You'd think that having 32GB of RAM on your PC would be enough to run Chrome and iTunes, right? Apparently not.

Posted via email from deKay’s posterous

Posted via email from deKay’s posterous

Posted via email from deKay’s posterous

OK, to be fair, we did just get Xenoblade Chronicles, which the US didn’t. But they’ve decided to remove the 100-long London Life RPG from the EU version of the new Professor Layton game. It’s there in Japan, and there in the US, but we in Europe ain’t getting it.

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It’s a billion times better than Sonic 4, anyway.

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Posted via email from deKay’s posterous

Then it hit me: the piano riff is also in the theme to Baywatch (no, I don’t like – or watch – Baywatch). Apparently, the theme is called “I’m Always Here”.

Anyway, to prove I’ve not gone a bit mad:

Blue Savannah

Baywatch Intro

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Last year, we heard scratching in our (bricked up) chimney. About a week later, the scratching stopped. Whatever had fallen in had either died or escaped, but we didn’t know what it was at the time. A bird? A mouse? A dog? OK, probably not a dog.

About three weeks after the scratching stopped, we noticed a few bluebottles around the house. Of course at the time, we didn’t link the two events, and just assumed they’d come about due to the hot weather or something we’d left to rot in the bin, or something else.

But they got worse. Over a few days, we’d start finding lots of bluebottles. Tens of them in several rooms. We were clearing the rooms in the morning, and then finding more when we got home. It wasn’t pleasant. The man from Rentokill told us something had died somewhere, and then we realised it was the scratching in the chimney. Anyway, he killed the flies and all was well.

Until a couple of weeks ago. When we heard scratching again.

We quickly organised a builder to come and sort it out, and this week (a few days after the scratching had stopped again) he came out. First he closed off the top of the chimney with mesh, to prevent repeat occurrences, then he started to open up the fireplace to clear it out.

And oh, what a clearing out it needed. Something I ended up doing the majority of, once the dead crow was spotted.

Of course, the builder was supposed to be clearing it, but he didn’t for two reasons:

1. He poked at the corpse and said he didn’t like it. He called himself a wuss.
2. Something moved.

Yes, somewhere in the chimney, something was moving.

As the hole got bigger, it became apparent that there wasn’t just a couple of dead birds in there. I mean, I was expecting a pair of corpses – the remains from last year and those from last week. But there were more than two. And the moving thing.

I rang the RSPCA, who, would you believe, are closed until 11am. Thankfully, that was just our regional office and there was a general calls line so I called them instead. They weren’t very helpful, basically saying that if I could get the thing out unharmed then great, and if it was injured, to take it to a vet. I’m sure a vet would love to mend the tail of some vermin. Tch. Of course, there may have been an actual nest in there though. Anyway, we (I) got back to the clearing. I didn’t like it much, but I just kept telling myself it was just like chicken in Asda. Only black and with the beak still attached.

After five corpses had been removed, we found a blockage. For some reason, a huge bail of plastic wrap was in the chimney. That came out, and revealed more deadness – four more crows, in various stages of petrification. Actually, four and a half more crows. Mmm.

And still with the scratching.

Then, it jumped out. A perfectly alive and in one piece crow. A huge crow. In my lounge. Hammering its head against the window until I managed to open it and let it escape. I’m pretty sure the builder squealed.

It was all easy after that. The builder got on with clearing the feathers and twigs and whatnot, sealed it all back up, and went on his way. But what excitement for a day!

I do wonder if the live crow was actually a new resident to the chimney since the weekend, and whether he’d been surviving on the flesh of the departed. It’d explain Harry Half-a-Crow if nothing else.

He’s probably a bit relieved he got out too. I imagine there’d been a sadistic crow on our roof convincing other crows to go in our chimney (and to their death) by telling them it was full of tasty worms or something. And then, when they’re in there, he giggles to himself and cuts another notch in a roof tile. They get to the bottom of the chimney, find all their dead friends, and think “oh bother”. But this one escaped to tell everyone! There’ll probably be an angry mob of crows round our way now, with pitchforks and burning torches.

Posted via email from deKay’s posterous

Posted via email from deKay’s posterous

Not sure how, but for some reason I have -1298407765 days left to
activate XP. Best get on that, then.

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There’s a game for iOS called Game Dev Story. It’s a game company simulation game. In it, you make games. Here, I made a Game Company Simulation Game.

Then the universe imploded.

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Take last night’s surround sound speaker setup for instance. I’ve got four speakers to hang on the wall, one in each corner of the room. Running cables was easy – the carpet lifts up and there’s space between the grip rods and the skirting boards. The cables are run up the walls in the corners using low-profile mini trunking, which is the same colour as the wall (and, in three of the corners, out of sight behind furniture). And yes, I know how to wire a speaker and an amp. Even if the + and – cables are indistinguishable from each other.

The problem came from the screwing-the-brackets-to-the-wall bit. The walls are plasterboard, so I don’t want to just bang a screw in as it’ll all go horribly wrong. I’d already tried using some hollow wall anchors for something else in the room, but they were no use – they require a bigger gap between the plasterboard and the wall behind than I had.

It was then suggested I use some self drill plugs. I used a few to anchor some bookcases to a wall, and to put a curtain rail up, and they worked really well. Couple of those in each speaker bracket, job done – right? Of course not. That would be too easy.

Screwing the first two in for the first bracket was harder than I was expecting. They just didn’t want to go in. Eventually, and some serious screwdriver palm-burn later, and they were in the wall. Only to fall out again once I’d put the speaker on it, leaving two huge holes. Rubbish.

That left me a bit dejected. Yet again, another 10 minute job took far too long and was then incomplete and ruined.

Some inspection of the holes left, however, gave me a bit of hope. The drill plugs had hit metal: Of course! I’d not checked for stuff behind the board! Some careful listening to the notes produced by the back of a screwdriver tapping the wall in various places confirmed it, and I found a metal-less bit of wall to try again in. Success! I then quickly upped a pair of rear speakers without a problem. Seems I’m not entirely useless.