Saturday, Jul. 22, 2017 - 22:11

#1 - A decent morning, despite some of the most slow and unmotivated 'getting out of bed' activity ever between eight and ten. In the end I wrapped my nephew's pressies, took them to the Post Office to send the fuck off, and also bought some groceries and some shit in Wilko too. I purchased gaffer tape, which made me feel like a man. I also bought fabric softener and some sterile dressing and bandages for my leg, which made me feel like an old woman.

#2 - Back home, put my shopping away, am appreciating the new things that this diet is encouraging me to try, though to some extent I can imagine the appeal of novelty will give way at some point to just missing some of the things I used to love. I have decided to weigh myself every Saturday too, and checking this morning after my shower, I've lost just over four pounds this week. I know at the start of a diet you lose weight a lot quicker/easier, and am aware of that, but nevertheless it's encouraging stuff to see that the weeks of self-denial are having a real impact and appear worthwhile.

#3 - It's fifty-five years since the Mariner 1 spacecraft was launched, only to fall into a rather erratic flight pattern - not responding correctly to commands from the guidance systems on the ground, due to a software fuck cascade of arse (probably due to a transcription error in prgramming). As it was uncontrolled and likely to crash, possibly in the North Atlantic shipping lanes or in an inhabited area, a self-destruct command was sent seconds before separation (after which the launch vehicle could not have been destroyed) and it went BOOM SHAKA LACK five minutes after launch. The probe's mission - a flyby of Venus - was accomplished by Mariner 2 launched 5 weeks later.

#4 - I spent a fair amount of time this p.m. watching videos on YouTube on various themes.. folks playing cricket games, road traffic accidents, P!nk music videos, rugby players breaking each other's noses. The second game of my stupid phone game ended with my team scoring 231/1 from twenty, then conceding 163 all out against my opponant from Karnataka (the Indian state, I assume, not the Welsh prog rock band).

#5 - Of course, 180 is the smallest number with eighteen factors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 30, 36, 45, 60, 90 and 180). In 1919, ill health - now believed to have been hepatic amoebiasis (a complication from episodes of dysentery many years previously) - compelled Ramanujan's return to India, where he died in 1920 at the age of 32.

#6 - It's six years since Norway was the victim of those two terror attacks by Anders Behring Breivik (a bomb blast which targeted government buildings in central Oslo, then a massacre at a youth camp on the island of Utøya). This must mean that Amy Winehouse is also six years dead as that seemed to be many newspapers/people's 'more important news' of that week. I went to a wedding and queued up for hog roast, and it was close to the time at which things started to go really badly at my old job due to some dodgy activities by colleagues at another site, which somehow reflected badly on how my department was being ran (and led to me and my five equivalents at other sites all failing to get our jobs back after restructure).

#7 - This evening I watched some guitar heroes thing on Yesterday, obviously something they'd purchased off the BBC, and it was pretty damned good. Some fine fine axemanship on display. There's a part of me which would wish I could play the electric guitar, but then again there's the practicality of limited opportunity and the fact I lack the patience and application to practice enough to get good.

#8 - Apparently Justin Bieber has been banned from China. This is a shame because a cup of tea doesn't taste nearly as nice out of a paper or plastic cup. Yes, that was an obvious joke and not a very funny one, but I wanted to make it, so coitus you and coitus all who sail in you.

#9 - Portland Anarchist Road Care (PARC) is a road maintenance organization formed in 2017 by anarchists in Portland, Oregon, United States, with the intention of repairing potholes in that city's roads. Other groups and initiatives with similar aims include one that began repairing potholes in Hamtramck, Michigan in 2015, and PDX Transformation, who placed traffic cones around bicycle lanes in Portland in 2016 to prevent other vehicles being driven on them. Last week I spotted that someone had laid a row of cones along the side of some road mending taking place down the street from me, and had continued the row up onto the bonnet and roof of a car which had stupidly parked right in the section being repaired.

#10 - I was wondering today about the net amount of exercise and how 'lazy' each alternative would be, comparing my walking further in order to get the lift up to the shopping centre, as opposed to walking a shirter difference but climbing the steps. Naturally, the former is probably lazier because stair climbing is harder work than a slightly longer walk, but how much further a walk would be 'equal' in laziness? Of course, unlike several other horned lizard species, desert horned lizards are unable to squirt blood from their eyes.

#11 - 94% of NRK's funding comes from a mandatory annual license fee payable by anyone who owns or uses a TV or device capable of receiving TV broadcasts. The remainder comes from commercial activities such as programme and DVD sales, spin-off products and certain types of sponsorship. NRK's license income in 2012 was more than 5 billion kroner. In the autumn of 2015 the government announced that it planned to change the way NRK is financed. This is in part a reaction to the decline of TV ownership in Norway. Some kind of "media charge" is planned, but it is not yet clear how such a system would work. The feeling is that the current license system is not sustainable in the long term.

#12 - Green Seamount is a small seamount (an underwater volcano) off the western coast of Mexico. It and the nearby Red Seamount were visited in 1982 by an expedition using DSV Alvin, which observed the seamount's sedimentary composition, sulfur chimneys, and biology. Thus, Green Seamount is well-characterized for such a small feature. Green Seamount is not very biologically diverse. The only fauna observed at its hydrothermal sites were single-celled, fan-shaped xenophyophores, and some shrimp. Still, marks of biological life were plentiful wherever sediments were 5 cm (2 in) or more deep.

#13 - I treated myself to a beer this evening. It's not any desire to be teetotal that's led to me not having had a drink before today since book group almost two weeks ago (if I recall correctly) it's just the empty calories. There are so many nice calorie-free and low-calrie drinks out there, seems a shame to 'use up' a chunk of my limited food intake on booze. Today though I'd had a small lunch and vegetable-heavy tea (actually, courgetti, makerel and red cabbage) so opened a Corona during the Fraustriance match.

#14 - Did you hear, Paul Weller locked Helen Keller in a cellar with Old Yeller? It didn't end well, Helen couldn't find the food Paul had left for her, starved to death, and thr dog ate half of her before Paul realised. He made the remainder of her remains into jam. Not The Jam, just some jam.

#15 - Kostandin Nelko, known as Kostandin Kristoforidhi, 1826–1895) was an Albanian translator and scholar. He is mostly known for having translated into Albanian the New Testament for the first time in the Gheg Albanian dialect in 1872. He also provided a translation in Tosk Albanian in 1879 thereby improving the 1823 tosk version of Vangjel Meksi. By providing translation in both dialects, he has the merit of founding the basis of the unification of both dialects into a national language.

#16 - I've agreed to host the sketching meeting in three weeks time which the usual organiser bloke can't run as he's away. It's a minor inconvenience, and in truth I get more out of it than I have to give. There's a bit of hope/encouragement that some recent newbies will come (or fresh newbies) and have an encouraging and good time n'that. I will try to advertise it a little more online and that, try and get a few more people turning up, perchance.

#17 - On the subject of drawing, I might go out tomorrow and do some quick sketches. The ten-minute exercises I did last time out were quite amusing and put less pressure on me to find something that allows me to produce something 'finished'. There's a sense that I can keep it fresh and not feel inhibited if I go out and do a few quickish ones

#18 - The Gulf Smoothhound shark is a type of shark that comes from the Triakidae family. It has a long slender body, a plain grey/brown dorsum, pale/white ventrum and a large and rounded dorsal fin. The fins have a pale to white trailing margin fading towards adulthood. The caudal fin is deeply notched; its teeth are flat and pale. This type of shark can be found in the continental shelf between depths of 36 m to 229 m. The maximum recorded size was 140 cm. It is found on the continental shelves of the tropical western central Atlantic. The reproduction of this houndshark is placental viviparous.

#19 - The first game today in the women's football today ended Iceland 1-2 Switzerland. It was a scrappy, scrapping game between two teams a little lacking in quality. Despite having only half the Swiss possession, Iceland's Fridriksdottir raced through on the counter half an hour in to score from Iceland's first shot on target in the two hours they'd played. Just before the break there was an equaliser, shortly after they should've gone two down from a far post header - Bachmann getting to the by-line and pulling it back for Dickenmann to score despite attempts to block. The ladies in red came out better in the second and pressure told when poor defending left Backermann unmarked at the back stick to nod them ahead. Iceland went in pursuit of a goal, a nasty clash of heads left Jonsdottir sparked out but uninjured and the Swiss keeper Thalmann cut in the head and stiched up on the field. Switzerladies managed the game well, bit of play-acting, Bachmann hit the bar in the 95th, they saw it out.

#20 - The evening game finished France 1-1 Austria. The first quarter was pretty much as expected, with France having more of the game and a couple of good chances saved, and Austria working hard (and tackling hard). A moment of danger caused by a weak misplaced clearance by the French keeper saw her scrambling back to save a shot on target when Austria pounced and squared. The danger signs were there and Austria took a surprise lead when Makas fired home a long and poorly defended long throw from just inside the box. Five minutes into the second, an equaliser for France (headed well by Henry from a corner). A fine fingertip save onto the bar from Linsberger stopped Henry making it two-one. A couple more good saves as they held on well. A nasty French studs-up tackle on an Austrian ankle led to bloody red sock activity (not quite James Vaughan, but almost). An excellent result (a second excellent result) for Austria, they're probably through notwithstanding a heavy loss against elminated Iceland and a Swiss win over France?