daveydave

Now then... I've never made the dizzy heights of commercial pilot, but for 6 years I buzzed around as pilot-in-command of small aircraft. I'll be honest with you, I get annoyed with people who whine and moan when their flight gets canned for good reason. I've just been reading an article on the BBC News website about passengers complaining that an easyJet captain took the decision to bin his flight back from Prague due to bad weather. Now, I may not have ever flow big things with 300 people on board but I have taken the decision to cancel a flight and disappointed friends before - we don't do it for a giggle you know, that decision is made for good reason. When you have been in the position of making choices that affect peoples lives then you can moan; until then, shut it. I'd like to remind ground-hugging-types that the weather can be unforgivably harsh, and if you arrive at your destination 1 day late then kindly accept that as a better result than never reaching...

Yes, I have a Suzuki Jimny and yes, I quite rightly get stick for it: it is after all by far the gayest car in the village. However, I'm having a bit of a chuckle about it today after driving into town last night. Probably not the best idea given the conditions, but then I wasn't expecting the local councils to be quite so incompetent with regards to their gritting abilities. Basically, the city centre (and most of the surrounding area) was sheet black ice. Always such a pleasure to drive on. Two hours it took to drive to town and back, but the Jimny was always sure-footed, with no unwelcome slippage. More than can be said for the brand new BMW 5 series I overtook because it couldn't get up a slight bank and, more surprisingly, that X5 that went sliding merrily down Durant Road. My 9 grand Jimny stayed firmly glued where 2 35 grand bimmers did not. Smug, me? Never.... Well, maybe just a little.

Bringing the level right back down to normal.... The spellchecker for blogger.com doesn't actually contain the word blog . Bit of an oversight? One of the alternatives suggested is bolos . Anyone care to enlighten me?

I was going to keep this blog clear of politics, but sometimes you just can't walk away. Right then, that mutton-head, George W. Bush has outlined - for the good of the Iraqi people and the free world - his exit strategy for Iraq. But this is America. So, not only does it make interesting reading, but it also has an amusing title: National Strategy for Victory in Iraq . Seriously, you can't make this stuff up. Personally, I'm not sure how you define victory in the shambles that is Iraq today, so it's a relief to see it comprehensively defined in the first couple of pages. We have a problem though, it isn't really that funny. This is what a supposedly modern, mature nation believes is the way to extricate itself from a sticky situation; rather like a schoolboy who has just put a football through the gym window. It is supposed to be read with due consideration and serious reflection, not with an air of disbelief with one eye on today's date. To be honest, it scar...

This isn't in response to some cocky event over the the past week. More a witty twist on the BBC2 series on tracing your family tree. Why, you may wonder. Well, I've been tracing my family history for a little while now, so I thought I may share a little of my findings. So, I've got back as far as my great-great-great-great grandfather. Don't know very much about him as he never had the decency to be in on census night. He was married in 1822, was a master mariner and had 8 kids - so he must have been home some nights! He lived in South Shields (can't believe I have Sanddancer roots!!! Most distressing) There are funny little coincidences here and there - my dad has worked for a rope manufacturer for 30-odd years, never knowing that his great-great-grandfather made them. Also, in the 1901 census my great-great-grandfather and his future wife were living next door to each other. Quite sweet really. Here's my male line so far: David James Miller - Software engine...

It's now a little over 24 hours since I went to see the fourth film installment of the Harry Potter franchise. I came out of the film with a curious mix of feelings. Yes, I enjoyed it - the visuals were fabulous and the screenplay successfully reduced a substantial book down to two and a half hours. But there were niggles, although I couldn't quite put my finger on them as my companion for the evening will testify. I hate that! I think on reflection two things took the shine off. The lack of focus of the film was one - I never felt drawn towards the conclusion. Perhaps that's a reflection on the book. Secondly, the teenage angst. I know, I know, it's a big part of the story but it didn't quite play right for me. I think I want to see it again though. In summary: I'm torn between this and Prisoner of Azkhaban as my favourite Potter film. Final thoughts; the film was beautifully directed by Mike Newell and the effects were cracking, particularly the world cup and ...

Most of you who have worked with me recently will know I'm a bit of a localisation ponce. I believe people should be able to use things (software or whatever) in their own language. So let's hear it for Foo Fighters for localising their latest album: In Your Honour . Bless 'em. They must know that being fed American spelling is a particular dislike of mine.

Last one today, promise... I've just been playing with JetBrains rather nifty Omea Reader. And, as you do in such circumstances, I've been catching up on RSS feeds I haven't read for a little while. There's a link to an interesting article on Silk and Spinach concerning how to teach using questions. A few years ago, when I was still actively flying small planes, I used to teach baby pilots how to navigate. I learned quickly that just telling people the same stuff week after week was pretty useless as a teaching method - certainly with adults. You had to get them thinking, coax the knowledge out of them - you knew it was there, because you'd told them the week before. I used to tell students new stuff for 2 weeks max. After that, if they got stuck, I'd ask questions until they figured out the answer for themselves. Asking the right question is the skill. It is very easy to ask the wrong questions and seem very patronising. It's a difficult balance, and you h...

This must be some sort of record - 3 posts in one day! Right, seeing as how I have been a member of an online DVD rental site ( LOVEFiLM if you're interested)for a while, I thought it was about time I ran through the films I've watched. Here we go: - Aitraaz: Bollywood film about a fell who gets done over by his female boss, but his wife, the lawyer, sorts it all out. I though after the first 20 minutes that this was going to be a McKay sop-fest. But I persevered and it turned into a decent film. Lots of dancing and songs etc. Bollywood produces some thoroughly entertaining films. - Vera Drake: Excellent film. Typically understated and beautifully shot. - Cowboy Bebop: You've got to love Anime, and this is a really good one. (As we all know there is some pap around) - Spirited Away: Absolutely wonderful. Anime at it's very very best. The characters and story are just superb. If you've never seen this film, you must! - Uzak: Turkish film (rented because it was the o...

Having done my bit to promote Flock, the new browser thing, here's some more free software for those thrifty types. If you are after a word processor and such like, but don't get enough use to warrant a hefty outlay (or don't want to give Bill and chums any more of your hard earned cash) then how's about OpenOffice ? It comes complete with word processor, spreadsheet, mathsy function editor whatsit, database and presentation maker. Sound like a familiar group of tools? Thought so - and all for precisely none of your hard-earned lira. Although you can donate, offer your time etc.. It's been around for 5 years apparently, so you lot have probably already heard of it. However, having downloaded v2.0 and been fairly chuffed thus far (it sure beats Works!) I thought I'd blog anyway. Heaven knows I'm short of posts!!

Yes I know, there are a fair few browsers around trying to trump the old beast IE. To be honest, I've never really given any of them a fair hearing, although folks have tried to sway me towards FireFox and the like. However, I saw an article about Flock on Auntie Beeb's website earlier in the week and the idea of a group of techies getting together for a weekend sort of appealed, so I thought I'd give it a go. It is far from complete, but then it is a developer pre-release, but I must say I quite like it. It seem particularly nice for plugging into tools you use such as blogging (I'm writing this in Flock without having had to navigate to Blogger) and central storage of favorites (on the del.isio.us website) so they are available from wherever - much easier than trying to keep home and work pcs synchronised. It also seems to know things about RSS feeds, althought I'm not sure what it does with them yet. Anyway, looks nice, loads of potential. Give it a go.

I was being all flash last night, updating the blog through the new WiFi router while watching a film: Vampire Hunter D. Well, this post has nothing to do with networks, technology or even the film. Dubbing, now that's what I want to have a moan about. It's just not right. I couldn't sit through the film listening to some half-baked American actors make a dog's arse of the lines. Original soundtrack, English subtitles please. I thank you.

Had to happen eventually and eventually was last night. Broadband is up and running like a rapid, wireless dreamboat. No more crawling around on all fours in net world, I'm up and running at a healthy 2MB. OK, it may not be LAN speed, but the fact I can be typing this downstairs watching a film (Vampire Hunter D, if you're interested) while the modem does its thing upstairs is good enough for me. Now then, will Wi-Fi do the decent thing and reach as far as the beer garden of the nearest pub.... it's not that far away after all. Watch this space, I will find out.

I've recently read this excellent book and finishing it left me with an interesting mixture of feelings. I enjoyed the thing immensely, but I also felt pretty annoyed. Here is why: when I was at school (many moons ago) text books were uniformly dull and uninspiring. They didn't get you interested in a given subject and failed to leave you with that urge to find out more. As a result, I found the whole learning experience tiresome and I didn't bother to push myself. I know it drove my treachers mad. (Many school reports with that old chestnut: "could do better!") Bill Bryson's book has turned this on its head. It seems books that teach you things can be both informative and interesting to read after all. I wish I'd had such things 20 years ago. I get the feeling that if all text books were written in such a fashion, the government wouldn't have to fiddle the exam results every year. It's just a thought.

I've never wanted to be rid of a phone quite so much as my Sony Ericsson T630. Never liked it (apart from its looks) since I got it. So, as the end of August approached, it was time to start looking for upgrade. Having had a Nokia and two Samsungs in the past, these makes were top of the shopping list. Particularly the E720 and the 8800. Price ruled the latter out and I eventually went back to Nokia with the 6230i. Mum asked if she could have the T630 to replace her very old Samsung (another one of my cast-offs) and like a fool I said ok - several months of technical support to come, I suspect :-) - ah well. It's early days for the 6230, but initial impressions are favourable, especially the Outlook syncronisation via Bluetooth. More feedback later...

Bloody hell, right... erm, ok. I seem to have a blog now. No idea what to do with it, so you'll all have to bear with me (or is that bare? Let's stick with the former.)