Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[SuuPRlim]

LildAve's latest blog.

SPOILER - This blog contains some poker hands.

http://bit.ly/zlecX3

Hate to be spamming for hits but part 2 is also out

http://lildaveslife.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-best-poker-hands-ever-part-2.html

[Machka]

..A potent solar flare has unleashed the biggest radiation storm since 2005 and could disrupt some satellite communications in the polar regions, US space weather monitors said Monday.

The event started late Sunday with a moderate-sized solar flare that erupted right near the center of the Sun, said Doug Biesecker, a physicist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Space Weather Prediction Center.

"The flare itself was nothing spectacular, but it sent off a very fast coronal mass ejection traveling four million miles per hour (6.4 million kilometers per hour)," he told AFP.

A rush of radiation in the form of solar protons already has begun bombarding the Earth and is likely to continue through Wednesday.

The radiation storm is the largest of its kind since 2005 but still ranks only a three on the scale of one to five, enough to be considered "strong" but not "severe," he added.

NOAA said its website the ranking means "it could, e.g., cause isolated reboots of computers onboard Earth-orbiting satellites and interfere with polar radio communications."

Biesecker said that when it comes to radiation storms, the polar regions are affected most.

For instance, the storm could spell disruptions to airline flights, oil operations, Arctic exploration and space satellites.

Night-sky viewers in Asia and Europe may be able to witness the aurora, or Northern Lights, late Tuesday as a result of the storm.

"We don't expect major impacts from an event like this," Biesecker said.

"It's the people who need GPS (global positioning system) accuracy of centimeters who have to worry, not people who want to know if you're going to turn the car 30 meters (100 feet) ahead."

On a GPS related note and something I found very interesting (and if all else fails to pique your interest it includes a link to the aviationist website)...

Recently Iran captured a U.S. Drone

There's a report that Iran hacked the drones' GPS systems:

    "The GPS navigation is the weakest point," the Iranian engineer told the Monitor, giving the most detailed description yet published of Iran's "electronic ambush" of the highly classified US drone. "By putting noise [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into autopilot. This is where the bird loses its brain."

    The "spoofing" technique that the Iranians used -- which took into account precise landing altitudes, as well as latitudinal and longitudinal data -- made the drone "land on its own where we wanted it to, without having to crack the remote-control signals and communications" from the US control center, says the engineer.


http://theaviationist.com/2011/12/15/foreign-drones/
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/1215/Exclusive-Iran-hijacked-US-drone-says-Iranian-engineer-Video

Who needs solar flares?  It seems anyone with a powerful enough transmitter can block GPS Satellite communications and spoof their own!  Did you ever see Die Hard 2?

[tikay]

LildAve's latest blog.

SPOILER - This blog contains some poker hands.

http://bit.ly/zlecX3

Hate to be spamming for hits but part 2 is also out

http://lildaveslife.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-best-poker-hands-ever-part-2.html

Oi, this is a spam-free diary. T & C's apply.

Seriously, if anyone else want to spam their blogs, feel free, we have a very sophisticated audience here. No art or poetry nonsense though, please.

[RED-DOG]

There was an old man from Sky...

[tikay]

Painful day today, in the new Studio, & trying out all my new clobber in Wardrobe with the triple-barreled name stylist lady.

"Steely" shoes, lots of new shirts, ties, jackets, including a rather swanky velvet jacket.

Most of the talent were present, but I find it tough to do small-talk all day, when my office is just a hundred yards away & I could be doing stuff.

The new studio is quite something, very high-tech, I think we share it with Golf & Spanish football. Hopefully not on the same nights.

This photo was after Thewy had headed off home, Stu Rutter was given exemption to miss the day. They both run good.

"Technical rehearsals" all day tomorrow, 9am - 8pm, another testing day - so much standing around - with a visit to ICE possibly, too. Roll on Thursday. Friday, heading home to Derbyshire, then Luton & the delights of G-Luton & Luton Days Inn for the weekend. Quite looking forward to it, though "seat pressure" is building, & the messages asking for a seat are getting ever more frequent. So many good friends going to be there though, & I'm really looking forward to it. Think I'll play all 4 of the Sky Poker events @ Luton, starting Friday, in between schmoozing, cooing & wooing.

I've grown a bit of a beard thing, not shaved for 10 days, but guess I'd better get rid before the weekend.

[kinboshi]

What's better than a January sale?

http://www.japansubculture.com/2012/01/its-no-ordinary-sale-its-a-fuckin-sale/

[tikay]

What's better than a January sale?

http://www.japansubculture.com/2012/01/its-no-ordinary-sale-its-a-fuckin-sale/

Jeez, what were they thinking?

I guess it will appeal to the pre-adolescents, the "custard gussets" etc.

[tikay]

Mention of St Andrews (Golf Course) by David, Phil & Karabiner set my mind racing, I only played it twice, & it is very special, almost unique in many ways.

I was also there as a spectator when Mr T Woods absolutely demolished the Old Course in the Centenary Open. Think he played 4 rounds & barely got in a bunker for 4 days. (Anyone confirm that?).

St Andrews is sort of "go to Edinburgh, then over the Forth road bridge & keep going", near Dundee I think. RAF Leuchers is nearby, & the posh golfers are allowed to fly their private jets in there during The Open, I believe.

The bunkers there - all 112 of the damn things - are best avoided if possible.

[Karabiner]

There was an old man from Sky...

Who kept misplacing his "I"...

[RED-DOG]

Lol.

[Chompy]

Jim didn't fix it for scotty to have a decent photo taken?

[tikay]

The Old Course plays anti-clockwise, but very unusually, the Course can be played clockwise, too, which used to be the case from time to time. These days, you can only play it clockwise on three days each year, at the start of April. Tradition & quirkyness ftw.

The Course is closed to golfers every Sunday, too, except when the The Open & a few others big jobbies are in town. Locals & Tourists are free to roam the course at any or all times, (imagine trying that @ Wentworth or Loch Lomond GC....) but on Sundays particularly. The Course sits right next to the old Town, & St Andrew University is a only a 5 iron distant.

The Course is publically owned, & home to 4 or 5 Golf Clubs, including the R & A - Royal & Ancient - who set the rules for golf worldwide. They have a magnificent clubhouse by the 1st/18th, but they have no greater rights to the Course than the other resident Golf Clubs & Societies.

Even odder, 14 of the Holes have "shared greens", HUGE things, half the size of a football pitch, with hills & valleys & all sorts, breaking every which way. A 100 yard putt is quite usual there. Holes 2 thro 8 share greens with holes 10 thro 16. The shared greens always add up to 18 - 4 with 14, 6 with 12, etc.  The fairways have no rough as such on the left, just the course coming back the other way, but trouble lurks all the way round on the right, and for a right-hander like myself, a slice is a very bad thing there. (I play all sports right handed except tennis & snoooker, go figure).

The fairways are things of beauty, acres wide (because mostly shared), smoother than greens at some courses, but they are never flat, they are full of bibbly bobbly up & downy lumps & bumps.

I doubt there is a Golf Course like it anywhere in the world, & I'm blessed to have been able to play it, or at least, hack my way round. It's not expensive, either, all things considered.

Like many posh tracks, it has a starter with a little hut by the 1st Tee, - Mr Starter, if you will - who is a very severe looking dour local usually. He sort of gives you the visuals, to ensure you are properly attired, quite right too, don't want chavs & low-lifes playing it, do we? I don't think it is mandatory to hire a caddie, but it's "expected" you will, which is sort of embarrassing, as the guy will advise on club & shot selection, which is a tad redundant on me. He's saying "I think Sir requires a nice soft 6 iron, with a touch of fade", & I'm thinking "I'lll give this a good thwack this with my three wood".

Only in these wonderful isles, & all that. If you are a golfer, & have not played it, do it, you won't regret it. There are 6 or 7 other Golf Courses in & around St Andrews, too. The wind can be a right bugger when it gets up though.  One day the Couse plays short, next day, unplayable.

I have no idea when The Open next returns there, but I'll be glued to the telly from start to finish, I've promised myself that.

[tikay]

Jim didn't fix it for scotty to have a decent photo taken?

Never been known.

[kinboshi]

What's better than a January sale?

http://www.japansubculture.com/2012/01/its-no-ordinary-sale-its-a-fuckin-sale/

Jeez, what were they thinking?

I guess it will appeal to the pre-adolescents, the "custard gussets" etc.

More likely it's been lost in translation. The Japanese don't really have any taboo words, although they do have phrases that are insulting - but these are generally context dependent.  What they do like is using English, even if the target audience or market don't understand it either!

I guess it's exactly the same as the 'Superdry' brand in the UK, which often includes some nonsense pseudo-Japanese on its clothing.

[MANTIS01]

I wouldn't exactly call it a poofy scarf because it's all thick and woollen, but anyway not suitable attire for older people to wear indoors. It's gives out a vibe that shit even thou I'm indoors I'm still freezing because of age or thinning blood. In fact the whole outfit looks like a blind man has gone shopping in a jumble sale. I think you should embrace the opportunity to have a personal stylist Tikay, embrace it like a desert embraces the rain. You would actually suit the Cliff Barnes from Dallas look, sports jacket, open shirt and elaborate silk hanky. Perhaps even the odd cravat I mean women do go for that Nigel Havers look these days. Don't think that would be poofy either, maybe a bit camp, but deffo not poofy.