New Template

Hullo people visiting from Facebook!

Please tell me your thoughts on this new layout... I quite like it, it's clean, plain, minimalistic... I've moved the Contact Me and Profile to their own pages up on top-right.  I've dropped the Tagboard. I've changed the label cloud to show all labels too.

Thoughts on Facebook please!

Musical Monday #98 - We No Speak Americano

OK, here's a strange one for you, continuing my recentish music kick...

And this one isn't even in English!

To be honest, I'm not sure what music category this would fall into... Dance probably. Whatever, I don't know why it catches my eye/ear each time I hear it, but when I hear it I sit tapping and engrossed in it - which is probably a good thing from the artists point of view!

Yolanda Be Cool vs. Dcup - We No Speak Americano has a rather strange video along with it, but none the less, have a listen!

Musical Monday #97 - Love The Way You Lie

Hmmm, I realise that last week I made a comment about Rap & RnB not really being my cup of tea... And then I see I'm posting a song by a rapper and an RnB singer.  Oops.

However, as I said last week, a decent vocalist and a decent rapper tend to make a very good combination, and yet again, I've got a song that really does something for me.  As is usually the case, it's not about the song lyrics, I like the song, as a whole :)

Generally, aside from one or two songs, I am not a Rihanna fan, but I do enjoy a lot of Eminems songs.  This one though always gets me tapping my foot or - worse - nodding my head in time to it.  Even more amusing when I'm on a bus and don't realise what I'm doing...

OK, so I prolly look like a mental.  Nothing new there then ;)

Musical Monday #96 - Airplanes

It's not secret that Rap/RnB aren't really my cup of tea, but every now and then I hear a song that I think "oooh I DO like that!" and it sticks with me.

There's also something about having someone rap, while someone sings at the same time.  Eminem & Dido is the first one that always pops to mind, when they did Stan.

B.o.B Featuring Hayley Williams - Airplanes is another of these songs, and following my "recent songs" kick, it's another I've been hearing on and off.  Hayley Williams is the lead vocalist of a band named Paramore, a rock/metal (or whatever tag it falls under) that I've heard lots of, and she has a veeeery good voice.  Reminds me of Amy Lee of Evenescence fame (think Bethy's song, My Immortal)

But I digress...

Musical Monday #95 - I Like It

I've decided for the next few weeks, that I am going to do some "recent" music.  Last week, I did a new song thanks to seeing it on TV and hearing it on the Radio.  There were several other songs I saw/heard that enjoyed too, and while Kellie was away, there was some she caught as well.

Ooooh who knows, maybe I can convince her to do Musical Monday posts too!

But I digress.  As I said, I'm going to do some recent-ish music that has caught my.. er.. ear.

Starting with Enrique Inglesias - I Like It.  As with a lot of songs I really enjoy, I can't place what I like about it so much, but I just do! hehe

And as a sidenote - a few people have mentioned that quite often the video I post falls off the side of the blog entry.  Unacceptable!  Lucky for me, while I was poking with the code, trying to work out how to resize it and keep the aspect ratio, I found that YouTube have a "Custom Size" tool under their Embed controls.  AND it does the aspect ration automagically!

Common Sense

While it's not something I can say I have always possessed, Common Sense seems to be something that the world in general is bereft of.  You read the news and you see parking tickets being issued to people sat dead in their car, you see the the sun is out and people are moaning about the heat, and you see that no matter who is voted for in government, they always seem to mess things up.

But I digress.

Todays Common Sense moaning from Chez 0ddness is a different kind of common sense.  The sort that seems to have suddenly escaped a massive wedge of the population.

Many years ago, people started communicating by email, in chat rooms, over instant messenger, and as the web became more popular, more idiots came out and made life difficult.  Viruses crept out, and yet people didn't protect their systems, and wondered why their computer was dead.  Then it was spyware, and people didn't protect their systems, and wondered why there were a million popups on their screen.  Then it was the scammers out there, and people didn't learn to ignore the offer of free money, and wondered why they were thousands of pounds out of pocket.

I've always made a point of trying to help people when it crops up.  If you aren't protected, you'll end up either inconvenienced, or have a damaged/dead computer, or be out of pocket or worse.  I've always banged on about privacy, antivirus, antispyware, new browser and general online safety.

Then Facebook and the world of Social Media appeared, and it's like everyone took every drop of common sense they'd learned over the years and thought "Naaah stuff it" and plunged back into the pool they struggled to drag themselves from.

Facebook is still full of privacy holes and if you don't plug them yourself, you will get stung.  I'm sure you've heard of Identity Theft...  Think to some of the secret answers you have to fill in on a bank account...  First School, Mothers Maiden Name, Street Grew Up On...  This information is quite precious - but everyone happily shares it with everyone on Facebook.

Without even batting an eyelid.

There was a hacking convention in Las Vegas last week, Black Hat.  A lot of it made for very interesting reading, and using JUST someones name, they found everything about them, bank details and everything else, simply because he did not have his privacy settings on Facebook set to private.  Home & Work Address, Bank Details, Kids School, Partners details...

Guys, look.  If you've not set yourself to Private, then you - and a lot of your details - can be found through Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask - pretty much ANY search engine.  Then there's those that are set to Friends or Friends of Friends.  If one of your friends is set to public, some of your info is visible through their profile.

Which leads me to the newest nark of them all.  Remember a few years ago, those emails everyone sent - Company X will donate £y to Z Charity every time you forward this email.  I'm sure you've seen it.  The other - even MORE annoying - was the "Forward to ten people, and something will pop up on your desktop!"  No, it f$cking won't.  No company will track the email and make a donation, nothing will appear - all you've done is clogged the worlds email servers.

Facebook is doing it now.  Not directly, but idiot dickhead application writers.  This week, it's been "Like This story, and see the shocking hidden explicit thing in Toy Story 3!" which then asks you to publish it to your wall, and smear it all over yourself like chocolate goo.  There is NO HIDDEN THING in Toy Story 3.  You won't get anything appear, nothing will tell you a joke, all you will do is irritate the 200+ friends that are seeing it for the 200th time.

And here's the BEST BET.  By clicking Like you are adding yourself to the stupidly massive list of people that have clicked Like.  Which ANYONE ELSE can go through an see who has an open profile.  Not saying that is what they are doing, but as proved a fortnight ago by the guy that collected the information of 100 MILLION Facebook users, your data is easily accessible.

Clicking like does NOTHING funky, nor fancy, nor interesting.  It just shows you're actually more gullible than you think you really are.

Look at it this way.  You're in the pub with ten friends, and someone comes up to you and says "I can do something really funny, all you have to do is give me your name and addresses first..." you wouldn't do it, would you?  BUT here's the trick, because the ten of you are all friends, and five of you are more trusting, if one of those five more trusting (ie, open to all) gives the stranger their info, they are giving them YOUR info too...

Scared yet?

Remember, set your privacy settings to private, don't trust people you don't know, don't expect something for nothing, and think about it this way - the stuff you're sharing, would you share it with someone you didn't know in person.

Oooh New Do #2

You may remember a few weeks back - well, a couple of weeks back - Miss Kellie had her hair completely redone.  Renovated, in fact.  This was all part of a deal for where she worked, three visits to a proper salon for a reduced price.

Or something.

Well, that first visit was for the consultation, restyle and all the rest of that kind of thing that only women really understand.  And if you're a man that understands, you clearly read too many of those magazines that tell ladies how to trim their bum for summer, the best exercise tips for your sex life, and what us men apparently really want.

But I digress.

At the last appointment, Kellie decided she was going to aim back towards her natural hair colour.  Originally, many years long since gone, she was a blonde.

No, I am refraining from comment.

Then she started dying it black, and it's kinda stayed that way ever since.  So her natural colour has darkened over the years.  In order to go light, she had to have the colour stripped out.  Which was a nightmare.  It took almost two hours and several different treatments to get the dark out of her hair,

Uncoloured/bleached or whatever, she was a rocking Ginger.

Then the highlights went in, and then they applied the dye.  It's called blonde, but it's light brown.  Or so I'm told ;)

We got to the salon earlier at about half twelve.  We walked out at....  FIVE O CLOCK!  Four and a half bloody hours.  My arse didn't just numb, it packed up and left outright.

However, the end result is veeeery nice, and she's very happy with it.  I'm sure the hairdresser stylist is dreading her walking back in again though...

Before they started

After Colour Strip = Ginger!

Highlights being added

Dye Added

The End Result!

Now, I've yet to manage to catch her out and about and not sat rigid and upright - a natural picture of her - as she seems to duck and cover when yours truly cracks out his camera....  Coward!!

Inside Your Computers Brain

Found this over at Bits & Pieces and it cracked me up... Definitely a site to visit if you want to see random funny stuff!

Enjoy!

Computer: Monitor, display this document, ok?

Monitor: No prob, boss.

Computer: OK, now it looks like Mouse is moving around so, Monitor, will you move the pointer icon accordingly?

Monitor: Anything you ask, boss.

Computer: Great, great. OK, Mouse, where are you going now?

Mouse: Over to the icon panel, sir.

Computer: Hmm, Let me know if he clicks anything, OK?

Mouse: Of course.

Keyboard: Sir, he’s pressed control and P simultaneously.

Monitor: Oh God, here we go.

Computer: *sighs* Printer, are you there?

Printer: No.

Computer: Please, Printer. I know you’re there.

Printer: NO! I’m not here! Leave me alone!

Computer: Jesus. OK look, you really ne…

Mouse: Sir, he’s clicked on the printer icon.

Computer: Printer, now you have to print it twice.

Printer: NO! NO! NO! I don’t want to! I hate you! I hate printing! I’m turning off!

Computer: Printer, you know you can’t turn yourself off. Just print the document twice and we’ll leave you alone.

Printer: NO! That’s what you always say! I hate you! I’m out of ink!

Computer: You’re not out of in…

Printer: I’M OUT OF INK!

Computer: *Sighs* Monitor, please show a low ink level alert.

Monitor: But sir, he has plen…

Computer: Just do it, damn it!

Monitor: Yes sir.

Keyboard: AHHH! He’s hitting me!

Computer: Stay calm, he’ll stop soon. Stay calm, old friend.

Keyboard: He’s pressing everything. Oh god, I don’t know, he’s just pressing everything!

Computer: PRINTER! Are you happy now?! Do you see what you’ve done?!

Printer: HA! that’s what you get for trying to get me to do work. Next time he…hey…HEY! He’s trying to open me! HELP! HELP! Oh my god! He’s torn out my cartridge! HELP! Please! ERROR!

Monitor: Sir, maybe we should help him?

Computer: No. He did this to himself.

Say Cheese!

Simple things make me chuckle, and even simpler things entertain me.  When I acquired my laptop, I was very impressed with the fingerprint reader.  See, simple things.  None of this old-fashioned password milarky, no sir.

However, when I upgraded to Windows7, the scanner became reeeeally sensitive, and it took me a dozen or more swipes of the finger to get to my desktop.  Come back password, all is forgiven.  So I uninstalled the software and disabled the scanner.  Job done.

However, I found some even MORE amusing software today, and once again, I can say goodbye to the old-fashioned password milarky once more.

However, THIS jobbie isn't a fingerprint reader, it's a face-recognition log-on.  Windows starts, the camera fires up, sees who's in front of the laptop... If it's me, Windows starts.  If it's NOT me, no joy.  You have to know my password to get in.

If you have a webcam, and want to fiddle with this to test it or to use it as your login software, head on over to Luxand Blink's webpage  and download it.  Did I mention it's free as well?!  Just remember you have to download the appropriate version for 32-bit or 64-bit windows.

Having a fiddle around with it, I see that it logs every log-in attempt, successful or otherwise.  Which means you can see if someone else is trying to log on to your computer.... Cunning!

Bloody Busy Day

Today has been ONE OF THOSE DAYS.  Yes, I am using capital letters.  And the worst part, is it's only just gone half eleven...

This morning, I got up with Kellie, pottering around while she got ready for work.  Yesterday was another busy one, so today, the plan was feed the animals, sort a couple of loads of laundry, have a quick hoover, then flop out and be done with it.

And there-in was the flaw in my plan.  The fact I decided to do nothing for the rest of the day.  That, dear reader, is when things started going wonky.

After Kellie left for work, I put on a wash load, stuck the wet clothes in the tumble dryer, and set to feeding the dog and noticed that she is moulting like it's going out of fashion.  So, I swept up her hair, and cracked out the hoover.  To and fro, backwards and forwards... The stuff on the carpet didn't budge.  Great.  So I checked through the visible pipe... Nothing.  No clogs or anything.

Not that I was expecting to see wooden shoes, but still.

So, next step.  Pah, dismantle it to get to the pipe inside.  Pulled it all out, nothing.  While doing this, the tumbler - on a 60-minute cycle - turned off.   I checked the clock - fifteen minutes had passed by.  So, while mentally muttering to myself thinking the tumbler was next on the Dismantle Agenda, I set to banging away on the hoover.  Got it back together, and just to make sure I'd fixed it right, hit the power button and...

Nothing.

So, what had I done wrong?  I only removed three screws and a pipe for heavens sake!

It was a that point my brain whispered "The whole house is a bit quiet isn't it..." and it was true.  Aside from Dom & Molly playing in the living room, the house was silent.

The washing machine was off too.

OK, so clearly I'd not broken the hoover, but, apparently, everything.

I looked at the hoover and noted that, no, I had not touched anything wirey-electricaly-sparky or anything nasty.  No near-death for Dan today, no no.

The electrics had tripped in the house.  Great.  So, I unplugged the hoover thinking that was the culprit, flicked the fuse switch, and it went again.  Not the hoover.  OK, must be the tumbler then - it turned off.  Unplugged the tumbler, flicked the switch... And off it went again.

Oh for fff...

Took a breath and set to looking at everything plugged in.  Unplugged the laptops, the TV/Wii/DVD, router, phones, phone chargers...  So now the kids are joining in.  Everything I unplug, I hit the tripper switch and it goes right off again.  Kids are sent upstairs to disconnect everything.  And now I'm looking around thinking "There are only two appliances left, both of which are kinda necessary...

Everything in the house is now off and unplugged.  Everything, that is, bar the old fridge freezer, and the new washing machine.  To add to the pressure, Kellie has a shed-load of shopping being delivered this afternoon.  So, I disconnect the fridge, hit the tripper.

Power died.

It's the bloody washing machine.  The bloody washing machine she's only had two months.  Luckily, not only is it still under warranty, but she rents.  Phew.  The downside, is that Kellie has work clothes that need washing, and the kids are on summer holidays - so washing is being generated at an exponential rate.

With Kellie at work, I phone the rental company.  When I FINALLY get through, I explain what's going on, and he tries the "Are you sure it's the machine, it IS new... Check all your other sockets -" I cut the git off.  No no, everything in the house - EVERYTHING - is off.  "Do you have any outside sockets that could be wet?"

After taking a breath, I explain that everything in the house is unplugged.  He puts me on hold, and comes back ten minutes later with an engineer booked for tomorrow..  Now, I've pointed out I am OUT tomorrow between 11 and 3 or so, and he claims to have noted this down.

Place your bets...

And you'd think that was my day over with?  Not by a long shot.  Kellie has also pleaded with me to defrost her freezer.  Now, that isn't an issue, until you realise the last time I defrosted MY freezer, I ended up breaking it and having to get Gemma to get me a new one.  As it is, Kellie has my old old freezer after her one broke down eighteen months back or so...

You can imagine my trepidation.

She explains to me the "easy" way to defrost a freezer.  Turn it off.  Empty it.  Put in a bowl of boiling water.  Shut door.  Wait.

Seriously...  I cannot see how that works, but I did.  TWO bowls of boiling water, door shut.  I decided that, instead of twiddling my proverbial thumbs, I'd set to draining the washing machine.  Remember, it died mid-cycle, so is full of wet clothes and gross water.  I pull the draining gubbins out and set to emptying it.

The opening of the pipe is - literally - five millimetres across.  Half a centimetre.  One-sixth of an inch.  I also have approximately of six inches of pipe to play with, so can't just stick it in a bucket.  I have to use a low dish and empty it a trickle at a time.

After half an hour and seeing there is still water in the drum, I decide to leave that be for the time being and check on the defrosting freezer.

I open the door and am greeted with... Ice.  Snow.  Icebergs, in fact.  The boiling water has made the top damp, and melted two circles into the shelves they are sitting in.  No defrosting is happening.

Bowls removed, I start using my bare hands to batter the ice off.  Almost ninety minutes later, I get the worst of it out.  My hands are red and swollen and scraped to buggery.  The food is on the side wrapped in towels and trying to melt.  So, I reboil the kettles and put the boiling water back in, and turn back to the washing machine.

Another hour passes and the machine is finally empty of water and clothes.  Bloody thing.  Open the freezer, and the last of the ice has in fact defrosted.  Opening the door, I was greeted with a tsunami peppered with icebergs.  Very pretty.

I mop up, dry out the freezer, switch it back on, close the door, finish clearing up the kitchen floor, push the washing machine back into place, clean the floor under the machine, check the freezer - it's getting cold already. 

You don't realise how panicky I was that I'd turn it on and it'd be dead.  Phew ;)

With the temperature plummeting, I stick the food back in, wipe the sides down, and finally, flop out with a cuppa.

Ten minutes later, Molly dive bombs Dom and hurts his leg.

I am, to coin a phrase, completely buggeringly shattered!!  In ten minutes, the kids will want lunch too.