I think that space is no longer in the hands of governments. Back in the day you needed billions of pounds and substantial infrastructure in order to have a space program.

But know NASA is facing cutbacks as all it is used for is satellite launches, and smaller organisations / countries are developing space programs. The Japanese and Chinese have their own programs, as do Europe and even the compnay Virgin.

So how long is it until the next space frontier is pushed back? With Virgin galtatic offering space flights on a commercial scale, I think one almost has. Also, with the Rocket Racing League getting into action we should see some advances in space technology, reducing the cost and increasing the availability of the technology.

I want to know how long it will be until we start mining asteroids / the moon ! As both have useful resources - asteroids have metals (theyre not going to last forever on out planet), and the moon has Helium - 3 which can be used in nuclear fusion reactors.

Just a question of time…

Tehcnorati: Moon Helium3 Space Asteroids NASA Virgin ESA

Went round to a mate’s in hayes tonight for pancakes and poker! Was quite fun and I finally understand all the rules of the game (after i was first introduced to it 6/7 years ago!).

I came in 3rd or fourth, out of 7, which wasnt too bad I thought. Maybe I shouldnt have taken quite as large gambles as I did!

Was a fun night, good company, good food, and a good game !

At the 3rd recording session at the studio today!

I was pretty disapointed with the way things started. They hadnt even bothered setting up for when we got there. It also took them a hwile to get used to the software (one of my major complaints - if you cant use it read a fucking tutorial). After 2/3 hours we finally managed to get going. We did the first song (Conjured In His Mind) pretty damn well, then moved onto the second.

While doing the second song (Special Price), the headphones started making odd noises. They would randomly cut out and play only the guitar, or make really nasty noises. I found this incredibly distracting as it caused my guitar to distort - so bad that I couldnt quite tell what i was playing!!

The girl that was recording us was quite bitchy, but I did apreicate what they did for us!

We await the results!

Technorati: Metal Music Band

About my biology teacher at school. He / she tells us before half term that the first lesson back is cancelled. I run into he / she this morning at school and ask if lesson is stil lcancelled (im responsible :)  ) and he / she was pissed off at something (i suspect a hangover), and mumbles something back to me. So I assume lesson cancelled! and go home…

come back in for last lesson and run into said teacher. Who then proceeds to have a right go at me. For not turning up to the lesson. After he shouts at me, calls me a failiure (which is not true, my grades are average for the class), he / she takes me to head of 6th form and tells him how I bunked his cancelled lesson etc, throws some sheets around, and tells me to finish the coursework (which hasnt been started yet, as we wernt expected to) for tomorrow morning or Im getting kicked off the course. Everyone else has until wednesday.

To make matters more interesting….

There was no lesson! Apperantly when the half of the class turned up for the lesson, he told them to go away! He just gave them a sheet.

He also went around the school slagging me off to all the teachers.

He can go fuck himself if he expects that work for tomorrow…

Pretty cool film. Dont worry if you havent seen the first two, I hadnt, and you quickly pick up the storyline.

Based on death handing out an ass whooping to some teenagers who escape an accident.

Lots of gore, violence and the occasional explosion.

And the mac advert, every final destination movie has a mac advert!

Technorati: Final Destination 3 mac violence

Bird flu and the deadly H5N1 (think thats right :s) is ravaging Europe. Or at least, the governments of those countries are.

90 people have died worldwide from the deadly strain of the virus. Which isnt alot. Im sure more people die every year from common flu in the UK alone.

Looks like the media is just using it to sell more newspapers and magazines. Just a lot of hype!

Lets hope im not wrong…

Technorati: birdflu UK europe

As a sort of update from my previous post, the militants have taken 9 hostages from foreign oil companies in the the Nigeria River Delta…

Technorati: Nigeria Oil Hostages

A militant group in the Nigeria Delta has given the oil companies 24 hours to get out or be killed. While he hasnt quite thought this through, I can see why he is doing this. He knows how much the oil is worth, and how little his region is receiving. They have no clean water, no schools, no hospitals etc. Yet the nigerian capital is well built up and has all of these.

It looks like what goes around comes around, as the Nigerian government coruptness is coming back to haunt them, as theyre about to lose one of their biggest sources of income.

Although the Militant leader’s cause could be said to be just, he hasnt htought this through properly:

1. If the companies go, so does the infrastructure and skills. They wont be able to access the oil. It becomes worthless.
2. Nigeria is the US’s 5th biggest source of oil. No doubt if the militants stick by theyre word, the US army will show up.

But what can he do ? With a corrupt government and the world only caring about the oil, he has very few options.

Will be interesting to see how this unfolds…

Technorati: Oil Nigeria militant corrupt

Went to see Helloween last night and they were awesome. The night started off with trying to find my mate at Earls Court so I could buy her ticket, before going off onto the trains again to Moorgate Cresent on the Northern line. When we (James went to) got to the Koko we met up with some of James’ friends. Then proceeded in =)

Picked up the tickets from the box office, then into the main hall. I have to say, the koko is an awesome place to go. I cant beleive its wasted in Indie nights, would be an awesome rock / metal venue! In hte main section its all red with viewing gallerys around the back and sides over 3 floors. Loads of stairs and passageways around it too.

Helloween were being supported by PowerQuest. I usually like PowerQuest, but it wasnt theyre greatest performance, the levels didnt seem right. But they still looked / sounded good!

Then Helloween came on =) Started off with a few 13 minute songs before playing my two favourites that I wanted them to play - Mr Torture and If I could Fly =) Finiished off with some other good tracks, before doing 2 encores and going home!
Got back at just gone 1. Was a good night out =)

Technorati: koko Helloween PowerQuest metal rock

A while ago James wrote a post about torrents. He said for some reason, having one torrent on the go gives a faster download than multiple torrents.

I tried this using BitComet, and he was right!

Having 4 torrents going a the same I had a total download speed of 45 kbs.

Having one torrent going my speed went up to 55kbs.

So I made Bitcomet have one torrent at a time and que the rest. This can be done by going into preferances and changing max simultaneous downloads to one.

Technorati: Torrents BitComet