A memory stick is a backup and file transfer device. It should be used to save copies of files on your computer or transfer files from one computer to another. The files on a memory stick should never be the only ones because guess what? these things die, get lost/stolen or get broken.

Why I’m writing this post today is that I was given one such memory stick yesterday. The stick was in 2 pieces, the USB connection had been broken away from the body of the stick. I figured this was a lost cause but I enjoy a challenge so I set about seeing what I could do. I removed the inner workings from the memory stick body to see that the USB connection had broken cleanly away and caused no damage to the circuitry. Now I thought there might be a chance of getting something off the stick if I could somehow connect the two parts together again. To do this I got a short strip of CAT5 cable and soldered it to each part to once again connect them. Plugging the new device in my PC I got nothing and thought that was that but just on the off chance I thought I’d try it in my MacBook. Plugging it into the MacBook suddenly it lit up and appeared on the desktop. I quickly copied everything I could from the drive in case it decided to disappear but no the device stayed and actually seems to be preforming normally.

Now ok I managed to save the data on this USB memory stick but please people only use these devices to backup or transfer your files, always have a copy of any work on a computer somewhere to avoid any future panic when something happens to your memory stick.

The article is about a 13-year-old boy named Scott Campbell who is asked to swap his iPod for an original 30-year-old Walkman.

The quote from the article that sums it up best is

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape

Now some of us might laugh at that but think about it, how was he suppose to know the tape could be turned over? CDs put a stop to the whole A side B side, which actually takes away from the music singles but that’s another discussion.

What I thought was strange about the artilce was how slow Scott was to figure out the Walkman. If he had been given a new mobile phone, MP3 player or computer he’d have most of the functions worked out within a half hour but give him something out of the ordinary and unfamiliar and he’s lost.

Ok so there is a point to these coffins. They’re actually made from recycled cardboard making them cheaper, lighter and greener than the ordinary ones and they don’t have to look like that one. The fact they’re made from cardboard also means they can be printed on and designs can be created to suit the person.

These coffins come in a range of patterns and colours and can be seen here and there’s also a promotional video here.

Some people might be accused of using the weather as an excuse for not going to work.

But one NHS radiographer was so determined to support his patients and colleagues that he walked 18 miles through the snow to get to work

The full story can be read here

In 1994 at the annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS.
The President Dr Don Harter Mills astounded his audience with legal complications of a bizarre death.

On March 23, 1994 a medical officer examined the body of Ronald Opus. He concluded that Mr Opus had died as a result of a shotgun wound to the head. Mr Opus had jumped from the top of a ten strory building intending to commit suicide. He had left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he fell past the ninth floor his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a window, which killed him instantly.
Neither the shooter nor the the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.

Ordinarily a person who sets out to commit suicide and ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what he intended, is still defined as committing suicide. The fact that Mr Opus was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would not have been successful because of the safety net, caused the medical examiner to feel that he had a homicide on his hands.

The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast eminated, was occupied by an elderly couple. They were arguing vigorously and the husband was threatening the wife with a shotgun. The husband was so upset that when he pulled the trigger he missed his wife and the pellets went through the window striking Mr Opus in the head, on his way down.

When one intends to kill a subject “A” but kills subject “B’ by mistake one is guilty of murder of subject “B”
When confronted with the charge of murder the old man and his wife were adamant and both said that they thought the gun was unloaded. The old man explained that it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with an un-loaded shotgun during the course of their arguments. He had no intention to murder her.
Therefore the killing of Mr Opus appeared to be an unfortunate accident; that is, if the gun had been accidently loaded.

The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple’s son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the argument and fatal shooting. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son’s financial support and the son, knowing the ponpensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his Father would shoot his Mother. Since the loader of the gun, was aware of this, he was guilty of murder even though he didn’t actually pull the trigger. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.

Now comes the exquisit twist.

Further investigations revealed that the son was in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his Mother’s murder on March 23rd 1994 he went to the the top of the ten story building and jumped off, only to be killed by a shotgun blast through the ninth story window.

The son had actually murdered himself.

A True Story.

You can book your tickets here http://www.ticketmaster.ie/Ross-Noble-tickets/artist/942479

And to keep us all happy and give us a laugh today

The things to come will include:

• Halloween Costumes – I’m making 2 this year maybe even 3
• MAME Cabinet – I’ve finally finished my MAME cabinet and got it up and running
• Virtual earth – I’ve been doing some nice virtual earth map integration with WindGuru to produce weather maps for surfers
• Plus the usual Bebo, web stuff and other things I’ve gotten up to

All I can say now is keep checking back, new posts will appear soon….. hopefully…..

• kitesurf.ie
• kitesurfing.ie
• NIKiteForum.com
• Pure Magic

From reading through the fourms on the sites it soon became apparent that I needed to get lessons before doing anything else. This put me in contact with the LSD Kiteboarding School at Rosses Point, Co. Sligo and I went for my first lesson yesterday (Sunday 23rd). If anyone is considering doing kiteboarding or are just looking for something different then I suggest giving the boys at Rosses Point a call. I had a great day out and I’m looking forward to getting back to finish the lessons and then moving on to getting into the sport more myself.

Thanks Peter and Paul, check them out here

But here’s the point of my post, during the show he told us he has developed an addiction to Kinder Surprise eggs so what I’m looking for is anyone going to one of his shows to take a kinder egg with them and leave it sitting on the stage either before the show starts or during the interval. If you do this please let me know what happened.

Good luck!