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.

4:06 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

Honda Accord NT - a quick drive around the block

Those nice people at Honda New Zealand can't help themselves, they keep calling and asking if I want to drive their new cars.

This time it was for the Honda Accord. I could take a pick of the V6 or the 4 cylinder.

to be more exact the 2.4 litre, 4 cylinder, 16 valve, EarthDreams i-VTEC, chain drive DOHC, which I really did choose over the 3.5 litre, 6 cylinder, 24 valve, EarthDreams i-VTEC, belt drive SOHC.

Because, well in the event that I was going to have a new car it would be the more normal 4 cylinder one.  The actual cost difference between the two is only $5,000 though, $55 as opposed to $60,000.

So what were the 'bells and whistles'? The ‘NT’ name for the top-specification Accord stands for Navigation and Technology.

Included in the technology package is Honda’s Advanced Driver Assist System (ADAS).

This is a bundle of things including adaptive cruise control (which works between 30-180km/h),  You set a cruise speed, and then a distance to the vehicle in front, the car then brakes or accelerates to match the object in front. It's like magic.

There's also something called Collision Mitigating Braking System (CMBS) with audible/visual alerts and initial braking activation. I activated this once on an on-ramp manoeuvre, got a few beeps and some yellow flashing lights.

Best though is the Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS). The car recognises the lane markings, on the motorway, for instance, and then keeps the car in-between those lines. Steering itself. Like magic. Seriously you could take both your feet off the pedals and hands off the wheels, the car would continue as usual.

You'd be daft to do that, but in the interest of a test I did. Weird experience a car steering itself, and then accelerating to keep a gap, or breaking, it would do both things.

However, the lane keep thing only works where there are clear lanes to keep to.

There is also a unique blind spot monitoring system that shows the view from the left-hand door mirror in the centre-console colour screen that is displaying the sat-nav map.

The centre-conole display also changes to the reversing camera view too, but it's worst feature is on start up and a warning that you're supposed to be responsible and makes you click a button before it changes into something more useful.

I believe the steering is a fly-by-wire affair, which would make the LKAS more probable.

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="6468,6469,6470,6471,6472,6473,6474,6475,6476"]

Anyway, I had the car for an hour. It was magnificent. It's comfortable, quiet, and it accelerates a dream. the technology works, I'm sure the technology I didn't use works like the BlueTooth connection.  The user manual would be an interesting read.

Funniest thing? The mag with curb damage.

Annoying things? The connection for  your media device is in a cubby hole, very design, but not the best.

Interesting thing? Keyless start, you can keep the key in your pocket, the car detects it. No idea how it works if someone else jumps in the car and drives off, does the car detect that the key isn't in or near the car and stops? I'm sure the Honda boffins have thought that through. However if the keys aren't in your pocket they're a bit awkward a shape nd size to put in the centre console. Nit-picking.

Completely enjoyed this car, the multi-adjustable seats through the flappy-paddle gear-box with both sports and normal settings. You can have sports and eco at the same time it seems.

It also has Driver and Passenger specific air con settings, which is handy, and the quite ride might be due to  the Active Noise Cancellation technology

Fuel consumption says 8.1 car said 10.1 and it wasn't being driven gently, or as gently as you would if you owned it.

Would I like to own it, I really would. Would I spend $55,000 on a car? That's the doubtful thing, and I have no real idea of what comparable cars in this price bracket there are. But then I'm not looking for a new car at the moment.

Would I encourage you to drive this car. Absolutely. It really is a stunner. So many technology things in one car, so much car, so much fun.

Related articles

• Honda Accord - Smart manufacturers and smart dealers


• 5 Reasons Why You Gotta Love the 2014 Honda Accord


• 2014 Honda Accord will be third model to hit Benson Honda in San Antonio

Murder Most Foul #5 – Scott Watson

Scott Watson who was convicted in May 1999 of the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope on his boat Blade on 1 January 1998. The bodies of Smart and Hope have never been found.

Watson is serving a life sentence with a non-parole period of 17 years and is expected be released on 8 July 2016

On New Year"s Eve 1997, young holiday-makers Ben Smart and Olivia Hope dissapeared from a party at Furneaux Lodge in the Marlborough Sounds, and were last seen boarding a mystery yacht with a mystery man.

The boat that they were last seen boarding was described by witnesses as a 40ft wooden ketch (two masted yacht) with high freeboard. When Scott was photographed earlier in the evening before going ashore, he had short hair and was obviously clean shaven. His yacht "Blade' is a 26ft steel sloop (single masted yacht) with very low freeboard.

Doubts are explored here : http://www.freescottwatson.org/northandsouth/northandsouth.pdf

However you'll find assertions of guilt along the lines of "I found the DNA evidence along with the fact Watson scrubbed his yacht so thoroughly it was cleaner than a hospital ward the main indicators of guilt."

Couple of things.

• No bodies were found and are unlikely to ever be found


• There appears to be some level of doubt about the 'evidence' of hair and DNA


• There appears to be confusion over timelines, and locations


• Scott Watson, I've always had the understanding, is\was a bit weird

I also have a memory of a conversation with someone who asserted that he'd probably be in jail for something else if it wasn't for this.

As an aside: Watson married Coral Branch in Paremoremo Prison in 2004. They separated in 2007.

It's getting close to release time for Scott Watson. No closure would have been served to the parents, or friends of Ben and Olivia.

Scott Watson may well be free in a couple of years, however will always be walking with a shadow over him, and a bunch of people who will want answers and the elusive closure.

Scott Watson may also not be released, or released with some severe and strict conditions. It depends on how much 'remorse' he shows, and his likelihood of re-offending.

It'll be an interesting time, we're not known in NZ to let a sleeping dog lie, and living in the spotlight might have some interesting side effects.

 

Related articles

• Scott Watson takes legal action


• Watson files against Corrections


• Watson fights for cell visit


• Case may clarify prison media rules


• Call for case review body

 

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.

Related articles

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


• 4:01 am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings


• 4:02 am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings


• 4am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings

 

Beach Life – Summer 2013 – #8

The New Years Eve edition, that was.

The new thing is fireworks we discovered at variously 11:58, 11:59, midnight, 12:01 and all the way through to 12:20. Extremely loud fireworks. I'm not even sure when that became a thing.

Obviously too that whoever held the matches told the time, and that no-one had thought to synchronise watches, or phones, or anything. Bit of a laugh. Someone has to go first.

I think the frugal in me is against setting fire to money like that, this of course does not extend to my beer drinking and the associated costs for that. Also I enjoy the fact that other people have spent the money, I'm good like that.

It was a nice evening, although it was getting slightly cooler as it got later,



The view was improved a bit, as did my mood.



So the communal party was great, although it was cold last night, cold enough to have regretted wearing shorts. The iTorch thing ran the battery out on the phone half way there, made getting back a bit of fun.

I should bring a proper camera next time as the abundance of stars is to behold.

Back at the party though, with Shaking hands I took these pictures of the man-cave, shaking because of the cold not the sense of awe, or Cor!

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="5885,5884,5883,5881,5880,5878,5879,5876" orderby="rand"]

Fast forward, and the morning of the first still sees the Gentleman Fishing Club on the sidelines waiting a break in the weather and for the rafts of weed in the sea to move along. Might be later today I hope

And for the next activity, after brunch, it's a walk around the Matarangi point. Pictures later, or not, depends.

4:02 am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings

Ok, so I don't have a handle on the speed of light thing, and how an observer would see two objects traveling at the speed of light that are heading towards each other.

So I revisited the super-power thing again. Two more came to mind. They are similar

• Making yourself super-hot - The Human Torch - or turning into flames


• Making yourself super-cold - Mr.Freeze.

Both rubbish.

The calorific output or calories required would preclude either of these two ever bring a thing. Can you image the amount of food you'd have to eat to sustain a body of flames, or how weak and frail you'd become after a quick jaunt.

OF course you could pair both of these up with flying ability for a double-rubbish.

And then one that I'd forgotten about Telekinesis, or the ability to move things with the power of your mind.

Rubbish. Particularly if I understand physics a bit, and force and reaction.

Oh and Remote Viewing, being able to visualise remote places and scenes. Or as most people call it, having a good imagination.

I have to come up with some new things to think about.

Related articles

• 4:01 am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings (pdubyah.com)


• 4am and the clock goes tick-tick-tick Musings (pdubyah.com)

 

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

4am is a weird time, and I've already covered a few things that keep me occupied at that time of the morning , or this. Things like why flying is nonsense, why invisibility would be chilly, walking through walls not floors and the improbability of time-travel.

But now lying awake I'm thinking about Mind Reading,  Mind Control and what I've been thinking of as Trans-Location or Teleporting. Sort of things that you'd think were Holy Grail.

Mind Reading:  Actual mind-reading, not the interpreting the body language and picking up visual clues.  Listening in to people's thoughts. I'm not a scientist but I'm not actually sure that there are voices in my head that you could listen into like a radio, and the mind is processing a lot of information all the time.

Mind Control: Being able to influence people by "talking" in their head. Nice idea the thought of suggestion. I don't know if you'd have to have contact with their head though, like a Klingon mind-meld or something or you could just stand behind them and whisper, brain-to-brain like not actual words.

Trans-Location or Teleporting: Being able to re-locate your whole self into a different or new location. Couple of issues though.

• If you were standing you would arrive standing, if you were sitting you'd arrive sitting, or whatever posture, pose or contortion you had at point A you would arrive at point B the same.


• If you teleported into a solid object, like a concrete wall, that'd be a problem, mostly of instant death, because you're transient state of moving from A to B would be finished.

So would need heaps of research if you wanted to use this 'power' to do anything without injuring, or even killing yourself.  You'd have to extend this to being able to scan or verify the landing place before your re-emerged, then making it a non-instantaneous transaction where you would find yourself outside of the everything.  useful for things like getting from one side of a door or from one room into the next room perhaps (furniture and other objects in your landing space aside).

But it was 4am and the clock went tick-tick-tick

The World Tour of Taupo - The Romantic Getaway

Surprisingly I've been married 25 years. To celebrate this milestone MrsPdubyah and me took off for a couple of days holiday.

We chose Taupo. More correctly I was told we were going to Taupo. Two nights.

I took some photo's. Admittedly on the iPhone.  I think the one that is most representative of Taupo is the one of Huka Falls.  Not sure the view from out room without the beer is much to look at.

Oh and the frozen margarita, strawberry, was mine. Sometimes you don't need a beer.

It's not where you're at it's where you're from.

Part of being where you are is knowing where you came from. I'm from a family that has a chequered history, not unusual. and the family tree is a journey, like everyone else's.



So it was with a bit of excitement that I really stumbled over this last night, in one of those weird moments where you indullge your self-googling, except this time I chose my Father's name.

And this popped up.

A public notice confirming his naturalisation \ Citizenship in July 1965, a magnificent addition to the family history tree.

Feeling a bit good about this to be honest, but not for any real reason, except I found it.

Trees. They take up a lot of space.

We had 4 trees in front of our house, right on the boundary line, and two of them were close to a drain, and you know the horror stories about roots and drains and repairs.

So MrsPdubyah said they had to go. So they did.

 

Naturally you want to explore your options before taking on a project, and it came down to two Options:

Option (1)

1. I hire a chain saw


2. I cut the branches off


3. Cut the trunk


4. Cut myself


5. Pile up the cuttings


6. Cram cuttings into car


7. Have tantrum


8. Drive to tip


9. Pay some more money


10. Cut myself some more


11. Damage Car


12. Shrug shoulders and wonder how that happened


13. Wash Car


14. Take chainsaw back

Option (2)

1. Ring a man


2. Hire the man


3. Watch man work


4. Listen to Music


5. Pay man


6. Job done.

The stump remover\grinder chap will be here monday to take out the very bottom part of the trees, and a couple bags of soil and some new grass, and then I have enough for a cricket pitch. Just in time for summer. Or a water slide.

The saddest part is how little bulk there is in a tree.

 

[gallery type="thumbnails" ids="5258,5259,5260,5261,5262,5263,5264"]

 

 

 

Beer - #211 -Stone - Cali-Belgique IPA (Cali-België)

I know right, what madness is this  - Stone Cali-Belgique IPA (Cali-België). Brewed by Stone Brewing Co. in the style of an India Pale Ale (IPA) in the exotic sounding Escondido, California USA.

When reading the name “Stone Cali-Belgique IPA”, “Cali” hints that it is a California style IPA, and this brew has an undeniable Belgian influence, indicated by the word “Belgique” (which is how Belgium’s French-speaking population says the word “Belgian”; the Dutch speaking Belgians say “Belgie”). We carefully selected a Belgian yeast strain that illuminates a fascinating new aspect of the beer that is otherwise quite simply Stone IPA.

The result is both completely new and different, while still being recognizable as a Stone Brew – and Stone IPA in particular. Think of it as an otherwise identical twin to Stone IPA that was raised in a Belgian culture. Literally.

One US pint (600 ml give or take) of a 6.9% ABV beer, or about 3.53 standard drinks.

This really sounds like a Frankenstein monster of a beer, with it's roots in IPA and it's heart in Belgium, but it came highly recommended, and even if it wasn't the idea of this would have made me buy it.

Sort of then expecting a hoppy and fruit malty beer, I think. Who can tell until it's opened. The brewer may have thought this through and this is a real thing, or the uncharitable might think that they wrongly got delivered, or ordered the wrong yeast, but no it's a real thing, on the list of beers available all year round, said their website.

The opening aroma is a mixed and very pleasant experience, hops and sweetness.  Cloudy coppery pour with a nice head that doesn't sit for long, aroma is more of citrus than anything.

[caption id="attachment_5175" align="alignleft" width="150"] Nothing up my sleeves[/caption]

Wow!

That's a bit awesome.

Tart hoppyness with a really warm maltiness. Decent carbonation. Really nice bitterness and a strong finish to the softer malty notes.

That is a seriously nice taste profile, and what the brewer has done seems to defy logic and argument. It's very clever is what it is, but must be more difficult or too left field for others to have attempted.

It's happiness makes it IPA, there is no alcohol astringent note, but the Belgium malt sweetness is undeniably here, with both the pine and the lemony citrus notes thrown together.

The pdubyah-o-meter says 9.9, and you should  check it out for yourself. Not at 10? Well no, it's magnificent and all that, but it is in a league of it's own. Shall I compare thee to a summers day....

This stands up will to any examination of being an IPA or a more Belgium style  ale. The aroma is great, the taste profile is a joy, but it is just to clever for itself. I'm in awe of this, it's something I'd talk about in company, I feel mean for not making it a whole round number, but I'm going to enjoy and enthuse about it all the same like I did.

Oh and I'm getting another if they have any left in the store.

Related articles

• The Beer Hunter: Stone Cali-Belgie India Pale Ale (moviesandbeerblog.wordpress.com)


• Stone IPA (thebittersandthesweet.wordpress.com)

Out and About - Skysport Grill Auckland Viaduct

Skysport Grill is New Zealand's first purpose built genuine sports grill and bar, featuring 25+ sports viewing screens and 40+ beers on tap from all over.

It has an exciting menu of New Zealand fare (based on the American sports style bar but with a New Zealand theme), and plays a continuous selection of classic rock music on a state-of-the-art sound system.

I was there last night for a short time with a couple of friends.  I could have been there for so much longer. They really do have a stunning amount of on tap beers, from around everywhere.

Madly I started off with a local beer, i of the Zombie, which was 9.5%ABV screamer. I'm going to make an honest effort to review that later, stand by. By which I mean I went and brought some and will get to it next.

I also had a Thornbridge Jaipur. This is a beer that I had the pleasure of in a bottle a long time ago, and fondly remember it as being awesome. The keg version wasn't a welcome return of the king. It was mightily good, but was thinner than I remember.

To finish me off, in more ways than one, The Sierra Nevada Torpedo, which was a mighty fine beer too.

Somehow there was also a Ben Middlemiss Lunatic Soup enjoyed and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, as well as more exotic Lowenbrau. A concerted effort would see you enjoying one of everything as a group, if you tried.

10 pints of beer then, NZ$95 which I'd say for anyone's money for the quality of beer was outstanding.

The Venue? Well it does have a magnificent bar to look at, and it's chock full of TV's of all sizes, all showing, have a guess.... Sports. Can't vouch for the food, it didn't even enter our heads. But given the once over I'd be confident that the burgers, hotdogs, nachos or fish and chips would be par for the course, it's not gourmet, it's not greasy spoon. I'm going to make a point to eat something next time.

We had a semi-outside table under a heater which put out more than enough rays to make me want to sit somewhere less intense, but it was matter of inches rather than feet.

The barman, Ben,  knew his thing, the wait staff were attentive, amusing and ready for a quick chat. All the things you need in bar.

Possibly then a good reason to move to the Viaduct and make this a local. Tempered only by the fact that in a previous incarnation that the venue happened to be an Indian restaurant, so I might make it an event pub, and enjoy it on occasion. There is local parking, but unless you have an iron will and want just one beer then get the bus, get a sober driver, or walk. Mad if you don't.

The less of me, the one with the heart

I'm not actually sure what I was thinking, but I have a Nike Sportswatch, and this allows me to track my exercise.

One of it's capabilities is to link to a suitable heart rate sensor. And being as how I had nothing better to spend more money on I invested in one.

Bit of a mistake really. Maybe.

It works ok, and gave me some readings, but having done no research the numbers it came up with were meaningless.  So I had to go investigate using the trusty Google and Wikipedias

What I found was a couple of interesting things, but I'm not sure if I'm nearer understanding or now just frightened.

Resting Heart Rate for MEN
Age	18-25	26-35	36-45	46-55	56-65	65+
Athlete	49-55	49-54	50-56	50-57	51-56	50-55
Excellent	56-61	55-61	57-62	58-63	57-61	56-61
Good	62-65	62-65	63-66	64-67	62-67	62-65
Above Average	66-69	66-70	67-70	68-71	68-71	66-69
Average	70-73	71-74	71-75	72-76	72-75	70-73
Below               Average	74-81	75-81	76-82	77-83	76-81	74-79
Poor	82+	82+	83+	84+	82+	80+

As can be seen on this chart, your resting heart rate can vary with your fitness level and with age. I'm wavering around Good to Excellent, according to this.

But then the point of a heart rate monitor is to show your heart under the stress of exercise. So I had to find that out. And I came up with this

• The most commonly used formula is to take       your age (in years) away from 220. For example, if you are 34, your predicted max heart rate is 186 bpm (220 - 34). The formula was derived from a range of maximum heart rate studies in 1970 by William Haskell and Samuel Fox.


• A study in 2001 with healthy adults found a more accurate formula of 208 - 0.7 x age (from Tanaka, H., Monahan, K.D., & Seals, D.R. (2001). Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited. J Am Coll Cardiol. Jan;37(1):153-6.)

So I can derive then that my maximum heart rate should be around 171 (I'm old).

And then I found a handy chart that shows me what that looks like in terms of exercise effort heart rate to Maximum heart rate

Table of heart rate at training intensities from 50-90%

age	50%	60%	65%	70%	75%	80%	90%
50	120	130	135	140	145	150	160
51	120	129	134	139	144	149	159
52	119	129	134	139	144	148	158
53	119	128	133	138	143	148	157
54	118	128	132	137	142	147	156

Going back to the data then,  I've had the heart rate monitor on for 3 exercise things and have rates between 146 and 152, somewhere between 75% and 90% (on average), and a range between 70 and 90% overall. Average being a good thing as looking at the data, it says 163 at one point on one of the three days (last night it topped at 158).

So why am I worried. Well 75%, or 80% or 90%  - how do you know that ?  They 'feel' the same to me. I'm pushing as hard as I feel I can on most days, some days I hear the music, others I don't.  I don't want to 'back-off' yet now, I'm conscious that there is a limit to how much I should push, and this is going to change the way I do things, even if I pretend to myself it isn't and that I'll just ignore it. I won't.

Wheck out here http://www.topendsports.com/testing/heart-rate.htm for where I took my data and advice from.

We all follow the Palace, Over land and sea, And Brighton…well not Brighton

In a stunning turn of events the mighty mighty Eagles, Crystal Palace F.C., late of Selhurst Park, London SE25 gained promotion from the Championship league to the Premier League of  English Football.

So the next season no travelling to Brighton, Blackpool, Charlton, Derby or Leeds, oh no.

Next year, they get to visit Old Trafford, The Emirates, face the Kop, take on the might of Manchester City, and visit Upton Park and many other grounds

And being in New Zealand I'll get to watch each and every game live, on paytv.

The playing team that won the play-off game has a cost value of around 2 million pounds sterling. True they've sold Wilfred Zaha to Manchester United for 15 million pounds, a tidy profit, but they have to be prudent and pick up some quality players that will get them over the first year hurdle. Otherwise it'll be 38 games of edge of seat panic.

The reward for promotion and in a worst case scenario relegated is estimated to be in the region of 120-140  million pounds. Mostly from TV I imagine, hardly from shirt sales, although they'll add a few coins into the coffers.

They'll have to get about 40 points, from the 114 on offer (3 points for a win) to have a chance at a second year.

They may stand a chance, based on the different styles of football that exists between the Premier League and the Championship League teams.

But the real bonus is that I get to wear my old replica shirts, wave my scarf and even invest in a new shirt.

It'll be a wild time.

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.

Auckland Lantern festival 2013

The Auckland Lantern Festival is celebrated on the first full moon following the Chinese New Year.

In 2013, the event, from 22-24 February was held at Albert Park in Auckland.

This year we tool the in-laws, which as it turns out was a disaster, and so, for the very brief time we were at the event here are a few pictures. Who knew that FIL was claustrophobic, and the crowds made him have a mild panic. Why MrsPdubyah would organise to go to a crowded event is beyond me, unless it's some kind of daughter revenge. Anyway  here you are:-

[gallery ids="4290,4291,4292,4293,4294,4295,4296,4297,4298,4299,4300,4301,4302,4303,4304,4305,4306,4307,4308,4309,4310,4311,4312,4313,4314,4315"]

The park was packed, but I would urge you to go, and if you have good spirits and don't mind the jostle and the hustle this is the most cheerful and happy event that you could image, all the lanterns are amazing, and although we had to leave almost as soon as we arrived what I saw made me smile a lot.