristwatch thing is tied into that. I also have a pocket watch, but it’s a family heirloom, and I’m pretty sure if I carried it around it would get smashed up somehow.
And if I were you, I wouldn’t even ask the chickens about where they’ve been. If I’m right, they won’t tell you anything. The first rule of Chicken Club is “Don’t talk about Chicken Club.”
January 9th, 2007 at 6:42 am
I’m sorry, I don’t see why you find the bit about Dr John Dee and 007 so unbelievable. Whilst looking for additional proof on this point I found this in passing:
http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/bondgirl.php
which tells us that in For Your Eyes Only, Caroline Cossey - one of the “Bond girls” - was a transexual. Ms. Cossey began life in 1954 as Barry Cossey. She changed her name to Caroline in 1972, began taking hormone tablets, had breast augmentation surgery, and in 1974 underwent the final sex reassignment surgery.
P.S. 70`F = 21`C. Here in the UK it’s also an unseasonably warm 14`C (57`F) but it’s pissing down with rain as usual, so the weather hasn’t gone completely mad yet.
P.P.S. did you know you can type “anything in anything else” in Google to do conversions? e.g. “70F in C”. This is useful for fun conversions like “100 miles in lightseconds”.
January 9th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Budgies are definitely a finger food.
On converting temperature, on a Mac just use the conversion Widget. Oh ya, in Windows Vista you can use Gadgets (a totally different, unrelated or copied, orginal, trade marked product, brought to you Uncle Bill :-p).
Sorry, had some Windows induced stress over the holidays!
January 9th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Regarding snowy Christmas iconography, the first time I was in Brazil over Christmas, I was astonished to see that a major shopping mall had set up a huge snowblower in the ceiling, which rained fake snow down on passersby while playing loud American Christmas music.
January 11th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Also, about Jana’s new ipod nano, I’ve had a nano for a year and it’s barely scuffed up after carrying it with me everyday, so you might not need a case for yours before you bring it outside the house. I used to have an old 3rd generation iPod that got scratches on it as soon as it came out of the box, so that definitely needed a covering. But these nanos, at least the ones they were making a year ago, seem really resistant.
January 11th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Tvindy,
Under our house is the logical place for the chickens to go, as it’s cool in the hot weather and it’s also where I store the straw for the coop so they have a ready-made bed. But I did look there on the night of their disappearance and they weren’t around, unless they’d clambered into some small, dark, inaccessible area I couldn’t see. In any event, they have only disappeared the once, and seem happy with their coop again now.
Ryan,
I, too, have a 3G iPod, and it has a big scratch on it which I don’t remember it ever not having, plus a few smaller ones that came later, so I guess that’s why I’ve made Jana paranoid about cases. Still, she’s already bought it and those iSkin ones are pretty good. She had one for her old 1G nano, and I think you could have dropped the thing on the road while standing without the iPod underneath breaking.
January 11th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
My new iPod Video, which I got two months back, actually had some superficial scratches on it before it was out of the box. I know this, because the very first thing I did upon removing it from the box was to check it for scratches (kind of like you do with a newborn baby to make sure it has the right number of fingers and toes). Anyway, the iPod is so 2006. In a few months the really cool people will be sporting their new iPhones.
January 12th, 2007 at 1:30 am
“In a few months the really cool people will be sporting their new [insert name here later].”
Cisco Systems sued Apple on Wednesday over the trademark to the name ‘iPhone’, setting up a legal battle between two of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies.
Cisco claims that Apple deliberately infringed its rights to use the brand when Steve Jobs introduced Apple’s iPhone at Macworld in San Francisco Tuesday, allegedly without Cisco’s permission. The suit seeks an injunction to stop Apple’s use of the name.
January 12th, 2007 at 9:21 am
I’ve looked at the video of the iPhone’s iPod interface, and it looks pretty sweet. The only problem is, they only have the storage capacity of a nano; I’d never be able to fit the contents of the Adam and the Ants CD I just bought on it along with all my other music. I guess at some point they’ll start making regular iPods with the touch screen interface, too.