Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

Now that the film has finished, it doesn’t look like there’s much on. In fact, the television shows seem to range from shows on the economy and finance, to shows on the essence of beauty, and that is as sure a sign of anything that I should be getting to bed.

When I said as much to my dog, though, who was slobbing out beside me on the sofa, and she promptly looked at me in disgust. When I repeated myself, it was obvious she wasn’t having any of it, and she crawled sleepily off and hid underneath the table.

Not Insomnia — quite the opposite, in fact: she’s plain lazy. Although I don’t feel like walking much myself, I must admit. But then, when I look again at the TV, my decision becomes just that little bit more reinforced. Although if there’s one good thing about hearing three people chatting about the economy late at night, it’s that it reminded me to get in touch with my friend the banker, and bring that subject of offshore financial services again – I think he would appreciate that, this time, I can sound a bit more knowledgeable on the topic that he was so interested in last time we met.

Today, in my trip to Oxford, I met up with some friends and played a pick-up game of American football. Suffice to say that now, when I try and walk, it’s somewhat painful; in fact, the entire right side of my body feels as though it’s dead. Currently I’m just lounging around, doing my best not to move my leg, and watching the movie Invincible.

And it’s been quite good so far. It’s one of those nice, uplifting ones, unless there’s a horribly sad ending coming up that I haven’t foreseen. It’s just what the doctor ordered, after a day of playing the game myself. To be able to chill out and watch it now is really quite nice.

It’s been a long, long day, and from the looks of it I’ve missed out on quite an exceptional Thai dinner. Right now, though, I’m just thinking about sleep. Which will hopefully be long, too.

I’m about to head to bed, but before I call it a day, I thought I would post up a bit about article that is one of the strangest news pieces I’ve read in a very long time.

The slightly disturbing images show that something of a cow graveyard is forming, and it’s interesting no matter what the reason for their apparent suicides. Ultimately, I suppose, it comes down to one of two things: they either jumped on their own accord, or, somehow, they felt forced to do so. The article mentions that there are no more large predators around the Alps to clear the bodies – but what if there are? What if there is something so ferocious that it’s scaring scores of cows to death?

I wonder if that scientist has already hatched his dinosaur from chicken eggs? More likely they will chalk it up to climate change somehow. Perhaps the new, hot air is meddling with their brains and confusing them, driving them mad.

Whatever the reason, it’s more than slightly strange. And a little disturbing, too.

On a Saturday evening, there’s something special about sitting down and watching football on an HDTV. It’s a most satisfying experience at the best of times – have a few mates over, stockpile beer and crisps and all manner of other food. Indeed, you can have brothers who spend all day playing computer games, and others who spend their time out in the garden for hours on end, so that they rarely see each other when it’s not lunch or dinner time – but when a good football game rolls around, it’s a union of temporarily like-minded individuals, and it’s awesome.

Manchester United vs Arsenal was the game of choice today, and it’s usually a lock to be entertaining. Here, we had a come-from-behind, on-the-edge-of-your-seat sort of match, and it was certainly a good advert for our new television and the benefits of Sky HD, even if it wasn’t the best football from the defending champions.

The new television was found after browsing the latest technology forums – which can be helpful in a great many ways. And because you’re interacting with and talking to a number of people who are very keen for and knowledgeable about technology, you can get answers for all of your questions, too.

Now, though, the Saturday’s over. And on Sunday, I’m off to Oxford, so no matter how brilliant the day might be, it will be late when I get back and it’s guaranteed to go by in a flash. Ho Hum.

We have SDSL at work, which, in short, means things are more peachy there than it is at home, when it comes to the internet. Unfortunately, we have exceeded our bandwidth limit, and are now limited to what is quite a sedate pace. For browsing websites and things, it’s okay, but it takes forever to load up a video on You Tube, and watching anything on iPlayer is currently impossible.

And it’s not just iPlayer – it’s TV Catchup, too, so in our present state we can wave goodbye to television over the internet.

When you consider that you don’t need excessive speeds for IPTV to work in the first place, it’s a bit of a shame. You just need some speed, and I suppose at the moment, our punishment is that we do not have any.

Things like BBC’s iPlayer are very handy when you’ve missed something on television, and you want to catch up. You could watch the whole of the world athletics championships again, for instance – which I have been doing, from time to time, at work, when I want to break up a particularly boring task. It helps to keep me sane. It helps the days go by that little bit quicker.

But it would certainly help to be able to watch it at home if I wanted to, too.

It’s late, my dog’s asleep on the next sofa, and I’m writing away with a film on in the background. I’m sort of half listening and watching, and half writing. And I’m getting strangely drawn into it, too. It’s called Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, which makes it all the more unexpected. I suppose it comes at a time when I’m analysing the conventions of a story, and what makes a good story, and what makes a bad one.

All the traditional conventions of a rom-com are alive and well with this one.

I also stumbled across an article a little bit earlier, and it was strange enough to share. A curious beastie has washed up on the shores of Allonby Beach. The pictures look like a strange mix of octopus and sea shells – it’s a big tangle of slippery looking tentacles. Although it looks like some sort of face-sucking alien, it is apparently goose barnacles.

Just when I thought the news was becoming stale…

It’s late, my dog’s asleep on the next sofa, and I’m writing away with a film on in the background. I’m sort of half listening and watching, and half writing. And I’m getting strangely drawn into it, too. It’s called Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, which makes it all the more unexpected. I suppose it comes at a time when I’m analysing the conventions of a story, and what makes a good story, and what makes a bad one.

All the traditional conventions of a rom-com are alive and well with this one.

I also stumbled across an article a little bit earlier, and it was strange enough to share. A curious beastie has washed up on the shores of Allonby Beach. The pictures look like a strange mix of octopus and sea shells – it’s a big tangle of slippery looking tentacles. Although it looks like some sort of face-sucking alien, it is apparently goose barnacles.

Just when I thought the news was becoming stale…

Google Earth might just have saved the myth of the Loch Ness monster. If you go onto the program, and enter the correct co-ordinates (Latitude 57°12′52.13″N, Longitude 4°34′14.16″W ) you can see what is thought to be the beast swimming just below the surface of the water. Previously, it had been thought to have perhaps been killed off due to climate change.

Until now, there have been no “credible” sightings for over a year, so it is perhaps natural that the most elusive of monsters was thought to have disappeared. I must admit – I didn’t realise that the myth was so in jeopardy, but it’s nice to have something to fuel the fires again – even if it’s not exactly the most revealing of images.

There is also a curious article here where a scientist, who has studied bird evolution for a great many years, believes that he can hatch dinosaurs with a bit of DNA magic. I say “curious”, because, to me, it’s both interesting and slightly worrying: it is evidence of evolution, and shows how closely linked dinosaurs are to birds, but at the same time, how long is it now before someone takes this a step further and devises a fully realised Jurassic Park?

And we all know how that one ends…

I find that, sometimes, the things that global warming gets blamed for are ridiculous. I’ve written about some of them in the past: animals have been expanding due to global warming. Sheep have been shrinking due to global warming. And I’m not even sure that there is really such thing as global warming in the first place – at least in the sense that the media wants us to believe.

This, on the other hand, caught my attention not because we’re talking about little things that might or might not be because of global warming, but because we’re talking about some quite big things indeed.

In fact, we’re talking about a change in the Earth’s axis. Yes, apparently both the loss of large quantities of ice, and an increase in sea temperatures is enough to physically move the world. It’s mind-boggling to think about, it really is.

I would never have thought it possible, before.

I went to town again today – not Cambridge, it was to a more local, smaller one – and my brother gave me a lift, because he wanted to get some practice in before his next driving lesson. It’s great to see how far he’s come after only four lessons – today, he looked very good indeed. And he was filling me in with the latest car news, too, which he has become a sudden encyclopaedia on.

In the space of three lessons, he’s gone from stalling on every drive, and struggling with hill starts, to being very, very confident behind the wheel. Now I can’t remember the last time he stalled at all. We managed to get a brilliant car insurance quote for him – it was one of these deals where you only insure them for a short period of time, and you can get it done a lot cheaper. So as long as he passes his test within a period of a few months, it should be a fantastic deal.

And he looks to be on pace to do just that. He does all the little things well, and is always careful to maintain a nice, easy and legal speed – which, when there are so often stories of teenage car accidents in the news, is quite nice to see – and he’s thoroughly enjoying it all. In fact, he’s enjoying it so much that it’s lovely for me: I don’t have to drive anywhere myself – he’s only too keen to do it for me.