Well, another year has rolled by very quickly and now we are halfway through this decade.

Let's hope the next five years are not like the first five of this millenium.

So, a Happy Hogmanay to everyone out there.

So, I got The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Edition) for Christmas and Liz and I decided to do the whole trilogy in one day.

We started at 10 am and did not finish until 12:30 in the morning.

That was followed up by 6 hours of Return of the King documentaries today on the other two disks.

Well, I would have posted a picture of Paisley under the snow but the photo posting app has died.

It always was buggy and now it thinks that multiple copies of itself are running.

Not good.

So, I will gaze upon the snow and the ensuing traffic collisions as I wish you all :

Merry Christmas folks

A good review of the items that would drive our parents absolutely nuts at this time of the year is found at TV Cream's Top 100 Toys.

So relax and peruse the top 100 pieces of plastic crap that kept kids up at night and drove adults to participate in mob violence. Back in the good old days.

Nothing says the Last Christmas like a good does of Cthulhu. It is on page three right now. Enjoy all of the pages.

OK I have found my christmas gift. Anyone who wants to get me a D-BOX Motion Simulators will be making a MrLithic very happy on Christmas Day.

I love this Sandbag Shelter. How long till we see these popping up in areas hit by disasters or in need of International Aid?

I have been thinking on this topic for a while but I think that Mark Pesce says it best.

Abridged Comment

Hey, Hollywood! Can you feel the future slipping through your fingers? Do you understand how badly you've screwed up? You took a perfectly serviceable situation - a nice, centralized system for the distribution of media, and, through your own greed and shortsightedness, are giving birth to a system of digital distribution that you'll never, ever be able to defeat. In your avarice and arrogance you ignored the obvious: you should have cut a deal with SuprNova.org.
In partnership you could have found a way to manage the disruptive change that's already well underway. Instead, you have repeated the mistakes made by the recording industry, chapter and verse. And thus you have spelled your own doom.

It's said that the best sequels are just like the original, only bigger and louder. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for one hell of a crash. This baby is now fully out of control.

Mark Pesce
Sydney/Hobart
20 December 2004
Released under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0
www.creativecommons.org

The complete article can be found here.

Take Scared Kids and a Maniacal Grinning Bearded man and you have a photo opportunity for Scared by Santa.

A new mashup to check out.

dj BC presents The Beastles

If you want to see the beauty of industrial environments, then check this out.

I thought I was the only one who thought that the light and shapes of some industrial scenes were gorgeous. Obviously Kevin Scanlon thinks the same thing.

My new Handknitted iPod Sock - to avoid copyright infringements, I may call it an iPod Toque 

Wondering where to take the family this year?
The World's Largest Cheese or the most depressing town on earth.

No! Take them to a place where dogma becomes reality.

The Creation Museum!

Nothing says komfort like a Komfort Travel Trailers

Weren't the 70's wonderful?

The lights around GOMA have been expanded to Buchanan Street and up to Borders. Looks better than last year (which was stunning) 

The streets of Glasgow lit up 

Nelson's Column with an absent Nelson and lots of lights 

The trees in George Square all lit up  

Some pictures from the Celtic vs. Hibs match.

Good game and very nice of these guys to provide me with tickets.

Hartson scored two very good goals with Camara driving one in that should have scored. Second half was a stunner with Hibs looking better than they should with the 2-1 final score in favour of Celtic.

Big Kev keeps his eyes peeled for the steward who wants to kick us back to our old seats 

10 minutes into the first half - very nice man invites us up to the posh end  

Hoops is out harassing small children 

Pre-game warmup 

Ars Technica have released their annual holiday gift guide which is filled to the brim with technogoodness for the well-deserving geek this Christmas.

Remember the well known rule - every time a sysadmin saves your butt by salvaging a file or sorting out your file rights, it equals a tenner in material gratitude.

We give of ourselves every day - now it is time to give something back.

I have not blogged very much in the last couple weeks.

I have a new plan for getting some certs. I have studied for several but never written the exams.

So the current list includes the Novell CNA, Cisco CCNA, and Microsoft MCSE.

Some others I am looking to include the CWNP, CISSP, and the LPI.

I have studied for all of these to varying degrees, but never written the final exam. So, I plan to make a change and start on a plan for getting the certifications.

So, it is cold and dark outside and the wind is howling?

Grab yourself a chocolate bar and a cup of hot chocolate, so you you can cuddle up and peruse 50,000 comic book covers at ComicCovers.com. I cam remember quite a few of these.

All we need now are the old comics online. When do those become public domain?

My friends, the cycopaths is a great piece in the Guardian on the new cyclists in London. Congestion charges have put a lot more cyclists on the London roads. So it is not just me that is running over pedestrians.

I feel much better

Firefox Version 1.0 has been released and hopefully will fix the slowdowns I have been experiencing with this browser.

Still better than IE though.

Another time wasting, completely useless and very addictive flash game.

The Google Desktop is now available.

So set it up and then google your hard drive and email.

I have been waiting for this one for a while.

I was over at the in-laws last night and Moira had found a brilliant book up in the spare bedroom (aka Dalgetty Library). Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is a completely addictive tome with loads of completely useless but interesting information.

What is the relationship between Virgins and Unicorns, Who is the King of the Fairies that lives in Kensington, and which group suffered from the punishment of immurring - all these questions and more answered.

Well, the weather outside is misty and autumnal. The mornings are too dark to ride in to work.

So the bike will be used on weekends for trips to the West Coast and up to Loch Lomond.

This comic is funny because it is true.

BTW anybody want an invite?

Why don't google just open it up now and let everyone have their gig of mail space?

G.W. & Crew - Flip Flop

Brilliant commentary on the real flip-flopper in U.S. Politics.

So I have just started to find the centre of the explosion that is podcasting.

This type of communication satisfies so many of the criteria that I believe are necessary for New Media to succeed. It makes use of some nice tehcnologies out there RSS and audio blogging. It allows people to listen/view the media on their own terms (when they want, how they want and not force them to listen to the whole thing), finally it automates the process that was involved in trying to listen to audioblogs and online radio shows on your mp3 player.

The current topic on most of these podcasts seems to be either how to podcast or personal opinion pieces.

I am very interested in seeing where this goes. Maybe we should get the SLUGRadio team back together and podcast it.

So the Anthropological Quarterly has a collection of papers on the Creative Commons and Open Source "Culture".

I have not read much Anthropology theory recently but I would like to see how they view this growing perspective of opening sources and making information available. Unfortunately, only one of the papers is available for download. I do not believe that AQ is one of those publications making it's papers available online.

I never read Anthropology Quarterly and tended to read American Anthropologist and others but these normally only put their table of contents online.

Academic publishing needs to change. There are various models out there that they could follow. So before Anthropology Journals start to offer a "critique" open source and commons licensing, they should examine their own state of opening up information and content.

Right, so I have jumped on this bandwagon. Podcasting.

I can just see the benefits of getting content downloaded for your audio device just as you would use a newsreader for your PDA to make it mobile.

I am not sure if the content available is the content I want on my iPod. I regularly listen to various audio sources. If these could be made available through this system, it would turn podcasting from a geek toy to a brilliant tool.

Just some pictures from the September ScotLUG meet.

Willie can move fast for a big man 

Gordon looks stunned 

Kenny in the pub 

BigKev survives his BSD talk 

Neil and work pal 

Mr Ben is looking forward to his curry 

BigKev at pre-meeting pints and curry 

Sayings for Work - (I cannot be held responsible for the consequences)

1. I can see your point, but I still think you're full of shit.

2. I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce.

3. How about never? Is never good for you?

4. I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.

5. I'm really easy to get along with once you people learn to see it my way.

6. I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter.

7. I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message.

8. I don't work here. I'm a consultant.

9. It sounds like English, but I can't understand a damn word you're saying.

10. Ahh...I see the screw-up fairy has visited us again.

11. I like you. You remind me of myself when I was young and stupid.

12. You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.

13. I have plenty of talent and vision; I just don't give a damn.

14. I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth.

15. I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.

16. Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view.

17. The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.

18. Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.

19. What am I? Flypaper for freaks!?

20. I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant.

21. It's a thankless job, but I've got a lot of Karma to burn off.

22. Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.

23. And your crybaby whiny-assed opinion would be...?

24. Do I look like a people person?

25. This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.

26. I started out with nothing & still have most of it left.

27. Sarcasm is just one more service we offer.

28. If I throw a stick, will you leave?

29. Errors have been made. Others will be blamed.

30. Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.

31. I'm trying to imagine you with a personality.

32. A cubicle is just a padded cell without a door.

33. Can I trade this job for what's behind door #1?

34. Too many freaks, not enough circuses.

35. Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?

36. Chaos, panic, & disorder-my work here is done.

37. How do I set a laser printer to stun?

38. I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted a salary.

39. Who lit the fuse on your tampon? :-)

40. Oh I get it... like humor... but different

How To Cost Microsoft Money

A cute tale of taking it "the man", if the man has the last name "Gates"!.

NOT SAFE FOR WORK

A great little Tech Support Flash Animation.

This little cartoon mad me laugh. Probably says more about me.

Isn't this the reason for the internet? So we can gaze at wonder at the things people used to do to amuse themselves prior to ADSL and Bandwidth contention issues. The illustrated Guide to Hand Shadows by Henry Bursill is a fine example of one of the activities.

I tried out a couple and I can only do Bird in Flight and a Blind Bunny (with the eyehole).

Mike Quin has a good description of the Pedal for Scotland ride in his own report. It is much more literate than my collection of photos. He did not include the numerous times we waited for me. Decent report by a decent bloke.

My favourite bit was my exclamation approaching the rest stop at Cramond Brig. "It's a PUB!!!"

I have been visiting Hidden Glasgow for a while now to find out more about this city with its colourful and often neglected past.

Taking the bikes home on the train 

We arrive in one piece at Meadowbank stadium 

Heading through Edinburgh Traffic - I should have strapped a video camera to my helmet 

Sun appears as we approach Edinburgh  

Steamy stop in Avonbridge Church Hall (this is just after screaming down the hills at an average speed of 35 miles an hour)

An early photo before the rain started in earnest

Queue behind the youngest entrant Matthew (1362), who is five 

Mike Quin ready for a cycle ride to Edinburgh

Getting ready in George Square