tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68174612024-03-07T07:04:03.459+00:00Rob's ScrapbookMostly inconsequential stuffRobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.comBlogger226125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-14161980776471441052012-07-14T19:09:00.000+01:002012-07-14T19:09:28.662+01:00Heigh-ho, heigh ho...Sometimes you just have one of those days where you are just so pleased that your job is what it is. For me, yesterday was one of those.
I had been invited, with my departmental health & safety hat on, to visit the underground laboratory at Boulby Mine, on the Cleveland/North Yorkshire border. So, I spent most of Thursday travelling up country, met up for dinner with the staff of the lab and Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-86259686117751568192012-04-24T21:57:00.001+01:002012-04-24T21:57:11.404+01:00Training a GamerI've been seriously slack at posting here over the last couple of years, having been distracted largely by other things. Most of my (admittedly very irregular) blogging effort is currently going into Training a Gamer, something of a record of sharing a boardgaming hobby with Miss B. Take a look if you are interested...Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-8694706008675510832010-07-23T15:27:00.002+01:002010-07-23T15:30:00.105+01:00Time Travel in IrelandWow, it's been an awfully long time since I posted, so I've got a fair bit to catch up on. What first...?
Well, last month we had a week or so in Ireland, mostly to visit family, but with a couple of days to do some exploring and touristing. Places visited included Cahir Castle (a nice castle on a little island in the river), the Rock of Cashel (spectacular ruined cathedral and other Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-6188775650307012442010-04-23T16:17:00.003+01:002010-04-23T16:35:51.727+01:00Improving MeetingsBased on a conversation at coffee in which a colleague referenced a Guardian article about how most meetings are a waste of time, I have a plan for improving efficiency in our organisation. Put simply, make provision of coffee and biscuits compulsory at all meetings (and charged to the meeting organiser's project). That's it. I am assuming some sort of internal economy where a catering providerRobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-21830222452158416062010-04-02T11:54:00.000+01:002010-04-02T11:56:26.342+01:00The Adventures of Little Miss Daredevil and the Slide of DoomWe've been really lucky so far with the health of Miss B. She's been ill a few times and required a trip to the local minor injuries unit to get a bump patched up, but until now we've avoided hospital. In fact, we're still very lucky as this first hospitalisation was a relatively minor injury and some very straightforward treatment. Anyway, to the story...
In our garden we have a slide. It's Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-14068018169305268342010-03-22T15:26:00.004+00:002010-03-23T16:53:20.672+00:00Some folks like radishes, and some curly kale...
So this weekend saw the 2010 Icknield Way Ale, where approaching 100 morris men (yup, an all boys event, this one) from all over the country gathered to dance, sing, eat and maybe have a beer or two. Four casks of ale from the ever reliable West Berkshire Brewery dealt with the drinks element, three vast vats of stew (plus spuds, coleslaw, pickles, cheese, etc.) provided more solid sustenance, Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-24842158221556425852010-02-26T16:30:00.000+00:002010-02-26T16:31:59.552+00:00Catching Up 2: Getting Older
Time is ticking away since this, but a couple of weeks I had the first real birthday party I have had since, well, I can't remember. Probably the last for just as long too, but as it was one of those things that people label as a landmark birthday, it seemed a good excuse. So <3 hired a nearby village hall, ordered a cask of ale, invited a lot of people, bought a heap of food, and then we Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-60383708006312837172010-02-23T11:41:00.003+00:002010-02-23T11:55:24.467+00:00Catching Up: The Kennett AleLife has actually been pretty busy lately and I figure I have some catching up to do. So, taking events in no particular order, let's get started.
This weekend was the Kennett Morris Ale, and my second year of attendance. I rolled in a bit on the late side (well, just as things were getting started rather than in the planned good time) due to getting lost in Bracknell, my planned co-pilot Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-72921642199348160132010-01-25T20:05:00.006+00:002010-01-26T12:34:28.182+00:00Getting JiggyThis weekend was pretty full on. I went with a couple of the other Icknield Way men to Nottinghamshire to take part in the Morris Ring's annual jigs instructional weekend. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera, so no pictures this time.
For the uninitiated, a jig in the context of morris is a dance typically performed by one or two dancers, usually with only one of them dancing at a time (Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-61907863697302945082009-12-24T13:43:00.002+00:002009-12-24T13:49:35.161+00:00Quick and RandomSo, we're in the last few days of the year and I am about to leave work for the last time before Xmas, and I figured I'd stick a quick post up.
We've been up to loads over the last month or so, but for some reason I just haven't got around to posting anything. We've been to the seaside, got a new freezer, made booze, done morris dancing, learnt new songs (including my first attempt at 4-part Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-53432768134559168902009-11-09T08:05:00.002+00:002009-11-09T08:27:54.824+00:00The search for the polosThis weekend was our annual pilgrimage to Pembrokeshire for the banquet. We started driving straight after work and after several stops for food, toilet, and getting Miss B into her PJs we made it to our B&B and went straight to bed.
This gave us all Saturday to potter around and get ready, so we took Miss B to run around on a windswept beach before going back for a dose of CBeebies and sorting Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-25668030213582253452009-10-05T19:07:00.004+01:002009-10-05T19:21:00.736+01:00Frog RacingSo Miss B. has now had what is, to the best of my knowledge, her first boardgame experience. I had a few coloured plastic frogs salvaged from some random game many years ago, so I drew a simple trail of lilypads leading to a win space (I was uninspired, so it was a star). Her Monkeyship coloured this in, while I stuck coloured stickers onto a spare die.
Game rules? Well, they had to be simpleRobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-22800907257634473332009-09-29T08:28:00.002+01:002009-09-29T08:41:00.122+01:00Hissssss... POP!So Miss B and I went to the "Antiques, Collectables and Crafts" market in town on Sunday and had a lovely time thanks to the swans ride, the music played by some friends of ours, the hog roast, and the presence of the all-but-ubiquitous (in these parts) Professor Crump. The Prof. was doing his usual cycling around, doing bad jokes and making balloon animals which, of course, got Miss Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-44271102469667240282009-09-18T13:32:00.006+01:002009-09-18T14:14:00.588+01:00Dancing the Icknield Way
OK, so this post is long overdue, but better late than never, eh?
So, on 5th September 2009, twenty-odd members of Icknield Way Morris Men rounded off the celebrations of their 50th anniversary year by dancing along 50 miles of the Icknield Way, starting at Ivinghoe Beacon, ending at Wantage, and with twelve intermediate stops (not all of which were at pubs!). We didn't walk the whole way (thatRobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-43636501520238235882009-09-02T09:04:00.003+01:002009-09-02T13:30:22.809+01:00Another bank holiday weekendWell, we had our annual house/garden party on Saturday and were lucky enough to have good weather and heaps of friends turning up from all sorts of parts of our lives. Quite a lot of ale (and other stuff) got drunk, a great deal of barbecued food (including the fabulous flatbreads) was eaten, and we went into the evening with a nice conservatory tunes session. Win.
Monday was fun too, with a Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-69137220594954759812009-08-24T13:10:00.004+01:002009-08-24T13:56:23.845+01:00WeekendSome of the win from the weekend...
We all went to a car boot sale at the donkey sanctuary, so saw the donkeys and bought some tat. We also bought a big bag of plums which got made into some very tasty jam.
Would you believe that we had our first barbecue of the year? Well, we've been to a couple but hadn't had one in our own garden. This particular one featured our new speciality: barbecued Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-58679407353001129262009-08-04T14:12:00.004+01:002009-08-05T15:19:20.722+01:00Command HistorySpotted on an old post from an abandoned blog out in the geek hinterlands, but I figured I'd have a go.
history | awk '{a[$2]++} END{for(i in a){printf "%5d\t%s\n",a[i],i}}' |sort -rn | head
Got that?
Well, I work on quite a few machines, but there are two major Linux accounts I use: my networked (NIS) account and the separate account on my desktop box. So, desktop first...
110 ssh
76 Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-58130874787178659352009-08-04T13:32:00.004+01:002009-08-25T20:26:00.578+01:00firefox -no-remoteWhile checking out a user query this morning I stumbled across something quite bizarre: I launched Firefox from an (X-forwarded) ssh session on one of our servers, only to have the browser open a window on my desktop machine instead. Yes, I wanted the browser to display on my desktop, but not to actually run there.
So, after a heap of mucking about and fruitless web searching I eventually got Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-31992887035888200872009-07-12T20:18:00.003+01:002009-07-12T20:27:07.275+01:00VegeliciousIt's a bit sad. Our broad beans and peas are now just about giving up their last and we are now half way through the spuds. The peas (Feltham First), in particular, have been a spectacular success, providing us with a regular veg portion for something like two months now. I'm leaving the rest of them, along with the broads, to fatten up and dry for either winter pulse supplies or next year's Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-71985833213123721932009-06-10T12:00:00.004+01:002009-06-10T12:06:40.454+01:00After the Big BangOutside my office there is an old, faded scientific poster about the history of the universe. Most of the poster is made up of a diagram. In one corner there is a legend which has a kind of poetry to it:
Gold region:
After inflation,
the expansion
always slows down.
I think we can all identify with that.Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-9342522813534158762009-05-29T15:12:00.002+01:002009-05-29T15:40:10.042+01:00Morris and MortalityIt has been an odd week.
Last weekend we were planning to go to Chippenham Folk Festival. Well, the plan was that I would be there for the whole weekend with the morris, camping for two nights, and <3 and the Youngling would be there for Saturday and Monday, and would do somethig different on the Sunday. Plans changed when the Youngling threw up in her bed on Friday night and we decided thatRobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-7971566526466780572009-05-10T21:37:00.004+01:002009-05-10T21:58:31.219+01:00One Sheet to the WindAnother good weekend, including a friend's 40th birthday barbecue on Saturday, and then a trip to Swindon Kite Festival today.
<3 and I used to go to a few kite festivals, partly to fly kites, partly (mostly for me) to buy kites and things to make them out of, partly to meet up with friends, and partly to just look at the pretty things in the sky. Since the arrival of the Youngling, however, Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-72375715841901329572009-05-05T10:09:00.005+01:002009-05-05T12:00:25.275+01:00Sumer is acumin inAccording to some of the gents from the team, I have now been officially inducted into the morris, having taken part in my first Oxford May Morning. Up at stupid o'clock we were down outside Magdalen College before 06:00, and shortly afterwards began a couple of hours of dancing at Radcliffe Square followed by 3 other locations around the city. I had my first ale at around 07:15 (well after Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-55280967921820246362009-04-24T22:06:00.002+01:002009-04-24T22:14:27.105+01:00JauntyWow, so I have the latest release (hot off the mirrors) of Ubuntu installed on my home PC, and so far so good apart from the fact that I can't get a Flash plugin to run (apparently it doesn't work under 64 bit — though it used to, and I'm sure I was previously running a 64 bit OS). On the up side, at least I have sound back — I had lost that a week or so back when I upgraded to the Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817461.post-628886974834438802009-03-17T09:48:00.004+00:002009-03-17T16:08:55.759+00:00A Drop of Nelson's BloodThis weekend was a blinder. On Friday night I went up to Bromsgrove with about 20 other guys, mostly morris men (from various sides), for the stag weekend of our side's squire, who is gets wed in a few weeks' time.
So Friday night involved a load of driving, increased by the fact that the best man (or rather one of them!) had had a flat tyre, broke his jack, and was stuck in the middle of Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10065487112995793789noreply@blogger.com0