I'm Kinda Like MacGyver

Something quite peculiar happened to me a few days ago. 

I haven't used one of my Roberts Internet radios for a few months. The rechargeable batteries inside the product had obviously worn out, so I took out the radio's AC adapter to charge them back up.

You're meant to charge the batteries while the radio isn't playing. I forgot that rule, so - when I came to the radio the following morning to listen to my favourite American stations - it wouldn't turn on.

I then remembered the golden rule, so plugged the AC adapter in. I noticed that the indicator light, to show that the batteries were being charged up, wasn't coming on.

'Damn,' I thought. 'The batteries must have completely died.' 

I went on the hunt around the house for a charger for AA batteries and found one with four slots. The radio needs six AAs, so I had to do some replacing across the few hours I was attempting to bring life back into the batteries.

After a few hours, I tried again. The radio still wouldn't turn itself on from the batteries. Therefore, I made the decision to buy a new box of batteries in the hope that the problem was with them and not the onboard charger inside my radio.

I have a little over £30 left over in my Amazon account from Christmas and birthday gift vouchers. I opted for some Duracell AAs.

Within mere minutes of my order being placed, I received a notice on my computer informing me that the battery in my computer mouse was low.

Seeing the notice that I had 5% remaining lit up an idea.

I opened the radio up, took all six batteries out and placed them one-by-one into my mouse to check their power status on the mouse.

85% here, 85% there. 

Then there was a 0%. 

After checking all six batteries, I figured out that two of them had become duds. Those two were the reason why the radio wasn't working.

When I first purchased the batteries three years ago, I had two left over, so I added those to the radio and...

It worked!

Upon realising that everything was back to work order, I logged back into my Amazon account and cancelled the order for the new batteries. They can hold on for another day.

If Angus MacGyver were a real person, he would have been proud of me for turning a computer mouse into a makeshift battery tester.

National Lottery Christmas Countdown 2025

I'll be scratchin' at Christmas yet again.

That's because I have now bought the National Lottery's Christmas Countdown scratch card for 2025. 

The card is now available across the UK. It has been a bit of bummer trying to get one early, however. That's because one of the shops we tried had stock in the back, but they were unable to sell it to us because the store had to wait until a space was free in the dispenser.

We found a local post office had supplies in their display units a day later.

As you can see from the photograph, the 2025 card has found its way to my bedroom door where so many other tickets have been blue-tacked over years.

Unlike those ghosts of Christmases past, this ticket contains a £1,000,000 jackpot.

All kidding aside, there are five cards with £1,000,000 out there somewhere. None have been claimed as of the time of writing.

Just like tradition, I won't start playing this card until the day Advent kicks off - December 1st!

5-0-1

I am sitting at my PC, with my notepad next to me, getting my NFL picks ready for a few contests I play in and I couldn't help but be somewhat stunned at the fact that one of the angles I pointed out in Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual 2025 is on a relatively good run in the early part of this season.

The 'Played Monday' angle - in which you fade teams that played on Monday Night Football - has a win-loss record of 5-0-1 after two weeks of play. 

In week two, punters had to bet on Atlanta (+3.5) over Minnesota and take Detroit (-6.5) against Chicago. Both teams won and covered with respective scores of 22-6 and 52-21.

The second week of games had two played on Monday Night Football. Therefore, the four eligible teams for last week's fixtures were the New York Jets (+6.5) against the Buccaneers, Jacksonville (-1.5) against Houston, Washington (-3) over the Las Vegas Raiders and Denver (+3) opposing the Broncos.

Jacksonville won 17-10 against the Texans, Washington bested the Raiders with a score of 41-24 and, even though they lost 27-29 against Tampa Bay, the Jets covered the +6.5 spread.

The only blemish, if you can call it that, to the record is the push which came from Denver's 20-23 loss to the Chargers.

Other angles focused on in the annual are currently 4-4 and 2-2 so far in 2025. 

Buy a Copy of Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual 2025

2025 Booker Prize Shortlist Revealed

The six titles vying to win this year's 2025 Booker Prize have been revealed.

As you can see, I've placed all six images of the covers together. You know what that means, don't you?

Yep - I've printed them out in order to draw each one out in order do another Booker Prize Marathon.

I will cut them out and pick the first book later today.

And as per tradition, I have avoided the betting markets and will continue doing so until all books have been read.

You can read previous marathons by following the links below:

2024

2023

2022

2021

Dickie Bird Passes Away

I haven't got any time for cricket. And that's on me. However, when I found out - this afternoon - that Dickie Bird had passed away, it brought back some childhood memories.

It started when my grandmother and I were sat in the living room. I was very young at the time. The cricket must have been on because someone mentioned 'Dickie Bird'. 

Upon hearing the name, I assumed Bird was a cartoon character (or something!) so I asked my nan if I could see him. She found it funny and, for the few years she was alive after that - whenever he'd be on TV - she'd point 'there's Dickie Bird' to me.

And that's it. A random memory of my nan thanks to the name of a famous umpire.

I see he was ninety-two years old. Good innings.

I Try The NFL-Inspired McCoy's Crisps

On August 28th, I published a post shortly after finding out that KP Snacks had brought out a couple of new flavours of The Real McCoy's ridged crisps to coincide with the new NFL season.

The new varieties come in packets bearing the NFL shield. One is 'Blazin' Buffalo Chicken Wings' flavour while the other has a 'Secret Burger Sauce' taste.

I've finally been able to find packets of these crisps available in shops (Iceland and Asda for example). So, here are my initial notes after opening the respective bags...

Blazin' Buffalo Chicken Wings

They're 'blazin' alright. I didn't really like them because I'm not keen on spicy things. These were spicy. The best chicken flavour McCoy's remain a variety that came out well over ten years ago (maybe 15!). They had a 'triple cooked' gimmick. I felt quite gutted when I noticed they were discontinued. 

Secret Burger Sauce

These tasted exactly as I expected. They had that 'McDonald's Big Mac Sauce' taste to it that I have experienced with other potato snacks with a burger theme. These were definitely the best of the two flavours. Although that's absolutely my opinion. I could see the Buffalo chicken wings flavour being favoured more by those who enjoy a kick.

Final Verdict

No surprise - I preferred the burger sauce taste over the spicier Buffalo chicken wings flavour. 

They missed a perfect opportunity to have a Buffalo Bills helmet on the packet for the chicken wings rather than a generic one. I suppose that would have involved paying more licensing, so I understand. Still - it would have been cool. 

WWE Wrestlepalooza: Does It Seem Weird To You, Or Is It Just Me?

As a long-time pro wrestling fan, I found it quite weird - yesterday morning - to write the following words next to each other:

WWE Wrestlepalooza.

No, it wasn't because 'Wrestlepalooza' is a peculiar looking name for a wrestling event. It's because Wrestlepalooza is a name associated with Extreme Championship Wrestling.

ECW held a handful of Wrestlepalooza shows during its heyday. The first one took place in August of '95. The final one occurred in 2000 - just a year before ECW's demise. Or rather, the ECW as we knew it.

The ECW brand, and some of its licenses, were picked up by WWE (then WWF) in 2001. The company obviously has the rights to use Wrestlepalooza for its own promotion now.

So, yes, it does feel peculiar having 'WWE Wrestlepalooza' rather than ECW Wrestlepalooza. But, then again, WWE Great American Bash and NXT Halloween Havoc have been done and I always associate those shows with a non-WWF/E company but kind of accepted the change. Eventually.

Tonight's event, the first of a deal between WWE and ESPN, will kick of just as this post goes live.