Duhn dundunduhn, Duhn dundunduhn, it’s nothing at all.
24.02.10
18:06:00 - Comments (View)
18:06:00 - Comments (View)
question, ask me anything, travel, animals, introspection, random,
sabine asked: If you could choose a ride on a unicorn through a forest of golden apple trees (you were allowed to take one home as a souvenir) or a scuba adventure to Atlatis (no souvenirs allowed!), which would you choose and why?
Firstly, I have to admit to never having ridden a horse, and nor have I ever scuba-dived. I’m assuming that lessons for either of these are included, whichever I choose?
I think I’d take the trip to Atlantis, despite not being able to take anything home with me. When it comes to real-life holidays, I’m not big on buying physical souvenirs or sending postcards. I take a lot of photos, and video nowadays, and for me a holiday is about the experience of being there, wherever it may be.
Whenever I think of Atlantis (not that often, admittedly), I sort of see a Pompeii-esque town, frozen in time, with people on the streets exactly as they were when the city collapsed into the sea. It’d be cool to see that kind of image/setting, of a lost time and civilisation.
Whilst the financial gains of the golden apple tree forest is alluring, money isn’t everything, honestly. Although with enough golden apples I could afford to take a trip to Atlantis afterwards. Hmm.
And unicorns are just a bit girly, aren’t they? I’m thinking of that scene in Dodgeball when Vince Vaughn goes to Christine Taylor’s house and it’s full of unicorn paraphrenalia.
Having said all that, I’m going to wimp out and choose a middle ground. A middle ground, however, that is freaking awesome.
I would choose to ride a narwhal to Atlantis for a look round, even if I couldn’t take any souvenirs. Narwhals are probably my favourite animals, and they’re actually real too!
I’m visualising the narwhal talking to me (bear with me) as we descend to the bottom of the ocean, and then using its tusk to point out interesting things as we go through the aquatic streets of Atlantis. I’m sitting on its back, as it glides between the submerged buildings, turning corners and investigating everything.
I genuinely am visualising this, for what it’s worth, and it looks gooooood.
12.02.10
10:51:55 - Comments (View)
10:51:55 - Comments (View)
text, random, subway, food, work, london, maps, so very very sad,
Something else that I have achieved this morning: Using the Gmaps Pedometer to calculate the distance to the three Subway sandwich shops near my office, to find out once and for all which is the closest.
Quite sadly, I did it for two different parameters: an office-Subway-office round trip, and a gym-Subway-office route for when I go to the gym at lunchtime and grab lunch straight after.
The results show quite conclusively that the one on Holborn Viaduct is much closer than the others. The round trip is 400m shorter than the next closest shop, and 250m less when going there from the gym.
This is science in action, people, SCIENCE!!!
For the time being, it’s actually all in vain, as I have a little book of discount vouchers and am spreading myself across the three shops equally so as not to appear addicted nor cheap…
This post will make you yawn.
Told you so.
I’m at a different desk than usual today, as my computer has been quarantined for spambot removal, and I simply have no idea how the person that sat here before me actually sat.
We have those uber-adjustable chairs in the office, and I’ve got mine just right. Sitting in someone else’s chair, temporarily, feels weird. The chair is tilted forward massively, and I think that if the desk wasn’t immediately in front of me I’d tumble out of it regularly.
Try as I might to fiddle with the settings, it won’t change. Tomorrow, and my old chair back, can’t come quickly enough!
John Logie Baird, who 83 years ago today gave the first public demonstration of his new invention, the television, also had quite the history when it came to inventions in general.
My favourite little anecdote is that he caused a power cut across the whole of Glasgow when attempting to turn graphite into diamonds. And who said alchemy died in the middle ages?!
Daft Punk is playing at my house.
I tried putting a Post-It note over the offending part of her anatomy, but that wasn’t good enough apparently.
OK, it’s a bit of a non-story, some manufactured spluttering from the Daily Mail directed towards the BBC, but I loved this quote. Apparently, the director of some antiques TV show wanted a painting moved so as not to show a nipple on screen, even if it’s a centuries-old nipple in oil on canvas, in the background of the shot.
It amused me that the thought of putting a post-it note on it even occurred to the owner of the antiques shop in question. I think all paintings of this ilk need post-it notes for sensitive eyes…
The Big Picture - Haiti 6 days later
WARNING: the photo I’ve linked directly to is pretty horrific. Don’t click if you’re likely to be upset by the image. This image, a mass grave of unidentified victims of the Haiti earthquake, really brings home to me the power that nature wields, and how indifferent it is in how it is shown. Usually, photos of this kind of mass grave, of a pile of bodies, are as a result of deliberate human actions, such as war or genocide. There are reasons for the deaths, no matter how abhorrent those reasons may be. A decision was made by one or more humans to carry through these actions and kill those people/ These deaths, however, were just plain bad luck, for want of a better phrase. Yes, many of the world’s population live in earthquake-prone areas, but our ability to predict earthquakes is almost as non-existent as our power to control them. Mother Nature wields her power apathetically, and this kind of event is the outcome. It’s very sobering.
The advantage of ordering some clothes and underwear for the girlfriend at Christmas is that I now get emails from Bravissimo telling me that now is the time to “Spring Clean Your Lingerie Drawer!”.
Don’t mind if I do…
Oh, and I even get my own copy of their catalogue of lovely large-chested ladies modelling lovely lingerie delivered to the house. Win!
