Malarkey of the Monkey

2011-07-21T03:41:00.000-07:00

Saw this trailer the other day for Contagion, which looks modestly good (if for nothing other than Fishburne's "the birds are doing that for us" line), although as the YouTube comments testify: where are the zombies?

However, no matter what, surely this was always going to be nothing more than a poor man's Outbreak...

Zooming in

2011-07-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

On Friday I got my first telephoto lens (SAL75300) for my SLR (Sony Alpha 500). For those interested, I will put up a full review on a review site after a bit more use. Generally, I'm very pleased with it. Here I will just share a link to some of the photos I managed to take over my first weekend with the lens.

Initial impressions on Google+

2011-07-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the generous tech pioneer Flo, I've had a few days on the all new Google+. I'm not going to give any definitive verdict as Flo is my only Google+ co-user at the moment, and its hardly fair to judge a social network when you have one friend on it. Nevertheless, here's my early musings.

The name
The first comment I want to make on Google+ is that, personally, I love the name. Its very neat, and the tidy little plus symbol after the uber-familiar Google branded logo is visually arresting. It works equally well with just Google's trademark lower-case "g" for the Android application favicon.

A couple of other smart things in relation to the name. Google+ is perhaps the grandest title the company can give to one of the products. It is the closest name to Google's prime product, and definition of success, search. While there has never been any substantive evidence towards it, I think many assumed the suffix 'plus' would be reserved to a paid tiered service, much like that offered by Microsoft for Hotmail. The foundation of Google's business model is free access for the mass user, so a paid 'plus' service was never really on the cards. While the unveiling Google+ by no means prohibits the creation of a Google mass user paid service, the bestowing of + to Google's social effort indicates how serious it is about this project.

I also feel that proximity to plain old 'Google' makes the product more appealing to the type of user that is very much at home with Google search but never came to terms with the longer suffix products (Wave, Buzz, Reader). (But see below).

Interface & design

Top notch. The layout and operation of the dashboard is exceptionally good. It pulls off technical and design sophistication, and appears next generation when held up to the clunky and clutter Facebook design (and let's make no mistake, Google+ is a direct rival to Facebook).

I've come across a few technical issues (particularly in relation to the profile pictures of other users), but these have not been serious. I'm sure they're nothing more than teething issues to be ironed out.

Circles, sparks, streams and huddles

I have two qualms with Google+'s actual content. Firstly, it does very little extra than Facebook. For me that's not an issue, because what it does it does in ways which light-years superior to Facebook. However, for the 'average'/'normal' user, this means there's little reason to invest time and effort into Google+. For most Facebook has although details in place and friends connected. There's no way to import FB data (nor should there be in my opinion) and if you want to post something you need choose between them or post twice. Like I say, the operation of Google+ is so much better than Facebook, in truth I think of Google+ as what Facebook should be, or what Facebook would be if it appeared fully formed today rather than grew organically. However, without a killer app to hook people in, Google may struggle to tempt users over to the Google side.

Secondly, as funky and cool as the names are, they're hardly crystal clear as to their meaning. I do like that they've split Google+ into its core components and given each a fresh and dynamic name. But the names will lead to confusion, and may put people off. If we think of them one by one...

Circles (aka Groups in Facebook). Groups is something I've been trying to get into on FB, and are absolutely necessary given that everyone from your best mates, to distant relatives, to your boss, to your old high school teachers friend you on FB these days. But the FB system is intuitive, and feels like a forced and unloved additions to the service. Google a quite right to put Circles at the forefront of Google+, and while the name makes perfect sense, its less transparent than Groups.

Sparks well I suppose this is the biggest difference from FB. The closest would be Friend suggestions. And immediately the issue is apparent. Suggestions makes perfect sense, things or people you might like based on your preferences. Again, sparks makes sense and is exciting, but in truth could mean anything.

Stream (aka Wall in Facebook). Wall makes perfect sense, a flat canvas in which posts about or related to you are displayed. I don't have much gripe with Stream, but its a very much over-used words these days (everything is streamed from this to that). And its over utilisation could be its downfall.

Huddle (aka Group chat or Messages in Facebook). A bit American-ised for my liking. Its OK, but as before it could mean anything.

I could carry this on. +1 versus Like, +1 visually more arresting and precise, Like does exactly what it says on the button. Even Google+, could confuse: is it a search engine or what? (one other than myself might ask).

In summary...
I think Google+ is a great product, but then I loved Wave.

Its a) not Facebook and b) vastly superior to Facebook. And for those reasons alone I love it. That said, the dominance of Facebook and the slightly raised barrier to entry due to the jazzy jargon might put off the masses. And if there isn't a momentum behind sign-ups it'll end up as a dead duck.

Go on, come over a play on Google+, you know you want to...

Old Skool, as they might say

2011-06-28T05:15:00.000-07:00

I had a craving from some music from my teenage years, and decided to share these gems. Here's three music videos, which were very much of their time. In no particular order.

Top Ten Villains

2011-06-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

As a post-PhD indulgence I've compiled a list of top 10 screen villains. Of course this is very much my own opinion. But I will point out that by villain I don't just mean bad guy. No, a true villain is far more than a meager thug. A villain is of course unashamedly evil, but to deserve the title he or she must be merciless, calculating, manipulative and truly ruthless. Wearing black seems to help too. So, starting from number 10 is my list of film and television villains:

10.The Cigarette-Smoking Man

AKA Cancer Man from The X-Files portrayed by William Davis.

Perhaps not the most dramatic start, but the C-Man is a true villain. Dark, calculating, and never gets his hands dirty. Back in the day when the X-Files was new, he was one of the more sinister characters on television. Unfortunately, like much of the population I imagine, I never lasted to the end of the X-Files, so I've no idea if he ever redeemed himself.

9. Annie Wilkes

from Misery portrayed by Kathy Bates.

Basically if you haven't read Stephen King's Misery, or seen the 1990 film adaptation, you haven't seen how evil and sadistic a seemingly nice character can get. Some seriously nasty moments with Wilkes.

8. Hans Gruber

from Die Hard portrayed by Alan Rickman.

An all time classic action movie with Rickman playing a perfectly straight-down-the-line villain. Everything you could want: cold, calculating, merciless, scheming once stripped of his henchmen, and ultimately unremorsed.

7. Hal 9000

from 2001: A Space Odyssey portrayed by Douglas Rain.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave". Villains don't get any more calculating or creepy than HAL, Heuristically programmed ALgorithimic computer, 9000. You could argue that HAL isn't a true villain because it was just following its programming, but he was just too sinister for that to fly with me.

6. Khan Nooien Singh

from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan portrayed by Ricardo Montalban.

And you thought the Kobayashi Maru was bad. A unrelenting lust for vengeance and penchant for the thematics, Khan was one of the greatest villains of Star Trek. Yet his clear physical strength does not hinder his cruel, manipulative side. Like all the best villains, he was defeated by heroic arch-nemesis in a even battle of wills.

5. Agent Smith

from The Matrix portrayed by Hugo Weaving.

Now we get into the serious contenders. Smith is undoubtedly a great character, but he is portrayed impeccably by Hugo Weaving. It's hard to imagine any one else could have played him. Tormented by his own hatred of the human race and incomprehension of being defeated send Smith on his all-encompassing destructive reign.

4. Sauron

from The Lord of the Rings portrayed by Sala Barker.

The Dark Lord Sauron, of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy et al, sits behind the scenes as his hordes lead a campaign of terror. Not afraid to get his hands dirty, although that often leads to his downfalls, he doesn't let a little thing like death stop him.

3. The Joker

from The Dark Knight portrayed by Heath Ledger.

This isn't intended as a list of comic book villains, of which I'm woefully under-informed, and so I will restrict this discussion to the late Heath Ledger's performance. What a twisted son-of-a-bitch. He's pretty much up there. Perhaps a little more manic than I like to imagine villains, but that merely adds to his ability to inflict hurt. We may not see a comic book character interpreted with such purity for a long time.

2.Lord Voldemort

AKA Tom Riddle from Harry Potter portrayed by Ralph Fiennes.

I imagine a few may not agree with this choice, let me explain. If you're in the "kid's" book/film camp, let me stop you right there. While the books were primarily aimed at children/teenagers this doesn't mean Rowling pulls her punches. Dark, brutal, political, the Harry Potter books deal with some seriously adult themes. I, myself, once branded them as for kids, but having read through them all I hang my head in shame for those comments.

Now, Voldemort really is one of the true villains of the screen. He ticks all the boxes, including wearing black. Not only is he completely without mercy or remorse, but he holds his co-conspirators in as much contempt, if not more, than his enemies. His downfall, the product of his own sense of superiority, further reinforces his place at number two.

1.Darth Vadar

AKA Anikin Skywalker from Star Wars portrayed by various.

When we're talking screen villains how can you not think Vadar. In every way a villain. His physical might matched only by his mental prowess. A devastating foe equally in saber-to-saber combat and as a commander of the Imperial fleet. Intertwined with the heroes of the story, yet willing to kill and maim without hesitation. He's everything you expect, the true epitome of a villain, and carrying more baggage than a Heathrow lost baggage department.

Of course, Vadar turns good in the end. Pretty feeble behaviour from our number one villain. So a nod has to go to the unrelenting Emperor Palpatine.

Making Hay 2011 Day 4

2011-06-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

My fourth and final day at the Hay festival was mainly a Marcus Brigstocke day. First saw the Early Edition, in which Marcus and three other comedians dissected the newspapers of the day, and the Daily Mail (their joke not mine). Some fun interaction with the crowd, but I'm not sure they had the whole crowd with them. Much was made that it is now the Telegraph Hay festival (as opposed to previously being the Guardian Hay festival). The Guardian-writing, climate change-wary Brigstocke doesn't exactly see eye-to-eye with the Torygraph. And his comments were only a little diluted by sponsor pressure.

I then had a few hours free, which I spent roaming around the shops of Hay-on-Wye. Hay's famous for its bookshops, and my favourite by far is the Hay Cinema Bookshop. A old cinema converted to a giant bookshop, with row after row of shelves on every topic you can imagine. Its basically like a excellent library, but with all the books for sale.

My final show of Hay festival was Brigstocke's God Collar. A really fascinating insight to someone who can see the potential benefits of religion, but can't bring himself to believe in all the nonsense. In a period of militant atheism, it was quite refreshing to have a less aggressive take on the subject. We were very impressed with his talk, and so decided to pick up his book, and get it signed in the process. We had a nice chat with him, and took his advice on christenings for atheists.


With Marcus and his mighty facial hair.

God Collar signed.

Making Hay 2011 Day 3

2011-06-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

Day 3, for me, at the Hay festival was a bit of a mixed bagged, It started off with Alex Voorhoeve discussing our moral intuitions. If I'm honest I didn't have high hopes for this talk. And these expectations weren't improved when a young whipper snapper of a lad (say around thirty) strutted on stage (he probably didn't strut). But, as Hay should have taught me, never judge a book by his cover. I couldn't have been more wrong, Voorhoeve's talk was one of the most thought-provoking and challenging exchange I've been to at the festival. He had a convincing way of making you challenge your intuitions in order to develop his argument. A really enjoyable session, I hope his book is as exciting.

The following talk was by one John Goodall discussing castles. Much less inspiring. Goodall was an uncomfortable speaker who insisted on chuckling and whimpering at his own meager jokes, lost on the audience at large. The content was tolerable, largely consisting of pretty photographs of castle ruins, but his broader positions and theories on how we should relate to castle remains were, to be brutally honest, feeble. His claims on Medieval trends and the unique insight remaining castles offer were simply not convincing. While, I don't want to seem harsh, the talk wasn't exactly disastrous, I just didn't feel much was gained by its attendance.

I rounded the day off with a advanced screening of Anonymous with a discussion Roland Emmerich the direct of this film, as well as blockbuster hits such as Independence Day and 2012. The film is a possibly-true tale of the Earl of Oxford, portrayed as the true author of the works of William Shakespeare, and how these works became attributed to Shakespeare, a inept actor incapable of writing. The talk and extended clips were interesting, but, obviously given the controversial subject, the questions were the real meat. Unfortunately, again unsurprising given the Hay crowd, the questions focused on the merits of of the 'Oxfordian-argument' verses the 'Shakespeareian-argument'. Yet, Emmerich had admitted early in the interview that the movie's premise was not the same as his, albeit lay, appraisal of the scant evidence (he is most convinced by a multiple author theory rather than the Earl of Oxford sole author theory). The more interesting evidence was how he felt directing a film that presented a tenuous-at-best interpretation of events. This was never directly addressed, but Emmerich described himself multiple times as a 'story-teller' and conceded that the Oxfordian-theory presented a more enthralling plot than Shakespeare having simply wrote the plays. Consequently, I feel he sees himself as an entertainer rather than an educator, and this addresses the potential of historical inaccuracies. I would like to have had opportunity to delve into the topic more thoroughly, but I guess I need to go to a film festival rather than a literary festival for those answers.

Making Hay 2011 Day 2

2011-06-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

Started off the morning with Simon Garfield talking about his book Just My Type. Of course a talk on fonts is always a geeky thing to go to, but it had been bumped up two venues to accommodate the larger than expected crowd... so I wasn't alone. Garfield was hardly the most fluent talker, but it was a fun jaunt through his book. The questions were the most interesting part, as is often the case at Hay.

Simon Garfield discusses the hatred of some for Comic Sans.

A smaller crowd attended the Ted Nield talk on why we should learn to love meteors. It turned out we should love meteors, but only in the long run. Really nicely concentrated talk on a specific topic. I learned a lot.

Rounded the day off with Peter Atkins and On Being. This was a truly magnificent talk discussing why science is sometimes [wrongly] described as 'a David seeking a Goliath with a limp'; and how before the Big Bang there was nothing and after the Big Bang there is still nothing but a much more interesting nothing; and that truth is not the product of the popular vote. I couldn't possibly give the full talk justice with my meagre literary skills. But if the book is as good as the talk was, which I am confident it will be, I'd strongly encourage that you pick it up.

Making Hay 2011 Day 1

2011-06-02T09:03:00.001-07:00

This afternoon listened to Michael Brooks discuss scientific anomalies. A fluent and fun talk, but a bit too generalistic for me. Covered a few too many things in too little detail. Pleasurable nevertheless.

Early evening spent with Frank Close discussing neutrinos. Saw Close talking about antimatter in 2009. He's seriously senior particle,physicist, so knows the crack, but presented in a very approachable way. So high hopes for Neutrino. The talk didn't disappoint. However its clear there's much less known than unknown when it comes to neutrinos. I was also surprised when Dara O'Briean asked a question about dark energy and neutrinos from 2 rows behind and about six seats to the left.

We got to see Dara properly and few hours later. He was on top form. A hilarious and intelligent show. Slightly marred by a total lack of crowd control from the Hay festival stewards (middle class scrum was dangerous, there was houmous and savage stares everywhere), but as we laughed our way through the hour and a half, its safe to Dara more than made up for it. And he did mention neutrinos.

Thesis: Complete

2011-05-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

So the news is that I've submitted my thesis for my PhD. This is just the first submission, there's still the viva voce and any corrections. Hopefully there won't be any major problems though. Here are a few details to help explain what the thesis was about...

The word occurrences counts were made using a macro for MS Word.

A pretty view

2011-05-30T13:39:00.001-07:00

Rainbows are always nice to see. Especially set in such a fine English vista. Shame the photo is only from a camera phone, ah well.

i

2010-10-27T04:30:00.001-07:00

The i is the UK’s first new national daily newspaper in a fair few decades (incidentally, I’m not really convinced by the name, don’t get me wrong, I can see where they were going, its like The Independent but smaller and more concise, so its named “i” the first letter of the Independent in lowercase and italics… maybe I’ll find it grows on me). So I thought I’d have a gander at it and picked up a copy.
I got it in Hillsborough. The shop I went to only had the one copy, and the newsagent look bemused when I asked for – as if she’d never seen it before, she only knew the price because of the big 20p logo on the front page. In honesty, I’m a little disappointed that a newsagent wouldn’t know about a new national daily. Although in fairness, I don’t reckon the Independent, never mind the i, has a massive readership in Hillsborough. Still a bit disappointing though. Maybe the newsagent only recognises papers once they are major sellers – so we’ll have to see if the i takes off.

P.S. I was searching for a website to link the i to. When I searched google for “the i paper” the third result was How do I Paper Train a Dog? – clearly the i hasn’t made it on the web yet. The i does have a twitter feed though.

A very different kind of going round in circles

2010-10-24T01:59:00.000-07:00

Watching the Formula 1 Korean Grand Prix this morning. I was up quite early to watch it (at 7am, but the race was delayed 10 minutes, then postponed for about 40 minutes - which was disappointing). During the multiple safety car deployments (something like three or four times), in which not a lot was happening, I decided to look up some old F1 seasons (OK, I was bored, and I'm a little sad). Ended up looking at the 1982 season. During which two drivers were killed, and one was critical injured and was never able to race again! It's unbelievable really how much the sport has changed. Between 1954 and 1994 24 drivers were killed during races or qualification. That's 0.6 deaths per year... not great odds if you're one driver in twenty. Yet since 1994, there's not been a single fatality (although there has been serious injuries, e.g. Massa 2009). Take today's Grand Prix, 9 cars crashed out, yet no driver was evenly remotely hurt. The sport has made such phenomenal progress in terms of safety. The effort the teams have put into safety technology and design is really impressive.

The crash in which Paletti Riccardo died was so incredibly inconspicuous (video link*) - crashes a hundred times worse than this happen routinely in F1 today.
* Although the video isn't graphic, it is not recommended viewing for people likely to be upset.

Alternatively, watch the [silent] 1982 season highlights below, or follow the link (at the very bottom of this post) to watch highlights of 1982 F1 GPs on the BBC website.

--- BBC's (UK only) F1 British GP highlights ---
--- BBC's (UK only) F1 German GP highlights ---
--- BBC's (UK only) F1 Swiss GP highlights ---
--- BBC's (UK only) F1 US West GP highlights ---
There were three GPs in the USA during the 1982 F1 season

A knocking at the door

2010-10-23T02:52:00.001-07:00

A couple of those lot that witnessed that Jehovah fellow paid me a visit today. One old biddy, who did all the talking, and a rather scarred (maybe embarrassed?) looking girl in her twenties. I didn’t afford them much time, but I did so as politely as possible. I have no real trouble with JW’s – they may pester you about religion, but at least they talk rather than loudly preach (although of course they have made up their mind, so there’s no debate as such).

Anyway, as I was closing the door I was asked whether I think the world will ever get ‘back to like it was’, where we ‘feel safe’ and ‘don’t need to lock our doors’. My response was that I didn’t think the world had ever really been like that (the biddy’s response was that she could remember times that good, I then pointed out that you could leave your door unlocked because Nazi bombs had a tendency to bypass the door – making my point while inadvertently having a dig at her age). On retrospect, though, I think that it shows I’m a pessimist at heart. I mean I could have said that I don’t accept the premise, and that times are really not that bad. There may be trouble in the world, society might not be as great as we’d like it to be, but things have been worse and we shouldn’t grumble…. but I didn’t say any of that.

Oh well, who says Jehovah can’t teach you anything!

Defence cuts

2010-10-19T02:52:00.000-07:00

So we learn today that Britain's one-and-only aircraft carrier, the HMS Ark Royal, is to be decommissioned in 'weeks to months'. Her replacements are not due until 2019, and that's assuming that their built on time, which for defence contracts is a pretty gargantuan assumption. So Britain is to have no naval fighter launch capability for at least the next nine years. This seems a tad crazy to me. First off, surely its an argument against carriers themselves: if we can cope with none for nine years, why do we need two? Secondly, surely its a foolish thing to cut. Carriers have got to be one of the main uses of the Navy in modern warfare. We're not likely to be firing broadside against enemy frigates soon, but aircraft are crucial in all conflicts. Apparently the Ark Royal was to be cut in 2014 anyway, so maybe the Navy thinks an extended period sans-carrier would be ok. But since we don't know what the next major threat we have to face will be (a Russian invasion of the homeland or a Chinese invasion of Australia to Caribbean pirates or a African taliban to European uprising or Commonwealth coups... or the Argies again) cutting something we have only one of rather than some of what we have a lot of seems.... I don't know... short-sighted?

Women, eh?!

2010-10-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

People wonder why religion gets a bad name. Yet, in the year 2010, the Church of England (the friendly, easy-going branch of Christianity) is having massive rows and major splits over whether women should be able to do certain jobs that men are allowed to do. That's not whether men and women should be treated equally, they're not quite there yet, but whether women can do some of men's work. Give me strength...

Some related articles...

Daily Mail: Defecting bishop brands Church of England vicious and fascist in bitter row over plans to ordain women (includessome fantastic comments at the bottom of the page).

Guardian: Church of England parish sings battle hymns as it plans move to Rome.

BBC: Anglicans' regret over bishop's conversion to Rome.

Telegraph's Damian Thompson's blog: Earthquake in Anglo-Catholicism.

New photos and update

2010-10-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to say that I've added a few new photos to my Picasa web album of close-up photos. I've also added a slideshow of said photos to the right-hand sidebar of this blog. Most of the new photos were quick things I snapped whilst on one of Katie's cousin's farm. Farms are great for the little rusty, cobby-webby things left laying around.

Went out on Saturday to celebrate Katie passing an example. Got extremely drunk. It's been a long time since I got that hammered. Most of the night was spent in The Wick at Both Ends. Saturday was a total write-off (I always thought it was right-off, but apparently not). Dirty 'spoons breakfast, then several hours of Film 4's Star Trek weekend (with it's awesome trailers). Today a little more productive. But got to get some serious work done next week, can't be affording too many weekends off in the coming weeks. Tomorrow in the lab charring stuff, so that should be fun.

Parry Gripp

2010-10-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

I just came across the music of Parry Gripp, on a very slow and hungover Saturday afternoon, who's seems to like making shot songs to put to viral youtube videos. Here are some of my favorites of his, with the out-and-out winner baby monkey riding on a pig backwards...

Dogs vs. Cats

2010-10-10T03:37:00.000-07:00

This is very cool. Nice graphics. Dogs are better by the way.

Online Certification: "
Via: OnlineSchools.org"

A phallic run

2010-10-08T01:42:00.000-07:00

Just a quick share. This may possibly be the most phallic airport I've ever seen....

View Larger Map

Word cloud

2010-10-05T04:09:00.000-07:00

I just put in a grant application for after my PhD. I used Wordle to create these word clouds.....

Several moments

2010-10-03T15:49:00.000-07:00

So my chosen vice at the moment is Battlefield: Bad Company 2:

The bit at the end, after the logo screen, is the best.... I'm a friggin' awesome medic.

I do play it a tad too much. Especially when I'm meant to be writing a PhD and a grant proposal. But, hey, everyone's got to let off a little steam. But imagine my disappointment when I was awarded the "Superior Service Duty" insignia.

Yes, this is an award for playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 online for 1 day. That would be 24 of my hours spent on in-game action. Great.

I did, however, take some solace in the leaderboards, which, as of right now, has the longest playing gamer at 1764 hours and 05 minutes. That's 73-and-a-half full days. Or, 21 weeks playing the game 12 hours a day for 7 days a week. Or, and this is terrifying, playing the game 8 hours a day since its release on the 2nd March 2010!

Oh well, at least we're not worrying about the economic collapse of western civilisation, terrorists or the decrepitude of modern society while we play Battlefield.... peace.

First attempt at night time photography

2010-08-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a web album of my first attempt at night time photos. On the farm we get pretty starry skies (although no where near as un[light]polluted as I've seen in North Yorkshire - or, especially, central Turkey) and I now have a remote for my camera. So I gave it a go. Took some pretty tricky playing with camera's setting and a 15-30 second exposure seemed to work best.

I noticed on my two different (extended desktop) monitors that the pictures showed up completely differently in terms of brightness and contrast - so no idea how they'll appear to you.

Attempts at night time photography

Stats

2010-08-18T02:02:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying the new stats feature for blogger, in a kind of voyeuristic way. As well as, the 3 page views from Russia, I was most amused by the single page view from someone using Netscape - that's old school!

Birds!

2010-08-14T01:49:00.000-07:00

Hi, here's a slide show/link to an album of shots I took this summer while down on the farm. I was mainly just playing - trying different shutter speeds and flash sync. But managed to squeeze out a few half decent shots. Have a gander:

Go to the Picasa web album >>>

Home-grown

2010-08-14T01:21:00.000-07:00

He's a pic of my new home-grown potatoes. Actually the second batch out of the soil. They went in really late, so even now they're not particularly big - but not too bad for a first attempt?

Post Orifice

2010-08-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

You may, or may not, know that I've long called for the privatisation of the Post Office. As a general rule, I'm against the privatisation of services because it means the new private services have to do the same as the public service but also make a profit - therefore increasing the cost to the user.

However, when it comes to the Post Office - the long queues, rude staff and general inefficiency which are now the hallmark of a trip to the PO are, in my opinion, endemic of a lack of competition in the market. Why should the PO staff care how long the queue is? You have to use the PO. You can't go elsewhere for the services they provide. [Personally I think they should care, and the current state of the Post Offices is an abuse of the very generous monopoly they've been granted, but that's by-the-bye].

Anyhoo, to cut a long rant short. I was in a PO today... at lunch time. I normally use the Hillsborough branch with its queues of 20+ and lacklustre staff working at the pace of a decomposing snail. But today, instead, I was in the Broomhill branch. In which, there was no queues and the staff member there was very friendly and helpful. I observed to this PO employee how nice it was to walk in and be served so efficiently. Her response was great: she told me she also lives in Hillsborough, but refuses to use the Post Office there because the staff are so rude and slow, and that she doesnt' get why they're so bad their, she even said she's walked out a few times because the service in Hillsborough was so poor. Talk about from the horse mouth.

So you never know, with people like this nice lady, there may yet be hope for the Post Office without privatisation.

A completely unrelated and random picture I found on the web of our beloved Postman Pat.

Anglebeat

2010-08-11T03:33:00.000-07:00

I just thought I’d give some kudos to this little online flash game. It’s called AngleBeat and the idea is very simple: get the right coloured balls into to their holes via the adjustable arrows. It’s a very simple gameplay mechanic, but definitely fun.

I just really like the styling of this game the sound, the graphics and the controls. It’s very smart. The game itself is pretty easy if you have patience (especially if you can get most of the balls into a holding pattern), but is a fun way to while away half an hour [in between writing chapters].

Here’s the link to play it on Armor [sic] games.

FxCamera

2010-08-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took on my HTC using FxCamera free from the Android Market.

It was taken on 'Toy Camera' mode set to pinhole aperture. Quite cool. Of course all the modifications to the original picture are digital. It's a tidy little app, with lots of settings. Here's the Flickr group FxCamera shots.

F1 GB GP 2010

2010-08-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hi all, just a quick photo-based update. I went to the British Formula 1 GP in July, and just wanted to show off a few pics. Trying out the Picasa slideshow feature, seems to work well and quicker than uploading in Blogger. The Grand Prix was a great couple of days, a good race (although not as dramatic as Germany or Hungary that followed).

Silverstone, maybe 'the home of British motorsport' but I've been to two F1 GPs there now, and I have to say that whilst its a great circuit, it's a crap overall event. There's just so little to do there, and so little choice in terms of merchandise and foodstuff. There's lots that goes on on and above the circuit (see the slideshow (or go to the web album)) for sure, but when all's said and done when there isn't a spectacle on there's naff all to do. Sure, money is being invested into Silverstone (their moving the pit straight for one) - but I get the distinct feeling this will benefit the corporate (inside the track) goers rather than the mass supporters (outside the track). I mean most of the routes around the track are just rough gravel with bits sharp metal poking up. And the car park situation is such a disgrace I won't even touch that subject.

Silverstone is great as a race circuit, I just wish they'd set aside a little more investment for the paying public. Kind of makes me think of Donnington had got the F1 would it have inspired them to make more of it? I'll guess we'll not know (at least for 16 years).

Plasma spoon

2010-07-29T07:58:00.001-07:00

The Enterprise-D saved from destruction by a Klingon Bird of Prey by a defective plasma spoon (you'll see at 0:54 in).

Brussels (again)

2010-07-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

I just had another trip to Belgium (I say another, I've been to Belgium four times now - starting to get the feeling I'm wasting my international travel), this time for a conference on animal dung at the Belgium Natural History museum. The accommodation was arranged by the conference and a reduced (but undisclosed) rate at a place 'near' the museum. Here's where the museum is:

View Larger Map

And this was the accommodation:

In case you're wondering, the large glass building immediately behind the accommodation is the European Union Parliament Building. Yes, the hostel (as I will now choose to call it), was located in Park Leopold and adjoined the European Parliament. It's here:

Zoom in or View Larger Map

Despite it's luxurious location, something was left to be desired regarding the internal decor (and yes my bedside lamp was a lamp shade tied to the wall):

Well I found it all amusing anyway. Saving graces included the DinoPhone and the dinosaur dressed as a bumble bee outside the museum:

Oh, and I still love Eurostar. 4 trains, 4 hours each way, Sheffield to Brussels - each journey on time to the minute.

Gordon Brown 2010 election gaffe

2010-04-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of coverage of Gordon Brown's so called gaffe when he called Gillian Duffy a bigot in Roachdale. Obviously the majority of coverage is derogatory towards Gordon, however I thought I'd put a bit of spin on it, which maybe makes Brown seem a little better.

Firstly, I like the idea that in Gordon's thinks anyone who says that someone is a problem simply because of where they were born is a bigot. This may be his idealised, Westminister-isolated view of Britain, but I like the strength of his conviction. Her comments weren't horribly bigoted (judge for yourself in the video below), but Gordon is disgusted by the idea that someone who votes Labour would have a problem with a foreigner. Surely that's got to be given a shred of respect.

Secondly. Gordon doesn't do these walk-abouts. He's no good at them. Partly because of the terrifying smile, but primarily because they are so uncontrolled. I reckon Gordon lives in a world where every aspect of his day, every aspect of his work, is finely tuned, planned and organised. In the car his biggest problem seemed to have been the fact he had been put with her, as if it was a organising mistake. This anal-retentiveness may not put him as one of the best politicians or publicans, but I reckon it's a decent trait to have as a Prime Minister.

Spin don't you love it.

The gaffe itself, caught on the microphone he kept on by mistake whilst leaving Roachdale:

The Gillian Duffy - Gordon Brown debate itself:

Gillian Duffy's fantastic response to squabbling BBC and Sky news reporters (favourite bits: when 'Lucy' rings her mobile, and "I'm not keen on Brown's speeches but I like Blair":

The media's coverage of the Gillian Duffy incident:

   BBC: Brown mortified
   Mail: Brown grovels
   Guardian: Brown torpedoes campaign
   Mirror: Brown 'sorry'
   Express: Brown's slur disgrace to memory of Princess Diana.... (only joking)

Sheep eating a tree

2010-04-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

Here's some photos and a video I took of sheep eating a tree. I reckon they loved the sappy goodness.

Shows a potential for alternative/leafy fodders may have had in the past.

Exeter room

2010-04-23T05:45:00.000-07:00

The view from my room in Exeter student accommodation room, here for a conference, it's a tough life being a student.

Plain silliness

2010-04-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

When I'm out-and-about I like to try capture of the more sillier things I see around on my camera phone (the most incredibly terrible LG Renoir). Here's some I've acquired over the last few months.

The first one might not seem terribly odd:

But if you look closely I reckon the smoking shelter (or if we're being technical 'Smoking Shelt') is located a distance which looks suspiciously less than 6 metres from the sign that says no smoking within 6 metres:

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I enjoyed this sign near Buckingham Palace.... it kind of seems to defeat its own purpose:

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This little treat was from a very pleasant Peak District walk today out from Ashford-in-the-Water:

Because we're naturally prepared for all those horizontal drops, but a vertical one can catch you off guard.

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The photo for this one is utterly pointless, but most have seen these little gems. The motorway roadworks signs stating: Beware Overhead Structure (when positioned in front of a bridge):

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The final one isn't a sign, but instead taken from the glorious exhibition of fact that is the Hereford Times. The piece shown discusses potential routes for the new Hereford 'relief' (read: ring) road:

You have to ask, is it really not possible to join the dots up and have a complete circular route?

Leader Debate 1

2010-04-16T01:58:00.000-07:00

So last was the UK’s first televised leaders’ debate in a general election. I thought it was surprisingly good, with some entertainment value and even verging on including passionate debate (although let’s not over sell it).

ITV’s coverage, though, was abysmal. It is a real shame that this ‘first’, a pretty significant event in British politics, was handled (read: fumbled) by such a trashy television station. The set couldn’t have looked any cheaper, and this Alastair Stewart as moderator was wholly inadequate for the task at hand. Stewart lost control on multiple occasions and had to resort to childish shouting often. Also Stewart’s little interjections about the other debates was just unnecessary and amateur (and seemingly inaccurate). If ITV had spent a fraction of what they spend on X Factor things could have been much better, although they don’t exactly have much in the way of political big guns.

Onto the leaders. Well the majority of pundits seem to think Nick Clegg won hands down, which I’m inclined to agree on (although I’m a Lib Dem supporter so I’m likely bias). Genuinely though, I thought Clegg was pleasant, confident and convincing. He made a few fluffs perhaps, but really shone out from the other two. Personally I think Clegg’s two strongest points were that 1) his ideas seemed a lot more practical and thought out that the others’, and 2) he was able to back up his ‘old politics’ spiel with facts that he’d already proposed many of the changes the other two were spouting and they’d blocked them in the past (of course this is a benefit of the second opposition). Gordon Brown also put in a good performance I thought. He’s little piece on the smiling posters was a poor decision though; it was probably meant to make him seem personable and light-hearted, but it just came across as irrelevant and petty. Brown actually played on his past as PM strongly (despite many seeing it as a weakness – if he wants to change things, then why hasn’t he already done it?). Oh yes, and Brown’s repetition of him and Clegg ‘agreeing’ on pretty much everything (a sentiment Clegg never shared) was damn annoying. David Cameron, on the other hand, seemed to have nothing going for him. Sure enough he comes last for substance; but also we all expecting him to outperform the others in style. Cameron looked extremely nervous at the beginning, as did Clegg and Brown, but Cameron seemed to remain ill-at-ease right the way through even though the others soon found their stride (in fairness, though, Cameron does have the most to lose from these debates). Cameron’s weakest tactic by far was to directly ask the others for specifics behind their policies, he did this several times and (especially when directed at Clegg) they were typically answered convincingly; however when the same specifics were asked for from Cameron he always, always dodged the question. I think a lot of people will come away from the debate thinking that Tory policies, as good as they sound, really don’t seemed to have much thought behind them on how they can be achieved. Cameron was also frustrating in that for several topics he seemed to have just one pre-cooked answer which he came back to again and again.

Clegg gets the gold for sure, Brown gets a silver, and Cameron a dirty bronze; although I reckon most would put Cameron second simply because there’s a lot of hate for the last decade of Labour (well at least since there’s been a global recession). I don’t think the TV debate will have much impact on voting, though. Although most agree Clegg performed the best, since now of them did anything outstandingly stupid or amazing people with a pre-existing opinion will simply play-up the qualities of their leader and those of the others’ down. At best the TV debate possibly inspired some voters on the fence to get more engaged with politics, and that’s not a bad feat.

BBC's highlights of the first leaders' debate

Guardian's highlights of the first leaders' debate

Telegraph's highlights (under topics) of the first leaders' debate

Dam Busters Remake

2010-04-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

I've been keeping a watchful eye on the development of the new Dam Busters remake which is due out in the next few years. The book is great and well worth a read; surprisingly very little of the book is given over to the famous attack on the dams: Operation Chastise (its called something different in the book... Operation Downwood I think). The 1955 film was good, but clearly limited by the special effects technology available. So the remake has potential to be great.

It turns out that Mel Gibson, of all people, held the rights to Brickhill's book. When Gibson released the rights, Sir David Frost, also of all people, bought them all. Frost then found out Peter Jackson was a massive Dam Busters fan, and so got him to oversee a remake. Jackson then asked Stephen Fry to write the screenplay for the remake. Its been an interesting development so far. I think shooting has started, but the film is still a long way off. I've got high hopes for a proper, quality WW2 movie which isn't bastardised by replacing all the the British personnel with American actors.

Further reading

Dam Busters Blog entry on the remake

Short Wikipedia entry on remake

IMDb entry

Early photo from one of the New Zealand sets

....and of course every film has to be in bloody 3D now

Quacking Hell

2010-04-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Been a fair old while since last posting. I've been very much snowed under with wedding planning. But I did have a day off it last week, and me and Katie went to the [in]famous Sheffield Duck race, here's a lovely video of it:

Will it all kick off in the Falklands (again)?

2010-03-02T05:30:00.000-08:00

Argentina is, quite understandably, upset that Desire Petroleum is beginning oil exploration around the Falkland Islands, an area which could have millions of barrels of oil under it. Argentina claims sovereignty over the islands. My opinion, and being British there is an obvious bias, is that if no international law is being breached and current territorial boundaries are respected there is no wrong-doing. Maybe the Falklands were brought under British rule by dubious circumstances, but that doesn't change the fact that the Falklands and the waters around them are British territory. The Falklands and the British whole have a right to explore and exploit their territories as it sees fit. Should the Falklands be devolved to Argentina simply because it is closer to their mainland? I don't think so. Many territorial boundaries are a product of less-than-ideal conditions, but they are part of the world's history. Changing boundaries now is only liable to cause more strife. Should we ask the French for Calais back? What about the hundreds of islands which are proctorates of ex-imperial powers? It it best to stripe away these relations too? Of course the current situation in the Falklands is about oil, plain and simple. It is no coincidence Argentina is kicking up a fuss about sovereignty just as oil exploration begins. I hope Argentina will not decide on the same course of action as they did in 1982. In fact, the Argentinians do seem to be opting for a more diplomatic approach by putting regional and UN pressure on Britain. Perhaps they will succeed and force Britain to relinquish control of the islands, but I think Argentina's case is greatly weakened by its transparent lust for oil, the real motivation rather than some noble cause to liberate the islands from imperial masters

But maybe it won't matter......
Guardian: How likely is it oil will be found under tha Falklands?

Mass Effective

2010-02-28T13:45:00.000-08:00

Mass Effect 2 was recently released (I had it pre-ordered, an honour not bestowed upon a video game for a very long time). Now I know this is only a video game, something many people will not be excited by. Also, many people who like video games won't enjoy playing ME2. For the record I loved the first one, and so was always going to like the second.

I'm not going to review the game. Its good (much better designed than ME1). But what I do what to sing the praises about for a few moments is how the gamer interacts with the game. What is special about this game is that it allows you to make deep, moral decisions which have long-term (across the three games of the trilogy as well as within a single game) ramifications. The morality of the decisions is judged good or bad, but you can do either. Of course this kind of gameplay structure isn't new, but it's rarely seen in such a mainstream and well-polished game. Rarely do I play a game which is fun to play (shooting things mainly) but also allows moralistic choices to be explored.

I very rarely think from playing other games about a choice for days after
(in particular the decision to destroy medical research based on the torture of humans to aid a violent race).

Of course it is just a video game. It is fantasy. And very importantly it does not influence my real life decisions. But the fact it is fantasy means you can explore avenues of thought you wouldn't normally. It makes me think that the medium of video games (as opposed to books, film, television, the internet, etc.) can be very powerful. Where else do you get to take such an active role in the story? The majority of video games are mindless fun designed mainly for relaxation, but I like the idea that there can be little gems out there that do something a bit special. Another game worth checking out which is possibly, albeit a lot more serious, in the same kind of vein is Heavy Rain.

Mass Effect 2 review:

Video Games | Mass Effect 2 | Review HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

A trailer for Mass Effect 1 that I really liked:

Finally two really good 'dossier' trailers for two of the main characters: Mordin Solus and Thane Krios.

////////////////////////////////
Update:
////////////
Who am I kidding, this is what computer games are all about:

Hot New Video Game Consists Solely Of Shooting People Point-Blank In The Face

Not at all fitting behaviour

2010-02-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

Recently I took Katie's car to the garage. Being a relatively fancy car it had a dashboard alert stating the rear brake pads were worn. This was surprising because I thought they'd been replaced not so long ago. Regardless, I took it to a garage to have the brakes inspected. I probably shouldn't say which garage it was; but let's just say they weren't quick, and what they fit wasn't right.

Having left the car at said garage, I was later called back informed that the rear brake pads were fine (as suspected) but the front needed replacing. I asked the obvious question: why was the rear sensor going off when the front brakes were worn. The detailed response was "I dunno really, prob summat with the computer, anyway that's the situation". So OK I get the work done, pay the £267 (obviously I needed new pads AND discs) and pick-up the car. However as I leave, the car tells me that the rear brakes were worn. Hmmmm....

The response to this was the 'computer needs resetting'. A task which, shock-horror, they couldn't do at the garage but they could at another branch. So to speed things up here a little, it turns out that there is nothing wrong with the brakes but the sensor (a £25 piece of kit) is faulty and needs replacing. Which then led me to the question: if my original problem was a product of a faulty rear sensor then why do I have £267 of new brakes on the front?

Inspecting the brake report it turns out the pads were 'approaching nearing replacement' at a width of 2mm, but one of the discs (the expensive bit) was 0.13mm (yes less than a quarter of a millimetre) below spec. Another shock-horror was that the discs had been picked up by the scrap merchant. But they did have the discs; which, when measured by the same mechanic with me present had a width of 4.2mm (140% level of inaccuracy with the brake report). So we have reached a situation where my original problem is a faulty £25 sensor (which hasn't yet been replaced), and I have £267 of brakes which are put based on a 0.13mm measurement from someone who got 2mm from 4.2mm of brake pad.

Needless to say I was not too happy with the situation (in no small part due to the fact the dashboard has a mini-heart attack every time I start the car). The next day I got to meet the managed (we'll call him Wayne). Wayne was clearly expecting a battle and came across pretty strong, however I found clearly explaining to him that from my position that there's no way I can trust his company based on what I'd seen and this little saga is costing me a fortune in time and money because the mechanic would rather whap on a set of new brakes than actually bother to check the proper cause of the problem (I did have a new set of front brakes after all). I got a refund on the pads and front sensor, compromising and paying for the discs. But that wasn't quite the end, for Wayne had a new sensor put on the back to fix the original problem..... 24 hours they still can't reset the sensor, then I got to do the best thing of this whole saga.

Me and a mechanic from this national chain had to go outside, cross the road, and go into the nearby BMW garage; where the mechanic explained to the BMW agent that he couldn't figure out the car's computer and could BMW fix the problem and bill the garage for it. Ace. The BMW guy took this in his stride. The work was done within 2 hours, and BMW gained a new customer.

Now I know all of this is fairly standard stuff, and to be expected when you use one of the big multi-colour national garages. I'd make the point though that if you think you've been done over it is possibly to get money out of them. But also what really annoyed me was the shocking customer service, all the chain's staff treated me like a annoyance but also didn't deny that all they do is stick new brakes on if they can get away with it. Also during the saga I dealt with 2 mechanics, a branch manager, a area manager and phone customer service person - each one of these gave me very different opinions: the customer service person felt I should get a full refund, the area manager just wanted rid of me, the branch manager all but admitted they rip people off but had no problem with that, the second mechanic was just pissed off at been handed this work by the original branch, and the original mechanic was very quiet.

Wedding live

2010-02-28T12:05:00.000-08:00

A quick note to say that mine and Katie's new wedding website is now fully live. We set it up simply because we have a lot of people coming to the wedding (well invited at least) from a long distance away, so the site is to help them plan their trip. The wedding website is here and can also be reached by the trimmed URL:

tr.im/29thMay

iTrek

2010-02-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

With the announcement of Apple's new iPad (a pretty naff product name I think most would agree), and the supposed new dawn of 'slate' computers many people are very excited. Some believe they will replace laptops, Cambridge council are using them to move closer to the paper-less office, and some argue that they will revitalise the long ailing magazine industry. However, the main point about the new tablet computers I'd like to quickly point is: Star Trek got there first. Yes, like many technological and scientific developments, Star Trek continues to be a keen measure of what the future holds. The Star Trek PADD (Personal Access Display Device). Working in a similar way to the table computers of now, PADD could be moved around a ship freely to display a variety of data and easily passed between personnel.

Uhura and clipboard-style PADD

The one thing I think the Star Trek PADD has over modern tablets is that the they aren't fragile and could be slung around or piled up much like papers or books; this means user can have several PADDs showing different data and pick-up and drop relevant ones as necessary. If modern table computers really want to take-over from books, magazines and newspapers they need to take on the flexibility and robustness of paper-based media mediums.

GB vs. UK

2010-01-23T14:17:00.001-08:00

UK wins!

Notes on making things a little better 2

2010-01-23T06:22:00.000-08:00

It should be a mandatory requirement that all those that are capable should clear the pavement outside their home of ice/snow

Most councils do a piss-poor job of snow ploughing and gritting. However, even in the best council it is largely unfeasible to grit every side-road, never mind every pavement. If everyone spends a few minutes clearing outside their home then life becomes much easier for people passing by and the council can concentrate on the roads and commercial areas.

Notes on making things a little better 1

2010-01-23T06:18:00.000-08:00

All food products which list 'egg' as an ingredient should state whether they are from caged, barn or free-range hens.

All eggs produced easily fall into one of these categories, and so clearly stating which is used in a food product should be no great task. Many people who eat eggs are not concerned about the conditions experienced by the hens that laid them, that is fine, we can't all be new-age hippies after all. However, for those that do care it should be straightforward to find out which have been used.

Local (rip-off) Merchants

2010-01-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

Given the current influx of snow, and the ensuing pandemonium and break-down of civilisation, I went looking for a shovel or even, god forbid, a snow shovel (I have a spade and a edger, but these are poor substitutes for a shovel when large amounts of lightweight material are to be moved). I tried the obvious places, including Wilkinsons and B&Q (who apparently haven't sold shovels for 'years' according to one sales 'assistant'), I even tried Home Bargins in case tehy had any knockoffs. My searches were all to no avail. Then I passed a local, independent, small hardware store. Sure enough they had snow shovels in the window. 'Ideal' I thought. I get my shovel and I get to support a local business (which we all know is good). The shovels weren't priced so I went in to enquire. Eleven bloody pounds fifty they wanted! Its a chuffing big of orange plastic on the end of a stick, for crying out loud. Suffice to say I decided to make do with the spade. The event, to me, summed up the problem with buying from local non-chain shops. We all want to buy local, and we all don't want to see our local shop fronts boarded up, but buying local means you have to frequently pay over the odds. Obviously, this is in part that local shops' stock costs them more in the first-place because they have less buying power than the national chains. But, nevertheless, local shop owners are so wrapped up in their own finances that they are prone to charging you much more than is reasonable given half an excuse to.

Maybe I'm a heartless capitalist. Buying local is good and I highly recommend it.
Support Local Businesses.org
Tescopoly.

Car Crash Internet

2009-12-18T04:01:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd point you in the direction of the BBC's Death on Britain's Roads graphic page.
It's quite interesting, especially when you compare the time of day 75+ year old people die and when 17-25 year old people die. I was also surprised by the proportion of crashes in fine weather, although the majority of days would be categorised as fine presumably. It may be a little macabre but how else would you know that between 4am and 5am on a Monday is the safest time to drive (statistically of course).

Landline Tax

2009-12-10T09:33:00.000-08:00

Darling has just announced the new 'landline tax' which will amount to £6 a year per household with a landline (not sure how it will effect businesses with multiple lines, can't say I particularly care). As much as the new landline tax is a stealth tax (in the sense that its just a little bit more we pay to the government without realising how much it adds up to), and I personally would prefer it if things were a lot more upfront with the taxes we're paying (I think this would give the populous I much greater sense of value-for-money, but in reality most people would have a gigantic hissy fit if they had a clue of how much money they hand over the government a year), I quite like the new landline tax.

What I specifically like about it is that it will plug the holes in next-gen broadband distribution left by a commercially driven sector. Specifically this means getting broadband to the rural areas and under-privileged areas. I like it because its a rich helping the poor thing (or as Darling quite nicely put it: "those with the broadest shoulders, should take the greatest strain" (NB: out of context here)). But more importantly, the internet is the format of the future. Internet has laid claim to information and communication, and is making gargantuan in-roads in the realms of television, radio and shopping. I'm not saying that one day everything will be on the internet, but in the near future it will be the medium of choice. No part of society, and I include teh global society in this too, should be left behind.

Googled

2009-10-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

So, what does Google know about me?

Well, the big one first, pretty much every direct internet communication is handled by GoogleMail (or now GoogleWave), including my Shef.ac.uk e-mails which are routed via GMail. Google can get a good idea of my interests by looking at my iGoogle choices, my YouTube (Googled owned) favourites, personalised GoogleNews, or the RSS feeds I've picked for GoogleReader. Google know what I'm talking about by me having my blog on Blogger (Google owned). Google knows the places I'm interested in by my saved maps on GoogleMaps and GoogleEarth. [Google would have my real-time location too via Google Mobile Maps + GPS if my Orange LG Renoir didn't have GoogleMaps blocked in an attempt to make me use the shite (and not free) Orange maps]. Google knows where I am and what I'm doing via GoogleCalendar and GoogleTasks. Google has many of my photographs hosted on Picasa. Google knows the contents of many of my documents, including plans for the wedding, in both GoogleDocs and GoogleNotebook. Also Google has every 3D model I've ever created, albeit there's not many, in GoogkeSketchUp. Oh, and much of my web browsing is via GoogleChrome (although I am still fond of Firefox). And soon Google will have real-time updates of my house's electricty with the announcement of UK partnerships.

We all live in a Google coloured world, Google coloured world, Google coloured world.

But in all seriousness, I really don't have much of an issue with Google. Yes, they're the new uber-corporation; but they're only replacing Microsoft - and we all run Windows without the world imploding under Bill Gates oppresion. Uber-corporations are just a product of capitalism, at least by jumping on board with the Google ultra-capitalist company you get some good kit out of it.

Batteries not included

2009-10-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

Five technologies being held back by a stagnation in the development of batteries:

+++ The Electric Car

Easy, if we could make small, light, and efficient batteries we could say good by to the inefficiencies of the internal combustion engine. Let's face it each individual car having its own, miniature, inefficient power-plant is a little daft.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_electric_vehicle)

+++ Mobile phones

The latest iPhones of this world are only the tip of the ice berg of what's to come (i.e. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX-gTobCJHs&feature=fvw) but with the battery life on phones already problematic, future progress is stiffled.

(http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/blog/?p=3160)

+++ Pill cameras

I only recently found out about these. Batteries pose a problem because, first, they do not power the cameras long enough to reach the end of digestion, and, secondly, pills are limited in size to how comfortably patients can swallow them - batteries take up a lot of the space.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_endoscopy & http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2725374/)

+++ Exoskeletons

Amazing technology, think the end of Alien or Matrix 3, but how do you power them without never-ending cables?

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ4J69EEpu4)

+++ Phasers and Tricorders
A gun that fire pure energy and a handheld device which can scan everything from radiation to 'life signs', are going to need some epic batteries.
(http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Phaser and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3TsZcAil6M)

Will someone make a friggin' decent battery?!

BBC Radio 4's Power Failure? The Story of the Battery (available for a limited period)

Joyless

2009-10-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

Is this not the worst advert ever? I mean even the use of Captain Picard just isn't enough to stop this from being a vom-fest. I drive a BMW, I'm very fond of it, it's a good vehicle; but with this advert I just feel embarrassed and a even a little soiled. Oh Joy!

I definitely like this

2009-07-27T02:57:00.000-07:00

Whilst playing with the settings on Last.FM I noticed that instead of "OK" they've opted for "Make it so". Me like very much.

Advice for the infected

2009-07-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

If you think that you have Swine Flu (and for the record you probably don't) I have compiled 5 healthy tips of advice.

1) You are going to die. Almost certainly not of Swine Flu, but now seems a good a time as any to get you to face up to your mortality.

2) In the unlikely event that you turn into a pig it has absolutely nothing to do with Swine Flu,

3) Catching Swine Flu was kind of inevitable what with having absolutely no immunity to it, unless you were willing to live in a bubble; consider this when you decide to stay at home.

4) Tamiflu, or any other of the similar products, will slightly reduce some of the symptoms, it will do nothing to fight the virus.

5) Drink plenty of water, keep your temperature down, get plenty of fresh air, cheer up and get over yourself.

This advice is summarised for you as one, easy to remember, phrase:
"KEEP CALM and CARRY ON"

Disclaimer: The author or host of this blog post does not accept responsibility for death, injury, mishap, misfortune, purification, change of genetic code, loss of libido, social isolation, or spontaneous combustion due to following this advice, failure to follow this advice, or the existence of this advice. Swine Flu is a real virus; Swine Flu Anxiety Disorder (SFAD) is not. If you are genuinely worried you should seek advice from the government, NHS Direct or your GP (but try not to pester the latter unless you really need to).If you find the summarised phrase particularly inspiring you should seek further advice from keepcalmandcarryon.com.

Crap on a Daily basis

2009-07-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

Woe-betide anybody who attempts to infringe upon the freedom of the press; it's a slippery slope, which ends in a bad place. But when the media is so blindingly irresponsible, you have to wonder if something should be done.

The headline of the Daily Mail (which, to be fair, is pretty much the worst example of a newspaper) yesterday was: "Swine Flu: Now it's getting serious", with a sub-title of: "65,000 could die". It's true that that is the figure Sir Donaldson has carelessly thrown about; but it is a figure of a extreme worst case scenario, which no one expects to happen. By brandishing it in large print across the front page it takes the figure hugely out of context. These headlines do result in widespread fear and anxiety, admittedly across the duller majority, and makes an less-than-ideal time far worse.

Selling newspapers through fear is simply not any good for a population.

Use the white stuff to save the world

2009-07-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Everybody wants to save the world these days, which is good (as the saying goes, I keep all my stuff here). Let's face it one of the things we really need to get a handle on is material waste. We use loads of energy making loads of stuff we don't need, only to throw it away later. This obsession of ours with material waste is, obviously, the basis for the recycling kick. But as we all know, recycling, although better than sending to land fill, isn't ideal; re-use is better, but hey not having the stuff in the first place would be even better - we wouldn't even need to waste energy making the stuff.

I am however a realist, I'm not going to argue for giving up our material-culture ways of life and 'getting back to nature'. Solutions to environmental problems need to be grounded such that they will actually work in modern society.

With this in mind I launch my attack on: Milk cartons.

Fuck me they are waste of packaging. Here in the UK we may be the lactose tolerant kings but a lot of people do drink milk around the world and just think how many cartons we bin every year. In my house we must use about two 4 litre cartons a week. Add that up and that's a lot of plastic. Of course we recycle (unlike the person, whom will remain unnamed, who burns them). What really gets up my nose with milk cartons though is that they are so bleeding unnecessary.

Milk has pride of place in most people's fridges. Why not simply have a permanent jug there (two if you want to rotate cleaning) and then buy milk in bags which you pour into your jug.

I saw the idea in New Zealand a few years ago, just think if the difference in waste between a small, scrunched-up plastic bag and partially crushed, plastic carton.

At least we don't have milk in glass bottles (which don't even crush up a little without cutting you to bits) anymore!

Spooky tour

2009-07-14T02:29:00.001-07:00

Camille Saint-Saëns, who died on the 16th Dec 1921, is apparently "On Tour" according to Last.fm - good to know.

Tour dates.

Song for the Month: July 2009

2009-07-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

Picked this song to represent the July of 2009. Doesn't really require explanation, nothing too clever going on her.

Space age

2009-07-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

Whilst watching a film recently (I was a little bored - Adaptation) I was glancing down at the array of equipment we have under the telly (amps, games consoles, digiboxes, etc.) and the amount of multi-coloured lights made me think I was in some 1960s Star Trek episode. So many lights can be quite distracting (during certain films).

Hay festival for non-Hay festivalers

2009-05-29T12:50:00.001-07:00

Just discovered that Stephen Fry's fantastic talk on America from this year's Hay festival is available online. It's currently on the front page of that previously link, I presume it will move to the Hay festival archive. It is definitely worth a listen.

Hay Festival

2009-05-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend at the Hay-on-Wye festival (sponsered by the Guardian), I really enjoyed it and was inspired by many different speakers. Here's the ones I went to in my order of preference.

#13 John O’Farrell
O'Farrell was promoting his book An utterly impartial history of Britain. The book sounds pretty interesting, but his talk was largely just him talking about himself - and he's not that intereting a guy (here's an example).

#12 The Early Edition
Marcus Brigstocke et al discussing the papers, and the Daily Mail as well (Brigstocke's joke). It was their first version of the show this Hay (they do one a day), and it was a little sloppy. But had its fair share of laughs. Unsurprisingly, MPs expenses took a lot of the time up. Here's a clip from one of the shows after the one I saw.

#11 The 21st Century garden (with Noel Kingsbury, Tim Richardson, Dan Pearson and Simon Jenkins)
Although I wasn't expecting much from this (went to avoid Frank Skinner), but a debate on how the popularity of wildlife and grown-your-own gardens reflects our guilt over climate change was actually quite interesting.

#10 Alistair MacGowan
MacGowan talking about himself. In truth, I didn't know much about him - and the revelation that he writes poetry and is total football-aholic was new. For the first time I kind of understood why impressions are a clever art form, he'd do jokes in his own voice then in a persona of another; the impression would really add something.

#9 Hume 10, Rest of the World nil (by Simon Blackburn)
Blackburn is a true expert on Hume, and convincingly showed how Hume's two centuries old arguments are far superior to modern day version such as those of the likes of Dawkins. My favourite comment was: on the path of knowledge we eventually reach a wall blocking our way, as we approach an understanding of the creation of the universe or the afterlife for example, anything about these issues wrote on that wall is graffiti.

#8 David Aaronovitch discussing Voodoo Histories
Aaronovitch was meant to be interviewed by Jon Snow, but Snow didn't turn up. Which is a shame because as well as Snow being a interesting character himself he would have really challenged Aaronovitch. Aaronovitch's basic argument is that there are no conspiracy theories and they are all a product of rumour mills and peoples' own desires. As Aaronovitch was talking by himself he did not challenge his own opinions, which Snow would have done (he appeared in the last 5 mins and ripped Aaronovitch to pieces before the end of the talk).

#7 Antimatter (by Frank Close)
Close is a major scientist at CERN and certainly knows his antimatter. He was an extremely fluent and entertaining, largely focusing in the new Dan Brown movie Angels and Demons in which a CERN scientist attempts to use a antimatter bomb to destroy the Vatican City. Close reasurred that although 1 gram of antimatter coming into contact with 1 gram would release the energy of the Hiroshama bomb, it would take at least, and probably more, energy to create 1 gram of antimatter - so why not just use that energy to blow stuff up.

#6 Atlas of the Real World (by Anna Barford & Daniel Dorling)
Although the two presenters were clearly ill-prepared and uncertain of the situation (seems to me due to a lack of co-ordination from the Hay organisers) this turned out to be one of the best talks. The Sheffield University geography team have created hundreds of maps in which the size of the country is determined by a parameter (i.e. infant deaths, internet users, fish exports). What the maps most clearly show is that forget climate change, there is a global crisis right now - it just effects foreigners more than ourselves. Go to www.worldmapper.org to see the maps.

#5 Piers Bizony
A discussion of the 1960s space race with special emphasis of photograpy from the time. What was interesting was the contrast he highlighted between the vastness of space and the claustrophobia of space travel, as limited by our current technology. It was also amusing watching him get very defensive about the space race being a hoax.

#4 Martin Rees
The very fluent Astronomer Royal talked about the state of the world we can expect in 2050. It has to be said that the outlook would seem to be quite pessimistic, but he highlighted that we are the first species of this planet that holds the fate of ourselves and the planet. Rees insisted that we need to divert as much energy and resources as went into the space race to the crisis of climate change. as sentiment shared by Piers Bizony. (Here's Marin Rees' associated article in the Guardian).

#3 David Frost
An hour of David Frost interview, he's a fascinating guy who's led a fascinating life. My favourite quote: "Whilst in Sydney I wanted to buy a friend a crucifix, so I visited a jeweller's. I asked the jeweller if he had any available, after a few moments quandary and a little searching the Australian jeweller asked 'would you like a plain one, or one with a little bloke on'".

#2= The Guardian Debate: do the Left still care about liberties? (David Davis and Henry Porter vs Charles Clarke and Conor Gearty chaired by Georgina Henry)
A exciting debate between several political heavyweights. The only problem was too much time was given over to the individuals' speeches and not the debate itself. The outcome: the left do care about liberties, but Labour don't, and the right would make a pig's ear of it. (The full debate is available online, staring from here).

#2= Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry, what a guy! Funny, enthralling, and maybe, just maybe, enough to inspire me to read his book and re-evaluate opinions on America. (clips of Fry on the Hay Festival diary).

#1 Paddy Ashdown
Largely a Ashdown speech on the state of the world and politics at present. We need more international politics, just like companies have become. George Bush was the last US president that feels a close tie to the UK. Government needs to work on a local scale as much as possible.

So I definitely enjoyed myself, as much at the festival as in Hay itself buying old books. Some of the favourites I got: a 1902 Irrigation manual, and 1950 publications Defence in the Nuclear Age and Women in Antiquity. It was generally quite amusing watching the middle-class, liberal hordes trying to cope in a poorly organised festival.

Estate agents

2009-05-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

No blogs for a while. Been busy, which includes trying to buy a house. Katie got her next two year post here in sunny Sheffield so we're going to buy a place together. It sounds exciting, and for a time it was, but now 'never-ending saga' springs to mind. If you thought buying in a shrinking market, with a strong financial position, and as a no-chain first-time buyer would make the process relatively easy... you would be so very very wrong. But this blog isn't about retardedly stubborn vendors with grossly inflated opinions of their house or some of the greatest displays of the worst sales pitch ever, no this is about that greedy, farcical breed of people known as estate agents.

For anyone ever considering buying a property here are a few tips (we've not bought a house yet so more could come):

The first tip is fairly obvious and I'm sure you'll be aware of it:

1. No matter what you'd like to think, or how ever many positive experiences you have, never forget that an estate agent's sole, unrelenting purpose to you, as a buyer, is to extract as much money out of your hands as humanly possible.

This is as lofty as estate agents get. Here are a few, possibly less well-known, tips:

2. Arranging a viewing is an unfair, challenging, vengeful task to bestow upon an estate agent

3. There is no graver insult for an estate agent than to be asked for a viewing to be re-arranged

4. Be prepared to have any specifications (price range, location, property features or type) to be totally and completely ignored by the estate agent

5. Despite Tip 6, estate agents have perfected their websites and mailing lists so that you can experience Tip 4 in the most efficent way - often its possible to be given information on hundreds of properties of no interest to you in a matter of seconds

6. Amongst estate agents one of the most covetted skills is to be able to send one of them there e-mail thingy me'bobs

7. Estate agents have heard of HIPs but have never seen them

8. By default, all male estate agents are useless

9. All estate agents carry a handy Mortgage Vampire with them at all times

10. All enquiries about a property are automatically filed under "oh yes, I forgot to ask the vendor about that"

11. In the rare exceptions to Tip 10 the information will be incorrect

12. Estate agents know nothing about owning a property, everything from radon and tenure through to electrics and damp are mysterious and new concepts

13. In the mind of the estate agent "I would like you to" is a valid reason to ask a buyer to increase their offer

14. Estate agents melt if a potential buyer and vendor speak directly to resolve issues or compare what estate agents have been saying about each other - Do Not Do This

15. Estate agents which show you around a house will do so in such a manner that you'll want to buy it just so you can kill yourself in it

Happy hunting!

Makes me so very happy

2009-04-02T13:06:00.001-07:00

I'm so very pleased that the government (or technically British Transport Police quite randomly) has decided it should advertise fear. Terroists in your shops, on your street, in your house!!! Be scared. Be terroistified. Think of the kiddies!

I'm sure these adverts do a much better job of distracting people from other worries than actually doing anything about terroism. Although I do like the idea of the world's wankest terroists who just leave all their chemical bottles hanging out of the wheelie bin outside their house.

A very short stay in Brussels

2009-03-21T14:06:00.001-07:00

I went to Brussels for four days this last week, mainly for work but I had a little time to have a peak at Brussels. Of course Brussels is the mighty capital city of our Glorious European Union. And boy was it all kicking off. There was a major European Union meeting on the global economic crisis, with member state leaders present. So there was police everywhere, and worryingly barbed-wire across the streets. It's pretty disturbing to see pavements and roads closed off by barbed-wire in a major city in Western Europe.

One of the things I was impressed by was the European Parliament building. Now it's very rare that modern architecture ever impresses or overwhelms in the same way as great cathedrals and mosques do. But, obviously the European Union is one of the major achievements of the 20^th century, and its decision making centre should look damn impressive. And I though the European Parliament was actually quite good in this respect, as you approach is there is certainly an air of power; with is long sweeping curves and open plazas.

It does seem to have been a) built in someone's backyard, and b) in the middle of a park – I suppose it's good that in the heart of the European Union people are having a kick about.

Unfortunately this impressive architecture was not extended to the European Commission, which is quite frankly monging.

Brussels does also need to give its bronze statues a polish too.

Nice architecture in the old city centre though.

The real highlight was the Natural History museum of Brussels… or more to the point

DINOSAUR MUSEUM!!!!

There were some other things that were pretty exciting there too. Like sheep attacking ducks and a primate display which includes humans (ouuu it'll upset the Creationists – were separate, in God's image).

And Badgers!!!

And Badger Squirrel Things…

Finally the last thing to add is the cathedral armoury in the centre of the city.

Knife.

Axe.

Saw-on-a-stick device.

Maybe the worst parking ever

2009-03-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

And yes, it was a woman driver.

Minimum price for alcohol

2009-03-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

Plans have just been unveiled by the Chief Medical Officer to implement a minimum price for alcohol (links below), which would significantly increase the retail cost of alcohol. The plan is designed to deter people from binge-drinking, it is intended to specifically effect young drinkers of cheap, poor quality lager and spirits.

Having scoured the Internet for a bit its clear that I'm not the first to say this, but, it just won't work. Binge drinking is a cultural attitude problem. People do not drink heavily because alcohol is cheap. True, if alcohol is very cheap, such as with promotions, people will tend to drink more; but the underlying problem that needs addressing is the fact people will try to drink excessively in the first place. But you just can't price people out of their culture.

The Continent parallel is old hat now, but is worth re-iterating. On mainland Europe alcohol is significantly cheaper than here in the UK but there is rarely a binge-drinking culture and little alcohol related disturbance or illnesses.

For the people that do drink to excess the plan would either (or more likely both) simply make drinking more expensive or result in an increase in black-market alcohol sales. People who drink responsibly well simply be hit in the wallet for doing nothing wrong.

Alcohol is already heavily taxed because it is 1) a luxury item and 2) harmful to health (remember we have a NHS so the government does get some say in how we live our lives). Now this is fine. The money from the increased taxation can help fund the extra costs to the NHS and Police Services caused by alcohol. However the extra costs have to be reasonable and realistic. People will drink alcohol and even though it is not healthy it should not be considered especially harmful (certainly not to the degree smoking is). Alcohol can exist within a healthy lifestyle, and the physical harm is often outweighed by the social/mental benefits of having a few beers.

The only way to stop the binge drinking problem of this country (or alternatively, the binge drinking epidemic sweeping Broken Britain) is through education and enforcement. There needs to be more Police and less leeway for drunk and disorderly people. There should be a no excuse policy to it. I don't like heavy-handed Police but they should be there and people pissing about should be stopped, simple as. But education is the only true way the problem will disappear. The health effects and responsibility needed with drinking needs to be drilled into people. This really can work, it did with smoking. Ten years ago a smoking ban would have been unthinkable but with education and endless campaigns the ground was laid for the smoking ban and people were generally receptive.

This minimum price plan has not been given the go ahead yet. If it does it really has to be seen as yet another nail in the coffin of Labour. People are feeling times harder (they feel it harder than it really is, but there you go that's the situation), increasing the cost of their respite (booze) is not going to do the government any favours.

Finally I'd just like to mention the role of the Chief Medical Officer, and doctors alike. Now my fiancee is a doctor so I don't say this lightly. But I really think they should keep their noses out of policy. Yes, they can advise (and should be the only source) on an health issue or the particular health effects of a particular item (alcohol in this case). But it should not be their job to say how best to make people healthier. Doctors are notoriously off the mark when comes to social policy and they should stay out of it. The Chief Medical Officer should have gone ahead and highlighted the problems of binge-drinking, even stressed the urgency of the problem, but not tell people how best to fix the problem. The mechanism at work in a nation as a whole are too complex and too intertwined for someone who's focus is just health to design a best approach.

All about Sheffield

2009-03-15T02:07:00.000-07:00

I came across WikiTravel today. Just a Wikipedia but specific to travel destinations. Looked up Sheffield. A pretty fair and thorough description of our, the peoples', mighty city. Although I did feel 'Heart of the City: Architecturally magnificent area of Sheffield City Centre' was a bit bold. Then discovered the city district areas are seriously lacking in detail. Here goes another afternoon. So far been playing with The West End and Devonshire Quarter (the latter being all my work so far).

You should join in if you have comments to add. Tips I've discovered so far are, if you want bullet points put an astrix (*) at the start of the sentence and to show a link just paste the link, including http://, into brackets ( [ ] ) where you want it. Join the Infomation Revolution! Whoop!

Tudor Square, Sheffield

2009-03-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

People familiar with Sheffield may know Tudor Square.

It was a fairly pretty looking square with the Central Library and the Lyceum on one side, the Crucible on another, Ruskins and the Old Monk on the third, and the Winter Gardens closing it off. There was a nice raised grassy bit in the middle, with odd engravings around the side.

It made a pleasant area to sit in the summer or spill out from one of the pubs onto. So when I came across the SheffieldForum thread Council vandalism in Tudor Square !! I was curious. Some seem to be saying that the council have spent millions to make the square look vile.

Today, on the way to meet Kt at the train station, I passed the square. I actually had high hopes, what with it being hot heels of seeing Weston Park. But then I saw this:

It's not the best quality photo I'll happily admit. But, it does seem apparent to me that the council haven't actually finished the work. I mean they've just ripped up the grassy area and trees then replaced it with flat tarmac. Let's hope there's more to come.

Weston Park, Sheffield

2009-03-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

I wandered through the newly re-furbished Weston Park for the first time today. OK, so work was finished a while back now, but I just don't go that way often... well OK I do, anyway today was the first day. They seem to be keeping it pretty neat. The new bandstand is nice, if not a monging colour; although I am led to believe it is historically accurate. Very pleased how good the copper statues look now the rust is off, really nice. The lighting and more organic, flowing paths and a major improvement too. There's lot of grass space now as well, the park feels much roomier. The real treat though is the water area down by the University library. Before it was a cesspool (the ecological study found that the only animal or plant in it was a dead newt) and just a pointless obstacle to walk around. Now its a real feature. I also heard that when they dredged the pool the silt was used to naturally fertilise wild flower meadows in another part of Sheffield. The bridges are pretty quaint and generally the water area is very pleasant. It even has a mini fountain.

It's not very often you get to say this but I think the council has done a really good job here. Let's hope we get a summer to enjoy it with.

Free time

2009-03-11T15:43:00.001-07:00

Here's what I've been doing with my free time recently:

DVD

The West Wing (season 3 currently)

(the more black-and-white the more important the character)

So Katie bought me the complete, 44 disc, West Wing DVD boxset for Christmas; me having never watched a single episode or shown any interest in the series at all. Boy, does she know me well! The West Wing is just awesome. Pretty much (with the exception of The Wire) the best American TV show I've ever seen. Its funny and witty, and its about liberals running America. It's great. I'm seriously addicted, have to try and watch at least one episode a day. Really well made stuff.

Game

Army of Two (XBox360)

So this was a knee-jerk reaction to the 360's utterly rubbish support for split-screen multiplayer games. Some time ago I bought a second controller, only to find that pretty much none of my games supported split-screen gaming in any decent form - bearing in mind they all do online multiplayer. So Army of Two is specifically designed as a co-op game. How would it be as a solo FPS? Dunno, probably not very good. But having some one to play it with (Strat) has made for some good gaming. Sweet graphics, some limited but worthwhile customisation and fun to play. Its not the best game in the world by a long shot but playing it with mate makes it a great way to pass a few hours.

UPDATE: It turns out, rather disappointingly, that this is the shortest game ever. It was fun.. whilst it ever so briefly lasted.

Book

Bleeding Heart by Jack Harvey (pseudonym of Ian Rankin)

(on Amazon)

I quite like Ian Rankin's Rebus series. Never really sunk my teeth into them but their good reads. I was interested to read some of his other work, originally under the name of Jack Harvey. These books are totally separate to the Rebus series. I'm currently half way through the second of three, entitled Bleeding Hearts. It's better than the first, but so far a relatively dreary ride. Some interesting parts but nothing to get excited about. Both the first two books follow two, separate, assassins as the go about their business with their true motives slowly becoming clear. There's a fair bit of anti-hero stuff and the difference perspective makes, but really I need to get reading a better book.

Cinema

Watchmen

(all the trailers are great for this film but I love this one for the presence of Muse)

Went to see this at the cinema today, and wow. What an awesome film. I won't try to describe it, I don't have the film critiquing or language skills to do so. But a film of nearly three hours in length where you don't get bored, distracted or otherwise not fully immersed in the film is impressive. This is a utterly unyielding, relentless epic - visually stunning, and a joy to watch. All I need now is the time to digest it.

The home of uninformed opinion

2009-03-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

So may latest addiction: Sheffield Forum. For Everything Sheffield (so they say). It's a bit of a house thing with Colly and Andy all forumed up too. It feels like the late nineties again; next I'll be in a chat room.

I especially like that instead of those random letter combinations they get you to type in to prevent search engines using their engine, they ask you questions like: is Sheffield in the north or south. Very quaint.

But why the addiction? Well, because of two, almost concurrent reasons, 1) it allows me to throw my [uninformed] opinion around (much like this blog) for the world to see, and 2) it allows everyone else to throw their uninformed opinions around. It truly is the land of the uninformed opinion.

Shielded by the anonymity of usernames people are much forth right with what they say. And that really brings them out of the wood work. Racists, Intellectual Racists, Toffs, Morons, they're all here. My favourite two threads recently have been, the woman who wants to know of a supermarket where they pack your bags so she doesn't have to end her phone conversation whilst at the check-out and the person who saw an 'immigrant' at ASDA buy £300 worth of cigarettes and how its a disgrace they come over here and spend our hard earned tax pounds on ciggies. I'm not joking. But as much as they get to spout at being closet racists I can sprout about being a closet liberal. It's all great fun.

Andy has shown me the way though. Sheffield Forum can be used for good. His thread on great Sheffield pubs has turned up some treats for us to try. It doesn't all have to be about the hate. Lesser learnt.

The forum is pretty cool, there is something for everyone. That is if you live in Sheffield.

September 11th the Pentagon

2009-03-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

So along with the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon was hit by a terroist controlled aeroplane on Semptember 11th 2001. Or at least that's the story. There are many whom believe that no such attack happened; the most prevalent explanation for the 'event' which happened at the Pentagon being that the US Airforce fired at an abandonded part of the Pentagon to make the terroist threat seem worse and justify the War on Terror. I don't know (obviously), although the pictures of the immediate aftermath of the [supposed] aeroplane strike are pretty convincing that it was not a jumbo jet that hit the Pentagon.

What simply astounds me that there has been no clarity in the near 8 years since it happened. Security camera tapes seized by the FBI showing the event have never been released (compare to the footage of the WTC), nor has any evidence to support the official story. Like most people I like a good conspiracy theory but think most of them are bull. But the fact that the issue has never been cleared up is worrying.

If it is a cover-up its pretty terrifying that governments (presumbly others as well as the USA's) are able to control infomation so effectively over something so public and massive.

The Penta-Lawn a light hearted look at the evidence

The Pentagon Strike video - well worth a watch

Can't find an embeddable version so go to the site and watch it.

A duller video on the subject:

Even Fox News thought it was dodgy:

A closer look at that CCTV footage:

The Reports from Paris Collection

2009-03-03T15:08:00.000-08:00

Day of Delays, and then the next day >>

Highlights >>

Reports from Paris: Highlights

2009-03-03T14:55:00.001-08:00

Let me be clear, I really enjoyed our trip to Paris. Here's my highlights:

The already mentioned Musee d'Orsy

Notre Dame

Top of the Eiffle Tower

Saint Coeur (especially with perpetual prayer, although the tourist vultures outside really got on my wick)

Go to Paris

Reports from Paris: Day of Delays, and then the next day

2009-03-03T14:52:00.001-08:00

Both our final full day and final day in Paris were… eventful. First our last day sight-seeing. The first 'event' was at Saint Chapelle. This is a Gothic chapel with a spectacular array of stained glass windows. Bearing in mind that the entrance fee (as now seems typical for Paris) was exorbitant and that the setting (next to the ministry for justice which has an ugly and huge collection of portacabins in front of the chapel), the chapel runs the risk of being under appreciated. Now add a 45 minute wait to get inside. Maybe you might think this is because the chapel is popular. Not so visitors actually in the chapel at any one time numbered 20-50. No, the wait was for the slowest and most pointless security checks known to man. The chapel really is something special but it was a hell of an anti-climax after the extended wait. If you're in Paris and there's no queue for Saint Chapelle, don't hesitate.

So after Saint Chapelle we got the metro back towards our hotel to 'freshen up' before heading out for the night. Stood there on the metro and we're stopped at a station when some shouting comes from further along the train. Moments later 3 burly French metro security officers come charging past us, followed by the driver shortly after. More security appears. The doors are closed but unlocked so people start pushing them open. Some people start to panic and make a break for the exit, some stay but look worried – many just try to look cool (I fell into the second category). We've but stopped for about 10 minutes and no one's yet sure what's going on. We're edging up the platform towards the disturbance (there's no emergency exit at our end of the platform and would have to pass the disturbance to exit the platform). Alarms start ringing. Then three officers wearing back-packs are sprinting towards the problem. Starting to get a little worried. But suffice to say I wasn't exploded in a terrorist attack. After about 20 minutes several bloodied people are pulled off the train. It was just a fight and no one (incl. the police now present) had seemed sure what to do. Eventually we got under way; only to arrive at our destination to find that access to a connecting metro line was blocked, blerrh. Now I know the British police can be pretty heavy handed on the tube, what with the national paranoia and all*. But a bit of decisiveness would have been appreciated.

But all this pales in comparison to our very final day in Paris. Oh yes… So we arrive at the airport at 7 in the morning, present our passports to the check-in desk… some typing, some confusion, some phone calls… quite a wait… then "yes you are booked to fly on this flight on Saturday 28^th… but of March not February". Doh! When we booked we clicked the wrong month for the return, hindered by the fact the 28^th of both Feb and March are Saturdays. So we got sent to the BMIbaby information desk in a neighbouring hall. A generally quite useless attendant essentially strapped us down over a barrel and took us for a ride. £296 to get on the flight, 15 minutes to decide. Cheers. But the real icing on the cake was when we asked if there was a cheaper option, alternative flights: she didn't know but sent us to the information desk which would give us prices, located on the other side of the room, we arrive there (14 seconds later), we explain our predicament, the information desk lady is quick to tell us she just helps with check-in and has no idea of prices, we return to the BMIbaby desk (about 50 seconds has passed by this point), agree to pay to get on the flight we thought we were on, and are told the price has gone up to £440. Not happy. An emotion I feel I expressed adequately. Eventually we got the tickets for the original £296 – that actually feeling like a bonus by now. Well we only really have ourselves to blame, but it put a real dampener on the holiday. Paris!

*I was amused at an airport when we saw an unattended bag next to one of the CDGVAL shuttle stops. We were cautious and avoided it. Only for a French family to open it and rummage through. Hmmm, doubt it would happen like that over here.

Reports from Paris: Part One

Reports from Paris: the hotel

2009-03-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

My rather dull and long-winded, but hopefully useful to other travellers, review of the hotel is on TripAdvisor

Hotel Montaigne: OK to good in every respect

Reports from Paris: Part one

Reports from Paris: the Louvre

2009-03-03T00:25:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately I do feel inclined towards a little Louvre bashing, but before I begin let me just say spectacular and magnificent. These are the words I would use to describe the Lourve without considering the practicalities of life. The buildings themselves are an incredible sight to behold and the collection of finest world class standard. However. First off it's incredibly expensive, EUR 9 pp entry. (saying that I have been spoilt by being lucky enough to live in a country where taxes are used to make museums and art galleries free to the public). As you enter the Louvre galleries and make your way to the Mona Lisa, as so many visitors do, the experience can only be described as unpleasant. The galleries are crowed, hot, noisy and polluted with the constant flash of cameras, a rule against which the guards do not feel inclined to enforce. Considering my visit was during February and mid-week, I dread to imagine peak season weekends. There is no feasible way you can stop to appreciate any of the art you pass as the mindless throng pushes on. Then you reach the Mona Lisa itself, which is an extraordinary exercise in futility – not the painting that is, but viewing it. Here you have a masterpiece work of art, famous for its subtlety, the minute detail by which Leonardo da Vinci Captures his subject – that enigmatic smile – and your trying to study it in a crowd of 200 people, all shouting and flashing their camera, the closest of whom are held back several metres by cordons. Pointless. Other problems will further hinder your experience at the Louvre, such as a lack of seating for people, again on a quiet day. Or the shambles that is the queue into the building. Also every guard is slouched, chatting away with another skiving guard which generates a slapdash ambience, exaggerating the other problems.

This all said, escape the museum's hotspots and there is breathing space to enjoy some of the many fine works of art held in the collection. Much of the museum is taken over to renaissance, medieval and Romanesque art; I personally prefer more recent works, but that's just personal choice (in fact I much preferred a day at the Musee d'Orsy with its dynamic gallery spaces and more contemporary collection). I did enjoy the Louvre and would agree that it is a must see in Paris, but I just think that the whole set-up could have been better organised… by monkeys…

(seriously what are these paintings about?!)

The Louvre.

-------------

Musee d'Orsy:

Reports from Paris: Part one

Reports from Paris: Metrospective

2009-03-01T13:55:00.000-08:00

The Paris metro is relatively cheap, efficient and has excellent coverage - all you really want from a public transport network. We had to buy a pack of ten paper tickets which seemed a little dated. There does seem to be a Oyster-like system but how to get one as a tourist was abundantly unclear. One weakness of the Paris metro system, though, seems to be consistency. Of all the major European metro systems I've used (Milan, Rome, Barcelona and the tube) the best designed and easiest to use by far was Barcelona's. Across every metro entrance, station and train in Barcelona there is one universal iconography which is consistently shown in the same place and is ubiquitous (i.e. see here and links). In Paris the signs and symbols are used sporadically and are highly variable, which in no way makes using the system easy. Take, for example, the variation in the street level signs (when used):

(oh and we'll discuss security on the metro later...)

Reports from Paris: Part one

Reports from Paris: Monsieur Vert

2009-03-01T13:00:00.001-08:00

When one is in the great Great Britain one, on occasion, may find one's self attempting to cross a road or immeasurable danger. When faced with such peril one only needs to receive a quick wink from the green man and one can proceed without trepidation. The green man throws down a gauntlet of [Sheffield] steel, invisible but no less impenetrable for it. Traffic ceases as if time itself prevents their progress. In the wise words of Gandalf "Thou Shall Not Pass".

One is presented with similar hazards in the quaint city of Paris, where Monsieur Vert holds the role of your guardian and guide across the manic Persian roads. Unfortunately Monsieur Vert prefers to imply, suggest, suppose that traffic may, should it be of no inconvenience, to stop and allow pedestrians to cross. No longer is the gentle glow of the green man a declaration of absolute safety. The plight of the pedestrian is deeply worsened.

Reports from Paris: Part one

2009-03-01T12:38:00.001-08:00

Myself and Katie, my fiancée (yes I finally did it), spent 4 nights in Paris this February. It was a nice cheap city break (to begin with… we'll save that for the end). As it was my first trip to Paris, and having been to London a few times in 2008 (prior to which I hadn't been for ages), opinions and comparisons were to be made.

Wealthy economies

2009-02-18T12:40:00.000-08:00

certain Rob C. pointed out to me today that Britain is the fifth largest economy in the world. Considering that we are a population of around 60 million, in relatively small area (209331 square km actually), one has to ask why we are not all living in some kind of Utopia?

Surely that much money spread over so few people should allow us to have efficient and free public transport, well run universal healthcare (yes, including opticians and dentistry), clean and safe streets and superb education for the masses?

No? Oh, OK then.

Utopian Hull:

www.techno-utopia.com

Breeding Laws

2009-02-18T12:33:00.000-08:00

With the news that a 13 year old boy as a father is the latest crisis to inflict itself upon Broken Britain, it may be about time to think about enacting Breeding Laws. Said Breeding Laws, I envision, would ensure only parents certified by the [Glorious] State be permitted to produce children; children born outside the bounds of the law could be confiscated by the [Glorious] State and turned into an army of supersoliders. It needs some fleshing out, but certainly on the right track.

+++ This blog post was a joke, OK? +++

Falling on my arse

2009-02-09T00:57:00.000-08:00

So yes half the country are whining about the Winter weather and lack of action from local governments. I don't like to jump on the band-wagon. To be honest if people took a bit more responsibility, taking extra care when driving, doing a bit of clearing of snow from outside their house/shop, the situation wouldn't be nearly as bad. Most people expect somebody in a high-vis jacket to sort the problem for them so they can carry on as normal; sad. However. I feel I might just hold onto the band-wagon with one hand for a moment. Because, to be quite honest, Sheffield City Council have done a piss-poor job this last week or two. And I'm not even talking about the roads, which haven't been done particularly well: main roads relatively clear and gritted yes, but anything approaching a side road hasn't been touched by the council. The council have outright, in entirety ignored gritting the pavements. Now there is a lot of pavement in Sheffield; even if they had the grit they wouldn't have the labour to cover the entire area. But, you'd think maybe pavements in and around places like Hillsborough (a relatively large centre of population for Sheffield) or Division Street (a major city centre shopping street) would be gritted a little. But nothing, at all, has been done. I couldn't walk into work today because I found myself on my arse twice between Malin Bridge tramstop and Hillsborough tramstop. People were walking in the road because that's safer than the pavement. Now I won't do the whole 'we-pay-our-extortionate-council-taxes-we-demand-better-service' rant; I'm a student I don't even pay council tax. But the council really should be ashamed of their performance. Let's hope they learn from it. (yeah right).

Witham Road, Sheffield, 9th Feb 2009

Taptonville Road, Sheffield, 9th Feb 2009

Why, how random

2009-01-27T01:35:00.000-08:00

I've walked from home to the lab a few times. It's a fair walk for a daily basis, about 3 miles. I decided though that as of this week, in a bid to lose the belly, I would try to walk to work every day. Today was my first regular stroll. On the way who should I pass but a group of people from the council doing a survey on people walking to work in Sheffield. Asking where from and to, and how long, etc. I just thought that was quite random.

Windows 7 is no Googolplex

2009-01-22T01:58:00.000-08:00

So Microsoft is showing off its upcoming Windows 7 (BBC first look). What will it be like? Well I don’t know. It has fancy touch-screen capabilities and anywhere desktop gadgets, with vague assertions to increased stability, compatibility and security. I think this, though, is the problem with Windows 7 from the outset, repeating the mistakes of Vista.

A hideous proportion of the world’s computer users use a Microsoft Windows OS, estimations are commonly over 90%. Of course all these people will like, and maybe even use, all the latest fancy gizmos in a new OS, and even enjoy new stylish appearances. However across the world you can hear the same kind of conversations: conversations based on ‘my computer crashed’ or ‘every time I try to open this file type my computer crashes’, etc. etc. When people say computer they almost invariably are referring to a Microsoft Windows product and its total failure to be a reliable system. The backlash to Windows Vista is the most recent manifestation of this frustration.

In truth, no matter what the latest fad is which comes with a Windows product, people only have a few serious demand from a OS: firstly, reliability & stability – when I turn my computer on I want it to turn on every time, and once it’s on I want it to keep working regardless of what programs I am using; secondly, speed – I want my computer to work quickly and efficiently, I don’t want to wait twice as long for a task whilst fancy UI graphics are loading. Yes, security is also a priority and Apple products certainly show people enjoy sleek design; however these are secondary to a system that simply works.

This is where Google come in. A true Google OS has been talked about for some time, possibly in a web-based form i.e. Google Docs/Calendar/Reader (personally I think they should call it Google Plex, but it’s usually best not to take my advice). Regardless of whether Google do release an OS some lessons can be learnt from their approach to UIs across their product range. Google has become uber popular, the term ‘Google’ has become the generic term for searching the web. This success is down, in no small part, to their easy-to-use, reliable, and speedy UI’s. You type something into Google, you get an answer, quickly and it’s usually what you want. Of course it’s much easier to apply this to a search engine than an entire computer OS; however it would be nice for Microsoft to take leaf out of Google’s book. The popularity of Google dictates they must be doing something right.

The Microsoft Windows user base is a massive and massively dissatisfied group, just waiting to jump ship. People often only use a Windows product over a Mac because Mac’s are so expensive. Once genuine challenger comes to the market, be it from Google or not, the exodus could be huge. For Microsoft to cement its OS population they desperately need to create something which people genuinely trust and facilitates them to enjoy using computers again. If Windows really is the world without walls somebody needs to give it a good clean so we can see what we’re doing.

Hyper Advanced Fares

2009-01-11T07:16:00.000-08:00

Trains. The difference between an advanced fare and a 'on the day' fare (now known as a 'Anytime' fare) can be vast. Tickets to London from Sheffield far in advance can be as cheap as £7.50 whilst an on the day a ticket could cost £100+. But I don't understand why. The train has to run the journey anyway, it doesn't cost any more to have extra passengers on. Without over-filling (which gives a company a bad reputation) it would be best for a train company to run trains full of passengers. So at off-peak times why penalise people with high fares with more expensive anytime fares? Many advanced fare prices are very reasonable and are competetive with other forms of transport, and if you are travelling to an urban environment can often be more convinent than the car. Yet unless you plan your trip months in advance you have to pay the extoriate anytime fares which rules out any competivity. I know fares have to be kept high to cover running costs/profit but why such the big difference which discourages so many potential passengers?

Also, would somebody please re-nationalise the railway - privitisation was rubbish. Some was discussing this with me at the QRA session: that the competition between rail companies doesn't work to bring prices down if passengers don't have a choice. Let me elaborate. If I want to travel between location A and location B, I am unlikely to be able to chose between different rail companies because different companies buy different routes. Therefore if I want a train to Birmingham I almost certainly have to travel CrossCountry. Now if they're was two comapanies: one with cheap fares but overcrowded, old trains and one with expensive fares but sleek, modern trains, I would be able to exert my consumer preference. But that kind of choice doesn't exist. Thus, companies don't need to be competetive, if I want a train to Birmingham I'm stuck with CrossCountry. Anyway none of the competetion matters because the train companies did what every other group of similar companies (except commercial archaeologists) do, which was to agree a minimum 'value' for their services and not undercut that, artifically increasing the price of fares.

Personally I think no public transport should be privitised and they shouldn't be run for profit. They should be a public service. Britain's public transport network is vastly under-utilised. If people are serious about getting people out of cars, some dramatic changes need to be made to public transport.

Motorway electronic information signs

2009-01-11T01:03:00.000-08:00

Motorway electronic information signs: don’t you find that they suffer from the problems of ‘crying wolf’? I mean how many times have you drove past a sign that reads ‘fog’, ‘congestion ahead’, ‘accident ahead’, etc. only to find nothing for miles along the motorway. That’s not to mention all the pointless information like ‘tiredness can kill’ and ‘don’t drink and drive’ (as if these are crucial pieces of information relevant to this stretch of motorway). So you ignore them. Then you pay. And get eaten by the stand-still wolf. I mean if the motorway sign said ‘tailbacks for fucking miles get off while you still can… ahead’ I’d pay attention. Not that I’m bitter.

Whilst we’re on the subject. When the big motorway information signs have little signs stuck to them that read ‘this sign is not in use’, is that message referring to the overhead sign or itself?

The Motorway Signal Mark 4

Altruism

2009-01-02T01:48:00.000-08:00

In a recent discussion regarding the merits and demerits of religion someone asked me whether without religion there can be a concept of altruism, unselfishly doing good for the sake of good. Of course my initial response was that of course there is secular altruism, many secular living people partake in altruistic acts all the time, and religion does not have a monopoly on morality and all that is good.

The comment did, however, get me thinking about the existence and role of altruism in a secular life; which in turn led me to thinking about altruism itself. I realised that the idea of an act which is both good and without self benefit is impossible. Firstly, a ‘good’ act by definition must benefit somebody even if they are not the person who carries out the altruistic act; if there was no benefit at all to the act then there would be nothing good about the act. In a religious context, however, the person responsible for the altruistic act is rewarded via religious merit, usually involving presupposed benefits in the afterlife. E.g. Altruistic act > Good Christian > Heaven. Thus, it is immediately clear that these so called altruistic acts are merely an investment to secure a long-term benefit. Some people may call this cynical, and argue that the acts are genuinely altruistic and a religious reward is separate. Although, if people understand the basic principles of their religion this separation is never truly possible as they are aware of what makes them a good member of their religion. In the past seeking religious merits from altruistic acts was more open (such as the poor houses in Bruges built to ensure entry into heaven for the rich funder). The point is that if religion is a motivator for altruistic acts, these acts can never be entirely altruistic because carrying the act out is believed to carry religious benefits.

Of course the good acts are still being carried out and some may argue that even if they are not truly altruistic what does is matter, good is still being done? This is true, however what I want to point out is that when we uncover the very basic principle behind ‘religious altruism’ we can see it is no better than ‘secular altruism’. As humans we are aware that we are a highly socially active species, which frequently rely on others. This applies right from small groups of hunter-gatherers which must operate effectively together, right through to governments subsidising the ill and unemployed with financial aid. Whilst we live in these conditions, it is naturally obvious to us that if we do good, one day that good may be returned when we need it ourselves. This can be on a direct level (I buy you a drink when you’re short on cash, you return the favour when I’m short of cash) or an indirect level (people donate to charity, charities are something you may need help from when you fall on hard times). A system of reciprocracy. All religion does is offer an unnecessary mechanism in which this system can operate… whilst creaming off a tidy profit.

Religion is so engrained into many peoples’ psyche that they automatically assume certain aspects of life are the reserve of religion. I would encourage people to remember that humans have existed with many different religions and without any at all quite successfully for thousands of years. Any aspect of any modern religion has been with us for millennia, and we are all capable of being good, moral people without manipulation from religion.

Journal of Theoretical Biology: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Altruism

BBC: Altruism 'in-built' in humans

Probably the world's most useless sign

2009-01-02T01:46:00.000-08:00

Bill Box

2008-12-06T13:36:00.000-08:00

Me and Katie spent a couple of days holiday in London last week. Amongst the many things we did down there was going to see Bill Bailey at the Gielgud theatre. It was near sold out, with only 'Restricted View' and the most expensive, highest banded tickets. Except, that os, for a couple of tickets in the middle band. Tickets for a stage side box. Very cool:

So this is the view towards our balcony from our private box room.

Katie enjoying our private room and modelling her program.

Happy and blurry in our seats.

The man himself, within spitting distance.

Bill Bailey was excellent. It was a great gig. He was a bit all over the shop at times (a Monday thing I think) but that just made the thing all the more funnier.

Quite possibly the most useless sign in the world

2008-12-06T13:32:00.001-08:00

I did always wonder what was in the Red Zone.

New Age

2008-11-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

First they make cool version of Transformers, now they're doing it with Star Trek. Welcome to the dawn of a new age.

WATCH THE TRAILER

*

How to be good at being a police state

2008-10-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

(includes free running cops)

Thank you internet

2008-09-17T13:34:00.001-07:00

Real Tennis

2008-09-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

Whilst at a recent conference I met Philip Dunn from Bristol who introduced me to the concept of real tennis:

Apparently its called Real Tennis because although it was originally known simply as Tennis, when the later invention of Lawn Tennis became so popular and its name was shortened to Tennis the original Tennis had to be renamed Real Tennis.

Anyway its a bit of a crazy sport (like a Crazy Golf version of [Lawn] Tennis). Looks great fun to play though.

Whilst searching for YouTube videos on Real Tennis I came across this too (skip the initial build up to the actual play):

It is Big and it is Clever

2008-09-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

Mark Thomas is a very funny comedian who seems quite passionate about these civil liberties things.

If you like this you should check out his BBC Radio 4 program 'My life in serious organised crime' - extremely funny (Parts one, two and three).

Weird but cool

2008-09-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

more...

Lord Poulett Arms loo

2008-07-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post these pictures from the Lord Poulett Arms, a nice little country pub near Yeovil, but I've been really busy with my PhD. Blogging just feels a bit too much like work when you're busy. Anyway, I found this toilet really interesting:

Look! Urinals with sinks above them so you don't have to move to wash your hands! And the real genius is that the water from washing your hands drains down into the urinal to clean the bowl! Dry your hands I hear you cry? Well then see the maid for a hand tissue. Efficiency & good company rolled into one. But tissues destroy the environment... possibly... you could just wipe your hands on your jeans, we always do anyway, I mean pub hand driers are always so crap (if in doubt of this last fact visit the Devonshire Cat in Sheffield and use the Cyclone in the lads). It was a bit weird taking photos in the loos I'll admit, but this kind of pisser technology really needs to shown to the world.

Information studies can be interesting

2008-05-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

So I've been going to lectures in the Department of Information Studies as part of my RTP (Research Training Program) requirements. I chose a course on Information Retrieval because it looked like the course that might be most useful to me; I was imaging getting background into Information Retrieval may be beneficial for when I produce and store my own data.

One of the many interesting little facts that came up on the course was in regard to authorship. Most people would think that with so many English speakers, may of whom have a relatively restricted vocabulary identifing authors of work may not be easy. The same phrases will be written by different people all over the world all the time. But actually the way we write is often very unique. To exemplify this you can do a Boolean (exact phrase) web search of a particular sentence and see how quickly your particular combination of words is the only example of it on the Internet.

So I took a phrase from my blog and used Google to see how few words I had to insert of the phrase for my blog to be the only hit.

The phrase I chose was from my comment on the Zelda Movie video:

"I so want this to be true. It looks awesome. A pretty impressive April Fool's Hoax though."

Not an especially obscure or specific phrase.

I then typed each word into Google sequentially using " " so Google did a Boolean search. I used the circa number of hits in the top right corner as my results (another interesting fact was that despite being approximate numbers Google really does individually search that many documents that quickly).

Word chain Hits
I --------------------------------- 8,450,000,000
I so ------------------------------ 11,900,000
I so want ------------------------- 990,000
I so want this -------------------- 71,000
I so want this to ------------------ 13,000
I so want this to be ---------------- 11,600
I so want this to be true ----------- 466
I so want this to be true. It --------- 2
I so want this to be true. It looks --- 1

So I only need to type 9 words of a random phrase of mine before I am the only person on the accessible Internet to have wrote that precise phrase - I think that's rather cool (OK mainly geeky).