September 2007

Lois Maxwell passed away today at the age of 80. She played Miss Moneypenny in no less than 14 Bond movies. A sad day for all fans.

Lois Maxwell, 14/02/27 - 29/09/07

I have two major problems in life. I’m always tired and I never have enough time. I reckon if I lived until I was 150, with 30 hour days and no sleep, I might get to do half the things I want to do.

Well, I’m not going to achieve that, but an extra hour a day would be very useful indeed.

A couple of years ago, I purchased a license for Pzizz (plus the additional “Energizerâ€? module), a “mac and windows software application that generates random soundtracks which help you regain your energy“. I must admit that, at that time, I only used it very occasionally, mostly when I was so tired I probably wasn’t getting the greatest benefit from it.

However, I reached a point about a month ago where it was getting ridiculous. I’d arrive home (I spend at least 2 and a half hours a day just commuting) and, after having some dinner, would often just fall asleep. I had no energy for any kind of life after work. I was missing out on being with my family, catching up on stuff, experimenting with my ideas, pretty much everything. So, I was starting to think what I could do to try and change things when I remembered my long ago purchased Pzizz software. I downloaded the latest version from the web site (a license provides you with lifetime updates – not bad) and decided I’d try it out properly.

Pzizz allows you to create your own soundtracks, which comprise of semi-randomly generated soothing music, along with a voice-over (optional) providing you with pleasing thoughts and motivation, which you listen to whilst having your “power nap�. The idea being that it sends you into a nice refreshing nap, leaving you ready to take on the rest of the day with a fresh head.

• This is a list of features taken from the Pzizz web site:
• voice: using the latest language techniques (NLP)
• music: composed exclusively for Pzizz
• binaural beat: inducing theta brainwaves
• adjust the length of the soundtrack as you need it
• every soundtrack is different
• custom settings allowing Pzizz to adapt to your needs

Yes, I know. I was cynical too, but read on.

The software allows you to create an unlimited number of recordings of a duration you decide on (I chose 20 minutes), which you can then dump onto your MP3 player, making them available any time. So, I created 20 tracks to keep me going over the course of my experiment. I decided I’d try it for a month, ensuring that I had a 20 minute power nap at least 5 times a week.

Having now come to the end of the first month, I can reveal that the results are astounding. The reason I began the experiment originally was to try and overcome the constant tiredness I felt almost every day. What I didn’t expect (well, I didn’t really expect anything, to be honest) was exactly how much energy I’d gain. To tie back in with the title of this post, I’m actually gaining on average a complete hour per day. For every power nap of 20 minutes I take, I’m able to stay up on average about an hour and a half later than I could previously manage (i.e. I “gainâ€? around an hour and a half for the 20 minutes I “loseâ€? during the nap) and, more importantly, for the entire day I’ve found that, as well as feeling far less tired generally, I’m more alert and attentive and less grumpy (although that may be open to dispute!). Now, an hour a day might not seem a lot, but that amounts to 20 hours per month, or 240 hours (10 days!) per year. Now, that’s worth having.

Honestly, I can’t recommend Pzizz enough. I know I’m beginning to sound like a commercial and I don’t normally go to these lengths to recommend anything, but I really believe it’s made an enormous difference for me. I’ll certainly continue using it. I’ve yet to try out the default sleep module provided with the software because, if there’s one thing I don’t have a problem with, it’s getting to sleep!

If you’re after an energy boost, why not give it a try? They offer a free 15 minute “tasterâ€? with absolutely no obligation. Even if you decide to go ahead and purchase it and then change your mind, they’ve got a 30 day money back guarantee. If you do decide to go ahead and purchase it, you can also help me out by using this link. Just to ensure full disclosure, I’ll get a cut if you use this link, but I did pay for my copy with my very own hard earned wedge. If you’d rather go direct, here’s the link. I’d rather you gave it a go without my cut than not try it at all.

One final note: please read the safety warning on the site before giving it a try.

This is a blatant plug (some might say plea) to all UK Bikers to go and visit my newly created site at UK Bikers Forum.

I created it as there doesn’t appear to be anything similar (or I’ve missed it and hence wasted my time) for bikers located in the UK who want to chat about their bikes, events, best routes, best gear etc. You get the picture.

So, if you’ve got a bike, get over there now. If you haven’t, get over there anyway

“If you type Google into Google, you’ll break the Internet” - from the IT Crowd on Friday

I’ve been watching Air Crash Investigation’s new series and it’s got me thinking (rare, I know). Over various episodes, they’ve stated (I’m paraphrasing here) “the reason we’ve got pilots is to (amongst other things) think creatively in a crisis and be able to handle those things that were just not thought of during the design of the automated systems” and “We’ve lost so many people due to this problem” - “this problem” being things like pilot disorientation or plain and simple pilot error. A perfect example of both of these situations in a single flight was the case of a Chinese 747, where the pilots exhibited remarkable skill in recovering the Jumbo from what appeared to be a catastrophic accident in the making and getting everyone pretty much safely on the ground. Trouble is, it was the crew that caused the near catastrophe in the first place.

Now, I love aircraft and flying in general, but removing the romantic aspect of it for the purposes of this argument, isn’t it about time to hand over control to the computers? The military use pilot-less aircraft and it is now considered that the pilot in military aircraft is effectively holding back the design of aircraft.

Back to civil aviation. The automation is already there. In fact, sometimes the automation is effectively overridden. Take, for example, the case of aircraft separation systems. This could easily be fully automated, but the systems tell the controllers when 2 aircraft are in dangerously close proximity, who then contacts one aircraft and says “climb”, whilst telling the other to descend. Surely this could be fully automated and actually send the climb and descend commands directly to the aircraft?

Which brings us to the real question: Would the paying public board a completely automated aircraft? I suspect not, at least for the foreseeable future. The main problem I can see is that computers are not infallible, for the simple reason that they’re designed by us mere mortals.

Your thoughts?