You are the first Doctor! Oh, you can be a bit cranky, that’s true. And your ego can be a bit of a put-off at first. However, underneath that sour demeanor is the heart of a true hero! Your compassion for your fellow beings knows no bounds, and you’d happily sacrifice your life to save another.
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Hmm… not sure how I feel about the ego part, but I don’t want to take too much issue with this fine character assessment, in case I come across as at all cranky…

August 31st, 2006, posted by Neil in General · No comments

Ryanair has announced that they hope to get regulatory approval for a highly odious scheme to allow passengers who can’t bear to be out of contact from their loved ones / pointy haired boss while at cruising altitude the luxury / millstone of being able to use mobile phones and other communications devices on planes. Which is just a-grade fantastic. At least wondering how best to punish various mobile owners as their novelty ringtones and suffocatingly meaningless conversations compete with the background noise might take my mind off the general lack of elbow or leg room, or the fact that my table drops to a 45 degree angle every time the bloke in front of me heavily shoves himself into the back of his seat, or even on longer flights that I have to lie on the cabin floor to be able to get a decent view of my own personal screen in the back of that seat in front should said bloke ever have the timerity to lean his seat back ever so slightly.

Read more…

August 31st, 2006, posted by Neil in Tech! and Vague rants · No comments

13 minutes left of the most exciting game of mafia I’ve ever been involved in (OK, I’ve only played 3 now, and I didn’t last long in the others) and the web site appears to be down.

I don’t know if anyone will see this. I don’t know if it’s the site or just me. I do know I have to be away from my computer at almost exactly 7.

:(

August 30th, 2006, posted by Neil in Vague rants · No comments

no swimming
Originally uploaded by randomangles.

Note to anyone heading to Barcelona in the near future: this is not a swimming pool. Under no circumstances should you attempt even a basic front crawl stroke.

August 25th, 2006, posted by Neil in General · No comments

I can’t even begin to understand how it all works. Looking at the top of the list of most visited sites, I can believe the accuracy of the data, but once you get into the long tail of the web, is it just me or are the traffic stats a) irrelevant, and b) utterly wrong?

A few months ago, for one reason or another, I was breaking into the top 100K sites, which was pleasing enough. According to my recent stats, I’m now getting about 2-3 times as much traffic as I was then, and yet my ranking on Alexa has plummeted to an almost non-existent level.

My understanding is that visits are only tracked if the visitor has the Alexa toolbar installed. Perhaps all of my visitors, like me, don’t have it installed. Perhaps they too have heard the words Alexa and spyware together too often.

Anyways, I can’t even tell you what my current rank is, because Alexa have cleverly blocked my IP address because they suspect me of violating some terms of service or other. It could be the first time I’ve been banned for mis-using something I haven’t even been using.

Alexa, you rock!

August 25th, 2006, posted by Neil in Vague rants · No comments

Inevitably, the Snakes on a Plane film name variations are doing the rounds at the moment, and yo-ho-ho if some of them aren’t actually vaguely amusing. But this is one of those lovely occasions where reality trumps most of the obvious gags; this is how I am able to present, with an entirely straight face, and no mugging whatso’ver ma’am, no:

I expect by now you’d like to know a bit about the plot. Here’s imdb’s summary of the film:

Country singers on their way to Nashville have car trouble, forcing them to stop at an old haunted mansion. Soon they realize that the house is not only haunted, but is also the headquarters of a ring of international spies after a top secret formula for rocket fuel.

Sadly, HIAHH is one of the lowest rated indie films on imdb. I can only hope a similar fate doesn’t befall SOAP.

August 23rd, 2006, posted by Neil in Brilliant · No comments