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In which I address the lack of posts… You won’t believe the reason!
Ha! You fell for my blatant click-baiting! But now that you’re here…
Actually the only reason for my lack of posts in the last couple of months is; a) there was no interesting weather happening and, b) I didn’t have anything interesting to talk about.
It’s well into 2015 already, the future of the 1980’s has arrived (at least as portrayed in Back to the Future II). We do have hoverboards and crappy 3D movies, but no flying cars, power laces or fax machines in every room. Since it’s been 25 years since the end of the 80’s, I’ve been marking the occasion by listening to solely 80’s music on Spotify so far this year. Ah, nostalgia.
Great Scott! Marty, I’ve become one of those Google Glass-holes!
Aside from revelling in the future past (or possibly the past-future), I began a new job in December after the rather sudden restructuring at Vodafone disestablished my role and made me redundant. (Thanks for the payout Vodafone! Now if you’d kindly stop emailing $0 bills for my old staff mobile account, that would be grand.) My new job has meant a change in industry after 13 years in telecommunications, to working in insurance which I know nothing about. Luckily my role is contact centre performance analysis, which requires only a vague knowledge of insurance, so I get to do what I do best; making turning giant steaming piles of fresh data into nice shiny Excel reports. After two months in the job I’ve already developed and rolled out two (and a half) performance dashboards for my Retail Network bailiwick, plus another for a department I don’t look after. So far they seem to have been well received.
Redundancy in a nutshell.
This year is potentially going to be a busy one on the paranormal front. Although most of that I need to keep under wraps until matters eventuate, so watch this space for updates. I am also back on the dieting bandwagon since the start of the year, having decided that eating my way into a heart-attack is probably not a good plan. I am doing my own variation of the 5:2 intermittent fasting diet, whereby I “fast” (drop my dietary intake by 75%) on Tuesday and Thursdays each week. The rest of the week I have a system of tracking macronutrients (protein, fat and carbs) against targets 20% below my calculated BMR for my body mass and height, so in theory I should be loosing weight even on my non-fasting days. Approximately 3.5kgs down so far, however my calculations show I will need to keep this up for around two-and-a-half years in order to get to a more reasonable weight. My previous dieting attempts have only lasted a few months, so we’ll see how this pans out.
Mmmmmm… Deep Fry’d Memes…
In any case, I’ll see if I can some up with a more regular posting schedule to keep my 0.65 regular readers satisfied for updates. I may try syndicating in some articles on topics I find interest to supplement my own infrequent posts. We shall see what the future holds…
Afternoon Cloudscapes
The Storm
Lying in bed and failing at sleeping the night before a job interview I noticed the flashes in the distance after turning off the light. After checking an online lightning tracker, I saw this storm wa...
Six Hour Cloud Time-lapse – Le Roi du Ciel
Some interesting cross-winds happening at different altitudes sending clouds in two different directions. Thunderstorms were forecast further south and I was hoping it would push some interesting clou...
Cold-Brew Coffee – Part 2
Slow-Brew Coffee might be a better name for it! This is certainly not a way to get a quick morning coffee fix. Thank goodness I can function without coffee in the mornings otherwise I may not have had the coordination needed to finish off my cold-brew coffee experiment.
My coffee mixture sat brewing for 13 hours overnight, although I did check on it a couple of times before I went to sleep. I learned a couple of lessons from the preparation and brewing and extraction process however:
- Don’t max-out your brewing container – I made a litre in this case, and the process was a little messy with a full container, next time I’ll try 750mL. The good thing about cold-brew coffee is that it has a shelf life of more than a hour or two, unlike regular coffee which degrades as it cools.
- It may overflow in the fridge – After checking on the brew after 2 hours I found that somehow the coffee was leaking out of the container. I don’t know whether the mixture expanded in the fridge, or the gladwrap I used to cover it set up some sort of suction, but coffee leaked out and pooled under the container. Another reason not to max-out the container.
- Brewing in a coffee plunger was a good idea – Using a plunger as my brewing container meant I could double-filter the brew when I extracted it, once with the plunger, then again through a coffee filter paper and funnel into a bottle.
- Using filter papers was a good idea – The plunger alone definitely wasn’t enough to filter the grounds but the filter did an excellent job (which is kind of its purpose). The resulting coffee had no sediments which I could see.
- Filtering coffee is a slow process – It took a little over an hour to filter the litre of mixture. My funnel and filter set-up worked well, but I can see why some people would use a special apparatus for this. I went through three filters over the course of the hour.
Once all the filtering was done, I had around 800-900mL of coffee in a bottle, and plunger with a cup of wet coffee grounds in it. With the some sort of vacuum or pressurised set-up you could no doubt extract more out of the grounds as there definitely seemed to be more flavour potential locked up in there.
Finally, the all important taste-test. The coffee mixture I ended up with wasn’t overly concentrated, so it was OK to drink undiluted. The result; still a little too bitter for my tastes, however this was fixed by the addition of a little agave sweetener. It seemed much smoother than regular coffee, and was much easier to drink, even without milk which is something I usually cannot manage. The flavours were not as strong as I hoped, so I think my process needs a bit of refining. Next time I will try brewing a smaller batch, but make it more concentrated, and see if that strengthens the flavour. I’ll also need to investigate how variations in brew time and temperature affect the taste.
There’s also the option of making cold-brew coffee using vodka or whisky instead of water for an extra kick. But that might be an experiment for another day.
Cold-Brew Coffee – Part 1
An example of Cold-Brew Coffee preparation.
I am not a big coffee drinker. Working in an office, some people’s days seem to revolve around coffee. I’m not sure whether it’s that they like the taste, or the social aspect of getting coffee, or whether it’s because they’re all just caffeine junkies and cannot survive without it.
I don’t really understand the attraction though. I don’t like hot drinks, and coffee to me tastes like bitter water, to which I have to add milk to cool it down, and sweeteners to kill the bitter taste. By that stage what’s the point? It becomes sweet flavoured milk.
Then I came across a couple of articles on Cold-Brew Coffee. The concept is simple; instead of brewing coffee in scalding hot water, you brew it in cold water. The caveat being that it takes 12 hours, so this is not a quick morning pick-me-up.
The reasons for cold-brewing sounded good to me. The end product is less bitter, since the slower cold-brew process allows more complex flavours to be extracted from the grounds, and unlike using hot water, it does not release a lot of the acids which give hot coffee its bitter taste. If done right, it does away with the need for any sweeteners, so you get the full flavour of the coffee itself.
This sounded like a fun experiment, so I added a bag of decent quality plunger coffee grounds and some coffee filters to my weekly shopping list.
Now following the instructions, it calls for 1 cup of coffee grounds (yes, a cup) to around a litre of water. As I created this mixture I realised that what you end up with is a concentrate, so not something you’re going to drink straight. In the interests of avoiding a lethal caffeine overdose I did buy decaf. It still smelt like the real thing however.
First note for next time: Measure out the coffee first, then add the water.
Clearly I am such a coffee novice that I didn’t realise it can float on water. At least I was adding it a tablespoon at a time and didn’t try dumping the whole cup on top of the water. The resulting mess would have been much worse. Plenty of stirring was required to mix it all in, and the end result resembled some sort of chocolate syrup.
The mixture is now covered, and sitting in the fridge for the night to brew. Tomorrow morning I will attempt to filter and bottle it, and then the all important taste test. This could still all end in tears.
Stay tuned for an update…
Meeting the Mythbusters – My “VIP” experience
Being a fan of the Mythbusters for about as long as the show has been running, when I first heard Adam mention in June on his semi-regular podcast (Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project) that the Behind The Myths Tour was coming to New Zealand, I immediately began looking for tickets online.
Initially I was disappointed as only the Australian tour dates had been announced, but I remained hopeful that it wasn’t just a slip of the tongue, and that the tour was going to come to Auckland. Finally on 10th July the dates were released for the New Zealand Mythbusters show. Two shows only, both on 6th September at Vector Arena.
Browsing the various ticket options the “Mythbusters VIP Meet and Greet” option caught my eye. It was expensive, at $400 including all the usual Ticketmaster fees, but I decided it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet Jamie and Adam without even leaving town.
The show itself has been well reviewed by a better writer than I (who I believe I was seated next to me for the show), and families had come from as far south as Dunedin to see the show! My aim is to review the “VIP” experience. Bare in mind, any nitpicking I make from here out is against the venue and the promoters, the show itself is top-notch!
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- Jamie hoists Adam aloft, with only interwoven phone books to take his weight.
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- Jamie kicks a toilet to pieces with his reinforced boots, because it wouldn’t be Mythbusters without some destruction.
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- Jamie shows off his homemade steel-capped boots.
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- In a feat of bio-engineering, Jamie and Adam get four young lads to support each other’s weight by as they lie across each of their knees.
A small selection of photos from the show. Like a good audience member I spent my time watching the show rather than photographing it.
The Mythbusters Tour “VIP” Experience
The VIP part started with a goodie bag for those who paid for the top two tiers of tickets. We were initially allowed into the venue to collect our VIP swag. This consisted of food/beverage vouchers (which I didn’t use), a glossy magazine program for the Mythbusters tour, signed poster of Jamie & Adam, lanyard with VIP identification, and the special one-of-a-kind gift.
The special gift in this case turned out to be a small re-usable glass coffee cup which had been cheaply printed with a Mythbusters Tour logo (similar to something a small company would get branded for clients’ Xmas presents). The ladies handing them out alluded that they were unbreakable, but I couldn’t read anything on the packaging to back this up. It was mostly extolling the virtues of non-disposable coffee cups, and being “barista approved”. This seemed a little bit of a cop-out, I had been expecting something a little more unique or mythbusteresque, like one of the Jamie & Adam bobble head dolls which I’ve seen stashed away in Adam’s latest man-cave tour. Or maybe a piece of shrapnel from one of the Mythbusters many explosions (although that might have been too much to hope for!).
Still, the magazine program and the signed poster were well worth it, although somewhat annoyingly they did not provide any bags to store these items in, meaning you would be carrying around a large booklet and coffee cup for the remainder of the evening.
After claiming our swag, we were then sent back outside for 15 minutes (who knows why) then invited back in for the early-entry. This mostly consisted of waiting around for 30 minutes until the general-entry doors opened, giving you time to order some food and get first dibs at the merchandise stand.
Initially I wasn’t going to bother with buying any Mythbusters Tour merchandise, the t-shirts and hoodies on offer wouldn’t have been in my size in any case. However I needed a bag to hold my swag, and I saw they were giving out plastic bags with the merchandise, so I decided to purchase a $10 keychain, the cheapest item on offer. It turned out though that there was a $1 charge to get a bag. The woman at the stand seemed most embarrassed by this (“it’s kind bad that they make us charge you for that” she said), but lacking any other option I paid this surcharge on what was an already overpriced keychain.
More waiting. The early entry was at 6pm, the general-entry was 6:30pm, and the show didn’t start until 7:30pm. The doors into the seating arena opened at 7pm and I made my way to my seat; Row 2, Seat 26, front and centre. Given the price of the ticket, I would have expected something a little better than the usual stadium seating, maybe individual chairs, something with a higher back and bit more leg-room. Then again, I’m a big guy, so I’m a bit picky about my choice of seat. I did feel sorry for whoever was sitting behind me (who would have paid around $250 for their seat) as I was probably blocking their view. In hindsight I should have requested an aisle seat.
There was a couple of rather excitable kids in my row too, both of which got to go up on stage during the show (probably due to their sheer enthusiasm). One little boy was nearly having visible conniptions when they first called for volunteers, even though their first request was for a mother and daughter.
The show itself was top-notch as I’ve said, although having watched all of the Mythbusters episodes, and all of Jamie and Adam’s interviews, talks and Comic-Con panels on Tested.com, most of their anecdotes I had already heard. This didn’t detract from the enjoyment of seeing it live however.
Once the show had completed, those with VIP passes had been given instructions to remain seated. The audience departed and the 30-odd VIP ticket holders were ushered around to side room. After a minute or two of awkward silence, Jamie and Adam arrived. I’m surprised they didn’t make us wait a little longer, given these chaps had just put on a rather energetic two-hour show, but they didn’t seem too phased by this.
We started with questions, I was lucky enough to get a question in as the allotted question time turned out to be only 10 minutes, and only five of the thirty people got to ask questions. My question (which I had composed in my head a few days earlier, in the event I only got one shot) was whether Jamie and Adam thought there was likely to be a renaissance of practical effects over CGI in the film industry as directors got tired of shooting everything on green-screen sets. Jamie’s answer boiled down to “using the right tool for the right job”, which was Adam’s opinion also. As they are both from prop-making and practical effects background, they said they would love to see more of it used in filmmaking, however there is a place for CGI when practical effects got too, well, impractical. Adam cited Peter Jackson and Jon Favreau as two directors who were proficient at seamlessly merging the practical with CGI.
After this all too brief question session was up (there were so many more I could have asked!), we were asked to line up for photographs. I was about mid-way though the queue, but it only took a couple of minutes before it was my turn. I had handed my phone to one of the handlers who was taking the photographs, shook hands with Adam then Jamie, and then posed for my two photographs (one of which was a little over-exposed). I thanked them both very much, and then that was end, make way for the next VIP ticket holder, and out the door. Thus ended my Mythbusters VIP experience.
Another Rainy Day in Auckland – Timelapse Video
It was a rainy day in Auckland today, so I decided to make a little timelapse. This one was taken over a period of four hours during the afternoon. I’ve adjusted the contrast a bit to enhance th...
Ports of Auckland at dawn
Night Seas
Night Seas – 10 April 2016
High Altitude Flyover
With the weather forecast looking promising for thunderstorms, I had my camera rolling for a time-lapse and captured the contrails of a high altitude aircraft flyover.
These tend to be rare here in Auckland, since most aircraft coming into NZ airspace are coming in to land, so we usually see them at altitudes too low to leave visible contrails.
Music: “Cylinder Five” by Chris Zabriskie
One Act Play – The Tragedy of King Francisco
The Tragedy of King Francisco
ACT I.
SCENE I. The King’s chambers.
Enter KING FRANCISCO followed by QUEEN ANTIONETTA, PRINCE SIGGURD, BARTHOLOMEW, OLRIC, HANS, POSTHUMUS, AEMELIA, THE FOOL, Lords, Knights, Attendants and others.
KING FRANCISCO
Woulds’t ye follow me unto the grave? Be gone!
[Enter Bear]
KING FRANCISCO
Alack!
BEAR
O bother!
THE FOOL
(To BEAR)
Prithee sirrah, these chambers cannot bear another!
[Enter Duckling]
BEAR
Norm!
DUCKLING
Kvack!
THE FOOL
Aye, it has a Norman bearing when remarked upon.
KING FRANCISCO
Guards! To arms! This menagerie tests me sorely.
THE FOOL
Forsooth! A sore ménager to allow such folly, but yet a pair o’ mallards short of a sore.
BEAR
Excuse me…
DUCKLING
Kvack!
[BEAR attacks & kills POSTHUMUS]
POSTHUMUS
I say!
KING FRANCISCO
Guards!
THE FOOL
Methinks they hast an ornamental edge indeed.
HANS
(To FOOL)
You impertinent knave!
THE FOOL
And you sirrah, this duck would name thee ginger!
[Enter Guards]
HANS
(To Guards)
Arrest the Fool!
KING FRANCISCO
Escort this rabble from my chambers at once!
THE FOOL
A rest would be a sweet repose from this clamour.
DUCKLING
Kvack!
[BEAR attacks & kills KING FRANCISCO]
QUEEN ANTIONETTA
Alas! My lord!
BEAR
If I could just…
DUCKLING
Kvack!
[Diuerse alarums and excursions]
[Exeunt]
Hail to the Clouds
A brief hail shower and the afternoon’s wonderful cloud formations. Recorded from mid-morning until dusk on 9th August 2015. Music: “I Don’t Even Know (IDEK)” by Matthew Tyler
Stormy Saturday
Stormy Saturday
18 April 2015
http://ift.tt/1ELJ2Xt
Easter Westerly
Easter Westerly 05 April 2015 Music: “Ekki Hlusta” by Matthew Tyler
Sunrise to Sunset
Sunrise to Sunset
04 April 2015
Music: “Nimbus Nimbus” by Matthew Tyler
Almost a Thunderstorm