Easter in Dartmoor

Happy Easter, folks! Hope that you had a great time with family and friends :)

On the redparanoid / mousecatfish side, we went to Dartmoor, in the southwest of England. We flew into London and then drove over - approximately four hours at a leisurely pace. When I say 'leisurely pace', I actually mean 'at a pace that would allow me to adapt to driving on the left side of the road without dying of stress'; this was my first time driving in England. I had thought about it in February when ethicalhack3r had mentioned that, though it's a bit confusing at first, you get pretty used to switching from one side to another -- musing became reality, as it turned out, when mousecatfish asked me whether I'd be up for visiting Devon.

The original plan was that she was going to be the one driving; however, upon landing in Gatwick (and after some coaxing) she confessed to not being terribly confident about driving in the dark. I therefore took the first shift: one that would --  unbeknownst to the both of us at the time -- last approximately three days. After about half an hour of driving, the idea of a stressed-out mousecatfish behind the wheel on her birthday trip convinced me that I should just man up and drive the whole way :)

We did the trip in two parts: the first night, we stopped off at a Travelodge in Amesbury, which had the added benefit of being within spitting distance of Stonehenge. I'd never been, and mousecatfish had only ever seen it from a distance (foot & mouth disease had, at the time, confined her and her mates to the tour bus). Those acquainted with my traveling habits will confirm that me and people, we just don't get along - so trust me when I tell you that Stonehenge is well worth visiting.

I would show you more pictures of Stonehenge but on camera, it looks exactly like what it is: a pile of rocks. Frankly, it's only amazing when you see it in person. 

If, like me, you're focusing on the road rather then the surroundings, you're likely to miss it as you're driving in; fortunately, MCF told me to look up just in time. 

Get this: it's right next to a motorway, it's surrounded by rope and there are hundreds of tourists milling around it snapping photos - and yet, it still strikes you as otherworldly. It just sticks out as something that's definitely not from this time. It was here way before you were a glint in the milkman's eye, and in all probability it'll still be around when you breathe your last sigh. Hey, that rhymes. Go me.

I could yammer on in writing, but fortunately for all of us MCF has done a stellar job of narrating our trip on camera; so without further ado I shall let her do the talking. I've also included a mini-collage of photos of our trip for the hell of it :)  Happy easter everybody!!!

New post on my 'Tale of FAIL' blog

Read about a very cool mobile phone trojan today called Soundminer on Bruce Schneier's blog. Here's a high-level explanation about it - for Bruce's post, please go here.

New post on my 'Tale of FAIL' blog

Did you hear that the U.S. is getting rid of the color-coded terror warnings by April 2011?  Read about it on my blog -- comments appreciated!!!

Patrick Jean - Pixels = brilliant :-D

Just brilliant, this.  One of those fabulously refreshing videos that many people misconstrue for a complete waste of time. "Some people have too much time on their hands," they'll say. I think this comes from the fact that YouTube is too often considered a place where people post their home videos rather than a place where you can publish well thought-out, artistic short films. (Sigh)...

I like to think of 'YouTubing' as a multimedia equivalent of telling jokes at a social gathering. To wit: anytime someone tells a good joke at a party, it almost always turns the venue into Comedy Central. Each joke subsequently reminds somebody of another joke; you're more likely to run out of breath than humorous anecdotes. Similarly, you can always find just one more related YouTube video to watch; it's addictive, free, and provides hours of fun... And yet, somebody's always got to make that sarcastic comment. Namely me.

Life in the palm of your hand



IHT, Jan 12th 2011 cover. Photo by Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press

 A wrinkly hand, creased and lined from life and work;
More dishevelled now than ever as it dries in the sun.
A hand which, hours ago, would have grasped a bowl, tightened around a knife, held another's face.

Look Hard.
Really Look.
Lift that veil of protection that is your apathy and desensitization to violence;
Take.
A good.
Look.

He cannot lift his veil; he cannot change his fate -- even if it were his to decide.

The crowd stands a distance away. Hands clasped in reverence -- small, blurred figures in a blurry grey insignificance; a world apart.

So very far away.
Yet frighteningly close.

Happy new year, all!

Hope y'all had some great holidays :) I can't believe another year's gone by already. Some people would get depressed thinking like that, but not me -- each January 1st brings me renewed hope; it's a chance to leave all the crap that's happened to you in the past year behind and make room for more fun and games.

But enough of this 'peace on earth and goodwill toward men' shit. I've got a blog post to write.

For Christmas this year, I got some kickass books from my in-laws; if you're a fan of scifi urban fantasy like Harry Dresden, Remy Chandler et al, you should totally check out the Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey. Real page turners. I never had a chance -- from the moment I read the first paragraph I was doomed to finish both books at an unreasonable pace; I could have used them during the sixteen-hour trip home. Oh well.

These holidays have been a lot of fun; got to go to the beach, see a whole lot of ocean-life, drank a metric fuckton of coffee, chill out with friends... Not to mention hang out in what I can only describe as t-shirt weather and run around buying geeky shit. I've got enough comics and tech loot to last me the next two lifetimes :-D

If I could, I think that I'd live in Fry's. They've got the best shit there, I swear -- where else can you get videos, comics, home theaters, junk food, server racks, switches, laptops, infrared thermometers, and oscilloscopes all in one place? Badass. The only thing I can think of that would be better is if they had a Fry's with Starbucks in it; then I'd never have to leave the place.

That's all I got for today :-)  Still psyched about how having consolidated all my posts, a painful reminder of how much a nerd I am, believe you me. Looking forward to playing around with all my new tech toys, seeing even more friends, giving my wife's god-daughter a big hug, and eating a very decadent fondue. Num.

Ciao for now!

Consolidation and recap :)

I feel good about myself this morning -- I've re-posted all of my rickeldarwish.net articles to my FAILtale blog! That I'm excited about having performed an activity that essentially consists in copy-pasting my articles from one site to another just goes to show how much of a nerd I am. Go Rick! You over-achiever, you.

In other news: happy new year's eve, everyone! I hope that you have some kickass plans for tonight.  I intend to stuff my face full of grapes - a spanish New Year tradition. One for each gong of the clock. If you want to try that out, permit me to recommend grapes of the small, seedless variety. Unless you're a hamster.