Seems there's a lot of stupid fuss about this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16137704

Some of the best TV there's ever been, and the cultural pygmies want to have their little sniping say.

Sod 'em. Put this kind of programming on subscription channels and use the licence fee to churn out more programmes about people who can't dance or sing. They won't miss it.

I am typing this on my new Macbook Pro - cheapest one, bought with the 'education' discount, but still at least twice as expensive as the Windows laptops I was looking at. Winced a bit as I handed over my card...

But holy crap, it's good. Everything I was told about Macs is right so far - they just work. I've been online all evening, reading education links and downloading documents for my (rapidly approaching) first assignment. Every so often, I emit an amazed giggle as it does something clever. Mostly when I do something on the trackpad, but the keyboard is beautiful too. In fact it's all beautiful.

I'm sure I'll find some little niggles as I go along, but at the moment, here's another convert.

This time last year, I was working at Rothera Station, British Antarctic Territory. I'm still slowly sorting out the gigagbytes of pics I took down there, so I thought I'd share this with the Massive - a slideshow of some good ones, accompanied by the mighty British Sea Power:

Thanks for watching.

Up here in the Cairngorms it is, to use the correct meteorological term, snowing like a bastard. So last night, I was out on our no-longer-dry ski slope, in a bright orange survival bag, hurling myself down the slope repeatedly and laughing like a drain.

I'm 47.

What have you been doing that you shouldn't?

Chris Morris is our God. No really, he is.

WELCOME!!

I bought half a dozen eggs a few days ago. So far I've used 3, and every one had a double yolk. Any odds on them all being double?

I'd be eggstatic if they were.

The latest moral panic from the Daily Mail is "digital drugs"; based on a few YouTube videos and this site: http://www.i-doser.com/

Isn't this just a colossal wind up? I half expected to read that the sounds affect the Shatner's Bassoon area of the brain.

It being a perfect day for cycling (intermittently sunny, dry, with a stiff breeze) I set out for Otley, slightly shabby jewel of Wharfedale.

One highlight of any ride out there is a snigger at the riverside park, long known as 'Titty Bottle Park'. This is due to its being a favourite of nannies and nursing mothers, back in the day, who would parade their young 'uns in shiny perambulators, mostly from the Siver Cross factory up the road in Guiseley.

Anyway, the name stuck, and gives me a childish smirk every time I visit.

(Another good reason for going is the absurdly cheap Bridge Caff, which today served up home-made meat & potato pie, gravy chips & beans, bread & butter and mug of tea for £2.80. Madness!)

Preparing STS-131 (a Space Shuttle to you & me) for launch. Several jaw-drops in this, but I won't spoil it: