Ah, summer

It's a lovely day outside. Blue sky, fluffy white clouds, great piles of blossom, and with the gentle sound of a car alarm drifting across the cricket pitch into my office (window open due to "lovely day"). Must be the sunshine bringing the car thieves out from underneath their stones. :)

Pirates vs. Ninjas - the Continuing Saga

I always meant to come back to this one. I just didn't for continued slack-related reasons. But while we were in the pub the other week, we though up two more tests.

(1) Name a famous pirate/ninja (Thanks Mik for this one).

Bluebeard; and um... er. *scratches head*

3-1 pirates.

(2) A team of pirates/ninjas dispatched into outer space to deflect an asteroid on collision course with the Earth (using nuclear weapons, of course). This was an interesting one, and first of all, we were leaning towards the ninja, and we're guessing they're just more competent! But then Eddie had a thought. After all, in all these films, something goes wrong about 2/3rds of the way through. At this point - according to Eddie - the ninja team would commit suicide. Whereas the pirate team - drunk in the hold having had too much rum, would probably stagger out and have another go. So ninjas more likely to succeed on first try - which NEVER happens in a film - but Pirates get a second chance. It's a toughie. Thoughts anyone??

Dilbert

Ack!!

Oh, and the fact that I announced my engagement to the world on Friday 13th should not be mentioned ever again!! ;-)

The *OTHER* Ultimate Question!

Much as I'd like to continue the Pirates vs. Ninjas debate, I have news about other "Ultimate Questions". ;-) I held off mentioning it for a day or so so I could tell most "Hull" people face to face (note: if you're not a Hull person and you haven't been told, don't worry - you're one of many that I'll be catching up with as workload permits), but I'd like to announce that Sally and I got engaged over the Easter Weekend. I asked, she said yes. I'd like to post a picture or three but I'm sat in York, struggling away with my parent's spyware-ridden, crappy laptop and it's quite the miracle I'm posting at all(!)

Still, I am now engaged to the lovely Sally Hugo (27). Probable wedding date Spring 2009. I hope it will be the opportunity I need to get back into/keep in touch with all the cracking friends I made in Edinburgh and Sheffield over the years. Once I'm back in Hull (and work) Monday morning, I'll be taking the time - I hope, students pleading for help on their projects get in the way - to e-mail a lot of you (separately - round robin e-mails suck big time!) Gentlemen, start your drinking engines. Ladies, to the hat shop. ;-)

The Ultimate Question

Sorry guys, haven't Blogged much lately. I've been in Huddersfield a lot, taking advantage of a week's holiday *and* the extended Easter weekend. But in all that time, I have been pondering one of life's eternal questions: Ninjas or Pirates. Which are cooler?

Now, this is a tricky one so I've thought up some cunning tests to see once and for all.

(1) Zombification. I think Pirates win this one. After all, Zombie Pirates are perfectly acceptable. Ghostly pirate ships coming up from the sea bed, that sort of thing. But zombie ninjas?? I think we'll all know that they'll be rubbish!! 1-0 pirates.

(2) From the future. Space pirates are all the rage. Reavers in Firefly; lots of other precedents... But they'll be two-a-penny. Futuristic ninjas on the other hand would be extremely rare, high-end spec with light-bending stealth subroutines and thus very, very cool indeed - not to mention dangerous. So 1-1.

(3) Five-a-side football. This is hard. I can see the ninjas having superior ball control skills, but that the pirates would have the bigger build and the more effective tackling. I can see the pirates keeping a clean sheet and while they might have trouble scoring, they'll always be a threat. So, surprisingly enough, Pirates are better. 2-1.

Discuss. ;-)