Mucking-Around on Joe's Blog

Three Bean Salad: Jingleography

Sat, 15 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

I have been asked to pass on the following message to Three Bean Salad Podcast:

Esteemed Beans,

Your recent episode, “Elevators”, was so flagrant in its profligate use of jingles that I must break my silence and share my top secret research project.

Unlike many, I don’t use your podcast to go to sleep. But I do use it to wake up, and the jingles really get me out of bed. Knowing the exact timings of each episode is crucial for my scientific lifestyle. I have therefore scientifically catalogued every jingle and cross-referenced it against every episode.

Christmas Lights Competition 2015

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 14:52:33 +0000

Standards are high at the annual Christmas lights event. It’s important that every entry is a strong in order to outperform the competition.

Taking apart a Nokia 105

Sun, 19 Jan 2014 22:26:38 +0000

New year reflection led me to the conclusion that perhaps having email, twitter, facebook and the Internet at large following me round in my pocket all the time wasn’t a great idea, so I thought I’d get a phone that wasn’t afraid to revisit issues of self-identity. The Nokia 105 makes phone calls, sends texts, has an FM radio and not much else. I’m very happy with it.

Hot

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 07:15:32 +0000

Last night I dealt with the heat the only way I know how.

A Phonetic alphabet for the 21st Century

Thu, 23 May 2013 07:30:57 +0000

With the help of @domeheid and @gasmanic. Try using this next time you’re spelling something out over the phone.

Aye

Bee

Cellar

Dvorak

Eye

Faroe

Gnat

Heir

Iain

Jalapeno

Knot

Llanfairpwllgwyngyll

Mnemonic

Not

Ouija

Pharaoh

Quay

Rote

Sea

Tchaikovsky

Umm

Vowel

Why

You

Zhivago

Is Betteridge's Law of Headlines Dead?

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:27:08 +0000

According to Ian Betteridge,

‘Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no’

But is this long-standing principle of journalism now dead?

Birthday Shinbash

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 17:17:45 +0000

A few shaky photos from a magnificent 18 hour birthday stint.

Modified external lamp

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 11:13:07 +0000

I picked up an outside light, the kind that you plug in and stick in your lawn, going cheap at B&Q. Although it said it had blue LEDs (I’ve never claimed to have much style but anything with blue LEDs in it is an unforgivable faux-pas) I had a roll of white LEDs at home. It was a nice sealed unit (no IP rating but it looked solid enough) which I thought would come in handy for stickig on the outside of my boat and shining at things.

Peacock Experts — video

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 07:26:05 +0000

One of the great things about my workplace is that

we have unlimited peacocks at our disposal
a number of my colleagues are qualified peacock-ologists

Here’s a short video of just one of the peacocks, along with some commentary about their feeding habits and behavioural characteristics (something about baked beans, pretending to be a bike and the thing from Jurassic Park, I don’t know it went over my head).

Don’t worry about the noise at the end, it’s just a peacock alarm (or indeed a peacock alarmed).

Aeropress explosion (and copycat Gaggia)

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 10:17:29 +0000

Respect the aeropress. If you don’t pay it enough respect it will explode, sending coffee EVERYWHERE.

STOP PRESS

Not wishing to be outdone, the Gaggia espresso machine had a go too. I should add that this happened to a colleague.

Animals and Documents

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:30:59 +0000

A friend asked on Facebook why there were no documents penned by animals. He claimed that ’not a single one was to my knowledge written by an animal other than a human’. I disagree. Here are some notable quotes I have collected on the subject.

‘A cat could no more write a thesis on the plight of man than a man could on the condition of being a cat’

On the Nature of Existence, Jeramiah Bullock, 1808

Old entries from simpler times: Busking

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:09:31 +0000

Whilst going over (and deleting) unwanted content on Facebook, I came across a few bits and pieces. I miss busking.

Found this old post from 4th August 2007.

Day five of ‘my’ Fringe, and the thought police are out in force. It feels like day two to me, but a lot has happened (including a technical rehearsal that finished at midnight, a street urchin and a stand-up routine about health and safety). The Fringe is getting started proper and potential audiences wonder round the city being picked off by hungry flyer-ers.

A polecat comes to visit.

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:09:37 +0000

I put my rubbish out on the deck last night. Today I heard a rustling and looked out to see a polecat had come aboard, unbidden, and nicked some pasty packaging.

For those unsure what a polecat is, wikipedia defines it thus:

A polecat is an animal.

Here is a video of the encounter. I can see why they named this animal ‘polecat’. It’s a bit like a pole and a bit like a cat.

Opening a can on a boat

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:31:04 +0000

The thing about living on a boat is that there is more than likely a hatchet to hand.

Which means that if you come home from the shops with a can and realise that you have no can opener, you can puncture holes in the lid.

Using the hatchet

… and get at the insides.

Try doing that in a house. I dare you.

The Annual Squash Balancing Ritual

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:56:50 +0000

There are few events more sought after and exclusive than the annual Balancing of the Squash. This happens in a secret location, late at night, early in November. This ritual has roots in the ancient culture of a secret society known as ’the Box of the Torch'.

Tonight the participants excelled both themselves and in some cases, each other.

It’s a legume.

Day of the Dead

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:42:58 +0000

Today is Day of the Dead. The Hurly-Burly-Bright-And-Early Band was out in force this evening celebrating. Or rather, mourning the passing of the Summer. Exactly six months to the day (give or take) since May Day.

My pipe is at a worrying angle.

Cooking with Wood

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:25:22 +0000

After success with a pizza, I’ve decided to try cooking in my wood burning stove. Little steps. Today I tried melting some cheese over some gnocchi.

A good start. If I’m honest, this wasn’t anything more than melting some cheese. Next time I might actually cook something. And that’s pepper not ash in the last photo.

The Gribbin

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:24:14 +0000

There’s no hiding musicianship. Lock it up, put it in a box, or — crucially — ply it with significant quantities of drink … still it will shine through. There’s something immutable about musicianship that means that a bottle of Pimms and and half a bottle of whiskey later, it still keeps on playing.

It was in circumstances such as these that The Gribbin came together for the first — and last — time. In the heady days of 2006, The Pimms Sessions were recorded in a murky studio in scenic Oxford and (and subsequently presented to the unsuspecting, and arguably undeserving world).

The Stage Hand: The Flyerer

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:24:43 +0000

Back in the day I used to do a lot of sound and lighting for student theatre. I did a lot in Oxford, and went up to Edinburgh a number of times to do the Edinburgh Fringe. I did not go to Oxford University, but I did hang around with a lot of people who did. Once or twice I contributed to a theatre column in a student paper. It’s a bit thespy because it’s okay to experiment with language when you’re young. Reprinted here because why not.

Stage Whispers: The Techie

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:21:25 +0000

Back in the day I used to do a lot of sound and lighting for student theatre. I did a lot in Oxford, and went up to Edinburgh a number of times to do the Edinburgh Fringe. I did not go to Oxford University, but I did hang around with a lot of people who did. Once or twice I contributed to a theatre column in a student paper. It’s a bit thespy because it’s okay to experiment with language when you’re young. Reprinted here because why not.

Stage Whispers: The Stage Hand

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:16:53 +0000

Back in the day I used to do a lot of sound and lighting for student theatre. I did a lot in Oxford, and went up to Edinburgh a number of times to do the Edinburgh Fringe. I did not go to Oxford University, but I did hang around with a lot of people who did. Once or twice I contributed to a theatre column in a student paper. It’s a bit thespy because it’s okay to experiment with language when you’re young. Reprinted here because why not.

Today I Have Been Mostly Chopping Wood

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:04:44 +0000

Today I chanced upon some logs. So I took them home…

… and went at them with a hatchet…

I reckon that’s a few weeks’ worth of warm evenings some time around winter 2012.

Some people are worrying about the cost of heating their homes. I’m out scouting for wood.

Any woodologists able to identify what this might be and if it’ll burn obligingly? Failing that, practising xylologists?

One Last Joke

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:42:20 +0000

Immediately after leaving university I joined a software company, and stayed there for 2 years and 8 months. It was serious slice of life. I’m glad I spent it there, but I’m also glad I left. Over the almost-three-years, my self-control wavered from time to time. I enjoy a joke, and if there’s a practical element, all the better.

In his goodbye speech, my manager went over the list of things I had done in my time there, including several practical jokes.