Car Accident

I think I need a new car. (8+(

Yesterday morning, about 11:30 I was driving in the right-hand lane on a dual-carriage way and someone in the left-hand lane driving a truck decided to change lanes without looking in their mirror.
Side-swiped me and spun me 180º.

I was taken from the scene to hospital where I stayed strapped to a spinal board with a neck brace for 5 hours while they took many X-rays of my skull, neck and spine. The first 3.5 hours of that stay I simply could not stop myself from shaking. After being released, I now have a gash on the back of my head, sore legs and back and a very sore neck.

I was hoping to speak with the the police officer in charge of my case today, but she’s not back on duty until 10pm on Monday, I’ll know more specifics then, but all I know at the moment is the other driver is foreign *shrug*.
I called the recovery company and asked if I can get personal belongings from the car, which they said was okay. I took my camera along to get images of the damage.
It’s not a pretty sight.
The damage I ascertained in my very shaken-up condition whilst still at the scene of the accident was …
Rear bumper half hanging off
Driver door jammed and window shattered (because my head hit it)
Windscreen broken, but not shattered
Passenger door pretty much wrecked
The actual damage can be seen in the images at the foot of this post.

Yesterday I was really hoping that it wasn’t beyond economic repair.
Today, after assessing the damage, I’m not so hopeful.
I’m also hoping that the driver of the truck doesn’t claim I was in the wrong, because I’m not.
We shall see.

I have informed work that I will not be going in for the next week and I have an appointment booked with my GP on Wednesday afternoon.

I’m going for a rest now.

Peak District by Camera - Book!

Earlier this year I went to the Peak District for a few days on a photography trip with two other guys (Leon Calverley & Nick Miners).
We decided to get a book of images made up and mine arrived late last week.
The book contains 20 images from each of us.
I’m really pleased with the way it turned out. (8+)
My Mother-in-Law has already placed an order for a copy, and she thinks a few people at her place of work would also like a copy.
You can preview (and place orders!) for the book here.

Online galleries can also be viewed from each person.
These galleries don’t necessarily contain all images that are included in the book.

Nick Miners | Leon Calverley | Mark Casey (me)

The Sci-Fi Geek Hierarchy

Browsing the ‘net, as you do, I came across the following flowchart which details how some sci-fi geeks consider themselves less geeky than other sci-fi geeks.

Apparently I’m less geeky than SF/Fantasy Literature Fans but not as geeky as Trekkies Who Speak Klingon.

Where do you come in the chart?

The 10 most Prophetic Sci-Fi Films

When Arthur C. Clarke died, science fiction - hell, science in general - lost one of its greatest, most forward-looking masters. In his honour, Popular Mechanics’s resident geek and sci-fi buff analyses the most eerily predictive, prescient films of the future. They’re not necessarily the best films - just the ones that got the science right, or will sometime soon.

I’m not going to list the films in ranking, instead I’m listing them alphabetically.
Clicking the images below will take you to their positions as well as write-ups by Popular Mechanics.

New Car

Just over two weeks ago I bought a new car.
In February I went to Donegal for a weekend. Despite living in Northern Ireland for over ten years it was my first trip to that part of the world. I went with four friends, my wife, our dog and my camera.

Where we stayed, Dungloe, had a wonderful sense of isolation to it, despite being part of a small development. A couple of miles down the road there was an almost deserted, secluded little windswept beach which was a definite high-point of the trip.
I vowed that we would be back.
The only problem was my beloved car, a ‘98 Seat Arosa, really wasn’t up to the task of taking on the roads of Donegal. Don’t get me wrong, the main roads and motorways are fine, but some of the little twisty-windy roads that we went on tested my cars suspension to it’s maximum.
If I was to make good on my vow of returning I really needed a different motor to do it.

Which brings me to this post.

Happy Star Wars Day

Blake’s 7 to return?

Probably one of the most treasured British science fiction shows is rumoured to be (possibly) making a comeback.
Blake’s 7, originally aired between ‘78-’81, was one of those shows that just captured my imagination as a child. It wasn’t until much later that I was able to fully grasp the complexity of the stories proper, and to this day I still think the opening episode is one of the finest pieces of televisual sci-fi storytelling produced in this country.

I find it of no surprise what-so-ever that the recent revival of Doctor Who is being mentioned along side this news story. Terry Nation played an instrumental part in the longevity of Who by creating the Daleks as a nemesis to the Doctor. For those not in the know, Terry Nation created Blake’s 7.

I do hope Sky can make something out of this.
There was a big fanfare following Sky’s announcement that it was to revive another British tele-fantasy staple - The Prisoner, but nothing became of that.

It would be nice if this revival, rumoured to consist of only the commissioning of two, 60-minute scripts at this moment in time, could attract some talen like the caliber which is currently associated with the recent Battlestar Galactica revival.
If id did then I really wouldn’t mind this thing only running to 3 seasons.
One caveat though, it would have to feature a DSV-1 for the main cvrew. Without that it’s like Doctor Who without the TARDIS.

The Peak District by Camera

A week ago today I took a trip for four days in the Derbyshire dales in England with a couple of others for a photography trip

Nick (the organiser of the trip) is setting up a permanent site for a collection of images.
I have sorted through and picked my favourite 60 from the trip (a random number Nick seemingly plucked from the air. It was tough whittling all my images down to that few, I don’t mind telling you.

Once the final site is up and running I’ll post back with it, until then you can view my images at my Peak District by Camera temporary site.

In other related news, I downloaded version 1.4.1 of Adobe Lightroom and I have to say it’s probably the most intuitive professional application I have ever had the privilege  of using. Everything’s where you would expect it to be. The interface is clear and very well laid out. The only sticking point I’ve needed help with was getting captions to show in the web preview.
I’ll certainly be buying a licence for it before the demo version runs out.

Passing of a Prophet

It’s with deep sadness that I write this.
Despite never knowing him personally, I know, and acknowledge, the contributions that Arthur C. Clarke has made to modern society.

It’s not for nothing that he is often referred to as the grand-daddy of science fiction. Marking his 90th birthday last year, he told fans: “I want to be remembered most as a writer. I want to entertain readers and hopefully stretch their imaginations as well.

“If I have given you delight by aught that I have done, let me lie quiet in that night, which shall be yours anon.” 

Well, you may lie quietly now Arthur. Yours was an intellect that will be missed by many disciplines.

 Arthur C. Clarke, 1917-2008

A few links for the more curious
http://lakdiva.org/clarke/1945ww
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1085.html

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

This is an utterly excellent blog post that came my way via a thread on my forum.

If you want to learn good organization skills, look no further than some of the best leaders in the universe: the captains of spaceships. They may be fictional, but they have skills that translate into the real world. After all, you’d follow Admiral Adama into battle, and trust Malcolm Reynolds to have your back. Now you can learn the seven greatest leadership lessons we gleaned from watching shows like Futurama and Firefly.

I’m not going to reproduce the article in full, for that you’ll need to click the link at the start of this post, what I will do is tease you with the opening and closing comments from each example, just to whet your appitites.

1. The Prime Directive is just a suggestion.
Lesson learned? Rules are made to be broken.

2. Always shoot first.
Lesson learned? Show your crew that you’re willing to take a bullet for them, and they’ll do the same for you.

3. Don’t be afraid to hook up with a cute spaceman.
Lesson learned? A good leader has to get laid once in a while, and she shouldn’t be ashamed of it.

4. When you’re about to go genocidal, get a second opinion.
Lesson learned? True leaders do not ever make decisions alone.

5. Just because you have a crappy ship doesn’t mean you’re a loser.
Lesson learned? Every crappy PC is a lean, mean Linux box waiting to be born. Oh, and in case that didn’t make sense: It’s not the tools; it’s what you do with them.

6. Freedom fighters make good teammates.
Lesson learned? A little subversion goes a long way.

7. There is always somebody out there who can bend spacetime better than you can.
Lesson learned? No matter how in control you are, always be ready for something for which you’re completely unprepared.

Personally, I like the combination of Lessons learned from both 5 and 6 (for those people reading this that know anything about me, you’ll know what I mean, for those that don’t, you can always sign-up to my forum *smile*).