Finished my education, education, education (3) yesterday and starfleet have trained me - very pleased with it all, I am. They actually seem to have something good going on here, even with the minor bugs it still has. Those crew members that have met the trainer in question will be pleased to hear that his style remains unique in it's field and his banter is as enjoyable as it ever was. Also, he has a couple of photo's he likes to share ;-) Anyway, the new weapon for our arsenal that he's been teaching us to use is great, a vast improvement over the previous one. I'm sure it won't be long before we can use it in anger on undiscovered planets and then we'll know for sure but until then phasers are simply set to "smile smugly" rather than "stun".
On the flip side the process for selecting the "away team" goes on, with the news that just over half of them are ready to be beamed off the starship, while the rest (almost a third (3)) are still to be decided, mostly by their immediate commanding officer. I bumped into one of the admiral's over the last couple of days who is an all round good egg and the poor man was pulling his hair out. His point being that we don't have enough crew members as it is, and having to negotiate with the captain over retaining existing one's isn't helping to get any new discoveries on-board. There was much harrumphing and huffing amongst the other crew members in the education that reflected the admiral's concerns. Needless to say the crew are restless, which I'm sure they're aware of on the bridge, but there's no comfort in that - no-one who hasn't already been selected wants to boldly go. After all, there may be tribbles ahead. (sorry - that's a bit of a Star Trek joke that I couldn't resist)
At the same time, there may be trouble ahead in the shape of a sodding great volcano on the southern edge of Iceland. The last couple of weeks have seen rumblings, grumblings and eruptions at a 2 kilometre wide volcano known as "Eyjafjallajoekull" (I know, terrible isn't it?). In fact this is the second erruption to occur in a month. Less well known is the 10 kilometer wide volcano known more pronounceably as "Katla" that sits next to it, which has been ominously quiet for some time. Historically, when the smaller one goes pop, the bigger one usually follows - hence my concern.
The knock-on effect has been that all air-traffic in the UK has been grounded for an unknown length of time because of the cloud of ash that "Eyjafjallajoekull" is spewing forth into the upper atmosphere. That is an unprecedented step. Luckily, we don't currently have any plans to be flying, so that side of the natural disaster shouldn't have an impact, but there is growing concern over the settling of the ash cloud. It's reported to smell strongly of sulpher and the debris, while being a very fine dust, is 60-70% Silicon Dioxide. In itself it's not particularly dangerous as it disperses at such a high altitude, although should "Katla" join in the fun and games, we could end up with a very different picture. Something to keep an eye on I think.
Coffee Blend news now, and I have it on very good authority that Whittards have four blends in particular that are worth a taste test. They are: Old Brown Java, Italian Expresso, Monsoon Malabar and Cafe Francais. I have a "Bad Man" to thank for these recommendations, and I'm hoping to acquire them over the weekend for a proper slurping. I'll let you know how that works out.
Now, I know I said I wasn't going to mention bollotics again before next Tuesday, but of course I forgot that history has been made in the shape of the first ever live UK TV debate, which I can't let pass without comment. If the election were to be decided on the debate Mr Clegg would be our PM, (I would include Twitter feeds for the other two leaders, but they don't appear to share their thoughts with the electorate) and watching question time afterwards, I'm really starting to think that might actually happen. A 3 (3) party system clearly works and it is time for a major political change in this country. There is "another way" and with Vince Cable sorting the finances, right now it looks like a winning play. One thing it's definetly done is make the whole process one hell of a lot more interesting and I can't wait for round two. I wonder if red and/or blue opinions will change given the yellow performance. Tricky for them with their manefesto's already published.
Manefesto: from the Greek "Manefest - to make happen" and "O" as in, "Oh, it didn't"
Onwards to the weekend....
On the flip side the process for selecting the "away team" goes on, with the news that just over half of them are ready to be beamed off the starship, while the rest (almost a third (3)) are still to be decided, mostly by their immediate commanding officer. I bumped into one of the admiral's over the last couple of days who is an all round good egg and the poor man was pulling his hair out. His point being that we don't have enough crew members as it is, and having to negotiate with the captain over retaining existing one's isn't helping to get any new discoveries on-board. There was much harrumphing and huffing amongst the other crew members in the education that reflected the admiral's concerns. Needless to say the crew are restless, which I'm sure they're aware of on the bridge, but there's no comfort in that - no-one who hasn't already been selected wants to boldly go. After all, there may be tribbles ahead. (sorry - that's a bit of a Star Trek joke that I couldn't resist)
At the same time, there may be trouble ahead in the shape of a sodding great volcano on the southern edge of Iceland. The last couple of weeks have seen rumblings, grumblings and eruptions at a 2 kilometre wide volcano known as "Eyjafjallajoekull" (I know, terrible isn't it?). In fact this is the second erruption to occur in a month. Less well known is the 10 kilometer wide volcano known more pronounceably as "Katla" that sits next to it, which has been ominously quiet for some time. Historically, when the smaller one goes pop, the bigger one usually follows - hence my concern.
The knock-on effect has been that all air-traffic in the UK has been grounded for an unknown length of time because of the cloud of ash that "Eyjafjallajoekull" is spewing forth into the upper atmosphere. That is an unprecedented step. Luckily, we don't currently have any plans to be flying, so that side of the natural disaster shouldn't have an impact, but there is growing concern over the settling of the ash cloud. It's reported to smell strongly of sulpher and the debris, while being a very fine dust, is 60-70% Silicon Dioxide. In itself it's not particularly dangerous as it disperses at such a high altitude, although should "Katla" join in the fun and games, we could end up with a very different picture. Something to keep an eye on I think.
Coffee Blend news now, and I have it on very good authority that Whittards have four blends in particular that are worth a taste test. They are: Old Brown Java, Italian Expresso, Monsoon Malabar and Cafe Francais. I have a "Bad Man" to thank for these recommendations, and I'm hoping to acquire them over the weekend for a proper slurping. I'll let you know how that works out.
Now, I know I said I wasn't going to mention bollotics again before next Tuesday, but of course I forgot that history has been made in the shape of the first ever live UK TV debate, which I can't let pass without comment. If the election were to be decided on the debate Mr Clegg would be our PM, (I would include Twitter feeds for the other two leaders, but they don't appear to share their thoughts with the electorate) and watching question time afterwards, I'm really starting to think that might actually happen. A 3 (3) party system clearly works and it is time for a major political change in this country. There is "another way" and with Vince Cable sorting the finances, right now it looks like a winning play. One thing it's definetly done is make the whole process one hell of a lot more interesting and I can't wait for round two. I wonder if red and/or blue opinions will change given the yellow performance. Tricky for them with their manefesto's already published.
Manefesto: from the Greek "Manefest - to make happen" and "O" as in, "Oh, it didn't"
Onwards to the weekend....
great news about the tool and I loved the trimble reference for any trekkies.
ReplyDeletethanks thanks thanks (3) for a great post