don't get too excited...

... there won't be a flurry of new posts. Was just testing one of our films using the new 'embed' code in iplayer.

china stories

forget blogging...

... addicted to facebook

welcome to glasgow...

This rather disturbing music video was filmed pretty much outside our new office. Prizes to anyone who can transcribe the lyrics.

panorama on scientology...

I'm sure many of you have seen this video of - now legendary - bbc reporter John McSweeny losing his temper a wee bit while filming a documentary about Scientology.



The full programme is online at the moment - go here and follow the watch now link, to see what drove him to it. A really good watch.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!

Sheffield United RELEGATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you West Ham, Carlos Tevez, 10-man Wigan, Ferguson and Benitez's team selections etc etc and of course respect as always to good loser, sportsman and gentleman Neil Warnock for taking it on the chin.

crazy instrument...

diving pics...

turtle
Originally uploaded by nicktryg.

... my flickr page has two versions of many of these snaps - I uploaded originals yesterday, then again after Rach's expert re-touching.

Great holiday - well done to all involved, especially Tim - now Open Water, Advanced Open Water, and Enriched Air qualified. I think he liked it.



Very happy with:

Explorers Tours
Ocean College Dive Centre
New Casio underwater housing
New Cressi mask (with rear view mirrors!)

lovely interface...

here

I've got a portal to design in the next year. Should we be inspired by things like this? Are flash homepages passe? Could this be a skin for certain sectors of audience, with something more standard and conservative for others?

Any comments appreciated.

egg update...

Charts now added to google spreadsheet.

The lighter birds Omelet and Scramble remain consistent with 5-6 eggs per week. Margo is laying more than we expected, but will always be an egg or two behind the others. We're expecting a lull shortly, alongside the Summer moult.

Cost per egg down to £2.53.

tortilla...

... made by Cristina, the Spanish partner of one of our designers. She made it with Kingsfield eggs and olive oil from her mother's garden. Absolutely delicious.

more scandinavian japes...

some happy norwegians with too much time on their hands...

more web 2.0....

go2web20 - a nicely designed directory of web 2.0 sites. One I really like is picnik - an online image editor. Apparently photoshop is going to have an online version soon.

ipods..

Have I mentioned how much I love my ipod? I've had one for over 4 years, and bought a new 8gb nano in the new year. It looks just like this, it's very small, and very red. The best new function over my old brick is being able to rate songs on the move, which has made smart playlists much more interesting and varied.

And I love total random play. I've just had the following sequence:

Scott Walker - Mathilde
Ed Harcourt - The Storm is coming
The Clash - Hateful
That Petrol Emotion - Creeping to the cross
The Strands (same band as Shack) - X hits the spot
Radiohead - Paranoid Android
Scissor Sisters - Laura
Eels - Novocaine for the soul
The Doors - LA Woman

Not too shabby.

Margo is off the mark!

Check out the latest productivity chart. We're down to £6.27 per egg, brilliant, although this will change as we shortly have to spend £5.50 on another sack of pellets.

We didn't eat it. We suspect she got taken by surprise - it was in the run rather than in the laying box, and she had trodden on it, breaking the shell. But it was a lovely dark brown speckled colour, and I'm sure the next one will be delicious.

Hopefully she will start laying in the appropriate place now. It must be a confusing time for a hen. Life is normal, peck peck, dig dig, chomp chomp and suddenly BLAM eggs start appearing out of your 'vent' on an almost daily basis. Ask yourselves, how would you feel?

Chad Vader...

I like this. Some more:

Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6

last day's filming for 'abolition'...

... out and about around the Merchant City in Glasgow. These merchants (who still have streets named after them - Buchanan St for example) traded in goods like cotton, sugar and tobacco, from plantations in the Caribbean (more street names - Kingston Bridge, Virginia Street - well known in Glasgow), using slaves from Africa as their workforce. Imagine it - exploiting humans, in terrible conditions, in far flung places, all for the sake of supplying the public's demand for cheap goods... wouldn't happen today, right?

Here's the central BBC site commemorating the abolition of the slave trade. Our site, for schools in Scotland, is going live at the beginning of May, with the TV programmes broadcast sometime in the Autumn. I'll be reminding you to set your videos nearer the time...

A drawing of me...

BBC web 2.0 talk
Originally uploaded by ghostschool.

... at a presentation last week, by one of the designers downstairs. Although I look bored, I wasn't at all, it was an excellent presentation about web 2.0 which kept me thoroughly engaged for an hour.

(I suspect my boss, who gave this presentation, has also found this blog)


Speaking of web 2.0 type things, here's a flickr group compiled by colleages with photos of our new building which we're moving to in the summer, at various stages of construction. And here's a google map, showing where we're moving from and to.

dundee - proud to be the home of the 'dandy'...

About 2 seconds after I took this, a fight broke out between the little pikey standing by the cash machine, and another one out of shot. It's a great place, Dundee.