flanerie.org

Verity had her first cinema experience recently at the local picture house. They have a saturday morning kids' movie to get em hooked while they are young.

So we went to see Curious George, which she thoroughly enjoyed and, more surprisingly, I did too.

Thankfully our cinema doesn't throw people out for taking their own food (like Cineworld do), since we were armed with a full picnic and when the ticket lady asked if we wanted to buy any popcorn, Verity said "We heard the popcorn go pop"

"Was that in the microwave?"

"Yep"

Verity is spectacularly unequipped for keeping secrets or even low-level discretion. I know she is only three, but silll...

The other good thing about the kids' movies club is that adults get in free (presumably only when armed with a child) so it only cost £4 for all three of us. Bargain.

Sadly, I doubt they will be showing that new batman film anytime soon and even Wall-E doesn't look likely for a while.

I went to see David Tennant being Hamlet weekend before last and it was rather corking.

Subject of much hype, not least because it starred not one but two sci-fi icons - Patrick Stewart being the other one - and only David Duchovny being added to the bill could have made it more of a geek draw.

Tennant entered the stage silently and stood at the corner, head bowed, whilst the opening scene unfolded. And every pair of eyes in the audience was on him. Hype got him that far but then he had to carry a play for 3 hours. And crikey, he did just that.

Full of energy and animation, but also subtle when required, especially for the most famous lines of the play, which he deliberately underplayed.

I had hoped for good things when I booked last January (January! And I could only get restricted view tickets) but Tennant exceeded even the highest expections.

More. Much more.

A geeky guy has created a web page that figures out your gender based on your browser history.

It is a clever idea - it works out what colour your browser shows links in, since visited links will be a different colour. Or color, depending on your disposition. So although a browser does to give history information to other sites directly, it accidentally blabs with colours.

According to the script I am 95% probably a male.

See how you score.

On Saturday we went to Hebden Bridge to celebrate Sally's birthday. It is a nice place and has the distinction of having move lesbians per square foot than any other town in the UK.

While there I asked Sally to marry me, and thankfully she said yes.

Also thankfully, this took her mind off the fact that I hadn't got round to buying her a birthday present.

The Manchester Art Gallery is holding a Charlie & Lola exhibition. For the uninitiated, C&L is a blockbuster cartoon for the 3-5 age group, a cornerstone of CBeebies.

So we took Verity in the hope that it would kick start her cultural interest and also make her act reasonably when we dragged her round the Lowry Gallery later in the day.

On arrival at the gallery I asked the helpful volunteer for directions to Charlie & Lola.

"Through the shop then up to the second floor"

Well that set some alarm bells ringing. Through the shop? Are they crazy? A shop papered, bedecked and stacked with Charlie & Lola goodies was only going to cause trouble. Now if this was the Disney Corporation (may it burn in the fiery pits of hell) it would be fair enough, since dancing with the devil has known consequences, but a civic gallery surely has a duty to protect me from this kind of thing.

No matter, I had a plan.

"Verity, I have a surprise for you, but you have to close your eyes first"

"Okay"

"We are going to walk through a door and then another door. Hold my hand so we don't bump into anything, and keep your eyes shut"

"My eyes are shut"

"No peeking"

"I'm not peeking"

"Okay you can open them now"

"What is it?"

"It's, er, a lift and a staircase"

"Oh"

"But it's a glass lift, it's very exciting"

"Is that the surprise?"

"Yep"

"Oh"

Welcome to my walkthrough for Anode & Cathode's The Office. The game itself is here.

The Office is the first of a four part series and the rest of the games, plus a bunch of similar games, can be found at http://flanerie.org/games

If you find this walkthrough useful, please click on a couple of my ads by way of thanks. Thanks.

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After clicking through a few screens of introductory text, you are in a very dark room with a flickering 'Anode et Cathode' sign, and precious little else. Far left is a switch - click it to throw some light on the matter.

That;s better. You can see some book shelves, and it is worth a quick exploration of the room. It is L-shaped. To the left is a desk and computer, to the right is a big TV screen.

This is the extent of your universe - all you have to do it get out.

Back to the bookcases - on the top shelf of the right bookcase, a pink book is clickable and will jump into your inventory. The lower shelves of both bookcases are clickable to reveal books that have writing inside - a name and a number. There are four of these, red 1804, blue 1643, yellow 336, turquise 800.

Back to the pink book in your inventory - hover your mouse over it and its description appears - a weighting book. Click on it and a panel appears with a red button. The text says 'great figures of history disappear and show you the way.'

At the top of the panel are five numbers. Press the one that matches one of the book numbers you found. If you press correctly, another row of five numbers will appears. Repeat to enter all four numbers - 336, 800, 1643, 1804.

The red button turns green, click it and the bookcases part to reveal a hidden room.

Inside is a purple block, which you should add to your inventory.

Note that the pink book now has a red line on it - you won't need it again.

Now, head left to the desk area.

Click on the cabinet on the wall to find a purple cable. Click on the corner of the purple rug to find a blue key. Click on the red rug to find a yellow key. Click on the brown box to find a red cable. Under the purple and yellow round table is a gold CD-rom.

Now zoom in on the desk and use the yellow key to open the right side drawer (click on the key then on the drawer) to find a love letter, which says 'art can rise'. Use the blue key to find a strange compact disk.

Zoom out then in on the computer monitor. Plug the red and purple cables into the computer. The computer is now on and the CD drawer on the front of the monitor will open. Insert the CD-rom.

A puzzle will appear on the screen. The answer is 30. Click 30 and a corridor to the elevator is revealed. The elevator doesn't work though, so just pick up the purple block.

The square hole in the floor holds four elements. You now have two of them.

When you leave the desk there will be a letter on the floor. It says 'the light is in the books'

Head over to the right side of the room and search for stuff.

On the table is a projected for the big screen. Zoom in on it and put the strange CD into it. It will turn on and the screen will reveal a hidden door, but you can't move the screen.

Zoom out and look in the arm of the right hand red chair. You will find a crank. Zoom back into the projector and use the crank on the yellow square bottom right of the screen. This will raise the screen to reveal a ruby cube. That's the third element.

Remember, art can rise, so click on the top of the picture on the wall. It will rise to reveal the final purple block.

Now go to the hole in the floor and you will be able to place the four purple blocks there by dragging and dropping. This reveals a ladder going down.

Head down the ladder and you have completed the game.

Next in the series is The House, which you can find at http://flanerie.org/games

Remember to click a couple of my ads if you found this walkthrough useful. Thanks.

[found in the Sunday Times Style magazine]

Serves 2 as a main with couscous, or 4 as a starter

For the salsa verde:
2 small preserved lemons
2 large handfuls of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
1 big clove of garlic, crushed
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp capers, squeezed, finely chopped
1 tbsp wine vinegar (pref white, but red is okay)
150ml extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt and cracked pepper

For the fish:
8-12 fresh sardines, depending on size, scaled and gutted
olive oil
sea salt and cracked pepper
squeeze of lemon

Method:
- Quarter the lemons and discard the pips. Finely chop the peel and flesh.
- Add the parsley, mint, garlic, shallot and capers and mix thoroughly
- Add the vinegar the gradually mix in the oil to create a chunky green dressing
- If you chopped finely enough, just mixing with a fork will be fine, otherwise a couple of quick bursts with a hand blender, but don't let it get too smooth.
- Put the dressing to one side and prep the fish by rubbing with olive oil and seasoning inside and out
- Grill the sardines for 2-4 minutes each side until the skin crisps
- Add lemon to the dressing to taste
- Serve the sardines on a bed of rocket or other greenery and spoon the dressing over the top.

[found on stuff.co.nz and the thinnest piece of science I have read in a long time]

New research has gone to the dogs and discovered that canines pick up on the morals of their owners.

Research by University of Vienna scientists reveals that dogs "show a strong aversion to inequity", and can develop a sense of right and wrong.

The Austrian experts base their theories on the fact dogs will play with each other but this will rarely end in a full-on scrap, showing they abide by social rules.

LandSAR search dog handler Dave Krehic believed dogs like his five-year-old German shorthaired pointer Stig learned their sense of right and wrong from their owners.

"It's totally how someone brings it up. It's just like a child," said Krehic.

However, nature played a part as well as nurture. "They are a living thing and like humans there are some good ones and there are some bad ones. Some people say their dog would never be aggressive, but I think that could be brought out in most of them."

University of Otago associate professor of animal behaviour Ian Jamieson said it could be argued that dogs had developed a perceived "morality" as a way to order their society.

"Humans, like dogs, are very social and you need to have certain rules of engagement, otherwise there is complete chaos," said Jamieson. "People are interpreting morality in that sense when they look at dogs, but they could well be very basic fundamental behaviours that animals exhibit."

The president of the Selwyn District Kennel Society, Gary Doyle, said dogs could do more than just behave in a morally correct way they could expose some people by their actions. "We used a dog I had as a barometer of who we should sell pups to. If he went over to them and stayed by them, it was a sign he didn't trust them."