Are you really any good at parking?

Test your skills in this fun flash game: Go Red.

Finally – Google Earth for OSX

Google Earth is now available for Mac. It’s so pointless, but such a great piece of software.

One reason I use a Mac

Before I start, I know that Mac’s are not completely immune to the problem, but they are certainly a lot more secure. I’ve just spent more time than I had to spare disinfecting, checking and repairing all my Windows computers and connected network shares after I discovered that a virus had got in. It had managed to attach itself to the computer that I use only as a downloader – and therefore expect it to get hit by virus nastiness – but unfortunately the virus had got around all the defences I had in place. It was a variant of the Poebot virus that spreads itself across network connections. Whilst doing all this, I also found another nasty piece of spyware – Live which had distributed itself all over the registry.

I’ve now hopefully closed up the holes that allowed these little nasties in, but it’s been time consuming running virus and spyware scans on all network drives and so on to see just how far it spread itself.

Some of the best SPAM I’ve ever read

It’s like an episode of Little House on the Prairie or summat:

Hey Family!

Just wanted to write you, and let you know, how the degree program I tried out went.
Well, six weeks later, I graduated, finished & received my Masters Degree with no study required and tgcwaywu verifiable.

Yeah mom, I know you and Dad doubted it at first, but this turned out to be qqfqnchhc legit. This opportunity was given to me because of the professional experience and previous course work I had accumulated.

I’m so excited mom and dad, this was a life altering opportunity & for once in my life I took advantage of it.

I already have jobs, that wouldn’t have given me a chance before, now they are calling off the hook! This really is a godsend.

Tell Susan and Cousin Joey that they better hurry up and call that # I gave them the other day.

Again these are the degrees they offer, BA, BSC, MA, MSC, MBA and PhD, and the number to call is 1-xxx-436-xxxx, tell them to leave a brief message with their name, the degree they are interested in and their day and evening phone numbers. They will contact you soon after,

Anyway, much love, and tell the rest of the family I said hello

Love,
Your son,

Len

P.s.
Mom, why don’t you send this email to a few of your friends? My professor told me that if we send over referrals the school can give us a scholarship.

Well gee whizz, Billybob, I guess you gone got all edumacated and sumunsumun. Don’t forget Cousin Joey now, y’hear?

(Good and) Bad start for (Capi-)Rossi

Yesterday marked the start of the new MotoGP season. The first race of the season in Jerez was won by Loris Capirossi. World champion Valentino Rossi finished 14th after being taken out on Lap 1 by another rider. It was the first time in 6 years that Rossi has not won the first race of the season.

With rumours that this will be his last season of MotoGP as he bails out next year for driving a Formula 1 car for Ferrari, perhaps The Doctor has been hit with a Schumacher-esque Ferrari curse in his bid to take a record 6 consecutive MotoGP world titles?

Beware – dishonest bike breaker

I used bike-breakers.info to find some parts for my bike. This is not a dig at them cos they did what they said and I was put in contact with a few people who thought they had parts for my bike. One part I was after was a fairing panel for my ‘99 CBR600FX.

Breakingpoint.co.uk (based in Aberdeen) contacted me saying they had one, in great condition, for £80. They even emailed me a picture of it and yes, it looked in great condition. SO I bought it. Because I live in the Channel Islands they posted it to me for £20. I received the panel today, and it is in good condition (needs a good clean, but there’s no scratches etc.) all except for one glaring omission on their part:

It has a bloody datatag on it. In a really obvious position (but a position that is not visible from the photo they sent me). For those who don’t know, a Datatag is a security device/mark which is a unique combination of numbers and letters which is used to uniquely identify a bike, for example, in the event that the bike gets stolen.

I phoned them about it and they:

1. Said they never saw it
2. Suggested that if it was that obvious then I should have enlarged the photo they emailed me to make sure it was all fine
3. Reckoned the datatag was a tiny little mark and 99% of people and I quote “wouldn’t give a toss about it for f*k’s sake”
4. Would allow me to send it back to them BUT would not refund the postage to me (£20!)
5. Told me there was nothing they could do, and when I said there obviously was something else they could do (i.e. refund the postage to me because this was their mistake, not mine) put the phone down on me

The thing that really pisses me off is that they lie about it – the datatag was practically the first thing I saw when I took the panel out of the box – there is absolutely no way they could have not seen it, yet they claim that they didn’t.

They also think that having two different datatag marks on my bike (because I already have a datatag) is going to make absolutely no difference to my bike. Whereas I think it would look bloody ridiculous AND importantly that if I ever came to sell the bike, should the potential buyer see the two marks (which they would) then it’s going to instantly make them think twice (or at the very least realise that I’ve had to change the panel).

So my advice is to stay well clear of them as they’re blatantly dishonest.

Over a month and counting…

Yep, I’ve been a non-smoker for over a month. In that time, I’ve had one indiscretion, but other than that, I’m basically free from it. It’s difficult – I’m in that limbo zone where I don’t smoke, I don’t want to smoke, but for some reason my mind is convinced that I could/should have just one cigarette. And I actually think I could have one and it’d be OK. But that’s sort of not really the point.. the point is I don’t smoke anymore… so I shouldn’t “just have one”.

I have a horrible feeling that this phase is going to be a while to get over.