Spring In A Leap Year

Or, Four Seasons In One Day
Maybe five.  It started off with snow this morning, followed by sun, followed by snow, followed by sun, followed by sleet, then it was overcast, then we had hail, more sun, more hail, more sun - it's very confusing.  I tempt Fate by asserting that at least we've not had any gale force winds.  Oh, and there you go - hailstorming again.
    Normally I'd take a photograph for proof.  However, my new phone only arrived just over an hour ago, and the first thing I did was take Edna for a walk, since she'd missed her morning gallivant (this may get me into trouble with Wonder Wifey) as I'd needed to stay in.  It's currently charging up.  I then have to work out how to use it.  Art?

It's a phone.

     Then I need to sort out what the kids on the streets call "Gapps", which is where you make spaces for various bits of software.  Right?
     If I were WW she'd be cooing with delight over all this shizzle.  Me?  A rather dreary chore.  I used my old Galaxy J3 to take pictures, Shazam songs I was interested in, and bought my e-bus tickets with.  Or, occasionally, text people.  I rang my Pub Quiz partners with it once a week and that was about it.

Portrait of a techno-Luddite

     I shall let you know how I get on.  
     Motley!  Let's play a game with these tin cans and a length of string -

"Limitless"
The television series, actually, which I've not come across before.  It is an extension of the film starring Bradley Cooper, and is about a failed musician who is offered a tab of what he later learns is NTZ-48.  Through a chain of events, he ends up becoming a consultant for the FBI, allowed to take one tab of NTZ per day in order to carry out research and evaluation; his effective time whilst boosting on the drug is about 12 hours, and thanks to some background fiddling by Bradley Cooper's character, Brian (our hero) doesn't suffer any side effects - like psychosis, brain damage and death, those sort of things.  Art?

It has a cool opening credits sequence.

     Now, even though the series went out over 4 years ago,  I feel confident that declaring a SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER here is advised, as I'm just so moral.
     In the episode "Badge!  Gun!" Brian is on the trail of a genetics research company, who have attempted to kill a South Canadian general in charge of procurement, using a genetically-tailored virus.  Said general, you see, was going to pull their funding because he was looking to back more heavy-metal solutions.

Brian's 'badge' and 'gun'

     Excuse me, but this makes no sense.  If Eukaryote, the company in question, have developed a genetically-tailored virus, then they are years and years ahead of the rest of the field.  Their procuring general might not have been keen on such a weapon, but the CIA would most certainly be interested, as would Homeland Security, and the FBI, not least because if you have a virus then you can also have a vaccine.  Then there would be sales to foreign countries - all within NATO, of course - and other potential applications that universities and laboratories would all pay for -
     Besides, why not just shoot him*?

Art getting in the mood.

Hammer Scammer
I see that the BBC and their "Panorama" current affairs program have an upcoming documentary "Spying On The Scammers", which focuses on the Indian call centres who do nothing but ring people up on false pretences to extort money from them.  

Your company's Mission Statement could do with a little work, matey

Some of the preview consists of footage of cyber-ace Jim Browning, who we have mentioned on these pages before.  Jim, who knows computers inside out and has likely forgotten more about them than you or I will ever know, has taken the scammers on personally.  He has revealed who they are, where they operate from, how the operate and what kind of money they make.  He has also turned the tables on scammers and locked them out of their own computers, permanently.  The screech of astonished rage when one scammer realised then this had been done to him is a memory I cherish.

Jim on Twitter

     What Jim does is illegal, but Your Humble Scribe is rooting for him all the way.  Go ahead and do your Internet Robin Hooding, Jim!

"Threadbanger"
More of Youtube.  In this case, Threadbanger came up as a suggested link after I'd been looking at Prof. Ann Reardon's "How To Cook That" channel, after she'd roasted "5 Minute Crafts" for being not only liars, but dangerous ones at that.  Threadbanger's channel has two presenters and for this expose it was Rob Czar.

CAUTION!  NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

     Rob swears a lot, and he doesn't get bleeped out all that often.  But his heart's in the right place.  He tore into the initial 5MC piece, which was how to make a backpack out of a plastic petrol can.  Art?

Does not compute

     As Rob demonstrated, cutting into those incised lines on the can in a "C" shape and then hot glue-gunning a zip in DOES NOT WORK.  The zip won't go around 90 degree corners, and it gets gummed up with glue.  He pondered at length why one would ever need or want such a stupid backpack.  Not only that, the final 'backpack' as seen is a completely different design to the one in the video!
     I may come back to this once I get my phone camera in working order**.

Finally -
Yes, I am off dog-sitting for the next two weeks, and no, you're not getting two posts a day every day.  I have a life to live, dammit!

The life of the party.

*  Conrad's trademark bluntness in play
**  So, two or three weeks, then? <the wicked truth courtesy Mister Hand>