Happy St. Andrew's Day - Here's That Saltire Sky Again!

Another year, another St. Andrew's Day, another excuse to post "that saltire sky" photo I took from the east end of George Street (whilst hanging out on roof tops, fighting crime).  This time it's on my Instagram profile, so enjoy!  

PS:  It's a little bit cold outside this St. Andrew's Day morning, as in -1.7°C in central Edinburgh at time of posting!

Drinking In The SECC Ain't Cheap - According To Google Maps!

The Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow is an interesting building that hosts a wide variety of events.  So Scots should be proud of it, right?  Well, not if we go by the latest review on the Google Maps place for the SECC:  "You know how much it was for a round at that fcukin SECC BTW".  I think the SECC might want to be a bit more pro-active in their social media footprint...  Or more reactive with their social drinking prices!

Living Social Offer Silly Supermarket Deal - Was £80 Now £79

Finally it has happened.. The group / social buying sites have started mirroring the supermarkets!  Not quite at the stage of Asda's "buy three and pay more than singles" or Tesco's "false multibuys", we have the "virtually nothing off the price".  Sainsbury's have for many years put out barker cards (the big signs in clear plastic) offering "1p off a high price where that doesn't help", and now Living Social are offering the bargain deal of "normally £80 - you pay only £79".  Still, they have been in this game for a while and like Poundland, they offer many "special deals" which are actually cheaper elsewhere at normal prices.  Anyway, welcome to the big boys' playground!  Still you have a long to go before you can match  and nowhere near the legendary "Sale: was this price, now more expensive"!

The Cinema Is Blue, The Future Is No Longer Orange

Whilst watching a disturbing yet excellent "romance" this evening (Rust and Bone / De rouille et d'os - highly recommend it) I was saddened.  Yet before I embarked into its dark journey I was already sad.  The final pre-film advert that ran was not the normal Orange parodying a film / film-goers who text, helpfully telling everyone to turn their phone off (not just silent - I can see your bright screen you inconsiderate yet unimportant phone addict!).  Whilst the advert was good, Kevin Bacon parodying how connected he is with the world, it was under their new guise of EE (Everything Everywhere).  It's definitely official then - this is the end of the Orange Film Board.  Let's hit those highs one more time Mr Dresden...

Instagram Web Are Live, Including Mine!

Finally Instagram have launched their own Web profiles! These pages will show the most recent 12 photos that you've taken. Sadly they don't seem to show all history at present, unlike others such as Gramfeed, but it does give you a simple one click follow me button! Unless you opt out, then your profile is coming soon at Instagram.com/yourusername - enjoy my Instagram profile here!

Here Comes A New Challenger: Super Amoled HD Plus Alpha 3

In the world of technology you never replace a good brand, you just keep adding to it.  Think back to the great series of Street Fighter games, starting with Street Fighter II which culminated with Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which came after Street Fighter Alpha 3.  It seems this is the nomenclature that is now de facto in mobile phone screen displays.  Not content with Super AMOLED, Samsung pushed on to add a Plus, then HD and apparently for the next device (the Note II missed out on this), Super AMOLED HD Plus.  What on earth will be in the Note 3 or Galaxy S4?  Super AMOLED HD Plus Alpha 3 Hyper-fighting edition?  Then again, maybe the screen name has to keep up with the increasing pixel size of the screen...

Have Brackets Killed The Oxford Comma?

Just like Video Killed The Radio Star, it seems to me that Brackets have killed the Oxford comma.  Now I'm sure some of you will be wondering, "who gives a fuck about and Oxford comma", whilst watching your English dramas...  Well Stephen Colbert cares that's who!  Let me give you an example that is only clear in a world where an Oxford comma exists.  I went on holiday last moth with my parents, Dizzy Gillespie and a French whore.  Now, how many people did I go on holiday with?  If an Oxford comma exists then it was two, my parents who are Dizzy Gillespie and a French whore.  Otherwise I would have written 'my parents, Dizzy Gillespie, and a French whore' - did you notice the Oxford comma after 'Gillespie'?  Clearly that list is of four people.  But in a world of business-speak, which is almost as bad as newspeak, if there was such ambiguity in a sentence then the most common solution would be to use brackets, e.g. can you book a table for lunch for the two tech leads (Jane and Simon).  And if you don't even revert to using brackets to avoid the ambiguity then maybe you won't keep your business role for much longerer...

How Not To Write You Are A Psychic On LinkedIn

Now, I'm not saying I have special extrasensory perception, but I am safely going to gamble this is not how to use LinkedIn to promote yourself as a Psychic:

Current Job - "Psychic Tarot Reader"

Education - "BTEC ... didnt [sic] get to finish these courses due to unforeseen circumstances"

Next!

Ly-Canth Not Believe This 'Were' My Hallowe'en Costume...

It's a full moon.  It's Hallowe'en.  And it seems I've 'turned' into a sexy werewolf...  Or maybe this has nothing to do with the time of the month and the month of the year, and it just so happens I'm a pretty hairy little monkey...!  Loup Garou!

Rekorderlig Made This Man-Go (Rasp-) Berry Happy!

Rekorderlig have done it again!  After the failed 'Apricot & Peach' which only seems to be available in Tesco, Rekorderlig hit the sweet spot with Orange & Ginger cider.  In an unusual bar this weekend, filled with Friday evening work refugees, I spied yet another wild sounding cider: Mango & Raspberry.  So how does it taste?  Incredible!  As you can see it's a red drink but the mango really works and it's a refreshing and very drinkable beverage from the world leaders in fruit cider making!  Please don't stop innovating Rekorderlig!

Worst Hallowe'en Decorations Ever At The Dome, Edinburgh

Sigh...  We haven't even reached Hallowe'en yet and The Dome has their Christmas decorations up.  Why couldn't they have gone to this effort for All Hallows' Eve...?

via http://instagr.am/p/RSiYG1oIxW/

If New Instagram Photo Then Post To Blog

Over the years I've taken a lot of photos, and Instagram allows me to quickly snap something and push it out to my feed, as well as Twitter and Facebook but not Blogger :(  Despite Instagram not having a web feed, you can view my current photos and captions at gramfeed.

So thanks to If This Then That (IFTTT) I've added a link that should mean my photos are added straight to this blog.  Hopefully it won't create double entries in other social media but we will see...  Now if only I could get this linked up properly to Google+ too I could have all my chickens in one basket ;)

UPDATE:  Okay, this auto-posting is causing duplicates in both Twitter and Facebook, so it's easier just to integrate my Instagram feed as my slideshow and manually post the best pictures.  Of course when IFTTT gets the option to add 'exceptions' then I can automate almost everything (will just be waiting for Google+ to provide API access)!

Canny Scots Cannae Infer Aliens From UFOs

Compare and contrast the automatic response of people living in the middle of nowhere in Scotland (specifically Fraserburgh) and those in America.  It's the middle of the night, you see freaky lights in the sky and you film them.  The national news picks up on it and asks for your opinion of what they were.  Calmly the Scots answer "I really do not know what it was. I know there are military exercises and there may be an explanation there. But why would we be the only people in the universe?".  Wonderful!  First say you don't know.  Then offer the most logical and sensible explanation, whilst keeping open that there are other (but less likely) explanations.  Calm, measured and sensible - despite being offered your 15 minutes of fame.  Kudos Morag Ritchie!

On a related note, there was and interesting UFO sighting over Edinburgh in the very early 1980s that was witnessed by many people...  Anyone else care to confirm this?  I Want To Believe!

EXCLUSIVE - Luis Suarez Gets Ignored By BBC (Just Like Refs)!

It's official!  Just as Brendan Rogers quite rightly complained that Luis Suarez's repeated calls for a penalty are being wrongly ignored by referees, it now turns out even the "impartial" BBC are ignoring Suarez in footballing terms by "suppressing" the fact that he's the joint second-top goal scorer with 5 goals in the Premier League!  Yet for some unknown reason they manage to make sure the Man Utd's Robin van Persie (who appears after Suarez alphabetically) is on the list.  Suspicious, no?!?  As verification you can see that Demba Ba has 6 goals (two of which he scored on Saturday) whilst Liverpool's 5-2 victory away at Norwich happened at the same time and is clearly listed in the Previous Results section right next to the Top Scorers (when Suarez scored a hat-trick from the edge / outside the box).  It's also repeated on the main Premier League page (see insert in the top right).  So BBC, referees - stop pretending Luis Suarez doesn't exist!

PS:  It's been a busy couple of months which has resulted in no posts.  That doesn't mean I haven't thought crazy things or noticed what passes other people by.  Hopefully a steadier stream for the rest of the year.

Edinburgh Festivals Start With A Jazz Mardi Gras

I know the Jazz and Blues Festival started yesterday, but I was working. So today, down in The Grassmarket, under blue skies and the sun smiling, my Edinburgh Festivals kicked off with the Mardi Gras. It's just a shame that they have not returned to Princes Street Gardens on the first Sunday to do the wonderful Jazz On A Summer's Day... This is what it used to look like, an here's a snap from today and how glorious the Gardens (East) are - Summer has arrived in Edinburgh at long last!

What's The French For "That's A Nice Pair" (Say Pear)..?

Ah, don't say pair, say Cidre Pear! After the very successful campaign launching Stella Artois Cidre, we now have a new flavour complementing the classic apple: Pear. It's a lovely clean, fresh colour and has that crispness of the original Cidre. So really the question should be, how do you say that's a lovely French pair..?

A Very Perculiar Chocolate - Marmite Flavoured!

I couldn't bring myself to buy this... As much as I loved the Marmite advert featuring Zippy, and the packaging looks elegant, I really can't see myself eating Marmite Chocolate! Can you..?

Happy Bastille Day From The Place That Inspired Napoleon Bonaparte!

According to the secondary source known as Wikipedia, Lord Street in Southport (Merseyside, previously Lancashire), was not only where Napoleon Bonaparte lived before becoming President (well just off Lord Street), it was also the inspiration for the beautiful tree lined boulevards in Paris with quaint arcades off the buildings.

Why Wait 2 Weeks? I Already Have Now '82

Sigh... Okay, some songs were recorded in 1982 but officially it was released in 1983 (source Wikipedia) but still, Now 82 means Now '82 to me! Feeling old...

Orange & Ginger Is Good, So Long As It's Not In A Scottish Tanning Salon!

Rekorderlig launch another great new flavour, possibly only in pubs right now... Tesco are selling Apricot & Peach but pubs, including Milnes on Hanover Street, are selling a delicious Orange & Ginger cider. This is not the first time these flavours have been combined, Crabbies have a special Orange Edition of their Ginger Beer but really it's not great and is a bit too sweet (bet you didn't know I spoke French!). As always Rekorderlig's ciders are not overly sweet and have a perfect balance of flavours. I strongly recommend you try and find it, more so than Koppaberg's Cloudberry.