Our housemates

Over the last few months, we've got several new housemates. Some are large, some small. I thought I'd introduce them all.

Harold the houseplant

In March of this year, our first housemate arrived from Burford Garden Company. He's a rubber plant, who requires water around once a week, to which we lovingly add some BabyBio. He's grown somewhat since his arrival, and we're wondering about taking some cuttings to give to friends.

Harold in March. Bottom of stairs

Harold today. Top of stairs

Harold is low maintenance, but far more interesting to look at than many other plants. He has red tips on each of his stems, where new leaves periodically appear, the red becoming the vein of the leaf itself.

Josh Jones

Josh is the largest and most mobile of our housemates, and the only one that contributes financially. Others might refer to him as a 'lodger', but that is an ugly, commercial term that in no way accurately reflects our relationship. Still others might refer to him as a 'pet', but that too barely scrapes the surface of our relationship. Josh is a friend who lives with us, and helps with cleaning, cooking, and socialising. We lived with him once before, so when he was looking to move out in September, we invited him to move here. I lost my office, but we gained so much more. If you too are inspired, adopt an Adventure Plus employee today!

Josh in a boat

The fish

I have always loved fish. I don't know why. For my birthday this year (in April), I received a fishtank from my sister, which was rather exciting. I then saved my pocket money for several months and finally, one day in September, we went to Yarnton Nurseries to visit the Oxford Aquatics Centre. I am now the proud owner of four fish: two Guppies, and two Harlequin Rasboras. Given that fish don't tend to live a long time, I've named them simply: Yellow, Black, Thing One and Thing Two (that's mainly because I can't remember that they're Rasboras without looking it up - that and the Dr Seuss connection).
I have discovered that with my cameras (the one on my phone, and an old Fuji FinePix) it's astonishingly difficult to get good close-ups of my fish, so please excuse the blurriness:

Black and Yellow at the front of the tank. You can just make out Thing One behind

The best shot I could get of Thing Two

The fish are doing well, although the tank got a little green this week. I'm hoping to get an algae eater to help with the cleaning, along with a couple of other pretties (maybe some barbs or tetras), although that may be delayed given the six inches of snow on everything at the moment.

Douglas

Last year we bought a real Christmas Tree, who journeyed with us all the way to Nottingham and back over the holidays. When Christmas was over, we took him outside to enjoy a bit of fresh air, and there he thrived! This year, we've brought him back in, and he has taken up residence in Harold's usual spot (which is why Harold is now at the top of the stairs, sulking). He's only little (under four feet tall), but he's hardy and we like to think he dreams of one day being a giant tree, hence Douglas the Fir.

Douglas with adornments

I hope you enjoyed getting to see our little family here in Witney. It may be unusual, but these guys make our house a home.

Marcus Brigstocke is a genius

On this week's Now Show, Marcus Brigstocke states that the COP15 have fallen into 'a spiral of inspired inanity' that seems to have been written by Dr Seuss.

What follows is my transcript of what came next:

The delegates came and the delegates sat,

and they talked and they talked 'til their bums all went flat.

Then a delegate said of the country he knew

"We must do something quick, but just what should we do?"

So they sat again thinking and there they stayed seated,

sitting and thinking the planet's been heated.

"I think", said a delegate there from Peru,

"that we all must agree on some things we could do

like reducing emissions, at least CO2"

So they nodded and noted then vetoed and voted

and one of them stood up and suddenly quoted:

"It's the science you see that's the thing that must guide us!

When the leaders all get here they're certain to chide us".

So they sat again thinking about what to think

then decided to ponder what colour of ink

to use on the paper when they'd all agreed

to be selfless not Greedy McGreedy McGreed.

"But how do we choose just what colour to use?"

said a delegate there who'd been having a snooze.

"We need clear binding targets, definitive action,

we must all agree clearly without more distraction!"

So they sat again thinking of targets for ink

but the ink in their thinking had started to stink

and they started to think that the ink was a kink

in the thinking about real things they should think.

"If the climate needs mending then this is our chance,"

said the nuclear delegate sent there by France.

"We need to agree on one thing to agree on:

something we all want a fixed guarantee on"

"Yes," said another who thought this made sense,

"some value for carbon in dollars or pence!"

But the mention of money and thoughts of expense

had stifled the progress and things became tense.

The fellow from China with a smile on his face

said "Who put the carbon there in the first place?"

"Wasn't us" said the US then Europe did too.

Then a silence descended and no words were spoken

'til a delegate stood up, voice nervous and broken.

"Is there nothing upon which we all can decide,

'cos on Wednesday my chicken laid eggs that were fried!"

"We all like a singsong!" said the bloke from Down Under

but then the great hall was all shouting and thunder!

Policemen had entered and were wearing protesters

who they'd beaten and flattened like bloodied sou'westers.

The police had decided to down-play this crime

with 'prevention detention' and beatings in rhyme.

The greenies, who'd shouted and asked for decision

were now being battered with lethal precision!

All sick of inaction and fed up of waiting,

all tired of the endless debated placating

they'd risen up grating, berating and hating

so the police had commenced the related abating.

Ban Ki-moon put his head in another man's lap

and was last heard muttering something like "Crap."

But the chap next to him said "It's more like it's poo,"

so the great hall debated not what they should do,

but how to decide between "Crap", "Cack" and "Poo".

"It is poo!"

"It is cack!"

"It is crap!"

"We agree!"

which was written and labelled as Document Three.

"I think if we all find one thing we agree on,

then maybe Brazil will be left with a tree on."

So they sat again thinking of trees in Brazil

and of glaciers which had retreated uphill

and they thought of the poor folks whose homes were in flood

(but less of the protesters covered in blood).

They pondered the species so nearly extinct -

it's as if they all thought that these things might be linked!

"We need a solution, we need action please,"

said a lady who'd come from the sinking Maldives.

The others all nodded and said it was fact

that the time must be now not to talk but to act.

Then Obama arrived and said most rhetorical:

"Action is action, and not metaphorical".

"Wow", they all thought, "he must mean allegorical."

"I love it when Barack goes all oratorical!"

"But the problem I have is that Congress won't pass it!"

"Bugger," said Ban Ki, then "Sorry," then "Arse it."

Then Brown said "I've got it! Now how does this strike you?

It's simpler when voters already dislike you."

He suggested the EU should lead from the front

so the Mail and the Telegraph called him something very unpleasant indeed.

So the delegates stared at the text with red marks on

ignoring the gales of laughter from Clarkson.

No-one was satisfied, nobody won

'cept the morons convinced it was really the sun

...and they blew it and wasted the greatest of chances.

Instead they all frollicked in diplomat dances

and decided decisively right there and then

that the best way to solve it's to meet up again

and decide on a future that's greener and greater

not with action right now but with something else later.

Written by Marcus Brigstocke for the Now Show

Some wedding photos

I got married around 20 months ago. I finally got around to uploading some photos of it this month.

Our Wedding

If you have any photos, could you please let me know? Ta.

Why I use Linux

I've been pondering for a while on my use of a computer; what I use one for, and why. This has led me, seemingly inexorably, to a post on my OS of choice, and my reasons for it.
Allow me to give a brief history of my computing experience: The first computer I used was a BBC B microcomputer. I then used Acorn Archimedes computers at primary and secondary school, progressing to Acorn RiscPCs as my school upgraded.
My first experience of an x86 processor was in the second processor slot of a RiscPC at school. It was just about able to run Windows 95, which seemed woefully inadequate as an operating system. It was clunky, unintuitive, and there seemed to be no way to customise it to make it better.
Computers have moved on since then. I no longer have the luxury of using RISC OS as my main OS - the hardware just doesn't currently exist that can do what I want from a desktop computer - and so every once in a while I take a quick look at what the current selection of OSes available for x86 architecture has to offer. As I try out the latest offerings from Redmond and Cupertino, I am invariably left feeling unsatisfied, as though attempting to shoehorn my work method into an inflexible mould someone else has created.
As Neo so eloquently put it in The Matrix Reloaded, the problem is choice. Or more specifically, a lack of it: I simply cannot get either Windows or OS X to work the way I want them to, because the creators never saw fit to allow the necessary parts of the OS/window manager/file system to be customised to a degree that enables me to use a computer the way I want to. That is why I use Linux.
More specifically: I use Ubuntu because I know how to configure it (via apt) to work how I want it to; I use the Gnome desktop because I know how to configure it to work how I want it to; I use Metacity and Compiz WMs because I know how to configure them to work ... you get the idea.
I am aware that Apple and Microsoft both have many loyal followers who would argue that everything is fine for them, that they have no problems, that I must be doing something 'wrong or 'weird'. Quite simply, I don't care. If it doesn't  work for me, I'm not interested. That may be perceived as selfish, but then again, I don't expect anyone else to instantly love my standard setup, as it's set up for one person only. I have also come to realise that upon a fresh install (something I haven't done in over a year - thankyou dist-upgrade), I will spend around half an hour tweaking settings to get them how I want them. I am perfectly happy to do that. I would also suggest that I am not the only person who does this. In fact, I'd go so far as to state that I believe the majority of people who own a computer have customised it to a greater or lesser degree from its initial factory settings; that most of these people also have a set of 'core applications' that they cannot work well without; and that none of them would think twice about spending time setting up their work area in a manner that they find beneficial to their productivity.
I try not to be over-zealous in suggesting my OS of choice to others. I am merely trying to inform people that, should the giants at Microsoft and Apple fail you, you need not suffer,, and you certainly aren't the only one.

TMCM?

Some might say that when your coffee comes in a box you can fit in, you've had enough...

What's in a release date?

Apparently nothing, if you're Amazon.

Looks like the release date of the Psych season 1 UK DVD set has been put back from May to September. How do I know this? I looked at my preorder.

A simple courtesy email informing me that it's going to be four months late would be nice.

Update: I've now received an email about the change (are Amazon
reading my blog?) but it feels a little weak, and as I'd already found
out about the change myself, it's definitely a little late.

On birthdays, Babylon 5 and being 25

I thoroughly enjoyed my birthday party last weekend. I'd like to think it struck about the right balance of silliness and grown-upness. I'm left wondering how many more years I can get away with doing that kind of thing. I'm aiming for another 25, but I have a feeling that eventually I'll have to give up on the idea of train cake, music and slacklining.

I am very excited by the prospect of 42 DVDs full of Babylon 5 goodness. I fully intend to watch them all over the next few months, and then dip in and out of commentaries and such for a while to come (after I've finished dealing with the Matrix boxset, Alien Quadrilogy and Bladerunner final cut, to name but a few). On that note, I have all of Babylon 5 of video, and I'm hoping someone will take it off my hands so I can reclaim some shelf space. Adam, I'm looking at you.

I'm also chuffed with the selection of classical CDs I got, the selection of coffees, and the option to get yet more stuff from Amazon, which is always fun, if excrutiatingly difficult at the same time (because every time I make a selection, I know I'm not selecting at least a dozen other things I'm hankering after).

Mainly though, I'd like to thank all of those who came to my modest shindig (and those who made it happen). I enjoyed you being there, and I hope it wasn't too dull for any of you either. Thanks.