News Archives: March 2004

Sunday, March 28, 2004

Bloody Summer Time

Today we enter British Summer Time. Not a reference to the weather (although that has been pretty good) but to the bloody stupid habit of changing the clocks at this time of year. For the next week we'll all be tired and less productive, just so we can pretend that we get an hour of extra sunshine in the evening at the time of year when we have a surfeit of sunlight anyway. What's the point?

We spent the first day of the official summer wandering around Edinburgh Zoo. Edinburgh is a small, but fascinating zoo which does wonderful work for conservation. The animals seemed to be enjoying one of the first sunny days in months, with many of them playing or sunbathing outside. I know many people don't approve of zoos, but it is hard to imagine that these animals could have much of a better quality of life, especially those in danger of extinction in the wild.

Posted by graham @ 07:47 pm

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Conpulsion : The Good, The Bad, and The Weird

Just about recovered from the weekend, which Claire and I spent at Edinburgh's leading gamer con, Conpulsion. The highlight was undoubtedly the Saturday night freeform, the first installment in a monthly Fading Suns campaign. Claire and I are going to join the ongoing game, playing interestingly interconnected characters, about which I can say little. During the Conpulsion session I managed to get involved in several sub-plot and interact with some fascinating characters. Add some top-class players, and the game was quite wonderful.

The low point came late on Sunday, when we returned to the car to find that an industrial bin had been blown into the side, damaging the entire passenger side. The police are currently tracking down the bin's owner for us, if for no other reason than next time it might be a person rather than a car that gets in the way. Then the insurance should be able to claim against their building insurance. Luckily no one was hurt, and we should get everything sorted, but it wasn't quite the end to the weekend we wanted.

The weekend started on a slightly lighter note. While sorting out some dice to take to the con, I discovered an odd d12. No idea what it's for. So I took it to the con, and no one there had an idea either. So I'm throwing it out to you guys. There are three different letter combinations - 'AL', 'AR', and 'D' - each repeated four times. I'll buy a drink next time I see the first person to post a comment with the definitive answer. (Remind me...)

Posted by graham @ 08:41 pm

Tuesday, March 9, 2004

There Must Be Easier Ways To Dice With Death

Common wisdom will tell you that cats are self-cleaning. Unfortunately, no one has told Cisco. Recently, he'd reached the state where Claire didn't want to stroke him. So this morning, I had to bath him. So, let Cary out, so he doesn't notice. Go upstairs. Take everything out of bathroom. Close all doors upstairs. Come back down, pick up cat, who has just worked out something is going on. Carry him to stairs, where he knows somethings up, has a good idea what, and starts to kick. Close door across bottom of stairs. Carry cat up stairs, into bathroom. Realise an old towel would be useful. Try to put cat down, close bathroom door. Cat runs through legs, back down stairs.

Find Cisco sat at bottom of stairs, glaring evilly at door. Pick up cat, carry upstairs again. Place cat in bathroom, shut door quickly, go into bedroom. Find old towel. Wonder if the neighbours have called the SSPCA yet, as cat is clearly being tortured to death given noises coming from bathroom. Open door, carefully. Cat bolts through legs, back down stairs.

Place towel in bathroom, retrieve cat again. Realise that shampoo might help. Place cat in bathroom, quickly shut door, retrieve shampoo from bedroom. Enter bathroom, carefully. Cat now on windowledge, trying to work out how windows open. Shut door, turn on taps, get water warm but not scalding. Pick up cat, place in bath. Try to turn on shower, hold shower screen and cat to stop escape. End up with slightly soggy cat under the loo.

Place shower head carefully in bath, hoping not to soak bathroom. (Later, I wondered why I worried...) Retrieve cat from under loo. Carpet comes with cat, as he has his claws dug in. Disentangle carpet from cat, make mental note to replace it properly later. Place cat in bath. Trap him with one hand, shower screen and shower head. He runs through the spray, gets wet. Hides under loo again.

Place some shampoo in one hand, drag out cat with the other. Really must sort the carpet later. Soap cat, while he tells the world about his impending murder. Pick up cat, return to bath. Hold down with one hand while spraying with other. Cisco gives every indication of trying to climb on to ceiling this time. Manage to get good enough grip to wash soap off. Woohoo!

Cat escapes again, tries to hide under sink. Loo obviously not a good hiding place. Take old towel and dry, while he runs round room, and tries to hide under the carpet. Eventually, he is drier than the towel. Open bathroom door, Cisco runs down stairs, returns to glowering at door. Open door, cat takes three steps, then sits down and spends two hours licking himself dry.

On the upside, Cisco is now white and fluffy (instead of grey and sticky). And Cary is self-cleaning, bless him.

Posted by graham @ 09:08 pm

Monday, March 8, 2004

The Man Who Rules the Universe

Last week, I came out with a throwaway quote, which led to a brief discussion as to exactly where the line came from. "Anyone who wants the job should on no account be allowed to do it" (or something similar) was, we all knew, from the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but where exactly? I could probably tracked the answer down on Google, but it seemed a good excuse to re-listen to the original radio show. For those who care, the explanation is in Fit the Ninth, which includes Zaphod's great-grandfather. The man who rules the universe himself doesn't appear till the last episode (Fit the Twelfth) where he upsets Arthur. Or a different version is to be found in the second book.

So now you know.

Posted by graham @ 08:41 pm

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