No NaNoWriMo this year
I've completed National Novel Writing Month for the last two years in a row, but I can't do it this year. I'd love to, and could probably find the time, at the expense of many other things, but I don't think it would be wise. I'm just over a month into the first term of uni and not really into a proper routine yet; my work would undoubtedly suffer if I tried to write 1667 words per day around it, and I don't want to fall behind at this stage. If I'd plotted out the story this month and knew exactly what I was going to write each day then I might have managed it, but making it up as I go takes too long. I can reel off a list of excuses, but it comes down to being just a little too busy, which is annoying - the feeling of satisfaction at the end is immense, even if the project is at times hellish. Next year, hopefully.
Project 80% complete
Yesterday's trip to uni was successful, thankfully, and my last-minute project is now mostly printed. I'm at the stage where, if disaster struck, I could hand in the work so far and it would be marginally acceptable.
I ran into a slight problem when the university cash machine was broken, and the media store only took cash. Well, they also took cheques, but given that it's no longer 1974 I didn't have a cheque book on me. I can understand their reluctance to take credit cards with their associated surcharges, but they could just add the fees onto the total price - if they explain the situation I can't see anybody minding.
In the end I managed to get most things done with the paper I had, but a very kind person offered to lend me the money if necessary, which was great. I'm going in tomorrow - nothing like leaving things until the last minute - to print one more image then mount them all (never done this before), and then I should be ready to hand in on Friday. This will be a massive relief; on Saturday night I am so hitting the toffee apples.
Two quick Calvin and Hobbes links
Spoiling a potential Christmas present here, but it's too good not to share - this is lovely and would make a cool gift for the Calvin and Hobbes fan in your life. Speaking of C&H, BoingBoing recently linked to a great and very well-researched page of little-known Bill Watterson drawings, including old strips, paintings and one-off C&H strips.
Pumpkin Man Nod
I spent much of today panicking over a photography project due in this Friday. The idea I'd been planning and working on for a few weeks fell through due to a combination of my muppetry and some unfortunate timings, so I came up with a new plan this evening, and called a friend in the hope he might be around to help. Not only was he around, but he didn't complain once about spending much of the evening doing this:
Which isn't as easy as it looks. I have impressive friends - thanks, Nod!
I'm going to London tomorrow to develop the films and hopefully get a few decent prints. I'm annoyed with myself that it's ended up so last-minute, but I've learnt not to leave anything mission-critical to the last few days, and plenty more besides. Hopefully the prints will turn out ok tomorrow - not sure what I do if not...
D’oe
Just came within centimetres of hitting a deer at 60mph. Damn thing ambled out in front of me, slow as you like, and after a split second of braking I realised it was way too close and just managed to swing around it. Can't have missed it by much, and the back of my car was going on its own little adventure for a while there. I don't think it was big enough that I'd have been in danger, but I'd have wrecked the deer, the car and my week. There aren't any signs down that stretch of A-road, but I'll certainly be watching out in future.
Wtf Strictly
Dear Public,
You are stupid and should not be allowed to vote on TV talent shows.
Yours,
Andrew and Abi
Gadgetlust
There is no obvious solution to my iPod and mobile phone simultaneously indicating they're on the way out1. None.
Actually, one look at the O2 tariffs suggests there really isn't. £269 for the iPhone, then £35/month for 200mins/200texts/unlimited data? I think not. Given that my phone and iPod have together cost me £10/month all year, I can't even consider something like that. I'll wait for the gPhone.
- whacking the former on the table, as per Ed's suggestion, has actually done the trick for now [↩]
Religious objections to cervical cancer vaccinations
I've been away from the news today so haven't seen the coverage of the cervical cancer vaccine. I remember that similar proposals caused something of a fuss in the US, and I'm wondering whether the UK media gave the nutters any airtime. The main BBC News article doesn't even mention them, which is cool. The health Q&A mentions them briefly, but it's only a dumb Have Your Say question that really raises the issue. Quite glad I didn't listen to Jeremy Vine today, though.
There are probably some anti-vaccination nutters out there, but I'm specifically thinking of the extreme religious variety:
Some Christian groups have expressed unease, concerned that the jab may encourage promiscuity.
Colin Hart, Director of The Christian Institute, said the way to tackle the problem was not to offer injections, but to tell girls not to have under-age sex.
Because cervical cancer is god's way of punishing women for having under-age sex. Or over-age sex, for that matter. I'm sure they could pick up an STD from their husband, if he'd had extra-marital sex, but presumably it's still up to the women to suffer, as ever. What a vile little shit these people worship.
Obviously it's not all Christians and is limited to an extreme fringe. But it's still astonishing to me that anybody could fall for a belief system which requires them to publicly suggest they would prefer to see women have underage sex and get cancer than them have underage sex and not get cancer. How do you break your brain that much?
Free podcast of degree-level photography lectures
While looking for history of photography resources earlier today I found this site:
This podcast is recorded during class lectures for History of Photography, Photo 1105 at College of DuPage. The podcasts are intended as review for students in the class, but thousands of people around the world have found them useful to their education as photographers.
I was then mildly disappointed to discover that the podcast has a video component, which wouldn't be supported by my iPod even if it were working, and either way I wouldn't be able to listen to it while driving. About half a second later I vowed to brain myself with a saucepan at the next available opportunity: if I want audio-only explanations of topics, I should perhaps have chosen a degree less inherently visual. Doofus.
Moving on, the video podcast is actually rather impressive: you can skip through the slides using Quicktime's controls, rather than playing a guessing game with the slider, and it's synced up with the appropriate audio from the lecture. I confess I haven't watched it all yet, but it seems like a cool resource, and it's wonderful that the College of DuPage in Illinois is releasing it for free.
Hello!
Hey, thanks for coming! I'm Andrew, and this is where my headthinks come to breed. They often meander around humanism and photography, but they're flighty and you can't trust them, so anything is possible.
Do feel free to email me - I get lonely:
Your hair looks swish, by the way - have you done something new?
Recent Comments
- vicky: going up this weekend having done all the welsh peaks except 4 snowdon, cant wait
on Climbing Snowdon. - vicky: what, how can u live in the 21 c and say that, probably a sexist thing
on Climbing Snowdon. - vicky: da iawn laura, cant believe what im hearing, all this fuss, anyway love the site, and i agree, normal people who swear and curse clomb mountains cos we live in the...
on Climbing Snowdon. - Andrew: Did a few quick test shots to check the light levels, then balanced the camera on the arm of a bench, set it for a 20s exposure and hoped for the best
on ISS. - lynsey: Wow, how did you take that photograph?
on ISS.
Comment timeouts
Comments have gone a bit weird (thanks, Ed). Not sure what's causing it atm, but they do work sometimes. Bit late now and I'm at uni all day tomorrow, but shall take a look asap. Might have broken the theme, which could do with updating with the latest code anyway. Thought things were a bit quiet.