Science Fiction Friction

I've had occasion to watch some tv and the odd film and have some thoughts about what I've been watching. and no particular order I'm just going to put it out there.

Dark Matter, Ex_Machina, Humans/Äkta människor, Stitchers, SuperGirl, Mr.Robot and Utopia.

Dark Matter.

The spaceship makes this manoeuvre to 'fall' rapidly 'downwards' to avoid a missile. In doing so the ships 'gravitational processor' would not be able to compensate adequately. So in this scene all the characters from the 100lb to the 300lb 'floated' 'weightless' as the ship 'fell'

Moments later the spaceship makes an FTL leap, that's Faster Than Light wherein none of the characters suffered compression injuries due to rapid acceleration from going zero to extremely quickly instantly.

Secondly. Why is it that in every space ship show and film ever all the spaceships fly along the same place in the same orientation. All of them. With few exceptions like in this episode of Dark Matter and one episode of classic Star Trek do you ever see spaceships on different planes of travel.

They never approach from 90 degrees, of directly from above, or below or some oblique angle. Always head to head, face to face. Always the same orientation.

Thirdly. Guns, why so many guns?

Ex_Machina.

A female robot is programmed with self will and though.

There were some interesting themes in this, like the accumulation and endowment of knowledge based on the capture of internet searches and phone communications.

But it's not a startlingly good movie, given that the robot has figured out how to overload the power system by feedback I wondered why it was content to wait to escape by conning a guilliable male into helping it.

Anyway the robot escapes, without a worry about how it'll recharge itself, money, identification, destination or means.

Humans the English Version and Real Humans (Äkta människor) the swedish version.

Robots have been given AI. “Science has created a robot that looks like a human being and is considered a perfect substitute.”

Perfectly articulated robots are programmed for specialist roles in the domestic and workplace, from domestic help, aged care workers, to warehouse stores pick and pack and labourers.

Except some of them have been given freedom of thought, just a few.

Set 'now' this is an interesting study in human and machine interaction. One of the good things is that the robots don't have cellular communication or are internet connected, and they require charging regularly.

One of the strange things is just how well articulated and mobile they are, and just how good they are at things like cooking, which is sometimes a judgement call, they don't posses super sight, super strength, or any other extra powers. Some of them can drive cars, but not many.

'Real Humans' is a movement to avoid or discriminate against 'hubots' in society, and there are plenty of stickers and warnings about where they are welcome or not.

It's a very good theme and it's well acted and scripted, the tribulations of teenage angst and infatuation with the overly pretty house bots, the 'hubots' becoming sexual partners for some, and the anger that some humans have towards being inferior to 'hubots' in some situations.

Then there are the different group, who are free-thinkers and have different personalities, from a psychopath, a religious one, one who wants to be loved and have children, and one that got away with being a police officer, only I have no idea how they passed the medical for that since there are special 'hubot' readers that can pick up identification and ownership ID quite easily. Still it makes for a great plot angle.

Then….. one of the different 'Hubots' uses it's standard USB port to hack into a security network. You knew it was coming, along with the leaping of the car.

Stitchers.

Jump into the memories of a recently dead person and discover why or how they died. Female lead has emotional detachment and the nerds are pretty second rate.

Throw in that the lead has to wear a skin tight suit that covers some of her body and protects her when shes in the swim pool, it's particularly odd. I might not be getting it but when you assume someone memory I'd have thought that you also gain their perspective and not be an observer in their dream, you'd see things in the first person as you are now, not be standing behind you looking at you.

It's not overly different to any number of soft detective shows that are or have been on from Sherlock, Person of Interest, and others. It's not particularly good on story, script or procedural accuracy.

SuperGirl.

This is particulay vexing.

In this new paradigm Super Girl is facing other aliens who happen to be in the same town, and want to cause distruction and mayhem.

Not acts of bravery. So essentially it's a monsters of the week show. Hugely disappointing and rather average thinking.

Mr. Robot.

Introvert hacker with extraordinary skills 'hacks' people to being them to a justice.

Was doing ok, and is quite interesting, realistic perhaps and at one point he used the acronym AFK (away from keyboard) to explain why he was meeting someone in real life and not just via email. Of course gets caught up with some major league conspiracist and mysterious hacking group that disappear, the hunt is on.

Of course gets in a corporate jet to fly to a data centre where he is the only one ....

Has a lot of potential if it stays true to itself and not one of those stupid tap the keyboard hack pastiches, which it will be eventually.

Utopia.

One of the best and quirkiest programs in the last while is the TV series Utopia. Just 12 episodes.

Jessica Hyde on the run and hiding a secret contained in a manuscript that foreshadows or is as a result of and experiment to end or change mankind for good and forever.

It is strange and it is compelling if you can get into it.

Too odd for the network TV people they stopped it sort of stopped it mid story with might of course be a blessing since look what's happened in "Orphan Black' that's turned into a bit of a shambles.

4:11 am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings

I found this, which reminded me of the problems associated with the insomnia musings about being able to shrink smaller and smaller.



I'd thought about the atoms of oxygen needed and set aside the weight issue.

Sadly it seems I'm not the only one with time on my hands in the dark of the night .

4:10 am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings

Thoughts about, flying, being invisible, faster than light, superpowers in general, the opposite side of the earth to you, they come and go.

But have you ever thought what it might be light to be twice your size? Three times?

Three time might be about 5,5 meters  or perhaps 17-18 feet tall. Heck twice might be 3.5 meters or nearly 12 feet.  Even if you're smaller of stature that's not going to be so much different, couple feet here or there.

The tallest man living is Sultan Kösen (Turkey, b.10 December 1982) who measured 251 cm (8 ft 3 in).  Robert Wadlow  was 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m), 439 lb (199 kg).  Thing is with unusually tall people is that they suffer from all sorts of health and skeletal problems, and gravity isn't kind. Humans are just not evolved to be taller than we, on average, are.

Putting aside the problems of mass (as always), and some other problems, like clothing, feeding, and shelter does being über tall have any benefits? or Opportunities?

I came to some conclusions.

Work:

Ideal for cleaning the gutters and general roof maintenance. Useless however at arial installation where there are small screws and fixtures required.

Possibly good at house washing, again houses have some fiddly bits about them.

Ideal for being an arborist, or tree maintenance. Not so much lawn mowing, too much crouching.

Seasonal work in pantomime as a 'giant'

Sports:

• Might be handy at basketball, but unlikely to be able to get into any stadiums.


• Should be good at swimming, big flipper like feet, and the diving in should give you a handy advantage.


• Might be good at running, but might not be able to stay in lane and get disqualified a lot. Cross-country running might be more the go.


• Might be good at lifting weights overhead, but not convinced about this.

Travel:

Getting around might be a problem, They don't make cars or trucks for the particularly tall, so you could walk or run, but there would be a fair amount of obstacles in the way, overhead wires, trees, etc. (Before you thing about Monster Trucks, for instance, they're big truck for 'normal' sized people).

Flying would be almost impossible, travelling overseas almost impossible

The only solution I had was to be chauffeured about on the back of a flat bed truck.

Not a lot of dignity in being tall.  Not a lot of jobs, and I don't think there would be a log of glamour.

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4:06 am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings

Meditation on sleeping.

Two things.  Being small which I'll get to another day

the second though a dream snippet, which is what I want to write down.

.. The laughing man declares that he's figured it out, and he can do it. There is no indication that the laughing man in under duress or particular strain.  There appears to be some kind of family tree on a large monitor, some of the dots on the tree wink out and fade, the tree withers and re-arranges.

The man looks at the big screen again.  Laughs. 

He's erased someone from history, from ever being, and that has changed his circumstance.

It's not clear if he's happy or not.  

It might be later, it might not be the same man, zoom out the monitor, more dots wink out and fade, swathes of them, a voice says we learnt to go further back in time than just the living.

There are a few hundred people left huddled in a large room, poorly dressed, looking at a large monitor, wondering, waiting. ...

4:05 am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings

Having, sort of, got my head around the speed of light thing, but perhaps not, the next part is the travelling to a new planet or star, somehow.

These are the current questions I muse on as I meditate myself to sleep.

How many of you are there on this journey?

If speed of light travel, or near to s-o-l travel is  possible that would still mean that something 2 light years away would take 2 years to get to? Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf about 4.24 light-years from the Sun, that's a 9 year round trip?

Could be nothing there when you got there.

The one with the 'award'

Award, pronounced awkward. - Welcome to the the "Very inspiring Blogger Award"

I'm pleased people visit my musings and ramblings, and I enjoy the feedback and interactions I have on here of course.

So I was surprised and at the same time miffed when I got a comment that I'd been listed, as part of the rules, for the VIB to pass on the baton, as it were.

4:04 am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings

I was watching some youtube things, and you know how that ends up, normally pictures of cats right. Well not in my case.

Hollow Earth Theory : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_Earth

Hollow Earth. Hidden entrances at the North and South poles. Hitler sent expeditions! The claim was that the earth’s crust is only between 8 miles and 200 miles thick

Gravity? Well there is a micro start in the center providing gravity for those on the outside. Not sure how those on the inside get on, perhaps they’re squished to the ground flat, living in 24-7 sunlight

Oh this is where UFO’s come from too.

Which lead me to Expanding Earth Theory http://hollowearththeory.com/articles/expandingEarthAnimation.asp

But before that how NASA made up UFO’s so they could launch loads of satellites and space weapons, and how they use chemtrails to fly holographic aircraft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory

http://www.disclose.tv/forum/chemtrails-and-holographic-planes-t37043.html

Which lead me to a video about how the human race is an Alien Experiment….

I’m not judging but the most plausible was the NASA one., well not the holographic chemtrail thing but.

I could expand on that by saying there are many possible scenarios of life on other planets

1. There is life on other planets.


2. Life on other planets is at a similar stage of development to that on Earth


3. Life on other planets is more primitive than that on earth

Now because we don’t perceive or have an explanation for things that can travel Faster-than-light, or an understanding of worm-holes that may or may not get us from one place in the universe to another doesn’t mean they don’t exist or are not feasible.

But the question is that begs is how would you detect life on the 3^rd rock from the sun  at the edge of a spiral arm we call  the Orion Arm, which is about two-thirds of the way from the center of our galaxy to the edge of the starlight?

It was a slow night

The less of me - the more I write the less I am

Well.

Today I stood ont he scales. at 88.0kg or 194lbs, or 13 Stone 12lbs, all those things work.

Which is a long way from 105Kg, 231lbs, or 16 1/2 stones, which is where I started at 15 months ago

And so I continue to be on-track at a 1kg a month weight loss. My new goal was only 85kg by June

I've walked / jogged a total of 941 kms, or 585 miles so far.

I set myself only a 5km or 6km walk/run expectation, and 5 would be the minimum or most regular distance.

This year I did really push the boat out

• Went 8km in one burst,


• Went 5 minutes 01 seconds for a 1km stretch


• Went 8 minutes and 55 seconds for a whole mile


• Went 5km in total for 30 minutes and 10 seconds (my immediate goal is under 30:00

The downside to all this is that shirts are all baggy and ill-fitting.

Upside is joints don't ache, I sleep better, and of course eat better.

Eating better by way of less things like potato and meat. Eating more fruit and vegetables, and of course smaller portion and better portion control.

Does not stop me drinking beer at all, or having indulgences like chocolate and cheese.

Feeling ok about this .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spin Bike, the Garage and the Knee - And so it continues

Well

I have some minor health issues, Psoriasis related, but it meant I had to go get some further advice

You see Psoriatic Arthritis tends to get you down after a bit, and I have it in one knee and both ankles to a greater or lesser degree.

Having taken to exercise in the last year to combat weight gain I've been a bit up and down with pain management.

Result is that now I'm on some new meds that have some benefits and of course some side effects, but what started out as me wanting less meds has ended up with me on more.

One of the things I have been advised on is less impact exercise, so that's the running,  which means the spin bike will get a work out :-) about time too.

Also and more alarmingly, might have to drink less beers, or limit my beers to three days, Friday, Saturday and possibly sunday if I'm parched, because there is some liver side effect that the new meds might give me, and possibly it's a good thing to drink slightly less.

I'm sure this ends well, with better skin, less aches and pains, and less hobbling.

Stand by for spin bike updates......

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4:03 am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings

This being awake bit is a bit tedious :-)

So I moved on from Super Powers and  the question became  "What's on the opposite side of the earth from me"

Which it turns out is pretty easy to look up.  http://www.freemaptools.com/tunnel-to-other-side-of-the-earth.htm

For me that would be somewhere near Marbella in Spain. Nice.

Then, of course, the question became, what about I dig a tunnel to there?

Then, of  course this leads to some other interesting thoughts and dilemmas and wonderings, as you do.

If you (I) dig straight down then for at least 50% of the journey you're going downwards, you get to the middle and you have to start tunneling\digging upwards?, the floor (?) becomes the ceiling (?)

Does that mean the stuff you chip away at on the upwards bit falls out through the long tunnel hole you just made on the way down?

Or I guess that it just congregates at the middle point, neither up nor down.

Can you imagine if you've nearly completed you're upwards leg and you chip a bit off and it flies out the starting point hole like a shot from a cannon. Can't imagine getting a resource consent for that.

At some point too, halfway you're top must become bottom and your bottom top? Perhaps not, if you were making a 'floor' to drive on then perhaps this would end up being the roof at the other end? But as it's straight down, perhaps now, you'd just have to adjust the one/off ramp bit at either end.

Would you need brakes to slow you down or could you coast all the way through?

On the matter of digging to the other side I Came up with some fun #Facts about the Earth

• Radius of the Earth  is  give or take 6,350 km, that's about half way, depending on where you are though the Earth bulges a bit in the middle, like the most of us.


• Diameter then is, give or take, 12,750km


• Earth has a mantle (crust) that is 2,890 km thick


• The Deepest Known trench is around 11 km deep - that would be the Mariana Trench.


• Deepest Well ever drilled is 10.7km


• Mt.Everest is 8,850 meters tall


• Deepest cave is about 2km - Krubera Cave

So a few technical problems and other observations.

• We've managed to drill less than  0.004% of the way into the Earths Crust?


• We've found all the oil at this depth and much much less?


• We can't have used all the oil? IT must surely be just more difficult to get out?

I might try to think of something else.

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666

This is post number 666

I might be Post 668 or 669 because along the way I may have deleted a couple of older posts, but in the spirit of all things I'm going to post a poorly thought out and ridiculous homage to 666

I started with some #facts

Wikepedia :  666 (six hundred sixty-six) is the natural number following 665 and preceding 667.

 is the sum of the first  natural numbers

But then I thought I'd look in the intertubes for examples of where you might find 666 if you really had the time and energy, some of my favourites are as below. Oh ok they're not all 666 things, a couple of them are just funny, like the Chase\Nazi one.

But I do like the Vodafone, and the CERN ones. and I'm reminded of the joke that goes

"What's the difference between Tom Jones and Walt Disney?"

"Tom Jones sings, and Walk Disnae" (which is clearly a much more humorous joke if you speak it in a scots accent, and feel free to replace Tom Jones with anyone you like, I first heard it as Al Jolsen, which might be funnier)

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="6122,6123,6124,6125,6126,6127,6128,6129,6130,6131,6132,6133" orderby="rand"]

Two things;

• I had nothing better to do


• It was too early for a beer

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The less of me for May

The less of me for May- A moth where it ended in abruptly and in tragedy

• 8Runs - that's half of what I expected


• 42.06 kms kms in total


• 5.2kms average per walk-out


• Fastest 5km improves all the time 32:53  - remembering back that it was 44:03 in December when I really started to go for it.


• Weight  dropping slowly - now at 94 kg, but only because I ate to comfort myself in the last two weeks.


• New shoes - I brought some more New Balance shoes M1010, They're still in the box unworn.

So to recap then.

I hurt myself.

I'd got to 498 kms and wanted to get to 500 (in total), and I went out in the morning. I had a "tight" right calf, but stretching seemed to ease it, in my head. I'd got less than 500 meters where I stopped to stretch it again, and nearly gave up, but mistaking the pain as being similar to the pain that shins sometimes give me I pushed ahead.

Then at the furthest point from home I'd stopped to walk a bit, the calf was quite "knotted" and I thought I'd walk it off, but I came to a junction and then the gentle downhill bit that I really enjoy. So I ran accross the road, in the way you do to beat the truck that's coming up. and that's when the tears started :-(





The burning stabbing that indicates some part of your body has given up.  For those of you that know this is both painful, embarrassing and confusing.

So there I was in comparative agony  by the side of the road, unable to walk, and some kind passerby stopped and offered me a lift home, I was sweaty and grimacing but still they stopped. It was incredibly kind and thoughtful and I hope that i'd be as charitable if ever I had the chance.

Cold pads and hot water bottle's for a few hours, compress bandage and rest.

Oddly I had no problems standing on top toes had a full range of foot motion but I couldn't walk in any coherent way, and getting down stairs was pretty impossible for the first day.

In the week since, it's calmed down a lot, only aches if I've been sitting for a while, and doesn't like being cold. I massage it daily and use deep heat (you know that stuff that smells like locker rooms, the opposite of chick-magnet"

I'm really itching to get back and exercise, and will have a gentle walk tomorrow.

And there you have it - May done and dusted, some wins, a few set backs, a few compliments about how less fat I am becoming. It's all good.

The Thin me is trying - the less of me update for February

A bit of fun in February and by my own personally competitive nature I managed to crack a 100kms of exercise in the 4 week period, says my Nike+ SportsWatch GPS

My weight hasn't exactly plummeted, but from being 105Kg in November I'm back to 97kg, and having been on or at 100Kg for years and a while I'm inwardly smiling about gaining the extra notch on my belt back.

My goal is to lose about 1kg a month, by a combination of better eating, for instance the breakfast porridge, a lighter lunch and better dinners, and having cut out snack things like crisps/chips and chocolate (for the most part), and to be much healthier and thinner by next summer. And I've invested in a bit of gear so I have a motivation.

I'm also drinking less beer less often too, but I'm enjoying it more, and instead of the whole cheese I can now enjoy it 1/3 at a time over three days.

I've all but worn out my current  Nike shoes (around 250kms) and will move on the new ones I brought this weekend. MrsPdubyah says I should slow down and go further, I'm going to seek advice on what's the best way forward. I don't think I can walk any faster without getting into the whole speed walking gait and thing, and I probably look just a bit odd now, although I do manage to break into a run for a few hundred meters (he says kidding himself), which is more than I could in December. I think I'd be aiming for more jogging intervals than just walking fast. That would be plan A.

Stretching has helped, the massage stick has helped, I still have stiffness in the calf area, and now around the knees, although the latter might be the result of the worn out shoes. Touching your toes is quite the joy :-)

So far then Pdubyah world all is going to plan.

Chores for Peace....

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="75"] Incandescent Bipin light bulb (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

I'm on a roll with the chores today, and you know how chores can be the mundane. So in no particular order (but actually the order I did them in);

1. Change one of the tiny halogen light bulbin the kitchen
   
   
   
   • Find replacement bulb.
   
   
   • Take everything out of cupboard
   
   
   • Locate bulb
   
   
   • Put everything back in cupboard
   
   
   • Change bulb
   
   
   
   


2. Change a different bulb in the kitchen
   
   
   
   • See step one and repeat
   
   
   
   


3. 
   
   [caption id="" align="alignright" width="75"] English: Advertising postcard,  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]
   
   "Fix" washing machine
   
   
   
   • Washing machine "overflowed" in the week, it's my job to know why. Apparently.
   
   
   • Discuss possible causes, get ridiculed.
   
   
   • Decide that it's nothing more than generally blocked and needs a cleaner.
   
   
   • Mix cleaner, administer, wait a bit.
   
   
   • Discuss why it did not work a bit.
   
   
   • Ignore discussion and go for something a bit manual.
   
   
   • Get under sink, disassemble pipe "A".
   
   
   • Find pipe "A" has water in it, pour into sink.
   
   
   • Find towel to mop up under sink where you just poured all the water over yourself and floor
   
   
   • disassemble pipe "B"  that us attached to "A". being the "U shaped one.
   
   
   • Remove two clothes peg and about half a sock's worth of lint"
   
   
   • Do a little happy dance.
   
   
   • Ask wifey how a clothes peg in let alone two made it into the sink?
   
   
   • get reproachful look.
   
   
   • get back under sink.
   
   
   • reassemble pipes.
   
   
   
   


4. 
   
   [caption id="" align="alignright" width="75"] Français : Taille-haie Husqvarna 323 HD 60. Taille-haie thermique standard. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]
   
   Trim the garden hedge
   
   
   
   • Try to avoid this one, but whilst I was on chore 3 MrsPdubyah has been on the intertubes and the local hire pool is open
   
   
   • Wait for MrsPdubyah to change, since she wants to visit the burley man at the hire place
   
   
   • Hire hedge trimmer, industrial sized
   
   
   • Trim hedge to required standard and height, width and density.
   
   
   • Only nearly cut myself.
   
   
   • get sympathy.
   
   
   • get told to get on with the hedge.
   
   
   • get told to do the hedge at the back.
   
   
   • get supervised.
   
   
   • get told to do it some more
   
   
   • get a drink
   
   
   • get back onto the job
   
   
   • get told to do it some more
   
   
   • apparently "it's not even" is full and complete instruction on how to trim a hedge to a satisfactory standard
   
   
   • massacre hedge out of spite
   
   
   • get congratulated, how's that happen?
   
   
   • take trimmer back, pay the man, have blokey laugh about the peace I've just earned.
   
   
   
   


5. 
   
   [caption id="" align="alignright" width="75"] Coffee cup (Photo credit: @Doug88888)[/caption]
   
   Get Coffee
   
   
   
   • put petrol in car.
   
   
   • order coffee.
   
   
   • wait for coffee beans to grow.
   
   
   • wait for cow to be born.
   
   
   • wait until cow can produce milk.
   
   
   • I'm sure Oil is made quicker than this.
   
   
   • get home with luke warm coffee.
   
   
   • MrsPdubyah abandons gardening in favour of a magazine.
   
   
   • instead of music the gently whirl and beep of washing machine in the background
   
   
   
   

All is at peace in house, and all I have to do is buy some new bulbs and hide them for the next installment of change the bulb....

The Other Bucket List

The list of things that you never want to do. the things you would avoid at all costs. Mine is different to yours of course, I hope. The   list is be about things that I have no personal interest in participating in as "things" They hold no allure, fascination or attraction to me, no challenge or reward appears offered for achieving participation. Call me a curmudgeon. There is a real bucket list of course. I'll start on that next when I figure out what it is that I don't want to do.

1. Scuba Diving.


2. One of those one hour trial lesson in a light aircraft.


3. Bungy Jumping - possibly the lamest of all the adventure / thrill activities.


4. Get a tattoo.


5. Manicure / Pedicure / Massage.


6. Swim with sharks - possibly the 2nd lamest of all the adventure / thrill activities.


7. Tandem parachutes - I've done single jump  and it's much much scarier.


8. Camping holiday.


9. Have a "hot lap" in a Ferrari or Lamborghini or pretty much any car really - going fast as a passenger - *gosh*.


10. Hot Air Ballooning


11. Own a restaurant that I had to work in - what kind of madness is a 7 day a weeks 14 hour a day job?


12. Own a pub that I had to work in. - what kind of madness is a 7 day a weeks 14 hour a day job?


13. Take a holiday on a Cruise Liner - gak!!


14. Skiing


15. Appear on a TV game show as a contestant

I’d do most things - #3

You'd know from earlier posts that I'm not a big fan of tattoo, or ink, or whatever you want to dress it up as.

Today then the press carries this;

"Megan Fox has "outgrown" her tattoo.

The 25-year-old actress had a tattoo of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe inked onto her right arm when she was a teenager. Nearly a decade later, Megan is finding the action regrettable.

She simply is no longer impressed by the artwork.

"You outgrow things that you love when you were a child. I got it when I was 18 and now I'm 25 and it just doesn't make sense anymore."

Removing the tattoo is an arduous process for the star. Megan will undergo numerous treatments to lift the ink from her skin.

"[The removal process] is a hundred times worse than the tattoo itself," she revealed. "I've only done one [session] so I probably have three or four left."

From another news source though

Megan Fox is removing her Marilyn Monroe tattoo because it has "negative energy".

The 25-year-old actress has an inking of the late screen icon's face etched on the inside of her right arm but she is in the process of having it lasered off because she no longer wants an association to Marilyn - who died in August 1962 aged 36 from a suspected drugs overdose.

She told Italian magazine Amica: "I'm removing it. It is a negative character, as she suffered from personality disorders and was bipolar. I do not want to attract this kind of negative energy in my life."

The tattoo of the Some Like It Hot star is not the first change to her body that Megan has been left unhappy with.

The Jonah Hex star - who is married to actor Brian Austin Green - also got rid of a belly-button piercing when she was 20.

She said: "I did it when I was 16 because I was a fan of Britney Spears. The only time I tried to imitate someone else.

It's interesting that it's only been a few years for her to realise that what you think is a good idea is in fact rubbish. but you can't be old and wise without being young and stupid. Even to the point of the belly button piercing.

Interesting though that she does not see herself as a role model or taking any position that would not encourage others to follow her banality, then again I'm kind of sucked into thinking that having made a movie that somehow they transcend the normal, when in fact they are dumber than a blunt axe.

So there you go kids, dont do the tattoo!

I'd do most things

But there are a couple that I wouldn't do.

As a youth, many ages ago, I used to wear two ear-rings in one ear, which for the time was pretty radical! I imagine. I used to have 'streaks' dyed into my hair, variously gold, red, green. I used to wear 'punk' type clothes.

But you know I've never wanted a tattoo. Ever. Not that they aren't worthwhile but they are when all is said and done pretty pointless. Very.

As works of art yes. As statements, no.

There are grades of pointless. Small tattoos in Kanji or Cyrillic in the small of your back, very very pointless. Tattoo the name of someone in same or worse in ye olde Englishe script on your forearm - über pointless.

Tattoo's where you can't see them, pointless. Tattoo on your face or neck where people can see them - stunningly pointless. Unless it's a cultural thing like a Moko then it's very cool.

Fair play if you like tattoo's, to me they scream of needy kid, very needy kid, with a hole in their life that needs filling. If you're so bereft of self then tattoos are for you.

And in response to the dozens of hits I get looking for a "mary tattoo" it could be these you seek, although for the life of me I have no idea why you would.

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Inconceivable! Why I should avoid the newspapers.

I shouldn't read the newspaper, it annoys me.

Prisons. "Auckland's Mt Eden prison operator Serco has been accused of bribing inmates with bigger helpings of food and televisions in their cells to encourage them to behave" ..... And? Well the comments page is enlightening. People have issues that being in prison equals additional punishment. That being in prison isn't punishment enough, being segregated from the general population isn't a punishment, they should of course be fed gruel and water, and only if they complete their 20 hours of manual labour. It's a wonder. Sure there are bad people in prisons, they are in he maximum security ones, the ones that allow you a couple of hours outside your cell a day, every day for the next however many years. Sure there are career crims in prison, wherein it becomes some kind of badge of honour, I'm sure they're not happy. No I don't have an alternate, a method to rehab people or think they should be loose and running around. By popular thinking they're in the right place, away from the population to plot and scheme and get no further ahead in life.

Captain Obvious comes to visit with this headline comment "Macsyna King is laying blame for her twin babies' deaths with their father" No shit Sherlock, this is her book, her story, it's hardly going to be a confession is it. What were you expecting? I'm sure the book is a wonderful collection of colourful anecdotes, half truths, omission and fabrication, ably conducted by the Mr. Ian Wishart, who is doing it for altruistic reasons only, hardly covering his costs of course.

 It annoys me that today, for instance, the NZHerald didn't print the #gotakeashit hashtag that NIcola Grigg, the bint who is shagging Ritchie McCaw used in her tweet. So half a story. The other annoying thing is that they gave her column inches. What's with that? Seems though that she disappeared herself from twitter quick smart, too much adulation I should think.

that is all.

Foursquare, now there's a thing, I became the Mayor!

I was Foursquare Mayor of my house, the street I live in, the street I drive down to get into my street, the bit of the motorway I get stuck on in the morning, a few local businesses and one or two places I shopped at, and quite a few that I didn't. I was mayor of a couple of shopping malls.

I was at one point Mayor of the place I worked and of three of our competitor companies. I became mayor of a car park, and a playground. I was mayor of the 3 different versions of the hockey stadium.

I think I had 17 mayoralties all going for me at one point. Clearly I'd missed the point.

And you know what the useless thing about foursquare was? That someone could take my mayoralty from me, and being ever so slightly OCD that's not going to work out for me. Or them, because then it became a staking game where all I would do it redouble my efforts to become mayor again, and rob them of "Mayor of playground" title that I so covet!

Never mind that it has a business application, I'm sure that some companies have fantastic offers and incentives to check-in to their establishment, a loyalty card scheme, I was mayor of 17 places, all for my own ego.

And you can only be mayor or wannabe mayor. You can't be a councillor or assistant to the mayor, it's all or nothing. You can earn "badges" for various things, these are but trivia compared to be being Mayor.

They had a mayor only party at skycity one time. You could only get in if you were mayor of somewhere, how whacked is that? Do they still have that every month? Don't know never went, never was going to, and couldn't understand why I would.

So I stopped using it, since it appears to be a solution that has no problem, a pissing competition for the OCD, and a terribly gauche way of showing off your coffee habit.

More than my jobsworth

I've always been a fan of encouraging people to know as much about their particular job as possible. Firstly to get them to understand what they are doing, and what effect it has on them and others, Secondly because it makes the job more enjoyable. If you understand what you are doing, why you are doing and why what you do does what it does then you have a better understanding and ability to change things.

So it comes as a disappointment that a long time staff person is really struggling to understand the basics of what they do. They are reaching for a promotion to take on more responsibility and to be a "player" however it's clear they are pretty clueless.

So then for him doing this new stuff means a lot of people who can do this stuff are doing the stuff for him, and that means they are back to pushing a button and waiting for a response. Clueless as to how A gets to B.

And they ask four different people the same question.

And yes this bothers me, because despite the rhetoric and always promoting themselves they are a disappointment to me. Setting themselves aside as not needing any mentoring/training/motivation and talking up their always being early (and yet not doing anything) they are a clock-watcher.

We call then Levi. as in 5:01

What's possibly worse is that they work in a square of "my job" and that anything else is a chore, believing that seniority grants them immunity or respect from criticism.

I'm glad they are not on my team. I'm mifffed that they will want an inordinate amount of my team's time, well heck they will want a lot of time from everyone and I am so looking forward to the day when one of two things happen. Either they have to work late to resolve something, or they find someone else to do the work as part of a core responsibility set. Oh and I know that the demands for equipment are pending "now I'm doing X I need Y"

Bring it.

I also find that this is a bit unlike me, then I justify it by saying that there are doers and sayers. I know what I think I am and I know what I think they are not.