Monday, July 25, 2005
Blogger's Block
I think tonight is the worst we've ever done in an OWS quiz - 6 million and 11. However, while we came (I think) 7th out of 10, we were only bad by comparison with our previous performances, and not with everyone else there this evening. Third place score was 9 million and 15, and the winners got 15 million and something. We were a somewhat reduced team, comprising just 3 members, and for a while in the first round, we did think we might only be able to answer the questions with numerical answers. Tennis knowledge to the rescue - it often amuses me that some people find the question "When did Boris Becker first win Wimbledon?" (Answer : 1985) hard...
The quiz also included such delightful questions as :
Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca, used to live on the same street in Yorkshire as which other sci-fi actor? Answer : Patrick Stewart
How many cups of iced tea are drunk each year in America - 106, 116, 126 or 136 million? Answer : 136 million
What's the most popular colour of toothbrush in the UK? Answer : Blue
What word beginning with M became very popular following the release of the Phantom Menace? Answer : Mindful
Which band is named after Lucas Radebe's (apologies for spelling, I don't do football) old football team? Answer : Kaiser Chiefs
What colour is Bugs Bunny's voice? Answer : White (Mel Blanc)
Which Elvis song title, translated into Latin, is "Aut nunc aut numquam est"? Answer : It's Now Or Never
(I got the last two, so I was pleased!)
The quiz also included such delightful questions as :
(I got the last two, so I was pleased!)
posted by Chip : 23:50
0 comments
Thursday, July 14, 2005
When Personal Ads Go Wrong
Just too bizarre for words. Goes a bit downhill after about post 30, but that's from an initial stratospheric height!
posted by Chip : 01:04
1 comments
Monday, July 11, 2005
Long Time No Blog
Not really any good reason, just haven't felt like saying much. There are one or two people I really ought to say stuff to, but I haven't quite worked out how to yet.
So, another Wimbledon over. This one's been memorable for its complete lack of Henman nailbiters which, while annoying, are also very good entertainment, because you really never know who's going to win. His 2 matches this year were pretty lacklustre though. In keeping with his currently perfectly symmetrical Wimbledon record, I expect him to lose in next year's first round and never come back.
An excellent ladies' final, and one of the best ladies' matches I can remember for a long time (although by the sounds of things - only heard it on the radio - Venus v Sharapova in the semis was even better). I was glad I put the "subject to tennis" caveat in about my arrival time for sausages!
The men's final was even more one-sided than Sampras v Pioline in 1997, despite Federer's opponent being the world number 2 (and despite the more even scoreline). As he himself said afterwards, it was possibly the best match he'd ever played. What's scary is that he plans to go away this year, develop a true serve-volley style, and come back to win Wimbledon "properly" next year - and he'll probably be able to! Having seen last year's final, I really expected Roddick to put up more of a fight, and possibly even to have a chance of winning, but Federer is pretty much untouchable if he plays like he did in that match. Some of his shots look like someone's doing on-the-fly CGI to make the ball go where it does. He's definitely the most beautiful tennis player to watch I can think of - even better than Navratilova.
Failed to win a couple of quizzes the last week - Swan and Old White Swan. I was a bit pissed off with myself for not getting the astronomy question (which constellation is represented by the keel of a ship? Answer:CARINA I'd even got the first two letters right in my head.)
I was asked tonight how long I'd had my beard for, and it turns out it's exactly 10 years tomorrow. I shaved it off for my graduation photos, immediately started growing it back again, and haven't lost it since.
In another example of fine timing, while walking back from the quiz this evening, I saw an unanticipated Iridium flare. These can be quite spectacular (the brightest flares can cast shadows and be seen during the daytime), even when you know where to look (see the link), but I've not seen them by accident before - when you have about 10 seconds 2 or 3 times a night to catch them, you have to be pretty lucky to have your head pointed in the right direction at the right time.
What could be described as poor timing would be the length of time it's taken me to get my latest CNPS spot. 245. 11 days! A new record, by 2 days. And I don't have a handy 246 lying around anywhere to go look at either.
Finally, (and I mean finally in several senses!) I own a copy of Ash Ock, which I obtained from biblio.com. Highly recommended if looking for a particular book, very fiddly to use for browsing! Still, it came up with the goods - I think I may have been looking for a copy for longer than I've had the beard...
So, another Wimbledon over. This one's been memorable for its complete lack of Henman nailbiters which, while annoying, are also very good entertainment, because you really never know who's going to win. His 2 matches this year were pretty lacklustre though. In keeping with his currently perfectly symmetrical Wimbledon record, I expect him to lose in next year's first round and never come back.
An excellent ladies' final, and one of the best ladies' matches I can remember for a long time (although by the sounds of things - only heard it on the radio - Venus v Sharapova in the semis was even better). I was glad I put the "subject to tennis" caveat in about my arrival time for sausages!
The men's final was even more one-sided than Sampras v Pioline in 1997, despite Federer's opponent being the world number 2 (and despite the more even scoreline). As he himself said afterwards, it was possibly the best match he'd ever played. What's scary is that he plans to go away this year, develop a true serve-volley style, and come back to win Wimbledon "properly" next year - and he'll probably be able to! Having seen last year's final, I really expected Roddick to put up more of a fight, and possibly even to have a chance of winning, but Federer is pretty much untouchable if he plays like he did in that match. Some of his shots look like someone's doing on-the-fly CGI to make the ball go where it does. He's definitely the most beautiful tennis player to watch I can think of - even better than Navratilova.
Failed to win a couple of quizzes the last week - Swan and Old White Swan. I was a bit pissed off with myself for not getting the astronomy question (which constellation is represented by the keel of a ship? Answer:CARINA I'd even got the first two letters right in my head.)
I was asked tonight how long I'd had my beard for, and it turns out it's exactly 10 years tomorrow. I shaved it off for my graduation photos, immediately started growing it back again, and haven't lost it since.
In another example of fine timing, while walking back from the quiz this evening, I saw an unanticipated Iridium flare. These can be quite spectacular (the brightest flares can cast shadows and be seen during the daytime), even when you know where to look (see the link), but I've not seen them by accident before - when you have about 10 seconds 2 or 3 times a night to catch them, you have to be pretty lucky to have your head pointed in the right direction at the right time.
What could be described as poor timing would be the length of time it's taken me to get my latest CNPS spot. 245. 11 days! A new record, by 2 days. And I don't have a handy 246 lying around anywhere to go look at either.
Finally, (and I mean finally in several senses!) I own a copy of Ash Ock, which I obtained from biblio.com. Highly recommended if looking for a particular book, very fiddly to use for browsing! Still, it came up with the goods - I think I may have been looking for a copy for longer than I've had the beard...
posted by Chip : 23:37
3 comments
Friday, July 01, 2005
Fat Kids are Harder to Kidnap
Trip to Alton Towers yesterday, for Psycho Hamster's birthday. A very good day. Rita, the new ride for this year, was a lot better than its name. Nemesis was open again, unlike last year, and is as good as ever. Oblivion is as bad as ever! And they've closed the Black Hole after 17 years. Jimbobjo shed a tear or two to mourn its passing... With our "short cut" tickets I reckon we got to cut somewhere about 2 hours of queuing out of the day. As with last year's trip, we stopped off at the Aagrah on the way home, and had a really good curry to round off the day, and complete the circle of life...
We've done pretty well in quizzes in the last couple of weeks. Won at the OWS last Monday, despite doing very badly in round 1, and came second by just one point at the Swan on Wednesday - £25 of bar tab is not to be sneezed at, although we were wondering what they'd do if we asked for the whole lot in pork scratchings.
Yet more "fun" with my neighbours. The issue of the week this week is car park spaces. We have 3 visitors' spaces to share between the 6 flats, one of which is in continual use by the couple upstairs for their second car, presumably with the tacit agreement of the other residents. The by turns amusing and irritating thing is that he's the most vocal about other people using the parking spaces - yesterday he decided to buy 200 stickers with nastygrams on them, charge us £10 each for them and crow about how the first one he'd used had left sticky marks on someone's car window that would mean he'd have to wash it!
And finally...congratulations to Badfriend, who's now able to charge his clients an even more ridiculously expensive hourly rate, and to Iasonas, who has passed his bugbear exam, and is on the home stretch now.
We've done pretty well in quizzes in the last couple of weeks. Won at the OWS last Monday, despite doing very badly in round 1, and came second by just one point at the Swan on Wednesday - £25 of bar tab is not to be sneezed at, although we were wondering what they'd do if we asked for the whole lot in pork scratchings.
Yet more "fun" with my neighbours. The issue of the week this week is car park spaces. We have 3 visitors' spaces to share between the 6 flats, one of which is in continual use by the couple upstairs for their second car, presumably with the tacit agreement of the other residents. The by turns amusing and irritating thing is that he's the most vocal about other people using the parking spaces - yesterday he decided to buy 200 stickers with nastygrams on them, charge us £10 each for them and crow about how the first one he'd used had left sticky marks on someone's car window that would mean he'd have to wash it!
And finally...congratulations to Badfriend, who's now able to charge his clients an even more ridiculously expensive hourly rate, and to Iasonas, who has passed his bugbear exam, and is on the home stretch now.
posted by Chip : 09:02
1 comments
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