If you live in Cork you’ll be familiar with KC’s in Douglas. Here’s their story.
I’m getting hungry for one of their pitas now!
Monthly Archives: July 2014
I watched the World Cup too
Many might be surprised to hear that I watched the World Cup. You see, Bob Kerman left his cup of tea in his command module because in the vacuum of space the tea would boil off. Unfortunately for Bob his command module isn’t pressurized to sea level pressure so his cup of tea is taking an age to brew. You know you can’t get a decent cup of tea high up a mountain?
While waiting he decides to go on EVA and watch the World. His cup will wait.
Retro Gaming at jQuery UK 2013
Just a few photos that have been sitting in my “upload folder” for the last year or so after attending jQuery UK. Look at all those old 90s consoles! Snes and Megadrive machines? There’s another machine there too but I don’t recognise it. I wasn’t a fan of console gaming back then, but if they’d thrown in a C64 I’d have had fun!
It was an amazing conference and best of all, the talks are online. I remember being blown away by Wait, Chrome DevTools can do THAT? by Ilya Grigorick.
Scenic photos of Oxford will eventually make their way to my photoblog at In Photos dot Org.
The root canal that lasted eleven years
Ironically, while we were at the local vet with our dog Oscar having his teeth checked I felt a slight pain in my jaw. Over the next hour it got worse and the next day it was excruciating whenever I bit down too hard on food.
A trip to the dentist and an x-ray showed an infection below the tooth that eleven years ago caused me agony with a painful tooth ache that required a root canal. I was dumbstruck. Of all the bad luck, the tooth was supposed to be dead. My dentist said he only saw this happen 4-5 times a year. It’s very rare apparently.
So, my options are limited. I either have the tooth extracted or have an apicoectomy. That’s where they peel back the gum and “a tooth’s root tip is removed and a root end cavity is prepared and filled with a biocompatible material.” I made an appointment for an apicoectomy this morning.
Remember my bad luck? I was referred to a specialist. I was sitting on his chair when he asked what tooth it was. “Lower left 4” I replied, having burned that phrase to memory at my previous appointment. He gave me a look, and went on to explain that there’s a nerve from my lower lip going between teeth 4 and 5 and he’d be working very close to that. In very rare cases that nerve can be damaged and the lower left lip can become numb as a result. It could be temporary or permanent. I’m sure he saw the look of horror on my face.
Getting rid of that damned tooth is looking a lot more attractive right now! It’s always had it in for me. The last time it caused me pain was on the Sunday of a bank holiday so I had to wait until first thing on Tuesday morning to see a dentist. This time we were due to drive down to Ahakista in Co Cork for a weekend away. Thankfully my dentist made time to see me that Friday afternoon, antibiotics slowly killed the infection and my wife was a huge help and comfort. She bought Anbesol for me and that worked wonders to kill the pain as I would always accidentally bite down too hard resulting in muttered curses and shaking of my head to dull the pain.
I think the tooth will be coming out.
PS. Oscar got antibiotics and he’s feeling much better 🙂
Hop through the water on a Waterbird
The Waterbird here isn’t one of the flying species, it’s a hydrofoil device a person can ride and propel by jumping up and down! First I’ve ever seen of them, and probably a great way to keep fit.
Google Cardboard
If you’ve been hankering after an Oculus Rift then Google Cardboard might be something you can use to whet your appetite for virtual reality. It’s basically a cardboard enclosure for your Android phone with two lenses, a magnet and NFC tag. Once assembled you launch the Cardboard app on your phone, put it in the enclosure and use the magnet at the side as a trigger button. Warning, there’s some NSFW language in the video below.
The Tested guys have a blog post with a few more insights and thoughts about Cardboard.
If anything, Google Cardboard brings more credibility to the rumor that Oculus is working with Samsung to create virtual reality goggle frames that can use Samsung Galaxy smartphones as the display. Cardboard’s cheap construction belies its effectiveness–the secret sauce here is in the 40mm lenses and the brilliant magnet-based trigger button.
I’d love to try one out. I wonder if I can get those lenses anywhere nearby?