A weekend drinking, and some flying......not together

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This week we explore Greg's weekend of debauchery up at the Napper Tandy pub in San Francisco, and one that he remembers in glorious technicolor detail. Yeh for the listeners. It included some karaoke, with this song: The B52's Love Shack.


Simon tells us all about his previous nightmarish few weeks, in the run up (and taking of) his instrument rating (an advanced pilot rating allowing him to fly in clouds, weather etc.)


Greg geeks out for a bit and tells us how he replaced his hard drive on his PS3.


Simon gets pissed off at all the pre election political phone calls.....and why this shouldn't happen because of the US "Do Not Call" list Politicians seem to think they can ignore the law. Greg's solution...the telezapper. It brings to mind an excellent piece by the late, great Bill Hicks on marketing. It leads the discussion into Greg's comment on George Carlin's thoughts on why it's a waste of time to vote.


We close with a mention about JP's campaign to get a marker stone for Toto in an LA pet cemetery. he blogs about it here. The main event was yesterday, November 7th, 2010. JP's comments on this are here:


"We were given a spot in the LA Memorial Pet park in Calabasas, CA to promote getting a marker. This is the oldest pet cemetery in Southern California. It has lots of celebrity animals like Rudolph Valentino's dog, Charile Chaplin's dog and Tori Spelling's dog. All kinds of animals are there: over 40,000. It was built in 1929. So we had a tent and table there and talked to hundreds of people and handed out flyers. We got $80 (the total now is almost $400 with promises from friends for more. We want to put the marker there and want it to look similar to the Jack Norworth marker. " Nice job JP!


The music at the end today is the guitar solo from Pink Floyd's "Echoes", one of the best solos ever!


BMSMA.
G&A

64Bit fun, a smelly dog and a great music discussion

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This week we have a great guest on, David. We've know him for a long time and we explore a wide range of topics, from the dot com times, his Cambridge memories (including buying drinks for Stephen Hawking!...now things don't get much cooler than that. Good grief!!!). We then talk about Greg's latest 64bit fun, and find a name for his new PC, Ozric Tentacles, Lemmy (Motorhead), Simon's gym instructor who currently has a hair style and goatee beard that makes him looks like Rob Halford, (and the fact that he didn't know who Rob Halford was), Dave's ever growing menagerie of pets and we end up going through the porn background music for the longest length in our history.....all puns intended.


End music was, of course, Ozric Tentacles, part of the track Jurassic Shift, from the album of the same name....one of the best albums ever recorded BTW!


BMSMA.
G&S

Fear the beard.....and some seriously good smokes.

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This week Greg talks about his rather smokey weekend, and what he can remember of it.

Then we have our buddy Ashok on the show. He recently got back from a business trip to Pakistan. 

Yup, a high tech business trip to Pakistan that didn't involve the military. We discuss the trip, what's going on over there and his thoughts on various aspects of the country. He visited Pesharwar, which has been in the news a lot recently, since it's so close to the Khyber Pass. We discuss history, how really not that much has changed and that the area is still the center of global politics: an continuation and extension of the Great Game.

We move outside and chat briefly about the upcoming US and California elections, before ending on a lighter note, and comment on a couple of movies we've seen recently.

Closing music this week was from a Hungarian Group called Kori Orum.

BMSMA

G&S

Prime Rib, voice over, dysfunctional software and Tennessee.....

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This week we recount the previous few days, and as always, it was a fun week!


We visited the fabulous restaurant in San Francisco, the House of Prime Rib, where we met with out good friend Karen....who will be reappearing on the show in November.

We talk about Greg's impressive break into voice over work....and what's unusual about it....ABS-CBN.

Then we talk with this week's guest, David, an old friend, who now lives in Tennessee.

We chat about his move back to Tennessee, his various lines of work since being back and the impact of the recent flooding on Tennessee....and why it's different from what happened in New Orleans (where he grew up). He also describes some interesting American Civil War history.

It was an interesting talk and very edumacational.

BMSMA.

G&S

Vegas Baby and a spot of Global Cooling.

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This week we are joined by our repeat guest, Nick. First, we discuss Greg's fantabulous weekend at Vegas baby where he went to watch some famous musicians perform. He partied like a rock star too, staying at the Hard Rock Hotel. Nick, also managed to see a concert this week too, getting to watch the Doobie Brothers. Then we get down to the meat of the discussion....Global Cooling and a touch of the Bilderberg Group. It all started with this article that was shared between us and we thought it would make for an interesting piece fo ye olde podcasty. The article opens by discussing the Bilderberg Group, a shadowy annual meeting of some of the world's most important people, all behind closed doors and with no reporting what so ever.....enough to make the most sane and trusting of people get suspicious! The topic revolves around the theory of global cooling,which contradicts the current thinking on global warming. There's some interesting tangents that spring up from the topic and there's enough subject matter here for a month's worth of podcast. Fascinating stuff. Here's a couple more links to provide food for thought. Global Cooling map.....amazing. Daily Tech article on Global cooling. DinoSauria article on global cooling. BMSMA! G&S

Beam me up Scotty, that was HOT....plus a lot of hard work too.

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This week ye olde podcasts is a little different. Simon had to go down to Santa Monica for an intensive study weekend (Friday to Sunday, followed by an exam on Monday...yikes!...but passed) for his pilot instrument rating exams. At the last minute (and upon request) Greg joined him, even though he was snowed under with work (hotel rooms with a network can be very productive if you want them to be!) It worked out well in the end and they even managed to get a quick dinner in at Beverly Hills, or to put it another way 90210....which was spiffing. The hotel was on Santa Monica Boulevard, so, we can now assert that, as the song says, the Sun does indeed come up over Santa Monica Boulevard. Simon was up very early every day for class so saw the sun just as it peeped it's head up over the horizon (well buildings)! Santa Monica Boulevard is also the beginning of the historic Route 66. Interestingly enough, and probably not by planning, the part where that route starts is full of car dealers. Pretty apt really.

LA hit 114 degrees this weekend, and it was 107 as we left, at 10.30am!!!!! 114 is 45 Celsius.....that's as hot as it gets on the Egypt Sudanese border......that's ridiculous. Did we mention that it's the end of September! Good grief that was hot. 

So the podcast was recorded as the guys drove up HW 5 back to the San Francisco Bay Area....so the background noise is a little bit of the car joining in this week's podcast.

Greg reviewed the 'event' at his favorite local cigar shop in San Jose, where he met LeVar Burton....if you're not into Star Trek, you'll not have a clue who he is. If you are into Star Trek, you'll be jumping in your seat for joy at this point. LeVar played Geordi La Forge on Star Trek, the Next Generation, and for a while at least, took the role that had previously been Montgomery Scott (Scotty), from where the wonderful phrase "Beam me up Scotty" came from.

Catch you all later.

BMSMA!

G&S

A cool concert and some cross country hiking.

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So this week, we have a 2 part show for you.


In the first part, Gregamundo and Simon discuss Simon's awesome weekend, where he got to see Harry Connick Jr in concert, complete with back stage passes. It was not just a regular concert though. This was a big deal, as Harry has been an important part of the life of Simon's niece. She's very sick (terminally) and has been a big fan of Harry's since she was 7. 

Simon's niece, just before her diagnosis.

Since learning of her predicament, he has invited her to concerts and spent a lot of time communicating with her, and seeing her whenever possible....all without any publicity. He's a genuine and very decent guy: a rarity in the music business. Simon was at first reluctant to disclose any of this, but decided to discuss some of the details, as it was such a good event and Harry deserves a great deal of credit for what he's done.  The concert was at the Saratoga Mountain Winery, which is a gorgeous outdoor venue in Northern California, seats about 1500-2000 people and is a stone's throw from Simon's house. 

After the show we had back stage passes to meet Harry and once Simon introduced himself, he knew immediately who he was and was incredibly friendly and chatty, commenting on the bravery of Simon's niece and the strength of his sister. It was, as you can imagine, a rather wonderful event and made Simon's year, let alone week.

After discussing this, Greg announces some bloody big news, about something which puts him into the minority among Americans. 


Then we switch to a portable recording we made the day before, with our friend Macy. 

An example of Simon's day job...a photo of Macy.

She and another friend hiked the UK's Coast to Coast trail, covering about 15-20 miles a day, with elevation changes of between 2000-3000 feet per day.....it's a big deal to do day after day for a week or so.  They documented the adventure, complete with gorgeous photos on Macy's blog...it's definitely worth looking at and reading. They passed through some of the UK's most gorgeous landscapes, taking in Ennerdale, Borrowdale, Rosthwaite, Grasmere, (the home of William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter), Ullswater, out to Shap, and eventually onto Richmond in Yorkshire, (Simon's place of origin), before catching a train up to Edinburgh for a few days of luxury before heading home. She tells us all about her adventure and experiences. As a result, we're planning an afternoon out at a local English style tea shop.

This is the photo that Simon thought was just amazing, looking down the valley of Buttermere from near Haystacks.....a view he knows well and adores.


Take a look at the links. There's a lot of great information here. It was a great weekend!


Closing music is a snippet from "The Hidden Step" by Ozric Tentacles of course!


BMSMA!


G&S