Toms View of the World

As you may have noticed (If I remembered to log on this morning and change it anyway) the site has taken on a very pink hue.

This is because, as I did last year, I’m joining in with the annual “pink for October” breast-cancer awareness campaign.  For those of you who read on the RSS feed, feel free to don a pair of sunglasses and click through to the main site!

One of the advantages of using a simple and non-graphical wordpress theme is that changing the CSS and header images is only a few minutes work really - but it doesn’t half make a point!

The BBC have replied to a question I sent via the website - see the previous post,

Their reply would be funny if it didn’t show a total lack of competance.

Thanks for your e-mail regarding ‘Heroes’.

I understand you’d like to know why episode one of series three is not being shown on the HD Channel.

‘Heroes’ is not available on our BBC HD channel.  Please visit our HD website for further information as well as a list of the programmes that our available on this service:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbchd/

Thanks again for taking the time to e-mail us.

 

Clearly, Heroes is available on BBCHD, the website they linked to says it is and shows the second episode of Season 3 being shown at 10pm on Wednesday 1st October.

The BBC is the flagship High Definition broadcaster in the UK - with HD programming available on both Satellite and Cable services.

Why then is the first episode of the new season of one of their flagship shows not being shown in HD?

I am of course talking about season 3 of Heroes.

The first episode is being shown on BBC2 on Wednesday 1st October.  The second episode is then being shown immediately afterwards on BBC3 and BBCHD simultaneously.

One has to wonder what the BBC has against Heroes fans who wish to watch the whole season in HD.  Why do we have to watch the first episode in Standard Definition?

This is almost as bad as ITV skipping the second episode of Pushing Daisies entirely.

Aye, ye land lubbers, it’s here again, International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

OK, so which bitTorrent tracker can I use t' grab th' latest hi-bitrate low compression hi-definition Blu-ray rip o' th' latest blockbuster movies off th' internet?

Oh, not that kind o' pirate… ye mean th' “scourge o' th' seven seas” type o' pirate… well in that case, in honour o' th' day, this entire website will be automatically “piratificated” by th' blog engine - articles and comments included… just fer today (except this post - which should stay as a pirate post!).

I’m going to die.

Given that every trip I make to or from work on my bike involves at least 2 near-misses with idiots in cars - I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

To the idiot in the Honda Civic yesterday - Don’t park close to a junction (rule 243), and when you do pull away, look in your mirrors in case there’s a vulnerable cyclist about to pass you (rule 152), and then use your indicators (rule 103). No doubt you were taught to Mirror-Signal-Manouever when you learnt to drive - why don’t you do it?

To the idiot in the Taxi, those road markings mean GIVE WAY. This means you stop. You don’t drive out right in front of the cyclist who is already half-way across the junction.

To the idiot in the Ford Ka - I was going uphill - you pulled onto my side of the road to pass a parked vehicle - why did you not give way to me and force me to take evasive action. Is another persons life really worth saving 10 seconds on the school run? Can you imagine when your child explains to her teacher “Sorry I was late, Mummy killed a cyclist”

I already make the assumption that everyone else on the road is out to kill me, and I ride as defensively as possible - but sometimes it’s just not possible to avoid these morons.

The folks over on the Google Blog have posted a nice article focussing on how the internet has changed communication between friends.

Having kinda grown up around computers and discovering the internet in it’s very early forms at University, I’ve not really noticed much of this - but the truth is, in the last ten to fifteen years communication has taken a very timely change.

15 years ago, if a friend of mine was on holiday on the other side of the world, he’d send a postcard, and I’d get it a few days after his return.

Now, he can just log onto a local wifi network, and update his Facebook status “Live”, and every one of his friends will know exactly what he wants to say in a matter of seconds.

If he wants to send me a message directly, international SMS is also near instant.  I’ve had conversations over SMS without even realising the person I’m txting is on a different continent.

However… (more…)

Well, if you’re one of the seemingly numerous people who beleive that the new Large Hadron Collider at the CERN research centre on the France/Switzerland border is going to create a mini black hole when it’s switched on this afternoon.

It’s just a partical accellerator.  Admittedly a very very big particle accellerator.  Hopefully it might produce some interesting science - but I really don’t think it’s going to suck the planet into a black hole.

Links:

Earth “not at risk” (BBC News)
The Large Hadron Collider Safety (CERN)

(Image from www.cepolina.com)