Nick Gibbins

Humans 2, Rodents 0

Of late, there have been two main impediments to our working more in the garden (apart from the perennial problem of too little time at the weekend): the cats, and the rats. We have a problem with the neighbourhood cats fouling in our garden, including our lawn. At a rough count, there are probably upwards of a dozen cats in a two house radius of us. Ours is the only cat-free house, not because we don’t like cats, but because we don’t want to bring yet another cat into the area; our garden in contested territory, with frequent fights. Any… Read More »Humans 2, Rodents 0

Sunday Morning

I think that I’ve just been given a spoiler for last night’s Doctor Who by the (who, lest we forget, is three). I think that I may need to do some explaining. In other news, we ( and I, sans ) had a lovely time yesterday at the wedding of and , wherein we ate too much, drank too much, talked a lot (but not nearly enough) with folk we don’t see often enough and generally had an ace time. We wish them all happiness in their future life together.

Per Toddler Ad Astra

*reads article about the X-37B *looks over shoulder at pictures* That rocket not for people. That’s right, it’s an unmanned spacecraft. That rocket not for people because it not got a toilet. o_O

Toddler Linguistics, part the nth

An account of a conversation while waiting at bus stop with and the : My1 like coiley-wotey. What’s coiley-wotey? Coiley-wotey! Colley Wotty? Coiley-wotey! What sort of a thing is coiley-wotey! *pause* Coiley-wotey! He’s making this word up. Are you making this word up? Is this another silly word? No, coiley-wotey! How big is coiley-wotey? *looks confused* Is coiley-wotey big or small? Coiley-wotey! He’s just saying that! Stop saying that! *has flash of inspiration* What colour is coiley-wotey? Grey. *thinks* What sort of animal is coiley-wotey? He a woof, chase roadroader. Roadroader goes beep-beep! Aha! He’s a wolf! You’re talking about… Read More »Toddler Linguistics, part the nth

Further thoughts on Victory of the Daleks

The (a normal, energetic three year old) fell asleep during it. I don’t know whether to be appalled (he should have been hiding behind a cushion, not sleeping) or impressed with his critical judgement.

Temps Perdu

Had a sudden realisation in the car on the way to pick the this evening, as the warm spring sun streamed through the windscreen. At that moment what I really wanted, more than anything else, was to be five years old again, and to be taken out to a pub by my parents on a warm spring weekday evening. I wanted to have a Pepsi (in a small bottle, scratched with reuse, with two narrow non-bendy straws, one red-and-white, and one blue-and-white) and a bag of KP nuts (not Planters) or possibly a bag of KP crisps (with the frying… Read More »Temps Perdu

The written word

So, decided that I needed another hefty computer science tome, this time Volume B of the Handbook of Theoretical Computer Science. Looked on Amazon.com, and found a copy in Marketplace for the very reasonable price of $35. Ordered, paid, etc. Got a mail from the seller saying “Amazon-mandated shipping rates too low, shipping will cost more than I get from the sale, looking for cheaper options. I no longer need the book – just want someone else to have it”. Replied, pointing out that USPS Priority International costs less than his cut (the book weighs 2.5kg). He refunded my money… Read More »The written word

Burns 250

The 25th of January this year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of the most famous son of Alloway (and Scots national poet), Robert Burns. Given that the 25th is a school night, we’re planning a not-quite-Burns Night Supper on Saturday 23rd January from 7pm onwards, to which you’re most cordially invited. The bill of fare will again feature the Lunan family haggis (to Issy’s grandfather’s recipe, and made by yours truly) with the traditional accompaniment of bashit neeps and champit tatties, followed by crannachan. We’ll make sure that we have a vegetarian haggis for the veggies, and we’ll… Read More »Burns 250