And The Award For Worst...

Awards ceremonies can be pretty unedifying spectacles, full of smug winners
and red-faced, simmering losers teetering between graciousness and homicide. 

Rewarding success is lazy, though - much preferable are those awards which
reward failure and make the rest of us feel a little better about ourselves.

Fortunately, there seem to be an increasing number of these covering various
in-disciplines, some more famous than others.  Worthy of note (here, anyway)
are:

• IgNobel Prize for spurious science
• www.improbable.com/ig/

• Razzies ("Golden Raspberries") for Hollywood's worst movies & movie performances
• www.razzies.com

• Darwin Awards for spectacularly stupid ways of killing yourself
• www.darwinawards.com

• Diagram Awards for odd book titles
• http://www.thebookseller.com/category/tags/diagram-prize

• Stella Awards  for the more creative law suits
• www.stellaawards.com

• Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for published fiction's worst published line, especially opening sentences
• www.bulwer-lytton.com

• Golden Bull  for plain English offences
• http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/awards/golden-bull-awards.html

• Carbuncle Awards  for architecture
• www.urbanrealm.com/carbuncles

• Titanic Awards for the travel industry
• www.titanicawards.com

• Tracy Awards for advertising
• www.thetracyawards.com

Honourable mentions go to:

• Rosemary Awards  named after Nixon's secretary who memorably erased 18 crucial minutes of the watergate tapes, and recognising  U.S.-only open government failures
•  http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20100312/index.htm 

• Golden Kela Awards Bollywood's Razzies
• www.goldenkela.com

• Lazzies the Latino Razzies
• http://www.latina.com/entertainment/movies/third-annual-lazzie-awards

Neighbours

Most of us who live in an urban environment live very close to each other.  This brings not only benefits but also responsibilities; these responsibilities are most keenly tested in good weather during the summer months and, like now, a warm spring.

When it's nice, we open our windows to let fresh air in to our houses and also enjoy being outside on our patios or in our gardens.  These are times to remember those others nearby and be good neighbours.

It can be thoroughly demoralising to be assaulted with the noise of a radio or CD player that's either played loudly from indoors or put outside.  There's often nowhere to escape, no room in your own house where you can be free from the noise if you want to, and shutting the windows is a last resort when it will make your own environment more hot and uncomfortable.

Other factors, like barbecue fumes and smoke, or late-night loud chat and music from a party, can also make for a miserable time if you're nearby.  The not-wanting-to-make-a-fuss gene kicks in or, worse, the fear of creating bad feeling for the future.

So, if you can hear an ordinary conversation next door then the same applies in reverse.  Please bear this in mind and we'll all enjoy the sunnier times.

Nike Mettle DIY battery change

Nike's range of Mettle watches are getting rare now, so if you find a good one then it's worth taking care of.  If you'd rather not send it away for its battery change then you can tackle it yourself with a little care.  It's not a complicated process but you can damage some important springs and sprung contacts which will impair the future functioning of the watch (e.g. the alarm).

Anyhow, here's the procedure.  I'm using an Anvil, but the process applies to other models in the range.

Remove the four small cross-headed screws from the corners of the back plate

 Lift the back plate up and away - don't slide it sideways because this may damage the springs and contacts underneath.  If, like mine, there's a white plastic sticker over the battery then carefully peel it off

Now that the battery is exposed, remove the even smaller cross-headed screw from the retaining plate

Now you can remove the old cell

Install a fresh 3v CR2032, positive (+) side up, preferably not touching it with your fingers
Re-fit the retaining plate

Check that the rubber seal around the module bay is still intact and, if necessary, apply a tiny amount of silicone oil to retain water-resistance

Check the display, the light and, for completeness, the alarm tone, then re-fit the back plate.  Ensure the screws are in tightly but not over-tightly.  That's it, you're done!