Monthly archives: August 2007


Toshiba test – day 1


Tosh, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

I have been given a Toshiba laptop to review by the people at talktoshiba. Which is nice, except that we can’t get it to talk to the wireless.

The computer is a Tecra A8. I don’t have access to the technical specs right now, I may dig them out later. Today’s mission, between trying to fix a puncture 15 times (which is another story altogether), was to test connectivity. First, I wanted to transfer yWriter and WeFi from my PC. This was easy enough once I sorted out bluetooth ids.

Next I needed to send a yWriter project from my normal (borrowed) laptop, an old but reliable Toshiba Portege. I plugged an IR dongle into the back of the Tecra and it recognised it but didn’t want to use it for anything. I lined the two laptops up, but the Portege couldn’t detect the dongle. This looks like something I will have to try again.

Most annoying of all, I can’t get the Tecra to connect to the internet in the house. I’ve tried it around town with WeFi, where it can detect lots of wireless nodes. It could connect to the pay wireless in Cafe Nero, which wasn’t much use. On Albert Square there were dozens of nodes detectable, but none- not even StreetNet which I’ve used before- could be connected to. I didn’t have the Portege with me to do a side by side test, but I can say that it has been used to surf from the Albert memorial.

Damian has pointed out that I can just plug it into the house network with a cable, which is what I will do later, but it does kind of defeat the object of a laptop.

Tomorrow I’ll get the rest of the software onto the laptop and start using it properly.


For their sake, download


For their sake, download, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

With the news that Amy Winehouse’s father in law is urging fans to stop buying her records until she stops taking drugs, I thought I should go back to an idea I had a while ago. It’s in response to all those “Piracy funds terror/drugs” ads you see.

Record sales fund their drug habits. For their sake, download.


Green tomato and sultana chutney

I got up early on Sunday and started to make this whilst having breakfast. It’s a bit of a guess on volumes and weights, based upon previous batches of chutney. Made just under a litre, which has now been sealed and left to mature.


Daleks at the Museum of Science and Industry

Sixty eight Daleks assembled at the Museum of Science and Industry to break the world record for the most Daleks in one place at the same time (previously fifty).

This is cool, and I wish I’d known about it to be there. But it’s also and incredibly silly record to break. Does anyone know of anything similarly bizarre I could do to get into the record books?


Conflict 2


Conflict 2, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

The Transformers are twitchy at the best of times, moreso after the Mouse started threatening them.

(Yes, the Mouse really is under this pile of Transformers.)


GI Joe – the movie

After the Transformers movie there are now plans for a GI Joe film. There has been predictable outrage that this new version of the team is international in scope.

In a follow-up to their confirmation that Stephen Sommers will direct G.I. Joe, Variety offers this new description of the team: “G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer. The property is closer in tone to X-Men and James Bond than a war film.”

There are enough GIs lined up for the project that there may still be a few remaining when the film comes out and I can do “A GI reviews GI Joe”.

In memory of Andy McCruden. To find out more about Andy read the obituaries on Spinneyhead and UK-Rag. To make a donation please go to the justgiving page set up to remember him.


Mary Tales- The Maid


MaryMaid, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

Lots of people have been searching for this picture recently (I can tell, they get redirected to the front page from its old location in the galleries). Mary as a maid. Rendered in Poser then messed around with in Photoshop.


Pride 2007


Pride 2007, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

Maybe I should demand that the cameraman in the next Spinneyhead production looks like this. Check out the Pride 2007 set on Flickr for many more photos.


JOE026


JOE026, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

JOE026 made the ultimate sacrifice as his commanding officer (me) misjudged a throw and he ended up on the ground where he was run over by several lorries and a tank. Check out the crime scene photos taken after the grisly event.