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> <channel><title>Synchronium &#187; Personal</title> <atom:link href="http://www.synchronium.net/category/synchronium/personal/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><link>http://www.synchronium.net</link> <description></description> <lastBuildDate>Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:30:05 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en</language> <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency> <generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1</generator> <item><title>Our Thoughts on New Year&#039;s Eve</title><link>http://www.synchronium.net/2011/01/01/our-thoughts-on-new-years-eve/</link> <comments>http://www.synchronium.net/2011/01/01/our-thoughts-on-new-years-eve/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:58:45 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Synchronium</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Drugs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[alcohol]]></category> <category><![CDATA[new year's eve]]></category> <category><![CDATA[raves]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.synchronium.net/?p=1675</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Fuck Going Out Seriously. Going out for New Year's Eve is our idea of hell. Don't get me wrong, we're not a pair of miserable bastards who hate fun - in fact, here's an old rave photo to prove it: While I might look unintentionally serious as shit in the above picture, I can assure you, we were having a brilliant time. So, why is going out on NYE a terrible idea? Well... Everyone goes out More people out means you've got less personal space, so less room to dance or sit, and more person/person collisions of every magnitude - whether that be an accidental elbow to the ribs or some wazzock spilling your pint, more people in one location will always lead to more than the usual amount of violence. Massive gangs of people seem to think their shared invincibility is exponentially proportional to the size of their group, which inevitably ends up with more dickish behaviour in general. More people also means more competition for both the bar and in summoning appropriate transport for the journey home. Both of those situations also bring to mind my next point... Everything Costs A Fortune £79.95 for a pint and 4x the usual taxi price (the latter isn't an exaggeration) coupled with the terrible "consumer experience" I just mentioned automatically make me resent the entire... <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2011/01/01/our-thoughts-on-new-years-eve/">Read more</a></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2011/01/01/our-thoughts-on-new-years-eve/">Our Thoughts on New Year's Eve</a></p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2011/01/01/our-thoughts-on-new-years-eve/' addthis:title='Our Thoughts on New Year&#039;s Eve '  ><a
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style="color: #800000;">Fuck Going Out</span></h2><p>Seriously. Going out for New Year’s Eve is our idea of hell. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not a pair of miserable bastards who hate fun — in fact, here’s an old rave photo to prove it:</p><p><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1680" title="Us at a rave" src="http://media.synchronium.net/rave.jpg" alt="" width="611" height="460" /></p><p
style="padding:0 30px;">While I might look unintentionally serious as shit in the above picture, I can assure you, we were having a brilliant time.</p><p>So, why is going out on NYE a terrible idea? Well…</p><h3><span
style="color: #003300;">Everyone goes out</span></h3><p>More people out means you’ve got less personal space, so less room to dance or sit, and more person/person collisions of every magnitude — whether that be an accidental elbow to the ribs or some wazzock spilling your pint, more people in one location will always lead to more than the usual amount of violence. Massive gangs of people seem to think their shared invincibility is exponentially proportional to the size of their group, which inevitably ends up with more dickish behaviour in general.</p><p>More people also means more competition for both the bar and in summoning appropriate transport for the journey home. Both of those situations also bring to mind my next point…</p><h3><span
style="color: #008000;">Everything Costs A Fortune</span></h3><p>£79.95 for a pint and 4x the usual taxi price (the latter isn’t an exaggeration) coupled with the terrible “consumer experience” I just mentioned automatically make me resent the entire night. This is coming from someone who’s routinely paid £2.50 for a bottle of water without complaining because it didn’t take him <em>fucking for-ever</em> to get served.</p><h3><span
style="color: #003300;">Everyone MUST get as drunk as possible</span></h3><p>Apparently, if your liver doesn’t explode from acute alcohol poisoning or you can’t ignite your breath, then it’s not a good night out. For a minority of drinkers, that applies to every Saturday night, but that school of thought becomes all the more inclusive in the context of New Year’s Eve. As we all already know, this leads to more violence &amp; aggression, dangerous driving and both the average size and frequency of sick splatters that adorn the pavements. Oh, and the toilets… my god, the toilets. Anyway, moving on…</p><h3><span
style="color: #008000;">Pressure to have the BEST time</span></h3><blockquote><p>“The turning of the stars bring a time when my secrets can give you immortality. But when that time has passed, those fleeting minutes gone, the secret is worthless, until once again the stars unlock its power.”</p> <footer
style="text-align: right;font-style: italic">- Kallikrates / DJ Fresh</footer></blockquote><p>During a single orbit of Neptune around our own star, we get to celebrate NYE less than 165 times. As such, it’s imperative that the night be TOTALLY AWESOME!!!1eleven!! because its ages ’til the next one. A tall order for any other night, but when you’re already having to compensate for the increased dickhead population, time-to-service at the bar and the king’s ransom you’re expected to fork over per drink, it’s no wonder everyone has such a short fuse. This might manifest itself as violence, streams of tears &amp; mascara or anything in between.</p><h3><span
style="color: #003300;">No pressure on the venue</span></h3><p>Venues can get away with murder on NYE. They just have to book some alright DJs before they inevitably sell out. Why book the best of the best when you’ll get literally zero more people attending? That extra cash saved can be put towards booking someone big to draw a bigger crowd on any other night.</p><h3><span
style="color: #008000;">It's cold</span></h3><p>Jesus Christ, is it cold. I have a beard and tend to wear jeans on a night out and <strong>I </strong>think it’s cold. A typical girl out on Birmingham’s Broad Street, however, somehow continues to survive wearing much, much less — I’d be cold on a breezy summer’s afternoon wearing the kind of thing they obviously find acceptable. The smoking ban also means that your venue of choice will probably have some doors permanently ajar, as though the doorway itself were designed as the most efficient way to transfer thermal energy out of the building.</p><p>…so that’s why we stayed in.</p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2011/01/01/our-thoughts-on-new-years-eve/">Our Thoughts on New Year’s Eve</a></p><div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style" addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2011/01/01/our-thoughts-on-new-years-eve/' addthis:title='Our Thoughts on New Year&#039;s Eve ' ><a
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isPermaLink="false">http://www.synchronium.net/?p=1460</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>I've almost finished a blog post about everyone's favourite topic, The Bachelorette, but in the mean time, here's a picture of us two and Ben Goldacre: This was taken just after his lecture in Birmingham for the British Science Festival a few weeks ago. For those of you who don't know who he is, Ben Goldacre is a doctor, writes the  Bad Science column in The Guardian every Saturday, runs a blog &#38; forums at BadScience.net and has also released the amazingly unputdownable book ...Bad Science. In my list of 5 Books To Expand Your Mind, this is what I had to say about Bad Science: Bad Science is your defence against a world of horse crap where everyone is trying to rip you off. What it’s about: Confused about MMR jabs? Homoeopathy? Crystal healing? Fish oil? Then read this book. Why it will expand your mind: You’ll learn the simplicity of the scientific method and why it’s so important to the world we live in. It will teach you to think for yourself and apply a healthy dose of scepticism to the next dose of health advice you might hear about from someone trying to sell you something. Not particularly mind expanding on its own, but it has a synergy with all the other books in this list. There's also a chapter from the book elsewhere on the blog: The... <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/10/05/ben-goldacre-the-mrs-and-i/">Read more</a></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/10/05/ben-goldacre-the-mrs-and-i/">Ben Goldacre, The Mrs &#038; I</a></p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2010/10/05/ben-goldacre-the-mrs-and-i/' addthis:title='Ben Goldacre, The Mrs &amp; I '  ><a
class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a><a
class="addthis_button_tweet"></a><a
class="addthis_counter addthis_pill_style"></a></div><p>I’ve almost finished a blog post about everyone’s favourite topic, <em>The Bachelorette</em>, but in the mean time, here’s a picture of us two and Ben Goldacre:</p><p><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1462" title="Me, Ben, Jo" src="http://media.synchronium.net/us-and-ben-goldacre.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="488" /></p><p>This was taken just after his lecture in Birmingham for the British Science Festival a few weeks ago. For those of you who don’t know who he is, Ben Goldacre is a doctor, writes the  <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/series/badscience" target="_blank">Bad Science</a> column in <em>The Guardian</em> every Saturday, runs a blog &amp; forums at <a
href="http://www.badscience.net" target="_blank">BadScience.net</a> and has also released the amazingly unputdownable book …<a
rel="nofollow" href="ttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/000728487X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=coffeesh0p-21&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1634&amp;creative=19450&amp;creativeASIN=000728487X" target="_blank">Bad Science</a>.</p><p>In my list of <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/02/5-books-that-really-will-expand-your-mind/">5 Books To Expand Your Mind</a>, this is what I had to say about <em>Bad Science</em>:</p><blockquote><p>Bad Science is your defence against a world of horse crap where everyone is trying to rip you off.</p><p><strong>What it’s about:</strong> Confused about MMR jabs? Homoeopathy? Crystal healing? Fish oil? Then read this book.</p><p><strong>Why it will expand your mind:</strong> You’ll learn the  simplicity of the scientific method and why it’s so important to the  world we live in. It will teach you to think for yourself and apply a  healthy dose of scepticism to the next dose of health advice you might  hear about from someone trying to sell you something. Not particularly  mind expanding on its own, but it has a synergy with all the other books  in this list.</p></blockquote><p>There’s also a chapter from the book elsewhere on the blog: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/04/10/matthias-raths-bad-science-finally-catches-up-with-him/">The Doctor Will Sue You Now</a>.</p><p>The lecture itself was on “Drug Company Bullshit”, describing the various tricks big pharmaceutical companies perform in order to make their results look good, massage bad results or make them disappear entirely. Quite a dry, technical talk really, but what else should two troublemakers like us be doing on a Friday night in Birmingham?</p><p>Since science is obviously really important, if you’ve got a minute, please consider signing this petition trying to <a
href="http://scienceisvital.org.uk/sign-the-petition/" target="_blank">stop cuts in vital science funding</a>.</p><p>Oh, and for anyone wondering about my awesome T-shirt, it has this to say:</p><p><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1465" title="Vegitables are what food eats" src="http://media.synchronium.net/vegitables-are-what-food-eats.png" alt="" width="500" height="400" /></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/10/05/ben-goldacre-the-mrs-and-i/">Ben Goldacre, The Mrs &amp; I</a></p><div
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isPermaLink="false">http://www.synchronium.net/?p=1349</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>The last four weeks have whizzed by in a blur of washing, catching up on Coffeesh0p and yet more wedding parties (you can never have enough!) but I've finally found time to sit down and write about our honeymoon. Now I just have to hope that some of you out there are still interested and that I can remember anything about it! We went to Bayahibe, a pretty touristy resort on the south east coast of the Dominican Republic. Our hotel was frickin' sweet, 5* all inclusive and right on the beach, with only one more hotel along the coastline between us and the completely uninhabited south east tip of the island, which is a huge nature reserve. Just off this coast is the island of Saona, and our visit to there was quite possibly the best day of our lives and the highlight of the holiday. We had heard that the reefs there were the second best in the world (after the Great Barrier reef) so we just had to check it out and we certainly weren't disappointed. The trip itself was brilliant, the staff were fantastic and we downed rum after rum on the boat while listening to (would you believe it?) the Trentmøller remix of Go by Moby - one of our favourite tracks. John had a good old boogie on the boat before realising he was being filmed and promptly stopping, but we bought a DVD of... <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/07/23/our-honeymoon/">Read more</a></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/07/23/our-honeymoon/">Our Honeymoon</a></p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2010/07/23/our-honeymoon/' addthis:title='Our Honeymoon '  ><a
class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a><a
class="addthis_button_tweet"></a><a
class="addthis_counter addthis_pill_style"></a></div><p><img
class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid #000;" title="Us at Saona" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/15.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="488" /></p><p>The last four weeks have whizzed by in a blur of washing, catching up on Coffeesh0p and yet more wedding parties (you can never have enough!) but I’ve finally found time to sit down and write about our honeymoon. Now I just have to hope that some of you out there are still interested and that I can remember anything about it!</p><p><img
class="alignleft" style="border: 1px solid #000;" title="The Hotel" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/8.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="188" />We went to Bayahibe, a pretty touristy resort on the south east coast of the Dominican Republic. Our hotel was frickin’ sweet, 5* all inclusive and right on the beach, with only one more hotel along the coastline between us and the completely uninhabited south east tip of the island, which is a huge nature reserve.</p><p>Just off this coast is the island of Saona, and our visit to there was quite possibly the best day of our lives and the highlight of the holiday. We had heard that the reefs there were the second best in the world (after the Great Barrier reef) so we just had to check it out and we certainly weren’t disappointed. The trip itself was brilliant, the staff were fantastic and we downed rum after rum on the boat while listening to (would you believe it?) the Trentmøller remix of <em>Go</em> by Moby — one of our favourite tracks. John had a good old boogie on the boat before realising he was being filmed and promptly stopping, but we bought a DVD of the trip so it’s now immortalised on film forever, no doubt to resurface for embarrassment purposes at some future birthday party or to show to the kids to prove we were young and cool once. We saw eagle rays and moray eels and other, much prettier sea creatures like enormous starfish, angel fish and sea urchins.</p><p
style="text-align: center;"><em><br
/> The Wildlife</em></p><table
style="margin: 0 auto;" cellspacing="30"><tbody><tr><td
width="250"><img
style="border: 1px solid #000000; width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/10.jpg" width="250" height="188" alt="" /></td><td
width="250"><img
style="border: 1px solid #000000; width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/11.jpg" width="250" height="188" alt="" /></td></tr><tr><td><img
style="border: 1px solid #000000; width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/12.jpg" width="250" height="188" alt="" /></td><td><img
style="border: 1px solid #000000; width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/13.jpg" width="250" height="188" alt="" /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Lunch was on the breathtaking Saona Island — filming location of the iconic Bounty ads — and was delicious, ate overlooking the Caribbean Sea and covered in butterflies! The afternoon was spent in the amazing ‘natural swimming pool’ — a football pitch sized patch of shallow water, far out from the coast. Ironically, being miles from anywhere, this was probably the busiest place we went during the entire honeymoon! The water was clear and beautiful, about chest height (on me, but I’m a short arse) and the bottom was covered in huge, hard starfish — not like the crap squidgy ones we get in this country. Here, the staff on the boat turned the music up loud and we drank rum and coke and ate fresh coconuts that had been picked on Saona Island earlier. It’s safe to say it couldn’t have got much more Caribbean than that! Later on in this trip we’d break our camera, get incredibly pissed and emotional and a little bit sunburnt, and when we got home I spent an hour sobbing and exclaiming ‘that was the best day of my life!’…but the less said about that part, the better.</p><p
style="text-align: center;"><em>Saona Island</em></p><table
style="margin: 0 auto;" cellspacing="30"><tbody><tr><td
width="250"><img
style="border: 1px solid #000000; width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/14.jpg" width="250" height="188" alt="" /></td><td
width="250"><img
style="border: 1px solid #000000; width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/16.jpg" width="250" height="188" alt="" /></td></tr><tr><td><img
style="border: 1px solid #000000; width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/17.jpg" width="250" height="188" alt="" /></td><td><img
style="border: 1px solid #000000; width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/18.jpg" width="250" height="188" alt="" /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There was also some amazing sights to be seen in the sea just off the hotel’s beach — we saw a sting ray about 6 foot out from the beach, followed it round for a bit and made a large and rather obnoxious British family shit their pants and drag their kids back on to dry land when their nosiness got the better of them and they asked what we were looking at. Another amazing experience was feeding the fish just off the beach — turns out they eat bread (who knew?) and wading into the water with a roll or two causes hundreds of beautiful fish to swarm around you, jumping out of the water and stuff, it was absolutely incredible and we even borrowed snorkels so we could get underwater and in on the action.</p><p><img
class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid #000;" title="Just off the beach" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/9.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="188" /></p><p>Another awesome trip was to the capital city, Santo Domingo. We had the most fantastic tour guide called José who referred to his wife as ‘Fidellia Castro’ the entire day and talked about how wives were the bosses of the households in the Dominican Republic just like everywhere else in the world — all in the most good humoured and loving way possible of course! We were embarrassingly clueless about the place before we went on this trip, so here’s the history lesson: Santo Domingo was founded in 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus and was the first place to be settled in the Americas. It boasts the first cathedral, chapel, hotel and just about everything in the New World. The Catedral Santa María La Menor, for example, is older than ANYTHING in the USA. The city’s modern history has been pretty turbulent, and it even had a different name from 1930–61 — “Ciudad Trujillo”, after the country’s dictator. He was eventually assassinated, but not before much bloodshed and 30 years of an oppressive and unpopular regime. To put this guy in a bit of context, there were extravagant gifts in the old mausoleum that had been sent to Trujillo from Hitler and Mussolini…so not a nice dude. That this period is still in living memory seems obvious, as does the rest of their history with links to Christopher Columbus, the slave trade and so on. In our experience, Dominicans are SUPER proud of their country, their heritage and their past, warts and all. It’s a very refreshing attitude and we enjoyed finding out all about it in an open and matter-of-fact way. The ancestors of a lot of the population, for example, arrived as slaves — and whilst we all know that this was a terrible time in history and many abhorrent acts were carried out towards these people, that is how they ended up there and that’s that. That something isn’t pleasant doesn’t make it any less true, and I really liked that quality that we found in so many of the people there. They were also very patriotic but not in the mental, nationalistic way you seem to get in the US and UK — they said things like ‘my capital city’ even if they didn’t live there, and thanked tourists for visiting ‘my beautiful country’. Overall, people were incredibly friendly and welcoming, and often even seemed grateful to the tourists for even going there in the first place. But then, it’s not long ago that Dominican Republic was a third world country, and thanks to the recent earthquake we’ve all seen on the news that it’s neighbour, Haiti, most definitely still is. Tourism has transformed the country and they seem thankful and proud to show it off — as well they should, because it’s so beautiful. It has the typical breathtaking Caribbean beaches as well as jungles, rainforests, coral reefs, bustling cities and Western style shopping precincts for the rich and famous — a bit of everything. I really don’t know why it’s not as popular as some of the other Caribbean Islands which, as far as I can tell, tend to be less diverse in their ecosystems and landscapes.</p><p><img
class="alignright" style="border: 1px solid #000000;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/3.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="267" />As well as the cathedral, we visited numerous significant buildings and places, including the first road to be built in the New World, the palace of Christopher Columbus’s son, Diego, and some stunning caves known as ‘the three eyes’ which featured beautiful, turquoise underground lakes (unfortunately this was post-camera-breakage so we don’t have any good photos of these. Boo!) We also bought the tiniest, most expensive piece of rock ever but it was totally worth it — a teardrop shaped chunk of amber (a Dominican specialty) with a 60 million year old bug in it. It set us back nearly £300 but still, there can’t be that many 60 million year old bugs floating around. Other purchases worth noting are of course the ubiquitous rum and cigars, which were so frickin’ cheap we ended up buying about double our customs limit and having to squeeze it all in our cases for the journey back. We had no trouble there, thank goodness, although we did see an hilarious stereotypical indignant American couple arguing with customs. They appeared to be the only people in the whole world who haven’t heard of the ‘no liquid in your hand luggage’ thing and loudly failed to grasp why their litres and litres of rum were being thrown away. Just as an indication of price, some pretty awesome 40-odd % rum was around £5 for a 70cl bottle — bargain! We drank plenty while we were there and also discovered some crazy Dominican aphrodisiac called Mamajuana, which John has since christened as ‘rum-hypnol’ (not because of anything rude, you filthy buggers…but because the only time I drank some was when I was already horribly drunk and I basically lost around 3 hours then passed out. The next day I actually thought I was dying of some tropical disease because the hangover was so bad). Basically mamajuana seems to be a mixture of herbs which are soaked in red wine, then honey and rum, then drained — this leaves you with the sex rum which you then drink. Or something like that. It’s delicious so keep your eyes peeled on Coffeesh0p as we’re hoping to source some of the herbs from somewhere at some point soon as no one sells them in the UK at the moment. Oh and John bought a SINGLE cigar for £20. That had better be one awesome cigar.</p><p><img
class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid #000;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/5.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="188" /></p><p>Last but not least, our other trip worth mentioning was to go and swim with dolphins! The place itself was a complete rip off and the staff were the most miserable shits we had ever come across — but once we were in the water with the dolphins those feelings just evaporated and it really was all the clichés you can imagine. We’ve never been that interested — as in, we’re not one of the many people to whom swimming with dolphins is the absolute pinnacle of being — so more than anything we got the opportunity to do it and we just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And would you believe it, Mr and Mrs cynic here just totally “got it”. It was incredible, and I’m now totally a dolphin convert. Do it if you ever get the chance.</p><table
style="margin: 0 auto;" cellspacing="30"><tbody><tr><td
width="250"><img
style="border: 1px solid #000000; width: 250px; height: 177px;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/6.jpg" width="250" height="177" alt="" /></td><td
width="250"><img
style="border: 1px solid #000000; width: 250px; height: 177px;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/7.jpg" width="250" height="177" alt="" /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Other than that, we spent a fortnight lazing on the beach, drinking so much rum it’s a wonder we’re still alive, eating amazing food, swimming every day in the sea and the huge pool (which happened to have a bar in it), and generally just relaxing. It was the most fantastic two weeks we could have hoped for (apart from the bastard camera breaking) and we’re incredibly glad that our ‘ah, fuck it, it’s our honeymoon’ attitude won out over our tight-fisted, sensible attitude. After all, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity…although having said that, you are all heartily encouraged to buy plenty from us in order to help us afford to go again <img
src='http://www.synchronium.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /></p><p><img
class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid #000;" src="http://media.synchronium.net/honeymoon/2.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="533" /></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/07/23/our-honeymoon/">Our Honeymoon</a></p><div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style" addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2010/07/23/our-honeymoon/' addthis:title='Our Honeymoon ' ><a
class="addthis_button_preferred_1"></a><a
class="addthis_button_preferred_2"></a><a
class="addthis_button_preferred_3"></a><a
class="addthis_button_preferred_4"></a><a
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class="related_post"><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/17/lolwut/" title="lolwut?">lolwut?</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.synchronium.net/2010/07/23/our-honeymoon/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>4</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>lolwut?</title><link>http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/17/lolwut/</link> <comments>http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/17/lolwut/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:22:37 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Synchronium</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[dolphin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[doob]]></category> <category><![CDATA[honeymoon]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wedding]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.synchronium.net/?p=1278</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Yep, that's right. It's a dolphin on a jetski smoking a doob. Although many Botham spies didn't die to bring you this picture, Jo had to take the pic with her phone, text it to my phone which doesn't have picture messaging set up (I know, I know), so I could then access it through my network's website, download it and upload it here. Worth it? We think so. We're still on honeymoon for a few more days, so look out for a proper update towards the end of next week. See all y'all... <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/17/lolwut/">Read more</a></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/17/lolwut/">lolwut?</a></p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/17/lolwut/' addthis:title='lolwut? '  ><a
class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a><a
class="addthis_button_tweet"></a><a
class="addthis_counter addthis_pill_style"></a></div><p>Yep, that’s right. It’s a dolphin on a jetski smoking a doob.</p><p><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1279" style="border: 1px solid #000;" title="Doob Smokin' Dolphin" src="http://media.synchronium.net/doob-smokin-dolphin.jpg" alt="Doob Smokin' Dolphin" width="640" height="480" /></p><p>Although many Botham spies didn’t die to bring you this picture, Jo had to take the pic with her phone, text it to my phone which doesn’t have picture messaging set up (I know, I know), so I could then access it through my network’s website, download it and upload it here. Worth it? We think so.</p><p>We’re still on honeymoon for a few more days, so look out for a proper update towards the end of next week.</p><p>See all y’all soon.</p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/17/lolwut/">lolwut?</a></p><div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style" addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/17/lolwut/' addthis:title='lolwut? ' ><a
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href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/03/05/what-do-you-lot-think-about-the-odd-vendor-link/" title="What Do You Lot Think About The Odd Vendor Link?">What Do You Lot Think About The Odd Vendor Link?</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/17/lolwut/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>2</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>The Effects of a Novel, Putative 5-HT2a Receptor Agonist on the Creative Process</title><link>http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/08/the-effects-of-a-novel-putative-5-ht2a-receptor-agonist-on-the-creative-process/</link> <comments>http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/08/the-effects-of-a-novel-putative-5-ht2a-receptor-agonist-on-the-creative-process/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:40:33 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Synchronium</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[5-ht2a]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hallucinogens]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Music On Drugs]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.synchronium.net/?p=1271</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>For my stag night me and a few mates sat in a dark smoke-filled room, having ingested a safe amount of legal and unidentifiable chemical, in possession of a shitty keyboard, an awesome synthesizer, an ancient drum machine and some kind of stlyophone, all fed through a very expensive bass amp. There was also an acoustic guitar lying around. None of us are very good at music, but this is what we somehow came up with. It was recorded with a phone in the middle of the room. It's not exactly awesome, but I thought I'd stick it up here anyway for you to laugh at, more than anything. Right, I'm off on honeymoon in 9 hours. I'll write something else when I get back! Off in half an hour - see you all in two... <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/08/the-effects-of-a-novel-putative-5-ht2a-receptor-agonist-on-the-creative-process/">Read more</a></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/08/the-effects-of-a-novel-putative-5-ht2a-receptor-agonist-on-the-creative-process/">The Effects of a Novel, Putative 5-HT2a Receptor Agonist on the Creative Process</a></p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/08/the-effects-of-a-novel-putative-5-ht2a-receptor-agonist-on-the-creative-process/' addthis:title='The Effects of a Novel, Putative 5-HT2a Receptor Agonist on the Creative Process '  ><a
class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a><a
class="addthis_button_tweet"></a><a
class="addthis_counter addthis_pill_style"></a></div><p>For my stag night me and a few mates sat in a dark smoke-filled room, having ingested a safe amount of legal and unidentifiable chemical, in possession of a shitty keyboard, an awesome synthesizer, an ancient drum machine and some kind of stlyophone, all fed through a very expensive bass amp. There was also an acoustic guitar lying around.</p><p>None of us are very good at music, but this is what we somehow came up with. It was recorded with a phone in the middle of the room.</p><div
style="text-align: center; margin: 0pt auto; width: 200px;"><script type='text/javascript'>_wpaudio.enc['wpaudio-4f329a5d20f4b'] = '\u0068\u0074\u0074\u0070\u003a\u002f\u002f\u006d\u0065\u0064\u0069\u0061\u002e\u0073\u0079\u006e\u0063\u0068\u0072\u006f\u006e\u0069\u0075\u006d\u002e\u006e\u0065\u0074\u002f\u006d\u0070\u0033\u002f\u0073\u0074\u0061\u0067\u002d\u006e\u0069\u0067\u0068\u0074\u002e\u006d\u0070\u0033';</script><a
id='wpaudio-4f329a5d20f4b' class='wpaudio wpaudio-nodl wpaudio-enc' href='#'>The Track</a></div><p>It’s not exactly awesome, but I thought I’d stick it up here anyway for you to laugh at, more than anything.</p><p><del
datetime="2010-06-08T06:00:38+00:00">Right, I’m off on honeymoon in 9 hours.</del> I’ll write something else when I get back! Off in half an hour — see you all in two weeks!</p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/08/the-effects-of-a-novel-putative-5-ht2a-receptor-agonist-on-the-creative-process/">The Effects of a Novel, Putative 5-HT2a Receptor Agonist on the Creative Process</a></p><div
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url="http://www.synchronium.net/media/mp3/stag-night.mp3" length="2776386" type="audio/mpeg" /> </item> <item><title>We&#039;re Married!</title><link>http://www.synchronium.net/2010/05/31/were-married/</link> <comments>http://www.synchronium.net/2010/05/31/were-married/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Mon, 31 May 2010 14:40:33 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Synchronium</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[music]]></category> <category><![CDATA[photos]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wedding]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.synchronium.net/?p=1255</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>In case you were wondering why I've not written anything decent for ages, it's because we've been planning our wedding, which finally happened on Saturday (May 29th, 2010). I thought I'd put a couple of photos on here today because a few of you seem to actually give a shit, and also then there's less chance of me forgetting any future anniversaries. Also, since I've still not written a Music On Drugs post, you might like to give some of the music we used in the ceremony a listen. Links to YouTube open in a new tab/window. Before The Ceremony: Zero 7 - Destiny Delerium - Silence (the ORIGINAL version!) Tori Amos - A Sorta Fairytale Nick Drake - Place To Be Amillionsons - Need You Tonight (Not on YouTube, but it's an electro-chillout "rework" of Judy Tzuke - Stay With Me Till Dawn. Here's Amillionsons - Misti Blu though, to give you an idea what they sound like.) Four Tet - Everything Is Alright Air - You Make It Easy Jo Walking Up The Aisle: Zero 7 - Pop Art Blue Signing The Register: Fleetwood Mac - Songbird Frou Frou - It's Good To Be In Love Us Walking Out: Lamb - Gorecki (started at 2:27) Secular weddings are awesome! (Image credit: Photos of my... <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/05/31/were-married/">Read more</a></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/05/31/were-married/">We're Married!</a></p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2010/05/31/were-married/' addthis:title='We&#039;re Married! '  ><a
class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a><a
class="addthis_button_tweet"></a><a
class="addthis_counter addthis_pill_style"></a></div><p>In case you were wondering why I’ve not written anything decent for ages, it’s because we’ve been planning our wedding, which finally happened on Saturday (May 29th, 2010). I thought I’d put a couple of photos on here today because a few of you seem to actually give a shit, and also then there’s less chance of me forgetting any future anniversaries.</p><div
id="attachment_1258" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 610px"><img
class="size-full wp-image-1258" style="border: 1px solid #000;" title="Pic #1" src="http://media.synchronium.net/wedding-1.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="400" /><p
class="wp-caption-text">If you’ve ever had a decent night out in Birmingham, you may recognise that as The Custard Factory</p></div><div
id="attachment_1259" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 410px"><img
class="size-full wp-image-1259" style="border: 1px solid #000;" title="Pic #2" src="http://media.synchronium.net/wedding-2.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="600" /><p
class="wp-caption-text">During the ceremony</p></div><div
id="attachment_1260" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 610px"><img
class="size-full wp-image-1260" style="border: 1px solid #000;" title="Pic #3" src="http://media.synchronium.net/wedding-3.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="400" /><p
class="wp-caption-text">Us in some “arty” doorway</p></div><p>Also, since I’ve still not written a <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/02/10/music-on-drugs/" target="_self">Music On Drugs</a> post, you might like to give some of the music we used in the ceremony a listen. Links to YouTube open in a new tab/window.</p><p><strong>Before The Ceremony:</strong></p><ul><li><a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INn1C6ImJKg" target="_blank" class="broken_link">Zero 7 — Destiny</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOPBC_j6EYg" target="_blank">Delerium — Silence</a> (the ORIGINAL version!)</li><li><a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY5XLbD5SZI" target="_blank" class="broken_link">Tori Amos — A Sorta Fairytale</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IUqN9ozmhw">Nick Drake — Place To Be</a></li><li>Amillionsons — Need You Tonight <span
style="font-size: 0.8em;">(Not on YouTube, but it’s an electro-chillout “rework” of <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zo9qwQANNM" target="_blank">Judy Tzuke — Stay With Me Till Dawn</a>. Here’s <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gtND3Y69z4" target="_blank">Amillionsons — Misti Blu</a> though, to give you an idea what they sound like.)</span></li><li><a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7kCIX2KiS4" target="_blank">Four Tet — Everything Is Alright</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ulxUG8w2VU" target="_blank" class="broken_link">Air — You Make It Easy</a></li></ul><p><strong>Jo Walking Up The Aisle:</strong></p><p
style="padding-left: 30px;">Zero 7 — Pop Art Blue</p><div
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name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UxXWR0cqT8k&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6&amp;border=1" /><param
name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="405" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UxXWR0cqT8k&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6&amp;border=1" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><p><strong>Signing The Register:</strong></p><ul><li><a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZNvQMJ7N0s" class="broken_link">Fleetwood Mac — Songbird</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EpXW2ys5rE" target="_blank">Frou Frou — It’s Good To Be In Love</a></li></ul><p><strong>Us Walking Out:</strong></p><p
style="padding-left: 30px;">Lamb — Gorecki (started at 2:27)</p><div
style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 30px;"><object
classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="500" height="405" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param
name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param
name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param
name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PILJRHjUVEw&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0xe1600f&amp;color2=0xfebd01&amp;border=1" /><param
name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="405" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PILJRHjUVEw&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0xe1600f&amp;color2=0xfebd01&amp;border=1" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><p>Secular weddings are awesome!</p><p>(Image credit: <a
href="http://www.thephotosofmywedding.com/" target="_blank">Photos of my Wedding</a>)</p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/05/31/were-married/">We’re Married!</a></p><div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style" addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2010/05/31/were-married/' addthis:title='We&#039;re Married! ' ><a
class="addthis_button_preferred_1"></a><a
class="addthis_button_preferred_2"></a><a
class="addthis_button_preferred_3"></a><a
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class="addthis_button_compact"></a></div><h2  class="related_post_title">You Might Be Interested In:</h2><ul
class="related_post"><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/11/16/nov-2010-what-ive-been-up-to/" title="Nov 2010: What I&#8217;ve Been Up To">Nov 2010: What I’ve Been Up To</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/06/17/lolwut/" title="lolwut?">lolwut?</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/03/05/what-do-you-lot-think-about-the-odd-vendor-link/" title="What Do You Lot Think About The Odd Vendor Link?">What Do You Lot Think About The Odd Vendor Link?</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/02/10/music-on-drugs/" title="Music On Drugs">Music On Drugs</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.synchronium.net/2010/05/31/were-married/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>9</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>We&#039;re Not Awesome - Everyone Else Is Shit</title><link>http://www.synchronium.net/2009/09/04/were-not-awesome-everyone-else-is-shit/</link> <comments>http://www.synchronium.net/2009/09/04/were-not-awesome-everyone-else-is-shit/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:43:30 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Synchronium</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bamboo shotgun pipe]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cat macros]]></category> <category><![CDATA[competition]]></category> <category><![CDATA[javascript]]></category> <category><![CDATA[PayPal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[postage]]></category> <category><![CDATA[programming]]></category> <category><![CDATA[royal mail]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.synchronium.net/?p=710</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>First off, you may have noticed distinct a lack of posting these past couple of weeks. I'm not going to apologise, because I'd rather only post when I have something to say, rather than just because I haven't said anything for a while.  Thankfully, I've got some things cookin' away that should be ready to blog about in the next month or so. As for what I've actually been up to, that's been mainly programming and playing the shit out of Caesar 3 (why is it that the best computer games are always the old ones?) - nothing you guys would be interested in anyway. We're always surprised by the lovely emails and comments saying how pleased people are with Coffeesh0p's service.  They're not surprising because we think we do a terrible job, but we just thought what we do was pretty standard. We get orders, we post them, we answer customer emails. That's pretty much it, so how can we be doing a remarkable job? I suppose because we're a small company, we can always ship orders on the same day, and the Royal Mail certainly earns the cost of a stamp, since most of our smaller orders get there the next day. But surely there's more to it than that? Well, we've done a bit of shopping on the internet recently, and it turns out everyone else is just shit! I'm not slagging off this... <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/09/04/were-not-awesome-everyone-else-is-shit/">Read more</a></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/09/04/were-not-awesome-everyone-else-is-shit/">We're Not Awesome - Everyone Else Is Shit</a></p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2009/09/04/were-not-awesome-everyone-else-is-shit/' addthis:title='We&#039;re Not Awesome - Everyone Else Is Shit '  ><a
class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a><a
class="addthis_button_tweet"></a><a
class="addthis_counter addthis_pill_style"></a></div><p>First off, you may have noticed distinct a lack of posting these past couple of weeks. I’m not going to apologise, because I’d rather only post when I have something to say, rather than just because I haven’t said anything for a while.  Thankfully, I’ve got some things cookin’ away that should be ready to blog about in the next month or so. As for what I’ve actually been up to, that’s been mainly <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/23/im-off-my-mash-on-ecstasy-pipes/">programming</a> and playing the shit out of <a
rel="nofollow" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0000645Q3?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=coffeesh0p-21&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1634&amp;creative=19450&amp;creativeASIN=B0000645Q3" target="_blank">Caesar 3</a> (why is it that the best computer games are always the old ones?) — nothing you guys would be interested in anyway.</p><p><img
class="alignleft size-full wp-image-715" title="Shopping Basket" src="http://media.synchronium.net/shopping-basket.jpg" alt="Shopping Basket" width="200" height="204" />We’re always surprised by the lovely emails and comments saying how pleased people are with <a
title="Coffeesh0p" href="http://www.coffeesh0p.com" target="_blank">Coffeesh0p</a>’s service.  They’re not surprising because we think we do a terrible job, but we just thought what we do was pretty standard. We get orders, we post them, we answer customer emails. That’s pretty much it, so how can we be doing a remarkable job? I suppose because we’re a small company, we can always ship orders on the same day, and the Royal Mail certainly earns the cost of a stamp, since most of our smaller orders get there the next day. But surely there’s more to it than that? Well, we’ve done a bit of shopping on the internet recently, and it turns out <strong>everyone else is just shit!</strong></p><p>I’m not slagging off this industry in particular, it’s just my online shopping experience as a whole has been a bit<em> terrible</em> recently. Firstly, I bought a copy of <a
rel="nofollow" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/047022780X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=coffeesh0p-21&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1634&amp;creative=19450&amp;creativeASIN=047022780X" target="_blank">Professional Javascript</a> about a month ago from a third party seller on Amazon. I figured that since I’m recoding Coffeesh0p pretty much completely, that the drag ‘n’ drop shopping basket could use a bit of a tweak. Amazon’s delivery estimate came and went with no sign of the book. Thinking it might have gotten lost in the post or something, the misses emailed the seller who told us to “check with the Post Office” because sometimes “the postmen <em>don’t bother to leave a card if the parcel is too big for your letter box</em>”.  Straight off, we thought this was horse shit, but just in case this guy had some secret insider Post Office information, we thought we’d check with the guys at our Post Office, who confirmed our suspicions.  This guy was flat-out lying to people! Further communications ended up with him telling us to wait another couple of weeks. If I don’t have it by next Friday, I’m going to write some Javascript to smack him round the face remotely.</p><p>Next up was a Bridesmaid’s dress we bought on Ebay (If you’ve just tuned in, me ‘n’ the misses are <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/04/06/were-never-going-on-holiday-again/">getting married</a>). First off, we got a money request from PayPal, because the particular vendor couldn’t just accept normal payment as they’d reached their transfer limit or something. A week or so passed without a dress, then the person got in touch and requested that we get that payment cancelled and send a cheque instead, because apparently their PayPal account had been compromised… A few emails later and we’re still waiting.</p><p>Finally, one of our wholesalers has been a complete pain in the arse. When we moved house 3 fucking months ago, we placed an order with them (and paid in advance) and I emailed them to tell them we’ve moved. So a few days later, a package turns up at our old address and I have to go and pick it up. When I got it open, there was half the stuff there we ordered and an invoice with “Rest will follow” scrawled across it. Since then, I’ve emailed a million times and we’ve still not got the rest of this pretty substantial order. Apparently, they’ve been short staffed, had trouble with customs and all sorts of other shit. Truth is, I couldn’t give a crap, since I paid nearly <strong>£40 for shipping</strong>! The icing on the cake though, is that they’ve apparently sent the rest, but <em>they’ve sent it to our old address</em> despite three separate emails with our new address in to at least two different people! Arrgghh!</p><p>So, yeah, I suppose that does make us pretty awesome by comparison. <img
src='http://www.synchronium.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_mad.gif' alt=':x' class='wp-smiley' /></p><h2>Mini Competition</h2><p>I’ve still got three more Bamboo Shotgun Pipes to give away, so I reckon it’s <em>high</em> time we had another competition. To cheer me up, this competition will be to create the best drugs related cat macro.</p><p>Here are some examples:</p><p><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-713" title="Let's Do Coke Cat Macro" src="http://media.synchronium.net/cat-macro-coke.jpg" alt="Let's Do Coke Cat Macro" width="307" height="334" /></p><p><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-714" title="Dude... Wait, What? Cat Macro" src="http://media.synchronium.net/cat-macro-wasted.jpg" alt="Dude... Wait, What? Cat Macro" width="407" height="306" /></p><p>At the end of the month, the best three, as judged by me ‘n’ the misses, will get a pipe. To submit your entry, attach your pictures to my <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/contact/">Contact Form</a>. Make sure you actually submit the form, though…</p><p>Good luck!</p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/09/04/were-not-awesome-everyone-else-is-shit/">We’re Not Awesome — Everyone Else Is Shit</a></p><div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style" addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2009/09/04/were-not-awesome-everyone-else-is-shit/' addthis:title='We&#039;re Not Awesome - Everyone Else Is Shit ' ><a
class="addthis_button_preferred_1"></a><a
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href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/05/23/science-joke-winners/" title="Science Joke Winners">Science Joke Winners</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2010/05/14/science-based-quick-competition/" title="Science-Based Quick Competition">Science-Based Quick Competition</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/11/23/nutt-sacked-episode-iii-revenge-of-the-schizoids/" title="Nutt Sacked Episode III &#8211; Revenge Of The Schizoids">Nutt Sacked Episode III – Revenge Of The Schizoids</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/10/26/quick-competition/" title="Quick Competition">Quick Competition</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/09/21/cheezing/" title="Cheezing">Cheezing</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/06/04/lots-going-on/" title="Lots Going On">Lots Going On</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/05/16/exams-almost-over/" title="Exams Almost Over">Exams Almost Over</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/05/10/competition-winner-3/" title="Competition Winner #3">Competition Winner #3</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.synchronium.net/2009/09/04/were-not-awesome-everyone-else-is-shit/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>10</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Harry Pothead &amp; Other Stuff</title><link>http://www.synchronium.net/2009/08/09/harry-pothead-other-stuff/</link> <comments>http://www.synchronium.net/2009/08/09/harry-pothead-other-stuff/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:29:17 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Synchronium</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Drugs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[alcohol]]></category> <category><![CDATA[drugs forum]]></category> <category><![CDATA[harry potter]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mdma]]></category> <category><![CDATA[spiritplants radio]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.synchronium.net/?p=662</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Harry Pothead I've never been the biggest fan of the Harry Potter franchise, but I've seen all the films at some point and I've read the first book when I was about *this* big. So, this week, me 'n' the misses went to see the new Harry Potter film at the IMAX in Birmingham, where the effects were special and there were 150% the usual amount of dimensions (at least for the beginning of the film). I'm sure we've all seen this "Harry Pothead" picture (you should have, it's about as old as the Internet), but this latest film was jam-packed with drugs references all by itself. Firstly, they all got pissed down the pub, at which point Hermione got frisky and a million parents all cried out at once... and were then suddenly quoted in a New York Times article, but that wasn't even the best bit. Some time later on, this girl that fancies Harry leaves some chocolates on his bed, but then Harry's mate Ron (who looks exactly like my brother, I shit you not!) eats them all. Unbeknownst to Ron, these chocolates contain some kind of love potion. :o When Harry finds Ron later on, Ron is completely off his tits, as though he'd snorted 300 mg of MDMA about half an hour before. He tells everyone how much he loves them, hugs cushions and generally makes an arse of himself. It's odd that none of... <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/08/09/harry-pothead-other-stuff/">Read more</a></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/08/09/harry-pothead-other-stuff/">Harry Pothead &#038; Other Stuff</a></p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2009/08/09/harry-pothead-other-stuff/' addthis:title='Harry Pothead &amp; Other Stuff '  ><a
class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a><a
class="addthis_button_tweet"></a><a
class="addthis_counter addthis_pill_style"></a></div><h2>Harry Pothead</h2><p><img
class="alignleft size-full wp-image-663" title="Harry Pothead" src="http://media.synchronium.net/harry-pothead.jpg" alt="Harry Pothead" width="250" height="250" />I’ve never been the biggest fan of the Harry Potter franchise, but I’ve seen all the films at some point and I’ve read the first book when I was about *this* big. So, this week, me ‘n’ the misses went to see the new Harry Potter film at the IMAX in Birmingham, where the effects were special and there were 150% the usual amount of dimensions (at least for the beginning of the film).</p><p>I’m sure we’ve all seen this “Harry Pothead” picture (you should have, it’s about as old as the Internet), but this latest film was jam-packed with drugs references all by itself. Firstly, they all got pissed down the pub, at which point Hermione got frisky and a million parents all cried out at once… and were then suddenly quoted in a<a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/health/28well.html?_r=3&#038;scp=1&#038;sq=harry%20potter%20and%20the%20pint%20of%20liquid%20courage&#038;st=cse" target="_blank"> New York Times article</a>, but that wasn’t even the best bit. Some time later on, this girl that fancies Harry leaves some chocolates on his bed, but then Harry’s mate Ron (who looks <em>exactl</em>y like my brother, I shit you not!) eats them all. Unbeknownst to Ron, these chocolates contain some kind of love potion. <img
src='http://www.synchronium.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_surprised.gif' alt=':o' class='wp-smiley' /> When Harry finds Ron later on, Ron is completely off his tits, as though he’d snorted 300 mg of MDMA about half an hour before. He tells everyone how much he loves them, hugs cushions and generally makes an arse of himself. It’s odd that none of the aforementioned parents seemed to mind about this, but a little bit of underage drinking is a moral outrage. If only that mindset transferred over to real life…</p><p>Yet another parallel between magic and drugs was drawn when Harry consumed some of his “luck potion”, which magically seemed to make him feel rather coked up — talkative, inappropriate and overly confident.  Perhaps there’s some deeper message here, showing us that everyone gets up to this kind of shit once they’re old enough? Or perhaps, JayKay Rowling was just battered when she wrote it?</p><p>The final point worth mentioning is when Harry’s new teacher suspiciously harvests some leaves and mentions their potential black market price, while reminding us all that such topics of discussion are hypothetical. Even if he was talking about their usefulness as a magic reagent, I still like to think he might roll one up at the end of a hard day’s teaching.</p><h2>Spiritplants Radio</h2><p><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/31/spiritplants-radio-debut/">My mix</a> on <a
title="Spiritplants Radio" href="http://spfradio.net/" target="_blank" class="broken_link">Spiritplants Radio</a> is now online in their archives in case you missed it the first time round.  You can listen to it right here:</p><div
style="text-align:center;"><object
classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="300" height="240" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param
name="src" value="http://drive.heartinternet.co.uk/E/7411541-923696875" /><embed
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300" height="240" src="http://drive.heartinternet.co.uk/E/7411541-923696875"></embed></object></div><h2>Drugs Forum</h2><p><a
title="Drugs Forum" href="http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/index.php" target="_blank">Drugs-Forum</a> is currently making a few changes, ranging from the entire structure of the site, to a bit of spring cleaning. Somewhere in there falls the task of designing a new logo, which I’ve had a crack at. It seems a real possibility that it might get used, pending a few minor changes. Here’s the current version:</p><p><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-664" title="Drugs Forum" src="http://media.synchronium.net/drugs-forum.png" alt="Drugs Forum" width="502" height="166" /></p><p>Unfortunately, it’ll be much smaller if it’s actually used, so a big part of the design process has been taken up by trying to make it look clear at a smaller size. I’ve shown it here bigger because it looks even better.</p><p>As usual, comments &amp; criticism welcome!</p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/08/09/harry-pothead-other-stuff/">Harry Pothead &amp; Other Stuff</a></p><div
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href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/29/comments-from-matt-bowden/" title="Comments From Matt Bowden">Comments From Matt Bowden</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.synchronium.net/2009/08/09/harry-pothead-other-stuff/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Spiritplants Radio Debut</title><link>http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/31/spiritplants-radio-debut/</link> <comments>http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/31/spiritplants-radio-debut/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:56:50 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Synchronium</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Drugs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[communities]]></category> <category><![CDATA[irc]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mixing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[spiritplants radio]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.synchronium.net/?p=651</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Tomorrow (Sat 1st Aug), there'll be an old mix of mine on Spiritplants Radio. Spiritplants Radio is a great little community-based online radio station that plays a massive range of awesome music. They  feature the best in new and classic psychedelic rock, electronica, jazz, progressive news, psychedelic lectures, literary pieces, comedy, and many shows of home-grown programming. You can check out any of the shows in their archive, or turn on &#38; tune in any time. It makes great listening at work, at home or anywhere else where you might be avoiding being productive. There's also some forums and chat you can get involved with. I'll probably be in and out over the weekend if anyone wants to pop by and say Hi. So this mix of mine was from an new year's eve party I was at a couple of years ago. The theme is "chunky" and the genre is "many", but it's pretty lively and fun. Hopefully everyone will get something out of it! :) A quick disclaimer though... remember this was recorded at a party I was obviously at, so any fuckups in the mixing (especially early on) can be scratched up to the "influence" i was "under". It'll be on at 2 PM US Pacific time, which I think is 10 PM here in the UK. It'll be on twice more over the weekend, so I'll update this post when I've got... <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/31/spiritplants-radio-debut/">Read more</a></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/31/spiritplants-radio-debut/">Spiritplants Radio Debut</a></p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/31/spiritplants-radio-debut/' addthis:title='Spiritplants Radio Debut '  ><a
class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a><a
class="addthis_button_tweet"></a><a
class="addthis_counter addthis_pill_style"></a></div><p><img
class="alignleft size-full wp-image-652" title="Spiritplants Radio" src="http://media.synchronium.net/spiritplants-radio.jpg" alt="Spiritplants Radio" width="250" height="368" />Tomorrow (Sat 1st Aug), there’ll be an old mix of mine on <a
title="Spiritplants Radio" href="http://spfradio.net/" target="_blank" class="broken_link">Spiritplants Radio</a>.</p><p>Spiritplants Radio is a great little community-based online radio station that plays a massive range of awesome music. They  feature the best in new and classic psychedelic rock, electronica, jazz, progressive news, psychedelic lectures, literary pieces, comedy, and many shows of home-grown programming. You can check out any of the shows in their <a
href="http://www.spfradio.net/radioarchives.html" target="_blank" class="broken_link">archive</a>, or turn on &amp; tune in any time. It makes great listening at work, at home or anywhere else where you might be avoiding being productive. There’s also some <a
href="http://www.spiritplants.org/spf-radio/" class="broken_link">forums</a> and <a
href="http://embed.mibbit.com/?server=irc.yage.net&amp;channel=%23spiritplants&amp;settings=874375622c9b6b9f214bcb772d898e30&amp;noServerTab=false&amp;forcePrompt=true" target="_blank">chat</a> you can get involved with. I’ll probably be in and out over the weekend if anyone wants to pop by and say Hi.</p><p>So this mix of mine was from an new year’s eve party I was at a couple of years ago. The theme is “chunky” and the genre is “many”, but it’s pretty lively and fun. Hopefully everyone will get something out of it! <img
src='http://www.synchronium.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /></p><p>A quick disclaimer though… remember this was recorded at a party I was obviously at, so any fuckups in the mixing (especially early on) can be scratched up to the “influence” i was “under”.</p><p>It’ll be on at 2 PM US Pacific time, which I think is 10 PM here in the UK. It’ll be on twice more over the weekend<span
style="text-decoration: line-through;">, so I’ll update this post when I’ve got the details.</span> at 12:30 PM and 7 PM US Pacific time on Sunday which is (dum de dum de dum…) 8:30 PM on Sunday and 3 AM Monday morning if you’re in the UK.</p><div
id="_mcePaste" style="overflow: hidden; position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px;"><pre>Our station features the best in new and classic psychedelic rock,
electronica, jazz, progressive news, psychedelic lectures, literaryOur station features the best in new and classic sychedelic rock, electronica, jazz, progressive news, psychedelic lectures, literary pieces, comedy, and many shows of homegrown programming.
pieces, comedy, and many shows of homegrown programming.</pre></div><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/31/spiritplants-radio-debut/">Spiritplants Radio Debut</a></p><div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style" addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/31/spiritplants-radio-debut/' addthis:title='Spiritplants Radio Debut ' ><a
class="addthis_button_preferred_1"></a><a
class="addthis_button_preferred_2"></a><a
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class="addthis_button_preferred_4"></a><a
class="addthis_button_compact"></a></div><h2  class="related_post_title">You Might Be Interested In:</h2><ul
class="related_post"><li><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/08/09/harry-pothead-other-stuff/" title="Harry Pothead &#038; Other Stuff">Harry Pothead &amp; Other Stuff</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/31/spiritplants-radio-debut/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>2</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>I&#039;m Off My Mash On Ecstasy Pipes</title><link>http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/23/im-off-my-mash-on-ecstasy-pipes/</link> <comments>http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/23/im-off-my-mash-on-ecstasy-pipes/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:18:52 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Synchronium</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Drugs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Brass Eye]]></category> <category><![CDATA[code]]></category> <category><![CDATA[object orientated programming]]></category> <category><![CDATA[php]]></category> <category><![CDATA[video]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.synchronium.net/?p=618</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>It's that time again. I'm coding Coffeesh0p from the ground up for the third time since I started in 2006, only this time, it will look exactly the same. Sounds pointless, right? Well, programming is very much like skinning a cat - there's more than one way to do it, and currently the programming behind Coffeesh0p resembles an epileptic retard with Huntington's Chorea trying to skin a cat with a dull pocket knife under a strobe light. Almost. The reason I'm recoding it this time, and also the reason behind why I recoded it last time is that I've gotten a lot better at programming since the previous incarnation. This time, I've been trying to wrap my head around taking an Object Orientated approach. That means using code to represent things as an object, such as a product, a news post, a comment, or a basket, which is a great way of looking at things. Before, I might have written some code to pull product information straight out of the database and display it, which works OK, but if the database behind the site changes for some reason, then I'd have to go through every page and update the code to work with the new database. Object orientated code makes anything like this much easier, because all the code to talk to the database is kept in one or two files, which can be... <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/23/im-off-my-mash-on-ecstasy-pipes/">Read more</a></p><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/23/im-off-my-mash-on-ecstasy-pipes/">I'm Off My Mash On Ecstasy Pipes</a></p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:url='http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/23/im-off-my-mash-on-ecstasy-pipes/' addthis:title='I&#039;m Off My Mash On Ecstasy Pipes '  ><a
class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a><a
class="addthis_button_tweet"></a><a
class="addthis_counter addthis_pill_style"></a></div><p>It’s that time again. I’m coding Coffeesh0p from the ground up for the <em>third time</em> since I started in 2006, only this time, it will look exactly the same. Sounds pointless, right? Well, programming is very much like skinning a cat — there’s more than one way to do it, and currently the programming behind Coffeesh0p resembles an epileptic retard with Huntington’s Chorea trying to skin a cat with a dull pocket knife under a strobe light. Almost.</p><p>The reason I’m recoding it this time, and also the reason behind why I recoded it last time is that I’ve gotten a lot better at programming since the previous incarnation. This time, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around taking an Object Orientated approach. That means using code to represent things as an object, such as a product, a news post, a comment, or a basket, which is a great way of looking at things. Before, I might have written some code to pull product information straight out of the database and display it, which works OK, but if the database behind the site changes for some reason, then I’d have to go through every page and update the code to work with the new database. Object orientated code makes anything like this much easier, because all the code to talk to the database is kept in one or two files, which can be modified or swapped for something else really easily. Since each object is kept in a single file, they can also be reused for any other site that requires something similar. For example, Coffeesh0p and Salvia-Trip.net both use the same object to talk to the database — I just borrowed the code from one site and uploaded it to the other.</p><p>As Coffeesh0p expands, the existing code has become much harder to maintain and add new bits to, which is also much easier using objects, as the code is far easier to read and understand. Imagine if I wanted to add a comment to something. Without objects, it might look something like this horrible mess:</p><p><code>$sql  = "INSERT INTO `comments`(`item_id`,`name`,`email`,`body`,`rating`) ";<br
/> $sql .= "VALUES (1, 'Synchronium', 'pretend@email.addr', 'Here\'s my comment!', 5);';<br
/> mysql_query( $sql, $database_link );</code></p><p>But with objects, you don’t even have to know any PHP to work out what the following does:</p><p><code>$comment = new Comment();<br
/> $comment-&gt;item_id = 1;<br
/> $comment-&gt;name = 'Synchronium';<br
/> $comment-&gt;email = 'pretend@email.addr';<br
/> $comment-&gt;body = 'Here\'s my comment!';<br
/> $comment-&gt;rating = 5;<br
/> $comment-&gt;save();</code></p><p>As you can imagine, coding like this hardly gives me a headache at all!</p><p>Learning to code was probably one of the best things I ever did. Seriously. I’d recommend it to anyone, and there are loads of books out there for beginners.</p><p>So, yeah, that’s what I’ve been up to. Nothing interesting or hilarious, but important nonetheless.</p><p>As a treat for indulging my geekiness, I bring you the <em>Brass Eye</em> episode on drugs. <em>Brass Eye</em> got a passing mention in my misses’s last post, <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/10/can-i-get-high-legally/" title="Can I Get High Legally?">Can I Get High Legally?</a>, and it occurred to me that a lot of readers from outside the UK probably wouldn’t know what we were talking about. Well, for those that don’t know, it’s one of the funniest TV programs of all time, written by a personal hero of mine and comedy genius Chris Morris.</p><p>Click the red play button once, close any adverts that might pop up then click the green play button to watch it. The first 40 seconds or so are blank, so you might want to skip it forward.</p><div
style="text-align: center;border: 1px solid #664422;"><object
width="600" height="449"><param
name="movie" value="http://www.megavideo.com/v/ORWGS3MGad2643ca32770342a6e1577cdbf372b0"></param><param
name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed
src="http://www.megavideo.com/v/ORWGS3MGad2643ca32770342a6e1577cdbf372b0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="600" height="449"></embed></object></div><p>Post from: <a
href="http://www.synchronium.net">Synchronium</a><br/><br/><a
href="http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/23/im-off-my-mash-on-ecstasy-pipes/">I’m Off My Mash On Ecstasy Pipes</a></p><div
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