Hmmm, I enjoyed Depp's performance in Pirates.

Oh, me too. I think his performance was quite entertaining - but just not oscar-worthy. Take away the pirate garb and throw on an old-west costume and his character would have been Doc Holliday from Tombstone. Back when Val Kilmer did that performance it was original. I felt mostly like Johnny Depp's performance was somewhat of an anachronism.

- trs

I learned more of the story of Samus in Metroid, having played Metroid Zero Mission between calls at work.

So how different is it from the original nes version ?

Driving a Ford Sierra with bald tyres over a tarmac surface covered with oil is good fun!

Have any doughnuts?

So how different is it from the original nes version ?

The same, but different. Basicially, areas have been cleaned up and look nicer, some content up to the final battle was added, cut scenes added, a map added, and hints added. Beyond that, it actually continues the story a bit after the evacuation from destroying Mother Brain.

Once you complete the game, you unlock the NES Metroid in all it's old glory, including proper slowdown when too many enemies/screen movement occurs.

I learned just how many coyotes are in the park near my house. I also learned that my dog didn't get eaten by them.

-Biscuits

So how many coyotes are in the park near your house? I have no idea how many coyotes are in the park across from my house, but I am 99% certain my cat did get eaten by them.

I learned that those trivia games in bars are (1) free, (2) linked nationally,

Make that internationally. The ones in Canada are linked to the ones in the US.

There are too blasted many coyotes in the park....

I spent hours hunting for my dog where I last saw her. The game trails were covered in coyote tracks, many of them fresh. The pack that roams that area in the park contains at least 3 animals, though I couldn't get an exact count from the tracks. The park, as a whole, is 3,000 acres plus there is probably about the same amount of private woodlands adjacent. Who knows how many packs there are total?

All I know is that their tracks were everywhere.... I've noticed that small game (rabbit, quail, turtles, opossums, racoons, squirrels) are almost nonexistent.

-Biscuits

What did you learn this weekend???

American Pie - The Wedding is crap but pretty funny (My SO forced me).
Standing in the Shadows of Motown was boring.
Phone (Korean horror flick) was pretty good and totally unpredictable. Seemed like it was near the end at 55 minutes, but no...
Gothika was damn good.

I also learned that Burger King is open until 2AM Sunday-Thursday, and until 'til 6AM only Friday and Saturday.

I also realised (not learned, sorry) that I'll have to get my groove on if I want to be finished with the car stereo this century.

The skid pan near us swears that those old Volvo 340's: The Dutch ones, are the best cars for the job, because they have the gearbox at the back to balance the weight - great fun though.

It was a bad weekend for me.

I learned that my oldest cat may have cancer.
I learned that I really didn't want to sell my Nova after I sold it (didn't have much choice because I needed the money)
And I learned that someone I care about doesn't like me.

Life is good

I learned that if you have someone who has never had cats before living with you, they should be left some instructions on kitty yes and no, or I might wake up to a room covered in cat poo.

Last night I learnt that the lock on our new Staywell cat flap for our new cats is crap. It is the typical in only/out only/locked type. It appears that at least one of our cats can force the lock.

Once he has done this it gets stuck in out only mode, leaving the cat locked out. Because of this our cats got locked out of the house twice yesterday (for hours at a time), on their third day being allowed to go outside

I'm going to have to find one that is a bit more sturdy, though that might be hard because there appear to only be two brands on the market.

Is this one of them?

*edit*
Wow, the amazing "Electromagnetic Cat Doo" I think that's what Heather has

I haven't seen that brand available in the UK, I've only seen Staywell (which seem to all use the same crap design for the lock) and Cat Mate.

Edit:

Just found a couple of other options at http://www.catflaps.com/ , need to find a shop with them though as I'm not buying another one until I have held it in my hand and tried to force the lock.

The "keeps out strays" bit is not always that effective - more than once I have heard about cats standing next to the lock while they let every cat in the area go into the house.

Gareth

I would be happy if just the physical lock worked properly. I find it incredible that they sell a cat flap where the lock can be so easily forced by the cat. Admittedly Max is a bit of a bruiser, but I don't think he is that unusual a cat.

It is also very clear what is wrong with the design. The lock engages on the side of the flap rather than the bottom. The flap is too flexible. If you push on the flap hard from the inside it twists and pops over the lock, allowing the cat out and locking them out (it appears to be harder to force it back the other way).

If either the flap was more rigid, or the lock mounted centrally at the bottom of the flap (like some other brands seem to be) then the problem wouldn't happen. It seems that all of Staywell's flaps in the range have the same lock design. Our's is the magnetic one, but the manual and infra red ones have the exact same design.

It also has another couple of obvious design flaws:

The magnetic lock only operates on the incoming side, cats can leave without having a magnetic tag. This means that when the thin bit of plastic on the tag fails (or the collar comes off) and they are indoors they will be able to leave via the cat flap and get locked out.

P.S. when I was trying to find and placate Max at 2am this morning, after the flap had locked him out for four hours, I could find every cat in the area (think there were four of them sniffing around) except Max.

There is no way of disabling the magentic lock. If you realise your cat's tag has gone missing you have no way of turning off the lock to allow them to use the flap until you get a new tag.

I think I'll be taking this cat flap back, assuming I can find a better designed one.

On the plus side, the cats are now happily using the flap to go to and fro. I'm so pleased they now get to enjoy the outdoors.

We scrapped the Staywell, in favour of another brand, which is much sturdier, and easier to fit: needing a round hole (Which is a bit of a bugger if you've already got a square Staywell hole). Mine's fitted in a plate glass door, which cost a fortune at the glaziers. I'll post the brand tomorrow.

Sturdy it may be, but it gave way quickly to our rescue boxer dog, but it's not designed for head-butting!

I learned that my oldest cat may have cancer

I lived through the cancer of my very favourite Boxer the year before last, he finally went, with great dignity on Christmas eve.
I still think of him each day, and my thoughts are with you: Take the advice of the vet whether the cat is in any pain, enjoy every day whilst you still have the chance and then look back on the enjoyment you and the cat had.
There are some very advanced pet cancer centres, in Cambridge in this country, for instance. Your vet should be able to advise if it is worth trying - but may not volunteer, unless you indicate that you might be prepared to pay the price.
Again, I feel for you: Men and cars I can't advise you on.

My Mums cat, lollypop, used to have to wear a little magnet around her neck to open on of those flaps, but she keft on pulling if off somehow.

We ended up just making it so she could get out but not back in (using a screw on the inside of the flap) over time she has worked out she can paw at the flap and get it to spring back at her, get another paw under the flap, get her head under and get in. Its amazing to watch her do it.

Using this method also means she can't bring any "presents" for us into the house, as she can't carry anything in her mouth whilst doing the manover.

I'll have to get the whole thing on Video one day, and sell it to one of those TV shows, its very funny to watch.

I love cats, I really feel for you Laura, our old cat, Ginger, died of cancer, I had known him every day of my life up until the point he died (we got him the week I was born). It was a strange feeling getting up the next day and not having him wind his way around my legs while I was making breakfast. I still miss him.

Cheers

Cris.

Men and cars I can't advise you on.

Too bad, I could really use some advise, at least on men.

We're trying a new drug on the cat and we'll give it a little bit of time to see if it will work. His kidneys are bad and he's diabetic on top of the new problem and losing weight fast so there isn't a lot of time to try too many things. He's 15 and I know he can't last forever, they never do unfortunately. I'll enjoy him while I have him and I'll know when the time comes to give up and let him go.

I feel for you. My wife and I just had our cat put to sleep tonight. It's been a long time coming. I hope we didn't wait too long, but neither one of us can stop crying.

I'm so sorry to hear that, you have my deepest sympathy. I've been trying to hand feed mine tonight but he's just not that interested in food.

I've made a complete Eeediot of myself here, our cat flaps are both locking Staywell ones! But until the rescue Boxer started using them for heading practice, we didn't have any locking in/out problems.

We're trying a new drug on the cat and we'll give it a little bit of time to see if it will work.

Our dog, which my wife has had since she was in Jr. High, is on his way, unfortunately. He's got a really bad cough and is on three different medicines, but I don't know how much longer it can go. It'll be sad for me when we have to put him down, but for my wife it's going to be absolute torture. There's no doubt he really belongs to her, especially since he predates me by so much. Pets are great, but it's so hard to lose them.

I learned, after years of visiting the USA mainly in California and mainly in summer, that it does sometimes snow in parts of the US, including for instance the Philadelphia part. And my sort-of-god-daughter's baby brother learned (though this took all week, not just the weekend) two new words: "Peter" and "booze".

Peter