Barbecued breaded vegetable sticks

Mum recently purchased some breaded vegetable sticks, which look like fish fingers but contain carrots, peas, and other vegetables. Dad was doing a barbecue this afternoon, and as there was still some heat left when he had finished cooking the meat he wanted something else; as an experiment, Mum gave him the sticks:

They tasted great! Now to barbecue some actual fish sticks.

Android version names

I've recently been researching Android, as it's something I've heard about for a long time but wasn't exactly sure what it was; I now know it's a phone operating system developed by Google. The most fascinating aspect of the software was the name of each major version release, as each one is named after a dessert:

Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean are the current names of each version of Android. I think they're very imaginative...and tasty! During our last year in the United States I heard radio adverts for phones highlighting "Android Cupcake" and "Android Donut", but not having my own phone I never thought to look the terms up (my current phone is a feature phone, and uses a basic touchscreen proprietary software developed by Samsung).

I'm now looking forward to one day hearing names such as "Android Marzipan" or "Android Strawberry Trifle", and I'm certainly interested in what dessert will be used for "Z".

Other media

I am available on a few other websites, and if anyone is interested I am happy to connect in other places with people I know here (I've already done this with some of you). One place is Twitter - although I admit I'm not very active there - and I also have Skype; either e-mail me or leave a comment if connecting with me elsewhere is something that would interest you. It's okay if it doesn't, but I'm happy to leave the option open!

Two Rushcliffe Civic Centre pictures

I took a few pictures of the Rushcliffe Civic Centre when we were in Nottingham last Saturday; here are two:

Both are phone images. I mentioned the building in a post about 2011's Nottingham trip.

On trolling in 9/11 remembrance articles

It has been eleven years since 9/11 took place; it's not as significant an anniversary as the tenth, but it still signifies how long it's been since that tragic day occurred. Various memorials are being held in the United States and around the world the commemorate those who died in the attacks.

It angers me when I read trolling comments on articles to do with remembering those who died...and by "trolling" I am referring to posting conspiracies theories and utter nonsense that some people seem to believe about the day. Merely thinking that it wasn't aircraft that destroyed the World Trade Center towers or damaged the Pentagon is one thing, but going on about it on something commemorating the dead is outright disrespectful to the victims. If someone, for whatever reason, is a skeptic they should share their opinions in a place better suited to discussing conspiracies and alternate views about the attacks, rather than perform the Internet equivalent of vandalizing graves.

In regards to my opinion on the conspiracies when they're not being discussed at a memorial, I completely accept the official account of what happened on 9/11. I find all the conspiracies that I know of to be unconvincing and in some cases utter nonsense.

As for 9/11, it is hard to believe that it has been eleven years since that day. I may not have been in the vicinity of the attacks, but the memory of the day is still clear in my mind.

Golden wedding anniversary

It was a delight to celebrate my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary last Saturday; we travelled up to Nottingham in the afternoon to spend a few hours with them before the party and to give our gift to them early. They adored the photo album we assembled for them, to the point where they wanted to bring it to the celebration to show other guests.

Nearly forty people attended the event. Besides obvious people such as my grandparents, parents, brother, and me, others in attendance included my aunt/uncle/cousins from Nottingham, aunt/uncle/cousins from the East of England, Nottingham uncle's brother, my grandparents' nearest neighbours, and several other friends and relatives of my grandparents. At least three-quarters of the people invited to the party came, and one person who was accidentally not invited had the good sense to make it. Some of the people I hadn't seen for a couple of years, but there were others whom I hadn't had any contact with for close to twenty years, and a few I hadn't met at all.

The celebration took place at a fancy Chinese restaurant, with an entire room - which contained four large tables - booked for our group. After people started filling into the room I chose a table and waited to see who would sit with me - there weren't any pre-determined seats, so people could sit where they desired, although my grandparents' and their children sat at the "head table". We did not have to order any food, as my Nottingham aunt had been the primary organiser of the event and had chosen a set menu.

The speeches went very well: Dad was the first to speak - given that he is my grandparents' oldest child - followed by my uncle from the East of England and my aunt from Nottingham (my other uncle is in Hong Kong). Six of the eight grandchildren spoke next (my eldest cousin is also in China, and my other older cousin was briefly away during the speeches), with me going last: the content in my speech made it worthwhile me being the final speaker, and other than a couple of flubs when reading out my script I had no problems in giving a speech in front of nearly forty people. I received one of the largest rounds of applause, so I can safely assume that my speech was well-received!

I have plenty of pictures of the event - as do several other people - and there was more activity there than what I've written about, but in keeping with my personal privacy policy I cannot share any more here. All I can say is that it was great to celebrate my grandparents 50th, and everyone - especially my grandparents - had an amazing time.

Quick note

I don't have any time today for a long post on what happened yesterday, and to be honest I am still quite tired and will soon be going to bed. I will mention, however, that my speech did go well: I'll blog about it all tomorrow.

Giving a speech

I will be giving my speech later today; it isn't very long, but as it will be my first-ever delivery and it'll be in front of family (from what I've heard, tonight I'll be seeing multiple members of family whom I haven't seen in over fifteen years!) I am somewhat nervous. Still, I'm optimistic everything will go well...and I'm not the only one giving a speech!

Gabrielle Giffords at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

I have taken the time to watch a few of the major speeches that have taken place at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina over the past few days. I have been impressed with speeches from Lilly Ledbetter, Sandra Fluke, First Lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former Governor of Florida Charlie Crist, Senator Harry Reid, Vice President Joe Biden, and President Barack Obama himself; all of them gave enthusiastic, resolute and inspiring speeches, and it was amazing to watch and listen to both the speakers and their audiences.

The person I was most delighted to see attend the convention was Gabrielle Giffords; she lead the Pledge of Allegience with Florida respresentative and Chair of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schulz:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYWDn-7dkD4

I felt proud and pleased for Giffords at how well she has improved since the attempt on her life, and it was a beautiful moment for her to be up there on the stage, but at the same time I did have some lingering anger towards her shooter as I watched her have some trouble walking and reciting the Pledge (although she was able to pull off both). As I have written before, Giffords' recovery has been remarkable; it's great she was well enough for an appearance at the DNC this year, and she will remain one of my favorite figures in the political world for a long time.

Bus prices

My brother went out on a bus trip today to both try out our local public transport system and to visit a neighbouring town. He discovered that the price for an adult single ticket is £4.50, and if you don't ask for a return ticket it's another £4.50 back. This compares to £1.70 in Nottingham for the same type of ticket.

He wasn't surprised, though; when we were in Nottingham a month ago one of our cousins from the East of England explained that a bus ticket in her area cost around £6.50. Even so, we are in a more populous region than my cousin and her family, so I assumed that our bus fares would be higher than Nottingham's, but significantly lower than those of the town in the east.

It does put somewhat of a dent in our plans to use the bus more, unfortunately. We were going to start taking some bus rides, but the price is too high to travel on them frequently; we will still take the occasional trip...bus rides are fun!

Morning glory

My brother took this fine shot of a what appears to be a morning glory:

His camera is fantastic at taking close-up images of flowers! I'm glad he allows me to use a few of his images here provided I credit him.

The new interface

For the past few months I have been using the old Blogger interface rather than the updated one, but now my dashboard is telling me that it will be removed in the coming days. A shame, because I like the old interface for how easy it is to navigate and use. Still, I accept the retirement of the old look, and think that it will be both fun and a minor challenge to finally learn how the new interface works.

Natural bunch of roses

We have a natural "bunch" of red roses growing in our front garden:

They are the loveliest-smelling roses my nose has ever encountered: their combined odour is strong enough for you to hold your face at least a foot away from yet still smell them. They are delightful...I wish I could share their scent!

Gray wolves in Wyoming

I'm disappointed that gray wolves have lost their protected status in Wyoming. Granted, there are 109 breeding pairs in the Northern Rockies (27 in Wyoming), and Wyoming is required to ensure that it maintains at least 150 gray wolves and fifteen breeding pairs, but I think the current numbers are still too low to justify taking them off the endangered species list. I share the concern that this move will lead to wolves being killed, and in a few years they will have to be put on the list again.

I've never really understood the fear of wolves. Harassing livestock is the most cited reason for killing them, but I don't see how wolves are any more threatening to livestock than coyotes or mountain lions: in Southern Oregon ranchers always took steps to ensure that cougars and coyotes could not harm their animals, but these "steps" normally involved a decent fence around their properties or keeping llamas, not a culling of anything that could potentially kill the livestock.

There are 1,100 other gray wolves in Montana and Idaho, and Oregon and Washington are also home to them, but other states shouldn't have to pick up the slack for one. I hope these four states don't do anything that could harm their wolf populations, as that would further hurt the conservation work.

Wolves are wonderful animals; it is a shame there are many misconceptions about them. It's been awhile since I last read it, but I recommend Wolves at Our Door : The Extraordinary Story of the Couple Who Lived with Wolves; based on the recent decision in Wyoming, it's something I need to read again.

My videos, and a thank you

I was recently looking at the viewing statistics for my YouTube channel, Askytrill; thank you to everyone - both followers of my blog and people who surf the Internet in general - who has taken the time to watch the videos that I have uploaded. While I am certainly grateful to people who read this blog, it also means a lot when people look at other content of mine. Thank you.