They don't seem to stock it any more. Not sure who to complain to at this stage. Perhaps one of the other bolgers does some home brew type stuff that we could get hold of - or eBay is another possibility.

...and to see if any blogging ideas 'hit'.

A non-blogging friend who reads Soup sans (Soupcons...) just sent me this interesting mathematical conundrum.

Was I in fact 25%,50%,100% or 200% 'wrong'?

Hello Mr J.

Mr B.

Charlie and I are trying to put together a "Blog addicts quiz" for the same website that ran the nerd test.

http://www.nerdtests.com/funtests.php

Now. What we want from you gorgeous and talented lot is some questions that we might use to present to the website. Questions about blogging and its addictability (that is).

If anyone has a brainstorm, they might also like to try to categorize ten+ levels of blogging addiction ranging from, I'm sorry, did you say bolge? through to Blog deity (or 'whatever'...)

You will get instant feedback from Charlie & self... & Mr.C will also post something similar on his page a little later on in the arvo.

I'd intended to go to bed 90 minutes ago and now I think I've got what is known as 'my second wind'. Either that or the dog's just farted again.

Well, I really must be going now. This site is wa-a-a-a-y too addictive.

Q: First thing you did this morning?
A: Drank Coffee.

Q: Last thing you ate?
A: A banana.

Q: What's something you look forward to most in the next 6 weeks?
A: Theatre trip.

Q: What's annoying you right now?
A: Still being awake at gone 1 a.m.

Q: What's the last movie you saw?
A: Something foreign probably. I never remember the titles.

Q: Do you believe in long distance relationships?
A: Tried them. They don't work.

Q: Where is the last place you went?
A: The Edgware Broadwalk Mall.

Q: Who is the last person you called?
A: A musician friend.

Q: Do you think that someone is thinking about you right now?
A: It's a nice thought that, isn't it?

Q: Choose one to have (love, beauty, creativity)?
A: I've got creativity in spades, beauty attracts love anyway, so let's go for beauty (that way, I get all three - greedy or what?)

Q: Do you wish on stars?
A: Am I a ****?

Q: Does it work?
A: I refer you to the answer of my previous question.

Q: Do you untie your shoes every time you take them off?
A: I often don't wear the kind of shoes that have shoelaces.

Q: When did you last cry?
A: At a performance of the Opera Porgy and Bess.

Q: Do you like your handwriting?
A: It works for me.

Q: Are you a friendly person?
A: I am the most anti-social person on this planet. Apart from people who are probably locked up in secure cells either by men in white coats or screws.

Q: Are you keeping a secret from the world?
A: Only the one.

Q: Who's bed did you sleep in last night?
A: My own.

Q: What color shirt are you wearing?
A: Black.

Q: Do you have any pets?
A: No. They might damage the rather nice furniture I have.

Q: What is the color of your bedsheets?
A: Off white.

Q: What were you doing at 9 last night?
A: I was at a Jazz Club attending my brother's 40th Birthday party.

Q: Last person you talked to in person?
A: Checkout girl @ Sainsbury's.

Q: When is the last time you saw your dad?
A: Friday. He was on good form.

Q: Look to your left.
A: Books, ornaments, paintings.

Q: Ever cried yourself to sleep?
A: No. Would go for the sleeping tablet option.

Q: Ever cried on your friends shoulder?
A: Definitely not. However, if we're talking metaphorically...

Q: Song that makes you cry?
A: Song, right... possibly one of Schumann's masterpieces.

Q: Are you a normally happy person?
A: Not presently (i.e. for the last 46 years). But things could radically change should any of my cunning schemes come to fruition.

Q: Is your self-esteem low?
A: no, it's kind of at peak level that puts the planet Jupiter in the shade.

Q: What color are your eyes?
A: dark brown

Q: Long or Short Hair?
A: short-ish.

Q: Current Music?
A: Beethoven - the Late Qurtets. Unsurpassed in the whole history of music.

Got to keep some fresh ideas in store for tomorrow. Today's work has been very wide in compass. Everything from the surreal to the political to the philosophical to the musical. I think I should sleep pretty well on that!

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

i.e. I got back safe and sound from my major visitation to the local supermarket.

I am collaborating with Charlie on a secret project that we are going to reveal to you lucky lot soon.

Beethoven Op.132 & 135 have been playing on the DVD player all day long. The late quartets will never be surpassed.

I have made various major strides forward today. Just shows you what spending 12 hours in front of the monitor can achieve when you're on form.

Anyone else out there drink Caledonian still?

I will be sending it via fax later (I have a special 3D fax here).

...do you want me to pick you up anything?

It's been a busy day and it's only 4.15pm which just goes to show how valuable it is to get an early morning in from time to time.

I have kicked some serious posterior today on various fronts.

Some of you may know that I am going to be releasing a CD in Spring, 2007. The organisation involved is nothing short of monumental. Anyway... things are gradually coming together and I hope to be able to tell you to tune your radios in to Classic FM at an exact point somewhere down the line.

There will also be a mini-tour of the UK with my Pianist colleague, Alvanis, performing in an area near you soon.

Is it really wild?

Can anyone give me info on wild tincture? Links would be OK. What it is. What it does. Where to buy it/how much.

Just sitting here listening to Late Beethoven String Quartets and nosing around BCUK. I'm not really into (early) morning bolging. I like to have actually achieved something before committing Qwert to screen (Charlie will no doubt provide the proper terminology).

I'm trying to have a whole rethink about how many hours to spend online/getting a life etc etc

The day ahead looks busy (at least for my washing machine).

Miss Understood came up with the following (not an equation, but v interesting nonetheless).

I like the word Zenzizenzizenzic. It has more Z's than any other known word in the English language. And it's a bit like your name.

It's the eighth power of a number. For example, the zenzizenzizenzic of 19 *does a quick mental calculation* is 16983563041.

198 = 16983563041.

Seeing as that's your lucky number, I suggest you use a selection of those numbers in tonight's Euromillions draw. You've got 15 minutes.

Xylophone came up with the two following equations:

TWELVE PLUS ONE = ELEVEN PLUS TWO

(an amazing anagram).

He also waffled on about the following:

Okay, here's a one that I think is interesting: Take a piece of standard A4 paper, cut it in half and you get a piece of A5 paper the same shape but half of the area. Do it again and you get A6 etc. This everyday property of standard paper is taken for granted but is really quite a neat little trick.

It can be shown that for this to happen

Legnth of longer side = square root of 2 times the length of the smaller side

e to the power of i times pi = -1

Now. Can anyone explain this to me? Z.

Stravinsky b.1882 is mainly known for his 3 Great Ballets: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). Had he died shortly after completing the Rite of Spring he would still be regarded as one of the greatest composers ever to grace the planet. As it is, he lived until 1971 still working at both composing and conducting right until the end.

The Rite of Spring is considered to be the greatest work of contemporary serious music [it is said the first 'modern' piece is Debussy's L'apres midi d'un Faune]. Le Sacre de Printemps (as it is known in French) started life as a ballet and was amazingly difficult to dance because of the complex rhythm-patterns. It has recently been danced again after being mainly treated as a concert piece.

I am sure there will be a production in 2013 to mark the centenary.

Strong recommendation.

They have tried to lighten this work (in various clever and not so clever ways) and turn it more into a musical.

Gershwin was desperate to get full recognition by the Classical world during his tragically short lifetime (he died at 36 with a list of amazing accomplishments to his name).

The full Opera is considered a shade over-long and many shorter versions have been tried before. Of course, individual songs from the Opera (songs not arias!) are very famous in their own right i.e. Summertime; Bess, you is my woman now; I got plenty of nuttin' and It ain't necessarily so.

Gershwin once met Stravinsky in the late 20's or early 30's and asked him if he could help him with his understanding of orchestration. Stravinsky replied by asking G. how much money he made in the previous year. The answer was $100,000 (£5M or so at today's prices). S. said, maybe I should be taking orchestration lessons with you in that case! (I'd better write a blog on Stravinsky now!)...

National Theatre (at night).

One shouldn't really try to describe surreal evenings while under the influence - some of us have done this before and the results were not pretty. In any case, friends might get a private posting about this evening's happenings (or non happenings) at some point within the next 24 hours.

One thing I can do is to thoroughly recommend the Opera/Musical Porgy & Bess at the Savoy.

I can't understand why my great idea below wasn't published at 'global ideas bank'!

Partly Method acting, partly role playing partly make-believe, Spend a day being someone else. Find a slightly untypical (for you) joke (from the internet), memorise it and spend the whole day telling it to everyone you meet, note their reaction. Cultivate a foreign accent – just a tinge of one if you like – notice if it causes people to smile. See if you end up giggling a bit yourself. People won’t quite understand what is going on. You could accentuate things by wearing slightly eccentric clothes for just one day as well.

http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/bank/idea.php?ideaId=5593

Can anyone give me a good equation?

There will be a special prize of a non-sarky comment left on one of your blog postings for the fortunate first-place achiever.

Can anyone confirm that accents are not used on upper case/capital letters when writing French.

Microsoft Word. How can I find out how many words there are in a document I am writing?

I believe a snapshot such as the above is known as candid photography. Anyway, hope it will meet with a positive reaction!

Someone sat down right next to me at a small classical chamber music concert and asked me if classical music was 'my scene' at all. I said I was vaguely interested in it (Or something equally sarky)... and took about 3 bows that evening as my music was the highlighted work being featured by the instrumental musicians.

Can anyone give me a ballpark figure for the number of balls there are in a park.

Can anyone direct me to a page telling me how to mix aromatherapy essential oils?

If I'm going to die at 74 (which is BS), I'd better get off this d----d blog site and get on with my life's work.

See you all later (after I've done something constructive for the day!)

I am going to start archiving memorable emails here (among the other flotsam and jetsam). This was just a kind 'thanks for the good wishes' email from Uncle A. who'd just celebrated a round-numbered birthday.

Thanks for your kind sentiments, keep well and be lucky, love from Unc Tony and the offspring.

http://www.nerdtests.com/

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=004&item=140045163267

Today's problems - a) only one post showing b) can't click on comments c) can click an 'old' month but get only one result d) can't view comments on that either e) have noted at 'media' that my normal %age of disk space has been 'used up' therefore assume my info is held somewhere on a disk f) think it possible that people who use a different 'skin' for their blog may be less affected (not sure about that one, just a hunch. g) cannot see my next 11 blogs (I normally display 12) even when scrolling right down to the bottom of the page.

It is always sad to see a whole entire blog wiped from this site. My good friend Curiosityness has made the rather major decision to go down that route. I wish her good luck with her future plans on or off blog. Of course, it would be great if she came back as she had a marvellous off-beat sense of humour and always seemed to add something to the ongoing debate we seem to have at this site. I guess finally, blogging is not for everyone though.