BANG!

 

The picture says it all.

We had a free pie this weekend, courtesy of a bag full of Blackberries
from around and about these parts and a box of apples from a friends
tree at their stables.

And with pie must come custard!

But it got me to thinking about the explosive nature of custard.

Well, not the custard so much as the cornflour in it that thickens the custard
on heating.  Like any fine sifted flour it has ignitive properties.

If you have a flour mill anywhere near you try getting close enough to take a peek.
You'll find warning signs all over the place and a massive earthing strap around the
building to stop any build up of static electricity inside.  Contractors that get called to
work inside the buildings are specially vetted and have to use special tools that
won't spark (plastic or rubber covered spanners and hammers etc - same as in
an oil refinery).

Just imagine the bang from one of these 3Kg commercial custard bags emptied
into a large steel drum!? Now there's a thought for another weekend's experiments!

                          Weird but true!

 

HOKEY COKEY ON PS3

  

in out, in out,

shake it all about

do the hokey cokey and turn around..

No. You are not about to read about the latest game release for the Playstation 3.  Read on dear reader..

I have my PS3 in bits at the moment.  In fact, the main motherboard has been in and out five times in a wildly random process of trying to make it work again.  I am self-certified the fastest PS3 dis-assembler in the west.

I have what is known as the (adjust in your mind if you will to a gigantic echoey voice pattern when reading the next bit) 'Yellow Light of Death....'  death.... death...

You get the point.

Not funny though when you are as much of an addict on FarCry 2 as I.

It's been two and a bit weeks now.

The only final (fingers and toes crossed) solution is to re-flow the solder that holds in the two main processors - one for graphics, one for all other things.  Seems Sony used poor quality heat paste.  It eventually dries out and causes the chips to overheat and crack the solder fixings to the motherboard.  Yellow light.  Nothing else happening.

the culprits!

So, if anyone I know, or you know, has a good quality heatgun that can heat to 400 degrees C or more, please drop me a line.

 

SALE NOW ON!

   
Yesterday I blogged about strangers bearing gifts and the perils of letting them into your inner circle of trust.

Today it's the turn of another type of 'gift'.  The gifthorse in fact. Should you look it in the mouth, should you shy away?  Though this is NLP-based it is not about language but about absolute and relative perceptions and the way the mind works..

Day 3 - Observation 3: 50% off, Half Price! Must Be A Bargain?

Basically, your view of the world is interpreted in the order in which you see it.  You walk into a shop, you see a ticket on an item that states 'Half Original Price' or '50% off', you believe it.  Maybe you succumb and grab a bargain?


Only you then walk out and go somewhere else where you find the same item at a lower price than you just paid.  Not great.  But think about your emotions - the very few seconds before you see the second item you are still happy that you have found a bargain and bought something at half price.  You are comparing and contrasting the information you have.  Then, boom, all that elation disappears when you see the identical in all but cost item in a second shop.  You are again comparing and contrasting but with a new set of information.


[In the world of economics, this re-evaluation of something from good to bad can also happen in a relative sense.  You buy something for £200 that is half price and think it's great, only to see something that is not quite the same thing but is only £120.  Some people get disappointed - and feel deceived - by having had to pay slightly more for something that is almost the same but is lower cost.]



This works not only in commerce - and we all should be aware of it in that context given the money being spent on retail psychology in order to grab your money - but it also happens in your relationships with other people.  An example will suffice.

Somebody you find attractive and interesting to be around today can be replaced in your list of favourite friends or colleagues by others as you meet them.  Your information set is expanding.  People do this all the time, there is a constant flow of friends in my close-ish circle as people come and go and are selected and de-selected (makes me sound like a robot?) in my 'preference field'.  But, the better person will compare and contrast with all information and still not allow this to cause people to drop by the wayside.  You really can have more than a handful of friends!  Hard work, I know (but a little easier with facebook style social networking - assuming everybody has access).

But how to stop making bad judgements due to being unable to see all the facts?

The principle of shopping smart, living smart and judging friendships in a smart way and not being taken in is clear.

The key is to only consider each decision (or judgement about someone) you make by itself (but still of course with the benefit of all that information - we don't like knee jerk reactions here!).  This is best done by creating space - letting time pass between decisions.  This causes people to independently determine values - of objects and people.


Next time you see a bargain, sleep on it.


Next time you find yourself judging a person good or bad in your life, create some space and think about it.
  

CHARLIE SAYS...

  

Day 2 - Observation 2: Beware A Stranger Bearing Gifts...

An obvious one you may think.. but when someone gives us something we often feel indebted in some way to them (I'm not talking about close friends and relatives here.  We are, remember, talking of ways in which people manipulate people around them for their own ends).

This rule can take many forms.  It is not always about physical gifts that are being presented. Those who wish to deceive somewhere down the line are expert providers of 'information', often slow drip-feeds of information that bring the two people seemingly closer together (a workplace practice of experts in this field - drawing soldiers in to sacrifice them later - so called social harvesting). The same can be said of someone who appears to be spending a lot of time with you or on something you are working on with no apparent reason to be doing so. 
  
Short one today I'm afraid.. Busy working!