Drink problem... me?

It seems our antipodean cousins have found even more ways of getting drunk according to this story...

Click here

Enjoy.

Adventures in Shaving Part III

Well, it's been a while and it's time to come to the promised update on the whole Traditional Shaving Front.

Blade Runner

Since my last report, I have tried a couple of different types of razor blade to see which one suits me best.
I soon came to realise that my starter, the Derby, just wasn't sharp enough and that as soon as it became just a tiny bit blunt it started to scrape.  So, Derby eliminated.

Next up, I tried my hand at a sample of some mystery Israeli made (unbranded) blades.  Well, I stopped after the first shave, it was blunt as a biscuit tin, still I have 4 more of them things that can be used for DIY purposes.

Next on my list was the Gillette 7 O'clock Sharp Edge.  These are made in Russia under licence and I have to say I was impressed.  They are sharp and they last at least 3 quite lengthly shaves.  So, I have stuck with a whole bunch of these for now (120 to be precise), so my stash should last for a considerable time.

It's all in the Wrist

Technique wise, I have now sorted this out, and generally find 2 with the grain passes and one or two against the grain ones seem to suffice.  My speed has increased and so has my accuracy, so little nicks are becoming much less common.
My lathering technique has also become much more consistent, and it definitely comes down to having the right amount of water in the mug and in the brush to achieve a good lather.

Apres Rasage

I have two things I now use after a shave.  Firstly, if I notice any irritation I used some distilled Witch Hazel (from Boots), and this nips anything in the bud if it threatens to get a little nasty.  Secondly, I use Peruvian Maca Root Razor Relief from the Body Shop as my after shave balm.  You don't need much of either, and they make all the difference to soothing that face after a really close shave.

And now, the end is near...

All things considered, I think that both the cartridge method and the traditional ones both have their pros and cons.  The traditional method has cost going for it, and the modern gizmos have speed on their side.  Personally, if you've got patience, then the old way of doing things will cost you less in the long run, and being a bit more patient than I was 10 years ago, I think I'll stick with this for the time being, but I'll admit, it won't suit everyone.

Amazon Kindle (3rd Gen) Review

Hello one and all.

I have had a request from Anna to post a review of my Amazon Kindle, and so I shall.
I've had my Kindle (which is the 3G + WiFi version) since the end of September 2010, so I've had plenty of time to get used to it.

An Introduction
For those of you who have not seen the device.  Here's what it looks like.

The screen size is 6 inches on the diagonal, and it uses e-ink technology.  For the uninitiated, electronic ink screens work using ink, just like books and newspapers, but display the ink particles electronically. E-ink displays require no power to keep the current image being displayed, they only require power to re-arrange the page into something else (i.e  when you turn the page).  It also doesn't require any backlight, which means you can read it in bright sunlight, unlike most laptops.

What this means for the user is that the battery life is quite long (Amazon say upto 1 month if you've got the wireless turned off, and 10 days with it on).  I'd say the figures are about right, I usually get somewhere between the two given that sometimes I use the wireless and sometimes I don't.
It also only weighs a featherlite 247 grams, which is usually less than the paper books I tend to read.

It has enough memory to store literally thousands of books (3500 or so if you're wondering), and this is main reason I bought it.  If you've ever read Peter F Hamilton's books, you'll know that they are generally 1000 page monsters that can take a lot of room to pack into your holiday bag, whereas this thing can store his entire collection in a tiny package.  Lovely.
Even if you bought more books than the device can store on its own, you can delete the books you don't read and they'll still be there available for you to re-download from Amazon at any time and at no cost. 

Any Colour You Like.... As Long as It's Graphite

There are two options when it comes to the latest Kindle, WiFi only, or 3G and WiFi.
Regardless of which one you pick, the network connectivity is used to connect back to the Amazon Kindle store so you can buy your books.

As I mentioned, mine is the 3G and WiFi version.  The bonus with the 3G is that you can use it for free in over 100 countries (it uses the Vodafone Network in the UK).  This is great when you're out of the house or on holiday with no access to free WiFi.  I've already used it twice on the train to buy the next book in whatever series I was reading.

Nitty Gritty

So what's it like to read a book with?  Basically, it's great.

The screen is just about big enough, and the fonts are crisp and clear.  You have a choice of three typefaces: regular, condensed and sans serif.  You can also adjust the line spacing and the font size, so it'll be no problem for those people that need their reading glasses for everything.  It includes a built in dictionary (two actually, one US and one UK), so you can find out the meaning of words as you read (or just look them up when you're playing Scrabble).

To turn the page, you just use on the of the buttons on the side.  They're positioned on both edges, so you can use either hand.  Page turns are pretty quick, under a second, and I'd say they're faster than you can do it by hand.

When you need a new book, you just fire up the menu and select the "Shop In Kindle Store" option and you get taken to the storefront. You can either search for the book you want with the built in keyboard, or browse through the various categories.  Amazon say they have about 550,000 titles to choose from (and more get added every day), so there is sure to be something to your liking.  A notable exception as far as I noticed is the Harry Potter series, but the Twilight Saga is on there if that's your thing.


When you find what you want, you just click to buy it and it downloads a few seconds later.  You really can be reading something in less than a minute, another big plus for me, because I hate having to wait for 5 days to get a book through the post (and I'm too tight for next day delivery).

Price wise, ebooks are subject to VAT, but I find them to be at least on a par with their printed versions, if not a bit cheaper (certainly cheaper than the list price).  It does mean however that you are tied into Amazon for your books though, as the Kindle only supports certain formats:

Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.

It also includes some other features.  You can put MP3s on it and listen to them (through the inbuilt speakers or the headphone socket), and you can even try out the "experimental" web browser.  I have tried this feature, and it's a bit odd, e-ink has its limitations, but if you were out and about and you really needed to check your web mail with it, it could just about manage it.

It's also not so great with pictures.  I actually bought a couple of textbooks for work, and the pictures can be a little pixellated.  Fortunately, all is not lost, because as well as being able to use your Kindle to read the ebooks, you can download the app for your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPadsych up to Amazon with where you last left off, so you could read your book on your PC, and then when you get home, turn on your Kindle (with the wireless on) and continue where you left off, and then switch over to your iPad and continue on that.

This is a really handy feature, as the Kindle doesn't do pages, it does locations.  As you can imagine, if your font size was set to the smallest, then your tenth page would be different to someone else's tenth page with the font size set larger, so it does take little getting used to.
[Edit:  They've added the ability to use page numbers in the latest software release]


It Ain't Easy Being Green

One thing I've heard about elsewhere is the green credentials of this thing.  Allegedly, once you get to your 23rd book download, the Kindle has saved you CO2 when compared to the printed equivalent.  That study was for the previous model, though I doubt much has changed (the Kindle 3 is actually a bit smaller).  I'm on my 16th book so I think I'm fast approaching that point.

Result

I love my Kindle, and I'm a definite convert to ebooks.  I've stopped buying paperbacks ever since I bought it. That's not to say I will abandon the printed word entirely ( I do still love the tactile nature of books, and some books are better in print), but the Kindle has opened my eyes to a new way of doing things.  The arguments are little similar to the days when Vinyl, Tape and CD were all replaced by the MP3.  We carry our music libraries around in our iPods, why not our reading library as well?

Further Reading
I've not really covered everything the Kindle can do, so for more information, feel free to follow the link to Amazon's Kindle site.

Life, the Universe and Everything

I recently read a blog from my friend Anna.

And she's got me thinking into posting some thoughts I've had over a number of years about how we value jobs in our society.

By value, I'm going to generalise here and say that a job that has value has to benefit either the human race in general or individual humans on a personal level.  So, jobs like doctors, nurses, hospital staff, teachers, firemen, policemen, these benefit the lives of individuals every day.

Then we have the jobs like scientists, miners, engineers, architects.  The people that discover new things, and build tangible artifacts that benefit large groups of people or humanity as whole.

Of course these examples are just touching the surface, I'm sure that you can add to the list.

And how much do we pay these people?  More often than not, not very well when compared to other, less "valuable" jobs.

But it really gets me when you think how much a carer, or a nurse, or a teaching assistant gets paid when compared to some city banker just shuffling numbers around. 

And of course, we know that thanks to the events of recent years, that these money movers have actually adversely affected humanity.  Why is this?  Why is that we not only tolerate it, but bail these people out, and then consider them punished when we reduce their bonus pot a little bit.  Why do we value these people more than the ones that do good work?  I sure as hell can't figure it out.

Discuss.

Adventures In Shaving - Part II - Arrival & the First DE Shave

Packaging & Assembly

The package of shaving materials has now arrived, and as a refreshing change (when compared to a well known South Yorkshire based online computer retailer), the people at The Traditional Shaving Company used a box that was perfectly sized for the contents, with a little packing material and some boiled sweets to fill it up.  Nice touch.

So, extracting the important components, here's what we get:

Clockwise from top left: razor, brush and blade boxes

After extracting the items from their containers we can see how they look, along with the shaving cream and a mug I'm using for a shaving bowl.

The assembled kit including the cream and my mug

I was surprised by how small the razor itself actually is; I don't know why, but I was expecting it to be bigger. Perhaps this is down to the fact that until now, I have only used the mass market cartridge razors that tend to have longer handles.  It feels pretty sturdy and well constructed though.

The razor comes in two parts.  If you use the wheel at the bottom to unfasten the top bit, it comes out and you are now able to place the razor blade into it.

The blades are wafer thin, I'm talking paper thin, which gives them a very delicate appearance.  Of course, this is deceptive, as these things are mightily sharp.

To attach the blade, you just slot it over the guide rails and then screw the top of the razor back into the handle.

This causes the blade to curve, giving it a slight angle.  You might just be able to see in this in the close up pic.

The First Shave

First things first, you've got to find something to mix the shaving cream with.  For this purpose I decided to drag out an old mug I don't use anymore.  I didn't see the point in buying a dedicated bowl when this would suffice.

Then came mixing the cream and loading the brush.  I've looked at a few online videos about how you should mix up your lather, and it all seems straightforward, but it's not as easy as it first appears.  I wet the brush and added an almond sized chunk of cream into the bowl, and started mixing it up.  My first result was quite a "wet" mix, and as a result it tended to run on my face after a while rather than stay put, which isn't ideal.  So I tried adding a bit more cream into the mix to thicken it up a bit.  This seems to have done the trick, but I can tell this is going to take a bit of practice to get it right.

Rather than applying the razor to my face straight away, the online tutorials I've come across state that you should try and find the right angle to hold the razor at, so the blade touches the skin.  This is best practiced on the arm, where you can actually get a very good look at what's going on.  So, angle sorted and memorised, it is on to the main event.

Taking a light grip with my thumb and first 2 fingers I put the razor to my face and then proceeded to lightly pull the razor down along my face going with the grain (WTG) for the first "pass".  The tutorials all recommend to use short strokes and concentrate on small areas of relative flatness.  One thing that is emphasised above all, is not to mash the razor into your face, let the weight of the razor head do the work.
On the first few strokes you can definitely feel the razor blade cutting the hairs away, and it makes quite a distinctive sound, even when compared to cartridge razors.

So, first pass over, it was time to re-lather and go for it again, this time across the grain (XTG).  It was easier the second time around, but you could still hear the hairs being chopped off.  This is where it seems to differ from the cartridge shave, on the second pass the cartridge razors don't tend to do an awful lot, which means you sometimes try and press the razor more firmly into your skin.  Resisting this urge took a fair amount of concentration.

After the second pass, I decided to take the advice for the novice DE (double edge) shaver and stop there.  It's recommended that you try to get used to this for the first 2 weeks at least and then you can branch out into adding more passes, and specifically going against the grain (ATG).

Results

So what was the overall result? Well, considering it was my first attempt, not bad.  Some parts of my face are baby bottom smooth (BBS) , whilst the others (particularly under the jaw area) still have some roughness to it.

I think that it's a good idea to follow the advice to get hold of some non-alcoholic after shave balm, as you can tell you've been using a very sharp blade on your skin, since it feels a little warm.  Saying that, I got that anyway from the old cartridge razors, so no change there.

I'm going to try again tomorrow and see how things go.  I reckon that this is going to take some practice to get right.  I'll keep you posted.

Adventures in Shaving - Part I - Decision Time

Yesterday, I was shopping in the supermarket and taking a look at the cost of replacement blades for my Wilkinson Sword Quattro Titanium razor.  After the shop assistant had asked me if I was alright and having assured her I was not having a stroke, I resolved myself to seeing if there was a more cost effective way of shaving.  Having tried electric razors in the past (and not been impressed) I have decided to venture into the grounds of "traditional" shaving.

A picture of Benjamin Disraeli.... for no good reason.

This generally means one of two choices.  Either the straight edge "cutthroat" razor, or the double edged single blade "safety" razor that King Camp Gillette (yes that's his real name) started selling in 1903.  Well, I've gone for the less life threatening of the two.
 
Choose Your Weapons Gentlemen!

Merkur HD 34C

First up, the razor itself.
I have decided to go for the highly recommended Merkur HD 34C in Chrome.  I have read a few sites about using such razors and there seems to be general agreement this is a great starting point for the beginner, as it's well made (German) and is a forgiving piece of equipment.  Let's hope so.

A packet of blades. Duh.

Next up is the type of blade that you use, and let's face it, they need to be damn cheap, the whole reason for looking into this in the first place.  But there are apparently many different types of double edged blades!  Who knew?
Blades apparently differ with their coating, their bevel angles and all sorts of other things, but I'm just looking for something that won't cut my head off.
Well, the weapon of choice here is the Derby Extra.  They're supposed to be good for the beginner, as some blades are insanely sharp and only for experts who have the technique down to a tee (blades by Feather for example).

A pack of 10 will set you back £1.50.  Needless to say that's a marked improvement on the £6 it said in the supermarket for a 4 pack of blades for my existing razor.

At least it's not real ivory

Now for the brush.  Traditional shaving brushes are made from Badger hair, and even different parts of the fur have a different feel.  I have no idea if they actually kill the Badger in the process or just have a bunch of bald ones running around, so if anyone can shed any light on that I'd like to know.  In any case I have gone for a following "Pure Badger" brush that uses hair from most of the pelt and is regarded as the standard starting point.  Hand made in Sheffield apparently.

Creamy

Last on the list is the shaving cream.  Now, apparently the stuff you get in a can from your supermarket of choice has all sorts of nasty chemicals in it, so the traditional shaver has to look for a more traditional product.  They come in 2 sorts, either a shaving soap, or a shaving cream, whichever you use is up to personal preference.  I have gone for the cream, and have selected the rather tasty sound avocado variety.  Which "flavour" you choose is down to personal preference, but you can get ones that contain eucalyptus that give you that cool feeling afterwards, or lemon and lime so you smell like a citrus fruit orchard.



So, that stuff is all on order as a "starter kit" from an online retailer.  I'm forewarned and forearmed with some lovely YouTube videos and will be updating you in later blogs to see if I manage to rip my own face off, or, just the hairy bits I'm aiming for.

Stay tuned.

Dyson DC33 - First Impressions

I've just become the owner of the DC33 - Stubborn.

My old vacuum cleaner was a compact bagless machine (Electrolux Cyclonic Lite 1800W), that I was forever having to empty and then clean out the filter with a dustpan and brush, creating a horrible dusty mess and usually resulting in a sneezing fit (and one reason the wife refuses to empty it, because she suffers far worse than I do).

It also lost its sucking power at an early stage, and required frequent filter cleaning to get back to optimum sucking power.  Despite this, our carpets have had this dirty look about them for a while, and I decided it was time to change to a decent vacuum cleaner.

The minute I put the DC33 onto our carpets, they became a shade lighter, and I could see all sorts of dust and dirt being sucked up into the canister (it's quite fascinating really - a bit like inspecting your hankie after blowing your nose, but not quite so repulsive).  Its rotating brush also helped to loosen the dirt from the carpets (something the compacts tend to lack).

To empty the canister, you just press a button, lift it out, and press the same button again to open the door on the bottom and have the dirt fall out, fantastic.  There is only one bit of maintenance they recommend and that's rinsing out the HEPA filters under the tap once every 3 months.  I think I can cope with that.

So, my first impressions are, a great product, and at £179 from Currys, not a bad price (if a tad more than I'm used to paying for vacuum cleaners), and it comes with a 5 year guarantee, so hopefully it'll last a while.  It also only uses 1300W of power, so that's 500W less than my old cleaner, and yet it has more sucking power.  The greener choice as well then.

I have to say I was a little confused when I was looking at the different models of DC33's, but as far as I can make out, they're all the same except the colour of the top of the canister is different (mine is white) and you get different accessories.

If I was going to suggest an improvement, I've love to see more uprights have the retractable cord thingy that most compacts do, because it means less faffing about and more fun pressing the pedal and seeing the cord get sucked up (simple pleasures).

Now... if I can only persuade the Wife to use the thing I'll be sorted.  She claims she gets all sneezy when she vacuums, so she tends not to do it, a valid excuse for the old vacuum cleaner, but hopefully not this one.  Unlike my my younger brother's lame excuse for not peeling potatoes, because he claims he gets itchy legs.   My parents were gullible enough to believe him at the time.

Tablets, smartphones... whatever next?

What with all the the hype about tablets and the latest smartphones, sometimes I like to take a good hard look at where all this came from, and where we are going with it.


In the 1980's, one look at Lethal Weapon and you see a carphone the size of a brief case. 

In the early to mid nineties, my Dad got a GSM mobile phone, the thing was a brick by today's standards, but good grief we all thought it was small.  Not that he ever used it, given the fact that tariffs were very expensive back then, it became an expensive mantlepiece ornament that beeped occasionally.

For the first 2 years at University in '97 and '98, nobody had a mobile phone; then suddenly a few first years would have them, then a few of my friends, and then finally, I got a hand me down from my younger brother. It was like a disease spreading throughout the populace.

We didn't use them a great deal, costs were high, and texting was a bit of an ordeal on the early phones, and I'd say it wasn't until the Nokia 3210 came about that things got decidely easier (and we all played snake).

But we still met in the flesh, and arrange to go places when we were all togther, the phones were for finding out why you were late.

I guess it was from about 2001 that people started to use their phones more and more, and face to face contact with people seemed to me to get less and less.  By the middle of the noughties, the text message was a ubiquitous form of communication that started its own language (some of which still baffles me), and now people have web phones with integrated widgets to organise their life on Facebook.

The pace of change has been huge, can you imagine putting a teenager of today back in the 80's and seeing how they would cope?  One of my relations is a teenager and she spends most of her time focusing her eyes six inches from her face, this can't be good, unless you work for Specsavers.  What really scares me is she thinks she "knows" people from her conversations with them on Facebook, without having actually met them.


To me, this is bonkers.  I mean, if you share your profile with everyone, you might as well stick it on a sandwich board and parade the streets with it and start chatting with strangers.  Call me traditional, but when I grew up, we didn't talk talk to strangers, and yet the youth of today do so on a daily basis, often without their parents knowing about it.

Are we going to end up with a generation of people who can only communicate via Facebook?  Will they even know how to host a dinner party?  Will they just sit in stunned silence when they don't have their phone on them, and they actually have to talk with people? It's a poser for sure.

As for having 300 "friends", well, it's been proven that you can't really "know" more than about 150 people in your social circle, and you'll only really spend time talking to about 8 of them on a day to day basis.  But it's almost a competition to some people.  What happens when you just don't talk to people any more?  In the old days, you'd just stop writing and calling, but now they're stuck there in Facebook limbo, mere noise on your news feed until you de-friend them (shock horror)!

So what do these tablets bring to the discussion.  Personally, I don't see it for consumers, a laptop will do the job just as well, and maybe better for half the price, maybe it's useful for TV presenters or doctors in a hospital to cut down on the paperwork, but for you and I, I have yet to see the benefit.  That's not to say I don't like them, I've seen the iPad and it's a truly impressive piece of kit, but I don't particularly see a need for it, unless you like playing Angry Birds on a 9 inch screen.

When you stop to think about how often you change your phone, or upgrade your computer, it does boggle the mind the amount of money and resources we expend just to get the latest thing, this just adds one more gadget to be upgraded (who wants an iPad 1 when the iPad 2 comes out in a month or so?).

So what comes next?  Wearable phones?  Computerised jumpers that have your Facebook feed on the front of them, with snazzy solar powered trousers to charge it up?  Personally, I hope it's a bubble that'll burst, and that today's teenagers will realise that actually going and seeing your friends and enjoying yourself down the pub or going out for dinner with them is more enjoyable and more social than any social network.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls....Roll Up! Roll Up!

Welcome to "The Banana Turtle"!

Firstly, the name, as my profile says is just a nice piece of chocolate I was given, and it seemed like a good idea at the time to use it.

And what's the point of the blog, well, I figured it was time to join the bandwagon and just see where this goes, who knows?   I'll try to keep it about interesting things I see or do, which may just force me to actually do interesting things, and maybe I'll just rant about stuff I don't approve of, or like, and generalise about stuff I have no right to meddle with.

I should imagine that given the fact I have an interest in technology, there may be a bit about that here.

I hope I find good things to write about, and in turn, I hope you find them interesting.