Self-Righteous DVD Purchasing

It's obvious to everyone that every commercial organisation out there is a pack of thieves, monsters and parasites. OR IS IT? Maybe there are companies around that play fair and contribute an appropriate amount to maintain the infrastructure that feeds them. After all, if it wasn't for the NHS there would be a lot fewer people buying Downton Abbey boxsets.

Shops on the high street are a bit of a mixed bag and I'm sure that a fair number of them provide a bit of a contribution to the nation as a whole but there's such a mix of shops that it's difficult to really investigate them. More to the point, I can't do it very well without going outside and I'd rather not do that, thank you.

So for now I'm going to have a quick look at DVD purchasing. In the light of the recent 'Amazon are rotten shits' revelations I started looking for other companies that might sell DVDs online and to see if there are viable alternatives, or even expensive but moral alternatives. Let's see.

First off, we can think of DVD sellers off the top of our head:

• Amazon
• Play.com
• HMV
• Fopp
• WHSmith
• Zavvi

Amazon, obvious shitbags. Play.com, doing the offshore scam (Jersey, etc). HMV, they're at least a proper shop, but their online shop does the offshore scam. Fopp, no online stuff and now part of HMV. Zavvi, offshore scam. WHSmith, don't appear to sell DVDs online.

We'd better cast the net a little wider. SUPERMARKETS!

• Sainsburys
• Tesco
• ASDA
• Morrisons

Sainsburys - offshore thing powered by another company. Tesco (Tesco Direct), not very clear but it's probably a safe bet that the company are doing something dodgy. ASDA, *Walmart*, bound to have an insane corporate structure. Morrisons, no online DVD sales.

Department stores?

• John Lewis
• Debenhams
• Selfridges

None do online DVD sales.

Last resort, let's put a random DVD into Google Shopping Thing and see who else comes up.

http://www.wholesaledvdsales.co.uk - seems to sell Region Free dvds. Curious, sounds dodgy.
base.com - not too clear but apparently they have some sort of arrangement via Switzerland.
hive.co.uk - does free delivery to local independent bookshop. Bears closer investigation.

A post to follow!

http://www.hive.co.uk/faq/

Windoze Phone(y) 8

Yeah, right! Who's with me? Well, not me for a start. Ever since the announcement of the extremely nice-looking Nokia Lumia 920 running Windows Phone 8 I've been very tempted by the idea of switching ecosystems. On the one hand, Android is hugely flexible and allows for all sorts of things like installing custom operating systems, changing your device ID to run whatever apps you fancy trying and a huge selection of apps. On the other hand, I'm a bit bored of Android now and I want to try something a bit more slick.

That isn't Apple, obviously. I'm not a monster.

There a couple of things that are potentially concerning about Windows Phone 8 (WP8 from now on) but the key thing seems to be app availability. I think it's certainly true that there's far fewer apps around for WP but then there's millions of Android apps that are utterly worthless or of no interest to me. With this in mind I thought I'd investigate the applications and apps that I use on a regular or semi-regular basis to see if a switch to WP8 would be painful.

Internet Browsing
Not that much to say on this really - technically it'd be a battle between Internet Explorer and Chrome. That is, if I used Chrome on my phone. The syncing features may well be nice but I find it less pleasant to use than the stock Android browser and I can't see IE being any worse.
Result: Draw

Email
I use a mix of IMAP email and Gmail. IMAP and Gmail (with push notifications) seem to be natively supported by the built-in client so no losses there.
Result: Draw

Calendar
I use Google Calendar for a mix of work things and tracking personal things. The version built in to Android has always been terrible so I'm already using a third-party app to manage this called Jorte (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.johospace.jorte) so I figure there would be something suitable for Windows. Looks like the third-party versions haven't been updated for a very long time but that Google Calendars can be synced to the built-in calendar app (http://www.engadget.com/photos/windows-phone-google-calendar-update/#4779250).
Result: Draw - really depends on how the internal client handles things

Reader
Google Reader is something I regularly check for gaming news and so on. I reckoned this would be easy to handle, and while there's no native Google app for it, there's things like Fuse (http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/fuse/8355da61-1ac5-49cd-a753-7f6afed2bb62).
Result: Draw

Tapatalk
Tapatalk (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quoord.tapatalkpro.activity) is an app for browsing web forums which allows you to have several different forums in the same place and with the same formatting. There's no Tapatalk client and no apparent wish to make one.. There's an alternate called Board Express but it was last updated in 2010 and may no longer even work.
Result: Android

Google Authenticator
Tool for providing two-factor authentication for websites. No official app for Windows but can be done via a third-party tool that pulls from the API (http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/authenticator/021dd79f-0598-e011-986b-78e7d1fa76f8).
Result: Draw

Audible
Audiobook reader. Official client available for WP but lags behind on updates and there may be bugs.
Result: Android

DLNA Player
Apps for streaming music and video from local network servers. Support appears pretty patchy and may require a Windows-based server. Potentially a major loss.
Result: Android

Tunein Radio
Official app available, though without the 'pro' version that's on Android.
Result: Draw

Social networks
Oh, these are probably integrated in some way. Not really bothered about going to a webpage as most of the apps are terrible anyway.
Result: Draw

Lightly-used apps
Evernote has an official app, Steam doesn't, Endomondo does, not really anything else I use other than newsy things.

Other points - lack of VPN support and potential wifi issues.

Conclusion - not that much in it but Android still has the edge. Windows may creep forward with the release of more appealing phones but time will tell. I remain undecided.

The End of the World was back then

Other developments have included my involvement in a game of indie pen&paper role-playing game, 'Apocalypse World'. It's basically an end-of-the-world setting with your characters several decades after the apocalypse and with none of them really knowing what had happened. All we know is there's this Psychic Maelstrom thingy - we don't know if it caused the apocalypse, was caused by it or is just a coincidence. And none of us really know what it is either. This means there's a good deal of scope for storytelling and for making stuff up. You don't even have to be right, your character can quite easily be deluded about things.

My character is named Sim after an ancient data storage medium - my family grew up in a Carphone Warehouse. I have a sister named Orange and a brother named Tee-mo. I'm an Angel which is a medical type, and I have some odd religious beliefs that have not been fully entered into. They centre around a concept of balance which is mediated, if not directly controlled, by the psychic maelstrom.

The other three dramatis personae are Bakerloo, Sam and Batman. Bakerloo is a local 'fixer', she makes stuff happen, sorts out problems, mediates deals, all that sort of thing. She's stick-thin to the point of illness and seems to have problems saying no - she's already indebted to an unmanageable number of people. Sam runs the local.. well, scrapyard seems a bit crude, but that's what it is. She's runs all the local machines and had a knack for anything mechanical. Handily, this means she always has work. Batman takes his name from some ancient poster or other, and is a bit of a handful. He's in the employ of the local Hardholder (sort of gangster/king of the area) and spends much of his time... generating storylines.

The game itself is quite open-ended and highly story-driven and isn't very focussed on going to dungeons and killing things. The MC in charge of things has the task of making things difficult for us by screwing us over in various ways - in fact their guide has a chapter entitled Advanced Fuckery. Experience points and levels don't matter too much so really it's about coming up with ideas and stories. Maximum efficiency doesn't matter - if the MC decides to kill you, she can just plant a nuke and kill you all, after all.

I'm not too good about telling a story so I've decided to type up my notes as a substitute. Maybe they'll give some flavour of the last session. Here goes.

Day Two.

head with a biker gang over to Khalid's [neighbouring hardholder] with drugs [I'm manufacturing 'pain medicine] and my 2-stock angel kit [that's the most of my medical kit I can carry around with me]
arrive there and am immediately under suspicion from the locals - after all, i've arrived a day earlier than usual and with a bunch of people i don't usually associate with.
chatted to Sam on the way - she'd seen Orange [my sister] wandering out of town yesterday [I hadn't seen her since the morning before despite her normally working in my infirmary].
I try to get the guards to go and find my usual drug buyers but they aren't particularly co-operative...
Khalid's area seem swanky - lots of large old houses.
Large church in town
They have strange beliefs propogated by Father Monroe - blood, wine and sexual ethics seem key.
There's a small infirmary, I head there to see my usual contact and trade
Medic is there - named Pearce
I collect medical data of recent patients - Dolly was shot, she works for Khalid and has a slight limp now. Not many details.
Left and headed for church [everyone else had headed off the there already]
Bump into Sam - she tells me Orange is inside the church!!
Glance aside and spot Batman heading into a house down the street
I head into the church
I hear a scream! [coming from the house Batman headed into]
I leg it to house
I quiz Batman and head upstairs to see if anyone is hurt
Everyone fine, but shaken
Walk out to see Batman and Bakerloo in a heated discussion
Ignore it and head to the church
Enter the church and greet the father
See Orange and a 15-year-old boy
She's joined the church!
I try to guilt her into going home
Monroe intervenes
I have a heated exchange with him
Shove him to the ground and leave
Take a moment to gather thoughts
Head to confront Khalid
Brace [one of the guards] picks us up and takes us to see Khalid
When I arrive there I see Dolly and quiz her about what she does. She's a guard and a bit sarcastic about letting me know.
Go inside and Bakerloo tries to calm me, explaining that I'm making things worse
Brace leads us inside and gives us five minutes to talk among ourselves
Bakerloo and Sam try to talk me down
Success! I accept what they're saying and agree to keep my cool
Brace leads us into rool with Khalid and two others, one armed
armed man is 'Rum'
Bakerloo schmoozes Rum
Discusses Bruce's beef trading [the day before Bruce was trying to sell beef in our local market despite our boss controlling all the local beef supplies]
Rum seems familiar to Sam - she saw him in a vision
Sam makes pointed comments about what she saw in the vision
I lose patience and yell that it's obvious that Bruce is stealing cows [they had all been trying to talk diplomatically]
Khalid steps in and promises to investigate Bruce
Claims that Rum is just a bodyguard - Batman doesn't believe it and demands to take Rum to Bod [Bod is our local Hardholder and boss]
Khalid agrees that Rum and Bruce can come along to Bod's - along with Chin [he's key in potentially supplying wood to Sam]
I discuss the issue of Monroe with Khalid
It goes poorly and I storm out
Khalid claims to have no control over Monroe and suggests I take him to my town and build him a church if I want my sister back to help in the infirmary
The door slams behind me and the session ends

The Grand Breadxperiment - ASDA Easy Bake Yeast

Well, this may be the final yeast test until I find some more exotic yeasts. I've checked a number of Marks & Spencers but they don't seem to sell the stuff and other supermarket stuff is pretty much the same. That being said, this supermarket stuff ain't the same as others.

ASDA Easy Bake Yeast.

I don't know if I had a bad batch or some sort of localised cold snap that stopped the yeast from working in my microwave warmth chamber but this was really poor indeed. It simply didn't do much - despite being a sachet type that has all the usual 'enhancing' additives. Here goes:

 It frothed up quite nicely during the normal activation phase and so looked fairly promising. Kneading was a bit tricky but looked ok in the end:

 Little bit un-smooth but not terrible. And then after the rise:

 That right there is a seriously weedy rise.

 It didn't do much in the tin either. Finally it baked as a nearly-inediby doughy loaf:

Not sure what I'd trust it for. Maybe fine for crumpets or something.

The Grand Breadxperiment - Hovis Fast Action Bread Yeast

Next up, another one of these sachet jobbies - Hovis Fast Action Bread Yeast:

Six 7g sachets, makes up to 10 loaves. Not too sure how they work that out, perhaps some very precise scales, or you just make ten different-sized loaves - in which case they could say, 'makes up to forty loaves'.

But anyway. It seem to have more additives than other yeasts and so was curious to see what sort of effects these might have. I'm not convinced they are particularly necessary but what the hey.

Foamed up reasonably on activation:

No trouble kneading followed by a pretty decent sort of rise:

The risen dough had a slightly odd structure but that may have been due to me not kneading properly. I did the time but maybe not the quality. Who knows. The shaped and then risen tin:

As you can see, I had trouble making it anything other than wonky. It sprung like crazy in the oven and the sides of the crusts split as a result, making it fiddly to cut:

End result - good soft open texture, pleasant flavour and very nice toasted.

The Grand Breadxperiment - Allinson's Easy Bake Yeast

Today we look at Allinson Easy Bake Yeast. This is another one with improvers and so on but doesn't seem to contain anything more suspect than Vitamin C.

Strictly doesn't need activating but went for it anyway. Significant foam:

Had a bit of a job bringing the dough together and so had to give it a lot of force in the kneading to get the final nice smooth dough:

I did also lose the timings a bit as I was making another loaf but I wasn't too far off. Rose like mad:

Once knocked back and shaped it rose madly for the second time:

As I had some cheese left over from a bolognese I chucked it on top and baked:

Colliers cheese is very tasty in this way, I'll probably use it for a cheese and bacon loaf.

Final result - excellent texture, very soft but not doughy.

Rat Playground

Of course, it's not all bread, bread, bread. In preparation for the incoming baby, we'd been given (or bought, I lose track of all the stuff) a Moses basket. No stand, though, so Fran scoured ebay and other sources and we eventually found one. It also came with a Moses basket which seemed handy. Unfortunately, the basket was a bit crushed in one corner and so we weren't too happy about using that one for the baby - especially as we already had a perfectly good intact one.

Well, I say unfortunately.

RAT MOSES BASKET PLAYHOUSE:

Yes, there truly is a use for slightly damaged Moses baskets. I felt that they maybe needed a bit of an explore and I was a bit idle one evening so.. We have egg boxes, Ikea children's storage things and a hanging metal ball with shrimp biscuits in.

First up was the girls, with the exception of Sansa - I'm still trying to get her to trust me and it's going well, other than a single little bite. I think dragging her out of the cage and throwing her into a basket might set her back a bit.

Here's Arya, poking her head up:

This is Broken Sword, she was the most effective at trying to escape:

And last but not least, the delicate and slightly nervy Beneath a Steel Sky:

She's crawling over an upside-down storage thing that's lashed to the base of the basket at a few points. Some treats are hidden under it and the girls didn't take very long figuring out how to get at them.

I then got some of the boys in (after removing the girls, I'm not stupid). Here's the two Bongo Fury boys:

No More Mr Nice Guy:

And Awkward Customer:

Awkward Customer remains endearingly loopy.

They all seemed to enjoy the play.

The Grand Breadxperiment - Morrisons Fast Action Dried Yeast

Now, this won't be a direct comparison as such as Morrisons Fast Action Dried Yeast is a sachet-type. However, I'm mostly doing this in terms of discovering which yeast regime produces the best results rather than being a strict comparison. So, Morrisons.

Firstly this is supplied as 7g sachets which contains the yeast as well as ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and 'bread improvers' - probably extra gluten. Normally I was using 5g of yeast for the recipe so with the weight of the extra ingredients it's probably nearly equivalent.

First thing to note was that this was made on a significantly warmer day. However, as the dough is being risen in a heated microwave chamber this is not necessarily a major factor in the results. Declaring it for clarity though.

Here's the stuff:

Technically it shouldn't need to be activated in water before use but I went ahead and did it anyway. Sue me:

Did foam up pretty well, despite my inability to demonstrate it photographically. Initial mix:

Kneaded nicely as ever to give a smooth, elastic dough. Here's the before and after for the rising. It was substantial, I think more so than the previous experiment:

After knocking back and shaping it into the loaf tin it had another 30 minute rise and puffed up obviously more than the Doves Farm:

Sprung up well in the oven to give a pleasing finished result:

Definitely a noticeable difference in texture and flavour - not as soft as the Doves Farm but that could be down to the oven keeping its temperature better in the warm conditions. Once again, made absolutely perfect toast - the sort of moist, crispy toast that keeps its heat for more than a second and had the most wonderful flavour. Mmf.

Stay tuned for more loaf-related posts.

The Grand Breadxperiment - Doves Farm Quick Yeast

Well, guess what - it's been a while since I posted. This happens, get the hell used to it. Buck up, and so on.

Mostly the usual sorts of things have been happening, combined with the rapidly approaching arrival of a baby. Back to more important matters though - I am starting a systematic test of bread yeasts in the hope of finding a brand and a method that produces consistently good results. These experiments will be documented here in the hope of being vaguely useful to anyone who searches for systematic tests of dried yeasts.

First off, let's define the protocol. I say protocol to make it sound more scientific, but I really mean recipe.

The base of the recipe is from The Fabulous Baker Brothers - a book I can heartily recommend (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fabulous-Baker-Brothers-Tom-Herbert/dp/0755363655). As follows:

• 560g strong white flour
• 10g sea salt
• 300ml tepid water
• 20ml rapeseed oil
• 5g dried yeast

This makes a good-sized 2 pound loaf. For clarity, the flour was Allisons Strong White Bread Flour (the stuff in the pale green pack). The sea salt was Maldon, the water was made from one part boiling water to two parts tap water and the oil was swapped for 15g of olive oil.

Each time I will activate the yeast for 10 minutes in the water with half a teaspoon of sugar - even for yeasts that don't technically need it, I reckon it'll help. Once initially mixed I will allow a five minute resting time for the dough before kneading for 15 minutes and only add additional flour if it proves absolutely necessary. Rising and proving will be done by heating a cup of mug of water in the microwave for two minutes and then placing the dough alongside to provide a warm and humid chamber. So, here goes.

Test 1 - Doves Farm Quick Yeast

Reasonable bit of foaming after activation in water:

The initial mix:

Post-kneading. Was a bit sticky for a while but it settled down and came out quite nice and smooth and springy:

After an hour rising in my microwave humidity chamber. Pretty substantial rise:

Before and after second prove after knocking back and moulding into tin:

Final results. Was baked for 30 mins, starting at 240 degrees with some water in the oven for steam, followed by dropping to 210 after 10 minutes, with a quick open of the oven door to release the excess steam. I technically forgot to slash the dough but it seems to have turned out ok.

Could maybe stand an extra 5 minutes in the oven, but not sure. There's a tiny, borderline hintette of doughiness which I may be imagining.

Overall, Doves Farm Quick Yeast looking good. Up next - Allinsons Dried Active Yeast. Had trouble with this in the past but it may have just been that I wasn't properly warming the dough for rising, etc. Stay tuned.

So it goes

Been a bit busy on the whole. Let's see.

Friday saw the continuation of the Cardiff-based supernatural investigative roleplaying game. I'm not convinced that I'm following the right approach but we're slowly gathering more information as well as dispatching an occasional shapeshifting baddie. Watch this space.

On Saturday we popped off to a RAT SHOW. It was hosted by the National Fancy Rat Society (NFRS) and took place in a nice little church in Miskin. As you might imagine, there were lots of lovely rats and also very nice cakes. The cakes and rats were kept well apart.

We picked up a couple of new hammocks and things from the stalls - one from The Rat Warehouse and some being sold by the (NFRS). The show is essentially a Crufts-style affair where rats are brought in and judged according to varieties, based on the 'standards' as well as condition, vitality, curiosity, etc. They also have a 'pets' section for rats which, while excellent, don't adhere strictly to the standards. The winner of this was a beautiful rex with great fur and curly whiskers. He didn't qualify for the main show due to some little patches of missing fur but he was ace anyway. There were also competitions that tested them for curiosity and also an obstacle course.

The main thing though was that we collected a pair of genuine proper breeder rats that we'd ordered from Bongo Fury rattery. Behold Bongo Fury Awkward Customer:

And Bongo Fury No More Mr Nice Guy:

The difference between these and pet shop rats is hard to overestimate. They are boundlessly friendly, curious and energetic. Their friendliness even extends to preferring to sniff at and grab me, rather than the food I'm offering. Ignoring food in favour of me is utterly unprecedented in my experience of rats.

Although they are great and doing fantasticly, BF Awkward Customer has a head tilt which you can just about see here:

Can you see the way he's leaning over to his left a bit? I've talked about these a bit before as one of our girls (Sansa) has one too. It's caused by an inner ear infection and leaves them with a sort of crick neck and balance problems. It doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest but he does have a bit of a tendancy to roll over and needs quite careful handling as we can't rely on him to hold on to us as well as rats normally would. When putting him back in the cage he also has a habit of trying to climb in upside down - ie; he'll grab the top of the door and trying to climb upwards. Still, he's perfectly happy and holds his own when BF No More Mr Nice Guy is scrapping with him. That happens a lot.

On Sunday I had my first session of a photography course down in Chapter Arts Centre. This is 'Advanced Digital Photography' and so focuses more on digital editing and manipulation which are skills which I only learned from buggering about with Photoshop so I don't really know what I'm doing. Formal training will be great. Was an enjoyable first session and is producing some astounding artwork:

For part of the session we walked around a sciencey photo exhibition that was on there. Gave me a few ideas and was really nicely done. Some of the bits of science clunked slightly but I wasn't sure if that was a deliberate nod, a sort of acknowledgement of the fakery involved. Still. Got lots to do for the next session.

On Monday we started a new roleplaying game written by one of the people we normally play with. It's about Zombies and I believe it was called Zombies. It's set in the real world with you effectively playing yourself and roleplaying your own responses to an ongoing zombie apocalypse. It uses Google Maps for street view for navigation - with any people you come across in the photos actually being zombies. At the moment we're just trying to sweep a village and establish a sort of beachhead for taking the country back.

As you can see above, the front garden is doing well. That's a flower. Only slight problem is that the weather has forbidden me from trying to deal with the weeds at the moment and I think the weeds are thriving under the new clear garden regime. This will not be tolerated and I hope to deal with them this weekend.

Not been getting that much gaming done. Tried a bit of Dungeon Defenders but I just don't get along with it. I think the interface is a bit too consoley. Mass Effect 3 is slow going but I fear I'm having trouble getting into it. It's a bit too big for me and there's so much going on that I can't keep track now. I will persist but it's a bit overwhelming.

I've been doing some more Welsh study, largely by going through sheets and sheets of work and translating them into English. Gotten a lot more confidence with it now.

Yesterday I discovered that Cardiff Market doesn't appear to have a nut vendor. I wanted them because I'm going for a new paradigm of rat feeding after reading rat nutrition guide, 'The Scuttling Gourmet'. ENRICHMENT:

The basic idea is to feed in such a way that enriches their experience of their environment, gives them interesting things to do and lets them express ratty behaviour such as foraging and destroying bloody everything. Most of what I've done comes from ideas from The Scuttling Gourmet. Above is an initial experiment with a colander which is suspended and filled with food and paper. It moves around slightly and the rats have to dig and burrow to get at the food as well as having a tricky climb in. It's not wholly successful as I couldn't position it just right as there were rats everywhere while I was tying it in..

Experiments with the others have included scattering food around so it gets buried in the shredded cardboard and has to be found, stuffing a tissue box with bits of food so they have to dig through the tissues to find things, putting a whole potted herb in the cage, and filling up and closing egg boxes. This last one was successful with the two new boys but the older ones just ripped it open in a matter of minutes. Next time I'll probably tie it closed so they have to either destroy the skin or gnaw through the box to get anything.

Nuts in shells are also a good one as they have to work hard to break into them. Sadly, finding nuts with shells is proving impossible, but I'll get some soon. This sentence represents a callback to the beginning of this section.

As usual, other stuff too but I can't be expected to cover *everything*.