caldrail
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Blog Comments posted by caldrail
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Not really, they doubled my bill a few months back. I think the light bulbs were a hint...
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The same thing happened with Terry Nation. He was involved in the early years of Dr Who (he invented the Daleks), Blakes Seven, and probably other stuff too. He had vision like Gene Roddenberry, albeit somewhat less rosy. Gerry Andersen, although he started in puppet shows, went through Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, UFO, and Space 1999. His vision of a 60's style over-engineered technological society was brilliant back then, and I still have a fondness for those old shows.
But in each genre, its largely the product of one mans vision isn't it?
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The star trek genre was borne out of nostalgia for the original, and STNG was a worthy successor. As things wore on though the ideas were getting a bit thin, storylines were getting derivative, and by Enterprise it had devolved to an ordinary US sci-fi series relying on fans being familiar with the original. Star Trek had run out of steam.
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DS9 was of a comparable standard. Voyager seemed a bit wishy-washy and lacked the same sense of reality about it, and the Enterprise series never found that magic at all.
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I hate to point it out the obvious Doc, but there's more than one engineer in Star Trek. Secondly, O'brien was not the only guy operating the transporter. So did Tasha Yar, Worf, Jordie, the good Captian Picard, and a few other extras. Also, Scotty made an appearance in STNG too.
Also, there's no implied connection between Scotty's expertise with the transporter and any event featured in STNG.
Now you know what kind of trekkie I am!
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i understand exactly what you mean Moonlapse. The Legend of Old Gregg episode is notorious for freaking people out and yes, it did freak me too. The first series of Mighty Boosh is oddly happy go lucky, even when discussing issues like death (it is a comedy for crying out loud). The second series however is actually better, but darker. For instance, Nightmare of Milky Joe turns the Tom Hanks movie about being castaway into a sort of Lord of the Flies scenario but with coconut people instead of kids. Its funny as heck, but its almost like comedy using the Dark Side..
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I'll send you a battering ram for xmas
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Well, if my experience of the music industry is anything to go by, then opportunities can be created by yourself as well as others. Its about knocking on the right door and being in the right place at the right time. We even once dragged some music executive out of a nightclub for an impromptu sales pitch on the sreet.
Ok, that didn't work...
But getting yourself in front of an employer to give him your sales pitch can make a difference. Word of mouth. The chap you spoke might not have a vacancy for you but then perhaps someone he knows does. Then its a matter of making the right impression.
So far though, I'm not desperate enough to wander up and down the street with a sandwich board saying "Gizza Job". Even if some employers think I am. No, that comes later, when the employment agency decide I'm a useless drain on society and attempt to persuade me that rubbish collection is an interesting and worthwhile career move.
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Ah yes.. Luck... But isn't it true you make your own? So, in true romanesque fashion, I shall have the slaves copy my Curriculum Vitae and distribute copies to all merchants and societae. Think it might be as well if I don't daub grafitti on my rivals homes however....
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Looks like we're getting thrown out then
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Not if we sing (Roman) nursury rhymes.
With or without copious quantities of wine?
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You know what, we should organize the next unrv-meet at your library instead of some dull Roman place.
We'd get thrown out!
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You sound (to me) as if you feel that there is some shame attached to being unemployed. There ain't none! I get the impression that you have served your nation in its armed forces. There ain't no shame in picking up an unemployment check - even if you didn't serve - you and your family have paid for it. If you feel that you are a leech on this account, then observe your politicos who do it in a grand manner. Your age may be kicking in. One of your former supervisors, justly or unjustly, may have it 'in' for you.
I never served with the armed forces - I did apply to the Royal Air Force twice when I was younger to no avail, although I have worked alongside british and american servicemen since. Actually, there is a hint of shame in umemployment in Britain. There are so many dole seekers claiming money illegally that the government has gone to great pains to advertise about dire punishment if caught. This means that you get tarred with a brush. I've wondered if the reason my last two cars were ruined was simply that - Someone thought I was working illegally and decided to righteously do something about it.
About my supervisors - yes, there are one or two. DS has been a bit vocal about it outside my home on her way to painting the town red on a saturday night. She gets a little contemptuous of those she stands on but I notice how helpless she is without her crowd of minions to fix everything she can't. The woman carries a leopard skin handbag for crying out loud - thats the sort of woman she is.
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Race car drivers are driving under ideal known conditions with well tuned 'sheens and competitors. I'd bet that they are never pulled over - too ascared of the competition, which might have a pistola handy.
Race drivers do get pulled over, even the best of them sometimes.
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Wrong. Rules on the track are strict and drivers can be black-flagged - or ordered to pit.
Human psychology plays a large part in driving. What you say about experience is correct - absolutely - but that backs what I said about technique becoming second nature.
But as to psychology - we think we're great drivers don't we? Watch cars go by on a busy road. Nine times out of ten, the male driver has one hand on top of the steering wheel. Its an 'I'm in control' posture, and actually poor technique, especially when driving a vehicle at speed. Further, you get some people (mostly business managers - self important people) who regard speed as a sign of status.
Modern cars are very cossetting. They drive reasonably well, and feel safe. But human beings have a natural danger level which varies between individuals. Its the point beyond which the risk is viewed as too great and the individual backs off. If your ability behind the wheel is less that your perception of danger - sooner or later - you will have an accident. This is why you should never rate your own driving ability. I got race instructors to rate mine. (I was just below the top band. Good but not quite brilliant. It pays to remember such things)
Self awareness is all important then. So is awareness of your situation. Whilst going to fast might contribute to an accident in some circumstances, its more often an accident is caused by lack of observation and avoidance.
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Driving at high speed is something that requires some skill, and in most cases isn't a clever choice to make. I have the luxury of years of experience of driving fast cars and got some training from race car instructors on the circuit. Notice that these instructors don't teach you to drive fast, they teach you to control the car at higher speeds.
A moving vehicle is a mass of dynamic forces and these require balancing with your control input. Steering, throttle, brakes are your input, but you also need to utilise the cars balance, position, direction, grip, weight distribution etc etc. It all takes practice because at high speed you cannot afford to wait and think about what you're doing - it needs to be an automatic reflex, and for that reason very few of us have the necessary skills to handle cars at speed (though we all like to think we can - and even I have to admit that I've never driven a car at 10/10ths).
For any given road situation, there is a margin of safety. As you increase speed, that margin shrinks, until at a certain speed there is no margin of safety anymore, and if something goes wrong at that speed, tough, because you will not be able to do anything about it.
This is why I say the Speed Doesn't Kill, even though the authorities in britian like to hammer the opposite into our heads. Its the decision to travel at an inapropriate speed in a given situation and possibly beyond your competence that causes accidents.
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All I see is blank white screen. But then yanks like cruising in cars, we brits like driving them, so we need better suspensions and steering. Its a demonstrated fact that a little 1.8ltr Lotus Exige can take on a full bore Rousch Ford Mustang V8 muscle car and beat it.
Can't you just feel the smugness?
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In blighty we get a few yank cars. They look awful. Aprt from those 70's muscle cars perhaps. But usually when a caddy the size of an articulated truck leans round the corner most people point derisively.
Funny thing, two mates of mine, jovial rogues by nature, were into fast cars in their younger days and once bought one of those massive cadillacs with wings. That evening they decided to show off their purchase to the neighbours and cruise around the block. They ran out of petrol three-quarters of the way round.
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Apparently not. I'm too educated and experienced in the ways of civilisation. Wrong accent you see....
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Translator? Most of the guys filmed doing the work of studying the remains in america had british accents.
Correct GO - the british are taking over dinosaur research in a fiendish plot to prove that dinosaurs did not speak english with an american accent
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yes.. but... it looks like a barge, handles like a barge on springs... and since when did the americans build a car that goes round corners?
A few years back I met a woman from Iowa, or Idaho, or Indiana, or somewhere flat and empty. The conversation got around to driving cars and I asked her what it was like for her to drive in Britain, thinking she'd talk about driving on the correct side of the road.
"(gaaaaaasp!)" She said, "You people are sooooo-Per-Meyen!"
Apparently she was very impressed by the sort of driving that now gets british citizens tarred and feathered. At a roundabout she sat there astonished whilst traffic buzzed round her oblivious to her presence, and quite unable to think and react quickly enough to slot into traffic.
She must be deaf too, because I cannot imagine she wasn't beeped at....
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I also wonder if the modern fad for computer animations is swallowing up the budget previously spent on expert talking heads. Personally, I think the program could have taken the opportunity to say more about the late cretaceous enviroment of north america (the creature died about two million years before the K/T Even). I admit they did touch on this - they mentioned the 'mississipee sea', the river in the fossil location (that isn't there any more), some speculation about herds of these things running away from T-Rex (who apparently wasn't fast enough to catch them according to the research on the remains locomotion).
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Ahhh Caldrail, now your talking.
On Friday morning I was working at a Petrol station in Hyde, Manchester when a midnight blue Lamborghini Gallardo rolled in to fill up, now everyone who was at the garage stopped what they were doing and just stared at the car for a few minutes then looked at each other and nodded their heads in appreciation.
The car was out of this world and when I win the lottery next Saturday I'll be driving a Lamborghini Sunday morning!
Incidentally because the car was so beautiful nobody noticed who the driver was until the last minute, It was James Beattie, for those of you who don't know, he's a professional footballer now playing for Sheffield Utd.
After he'd drove away and everything had returned to normal I had a walk over to the pump and had a look at how much It had cost to fill up that dream car............
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Ok, I'll make it up: what I saw yesterday on the way to the parents' house
Are you allowed to post pornographic images like that?
The Mighty Supermarket
in caldrail's Blog
A blog by caldrail in General
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Star Wars? The original concept was a sci-fi fairy tale, and it is. Episode IV is all about young farm hands and princesses and castles and rogues and spells and.. well you get the picture. The sequels were there to make more mioney from a succesful film, and the later three prequels even more so, with the extra desire to impress people with special effects (a sure sign of poor plot and screenplay) and a more scientific rationale placed on top of the mystical original. The incredible stunts, frantic pace, and constant wisecracks of the episodes I to III get a little tiring in my view.