Saturday, February 24, 2007

Fun & games

Quiz Answers

Well I have managed to get my PC back at last and so can put up the the answers to the Countries quiz.
Well I thought I had Will on the first round, but I think I DID give him too much information by saying he was on the right lines.
Yes Will all roads led to TOM HANKS!! But, the concord connection is with where he was born, I thought that it was easy to put a picture of Concord up!

Anyway, no-one got 100% this time around, but I have been a bit lienient in the marking, so here we go the winner, and by a margin of only 3 points was....


WILL!!! My mum is going to be berating me for giving you the clue to Tom Hanks, as she doesn't very often get the link, but did really well this time. Pleased I caught you out with the little mermaid though Will ;)

Will got 66 right out of the maximum 70, which again is fantastic.

MUM came second, with a stirling effort of 63! No wonder she picked countries, sorry about the flags, I didn't know they showed up wrong! But great effort mum, and you spotted the Concord link sort of.

KIM, You made it into the 50's with a great score of 55! That has been enough to win in the past, but your Bro' is just too good!

Answers:

Round 1 : 1)Lincoln Cathedral – Lincoln, 2)Liberty Bell – Philadelphia, 3)JFK Airport – New York 4)Concorde, 5)Space Needle - Seattle
The link is Tom Hanks as The Da Vinci Code was filmed in Lincoln Cathedral, Philadelphia was a Hanks Oscar winner, JFK was the airport in the Hanks film The Terminal, Concord was where he was born, and finally Seattle from the film Sleepless in Seattle.

Round 2:1)Arc de Triomphe – Paris, 2) Big Ben – London, 3)Taj Mahal – Agra , India,
4)Mount Fuji – Japan, 5)Sydney Opera House – Sydney, 6)The White House – Washington, 7) Leaning Tower of Pisa – Pisa, 8)Golden Gate Bridge – San Francisco, 9)Jesus Statue – Rio de Janero, 10)Little Mermaid - Copenhagen

Round 3:1) Is this the way to Amerillo every night I’ve been huggin’ my pillow – Tony Christie
2) Black and whispering as the rain, on the streets of PhiladelphiaBruce Sprinstein
3) I’m just the Devil with love to spare, Viva Las VegasElvis
4) Barcelona, Like a jewel in the sun – Freddie Mercury
5) On a cold and grey Chicago mornin’ a poor little baby child is born – Elvis
6) Cause London is burning and I, I live by the river – The Clash
7) As he carry’s me home to the Mull of Kintyre – Wings
8) Bangkok Oriental setting and the city don’t know that the city is getting – Murray Head
9) It means nothing to me. This means nothing to me. Oh ViennaUltravox

10) New York, London, Paris, Munich - M

OK change of order, Will get your thinking cap on, I'd like a theme for the next Quiz. And Kim can you give me one too, that way the next quiz will be one or the other theme, and it is going to be pot luck which one it is going to be.

I am off to Costa Rica tomorrow, so until the next time have a great weekend!

Friday, February 23, 2007

Travel

In the States then Costa Rica

Sorry I haven't posted for a while but I am in Brooksville Florida at the moment and have been since Tuesday. Trouble is my computer has been 'commissioned' by the plant as their PC is bust, and mine is the only one available to them. I will put up the answers to the quiz just as soon as I can, get access to another PC (this one is a pay as you use hotel one!)
I am off to Costa Rica on Sunday, and will be stuck in Houston airport for about 4 hours, so if there is anything to do there Will let me know.
OK will post again as soon as I am able, so you have a few more days to think about the quiz, don't be to drawn in by the title, and Will you are on the right lines with the Link, I thought I was going to get you, but I think that you are going to get it!
Till next time!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Fun & Games

Weekly Quiz : - Countries and Cities

Well this week's theme was chosen by my Ma, and is on cities and countries. I think she was secretly hoping I wouldn't be able to find any movie type ones, sorry mum no such luck. I have managed to do the usual movie link in the first round. Next theme is up to Kim to decide, and then Will. Even if you don't take part in the quiz, I am always open to polite suggestions of themes for my quiz.

So without further ado here we go;


Round One: All roads lead to......?

Just identify what is in the picture, what city it is if applicable, and then find the think that links them all together. ALSO tell me WHY they link are linked to the thing I am looking for.


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Round 2: Where on Earth?

In this round there are a number of famous landmarks that have been whipped away by those fiendish landmark stealing aliens, simply tell me what is missing, and what city/place it should be.


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Round 3: Waxing Lyrical in the City

Know your music? Well you should be able to fill in the missing city or country from these lyrics, and tell me who had a hit with the song.

1) Is this the way to ______ every night I’ve been huggin’ my pillow.

2) Black and whispering as the rain, on the streets of __________.

3) I’m just the Devil with love to spare, Viva ________.

4) ________, Like a jewel in the sun.

5) On a cold and grey _______ mornin’ a poor little baby child is born.

6) Cause _______ is burning and I, I live by the river.


7) As he carry’s me home to the _________.


8) ________ Oriental setting and the city don’t know that the city is getting.

9) It means nothing to me. This means nothing to me. Oh _________.

10) New York, London, Paris, _______.

Round 4: Quizzicles

This time round the quizzicles are really educational, simply tell me what country the flag belongs to.
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Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Weekly Question



Is Religion the route of all Evil?





OK it's time to get controversial in the old weekly question post, and I just hope that I don't offend anybody by what I am about to write. That is not my intention, my intention is to highlight what I think is the cause of all the troubles in the world, and hopefully to give people that little bit of doubt when it comes to the so called greater good.

I am sick to the back teeth of turning on the news every day, only to hear of more atrocities in Iraq, of more killings of men women and children who's only crime was that of been a different religion to those carrying out the attacks. At first the attacks were carried out on mainly military targets, but now it's free game for anyone. Why?? Because like I said they are a different religion.

So is Religion the Axis of evil?? Well....

Lets have a look at a few things,

Hundreds of years ago, somewhere in the world Christianity was born. I don't know where it all started really, and I don't know who started it up, lets just go with what people believe and that it was started with the birth of Christ. Now the thing is there were also lots of other religions around at the time, but all of a sudden this 'new' religion was the thing to be, it was the hip thing of the time and if you weren't a Christian you were a heathen.
So how if this all started in Jeruselem did it spread all over the world, except in the very area it all started?



Move along a few centuries to the Crusades.

What was the whole point of the Crusades? Well Wikipedia has the following definition;

"The Crusades were a series of military conflicts of a religious character waged by Christians from 1095-1291, usually sanctioned by the Pope in the name of Christendom,[1] with the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the sacred "Holy Land" from Muslim rule and originally launched in response to a call from the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire for help against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuq dynasty into Anatolia."

So in other words if you didn't join our religion and didn't like it, we are either going to forcibly convert you or kill you - your choice!

Starting to look like religion isn't all the good it is cracked up to be isn't it?

Now leaf through history and check all the wars that have taken place, a lot of them have some sort of religious overtones to them, once more religion is shown in a bad light.

So is the axis of evil religion itself?

Consider a world without religion, everyone basically has the same perspective and is brought up with the same views. There are culture clashes for sure, but not on the scale they are at the moment. Would it work? Probably not, so that means that we need religion to survive, and that makes it a drug, but aren't addictive drugs nasty things? Hummmm?

I could go on a lot longer but posting space is short and I would rather have your thoughts on things. Religion is to blame for a lot of problems in the world, but it also acts as belief and faith in a lot of cultures, and it is all some people have. I go to church occasionally, but I don't consider myself religious, and when I go to church I do get a sense of well being, but that is to do with me not the fact a church is seen as a place to worship a religious diety.

Is Religion the axis of evil then? Well I would have to say when it is taken fanatically it has to be, but when it is taken as an everyday thing? I have to say I am undecided.


Friday, February 09, 2007

About Me

I've Been Tagged

OK it has taken me a bit of time to actually do what you are supposed to when you get tagged, but I have been a tad busy. Basically when you are tagged you have to post 5 things about yourself and then tag someone else.

1) I was born on March 17th 1966 in a little town called Kenley, which is in the London Borough of Croydon, so I suppose you could say I am a Cockney. I moved to Singapore a bit later.

2) At the age of 14 I won a Young Tarzan contest at Butlins Holiday Camp Bogner Regis, probably because I did the Tarzan call so well!

3) I have a concave chest, in other words it goes right in rather than been the normal 'solid' type.

4) My wife was only my 3rd ever 'real' girlfriend, and my 3rd engagement, god those rings worked out expensive!

5) In my time in the Air Force (12 years) I almost caused a diplomatic incident during the first Gulf war, thanks to a rather unscrupelous Saudi Warrant Officer. 10 years later I had to go to Saudi again, to the same place, and you guessed it the same Warrant Officer, only this time, I took no shit and he fawned all over me!

So there you have it, check your coments you may well have been tagged!

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Fun & Games

Weekly Quiz Answers

I am writing this from a little hotel in the sticks, in a small American 'village' called Harleyville. The quiz that was set on a theme by Kim, of Children, turned out to be a good choice by her. Now it could be because she was very good, or it could be because her brother Will missed the boat, but despite the fact she didn't answer the lrics round as I had asked, she still came out on top with 55.
However, my mum who herself will admit she is no good at films and that, finished with a magnificent 51, I got your email citing the Beatles link. (Well Done MUM!)
Now I am going to give my Mum a chance for the next quiz, I need you to come up with a theme for the next quiz mum.

Well done Kim, here are the answers;





1) Sean Penn in I am Sam
2) Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama
3) Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds
4) Denzil Washington in Man on Fire
5) Robert De Niro in Hide and Seek

Link: Child star Dakota Fanning, who starred in all the films.


Round 2: Child stars
1) David Duchovney
2) George Harrison
3) Halle Berry
4) John Lennon
5) Julia Roberts
6) Keanu Reeves
7) Mick Jagger
8) Paul McCartney
9) Tina Turner
10) Ringo Star

Four of these fresh faced youths went on to become The Beatles!

Round 3: Lyrics
1) and take a glance at the fancy ants - The Jungle Book
2) There’s magic everywhere -The Lion King
3) It’s the hard knock life - Annie
4) Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo - Cinderella
5) When I see an elephant fly- Dumbo
6) Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay - Song of the South
7) feed the birds, tuppence a bag- Mary Poppins
8) No request is too extreme - Pinocchio
9) On a magic carpet ride - Aladdin
10) But we don’t know what we dig ‘em for- Snow White



Round 4: Quizzicles
1) Piper Maru (Gillian Anderson)
2) Duncan Zowie Heywood Jones (David Bowie)
3) Kal-el (Nicholas Cage)
4) Elijah Blue (Cher)
5) Peaches Honeyblossom (Bob Geldof/Paula Yates)
6) Homer James Jigme (Richard Gere)
7) Makena’lei Gordon (Helen Hunt)
8) Tallulah Pine (Simon le Bon)
9) Sage Moonblood (Sly Stallone)
10) Gaia Romilly (Emma Thompson)
11) Diva Muffin (Frank Zappa)
12) Shiloh Nouvel (Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie)
13) Alcamy (Lance Henriksen)
14) Coco Riley (Courtney Cox Arquette/David Arquette)
15) Sailor Lee (Christie Brinkley)

Friday, February 02, 2007

Travel

Venezuela Trip
Unbelievable! that is the only way to describe this, I got back on Monday 29th only to have two days off in Lieu, go back to work on 1st, to be told I am off again on Monday 5th! This time to a little place called Holly Hill in South Carolina, so at least I will understand the Lingo.

Anyway as promised here are a few shots of Venezuela,
















This one is of the front view from the first hotel.












This one shows one view from the Cement factory













This is another view from that factory















These hulking great chunks of metal are the things that or product monitors


Finally a picture of the 5 star hotel I stayed 2 nights at.
There will be some more after my States trip

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Weekly Question

Mobile Phones or Digital Camera's










Well last times question raised the issue of whether or not 35mm Film was dead. Now I was very surprised at the results that turned up, I thought it would be a lot closer than it was, the results were;



Yes - 27.3%



No - 72.7%



No-one sat on the fence on this one. So to move the question on a bit I got to thinking, the new phone I have from the company is a Nokia N73, that features a 3.2 Megapixel digital camera, and has features that tend to concentrate around the camera more than anything else. So are digital camera's on their way out???


Some how I doubt it, but it does beg the question, why do we not have mobile phones any more that can just be used as a phone, or texting service?

It's ridiculous the amount of features that you get on phones nowaday's, I mean mine as well as a phone, is a good camera, an MP3 player, a handheld games machine, and a video camera!



What No phone?



As I have said the digital camera is here to stay, so to is the handheld game console, for now anyway, but what of the IPod, and MP3 players?

Well the company phone I have has a slot for a mini SD card, which at present can store up to 1Gb of information, given that the average CD quality MP3 song is about 5Mb in size, your looking at around 200 song storage capacity, plus you can adapt those songs for your ringtones. Now what format is in danger?? Apple have seen the light by releasing the iPhone, and other manufacturers are putting more and more stuff in their phones.

Do we use it? Well I have taken some photo's using my phone, which I will post next time, I have uploaded some MP3 songs to the phone, and I have made one of them into my ringtone. I have also spent some time playing on the game that came with the phone. Not all us 40 year olds are technophobes you know.

So it begs an answer to the question, will the mobile phone replace all our handheld gadgets in the future? Watch this space!