There was a feline issue I touched on a few months ago here involving our cats marking their territory, which is nowhere near as bad as it was, but still happening now and again. It seems to have become a little worse since we opened up the windows and doors again for the warmer weather.

I'm pretty sure the cause of it all is next door's cats. There are two of them: a black one, who I call 'Ugly', and a stripey one I call 'Smelly'. Those pesky little buggers are always in our yard taunting our cats, who are housebound. In fact, our cats are housebound because every time we let them out there was trouble with Ugly and Smelly.

If it weren't for a very sensitive Ms B restraining me, I would have taken more aggressive action against the cats being in the yard, such as a big boot up the arse or a tennis ball between the eyes at high velocity. We've been checking some less harmful ways of preventing Ugly and Smelly wandering where we don't want them.

This ultrasonic gizmo has a detection range of about ten metres. When cats come a-wandering, this little baby emits an ultrasonic barrage on the cat and sends them scurrying. Or at least that's the theory. After a while the cat learns not to enter the region. This one sounded good to us, so we put in an order, but it ended up being cancelled due to an inability to stock the item. In my heart I wanted one that shot tennis balls at the cats rather than beeping at them, so I'm not too disheartened.





Scarecrow was the one I liked the sound of. It's a mean looking little contraption that detects movement and then shoots out water, once again sending the intruder scurrying. We ruled this one out due to the shocking water restrictions we have here at the moment.








The Scary Man is actually a bird repellent, but I included it because I love the picture. I actually see two scary men in this picture, which one arrives in your letterbox if you order it, I wonder?

I guess my other option is to sit out on my back patio 24 hours a day with a tennis ball in hand and my arm cocked. Or I'm sure my fellow bloggers will have some suggestions.

Posted by Bonestorm at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments

This job started off like most of my others. PC switching off a lot by itself, a common fault with the particular Dell model. Motherboard replacement, end of story.

So I went and got the PC and brought it back to our workshop, didn't even bother cracking it open since I already knew the fault. Logged the call. Dell tech came out the next day.

Opened up the box.

Found a nest of maggoty insects inside.



The machine came from a section that's renowned for being a bit grubby, but this sets a new benchmark. How in hell do you get insects nesting inside your PC? It's beyond me.

Anyway, the Dell tech replaced the mobo and then it was up to me to... cleanse the infestation. Oh joy. We have no vacuum cleaner or other appropriate cleaning tools, so my only option was to scrape this maggoty crud out with paper towels.

It was then suggested by management that I check all other PCs in that department for similar infestations. I guess my saving grace was that there were none.

Posted by Bonestorm at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments

Sure to feature at next year's Oscars is my second animation. I've improved the models and learned a bit more about the animation process so hopefully it looks a bit better than number one.

See it here:
TJ and Ash Episode 2 - Hunters

Posted by Bonestorm at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments

Like hot food?

A friend of mine in the office is now the proud owner of a bottle Mad Dog 357 Collector's Edition, which he had to import from the States to get his hands on. It's not wine. I guess with a name like 'mad dog' that's readily apparent. It's actually hot sauce. Or maybe hot doesn't quite do it justice.

Let's put this in context first. They use what's called the Scoville scale to measure the hotness of chillis or anything derived from chillis. This was named after some nutcase in the early 1900s who went around tasting really, really hot chillis, for reasons we can only speculate upon.

Tabasco sauce rates about 2,500 on the Scoville scale. So does a jalepeno. So 2,500 is reasonably hot, right?

Pepper spray, at the other end of the scale, rates 2,000,000.

The Mad Dog 357 Collector's Edition rates 600,000 on the Scoville scale.

That's right, this sauce is 250 times hotter than a jalepeno. It's a third as hot as pepper spray. The stuff they use to incapactitate criminals, or burn a hole through solid concrete, or whatever it is they do with it.

Suffice to say that my friend tried a drop or two of Mad Dog on his sandwich and was writhing around in pain for 20 minutes afterwards.

That's not the worst of it though. There's a sauce on the market called Blair's 16 Million Reserve. I don't have to tell you what the 16 million means, do I?

So in case pepper spray isn't hot enough to use on your hot dog, you can buy some of this sauce, for your eating pleasure, that is 8 times as potent as pepper spray.

I'm going to make the assumption that if a drop of Blair's doesn't kill you instantly, it will at minimum burn your face off and leave you wearing bandages ala The Mummy for the rest of your life.

I love a nice hot curry but to me this crosses the line between getting a chilli buzz and self immolation.

Posted by Bonestorm at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments

Ms B and I had our 19 week scan yesterday and lo and behold we are having a girl. I expect the next few months I'll see more pink stuff arriving in the house than you would see at a Barbie convention but I guess that goes with the territory.

Although doctors have been known to make mistakes before. If it turns out to be a boy I wonder how he'll turn out if we make him wear pink dresses and little fluffy pink hats for his first few months of life?

Posted by Bonestorm at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments

This one is for Madame Boffin who made a post with similar sentiments on her blog. Who would've thought the CEO of Coke actually had a soul.



"In a university commencement address several years ago, Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises, spoke of the relation of work to one's other commitments: "Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them: work, family, health, friends and spirit and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends and spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.
"How? Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special. Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you. Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as they were your life, for without them, life is meaningless. Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time you live ALL the days of your life.

"Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying. Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us each together. Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave. Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly, and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

"Don't run through life so fast that you forget not only where you've been, but also where you are going. Don't forget, a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated. Don't be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily. Don't use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured each step of the way. Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery and Today is a gift… that's why we call it The Present."

Posted by Bonestorm at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

I have this happen to me a lot. I listen to a song initially, be it for days, weeks or months on end. After this I have an impression of the lyrics. Sometimes I can work out the whole song, no problems. Other times there are words or phrases that aren't clear, and I make a 'best guess' about what is being said, and usually the resulting word or phrase is nonsensical, but I live with it.

Then I hear the song again a few years later, and I immediately know the lyrics that I couldn't figure out before. I think this has happened about 3 times in the last week, and it must have happened a hundred times in the past.

Wtf is this all about? How does it happen?

My theory is that the subconscious brain has time to twist and turn these lyrics about and make sense of them. The old grey matter is doing the figuring out in the background. Then the song is heard, and BAM you know the lyrics.

Does this happen to anyone else, and if so, what are your thoughts?

Posted by Bonestorm at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments