Croeso

Hmm good old Fleming - must have seen me in my R&D days

Ming the Mechanic: To simplify things

You need only two tools: WD-40 and duct tape.

If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40.

If it moves and shouldn't, use the duct tape.

Technorati Tags: ming, life style advice, wd40, duct tape

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MBTI type

I´m off with the flu at the moment and just picked up my last MBTI rating and the associated book I was given to further explain it.
I´m a ESTP and i must say it is quite accurate in most aspects, especially about me thinking by talking out loud, does drive my wife mad, but hey that´s me and love is unconditional as far as I see it.
I suppose an ESTP being married to a philosopher is always going to be fun!

all my phones ring at once

Just the coolest idea

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The Web 2.0 Address Book May Have Arrived

By Tim O'Reilly

By Tim O'Reilly

grandcentral.pngDavid Pogue recently sent out the following email message to all his contacts:

"David Pogue has a new, universal phone number: [number omitted] This number rings all my phones at once: home phone, work phone, cellphone, hotel room, wherever I happen to be. The old, individual numbers still work, but you'll greatly improve your odds of reaching me if you use this new number. I know it's a hassle to update your records, but this is a "lifetime" number that shouldn't change again.

In a private note to me, he wrote: "I'm using, of course, GrandCentral, which was the topic of my column today. It's pretty awesome--I'd think you might be a prime candidate, too!"

In that New York Times column, he gives more details:

[GrandCentral's] motto, "One number for life," pretty much says it all. At GrandCentral.com, you choose a new, single, unified phone number (more on this in a moment). You hand it out to everyone you know, instructing them to delete all your old numbers from their Rolodexes.

From now on, whenever somebody dials your new uninumber, all of your phones ring simultaneously, like something out of "The Lawnmower Man."

No longer will anyone have to track you down by dialing each of your numbers in turn. No longer does it matter if you're home, at work or on the road. Your new GrandCentral phone number will find you.

David runs through some of the other features as well:

* "You can listen to a message someone is leaving, just as you can on a home answering machine."
* "You can actually record a different voice mail greeting for each person in your address book."
* "You can pick up on a different phone in midconversation, unbeknownst to the person on the other end."
* "GrandCentral maintains a database of telemarketer numbers that is constantly updated by reports from its own subscribers. Your phones don't even ring when a telemarketer in that database tries to reach you."
* "You can install a "call me" button on your Web site -- a great, free way to field calls ... without actually posting your phone number."

Now, many hackers have worked this kind of behavior out for themselves, perhaps using their asterisk server. (Feel free to post your favorite hacks in the comments!) But this is a mainstream consumer service, and as David wrote in his Times column, "GrandCentral has rewritten the rules in the game of telephone."

I haven't played with GrandCentral much yet, but it appears to be a textbook Web 2.0 application, building a network-effects business that gets better the more people use it. It's "software above the level of a single device." Like iTunes, it provides an integrated application that involves a handheld device, a PC control station (albeit in this case a flash application in a web browser rather than a standalone app), and a server back-end.

Perhaps most importantly, if this service takes off, it's almost a perfect "Data is the Intel Inside" play, far greater than any email address-book based attempt like Plaxo. It will be the first service outside the phone companies themselves that could build that next generation Web 2.0 address book I've been writing about. (See also.)

You can see how cleverly they've architected the service to gather additional information from public sources, and then get their customers to enhance them, in the following feature (as well as in their telemarketer blocking, above):

Every GrandCentral caller is announced by name when you answer the phone. ("Call from Ethel Murgatroid.")

How does it know the name? Sometimes Caller ID supplies it. GrandCentral also knows every name in your online address book, which can import your contacts from Yahoo, Gmail or your e-mail program.

Callers not in these categories are asked to state their names the first time they call. On subsequent calls, GrandCentral recognizes them.

In short, I expect GrandCentral to become one of the premier Web 2.0 and social networking platforms overnight, and it's squarely aimed at the heart of the communications device used by more people than any PC application will ever touch.

(Note: I was on the board of the company formerly known as Grand Central, which is connected to this one via its name and its primary investor, Halsey Minor, but I have no connection to the current company.)

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Weaknesses

If Anke and I have a weakness it is for paintings, another has entered the collection today by Jentsje Popsma a stunning portrait of the sea dijk above Harlingen very early in the morning.

We bought it to stand opposite a painting by Jenny Jones of a North Walian Quarry I have had for some 15 years now. Both share a synergy in the use of the greens one dark and foreboding even threatening and the other light and diffuse, yet we hope they comlpiment each other  - we´ll see.

It´s great that people like Geke Westenberg at the Galerie de Vis support wonderful artists like  Jentsje Popsma

Says it all really

Bragging Rights maintained for a whole year

All the other results fade into insignificance, as we beat the majority holding neighbour

Just reliving the past

Rocking away on top of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)

That's it the flight is booked I'm going home how could any North Walian miss this one!!!!

Mind you when I was there with my Venture Scouts at the same time of year for our annual Snowdon Bivvy , it was always raining - ah happy memories

thealarm.com

 

MIKE PETERS - SNOWDON ROCKS - THE HIGHEST GIG IN ENGLAND & WALES NORTH WALES JUNE 22nd & JUNE 23RD On Saturday June 23rd 2007,Mike Peters, two times cancer survivor and internationally acclaimed singer of Welsh rock and roll band The Alarm will leada procession of doctors, nurses, fans and supporters on a sponsored walk to the summit of Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa (the highest point in England & Wales), to perform a very special acoustic set at the summit. Over the weekend of June 22nd and June 23rd 2007, Mike Peters will host 'SNOWDON ROCKS' a series of events throughout North Wales featuring two further Mike Peters acoustic concerts. The first will take place on Friday June 22nd at Rhyl Town Hall with proceeds going directly to the North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan where Mike Peters was first diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma back in 1995/96. Asecond concert will be held after the Snowdon trek on Saturday evening June 23rd at the Galeri in Caernarfon with fundsbeing channelled locally into the Alaw Unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor. Mike (who was diagnosed and successfully treated for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) in 2005/06), is currently being treated at the Alaw Unit with a view to finding a cure under the watchful eye of Dr. David Edwards who has been Mike's haemotologist throughout both of his cancer battles. Dr. Edwards will also be accompanying Mike to the summit of Snowdon. The weekend is being promoted through the LOVE HOPE STRENGTH Foundation, a charity formed by Mike Peters to raise awareness and funding for cancer research both locally and globally with a series of world wide events that will be held throughout 2007. Any local business wishing to participate in sponsorship or any individualwishing to accompany Mike on the sponsored walk to the summit of Snowdon should contact Peters Jones on 01745 571571 or visit www.lovehopestrength.com for further details. Tickets are available now from the following outlets: Rhyl Town Hall 22nd June 2007 12.50 advance plus booking fee Please call Rhyl Pavilion Box Office: Tel 0870 330 0000 [Subject to Booking Fee] Rhyl Tourist Information Tel: 01745 355068 Email: [email protected] Galeri Caernarfon 23rd June 200712.50 advance plus booking fee Please call Galeri Box Office Tel: 01286 685222or visitwww.galericaernarfon.com CaernarfonTourist Information Centre Tel: 01286 672 232 Email: [email protected] Why 'Snowdon Rocks'? "Because you can see both hospitals where I have been cared for from the summit and climbing Snowdon is symbolic of the virtual mountain that cancer sufferers and their carers have to climb with each and every diagnosis." says Mike Peters adding, "Every single person alive in North Wales today will have course to visit one of these two cancer centres during the course of their lifetime, either as a patient or a carer, or simply visiting a friend or family member. Cancer affects all of us." Why Now? "Now is payback time"continues Mike, "Ibelieve the time is right for such a huge undertaking because science is on the verge of massive breakthroughs in the treatment of all cancers, specifically in the field of Leukaemia with pioneering work taking place in the fields of Stem Cell and Gene therapy. As I can testify, people who had previously been given days / months / years to live are now being treated and cured every day, giving hope for future generations." Why Love Hope Strength? "Because once in 1995 and more recently in 2005,I was diagnosed with and survived chemotherapy treatment for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia [CLL]"states Mike, "I owe my life to medical science and the skill and dedication of doctors and nurses at two Welsh hospitals - Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and Ysbyty Gwynedd.Through the creation of the Love Hope Strength Foundation, I will be working throughout 2007 and beyond to raise funds for cancer research. LOVE HOPE STRENGTH FOUNDATION is registered as a charity in England & Wales.CHARITY NUMBER : 1117505 www.lovehopestrength.com

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Dawkins again

After many years of promising to read it, I'm finally snuggled down on the train home with Richard Dawkin's Selfish Gene. It is hard to write about science for the general public without dumbing it down, but Richard is a master of that, and even though I'm only at the preface I'm enjoying his style again immensely. His championing of Charles Darwin prompted me to dream up my top five scientists:
Niels Bohr,
Albert Einstein,
Isaac Newton,
Charles Darwin,
hmm and who on the contemporary lot? Maybe Townes, Basov, and Prokhorov (Maser fame), Hooft & Veltman (elctro weak interactions),Simon Donaldson the mathematician??

Fuss n bother

Came home to a grumpy wife, the kids have lice, the whole house need cleaning, all clothes washing those than can not be washed need storing in plastic bags for a week, and horrible stuff in our hair, and even horribler fine combs!

The poor thing was knackered dealing with all that on her own, and I was late getting home due to a work appointment in Rijswijk.

We seem to have it all sorted now just need to shampoo out the lice killer and a further combing tomorrow.

Tried to comfort the kids with the fact that they only go for clean heads but they were fed up with all the fuss too.

Ho hum some things in life never change,  I remember nitty Nora the bug explorer in my school days

Just the stangest day

Firstly I had a meeting with a colleague who was drenched in aftershave (Funny I thought very unusual these days)

Then over lunch the olive bread stank of olive oil, the flowers at the table gave a glorious smell , then on the way home a lady on the train reeked of pot puri and the dog in the next section (behind the glass door) strongly smelled of wet dog odour.

It has passed now but my hyper sensitive olfactory function for a day did bemuse me somewhat.

I must Google it and see if this happens occasionally, or if in fact as Anke predicted my hidden psychic skills are being ''remembered'' - as was predicted by someone whose judgement I trusted absolutely (and still do Nain)