Bumpy few days
A couple of days ago an uncle of mine died unexpectedly, and I headed down to London to be with family. I'm ok personally - I hadn't seen him in ten years - but things are generally a little sad. I might be a touch slow at responding for a little while - sorry about that.
I'm in town for a fair bit, as starting tomorrow I'm photographing the European Humanist Federation's general assembly, which should be fun. Lots of events centered around the big Darwin, Humanism and Science conference on Saturday. I'll be wandering around in the background, trying not to drop anything during the talks.
Sad news from the Skeptics’ Guide
One of my favourite people on one of my favourite podcasts died last night. Perry of the Skeptics' Guide had been in hospital for a couple of weeks, but was expected to be back shortly. I was just listening to him early this morning...I didn't know him, but have been listening to his thoughts and observations weekly for 18 months and can't help but feel a passing acquaintance. It's awful he died so young, and I feel for the rest of the team.
Sad times
Some terrible news this morning, when I heard the father of a very good friend had unexpectedly died in the night. I'd chatted to him many, many times over the years, and whether about the West Wing, current affairs or the coolness of modern technology, it was always a fun conversation. He was a real character who died far too young, and will be missed. My heart goes out to his family.
Symonds Yat dance weekend – the (very) bad
The dancing weekend had some great highs, and one sad, horrible low, when on Saturday night the other group's teacher collapsed on the dancefloor. Despite strenuous efforts from dancers with medical training, he died shortly afterwards. The following isn't particularly pleasant reading and I'll hide it from the front page.
Three-and-a-bit Interesting Thursday Things
Via BA, a scale image of all known planetary bodies with a diameter of over 200 miles. It's fascinating. I knew there were moons larger than Mercury, but Ganymede's not all that much smaller than Mars. I'd be annoyed if I were that big and still called a moon.
In 1986, in a remote area of Cameroon, 1800 people in a circle of 12-mile radius abruptly fell over and died. Scientists investigated, and after a year's research realised measures were needed to prevent it happening again. Neatorama has the full story.
And, why eBooks are better than, er, Books, when it comes to bathtime. Read the various bookshop blogs and you'd think eBooks were the worst idea since marmite, but I'm happy to discover there are blogs who think otherwise. Andrew Marr, too. Booksquare - it of the wonderful header illustration - thinks the iPhone might be a major step forward...
Annoyances
I'm getting frequent broadband disconnections - more time offline than on, actually - and the phone line is crackly. I reported the fault via BT's website and requested SMS updates. I wonder whether this is as efficient as actually calling them up...Update: they just called me back, so I guess it is.
A Giant Wasp of Pointy Death tried to kill me. Really.
I received an email warning saying 90% of my webhosting space has been used. This amounts to 900mb. I have no clue how this is possible. Email accounts are empty, my website takes up maybe 80mb, I can't imagine the mysql database is that big. Confused.
Little gem
Isn't this a lovely idea? A woman whose father died before her wedding had him compressed into a diamond, and carried him down the aisle. Some people get grossed out by this kind of thing, but I think it's pleasing. But then I thought bone wedding rings were cool too.
A Bad Day
Our beautiful little dog, Daisy, had to be put down this afternoon.
Fourteen years ago we went on a family trip to the dogs' home. My sister, Jane, had saved up £50 through pocket money and christmas/birthday presents, and with Mum and Dad both working from home by then a dog was feasible. Daisy had been returned twice, once after six months for unknown reasons, and once after three days having "jumped a six foot fence to get at some chickens". Another prospective owner saw us walking her and asked if we had definitely made up our minds. We had.
It looks like Daisy had a stroke a week ago, and since then she steadily declined. Yesterday she couldn't stop walking without falling over, but was bumping into walls and doors. Mum took her to the vets, where they ran some blood tests. The results came back negative, which likely meant a tumor, and they kept her in overnight. I was in Solihull this afternoon when Dad phoned to say the vet had recommended she be put down as her quality of life was never going to improve. I met Dad, Mum and Jane there and we said goodbye. Daisy was in a terrible state, and it was awful to see. After a few minutes the vet injected her, and seconds later her eyes closed.
Daisy was a part of family life all through my school days, and she came on every holiday with us. I haven't sobbed for a long time. I miss her.
To further demonstrate that fate's a bitch, today is Jane's 21st birthday.
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.
