Cricalix.Net

Well, my DSL upgrade is definitely here – the ATM layer is syncing at 5500 – 7500 kb/s. Unfortunately, the IP layer is still syncing at 2 Mb/s, and the line has gone very unstable. The 2 Mb/s thing will get solved in the next day or two as the automated measuring systems regrade the line properly, but the instability might force me to downgrade to 4 Mb/s or similar.

The up/down nature of my line at this point means that my e-mail is a bit intermittent, as is this site – web and e-mail are both run from my home server. Ah well, that’s what you get for running a site on a residential line with no SLA :)

Top Gun Ship Reviews – Caldari Caracal

Hello, and welcome to Top Gun with me, Shailo Koljas. Tonight we’ll be looking at the Caracal, a cruiser class ship for the Caldari State.

Traditionally, the Caldari have favoured function over form, and it shows in the bare-bones, no-nonsense lines of the Caracal. From the long hull, to the stubby stabilising ‘wings’, to the 5 launcher mounts, the Caracal is all about one thing – raining death on your enemies, such as the Gallente. After all, who can resist blowing the Gallente out of space when they come prancing by in their latest creation?

Four million ISK gets you a basic Caracal – top speed of 187 m/s, five high slots, four medium slots and two low slots. The interior on a from-the-dealer Caracal isn’t really that special, the designers have gone for the traditional cold-forged steel look, with the occasional touch of fake wood. The dials, however, are very retro, and fit the cockpit space quite well.

Rumour has it that you can contact Pimp My Ship on Sobaseki XIX, and they’ll give you a complete overhaul for about 2 million ISK. This includes chroming your exhaust ports and launcher barrels, tinting the cameras, adding alloy rims to your afterburner, and installing a 4000W stereo system with external speakers for demonstrating your love of classical music to the Guristas. Sadly, your insurance won’t cover these upgrades, so if you get blown up, you’ll have to have it all done again.

Zero to 187 takes about four seconds, which really isn’t too bad for a ship the size of a Caracal. Don’t try pink slipping your local Merlin though, unless you’re sporting a stealth micro warp drive, as you’ll lose before you can say ‘corners like a pig’.

We gave our new Caracal over to our trusty driver, the Stag. Some say he eats nuclear warheads for breakfast, others say he’s a ghost. We know he’s a damn fine ship driver. He’ll be doing our standard 40 AU track, complete with chicanes, Gallente sentry guns and interceptors.

[ video elided ]

Well, as you can see, the Caracal is a fine ship, though you have to watch out for that under steer on sharp turns, and be prepared to warp when you see your armour depleting.

Thank-you and good night!

Well, another day of toil in the garden has produced three more ‘upgraded’ garden beds. Numerous plants that were showing their age have been ripped out, and another 150 litres of manure have been blended in to the soil in all three beds. In each bed, a combination of various cornflowers, echiums, chives and bulbs have been planted, and some plants I deemed worth saving put back into the bed.

I also sowed the first batch of carrots in the lower bed, and installed a belfast sink as a heather & lavender pot. I don’t know if lavender can tolerate acid soil, I suppose I’ll find out the hard way! The upper bed around the tree (which I worked over last year, and left to sit) turned up a suprising number of worms, which is always a good thing. 50 litres of manure and 50 litres of topsoil went in to this bed, and several wild strawberries were unceremoniously yanked out. A clematis was put in, and hopefully I can train it to grow up the tree.

The tree, by the way, is one of those flowering ones, and it’s covered in beautiful pink blooms. Shot quite a few shots of them this morning before I wandered off to town to shoot the beds in one of the parks. Didn’t need to go to Holland to see tulips it turns out, as there were quite a few in Newcastle!

Last year, I chucked a potato or two in the bed next to the upper tree – to my suprise I found 3 more there Saturday afternoon while turning the soil over. Guess I can grow potatos if I want to.

It rained for most of Sunday, mostly as a light drizzle, and today hasn’t shown any sign of easing up on the water from the sky.  It means I can’t really work on the very top bed (as I’d rather not get drenched when it’s cold out), but the seeds should be loving all the fresh water – miles better than tap water.