February 28, 2003
You Can't Park There, Mate, It's A Bus Stop!
No confirmation on this yet, but apparently an urban legend has come true. In a moment of Trigger Happy TV-like madness, a traffic warden put a parking ticket on a bus in Manchester city centre while it was stopped to pick up passengers. The fine has been stopped, and the warden given 'appropriate' training.
I'll bet the driver was looking round for cameras...
Update: I've got confirmation, courtesty of The Independent! It was a Number 77 bus in Lever Street, Manchester, for those interested in buses!
More Information available at The Independent
Posted by Badgers at 05:20 PM | Comments (0)
Vintage Car Gets Congestion Charge Fine...
Oh boy... heres a good one to start with. A vintage car (a Daimler, registration Y99) has been given a fine under London's new congestion charge. It hasn't been driven since 1947, and has been sitting in Bristol Industrial Museum for 25 years... In Bristol. It certainly wasn't anywhere near Elephant & Castle on 17 February... The museum must send photos of the car as proof as photos were taken by the system. I think there should be no problem in being let off, what do you think? And guess what? A computer glitch was blamed, possibly due to dirt on number plates or the camera. Hmm. Anata wa Baka!!!
More information available at BBC News
Posted by Badgers at 05:13 PM | Comments (0)
Indicators. Use Them, You Stupid (HOOONK!)
So, there I was, happily heading to Chorley on the M66 and the sign for the junction to join the M61 pops up. We still have a mile to go, so I slow a little and start getting ready to change lane (mirror, signal, maneuver, sort of thing). Now, the big, extremely mucky, truck in front must have been thinking "OH MY GOD!!! THE JUNCTION IS A MILE AWAY!!! AND I DON'T WANT TO GO TO CHORLEY!!! AAAIIEEEEEE!!!!!". Probably in blue crayon.
You can see what was going to happen, can't you?
The truck suddenly lurched from the outside lane into the middle lane where I was - almost literally! No indication, no brakes to warn me, just SCREEE!!!!
I'm so glad the runs stopped earlier this week, or else I would have been in quite a mess, so to speak! And I thank the Goddess that the brakes on Camille were pretty good so I didn't lock them and skid straight into the back of him.
Still, it's not the first time - I've had buses suddenly take a fancy to my space and try to take it forcefully (oddly enough, none of them driven by James, but...) I hate cars that do this too - often VW Golfs, but even the drivers of little cars seem willing to take their lives and those of the people around them for a spin into the tunnel of terror (especially those driven by older people - sorry if it sounds bad, but it's true - having seen a little car turn slowly round a corner in Haslingden when a big truck was already turning that way, then pootle slowly to a stop by the railings at the side of the road while the truck has to slam on it's brakes does give you some small idea of the fleetingness of life!)
So I have just one thing (well two things) to say - WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING AND PAY ATTENTION. AND USE YOUR BLOODY INDICATORS!!! Because *I* don't always stop...
Posted by Badgers at 05:04 PM | Comments (3)
A Meeting that Might Even Achieve Something? Never!
But yes - despite being almost wiped out by a truck on the way to Chorley this morning (see the latest Rant!) I was at a meeting today in which I could contribute and even get things done... and a high level meeting too (did they realise who I was?) Ah, yes, the future of services to PDSI in this county is safe in my hands...
Hmm. Oh - the community event is coming closer (and the rain has arrived and I think it's brought a couple of suitcases with it) as we now have large banners on the railings of the park across the road. An advert was meant to be in the Burnley Express today, but I don't know if it was (mum was wittering on this morning, but I had to get to Chorley so I wasn't listening!)
Oh - and for those who feel this blog is getting like a diary of a website, here's an update! I'll be adding a new rant (see above) and the first two items of Baka-ness! And in the true spirit of stupidity, I'll be using MT to run the page, but having to link to it via another page due to the dreaded PC crash as I can't update the Flash menu until later this month! The RNP site and Flash anims (well, two anims as the music vids must wait too) must take priority. I'll fix it for the end of March, 'kay?
Oh - and as a little bonus, I'm giving you the chance to drive a Rogue Noid themed Dodge in the new NASCAR 2003 from Sierra! The link to the .rar file is here, and pics here - 1 2 3. The file is just 526kb, so it's not going to cause too much apoplexy amongst dial-up users! Follow the instructions in the readme, and it should work fine!
Later!
A quick update - the banners in the park have been stolen! Ah well...
Posted by Badgers at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2003
Email problems...
Just a quick note to anyone trying to email me @roguenoid.com... for some reason I can send email out, but i'm not getting any back... something has gone funny in the last day or so (it was working fine earlier this week) so if you really need me, use steve@roguenoid.demon.co.uk, kay?
Posted by Badgers at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2003
General Waffle
Hello again - the computer is running really well (and thankfully I'm not 'running' like I was at the end of last week!), and the weekend wasn't too bad. I managed to get lots of recordings from the idiots to make into soundbytes on the Mates page, but I still have to audition them... I think I got most of Nicks favourite sayings, but I missed some of Andy's as we didn't get to play a game where we sniped... and the C&C battle was short (I got taken out in no time, fecking feckers!). The majority of the soundbytes were therefore grabbed while playing NASCAR 2003 (with the others in demolition derby mode...!). Ah well. At least it was fun. And though I came in 6th, at least I finished the race... so I won! HAHAHA!
Sorry.
Anyway - I've got all the programs back on, but still have to grab the China Power mix of Butterfly... then I can get that animation going again... I hope to get down to the other bits for the RNP site, but I have a friend from work coming who wants me to do some graphics for her, so that will have to wait now... I also hope to get more stuff online at eBay... though I'll never catch up with my fellow eBayer (next time we go out, the drinks are on him ALL NIGHT, not just when they're cheap!!!).
My boss at work has just left today to do another job (after a week or so in Spain), so today was his last team meeting with us, so I actually went along. Usually I don't go as a) I'm too busy and b) Itend to go to sleep easily in meetings (really) which isn't helped when I don'nt need to know all of that stuff anyway! Sigh. At least I met a friend I hadn't talked to in ages - so I nattered to her for a while before finally draggin myself back home. Which was nice.
One thing of interest - this weekend sees a street party (at the arse end of February, in Lancashire, I know...) for the community with bouncy castles and tombolas and raffles oh my! Should be fun. Not that it matters, as the idiots are coming up here and I'm going to try to survive longer in C&C this time... Later, friends!
Posted by Badgers at 05:56 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2003
Bloody Computers.
'Nuff said, I think.
Posted by Badgers at 09:03 PM | Comments (0)
Well, I think I found the problem...
... the power supply - I get another (550W) and things are running along nicely again... well, apart from the need to reinstall everything from scratch - XP, the games, the applications... I've lost everything apart from my jpop music, which I had moved onto the other computer! Including the flash animations I had been working on. Arse.
Still, at least the car got washed. Oh and eBay have delisted four of my auctions (the ones that would have got me money!!!). Ah well, life sends us these little things... I always say, if life gives you lemons, squeeze them in the face of someone you hate. Assuming the computer works tomorrow, I'll enjoy shooting my mates in the head on various FPS games... and nuking them in Generals!!!
Deep breath. That's better. I do hope there's not a third thing waiting for me the car getting smashed (OMG please no) or Akumi or my favourite dog Sadie popping off this mortal coil... Ah well.
Posted by Badgers at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)
AAARRGGHH!!!!! And Happy Birthday Mum!
Bloody typical. Okay, so Ayumi (my main PC) has been playing up, but she's been running fine all week. Until this morning. I turn on to get mail and see how my eBay stuff is going, and she's karked it! It's been coming for a while (mysterious clunks, video problems, odd crashes) but it looks like she's kicked the bucket. And I can't get to lots of files until I transfer a drive over... these things are sent to drive us mad... Luckily, Kyoko is still running so I'm not totally out of the loop. but the screen is so small, and she's so s-l-o-w!
And its also my mu's birthday - and I didn't get her anything as a) I've been too ill to get a card (true) and b) she wants the second Terrahawks DVD box-set, which isn't out till March. She will get a grumpy me today, though, so thats a consolation!
Ah well - perhaps later?
Posted by Badgers at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2003
I can see the floor!!!
Well, one thing about having three days off as leave is that you can get down to those little jobs that you don't always have time for. Like tidying up the bedroom!!! As this is where I spend most of my time nowadays (the parents doing their best to drive me crazier) you'd think my room would be really tidy and organised. Uh-uh - just the opposite - for the last few months, Akumi (my tarantula) has been half-hidden behind lots of piles of papers, books and videos (she has just shed her skin and gotten even bigger, by the way - remind me to post pictures of her one day!) , and the floor has been hiding under there somewhere. Well, today I decided to get down to it and get some tidying up done. it's not a spring clean, and the shelves are still stacked with books and other stuff, but my computer area and the bit around Akumi is finally clear. And it will stay that way. For a few days, at least!!!
So, I've been off three days - what have I been up to yesterday (as I was eBaying on Wednesday)? Well, yesterday I added a few more items to my auctions - VCDs of Thundercats, Ulysses 31, etc - these seem to sell (where do you think I got them!) and might make a profit. One thing that has already is a Harry Hill video - I got it for a pound a couple of years back - at the time of writing its up to £6.00 and rising. Some of the books are going, and I've got rid of my Guyver videos (12 VHS vids take up a LOT of space!) for a knockdown price as I wanted them gone! Of course, I have a friend who is apparently shovelling it in, but he is a bugger! And he's just decided to Messenger me... this could get confusing! Now he's going over to loook at my sales.. and then probably start dancing and singing 'I got more than you have' in an whiny voice.
Still, I've started on the stuff for the Rogue Noid site - The intro ready for April, and a Flash music video... lets just say that the one someone did for 'Butterfly' by Smile.DK sucked... I'll probably do more when I've finished scraping the mud off Camille - that car doesn't half get mucky quickly! I know I've got to get down to drawing the first Badger Of The Month... gah, this web site malarky is a hard slog! -_^
Ah well - Later, everyone!
PS - is Legend Of The Rangers set before or after Crusade? Just an arguement with Jamius... from what I can see, yes... (Rangers in 2264, Crusade in 2268, after the Telepath War... B5 Geek? Me?)
Posted by Badgers at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2003
More Shelfspace!
Well, I promised info on my eBay auctions - I have a selection of Craig Shaw Gardner Books up for sale, along with two old Warhammer novels, some Bill The Galactic Hero and a couple of others. And a lot of videos! I might be putting my Mike Oldfield Songs Of Distant Earth Limited Edition CD back up as the buyer hasn't contacted me yet (clanpyke has until the weekend to reply). Anyway - here is the link - bid if you're interested!
EDIT: Yay! The Mike Oldfield CD is paid for and on its way today! And now I have people bidding on the new boks - I'm happy!
Posted by Badgers at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
Same Cast, Same Show?
OMG. Why is it TV always uses the same actors for shows? Its like a return to the studio system in Hollywood in the early part of last century. ITV is a pain in the bum (wall to wall Ross Kemp as a grumpy bugger in lots of rubbish shows, or the late John Thaw in as much as possible), and the BBC is always finding new vehicles for the same people (how many more members of the cast of Eastenders are going to make the jump to prime-time drama via an appearance in Casualty followed by a series of dramas for Sunday nights?) Take Down To Earth as an example (yes, I just saw the trailer before Bargain Hunt)...
So, it WAS a nice (read sickly) family series with Pauline Quirke and Warren Clarke (two BBC stalwarts) moving from the city to the countryside and suffering the trials and tribulations you'd expect. Now the character played by Clarke has died, and she leaves, while Ian Kelsey (Casualty) and Angela Griffin (Holby City) - keeping it in the family or what? - come in to take over, as if nothing happened. They'll do the same to Two Thousand Acres Of Sky too (read DTE on a remote Scottish Island). At least Doctor Who had a reason why the lead changed into someone else! Still, that ran from 1963-89, so, perhaps they are trying to get these shows to do the same. After all, multiple cast changes in ITV's Heartbeat (ohmygoddesspleaseno) and now a spinoff in a hospital haven't alienated viewers that much. With the policeman in love/married to the local doctor. Again. I hear a new revamp is due on that show - perhaps Ross Kemp?
All this gives me the heebie-jeebies when considering the possible return of Doctor Who (how many of my rants will come back to that classic show?). The BBC will obviously want people to watch it. it will have to get lots of viewers - like everyone in Britain, probably, if its to be made as a series again - I wonder who will be playing the lead then? Paul McGann? Nope. Hugh Grant? Too expensive and too big a star. And probably too much like Peter Davidson's character. Rowan Atkinson? So good in Curse Of Fatal Death, but... Mark Gatiss (The League Of Gentlemen)? Probably too good a Doctor on the BBC Doctor Who night a few years ago. Perhaps David Dickinson? Possible - he looks like a Timelord! Personally I'd be putting a bet on a member of the Casualty/Holby City cast (hmm - I could go for George Irving (Anton Meyer) as a new First Doctor (see my idea for the return of the series if I dare put it up) or maybe Simon McCorkindale...) An Eastender might be out of it after Dimensions In Time... They could get David Jason to play the role, I suppose - how he manages to jump channels so often (Only Fools and Horses, A Touch Of Frost, various one-off dramas) I don't know... I guess we'll see when (or, lets face it, *if*) we get a new version in time for the 40th Anniversary! I'm already having nightmares!
Of course, if ITV managed to get it made for them, no doubt it would be Ross bloody Kemp.
Posted by Badgers at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)
Unclean! or Food Poisoning...
Well, whatever it is, I can't stay off the toilet for more than 15 minutes... I was fine yesterday while out visiting people for my job, and I ate the usual stuff. The only unusual thing was the 'sauce' (well, ginger-flavoured gravy the way mum makes it), but as the parents are feeling no ill effects, it can probably be ruled out. Still, it means I get a day off work (on leave, not on sick - I have a LOT of days to come before the end of March, and this gets rid of one of them!), so I can continue fettling with the sites and get my next batch of eBay auctions going - lots of books - I'll add the link to them in an entry tonight.
Oh well, maybe if I can stay off the potty I can get to tell you about the sort of stuff I'll be entering in this here 'blog... which is probably the usual stuff, but hey - how else can you write a diary and let everyone into your inner thoughts and stuff? Ah well. You can be sure to hear about any illnesses, thats for sure! I'll also be filling you in on what friends are doing (see below!) as well as me, and even keeping everyone appraised on progress on the comics and Flash anims I'm working on. Plus ca change, eh?. I'll also hopefully getting some dreams entered - a separate dream diary might be a plan - I have many dreams and they range from the usual 'why am I at work/school/morticians slab naked' to strangely accurate predictions oif what will happen the next day (usually only slightly out of kilter with reality, but then I have a boring life!). One thing that I have that others don't usually (feel free to let me know if you know differently) are dreams about films/TV etc that look right, sound right and (this is the kicker) have opening titles and end titles... and some of them continue over time with new 'episodes'... Some are animated, some like soaps, some like sci-fi (with cheesy FX or good stuff) depending on whats on my mind. Guess where I get some of my ideas from... I know I can't get I.T.as good as I see him animated in dreams (don't ask, please), but I'll at least get it better than most entries in the Portal over at Newgrounds (he says, bragging hopefully!)
So, what have friends been up to? Well, Jamius is going to be joining me in seling on eBay at last (instead of just buying all the time!!!), and Nick called on Monday night to ask if I'd build a website for his mother's church. Me. Religion and me usually get on like a church on fire. Still, gives me something to do!
Later!!
Posted by Badgers at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2003
Welcome!
Well, finally, after much fiddling and fettling with Moveable Type, the 'blog is finally ready to go live! I won't do a full first entry, as I have still got a lot to do on bits of the sites, but I would like to welcome you all to Badgers, Mad as A Sack Of, and hope you find something here to amuse you, or over at Rogue Noid Productions when it comes online on the 1st April!
This blog will be, as blogs tend to be, a running commentary on my life and of those poor saps around me... it should be updated far more than my previous sites, at any rate!!! I hope to catch you around!!!
Posted by Badgers at 08:19 PM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2003
The (Probable) War On Iraq
The scene: The Oval Office, George W Bush sits in his chair, having just received the second report from the arms inspectors...
Dubya - "MMM, War...."
(Reads report)
Dubya - "D'oh!"
(repeat ad-infinitum, or until he decides to go to war anyway)
(No doubt more to come on this subject!)
Posted by Badgers at 07:24 PM | Comments (1)