A life is like a garden.
Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.
L.L.A.P.
Friday 27 February 2015
Thursday 26 February 2015
Clare
May the Lord show His mercy upon you
May the light of His presence by your guide
May he guard you and uphold you
May his spirit be ever by your side.
When you sleep, may His angels watch over you
When you wake, may He fill you with His grace
May you love Him and serve Him all your days
Then in heaven, may you see His face.
May the light of His presence by your guide
May he guard you and uphold you
May his spirit be ever by your side.
When you sleep, may His angels watch over you
When you wake, may He fill you with His grace
May you love Him and serve Him all your days
Then in heaven, may you see His face.
Wednesday 25 February 2015
Hunter
In 1958, many years before he became famous as the author of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", and at the age of just 20, Hunter S Thompson wrote a long letter in reply to a friend who had contacted him asking for advice as to the direction his life should take.
This is an extract.
"As I said, to put our faith in tangible goals would seem to be, at best, unwise. So we do not strive to be firemen, we do not strive to be bankers, nor policemen, nor doctors. We strive to be ourselves.
But don't misunderstand me. I don't mean that we can't be firemen, bankers, or doctors - but that we must make the goal conform to the individual, rather than make the individual conform to the goal. In every man, heredity and environment have combined to produce a creature of certain abilities and desires - including a deeply ingrained need to function in such a way that his life will be meaningful. A man has to be something; he has to matter."
An excellent extract from an excellent letter from an excellent book.
This is an extract.
"As I said, to put our faith in tangible goals would seem to be, at best, unwise. So we do not strive to be firemen, we do not strive to be bankers, nor policemen, nor doctors. We strive to be ourselves.
But don't misunderstand me. I don't mean that we can't be firemen, bankers, or doctors - but that we must make the goal conform to the individual, rather than make the individual conform to the goal. In every man, heredity and environment have combined to produce a creature of certain abilities and desires - including a deeply ingrained need to function in such a way that his life will be meaningful. A man has to be something; he has to matter."
An excellent extract from an excellent letter from an excellent book.
Tuesday 24 February 2015
Cosine
Imagine a triangle which has sides of length a, b and c.
The angles within the triangle are α, β and γ (where α is opposite a, and so on).
Now, drop a perpendicular from α onto side a, such that it splits a into lengths x and y (with x on the side closer to angle γ).
Then, we can see that:
Now, in our triangle, we could also drop a perpendicular from β to b and from γ to c, and by going through the same process as above, we would end up with similar equations, but with:
a→b→c→a and α→β→γ→α in one, and
a→c→b→a and α→γ→β→α in the other.
Resulting in:
b2 = bc cosα + ab cosγ [2] and
c2 = ac cosβ + bc cosα [3]
Now, if we take the three equations, and do [3] - [2] - [1], we have:
c2 - b2 - a2 =ac cosβ + bc cosα - bc cosα - ab cosγ - ab cosγ - ac cosβ
∴ c2 = a2 + b2 - 2ab cosγ
And this is the cosine rule. I have to confess that this is a small, but clearly important, piece of maths that I had either completely forgotten, or never come across in the first place.
The reason for mentioning it here is that at the weekend I spent a while working on a question from Jake's maths homework for him, and finally managed to come up with the answer.
Jake was pleased with my help, but came back to me a few minutes later and pointed out that it could have been done in a fraction of the time that I had taken, by the simple application of the cosine rule!
Oh dear. I sense that I am going to start struggling to keep up very soon ....
The angles within the triangle are α, β and γ (where α is opposite a, and so on).
Now, drop a perpendicular from α onto side a, such that it splits a into lengths x and y (with x on the side closer to angle γ).
Then, we can see that:
| cosβ = y / c | and | cosγ = x / b | |
| ∴ | y = c cosβ | and | x = b cosγ |
| ∴ | a = b cosγ + c cosβ | ||
| ∴ | a2 = ab cosγ + ac cosβ [1] | ||
Now, in our triangle, we could also drop a perpendicular from β to b and from γ to c, and by going through the same process as above, we would end up with similar equations, but with:
a→b→c→a and α→β→γ→α in one, and
a→c→b→a and α→γ→β→α in the other.
Resulting in:
b2 = bc cosα + ab cosγ [2] and
c2 = ac cosβ + bc cosα [3]
Now, if we take the three equations, and do [3] - [2] - [1], we have:
c2 - b2 - a2 =
∴ c2 = a2 + b2 - 2ab cosγ
And this is the cosine rule. I have to confess that this is a small, but clearly important, piece of maths that I had either completely forgotten, or never come across in the first place.
The reason for mentioning it here is that at the weekend I spent a while working on a question from Jake's maths homework for him, and finally managed to come up with the answer.
Jake was pleased with my help, but came back to me a few minutes later and pointed out that it could have been done in a fraction of the time that I had taken, by the simple application of the cosine rule!
Oh dear. I sense that I am going to start struggling to keep up very soon ....
Wednesday 18 February 2015
EELive
Loving the Eastenders live week so far. Haven't been a huge fan of the show for ages, but I have been sucked in during the build up, and now waiting with baited breath for the big reveal tomorrow ...
Who killed Lucy?
Who killed Lucy?
Monday 16 February 2015
First 1000
A milestone day today, but that's not for me to blog about, so I'll content myself with dull stuff about my new car.
First fill up having passed the 1,000 mile mark, and early signs are that I am getting a very similar MPG to the Lexus (and so there is hope for more once the car is properly run in). This is fine with me given that the rest of the costs, which for me are basically lease charges plus the BIK cost that I get taxed on, are considerably lower for the Citroen than for the CT200.
So, so far so good then.
And I'm just about getting the hang of this changing gear malarkey!
First fill up having passed the 1,000 mile mark, and early signs are that I am getting a very similar MPG to the Lexus (and so there is hope for more once the car is properly run in). This is fine with me given that the rest of the costs, which for me are basically lease charges plus the BIK cost that I get taxed on, are considerably lower for the Citroen than for the CT200.
So, so far so good then.
And I'm just about getting the hang of this changing gear malarkey!
Sunday 15 February 2015
Cellini
Whilst we were considering the merchandise in Harrods last weekend, I tried on a watch.
Not just any watch you understand, but a Rolex, and it was rather nice.
The salesman (whose name was Guillaume) gave me his card, and kindly wrote down the details on the back.
To be specific, it was a Rolex Cellini rose gold watch with a white dial, model number M 50505 - 0006, and if you'd like to see it for yourself, it is on the official Rolex site here.
One thing that the salesman didn't put on his card was the price, but nonetheless I have remembered it.
£10,150.
Perhaps I'll put it on my Christmas list.
Not just any watch you understand, but a Rolex, and it was rather nice.
The salesman (whose name was Guillaume) gave me his card, and kindly wrote down the details on the back.
To be specific, it was a Rolex Cellini rose gold watch with a white dial, model number M 50505 - 0006, and if you'd like to see it for yourself, it is on the official Rolex site here.
One thing that the salesman didn't put on his card was the price, but nonetheless I have remembered it.
£10,150.
Perhaps I'll put it on my Christmas list.
Saturday 14 February 2015
Fisheye
One of my birthday presents from Nicky was a little lens that I can clip onto the end of the phone which turns the iPhone camera into a fisheye lens.
Lots of fun, will definitely have to remember to take it on holiday later in the year - just think, a whole new opportunity for different castle photos!
Lots of fun, will definitely have to remember to take it on holiday later in the year - just think, a whole new opportunity for different castle photos!
Private
I've read the first 80 pages or so of "Private Las Vegas" and have made a fairly unusual decision for me, which is, having started a book, I am going to discard it and not bother finishing it. Frankly it is a load of tosh, and I have no idea what the point of the story is at all. Coming to the book straight after Stephen King's "Revival" probably doesn't help either. That was excellent, and deserves another post all of its own at some point.
I did read one other in the "Private" series (Private Games) in 2012 as it was based around the London Olympics, and from what little I remember, that was pretty far-fetched, but did at least have the games a centrepiece around which to build a story. This one is just rubbish. I don't know how much Mr Patterson is to blame - I expect he just lends his name to the title to help shift copies (and so deserves a fair degree of the blame anyway) and that the vast majority of the writing gets done by his co-writer Maxine Paetro. After all, despite a rocky period a while back, most of the recent Alex Cross books have been OK - I enjoyed "Hope to Die".
Good job this one was a library book. I will be taking it back so that someone else can give it a try, but my reading time is too precious to be wasting it on this drivel.
I did read one other in the "Private" series (Private Games) in 2012 as it was based around the London Olympics, and from what little I remember, that was pretty far-fetched, but did at least have the games a centrepiece around which to build a story. This one is just rubbish. I don't know how much Mr Patterson is to blame - I expect he just lends his name to the title to help shift copies (and so deserves a fair degree of the blame anyway) and that the vast majority of the writing gets done by his co-writer Maxine Paetro. After all, despite a rocky period a while back, most of the recent Alex Cross books have been OK - I enjoyed "Hope to Die".
Good job this one was a library book. I will be taking it back so that someone else can give it a try, but my reading time is too precious to be wasting it on this drivel.
Wednesday 11 February 2015
Laptop
Been trying to catch up on some work on the laptop this evening, but this hasn't been going down too well with Coco. As far as she's concerned, laps have a far more important use.
Tuesday 10 February 2015
Monday 9 February 2015
St Paul's
One of the first things that we did when we got to London last Friday after checking in to our hotel was to walk over to St Paul's to go to Evensong.
I'd been past the cathedral earlier in the week when heading back from a client to the office, and had noticed that the Friday afternoon service looked rather appealing, so Nicky kindly agreed that it could be one of our first stops for our weekend away.
The service included the installation of a new Minor Canon at the Cathedral, presided over by the Bishop of London, but that wasn't what had caught my eye on the notice board when I'd gone past.
I was there for Stanford in C, along with Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine.
And they were heavenly.
I'd been past the cathedral earlier in the week when heading back from a client to the office, and had noticed that the Friday afternoon service looked rather appealing, so Nicky kindly agreed that it could be one of our first stops for our weekend away.
The service included the installation of a new Minor Canon at the Cathedral, presided over by the Bishop of London, but that wasn't what had caught my eye on the notice board when I'd gone past.
I was there for Stanford in C, along with Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine.
And they were heavenly.
Sunday 8 February 2015
Goethe?
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe?)
I think the above quotation is rather good, hence why I have included it here.
But, is it by Goethe? Well, for a start, Goethe didn't write in English, and this quotation tends to feature as part of a larger quote from W H Murray, a Scottish Mountaineer, who, explaining that once committed to a plan, all sorts of support can be found, and that he had great respect for what he called the "Goethe couplet".
It turns out that the couplet is from what is described as a "very free" translation of the original by John Anster in 1835 (and frankly seems far more memorable than what is presumably a more literal version of the same passage included on the Goethe society site).
So, well done Mr Anster. Good stuff!
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe?)
I think the above quotation is rather good, hence why I have included it here.
But, is it by Goethe? Well, for a start, Goethe didn't write in English, and this quotation tends to feature as part of a larger quote from W H Murray, a Scottish Mountaineer, who, explaining that once committed to a plan, all sorts of support can be found, and that he had great respect for what he called the "Goethe couplet".
It turns out that the couplet is from what is described as a "very free" translation of the original by John Anster in 1835 (and frankly seems far more memorable than what is presumably a more literal version of the same passage included on the Goethe society site).
So, well done Mr Anster. Good stuff!
Saturday 7 February 2015
Friday 6 February 2015
Wednesday 4 February 2015
Tuesday 3 February 2015
Open access
The news today is that The Open will be moving to Sky from 2017 onwards, at least as far as live coverage is concerned. As a Sky Sports subscriber, this is no problem, but somehow it still feels like a bit of a shame, just like when they got the test matches, and when they started to pinch the live Formula One (a job they will no doubt complete over the next few years).
A time will come, and in the not too distant future, when all that will be left on terrestrial TV will be the things that Sky can't be bothered to bid for - which basically means the least popular sports.
The exceptions to this rule are the "Listed and Designated Sports" which are on Ofcom's list of things which must be on free to air TV - see this Wikipedia article for details. Basically we are safe with the World Cup (football), The Olympics, Wimbledon, and a few other bits and pieces.
I'd got it in my head that we were safe with The Open as well, but that theory got disproved today, and checking the article, it turns out that it is a "category B" event meaning that we have to get free highlights, but Sky are allowed to waltz off with the live stuff. Interestingly per the article there were some revisions proposed back in 2009 that would have done away with the B list, and The Open would have had to stay free to air for live coverage.
Clearly those proposals didn't get very far then!
A time will come, and in the not too distant future, when all that will be left on terrestrial TV will be the things that Sky can't be bothered to bid for - which basically means the least popular sports.
The exceptions to this rule are the "Listed and Designated Sports" which are on Ofcom's list of things which must be on free to air TV - see this Wikipedia article for details. Basically we are safe with the World Cup (football), The Olympics, Wimbledon, and a few other bits and pieces.
I'd got it in my head that we were safe with The Open as well, but that theory got disproved today, and checking the article, it turns out that it is a "category B" event meaning that we have to get free highlights, but Sky are allowed to waltz off with the live stuff. Interestingly per the article there were some revisions proposed back in 2009 that would have done away with the B list, and The Open would have had to stay free to air for live coverage.
Clearly those proposals didn't get very far then!
Monday 2 February 2015
Vet
Barley's been to the vet today. Has lots of tablets to sort out her dodgy tummy, and is now fast asleep on the sofa (probably secretly enjoying all of the attention).
Sunday 1 February 2015
Maleficent
In a weekend of film blogs, we watched Maleficent on Sky Movies this evening. I remember seeing particularly large posters of it still around the place in Orlando last year, although I think it had probably been out in the US for a while by then.
Obviously, take everything I say about a Disney movie with a huge pinch of salt, as I am probably not very objective about these kinds of things, but I thought that it wasn't bad at all. A good performance by Angelina, and an interesting spin on the original tale. Pretty much made the baddie into a goodie and vice versa.
Obviously, take everything I say about a Disney movie with a huge pinch of salt, as I am probably not very objective about these kinds of things, but I thought that it wasn't bad at all. A good performance by Angelina, and an interesting spin on the original tale. Pretty much made the baddie into a goodie and vice versa.
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