Wednesday it is, Wednesday...

You can't keep a good blogger down. Or at least, you can't keep a blogger down.
Another day, another dollar - but will I get my insurance company to pull their finger out? Errr. Hmm. Ummm. Well, I shall post later on that one.
I saw my good friend Si last night. It seems odd to see him back "daaaan saaaaaf" after so long but it also seems right I guess. The next few months for him will be odd - his life is kind of in flux and he's not really sure what's going to happen - so I wish him all the best.
The 911 I've seen is still about - and it sounds like a cracker of a car. I really hope I can secure it.

Tea time.

Insurance update

Or more accurately, lack of.

The "It'll be reviewed today" quote I had yesterday is now a "It hasn't been reviewed as they're very busy". So I was honest and said I was going to pester every day. I'm sick of waiting and I know I'll not get anything sorted before this other car is sold. Of course, will another come up when I have the money? No, it won't. That's called "Sod's law" don't you know.

X3: Reunion

I've posted before about the X games. I loved the startling beauty and the gorgeous soundtracks - but hated the 15/20 hours of gameplay required to make 1 credit. I don't have 15 hours to devote.. so neither of the previous games kept my attention.
This news story from PC ZONE has some shots and info on the third in the X series. This includes a fancy new engine and probably another 20/30 hours of gameplay before you find out how to turn the ship's engine on. A shame.. it's so pretty. :)

Pirates of the Caribbean - ONLINE!

Oh good grief.
Right off the back of my last blog I happened upon this. In fact, it was in the next e-mail I had from PC ZONE.
It's due to be released along-side (yeah, joke intended) the next film next summer... next.. summer. 2005 or 2006? I can't be bothered to look..
In fact, this one will suck. LOTR may be okay with the backing it has.. and the history. But this is based on a themepark ride at Disneyland. Yeahhhhh.
Well time will tell. I hope. :)

Lord of the Rings... ONLINE!

It's not new.. at least, it's not new "news". Last year this little oddity jumped up amid the throws of post-LOTR trilogy madness and announced it's intentions. Back then it was Middle Earth Online - or something just as obvious. However, it's developers/publishers has changed and now it's Lord of the Rings. Online.
The initial pics and info do sound quite interesting (read the Gamespy article here) - but I wonder if it'll try to be another WoW (without the "bad guy" element). I don't know. It's not out until 2006 and by then it will likely have changed considerably (as, I hope, will WoW).

I give it a "meh" out of 10. :)

Dear diary...

Ok, so it's a pathetic excuse to make it look like I'm updating the site. But I am! :)

Have I mentioned how little I like insurance companies? Well I'm about to. You see, I wrote my 911 off a couple of months ago. This sort of thing happens and there is nothing I could have done about it at the time (other than not drive it in the first place). As gutted as I am about the whole thing I had some solace in the fact that I paid a very large amount of money to an insurance company to protect from this very eventuality. Unfortunately, as is often the case, I'm sat here two months later - still paying for the damn thing - and have seen very little in the way of activity from the company in question.
Now, don't misunderstand me here. I'm not slating them. It's just that it isn't all that hard to review some pieces of paper and pay up. Yeah, I'm not the only person that has insurance - but I am the customer - and therefore, right. Having been in a customer facing industry before, I know how it works.
To make matters worse, I've found a car (that will be long sold before I get any money). She's identical to my previous effort, and at a great price. Humph.

I chased them yesterday and I will chase them today. It won't help me but at least I'm trying.

It's Tuesday.

I'm a lazy sod....

Yup it's true. I can't be bothered with computers right now. I guess it's partly due to the weather (it's been nice!) and partly due to pure laziness. But I've been feeling like that a lot recently. WoW has gone out the window. Meh.. I have no energy to play bloody computer games - at least, nothing more involving that a 5 minute blast. WoW is not that. LOL.

Education gets told to lose MS. Heh. I love it. It'll never happen (as usual) but it's nice to hear that things are happening. I don't hate MS - not at all - but I like the competition (it's healthy).

Longhorn gets RSOD. Why? Stupid idea.. why not just let the offending module die and then have it restart? Meh.

New XBox anyone?. I doubt it'll retail looking anything like that but.. whatever. Meh. Again. :D

What else? Well the Calibra is sat doing nothing at the moment. Time is short and I can't play. Meh. I'll get round to it! This weekend I think I'll spend playing. Rain or not. Although I may be arranging a long drive instead.. hmmm. That's not related to this though.

Gemma is back at Uni. I've been up there this weekend. I always enjoy that! Only another 8 weeks and a year left (yeah, work that out) and she's back for good. Can't say I'll be upset when she's back! :)

The show season is upon us. Next month it's the Performance Vauxhall Show at Santa Pod. Then a month later, in the same area, is the VBOA's show at the Billing Aquadrome (go Google it if you can be bothered!). i really enjoy these shows and it lets me show off the car and my hard work. Next year may be quite different as work and the car may put me in a position that may make me miss them. Either that, or the full respray, retrim and more engine work will. Hehe. Me? Mad? Never.

Right.. it's lunch time.

New Batman Begins trailer

It's worth posting this. Really. :)

Firefox hits 50million downloads!

I'm a follower... using it right now!

Check this link out to see realtime downloads!

Porn and Jedi names...

They come up a lot don't they?

Porn name is your first pet's name and your mother's maiden name..

So mine would be something like Tommy Clark. Crap isn't it?

Jedi name is the first two letters of your first name and first two of your second name for your FIRST name. Then the first two letters of your mother's maiden name and the first two letters of your place of birth for your SECOND name..

So mine would be Dawi Clpo. Crap again. Great name I have eh?

Simpsons is number ONE...

At pretty much everything. Firstly the best cartoon ever - now it's the best children's show.
Bloody good show! :D

Blah

Indeed. Today had it's ups and downs.
Gemma left (clearly a down, before you take the piss) for University again. I hate that. This Easter has been great; one of my best times with Gem during a "school holiday" and I'm gutted she's gone. Again.

However, I did manage to run around 10 miles this morning. Not a huge thing but my back doesn't like me doing it. Hmm. Tomorrow I may be sore.
I did it prove a point to myself. That I could do it, and therefore do the Great South Run this year. I never get to do it due to injury so this year I'm making that effort.

Wonderful weather too.. until I got home and it rained heavily all afternoon (only here, of course). So I couldn't play car. Did the ironing instead.

One thing I don't get about us Brits - a bit of sun and we all get outside on motorcycles. "That's not odd" you may think - but we do it without leathers. Why does anyone think that a helmet alone will save them in an accident? Bloody idiots.

I've gone and bought another car too. A Renault Clio. I'll get a page up about it soonish (if I can be bothered!). It's nothing special; 1.4RT, 1992 K-plate, 5-door hatch in white. It'll do the job and replace the Calibra as the daily slogger. Doing 3 miles back and forth, short journeys etc were likely going to kill that £8k engine I've just built. So I'll use it for pleasure and work on it in the meantime. At least the Clio has good seats! :)

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is out this week... I can't wait and am getting the audio books in preperation ;)

Will Smith has a new album out called Lost and Found - the first track is great. :)

Who should you vote for?

Who should I vote for?

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

Labour -7
Conservative -2
	Liberal Democrat 6
	UK Independence Party 2
	Green 29

You should vote: Green

The Green Party, which is of course strong on environmental issues, takes a strong position on welfare issues, but was firmly against the war in Iraq. Other key concerns are cannabis, where the party takes a liberal line, and foxhunting, which unsurprisingly the Greens are firmly against.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Calibra page updated...

Indeedio! This time with the "Angel eye" headlights and new big brakes.. she's getting there now. Still loads to do... although I think there always will be. LOL

Anyway, check it out here!

The Calibra...

..is now pretty much run in (as she is). It's been an interesting, and really mucky, experience.

Oil leaks own. I've gone through around 30 litres of oil in the last 1000 miles. Mostly through quick-succession changes for the good of the engine, but some through leaks. I've had to remove and rebold the sump (RTV rules!) and replace some washers/seals to get things oil "tight" but I think I'm nearly there. At least, I'm touching wood as I write this (literally).

Pop over to Baz's photo site (cheers!) here to see my car from the Hook meet (ClubCalibra) yesterday - see, she's on the road baby! :D

Second earthquake hits Indonesia

I wouldn't normally post news you'll see everywhere, but this is just unreal.
Who said lightening doesn't strike twice? You gotta feel for that country and it's people.

PSP Web browser hacked ;)

Firstly the site in question (down due to excessive hits!) and then a few pics! That's very cool if you ask me... very.
Further links found on the first page link ;)

DX9 under WINE

Well this is a step in the right direction. It's not perfect (what is?) but it does help that bridge get closer to the shore.

HL2 under Linux? Maybe.

Smallest Linux box ever?

I don't doubt it for a second.
Tiny tiny tiny!

Doesn't time fly?

I've just been going through some settings and realised my archives were still "by week" which was starting to look a bit messy. It's now "by month" and the list is nice and short again.

Nearly a year and a half of mindless blogging and linking.

Whatever next? :)

I think a site redesign is on the cards. Well the mac has arrived so I might as well put it to use. Watch this space ;)

Shadow the hedgehog

This and this made me laugh.

Why oh why do we need Sonic with guns? LOL.. I always liked Sonic but this is going a bit far. Geez... as if the games industry doesn't get enough flak for violent gaming!

Hedgehogs with weaponry. This VGCats strip is quite apt.

SCUMM

LOL.. that's a cool title.

Do you remember the Lucasarts games? Sam and max? Monkey Island?

Well now you can play them using SCUMM. Basically, most modern PCs using XP etc can't get the hang of these old games (either refusing to run or looking mighty odd).

Using this site you can relive your past. I know I will!

Here's the site's main quote:
"What is ScummVM?

ScummVM is a 'virtual machine' for several classic graphical point-and-click adventure games. It is designed to run: Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system. SCUMM is used for many games, including Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. Compatibility with supported games is continually improving, so check back often."

Strangely addictive game

Zilcho skill involved but still kinda cool - check it out here.

My score so far - 2797!

John DeLorean dies

The community is in moarning today as John DeLorean dies.

I would love to have met the man but that will, sadly, never happen.

My regards to his family. Long live his legacy, the DMC-12.

Danerd.com

Random funny vids/pic right here at danerd.com.

An update and some linkage!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Minor update to the turbo page

Check it out here.

A bad week

Well it started (sort of) with a great weekend with Gem. Then I came home and it all started to go to poo. Big poo.

Wednesday started with a stomach ache. By 8pm I couldn't stand up and by 10pm I was being really very sick. Not nice at all.
A sleepless night ended with me calling in to work sick as I was feeling like hell.
By Thursday evening I was fine and had to pop out. So I took the 911. And ended up in a ditch.

Coming off of a roundabout I hit something (oil...diesel?) and the rears lit up. I was doing maybe 30mph in 4th at 2k rpm and suddenly redlining the engine. Off she went (out of my hands by that point) and put me sideways in to a ditch.

I've been to see her at a garage and it's not great but I hope to get her back in one piece - only time will tell.

I shall get pics up on the Porsche page soon, but if you can't wait then check out my post on ClubCalibra (with pics). :(

Audi Quattro's 25th...

..and they celebrate by getting an A6 up a ski ramp..

Story here. In all fairness, it's a repeat of something they did 19 years ago with the 100. Steep too.

I did, gone, done, bought one of these...

It's not here yet but I've pur-chased an iMac :)



The 20inch (as the pic says), 1.8Ghz G5 with all the bits :P - can't wait!
I hope to be blogging from that very soon. I've already moved the PC upstairs and installed wireless cards and routers all over the show!
Ah... no more MS... ;)

Oh...

I posted page 5 of that thread below... so don't forget to visit the others! :D

A great "chop" thread

Right here.

Cars... only, really short! :)

The last Audi TT...

Has been unveiled. Why am I mentioning it? Because it's got 240bhp and is really expensive. Mad. :

On the motoring note, some links:

Firstly the Brabus SLR. I'm not sure why this exists... but anyway, it's cool in a "It wasn't fast enough to begin with" way.

Secondly the Koenigsegg becomes the fastest production road car. It'll go faster but they'll need a bigger track (Gonna need a bigger boat...).

Thirdly, the Veyron goes in to production. Quite rightly, someone comments that it may come with a copy of Duke Nukem Forever

And lastly, the Aston Martin V8. I think this is cool beyond words. I was chatting to a friend and I asked him which story was coolest - he said the Koenigsegg... me, the Aston - for a start the doors open normally (which in super car terms, is odd!).

Bebo

Bebo is an online addressbook that, quite nicely, intergrates with Hotmail. It'll even send your friends a link to enter their own data rather than you doing it (and probably getting it wrong). I like it. Maybe you will too!

Aerogel

Straight from NASA comes Aerogel. A solid, lightweight (obviously) gas. Mad.

Oops

Sorry for the recent mess up on my site... a < div > had entered in somewhere dodgy and was causing all sorts of mayhem! :)

Firebox VoIP Cyberphone

Reported over on The Register, it's a groovy phone that allows you to talk via Skype with using a mike and speakers... check it out.

'A parent's primer to computer slang'

Someone at Microsoft has a sense of humour :)

I've driven my Calibra Turbo.. and it's gooooooood

Firstly I'd like to say that this has been one of the most nerve racking things I've ever done... never before have I had so much money, time, blood and sweat invested in something that i've built and had to go run it in myself. Scary as hell.

Jamie.. I can't thank him enough. It's not over (will it ever be?) but I have a usable car!

Okay...


Around 3pm I jumped in the car with the intention of getting fuel. Off up the road I went varying the load and revs and gears as much as possible. Too scared to breathe I really didn't notice much.... except for steam pouring from the bonnet.
The thermostat hose was leaking (hose clip wouldn't tighten enough). I was already at the ESSO station so I chucked £30 of Super in (with the bonnet up!) and headed home hoping for the best; only for the air filter to come off and me run it over!

Back home I swapped out the hose clamp and fastened my "weathered" air filter back on... and tried again.

3 miles in and the ECU light was on. You're seeing a pattern aren't you?

Straight to Jamie's and we sorted that straight away. It was just the lambda sensor wiring coming loose. Phew.. but I have codes 91 (never heard of it) and 73 (AFM) still showing. The AFM is okay now - getting used to the new setup methinks... but 91? Who knows.

So.. finally driving and, I hear you ask, what is it like?

Ever watch Rallying? Well my car sounds like that. In 1st, 2nd and 3rd (hell, all gears) I can change up at 2k rpm and get wastegate chatter (ch ch ch ch chhhhh) and the turbo wails away like some boxed up banshee (never once did it pull more than 1PSI and yet it still whistles more than the KKK ever did!). It pulls VERY strongly despite not actually using the turbo... which is bizarre!

I'm still pooing myself but slowly getting used to it. Tomorrow I'm off to a MIG meet in Fareham to hopefully get the first load of miles done and start using it properly.

Watch this space as things progress