Take this, you never know when it might come in handy

There are some things that every time traveller should know: how to find the toilets on the TARDIS, how to say "please don't eat me" in Morlock, were to buy a Mr-Fusion (tm). All of those things are important for the aspiring chrononaut, but lets examine another possibility, supposing you find yourself back in time, why the sheer level of knowledge that you as a modern man from a technologically advanced society possess could make you a God! or at the vary least a massive fortune.

The only problem is: how does some of that technology work? In particular, what are the basic building blocks of that tech? I mean it's all well and good to show Queen Elizabeth I the "light bulb" you just invented, but how exactly were you planning on powering it? Yeah, suddenly that Godhood and massive fortune are slowly sliding towards poverty and poor hygiene.

Well fear not gentle reader, this handy guide, found on google after about 30 seconds of work shall leap to your rescue, providing you with all of the information you'll need to bring about a technological wonderland in ages past. Containing such useful information as:

• A pendulum that swings for one second has an arc of approximately 1 meter
• Aluminium was once more valuable than gold
• Milk is pasteurised by heating it to 99.999% of it's boiling point
• Insulin can be extracted from the pancreas of dogs and pigs
• You are remembering to take credit for these discoveries aren't you?

(click the image to expand)

London Film and Comic Con 2009

I attended the London Film and Comic Con yesterday, and finally achieved one of my ambitions; namely meeting the lovely Jewel Staite:

Now without sounding like a gushing fanboy (I can already here the voice at the back of my head saying that I already do), she is such a nice person. I mean, I know she's an actress, and she was getting paid to do this but she really seemed interested in the people who were talking to her, and even remembered me when I saw her again later in the day.

Overall, I thought that the con went really well, there was a general feeling of enjoyment, throughout the day from the little kid excited because Darth Vader was wandering around, to the guy in the Xenomorph suit (who seemed to enjoy chasing after attractive women a bit too much to be considered "just doing his job").

Although I only got to meet Jewel, the other stars there also seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere. Notable examples were Hattie Hayridge looking up and smiling as I photographed her, and Tom Baker enjoying a bag of Jelly babies while signing autographs.

The layout of Earl's Court itself also tends to provide a good structure for a con, allowing lots of space for people to move around.

So that really sums up my trip, for me, the real high point was the following image:

although nearly-naked-cave-girl came a close second.