Identity

We had another directive at work telling us that we shouldn't put any information on the web that could allow anyone to identify who we are or where we work.
OK, fine, I can see why, but given the work we do, and who we work for, sometimes this rule doesn't make sense.
Take my mate Simon for example, he's on the BBC at times and has a photo profile on the BBC homepage. I've been on "national" radio - admittedly it was Falkland Islands radio but was still broadcast across the Islands. It did result in my being recognised by voice in Stanley (woohoo, I'm famous!!!!) but back here I'm much more anonymous.
I don't think anyone would mistake me for an official viewpoint about anything, in fact I'm pretty sure I said as much in one of the early entries, but I'm not going to blatantly state who I work for. Besides, I'm sure I've been oh-so-subtle and no one could possibly guess... ;)

Terror, it's about 3 foot high!

Today, I learned a new type of terror.
I had to give a talk about the weather (and my job) to a group of Primary 2 children - ages 5-6. 25 of them. I'm not really that good with kids, so trying to aim the talk at the right level was hard enough, working with the teacher to control the children was even worse and I made the usual mistake - open questions! Ah, I'm a fool!
I was told, "never ask questions with more than two answers," and "never ask any question that could lead to a story about the weekend," but I ended up doing exactly that... Not horrifically but I guess I'm just not cut out to work with sprogs very much.
Having said all of that, I actually think it went quite well. I've got no idea what a good lesson is with kids that age (should have asked Kate for advice!) but their teacher seemed pretty pleased. I'd taken a load of the old school met kit that we have as back-ups, sunshine recorder (looks like a crystal ball on a stand), an "aspirated psychrometer" (two thermometers with a clockwork fan attached), hand-held anemometer (wind measuring thingy in black Bakelite - very 50s retro), small Stevenson Screen, satellite images and charts.
I had a few print outs of my favourite images such as a global map with nothing on it then ask the kids how many lightning strikes they thought would have happened in half an hour world wide (they thought 31) and then show them. In this case I'd printed out another chart with the strikes shown, and there were a few hundred at least. Certainly impressed the teacher, and I think the kids liked it.
So, although not a full win, I think I came out ahead. If nothing else when the children came in and saw all the kit laid out one of the lads said , "he's got cool stuff!" I liked that kid then.

Well, apart from that, I've had a couple of chances to get some pictures from work, and I think a few of them were alright. Comments welcome.
Firstly a Pax (passenger) transport that popped up:

Then a Merlin:

Then a Hawk (in this case from the centre of aviation medicene):

And finally some of our guys in the sun:

I need to use a bit of a faster shutter speed but had dropped it to get a bit of blur on the blades.

The new marketing slogan for the north of Scotland

Randomly at work we were discussing press-gangs and one of the guys was saying that they were very active in the local area for the Navy. He pointed out that you needed experienced sailors and couldn't just grab people whilly-nilly in London, rather you had to come up to places like this where "the streets were awash with seamen."
At that point the conversation descended into fits of laughter...

Broadband, or how I learned to stop worrying and love t'interweb

Either today or tomorrow my parents should be getting connected to broadband. We've been working at getting them to do this for a while and they've finally decided it might be worth while. Principally for mum's studies, but I think they're going to find some of the wondrous things online. Thing is, I'm pretty sure that my long list of webcomics and blogs won't be exactly what my parents are looking for, so I'm going to list a few sites I visit lots or find useful and if anyone else can think of some sites that might interest people a of a slightly older persuasion that are interested in theology, search and rescue (dad's getting more and more involved with the Severn Area Rescue Association), or things like that; please stick the tube addresses in the comments.
So here are a few I think my parents will like/use:
The BBC news site.
The Met Office site (OK, obvious, but should be improved soon).
My Flickr photo page.
Bad Science - Ben Goldacre's excellent blog.
The ever marvellous Snopes.
The AA (useful for route planning).
Google - obvious but still good, and I think mum may find this search useful.
For dad, a Facebook link for SARA.
Some lovely Satellite images from NOAA.
Some bits about the Archbishop of Canterbury.
I couldn't find an address for the theological college but I think mum already has the link for that one.

Of course there's more and I think they should have a list of their own bookmards, but using dial up I don't think they will have found the wonders of the net just yet. So if any of you can think of other sites like these that might be of interest, please drop the links! Cheers all.

**edited to add**
By the way, one week in and I've kept off all booze and got in some exercise each day. This weekend will be the first big test though...

Lent

It's Shrove Tuesday and I'm not having any pancakes.
I'm sure everyone knows the traditions behind today and tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) and some know more traditions than others but the clearing of the fat from the house to allow easier fasting is similar to what I'm doing with a vodka martini right now. A LARGE vodka martini.
I suffer from a few problems, an excess of body and a lack of funds and will power (actually these three are the same thing) but I realised quite a while back that the ability to change these is within me, and not doing anything about it is my own fault as well.
So.
Booze is my biggest excess so I'm giving it up for the 40 days (and Sundays - see, people forget that Sundays don't count, especially Refreshment or Mothering Sunday) but as a priest I used to know once said, Lent is also a chance to start something.
With this in mind, as well as not drinking from tomorrow until Easter I'm going to finally get off my arse and start exercising properly. I should probably keep a track online of what I'm doing, what with this now being in the public domain and my friends being likely the best thing to keep me on track.
I've got a copy of the RAF fitness test downloaded - well, I say that, I mean I've got a copy of the beep test that the RAF use - so all I need now is will power.
Nuts.
Which is pretty much where if I'm not careful it's all going to go wrong. 40 days (+ Sundays) isn't that long and I should be able to see some results in that time but (as I just realised from the Simpson's) when I look back on Lent this year I want to feel like I've accomplished something. Admittedly I want to be able to look back on every year, and one day every day, with satisfaction that I've done everything I can with the time I've had, but one step at a time.
If this sounds a bit fluffy and touchy-feely, it is, but I blame Snopes, and in particular this Snopes article and , for that. Steve Jobs' comments on the old expression about living every day as if it was your last made me realise what that actually meant hit home; but maybe not enough to make me act on it yet. That can change. Again, the ability to change or to not rests in myself and I can't blame anyone except myself for me not changing.

Anyway, apart from that, enjoy some steampunk stuff: case mods, monitors and keyboards (Dear Santa).

Oh, four tuna!

One of the blogs I watch is Amanda Bauer's Astropixie, and from there Phil Plait at Bad astronomy pulled the alternative lyrics to Carmena Burana. Well worth a look, laughter is almost guaranteed.