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For Christmas Kix and I bought each other half a 26 inch Panasonic Viera LCD TV (TX-26LXD6A). It’s a stylish HD Ready TV with integrated freeview and speakers – perfect for the bedroom. We plugged it into our freshly installed upstairs coaxial socket and switched it on to find that it automatically tuned and ordered all the available channels. It has a feel of quality about it. I hope we don’t watch it too much. |
26 inch LCD – 11th Dec 2006 (Panasonic staff shop, £395)
Progress upstairs (Nov+Dec 2006)
We’ve been gutting upstairs, stripping all the wallpaper off the walls and removing the skirting boards and coving:
We laid co-axial cable and shopped for some funky light fittings. We got in the electricians to install 7 new double sockets, an attic & cellar light, new bedroom lights and a new extractor fan & light for the future bathroom.
Eating out with a vegetarian
Vegetarians get a lot of stick. People like to try to make vegetarians justify their decision in a full and rational manner. It’s not really fair that this conversation comes up every time that they go out to diner.
One reason for being vegetarian is because it’s a lot less wasteful in terms of natural resources to feed, say, corn directly to people, rather than corn to cows to people. That logic seems solid to me. I wonder why people like to receive a fully logical answer to “why are you vegetarian”?
If I was a veggie, I’d have a canned response, something funny like: “It’s not that I like animals, it’s more that I really hate vegetables”. I think using humour is a good way to bounce the conversation onwards and not feel victimised.
Kinder Egg Caveman
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This is my favourite kinder egg surprise ever! Very philosophical! I keep him on my computer at work to help me think. |
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Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson)
Historical Thriller, 8/10 – November 2006
After reading Snow Crash, I was initially disappointed in this not being in the same genre. But I needn’t have worried – It managed to be an exciting thriller as well as a history book and a science book on computers and cryptography. I really enjoyed the math characters like Alan Turning and Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse. Lawrence’s mathematical analysis of “horniness” made me laugh especially when you realise his son is called “Randy”. The birth of computing during World War 2 is a interesting subject for me. Bobby Shaftoe, the bloody-minded gung-ho US Marine provided some heroic action scenes which offset the scientific calmness rather well.
The Enoch Root character is a bit weird. On p541 it is clear that he dies:
“When Enoch Root dies, the only other people in the room are Rudolf von Hackelheber, Bobby Shaftoe, and the Swedish doctor. The doctor checks his watch, then steps out of the room.”
Then he appears 55 years later with Randy. Either he has faked his death to get out of his recent marriage or, more interestingly, the Enoch Root that appears later is not the same man, but the same character (since, different people can become “root” on a same Linux system)? I’m wondering whether there’s a bit of sci-fi in the book after all?
Why I have a phobia of Frogs
Frogs are disgusting because their proportions are all wrong like something from a twisted nightmare. Their legs are fat and heavy but possess some horrible power that allow the creature to leap alarmingly quickly. They have evil bulbous eyes which sit watching everything and waiting so they can flick their disgusting tongue at a passing fly. They make a deep sickening crocking noise using weird bulging throats. They are slimy or warty and spread their filth over waterways with their polluting jelly like frog-spawn.
The worst thing about them is they are full of surprises. Some can leap and stick to any surface, some are poisonous, some rain from the sky, some are tiny, some are giant, some live in the dessert and some come in plagues. At least we are safe from them in the sea.
Did you know a group of frogs is called an army? An Army! Armys are warsome and threatening!
Did you know, frogs drink through their skin. Yuck! That’s disgusting. Their skin is literally not waterproof. It explains perfectly why they feel so horrible to touch.
My worst film ever in the entire world is magnolia. I was really in a film mood when I started watching it and I could see it building up to something big and when it happened I had to run out of the room (if you’ve seen it you’ll know why).
Don’t worry, I can deal with Kermit.
Ubuntu Linux distribution codenames
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I love the wonderful Ubuntu codenames. The new one is called the “Feisty Fawn”. Odd and memorable. |
| Version | Release date | Code name |
|---|---|---|
| 4.10 | 20 October 2004 | Warty Warthog |
| 5.04 | 8 April 2005 | Hoary Hedgehog |
| 5.10 | 13 October 2005 | Breezy Badger |
| 6.06 LTS | 1 June 2006 | Dapper Drake |
| 6.10 | planned for 26 October 2006 | Edgy Eft |
| 7.04 | planned for 19 April 2007 | Feisty Fawn |
With two releases a year they are going to get through quite a few adjectively-challenged animals.
The outrageous nerve of Apple
I can’t believe apple put this on their website (http://www.apple.com/support/windowsvirus/):
We recently discovered that a small number – less than 1% – of the Video iPods available for purchase after September 12, 2006, left our contract manufacturer carrying the Windows RavMonE.exe virus. This known virus affects only Windows computers, and up to date anti-virus software which is included with most Windows computers should detect and remove it. So far we have seen less than 25 reports concerning this problem. The iPod nano, iPod shuffle and Mac OS X are not affected, and all Video iPods now shipping are virus free. As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it.
Talk about taking cheap shots at Microsoft!! They’re not in a position to since they make the mistake. It’s so rude. That’s it, I’m never buying a apple product, ever!!!! (BTW, I’m not buying a Microsoft product either).
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Apple forces iPod owners to use their iTunes software which has inbuild DRM. DRM cripples the future of digital freedom, it is defective by design. |
Misty Eyes
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You know how a mirror in the bathroom mists up when you have a shower. I have just discovered that I can do the same with my eyeballs. I got a big mug of tea and as I was about to take a sip I let out a breath and the warm steamy air misted up my eyeballs and my vision went all blurry until I blinked. I’ve never considered it before – hope it’s not dangerous. |
History Matters (17th/October/2006)
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The BBC are getting as many people as possible to submit a blog entry for today so it can be used as a historical record in the future. This is my entry: |
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Tuesday’s are the worst day of the week for me because I’m no longer rested from the weekend yet I still have 4 whole days to the next weekend. Plus, the canteen menu is always bad on Tuesdays. I shouldn’t complain though, work isn’t bad at the moment and there’s no other major drama’s in my life. This project is trying to make me consider history but I tend to consider the future an awful lot more. On my hour-and-a-half commute by coach into work this morning I was considering “the Internet” and the computers that run it. I think the Internet is at the same stage that cars were in the 1920’s. Computers are only just at the start of their journey to make our lives easier. When I got into work I got a decaf from the machine and sent a few emails. One to my little brother asking how his school project is going, one to my Uncle to wish him happy birthday and one to my wife to say thanks for doing all the washing last night. I got less than a quarter of what I wanted to do at work. I’m a software engineer and it’s often difficult to predict code-writing productivity. Even getting a twix from the vending machine (strictly illegal in my diet rule book) didn’t help me get more work done. So I left at 5.38pm and as usual, missed my coach by the skin of my teeth and had to wait in the new Heathrow central bus station that looks like the inside of a tape worm. The traffic was bad but I got to listen to the woman in front of me chat on her mobile about how she hates her boss. Eavesdropping into good gossip always helps pass the time especially as it’s just started being dark on the journeys home and the coach driver usually forgets to put the reading lights on. On my walk home from Reading station I managed not to pass any drunks or beggars, I think the squatter house entrance at the bottom of Station Hill has been boarded up again. At the cattle market there was a show for miniature pony’s, I didn’t stop to take a good look but it cheers me up when something totally random happens. My wife and I had a TV-diner (yesterdays warmed-up veggy butternut squash pasta), did some web-surfing and had a early night. Nice non-eventful days are my favourite although I’d liked to have had enough energy to get some DIY done. |
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Digital Fortress (Dan Brown)
Thriller, 5/10 – September 2006
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The notion that all codes are breakable (the make believe “Bergofsky’s Principle”) caused me to laugh out loud and continue to laugh the whole way through the book. What if the thing TRANSLTR is trying to decrypt is a random piece of junk? The fictitious scalability of TRANSLTR (i.e. can crack a 64 “character” key in ten minutes and a 10,000 bit key in an hour lol 🙂 😀 hahahaha 😥 ) together with the ridiculous hacker attack at the end are pure humour. |
Then I felt kind of bad ridiculing the books encryption facts because I guess any piece of fiction can’t live up to scrutiny from someone fascinated with the subject matter. The book was kind of fun actually.
Kitchen wall tiles and Hood (August 2006)
After a long break from DIY (to arrange our wedding) we have made some effort to do the finishing touches to our kitchen. We tiled the wall and window sill and fitted the plinth, edging tape, filler and cornice. The hood was tricky to put up because it had to be supported by our cavity wall so we had to drill though the plaster board and add extra battens for strength. We had to cut the hood chimney down to size and put up a board of wood to hide the top of the chimney and give the units a feel of continuity.
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Left to do: Window blinds, remaining skirting board, boiler cupboard door, spice rack and hang some pictures.
Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson)
Sci-fi, 8/10 – June&July&August 2006
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What makes this book great is that despite it being interesting and exciting and thoughtful, is that it’s damn silly. All the characters are ridiculous and over-the-top, and that’s great. Two small examples are the nuclear powered machine gun and the cyborg guard-dogs but the biggest laugh is the method of transport that a character called Y.T uses, “pooning”. She harpoons cars using an electromagnet and then skates behind them at 70Mph! |
Stephenson managed to make the metaverse, matrix, cyber space, whatever you want to call it, imaginable, you can picture what Snowcrash is trying to describe the metaverse to be. However, to me, it seems much more of an environment for entertainment that it does for business (too closely modelled on reality). I kept thinking of Tron at the end when they were racing each other on motorbikes.
Squeezebox3 – 22th Aug 2006 (Ebuyer purchase, £195)
We bought the updated model because we thought Fred would enjoy our current squeezebox as a house-warning present. The new model is almost exactly the same with a few improvements:
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Netgear DG834G Modem & Wireless Router – 17th August 2006 (Ebay purchase, £36)
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Our old ADSL modem was getting a bit unreliable and kept rebooting randomly. It was also messy having a separate wireless router when all-in-one boxes are not expensive anymore. The DG834G is nice and small with a easy web-based admin interface. I particularly like the simple firewall setup. The wireless range is disappointing though (it can’t provide a reliable signal anywhere upstairs). |
