Naquada

This looks like fun.. Snowboning.. Like snowboarding, only different!

Now I’ve never really been any good at snowboarding, I think I have too much of the self preservation instinct in me, and I seem to lack the whole co-ordination bit, even though I’m a fairly good, or used to be a fairly good SnakeBoarder, I used to be able to snakeboard whilst juggling three 16 inch knives (I’ll dig out some pictures!!)..

Snowboning is meant to be the latest extreme winter sport, it

So on the way back from the USA in January. I was reading an article in the in flight magazine about Google Adsense.

The idea sounded simple. Google index your site and present a list of relevant ads for your current content. The advertisers pay Google for clicks through to their site, and you receive a portion of the amount paid for clicks on Google ads on your website. Simple..

I’m basically going to see how it goes, having added the Adsense code into the template, and I dont think its too in your face at the side, although I think I may move the position to be more noticable..

So thats it.. Christmas is all over, the decorations have come down and the house looks empty and bare. To make it worse I’m off tomorrow to Florida for the Ascential Sales Kick off 2005, Ok so Florida in January is better than Boston in January.

Its been a very much up and down 2004. Work wise I feel like I’m at 20% of my ability right now, thats pretty low. I’ve gone through alot in 2004 and I think I’ve probably left a bit of a trail of destruction behind me. Theres no going back on things and trying to tidy up, but I think I can be alot more tidy in 2005.

So what were the good bits of 2004?

Finding the Old Magic Stuff I’d forgotten about, like the Harry Eng Bottles I made a long time back..
Discovering old photos I’d forgotten about..
Buying new mountain bike..
Enjoying some personal time on the bikes and some cars..
Finding out there’s more in my garden than weeds..
Heading into my seventh year at Ascential..
Doing things for me and not anyone else..
Remembering how great my Dad is..
Coming back from whereever it is I went..

Well its not new news, but yesterday John Peel passed away.. John Peel had worked for Radio 1 since its launch in 1967, and was more than a legend in the music world

“John’s influence has towered over the development of popular music for nearly four decades and his contribution to modern music and music culture is immeasurable. Hopeful bands all over the world sent their demo tapes to John knowing that he really cared. His commitment and passion for new music only grew stronger over the years.”

I remember so many evenings laying in the bath listening to the John Peel show, and laughing as his technical incapabilities when doing shows.. Growing up with his voice and views. His commitment to new bands and music, and his amazing range of music that he played..

Theres not a huge amount you can say more than..

You’ll be sadly missed john..

..Sleep well

You can leave a tribute for John Peel on the radio 1 website

Well following the little ‘accident’ on Thursday with my car (probably caused mainly from being tired and stressed and not really watching what I was doing…) I got a quote from a pretty good body shop in Reading, not that I make a habit of crashing, but in my job you get a lot of bumps and scrapes on your car (key scratches, etc).

Thankfully its going to be the same, or less than my excess, so not quite as bad as I’d feared…

We were talking this evening about a Christmas dinner we went to with Ardent Software (the pre-runner to Ascential) where the The Royal London Philharmonic Orchestra played pre-dinner music, and then played through dinner.

There was a slight ripple of wonderment when it was announced that the The Royal London Philharmonic Orchestra was playing, and the realisation that it was the Royal London Philharmonic Orchestra..

A slightly surreal evening… but anyone from Ardent days remember when? or have any photos ?

Skype the ‘telephoney that just works’ voice over IP application was release on Mac OSX this week.

I use Skype all the time, mainly because the quality is just so good (I’d argue better than many phone calls). having it on the Mac also now means that I can talk back home for free when I’m away.

Unfortuantly though the Mac G5 only supported amplified Microphones, meaning that you need to having something like iSight or a USB microphone..

More shiney objects to put on the shopping list..

Bodger is an old word applied to a woodworker who turned wooden parts on a portable lathe powered by a treadle and a springy sapling called a pole lathe. A bodger set up his lathe in a wood where he felled and coppiced trees. The still green timber was then turned into chair legs and spindles. After a winter of hard work, the bodger loaded his cart with thousands of spindles and chair legs taking them to High Wycombe to make the world famous Windsor chairs.

My Dad built his own Pole Lathe a few years ago from scratch (the clever man he is!) and I found the photos this week when i was tidying up.

It’s powered by foot pushing down on a treadle type mechanism under the lathe which rotates the material between the spindles, A return spring (the pole) to counter rotates the work on the release of the treadle. A cord is wrapped around the work in such a way as to make the work rotate towards the user when the treadle is pressed down. The tool, a chisel, is rested on the tool rest, with the point near the work. As the treadle is pressed down, the cutting edge is pushed against the work. As the treadle is released, and the pole rises, the work rotates in the opposite direction, and the chisel is pulled back away from the work. A rhythm is built up, with a cut on the down, and a pull on the up. By moving the chisel around, the material is shaped.

In the top picture you can see the shave horse dad made to go with it. Think of it as an early work-mate. It is used to hold work still, whilst it is pre-shaped prior to going on the lathe.

The other pictures show the hand carving he did on the front of the lathe and the complete view of the lathe. Normal pole lathes would have a flexible branch over the lathe from the front, in dads case he made two poles at the sides with a flexible (bungee type) cord bwteen the two to return the treadle. Its also compatible with a branch type as well.

Make sure you click on the image to see the full size picture of the craving etc.