False memory; Nutrimashers; Fitbit

Recently identified an episode of not exactly false memory but of memory possibly playing tricks. I have a childhood memory of watching a sci fi series called The Fantastic Journey – definitely this one as I remember the boy who played the child Scott, and had vague memories of it involving a collection of people stranded on an island. Indeed it does, having watched an episode recently – their boat sails into a glowing green cloud somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle, and they come round on an island where all sorts of space-time continuum shit is going on.

I had been convinced that I’d watched the programme when we lived in South Korea in the 1970s, and that it was one of the only English language programmes other than Sesame Street that I remembered. However, everything I can find about this series online indicates that it was first broadcast in 1977, and we returned from Korea in 1976. So presumably I can’t have watched it there. So where did I watch it? It seems unlikely that a US TV show that was cancelled after only 10 episodes would ever have been aired in the UK, but I suppose it’s possible.

What the devil is that?

There are a few clips from the show on YouTube, including the pilot episode. And I obtained for about a tenner a ‘DVD’ version from Vintage Television, though the picture quality is pretty poor – I assume someone must have videotaped it from the television.

This New Yorker article on memory is interesting, although I can’t categorise my questionably accurate memory of The Fantastic Journey as a particularly emotionally significant event.  Another article here.

This time's offering from the OU Noticeboard below. During even a cursory view of early morning TV currently one is besieged by ads for gadgets that juice whole fruits (and vegetables and seeds), mainly the NutriBullet, but also I’m sure I’ve seen a NutriNinja. One produces ‘nutriblasts’ and the other ‘nutrishots’, but I forget which way round. They emphatically DON’T produce juice, apparently.

Mildly irritated at Google’s first acquiring, then mothballing the excellent Picasa Web Albums in favour of their Google Photos service.  Have looked briefly at Google Photos – whither all my albums from PWA got migrated – but it lacks provision to add captions or to arrange albums in the order you want – when I last looked my albums were appearing in a seemingly random order. Haven't yet made up my mind whether to persevere with it or go to the faff of transferring my pictures somewhere else.

Still wearing and enjoying the Fitbit Charge HR I purchased a few months ago, though some of Fitbit’s updates are a tad bizarre, e.g. this one. Bought mine after Steve at work showed me his plus his 'dashboard' of various stats - Steve has the larger 'Surge', which looks like a proper watch and also has GPS, but that was a bit chunky (as well as expensive) for my taste. I did, in a fit of extravagance though, also buy the 'Aria' scales, that upload your weight and body fat percentage to your Fitbit dashboard via Bluetooth¹. I blame the OU module 'My digital life' I did last year, which got me interested in all this wearable computing stuff.

Stayed up in Milton Keynes this weekend, partly because it’s getting near the sharp end of the HESA return and I’m conscious of not being as far on as I ought to be. Ended up going into the office for four hours this morning as couldn’t manage to access my remote desktop. Discovered Matt there, also working on HESA tasks, and also Harvey and Steve at various points during the morning. Do some people regularly go to the office on a Sunday? This afternoon, went for a pleasant walk along Haversham Road and then into Ouse Valley Park and along the path under the viaduct. Discovered a bit further along that a new network of paths seems to have been created over what I think was previously a quarry site, as well as some brand new-looking bird hides. Strolled through part of this and then up to come out by Manor Farm - bravely, walked through a field where cows were milling around over the footpath. Ruth enjoys mingling with cows but I prefer to give them a wider berth, but they appeared placid and I wasn't up for the substantial detour that would have been involved otherwise.

Have set myself a walking challenge on the back of a magazine article I read recently on the ‘Give It 100’ challenge. Don't intend uploading video but intend to use Instagram to publish daily photos, but we'll see how this goes.


¹  This does mean you can avoid looking at your weight at the moment you actually weigh yourself and look at it later when you can face it, perhaps over tea and a biscuit.