Thankyou Mr Hawkins!! The password doodah clearly works (Did you like my subtle test, there?!?) Now, as for biscuit patenting - I love the idea anyone can make a custard cream or a bourbon and not have to pay anyone royalties. Excellent!! My biscuit-tin is FreeWare!! Or should it be OpenCream as opposed to Open Source!!??? :))
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 19:35:12 2006

 Hello! Tee-hee!
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 19:30:15 2006

 Unfortunatly there would be numerous and most likely hilarious legal issues for patenting biscuit coating technologies in the US, since they call them cookies!
Kev
- Tue Jan 31 18:16:34 2006

 Of course, you could copyleft it, and develop OpenBiscuit under some sort of GPL scheme.
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 18:06:08 2006

 Kev- yeah, I think copyrighting is about as far as you can go. Although I'm sure the yanks will happily accept biscuit patents, they've been rejected throughout Europe. The other problem, of course, is "Prior biscuit art"- which the US patent office never checks, which means basically that any old Tom, Dick or Harry can patent (say) the Chocolate Bourbon and get away with it. MicroBi$cuit have been lobbying the Euro-MPs to allow biscuit patenting in Europe, but (luckily) they've not yet prevailed. It's good to think that the small biscuit maker is free to develop his/her own biscuit recipes, without having to pay licensing fees to big biscuit business.
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 17:59:38 2006

 To avoid sludge, I suggest inventing a special coating ( a bit like Maltesers have to stop you getting all choclaty) that can be applied to biscuits. This idea is now copyrighted by me.
Kev
- Tue Jan 31 17:30:33 2006

 jimmy: have you considered taking off one half of a bournon and then sticking a richtea onto it?
Kev
- Tue Jan 31 17:28:44 2006

 MM- perhaps it was the disappointment of finding that the biscuit had not be pre-dunked? Digestive are good, but too crumbly for my liking (I always end up with sludge at the bottom of the mug).
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 17:25:27 2006

 Jimmy: have you considered what might have been in the bourbon biscuit to cause the demise of the mouse. Maybe you need a food taster. Personally my dunking favourite is Digestive, but you have to be quick.
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jan 31 16:49:55 2006

 I wonder if, having consumed the Bourbon, the mouse would be good if dunked in tea ...
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 16:23:42 2006

 Cheers dsp!! I'll probably need help!!
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 16:19:59 2006

 Jimmy: It probably died of shock then!! :) Travis: Some ripe topics there!
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 16:18:03 2006

 I'm very disappointed to see I didn't even make the "Evil Top 10".
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 16:17:03 2006

 dsp: my knowledge is limited to vhs, s-vhs, hi8, and mini-dv. I had a real pain converting hi-8 into something useable on a computer this past summer, but I think I've got it down now. Sorry I can't be o' help.
Travis
- Tue Jan 31 16:09:11 2006

 What do the following have in common: Jack the Ripper, Thomas Becket, Eadric Streona, King John, Sir Richard Rich, Titus Oates, Prince William Augustus, Thomas Arundel, Hugh Despenser, Oswald Mosley? http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article342148.ece
Travis
- Tue Jan 31 16:07:25 2006

 Nigel: Congrats on the book purchase! I can help you out if you get stuck.
dsp
- Tue Jan 31 16:05:59 2006

 Hiya, can I pick the brains of the digital telly/mpeg experts... is there a really easy way to convert DVD VOB files to MPEG4 ?
dsp
- Tue Jan 31 16:05:21 2006

 Looks as if this will work: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go1773 So when the review is available, I'll let you know.
Travis
- Tue Jan 31 16:02:53 2006

 You have it almost exactly right- except it was a wench, not a winch (and very accommodating she was, too). It wan't just the Bourbon she pulled- but in the interests of staying (kind-of) on-topic, I'll say that my house is now mouse-free. Oddly enough, the mouse wasn't found dead in the trap, but in a different room. How was that? Beats me!
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 16:02:47 2006

 Thanks, all. Kev: The book was given to me by one of the editors (who happens to be my Greek professor...and an Irishman). Let me see if there's an online link. If not, I'll be so kind as to post it or link it when it's finished. John: I'd love a password.
Travis
- Tue Jan 31 16:01:32 2006

 Ha! Had an image of a winch pulling a boubon across a field to lure the mice!! Would you care to elaborate on your mouse--baiting activities?
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 15:57:57 2006

 ... actually, Bourbons also make for a very good mouse-trap lure as I discovered at the weekend ...
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 15:51:16 2006

 I think Bourbons are considered persona-non-grata amongst true devotees, however I do admit to a weakness for them. As the chocolate is more cocoa than chocolate I... I... Well, let's just say there's a skeleton in everyone's closet - even mine! :(
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 15:43:12 2006

 That's it- "Malted milk" - I couldn't remember the name. I've always referred to them as "Cow biscuits". What about Bourbons, though? Admittedly they're chocolatey, but as it's in the biscuit-sandwich, it tends not to escape/diffuse into the drink ... so they can be a good "Compromise candidate."
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 15:20:26 2006

 Ah! A fellow officionado! I agree "Malted Milks" are an excellent choice! Chocolate coverings may be ok for coffee drinkers but is a terrible faux-pas in tea, I feel!!! :)
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 15:16:29 2006

 Hob-nobs are indeed anexcellent choice in terms of flavour. Some people like the chocolate version, but as I don't take sugar in my tea, I tend to stay away from any choccies. What about those malted ones ("Cow biscuits")? And there's also the shortbread-type biccies which have greater structural integrity.
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 15:09:33 2006

 Hmmm. Well I have to agree with Mr McVite. Rich Tea has the necessary tensile strength to hold together for at least a couple of good dunks. However for flavour you can't beat a hobnob, though their propensity to disintegrate is not for the faint-hearted. Butter-Crunch too are high on my list.
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 15:04:10 2006

 Well, it needs to be able to survive a good dunk (with suitable margin for timing error)- but flavour is important too.
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 14:52:21 2006

 Are you looking for non-soggy-crumb-dropping, or is taste more important?
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 14:40:28 2006

 Rich tea, of course!
Mr. McVitie
- Tue Jan 31 14:37:52 2006

 What variety of biscuit is the best for dunking in tea?
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 14:23:07 2006

 Well I've been back to Waterstones and bought a.... VBExpress2005 book by MS. There. Done. Committed. (sorry Kev, I couldn't forget my "real" C!!) However, please don't expect miracles! I'll probably be asking lots of daft questions... How exactly do you spell "Helo Wrld"?
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 14:15:52 2006

HTML TEST

Just checkin' ...
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 14:07:09 2006

 John: A password would be useful. Very occasionally my post has been too long. I think you have my work email.
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jan 31 13:30:52 2006

 My goodness, don't you all look young. (you have no idea how long I've been waiting to say that!)
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jan 31 13:30:10 2006
dsp
- Tue Jan 31 13:09:01 2006

 Great news everyone! We made the big time!
dsp
- Tue Jan 31 13:07:35 2006

 well like dsp says its the framework thats the hard bit to learn i.e. sockets, xml serializers etc the rest is all semantics as they say!!!
Kev
- Tue Jan 31 13:02:45 2006

 Thanks John! I'll check it out later at home (work bans anything but official email!!) Kev: My first project is likely to be "Hello World" !! :) I was in the local Waterstones last night checking the VB and C# books. They had the OReilly one. The VB ones seemed so much keener to hold my hand for me... :))))
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 12:53:09 2006

 yes no doubt I will just get bored John and you probably won't be a to tell the diffence from the spam bot and my usual jibberings.
Kev
- Tue Jan 31 12:52:40 2006

 Kev, what's that phrase - security through obscurity...? I think in your case I can rely on security through lethargy!
John
- Tue Jan 31 12:49:00 2006

 Nigel, I have emailed you an, errr, email then (?!?!). I hope it all makes sense!
John
- Tue Jan 31 12:47:32 2006

 I will start work immediately on a spam-bot dedicated to targetting this site. ( or perhaps this would be an ideal first project in vb for you Nigel ? )
Kev
- Tue Jan 31 12:42:19 2006

 Moring all! Hi John. Thanks very much. Appreciated. Yes, my email address is as you mention (my feeble attempts not to be too memorable!! :)))
Nigel
- Tue Jan 31 12:40:32 2006

 Should anyone else (Travis, Mumsie, or anyone else) want a password setting up so you can post longer messages please let me know and I will be happy to oblige. Jimmy - you have a password, not sure if you remember it, please get in touch if not and I can remind you sir!
John
- Tue Jan 31 12:39:02 2006

 Kev - Yep, that seems to work then! Please accept a carte blanche from me at least to flood the board with long complicated diatribes on whatever topic you feel like now!
John
- Tue Jan 31 12:37:27 2006

 Nigel, have set up a password for you too, but not sure where to mail the details too. I have a mail address for you from about a year ago - the last bit is tiscali, and the first bit is mainly just a number... Is this still the right one? If not please mail me with an appropriate address - my address is (my first name)@(this domain).
John
- Tue Jan 31 12:36:04 2006

 This is a test maison-de-stuff
Kev
- Tue Jan 31 12:35:49 2006

 Kev - have just emailed you a cryptic version of your new password.
John
- Tue Jan 31 12:33:51 2006

 .. or are you saying they have chosen you ( well done ), and sent you a book to review which you get to keep?
Kev
- Tue Jan 31 11:59:36 2006

 So Travis, are you saying you bought the book so you could review it, then as a reward they are going to give you another free book that you just read ? Can I ask why they don't give you a different book so you can review that instead, ergo you get free books and they get free reviews ?
Kev
- Tue Jan 31 11:57:27 2006

 Travis, good job mate! Will it be possible to read the review somewhere on the internet or is just a paper thing?
Lox
- Tue Jan 31 11:45:48 2006

 Travis, that's great! Well done!
dsp
- Tue Jan 31 10:16:44 2006

 Cool, T-Boy! John, I think you should try going into a building you've never been into before. Just at random!
Rob Lang
- Tue Jan 31 09:12:59 2006

 Travis- abstinence only?! That really is unbelievably stupid.
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 31 09:10:23 2006

 This may or may not interest you (I realize this is a tautology). I have been chosen to write a book review of "The Philosophy of Film Noir" for InterTexts, a (scholarly) journal of comparative literature. It's a very interesting read so far...and I'm a huge noir fan. For my services, I receive a free copy of the book. Huzzah!
Travis
- Tue Jan 31 05:16:33 2006

 Nigel and Kev: you are dangerously close to the even more frightening truth! Get out while you still can! Agh!
John
- Mon Jan 30 23:48:33 2006

 .net core at the heart of vista? My arse!
John
- Mon Jan 30 23:45:05 2006

 are you suggesting hes in on it, or that hes just in a japanese style - space cadets(ch4 show)
kev
- Mon Jan 30 23:17:37 2006

 No Kev. It's all a con. John's really holed-up in a fake Japan, recreated on the back-lot at Borehamwood. This is how-come he's got it all - the gadgets, the job, the girl, the food, the drink, the Sherlock DVDs... I mean, really! How could anyone have such a good time of it?!?! His new book will be entitled: "Snowmen and the Art of Buying Tables" I predict it will be a best-seller! (Hee-hee!! No offence John!! :)))
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 23:09:54 2006

 so nigel, do you think john is in some kind of truemanesque style local guyjin show? John have you noticed that, rather oddly, there is always a pepsi can on you new branded table set to face the same way ?
kev
- Mon Jan 30 22:22:00 2006

 Travis: As you say... not exactly encouraging.
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 22:14:34 2006

 Rob: Just watched the video!! Splendid!!! (Work firewall wouldn't let me)
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 20:34:40 2006

 Know what you mean Kev. When as work I have to copy-to-clipboard everything I type. Not sure if it's just a rubbish intranet there or the firewall, but it sometimes takes me two or three attempts to send a message, each time dumping me at an "empty" field. I learned the hard way, aftre writing some important missive, only to lose it all at the click of add-message! :(
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 20:03:04 2006

 John, how can I get a password so I don't get the post too big response ( happened to me earlier today and is rather annoying ). Can you email me a pword please ? I have taken to editing in notepad first now so as not to lose lots of typing!
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 18:19:36 2006

 Hmm, I think bernard might have had something interesting to say, but the anti-spam thingy has prevented us from ever finding out. Oh well
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 18:15:36 2006

 Sorry, this message was too big.
bernard
- Mon Jan 30 18:08:05 2006

 Nigel: Evolutionary theory is fine; this is a university town. More alarmingly, however, the public schools teach abstinence only in "sex ed" classes. There is absolutely no discussion of any other means of birth control. Not surprisingly, there is an alarmingly high rate of sexually transmitted diseases in the public school system, beginning around age 13. Fun stuff.
Travis
- Mon Jan 30 17:59:12 2006

 If it's in Kev's underpants, I'm not interested.
Jimmy
- Mon Jan 30 17:05:31 2006

 MM - You're in! Jimmy - I enjoyed it though! Anyway, you any good with a crowbar? I know where there's some gold!!! :)))
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 16:53:38 2006

 Nigel: I'm very good at "footing" a ladder, and I have a striped t shirt and a mask.
Mad Mumsie
- Mon Jan 30 16:43:00 2006

 ... so, let me get this right: we've had a big debate about the pros and cons of various languages and systems, none of us have changed our views, but we're all fairly satisfied with the outcome. Have we just been agreeing all day?
Jimmy
- Mon Jan 30 16:42:20 2006

 Whatever is on that site Rob, my filtering software won't allow me to open the llink.
Mad Mumsie
- Mon Jan 30 16:41:43 2006

 For anyone who has any contact with Japan (Safe For Work, Video with Sound) http://www.wimp.com/secrets/
Rob Lang
- Mon Jan 30 16:24:23 2006

 Ho-ho! Would that be a solid vest, or a string vest (I need to estimate your wealth, naturally!)
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 16:08:48 2006

 I plan on making a killing with gold underpants and vests - I think theres a good business model there!
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 16:01:37 2006

 (Whistle) So, Kev, where about in Norfolk are you?? :))))) Tum-ti-tum... Rope, ladder, mask, swag-bag... Check...! Ahhhh "String Arrays" ......!!!!! :)
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 15:58:25 2006

 Yes Kev. Just don't tell anyone.
Rob Lang
- Mon Jan 30 15:49:05 2006

 So what your saying is "buy gold and keep it under my bed"?
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 15:42:19 2006

 Actually, many of the high street banks use a system even more shoddy than floating point. How about 'early 80s strings and lookup table driven mathematics'? Scarey? Yes.
Rob Lang
- Mon Jan 30 15:38:36 2006

 Rob: Its good to know that the fate of western democracy is based on "very ropey floating point mathematics". lol
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 15:36:13 2006

 Jimmy, only transactional banking uses BCD. The Credit Risk part of the business (the bit that makes most of the money) is very ropey floating point mathematics.
Rob Lang
- Mon Jan 30 15:30:32 2006

 Going back to John's point about "reinventing the wheel", the established codebase of C/ASM/PASCAL/ etc is so large it would take quite a time to surplant it with modern languages. But that's just "technique" isn't it? The code would need recomiling for any new CPU platform. While Intel keeps backward compatibility, PC code is safe-ish. For embedded environments, with different CPUs C/C++ is so compact it's still the language of choice.
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 14:52:13 2006

 Ha! Cheers Kev. That's a "don't" for me then!! :)) Bring back punch-cards, I say!! By the way Kev, I'm "keeping" my old language style (call me a luddite!!) and will try Visual Basic Express NET 2005. I was working through some C# examples (at c-sharpcorner) and it's hard to see any similarity with C/C++ at all. (I'm a novice remember!) Looked very BASIC to me. I might cause a ruction and petition for a return to GOTO !!! :))))
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 14:17:29 2006

 to quote Jimmy- "Theres no such thing as a black art in programming, you either understand it or you don't" - or something like that!
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 13:11:34 2006

 In a nutshell then, we *do* need all these diverse languages to keep us rolling. And driver coding is one of those black-arts you really need blinkers to do properly otherwise you only code for a given set of circumstances? Hmmm. All food for thought. I kinda hope C/C++ and their ilk still have a place. Raw code is "sexy" isn't it? I remember once getting a C compiler which came without basic functions like printf - you were expected to code them yourself!! :))
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 12:57:36 2006

 OS and drivers should be a snug fit with the hardware and be able to exploit hardware features that are not needed. Business applications have no need to be so close to the silicon. I think that the memory management is a side issue. The key point is the compilation to IL. With all the platform benefits this brings. When mono (see http://www.mono-project.com/ ) becomes a little more mature, .Net will gain more popularity. Choose the right language for the right job!
dsp
- Mon Jan 30 12:46:09 2006

 Sorry, this message was too big.
dsp
- Mon Jan 30 12:45:57 2006

 ... which it kind-of is. It only remains portable if your have the source-code though- which is true of practically any portable language. Including .NET. Have you ever used ILDASM to uncompile your .NET apps? It's frightening *how* close to raw source-code the IL actaully is (comments and all!). Which is another reason why it's not been universally taken-up. Of course.
Jimmy
- Mon Jan 30 12:44:05 2006

 Another good reason then to help C/ASM back to the fore, or maybe why they could not completely go away. I suppose there are BCD data-types in .NET that are pure ASM which can be run on the fly, so perhaps that's where the integer math comes in. For me "C" was always taught as "portable-assembler" anyway.
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 12:39:42 2006

 No rounding errors!!! So bang goes that idea for a nice fraud!!! (What? You mean someone already tried that??!! Rats!!)
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 12:33:08 2006

 I believe most financial software isn't high-level at all- largely on the grounds that it doesn't use floating-point maths. I believe that the data-types used are invariably BCD, so there are never any rounding errors between decimal/binary.
Jimmy
- Mon Jan 30 12:19:56 2006

 a .NET framework sounds ideal (as did COBOL/FORTRAN many years ago) and a common "Studio" framework sounds an ideal place to do it. I wouldn't trust a financial calculation to my ASM coding, and a high-level language would be much safer.
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 11:20:37 2006

 Well I'm looking forward to Windows Vista, but I hope there's not a JIT system at it's core!! What I was always taught was that all computer programs are MC (machine code = addresses, instructions, pointers, stacks etc) for which ASM is a long-hand version. Making a low-level language into a high-level (i.e easily programmable one) inevitably adds redundancy and unwanted layers. I'm surprised if core DX9 is .NET and JIT. For banking and business applications...
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 11:15:53 2006

 Also, Windows Vista will run on a .NET core, so Microsoft have said that there will be more power handed to the .NET platform. Whether this is true remains to be seen.
Rob Lang
- Mon Jan 30 11:09:30 2006

 ... I believe and probably why .net has the most trouble being accepted by traditional c++ programmers. However the latest DX9 has can be run from .net, Microsoft have wrapped all the call in managed to unmanaged conversions, and I supspect any new derivations will have this too.
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 11:05:55 2006

 ...Accessing the core components of a system like device drivers etc is the real problem with dot net - you need to do this with Managed C++ a sort or hybrid which can sit between managed and unmanaged code and used marshelling and convertion protocols to move data into and out of the dotnet framework. This is the most controversial bit
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 11:05:44 2006

 ....and run it on Linux Mono with no effort. Also If you write a component in C# but you want to access it from your vb.net GUI this is no problem, the MSIL exports the prototypes for the class definitions etc for you so you just 'reference' the assembly and hey-presto it will work.
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 11:05:33 2006

 ...is JIT compiled, this means that as a section of the code is required to run, its compiled into native code i.e. x86 assembler and executed just-in-time, once compiled it stays compiled. You code runs on top of all this. As to the APIs- in dot net the underneath framework is in MSIL ( microsoft intermediate language ) and when you compile your program it is actually an Assembly, not a binary so it cannot run without the framework, however this means you can pick up your assembly
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 11:05:25 2006

 Nigel: the dotnet compilers are written in c++, the mono project for linux is gcc - so underneath they are unmanaged code. Of course the frameworks are developed in c#, this is the largest part of the sytem, then you have the interop sections that allow the managed code to interface to the unmanged dlls and com components. And don't forget .net
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 11:05:11 2006

 Sorry, this message was too big.
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 11:05:00 2006

 Robs absolutely right about maintaining old code bases, its nearly impossible to get someone in to fix old c code, no doubt you have to get in expensive contracters( or make a permy unhappy if its a long job )? Also John is right about the oodles of C++ codebase out there atm, whos going to be fixing all that in the future ? Most 'New' developers are wanting to use new fangled languages and see C++ as slow to develop and clumsy ( thats my word for it anyway )
Kev
- Mon Jan 30 10:47:42 2006

 With any software comparisons, it's always best to fit the application. However, we have a system written in C that is impossible to maintain. The cost to business is huge because any small change to it means hours of work.
Rob Lang
- Mon Jan 30 10:36:51 2006

 Indeed- you could certainly media code in .NET, but you'd be mad to. I suspect that any sensible production version of audio/video code is hand-crafted in assembler (or certainly contains a fir chunk of it).
Jimmy
- Mon Jan 30 09:27:35 2006

 Travis: Sounds like prohibition!! Do they also ban the teaching of evolutionary theory in Lubbock?
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 09:21:56 2006

 For all you guys who are true "Pros" (meant as a compliment - nothing else!) I see the advantages of .NET, but I have to ask what language the APIs and frameworks are written in? For example, most BASIC compilers have been written in C/C++, so at this level I can see where John's view is coming from. MS write OS and runtimes as a big part of the business. Doesn't "media" need code-critical components to run efficiently?
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 09:09:54 2006

 Morning! So now.... As I used to programme assembler (a long time ago and 8/16bit only - I can't handle such big hex-numbers and off-sets as 32/64-bit!!), I can appreciate that critical code is faster if written in such, or C/C++, .NET and ED languages do sound good as rapid-development languages - as COBOL and FORTRAN used to be I guess. My brain-set is probasbly rooted in "flow" with the odd object! I tried JAVA but sadly failed...
Nigel
- Mon Jan 30 09:05:47 2006

 Well, I reckon it's about time I stick my oar in: If you want run-time performance, go for C++. If you weant development-time performance, then go for .NET! Sadly, I fear that C++ will never be rapid to develop, and non-compiled languages will never run at a decent speed!
Jimmy
- Mon Jan 30 08:47:22 2006

 Having helped one compnay move a monolithic C/C++/Syntel system over into .NET, I think the days of unmanaged code are numbered. John, you got a job in a monolith of a company doing C++, interview processes are about personality - nothing to do with a range of languages. Speaking for the banking industry (a rather rich one), they want to move to a code base that is more manageable. The .NET framework allows you to do that because it take away a fair amount of coding and does it for you. This leaves the code that remains easier to read. Furthermore, Java/C# .NET (pretty much the same thing) facilitates rapid prototyping and extreme programming, both paradigms that the western coding industry is having to take on board to survive the sudden glut of Indian/Chinese coding firms. I'm sure FORTRAN and COBOL programmers had once suggested that their languages were safe but having been on the job hunt recently, it's C# .NET that people want. C++ is only required for reading the old systems and turning them into managed code. I think you're the exception, John. You've managed to get a job with a large software company that can afford to write in legacy code base.

I also think there is an issue about being close minded. If you've never written a line of Java, how do you know that it's not all people think it is? If you've never had to use .NET/Java in anger, how can you possibly say that C++ is NOT on the way out? Sounds like head-in-the-sand to me.
Rob Lang
- Mon Jan 30 07:47:00 2006

 you should look at java and c# john, just to get an insight to something different, horses for courses again! why use c or c++ if another language is better/easier? - just for the hell of it? sounds like closed mindedness to me and thats odd coming from a try-anything-once guy like you!
kev
- Mon Jan 30 00:52:16 2006

 whoops pda crashed - java is quite popular - but i would say these managed languages are very suitable for top layer dev, i.e web stuff too
kev
- Mon Jan 30 00:48:22 2006

 Licsensing is a pain. Being entrepreneurial (I may have made up that word), I was looking into an alcohol delivery business. It turns out that the laws in Lubbock (very religious) make it nearly impossible. I'd also likely be killed by the local "big man" who seemingly owns the town, but it might be worth it for the money for the brief duration of my life.
Travis
- Mon Jan 30 00:47:05 2006

 Java - yea, and what of it? Yet again, I've never written a line of it, and that certainly hasn't dented my ability to get a job! I don't want to sound like a complete cynic, it's not that I'm a die hard C fan or anything, I'm just being realistic. With the industry in the state it is in, with so much of an existing code base, it isn't really in a position to make any big changes.
John
- Mon Jan 30 00:45:28 2006

 Linux is probably the exception there - no doubt some weirdo has already written a Linux kernel in managed code to run on a calculator at sub-zero temperatures on high speed trains in Swedish, upside-down and is mushroom flavoured, etc.
John
- Mon Jan 30 00:42:56 2006

 java
kev
- Mon Jan 30 00:41:52 2006

 At the risk of sounding like that bloke who said he can only imagine five computers ever being sold in the whole world, I really can't see this future of managed code taking over everything that Kev seemed to be spelling out. The huge codebases of C and C++ are not about to be slung out by the big software companies of the world, that basically only really make their money by maintaining these now. Take Windows for example - interop is massively important, and as apparently it is the biggest software project in the world, the manpower simply does not exist to throw it all away and write it again from scratch. The same is true of any big OS - Linux, Solaris, whatever. I'm not saying I can't see the big benefits of managed code, and that it will take a significant share of new software developed from now on, but lets be realistic as well - good old unmanaged C/C++ is here to stay.
John
- Mon Jan 30 00:33:23 2006

 All this talk of .net and managed code reminds me of those afternoons at my former workplace, where Kev and his co-conspirator Simon used to spend ages telling me how rubbish I was because I didn't know anything about .net etc, and how my skillset was all obsolete and I'd have a really hard time getting another job. Ahem. Well without wanting to blow my own trumpet, I have since passed what is notoriously the toughest interview procedure in the world (as far as the IT industry goes anyway), and at every step I repeatedly said I have no experience of .net, c# and so on. Apparently that barely mattered at all, and it turned out that a large part of what got me my job was my unique experience of digital TV, which, if you recall Kev and Simon, was what I said all along would end up being more important. Ha! Have at you!
John
- Mon Jan 30 00:26:23 2006

 agree dsp. its horses for courses, pick a language and spend time learning the framework. think of a simple project and make it happen- that's the best way to learn.
kev
- Sun Jan 29 23:52:04 2006

 And caffeine does help a lot! :-) Off to bed - night!
dsp
- Sun Jan 29 23:19:09 2006

 Hiya everyone. Nigel - I use VB.Net in anger and find it a super-duper language. One of the big benefits of all the .Net languages is that this syntax is just a small part. The majority of the heavy lifting is done with the objects provided in the framework and these are the same regardless of which language you choose.
dsp
- Sun Jan 29 23:18:49 2006

 c# vb.net and c++ are all oo languages of course, for me each has its own place to be used in different situations. learning the syntax of each is quite easy - perhaps you should look at a patterns book, these are the supposed 20-30 design basics that have been identified - you can get a kind of overview of different techniques - using them effectively is where experience helps!
kev
- Sun Jan 29 22:23:58 2006

 nigel: interestingly, eventing is probably made much easier in dot net whrther it be c# vb.net or managed c++. actually, in c++ when you use virtual inheritance,i.e a method in a class that the parent object calls but the implementation is provided by you, this is really eventing But alot ore Convoluted.
kev
- Sun Jan 29 22:18:32 2006

 So then... I've been working on the "event-driven" model. Hmmm. Polling & interupt handling I can understand, but I get the impression ED programming is mainly a boon for OS's and media handling etc.? As an "event-cascade" sounds very like recursion to me, do I unlearn to relearn, or just give it a wide berth? Decisions! C++ suddenly sounds more attractive! Never even liked the paradigm of "objects" if I'm honest, but it sounds more flexible. Need caffeine.... :))
Nigel
- Sun Jan 29 21:51:02 2006

 actually I think its mostly the 24hr supermarkets that have benefited the most, pubs and clubs are just staying open an extra hour or two.
Kev
- Sun Jan 29 17:15:45 2006

 Kev: Yep, I have seen the news, shame that they didn't do it when I was living in the uk!! :P
Lox
- Sun Jan 29 16:56:12 2006

 as you now in the uk too! hurrah for 24hr licensing
kev
- Sun Jan 29 16:31:25 2006

 John: I think that licensing laws are only enforced in north european countries (and the us)... Also here in Italy you can get alchool at any time you like...
Lox
- Sun Jan 29 16:29:38 2006

 Yep Kev, it varies from place to place of course, but it's not uncommon to find places that open up to 4 or 5. As you might expect my memory got a little patchy around that point of the morning, but I think my last venue of the evening was a small Indian restaurant, which opened almost round the clock. There seem to be almost no licensing laws here - any old shack can sell beer, at seemingly whatever time of day they fancy.
John
- Sun Jan 29 14:22:39 2006

 so john, what did you do till 6:30, are the bars open all night?
kev
- Sun Jan 29 12:58:14 2006

 Nigel: Nice story, I can imagine you and your daugher trotting down the street! Did you buy he anything?
John: Bravo! That's my boy! I always used to break these rules when in Japan, if you conform too much you start loosing your spirit a bit (that's what I thought at least!) :)
Lox
- Sun Jan 29 12:11:42 2006

 Sorry to disappoint Kev, no great adventure to tell of. I did have a great night out on Friday, the trains stop quite early here - not long after midnight - so I thought sod it and just stayed out until the trains started up again the next morning. I got home about 6:30AM. Having become painfully domesticated recently - I spend my weekends choosing curtains etc - this little bit of rebellion was a great relief.
John
- Sun Jan 29 11:50:09 2006

 Yeah, sorry about that Kev (but thanks for the sage words!!) I can't offer an adventure - except my daughter took me into town today (she's 2). It was great! What was good was if she lead the way, people just moved politely out of our path, smiling benignly at her (mostly). Whereas when I'm alone people wouldn't budge if their wages depended on it!! Quite refreshing!! :))
Nigel
- Sat Jan 28 21:22:57 2006

 Yawn: today is a techy day, what we need is a hawkins adventure-story to lighten the mood!
Kev
- Sat Jan 28 21:03:15 2006

 Actually, in my experience alot of developers coming from a C, C++ background just don't get C#, the event driven stuff is much more like the VB, delphi languages. You need to switch off your brain then reboot in event mode!
Kev
- Sat Jan 28 21:02:04 2006

 Okay, cheers Kev I'll take a look at the O'Reilly book. (Why do they have all those odd creatures on the front? Why is a peacock so relevant to C# ??) At least MS offer the C# Express edition for free on their msdn site. Sad as I am I still have an archive of old C (and BASIC) code on CDs along with magazine snippets. Iteresting to see how the C stuff fits in :)
Nigel
- Sat Jan 28 20:19:39 2006

 Nigel: this is a good book to get you started http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596006993/qid=1138478649/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/026-5341289-2260406
Kev
- Sat Jan 28 20:05:24 2006

 I reckon you should look at C# forget C++ and C it'll just confuse and won't get you anywhere - as for C#, collegue of mine used to refer to it as "Mickey Mouse", and compared to C++ it is, however once you get the OO stuff, classes, inheritence, private, protected public, events and delegates, threads( which is made very easy ) sussed, its actually a really powerful language that means you can concentrate on the design of your software and not the implementation problems that you get in other languages.
Kev
- Sat Jan 28 20:03:39 2006

 Thanks Kev. I'll nip over and check those sites out. I know what you mean about "real" programming in C++. I only ever went into any depth with ANSI C. I probably still have the original Kernigan & Richie reference here somewhere. I've steered clear of VB until now because... well some of those variables looked rediculous!! Still time marches on and I should "update" my knowledge :( So you don't think I could plop my old BASIC code into VB and it compile? :))
Nigel
- Sat Jan 28 19:55:18 2006

 nigel: have a look at http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/ and http://www.codeproject.com/ These are two pretty good resources, codeproject has some really simple howtos for using the windows forms etc there are c# and vb.net examples too ( more c# than vb.net )
Kev
- Sat Jan 28 17:30:42 2006

 Nigel I recommend you look at the c# stuff rather than VB.NET, I think that vb.net is nothing like the old Basic you know and love and will just be rather confusing. Personally I think that vb.net is a bit of a hash now since they bolted on the OO bits, sort of an evil cross betweem 'proper' programming(C++) and BBC Basic! Well thats my tuppence worth. Also the c# stuff will be easier to google for I think, since its more popular! vb.net seems to be more popular in ASP.NET.
Kev
- Sat Jan 28 17:26:10 2006

 Cheers Kev! Yes, I'm a bit new to "Studio" but I get the impression all MS Express compilers share some common framework - i.e .NET. C I'm ok(ish) with but haven't tried C# - I guess it's NET based too. BASIC is my "educationally enforced" language, while others were doing PASCAL!! So I thought VB - and a totally free version at that! - was a good place to start. I don't envisage big projects, just "keeping my hand in" etc!!
Nigel
- Sat Jan 28 17:02:53 2006

 Personally I would take the plunge and use c# I always delt vb.net was a bit of a compromise towards micro$ofts VB3/6 devs. Essentially you are using the framework libraries to access forms and controls or sockets or whatever and those bits are the same its just the calling onventions that change!
Kev
- Sat Jan 28 16:50:13 2006

 Actually, maybe dsp can advise here, since he( i think ) is a vb.net dev. I was under the impression that even though Visual Basic and Vb.net share the same name they are not particularily similar except for keywords like BEGIN and END etc.
Kev
- Sat Jan 28 16:50:07 2006

 Sorry, this message was too big.
Kev
- Sat Jan 28 16:49:58 2006

 Nigel are you talking about vb.net express, if so I will bash you round the head until your ears bleed! LOL actually I am using the c# visual studio express atm so I can play with dotnet 2. I assume the vb is the same as the c# its just the language enabled inside it is different unlike vs2005(8) which has them all.
Kev
- Sat Jan 28 16:46:01 2006

 Hello all! A lovely sunny day here. I've just acquired the free version of Visual Basic Express 2005. Any one know if it's a good intro to the language? Bear in mind I'm an old-fashioned BASIC progger - not used an MS variant before.
Nigel
- Sat Jan 28 16:36:07 2006

 Hi all happy wekend everybody!
Lox
- Sat Jan 28 12:55:25 2006

 Thanks, guys. It's from the Darkness song, "Dinner Lady Arms," which becomes all the more entertaining.
Travis
- Sat Jan 28 00:07:07 2006

 Kev: Ha! My son is always correcting me over that. I say "What did you have for dinner today, Tim?" He';; say "It was *lunch* Daddy. We're having Dinner now!" etc etc... :(
Nigel
- Fri Jan 27 22:11:39 2006

 Hi Travis: Is there a context? In the UK it usually means the ladies who dish-up at the school/factory/office canteen. There's also a famous sit-com by Victoria Wood called the same and about the same!! :))
Nigel
- Fri Jan 27 22:10:15 2006

 dinner lady is usually associated with schools, of course - dishing out the dinner at midday - unless your posh then its called lunch, and dinner is the evening meal instead of tea( Not to be confused with tea-break which you can have at anytime ) - at least that's how it is in my neck of the woods!
kev
- Fri Jan 27 22:09:22 2006

 Bah! Seems that it may be the equivalent of our "lunch lady" or "lunch aid"...
Travis
- Fri Jan 27 22:00:57 2006

 Terminology question: Is there some special meaning to a "dinner lady" in your neck o' the woods? Much obliged.
Travis
- Fri Jan 27 21:59:35 2006

 Dsp: Nice pick (the hat), it doesn't have anything to envy to the famous Mr.Lang Green/Black Mad Hatter Hat...
Lox
- Fri Jan 27 21:51:06 2006

 Eraly night for me too, went to see Match Point (woody allen), nice movie, surely better than Broadback Mountain...
Lox
- Fri Jan 27 21:50:28 2006

 Early night for you, mate? We're just getting sorted to go to the TUC!
Rob Lang
- Fri Jan 27 21:20:15 2006

 I am just now on my way home after a night out. I would like to highlight the time...!
John
- Fri Jan 27 20:53:59 2006

 Graf: you are my hero! These will come in well handy! I'll let you know how I get on! Mega thanks!
dsp
- Fri Jan 27 18:44:05 2006

 DSP: Are these any help? http://bohemiannight.co.uk/ipod/mini_iTunesDB http://bohemiannight.co.uk/ipod/3G_iTunesDB
graf
- Fri Jan 27 18:30:34 2006

 Time to go home. Have a good weekend everyone. Seeing No 1 son and future Mrs Lang tomorrow.
Mad Mumsier
- Fri Jan 27 16:54:00 2006

 DSP: Do you need different iPod's versions of iTunesDB? I should be able to lay my hands on 4 different iPods at the weekend (3G, 5G, mini and shuffle)
Graf
- Fri Jan 27 16:07:14 2006

 Well, at least I won't go hungry!!
Mad Mumsie
- Fri Jan 27 15:01:48 2006

 Hi Rob,
I've just helped your mum pick her hat for the big day...

dsp
- Fri Jan 27 14:49:34 2006

 Hi boys and girls! Does anyone have an iPod?
I am writing some software and need test data.
I need copies of iTunesDB from /iPod_Control/iTunes/
Can anyone help?
dsp
- Fri Jan 27 12:58:59 2006

 John: AH! THE YAMANOTE LINE!! :)
Lox
- Fri Jan 27 12:20:21 2006

 Rob: left a message on your mobile. Pleae all about tomorrow.
Mad Mumsie
- Fri Jan 27 11:35:38 2006

 Just to make you feel better mate, at least you're not working for a company that a lot of people think is evil...............oh.
Rob Lang
- Fri Jan 27 11:14:56 2006

 Not so Hawkins-San http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2370.html
Kev
- Fri Jan 27 10:36:28 2006

 I am now on the Yamanote line. This information will probably be meaningless to everyone but Lox!
John
- Fri Jan 27 09:56:24 2006

 I actually had a zaurus a while back, but hardly used it. It was a Japanese OS which was a little too much for me back then. I had heard it was linux based, but that must have been pretty well hidden under that evil GUI. I never managed to get within a mile of a command shell.
John
- Fri Jan 27 09:37:05 2006

 Well it is 6PM here in Tokyo, so I could probably now determine that the working week is done for me. It has been a bit of a crappy week here in the crazy world of global software development. Although this ought to mean I am filled with joy at the prospect of a Friday night and an impending weekend, somehow my crappy week actually seems to have drained all my enthusiasm and all I really seem to want to do is go home and go to bed!
John
- Fri Jan 27 09:05:07 2006

 No Nigel, it was a problem of a "motivational underflow" nature.
John
- Fri Jan 27 09:01:42 2006

 John: I was stuck behind a slow-moving tractor for a goodly part of the journey this morning... So I was cutting it fine. I take it your reason wasn't a late train? :))
Nigel
- Fri Jan 27 08:54:40 2006

 Wasn't that Sharp Zaurus Linux too? Never seen one in action. Hard to believe you can actually get a Linux GUI on a portable without a hard drive! I guess it most certainly *isn't* X Window!! Anyway, as a postscript to a previous note, my new PC connected to the wireless print server and my laser first time, and worked perfectly!! In the PC versus Mac debate, that's one-nil to the PC! :))
Nigel
- Fri Jan 27 08:53:06 2006

 Oh, and I am very late for work.
John
- Fri Jan 27 00:40:36 2006

 My phone runs Opera!
John
- Fri Jan 27 00:38:37 2006

 nigel: i've been using my dell axim x3i quite happily under wm2003, nokia 770 uses miamo, which you might have heard me mention recently. linux os, slightly scarey, but i think its got great potential as a unit based on open source. atm is has opera, give it 3-6 months imho there will be mozilla ff version. cooltastic. i would get one, but its out-of-stock!!
kev
- Fri Jan 27 00:01:40 2006

 Kev: It had a short but emotional life. It will be fondly remembered - NOT. Nothing but stress from day one!! That new Nokia looks pretty splendid, doesn't it? What OS is it? My PDA had Win Mobile 5, which I actually liked. (It was a hardware problem...)
Nigel
- Thu Jan 26 22:44:26 2006

 Nigel: Do you think your Pda is in silicon heaven?
kev
- Thu Jan 26 22:03:38 2006

 i have my eye on the nokia 770 webtablet. looks cool, and its exactly how i use my pda - Only to surf the web!
kev
- Thu Jan 26 21:58:17 2006

 Bad news. My PDA died.... Got an RMA so it's off back whence it came... Shall I get a refund or an upgrade? Hmmm... Let's see... :(
Nigel
- Thu Jan 26 21:16:06 2006

 nigel: so do i, however, i got a letter today from dwp saying i can get benifts till july(if nessecary) based on what i've contributed already. so in a way i am not scrounging at all, just getting back what i put in. well makes me feel better about claiming anyway. ho-hum off to the offy now for some fags and cider... Now wherd i put my baseball cap!
kev
- Thu Jan 26 15:46:25 2006

 Hi Kev. Ha! "Contingency plans are in place..."... er... not really! (Unofficial viewpoint!) Seems my figures weren't so far out - so I can be relied upon ;). Yes, there were over 100 call-centres - there will be a lot less, larger, contact-centres - they handle benefit claims to, which I don't. I sincerely hope hope your time with the DWP is short!
Nigel
- Thu Jan 26 14:14:26 2006

 Hmm so much for my keeping it quiet conspiracy http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4649110.stm
Kev
- Thu Jan 26 13:44:18 2006

 Nigel: Actually, just thinking about it, the Jobcenters these days are quite efficient - not sure if theres easy cuts to be made there. Being a 'Regular' now, I had to phone a generic 0845 number to make an appointment and everything seems pretty streamlined. A bit different from when I was last on the sausage 10 years ago, you just turned up, saw someone at a desk and signed the bits of paper.
Kev
- Thu Jan 26 13:38:58 2006

 Nigel: I just saw the irony of your statement that the DWP are the largest employers in the Civil Service and and now laying people off - presumably because they hired too many people and it costs too much - or perhaps they are trying to recoup some of the cash lost by some knuckleheads website that allowed people to claim benefits anonymously over the internet !!!
Kev
- Thu Jan 26 13:35:02 2006

 Lox: DWPs stands for Department of Work and Pensions. It is a 'guvmint' organisation so no doubt any closures or almagamations are being kept quiet ;).
Kev
- Thu Jan 26 13:31:44 2006

 Nigel: I see... Well it's always hard to understand what a single company is doing, maybe it's just something that is related to your firm. On the countrary I see that in Italy too all the call centers have been cut down and they seem to work in a big unit for more companies. The bad side is that the people are paid shit wages "by contact" (usually if the contact is not longer than 45 seconds, when selling services, they don't get paid for that phone call)...
Lox
- Thu Jan 26 12:37:24 2006

 Some of you had quite a chat about numbers, last week. The following link might interest you, but don't get too exited ! http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/further5.shtml
Sheri
- Thu Jan 26 11:58:36 2006

 Lox: Hmmm, makes you wonder, doesn't it? The longer I work here the wilier I get and am pretty sure I'll find something - they can't afford to pay redundancy packages from what I hear. Me thinks I should have stayed in the IT side of things - never was any good at chess! Kev: Time scale is probably by next election!
Nigel
- Thu Jan 26 11:02:34 2006

 Hi Kev. Well I originally understood 10,000 in the London area and the other 30,000 out in the provinces. The goal-posts may have changed slightly. The DWP is one of the biggest employers of the civil service so it's a prime target. Call-centres are all being "amalgamated" into fewer, larger "contact-centres" (note the subtle difference!).
Nigel
- Thu Jan 26 10:56:00 2006

 Nigel: Woooo that's pretty serious... I am sorry about your call center, I didn't know (probably I missed the discussion). It's not an easy period jobwise in Europe, but I am wondering about the fact that England not being part of EMU (the Euro), it seemed that things were not that bad in England after all, while now they are cutting employment...
Lox
- Thu Jan 26 10:52:51 2006

 30,000 thats alot nigel, all in the UK, phased in over how long ? What with manufacturing losing 25,000 in the last 3 months, 1,700 at Rentokil reported today - spells big trouble in little britain plc in the next year IMHO!!
Kev
- Thu Jan 26 10:27:45 2006

 Sorry... that should've been "deemed". What kind of example am I?
Nigel
- Thu Jan 26 09:33:44 2006

 Hi Lox: Job cuts. As is well recorded at the Maison, my call-centre closes in June. So I'm a foregone conclusion. Our lovely leaders deamed a reduction of staffing of around 30000 (I believe).
Nigel
- Thu Jan 26 09:30:56 2006

 Nigel: Striking for what? I have never experienced a strike in England in 4 years... :P
Lox
- Thu Jan 26 09:16:15 2006

 Morning all! Quiet night? Well we're meant to be on strike today... Sadly I doubt it would garner much public sympathy so I'm in... I've already been called a "black-leg" but I told them to stop being racist and that seemed to shut them up. Anybody got strong view s on stiking?
Nigel
- Thu Jan 26 08:54:50 2006

 MM: Well then you have to come to Florence! I am sure that Rob will tell you all about it after which you will feel obliged to come to this marvellous place! :)
Lox
- Wed Jan 25 17:58:36 2006

 Arse biscuits!
Jimmy
- Wed Jan 25 17:51:05 2006

 Tom - did you buy three of those PDAs by any chance?
John
- Wed Jan 25 14:50:09 2006

 Many years ago, I used to rush home from work in time to see Magic Roundabout.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jan 25 14:44:18 2006

 Time for bed!
Zebedee
- Wed Jan 25 14:01:36 2006

 Hello Florence!
Dougal
- Wed Jan 25 13:36:06 2006

 I've never been to Florence.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jan 25 13:08:18 2006

 That's easy Tom: The wifi signal has bounced off any fillings you may have. A combination of gravity and quantum mechanics means the signal is split into three - simple! No spam involved... :))
Nigel
- Wed Jan 25 12:49:41 2006

 Sorry about the spamming there.. dunno what happened. (Except that it's IE...)
tom
- Wed Jan 25 12:06:59 2006

 Mum, there is plenty of Europe left for you. John, Heathrow is a choice venue but was booked up by Mr and Mrs You-Must-Be-Joking. Lox, if you can get there, that would be great!
Rob Lang
- Wed Jan 25 11:51:27 2006

 My hair's fine thankyou! Now then, at the risk of sounding boring - and you may laugh loudly! - I'm enjoying being back on the PC!! I've also set up a "Spaces" bit of MSN for myself and am now exploring msn.com. Am I allowed to be enjoying myself so much? Really good fun! My blog is still very young, and some bits don't appear to work (posting photos and a profile) but I'm enjoying playing! :))
Nigel
- Wed Jan 25 09:54:56 2006

 ............................You don't call her !
Sheri
- Wed Jan 25 08:41:09 2006

 Guys! D'you know how to call a girl who refuses to give you a blow job ?.............................
Sheri
- Wed Jan 25 07:43:21 2006

 Lox/Rob: Only joking about our Florence trip of course - although I would love to go again some time. Given my miniscule holiday allowance it will most likely be quite literally a flying visit. On that note Rob, any chance of changing the venue for the big day to, say, Heathrow Airport?
John
- Wed Jan 25 00:01:08 2006

 Posting this from my Dell PDA using wireless. The handwriting recognition Seems to work even with my scrawl! hope all is well? have been Really. Really Busy recenty. !
Tom
- Tue Jan 24 23:44:59 2006

 Posting this from my Dell PDA using wireless. The handwriting recognition Seems to work even with my scrawl! hope all is well? have been Really. Really Busy recenty. !
Tom
- Tue Jan 24 23:44:45 2006

 Posting this from my Dell PDA using wireless. The handwriting recognition Seems to work even with my scrawl! hope all is well? have been Really. Really Busy recenty. !
Tom
- Tue Jan 24 23:37:03 2006

 John: If you are coming to Florence too and I am in Japan for my trip that'll be the shittest occurence ever!!! Pretty much like the one that got you to seattle while I was in Tokyo!
Lox
- Tue Jan 24 16:16:13 2006

 Rob: Mmmm I have to see the schedule for my trip (which hasn't been fixed yet as a matter of fact) I have a bad feeling that it might be around that time (of you coming to Florence)... Anyways let's see what it can be done. As for coming to the wedding there might be a good chance that I can make it, I have to go back to the office first though before being sure...
Lox
- Tue Jan 24 16:15:19 2006

 Rob's very quiet all of a sudden.
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jan 24 15:19:40 2006

 Perhaps Cyberdad and I will come as well.
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jan 24 13:48:49 2006

 Well- you did look awfully friendly with that one in your back-garden...
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 24 13:03:04 2006

 Jimmy - yes you've very clearly identified the potential grounds for ambiguity in my "second cousins" comment. I think I was referring to the Hawkins of The Darkness fame, however as this was clearly a fabrication I would like to amend this in restrospect, and claim instead I am in fact related to snowmen.
John
- Tue Jan 24 12:18:14 2006

 Maybe me and Chie will attempt to fit in a visit to Florence at the end of our UK visit too... I'm sure the last thing you and Kate want is to be left alone during this time, right Rob? Eh? Eh?
John
- Tue Jan 24 12:15:51 2006

 Rob/Lox - superb, a honeymoon in Florence! I couldn't pick a better place... So Lox, if you can't make it to the wedding, you can instead join in on the honeymoon!
John
- Tue Jan 24 12:14:39 2006

 Fabulous Rob - the 24th. Well efforts will be made here to enable at least me (and hopefully Chie) to be in England around that time.
John
- Tue Jan 24 12:13:27 2006

 John- the snowmen are your second cousins?!
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 24 12:12:04 2006

 Lox, will be flying out to Florence on Monday 27th and Coming back on Saturday 8th April. 11 days in total. If you can make it to the wedding, that would be great!
Rob Lang
- Tue Jan 24 11:09:51 2006

 Rob: Thinking of it, I might be in England during that period, that all depends on client's appointments and my knee, but in case I am there....
Lox
- Tue Jan 24 10:11:59 2006

 Rob: Remember to let me know when you are coming down here! Where exactly is the marriage going to be? London? Reading?
Lox
- Tue Jan 24 10:07:11 2006

 Whenever I see a car with wedding ribbons on it, my immediate reaction is "DON'T DO IT"
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jan 24 09:23:23 2006

 Ahhhh! Splendid!! I'm reminded of that chant they used on the Gladiator's TV show "... bump, bump, bump, another one bites the dust..." !!!
Nigel
- Tue Jan 24 09:21:14 2006

 Nigel: Some scarlet woman has got her claws into my little boy!!
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jan 24 09:07:16 2006

 Morning! Coo... interesting! So is that a wedding or a graduation ? :)) (Okay, so I'm nosey!)
Nigel
- Tue Jan 24 09:01:18 2006

 John, the plan over here is that if you can't get here, we're going to kidnap you.
Rob Lang
- Tue Jan 24 08:59:47 2006

 John: 24.
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jan 24 08:54:29 2006

 Rob (or maybe Mumsie) - can you remind me when exactly that significant date in March is...? I want to test the waters a little in advance to see how the management here would feel about me taking a bit of time off, etc.
John
- Tue Jan 24 06:22:23 2006

 Actually they're my second cousins.
John
- Tue Jan 24 06:20:38 2006

 Sheri, sorry I haven't finished it yet, I'm a really slow reader and other things (like snowmen!) keep getting in the way... By the way, the quality is really good, a very professional feel to it (although I am obviously not an expert on the subject of course!).
John
- Tue Jan 24 06:20:07 2006

 Oh, those Hawkins boys. Not John. The fellows from Darkness. I've just bought their newest album. I'm not disappointed in the least. Love these guys.
Travis
- Tue Jan 24 00:41:18 2006

 jimmy: you should have emailed it!
kev
- Mon Jan 23 21:16:23 2006

 What an incredible Monday afternoon. It's only a bit chilly here, which is amazing as it's late January. Must now go eat lunch and read...
Travis
- Mon Jan 23 18:24:36 2006

 Not so flash you'd notice. Just very slow service, I fear!
Jimmy
- Mon Jan 23 15:32:22 2006

 Wow! Must be a flash watch, Jimmy!
Nigel
- Mon Jan 23 15:22:44 2006

 My watch strap has broken. Last time it needed any sort of repair, it had to be sent away. It took several months to come back :(
Jimmy
- Mon Jan 23 14:40:36 2006

 Afternoon.
Mad Mumsie
- Mon Jan 23 13:29:39 2006

 Morning everyone!
Lox
- Mon Jan 23 13:00:53 2006

 Morning all! Bit slow this morning? The Internet here at work has been down until about 11:30. Now, of course, we'll all bring the network down by all logging on together!! :))
Nigel
- Mon Jan 23 11:50:25 2006

 Sheri: I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I have only been able to look at the first few pages. I will at the very least give comments on what I can finish reading by this weekend.
Travis
- Mon Jan 23 05:33:13 2006

 Sheri: Not at all, I have actually finished it. I'll write you a mail with the comments so that I won't write any spoiler here on the board...
Lox
- Sun Jan 22 22:52:00 2006

 To Travis, Lox and John. Giving up the reading of the script ? Is it that bad ?
Sheri
- Sun Jan 22 18:53:10 2006

 Lox: I don't think I've liked any Ang Lee films. I'll see BBM, but I'll wait for video. I also hate Jake Gylenhaal. Sheri: Maybe just say, "Qualified for civil engineering studies via (name of test)."
Travis
- Sun Jan 22 15:40:45 2006

 GUYS. In my CV, I d'like to say that I got a certificate which acknowledges that I passed an entrance exam giving access to civil engineering studies. How can I phrase it in a few words ?
Sheri
- Sun Jan 22 14:03:18 2006

 Sheri: Let's say that I am in touch with the femminine part of me! :)... Well actually I was coerced into going by one of my friend's girlfriend. Needless to say that she was heavily offended after the movie!:)
Lox
- Sun Jan 22 12:56:31 2006

 Morning all! Hi Graf. In their way Apple are a very honest and innovative company. What irked me was the decision to change to Intel processors. I know it's because Intel have now managed to go dual-core etc. For me the Mac way of doing things wasn't so useful and I didn't find the applications as intuitive as others do. Perhaps I've used DOS/Windows too long!! :))
Nigel
- Sun Jan 22 10:11:38 2006

 LOX. Brokeback Mountain? Are you telling us there is a gay who lies dormant in you ?........................................ Yep, I've always known it !
Sheri
- Sun Jan 22 08:25:30 2006

 I genuinely find it easier to get the things done that I want to do with a computer on a Mac. But a lot of that has to do with the iLife suite, which is built around what my hobbies are - photography, making movies and making music. Which is lucky for me, but maybe not so useful for others. Nigel: What is it about what apple are doing now that you don't like?
Graf
- Sun Jan 22 01:37:17 2006

 Went to see the secrets of Borkeback Mountain... Didn't like it, it would score a 5.5 in a scale out of 10... The movie had a very nice photogaraphy but the story was a bit too slow and confused for my taste...
Lox
- Sun Jan 22 00:21:58 2006

 Well a quiet day, I can tell. Just back from taking the kids to McD's now it's time for Daddy to have a beer or two!!
Nigel
- Sat Jan 21 17:46:42 2006

 Morning all! Lox: I've been to your blog and left words of wisdom (ha! Don't you believe it!!)
Nigel
- Sat Jan 21 11:49:46 2006

 Ciao everyone... I need some advice from you all see my last post on the blog.. Thanks for helping! :)
Lox
- Sat Jan 21 02:00:11 2006

 Have a good weekend everyone.
Mad Mumsie
- Fri Jan 20 16:46:35 2006

 Good points dsp!! Very true! As for my move from MacOSX I can reveal to any who wonder (sorry about this bit Graf!!) ... that OSX is "different" in a lot of respects but certainly not actually "better". People like wearing "badges", don't they? "Mine's better than yours" etc. I love the hardware scope of Wintel. I mean look at what Apple are doing now! I lost all respect for them... Sorry...
Nigel
- Fri Jan 20 12:57:03 2006

 As for their ability to compete with MS on the desktop, I don't think they are quite there yet. The fact that you, Nigel, have moved away from MacOS is very telling! People always go on about StarOffice, but that is only a fit competitor for Office 97, and people expect more.
dsp
- Fri Jan 20 12:48:52 2006

 I see linux and their ilk as providing a much needed poke at the industry which would otherwise have silly prices. I think that one of their main achievements is lowering the cost of doing business online. If you look at many recent startups, they are built on open source which keeps their costs down and allows they to scale very effectively.
dsp
- Fri Jan 20 12:46:38 2006

 Controvertial bit: I can't see open source going anywhere useful. Unless you're a massive company with spare cash, how does anyone meet a deadline producing Os components? By good will, nothing more. Plus there will forever be people/companies claiming they wrote such-and-such code first and sueing the pants off you. However I hate software patents. All of use use similar prog algorthyms - no one should own one unless truly unique ... :)))
Nigel
- Fri Jan 20 12:29:34 2006

 Welll, as I said, I think the OS will become invisible- so "Clunky apps" will not be an issue. You can currently buy a box with no GUI at all, give it a power-supply and plug the other end into your home-ethernet. It appears on your network as a simple server, with a big, shared disc-drive. Where is the OS? Whas OS does it run? Who cares?
Jimmy
- Fri Jan 20 12:26:34 2006

 lol, Johnny need to add threads !
Kev
- Fri Jan 20 12:25:05 2006

 Sorry Kev: didn't mean to exclude you - our messages crossed...
Nigel
- Fri Jan 20 12:23:32 2006

 Hi dsp: Do you think that argument holds true for Linux then? I always feel the standard Linux xwindow applications are heavy, clunky, slow and pretty boring - third party sofware exists, but is muc hthe same. Or is the fact the OS is open source effectively taking it out of the "competitive" arena?
Nigelq
- Fri Jan 20 12:21:30 2006

 The problem is will johnny punter spend more money on this stuff - perhaps, in the UK at least, Micro$oft and a Satellite or cable operator need to get together - then things will really kick off. Imagine an Xbox360 with a LNB input so you can watch SKY in HDTV in your LivingRoom and being connected to Broadband so you can VOIP group chat with family/friends and have a fast backchannel to Sky for useful interactive content!!!
Kev
- Fri Jan 20 12:21:28 2006

 cont... So its Value Added Stuff where the money will be - i.e Downloading music, films, games, interactive content, VOIP. I don't think the OS is really the issue its the Business Frameworks that sit around the whole thing - Micro$oft have this in bundles and have lots of cash to set up the bits they don't have.
Kev
- Fri Jan 20 12:20:39 2006

 For products to suceed they need to make money. Developing a custom OS costs alot, so free (linux) or already invented( Xp, Vista for XBox360) are better... however most of these systems cost more to make that they sell them for. cont...
Kev
- Fri Jan 20 12:20:09 2006

 Sorry, this message was too big.
Kev
- Fri Jan 20 12:19:32 2006

 On the desktop, we are witnessing the commoditization of the OS (which is a good thing). We've already had it with the hardware. You can already see Microsoft shift its licensing policies to react. Cold standby servers are now free (they used to require licenses) and they have a Web Server license which a fraction of the price of their standard server edition OS.
dsp
- Fri Jan 20 12:18:32 2006

 Sorry, this message was too big.
Kev
- Fri Jan 20 12:18:06 2006

 For Palm, the battle is lost. The key success of an OS is down to the applications that run on it. It is not cost effective for application developers to target such a small user base. Microsoft will definately dominate the hand held OS market, its a land grab that I think they've won.
dsp
- Fri Jan 20 12:16:22 2006

 Incidentally Kev, talking about hardware using an OS OS, as an added argument, look at Palm. Their OS is basically included in the cost of the hardware but they are now talking about producing Windows Mobile devices, which means they're outsourcing the OS. They must feel the cost of developing an OS to go with specific hardware is too "restrictive".
Nigel
- Fri Jan 20 11:30:07 2006

 It'll be interesting to see how game-playing pans out. At the moment the boxes are mostly getting back up to PC size. And can play DVDs etc etc... (And I'll add iPods are too small to watch movies on (with my eyesight)) I like Windows Live because it works better than Apple DotMac, uses the same concept of XML widgets/gadgets. Outlook Live I'm not so sure about yet...
Nigel
- Fri Jan 20 11:21:39 2006

 Open source won't work - Unless theres money to made from the hardware - look at the Nokia 770 Web Internet Tablet - it runs maemo linux - selling like hot cakes, but who know if that style of system will catch on.
Kev
- Fri Jan 20 11:05:51 2006

 I guess from that, then, the market will diverge... People who want a flashy TV and hifi that can also control the central-heating and turn on the lights; and others who use computers for productivity at home (as opposed to horrible networks in the workplace)??? In my view (changed a bit recently - ah-hem!) Apple are a media company, MS an OS provider. Simplistic maybe. Linux is good for embedding but poor for end-users... so far... :)))
Nigel
- Fri Jan 20 11:05:28 2006

 ...and I bet you a squillion quid that companies such as Toshiba Panasonic and Sony have lots of clever people in an R&D offices somewhere in Japan making embedded OSes for little home entertainment boxes. Sony of course have PS3, but I think this will bomb as a home enterainment system because Granny and Gran Turismo 7 don't really mix!
Kev
- Fri Jan 20 11:04:19 2006

 Nigel: It is better, still walking "badly" (i.e. the leg does a wrong movement according to my physio), but slowly recovering...
Jimmy: I agree open source will win inthe long run as the younger generations will be more "computer friendly" it will be easier for open source to sink in...
Lox
- Fri Jan 20 11:02:54 2006

 The thing about the M$ world-domination plan, is that it's bound to fail. Basically, they're pedalling an operating system, but the OS itself is going to be irrelevant in the place they're trying to target- the lounge. It's possible that computers will end-up in TVs, but the computer will be invisible, and its OS even more so. What's the purpose of a pretty desktop-style GUI, if all the user sees is the on/off switch and a channel-hopping remote? If computers do ever take-over the home, then they'll be embedded, and Linux will probably win on the grounds that it's more reliable and also free. Media player? Who're you kidding?
Jimmy
- Fri Jan 20 10:30:36 2006

 Hi Lox! Well, going by the state of most parliaments these days, a media-player might not be such a bad idea!! How's your knee these days? Feeling any better?
Nigel
- Fri Jan 20 10:05:53 2006

 Nigel: APparently John is working on the "Conquer the World" project, where basically M$ destroys all parliaments and replaces them with media players.... Inrtriguing..
Lox
- Fri Jan 20 09:55:31 2006

 Morning...! So then... It's official... I *am* an old fogey!!! Right then, back to geekiness... Anyone tried the new Microsoft Windows Live Beta? Pretty good, isn't it? (Yeah, I know, having just moved *back* from Mac I'm likely to be lampooned... But I don't mind, my shoulders are broad!!). John: Any insider gossip about it you'd actually be allowed to let slip?
Nigel
- Fri Jan 20 08:51:34 2006

 Kev, consider it as a well deserved break...! Mine started about... well... 31 years ago ! :-)
Sheri
- Fri Jan 20 06:59:23 2006

 I am 30 by the way! :P
Lox
- Fri Jan 20 00:56:40 2006

 In fact I am sure that Travis, Sheri and Lox would all join me in this sentiment!
John
- Thu Jan 19 23:44:47 2006

 Kev, I for one have no qualms about a decent percentage of the UK taxes I currently pay going to support good folk like yourself.
John
- Thu Jan 19 23:40:52 2006

 Ha! Good man!!
Nigel
- Thu Jan 19 16:30:04 2006

 nigel; only been 3 months and i went for a fitting this morning.
kev
- Thu Jan 19 16:03:30 2006

 Kev: Is it really six months since you left Softel? Wow! Have you been for a fitting for your new elasticated-leg jogging trousers and baseball cap? :)))
Nigel
- Thu Jan 19 15:57:38 2006

 Today I officially became Dole Scum. I am now leeching off the hard working taxpayer, giving nothing back to society except ... err nothing! Oh well, must go down to the corner shop to buy five lottery tickets, some fags and a 2 litre bottle of Diamond White.
Kev
- Thu Jan 19 15:30:45 2006

 A good grammar book, you say? Look no further than Strunk & White's Elements of Style. It's in its 4th edition, is only 100 pages, is basically pocket-sized, and is amazingly useful.
Travis
- Thu Jan 19 15:22:54 2006

 ...er ... please remember I am not, nor ever have been, a web designer. Tom and Jimmy were very generous in their comments!
Nigel
- Thu Jan 19 14:40:29 2006

 Hi dsp: well it's "by" me but about someone else, though there is a page about me!! www.desmondbagley.co.uk :))
Nigel
- Thu Jan 19 14:36:49 2006

 Nigel: I didn't know you had a website, what's the URL?
dsp
- Thu Jan 19 14:10:04 2006

 True! I like to have that edge of "mystery" And, of course, I like to joke that I'm in my prime!! (You'll have to forgive my frivolity, but this morning's meeting was a bit of a downer. I also stood up and said my piece... Always a bad move... )
Nigel
- Thu Jan 19 14:01:12 2006

 Hmmm. 41,43,47 are all prime.
Jimmy
- Thu Jan 19 13:34:23 2006

 Mind you Jimmy, you might just remember from the visit to my web-site, about 18-months ago...! Or, realistically, maybe not!! Just been in a meeting discussing my team's "future" i.e. not having one as the call-centre is closing and moving many miles away :( I could perhaps commute to Telford... but there are limits!! :((
Nigel
- Thu Jan 19 11:45:21 2006

 Jimmy - it's a prime number begining with "4" :))
Nigel
- Thu Jan 19 11:39:47 2006

 ps I am 33 in March. Never mind :)
Kev
- Thu Jan 19 11:32:27 2006

 Lox: in a true mafioso stylee, why not threaten to set their swimming pool on fire if they don't let you in? Its a flawless plan! ps. I'm 27.
dsp
- Thu Jan 19 11:31:44 2006

 (Also- KN isn't really my cup of tea)
Jimmy
- Thu Jan 19 11:25:23 2006

 Nigel- you haven't confessed the actual *number* yet, have you?
Jimmy
- Thu Jan 19 11:24:57 2006

 Kev: Welll actually the swimming pools are quite full by the looks of it... To be honest a 1 year entry fee upfront is a blatant rip-off, at least they could offer a 1 shot entry fee.. As for swimming pools usage habits the side story is actually true, but only in presence of a german or japanese national in the premises. :P
Lox
- Thu Jan 19 11:20:47 2006

 Sheri: Yes, I like that.
Mad Mumsie
- Thu Jan 19 11:12:55 2006

 MM. Shall we say you reached an 'honourable' age?
Sheri
- Thu Jan 19 11:06:52 2006

 My age? Ooooooooooerrrrrrrrrrrrr. Can't even use the old one about as old as my hair and nearly as old as my teeth, as I was bald as a small baby. Let's just say that our wonderful government have been paying me a pension for a little while!
Mad Mumsie
- Thu Jan 19 10:44:44 2006

 Kev: at least you recognise when you've made a mistake (to and too).
Mad Mumsie
- Thu Jan 19 10:41:48 2006

 Yes, do that...! ;-)
Sheri
- Thu Jan 19 10:39:33 2006

 gaggghh i will shutup now!!
kev
- Thu Jan 19 10:29:32 2006

 doh, you see happened again in ladt post, ; instead of ' and to instead of too.
kev
- Thu Jan 19 10:28:53 2006

 sheri - i don;t own a dictionary or grammer book. i am just to lazy and rely totally on technology - i hope the power holds out!
kev
- Thu Jan 19 10:27:53 2006

 does everyone only swim at one end of a swimming pool in italy, then they all change to the other end halfway through the day?
kev
- Thu Jan 19 10:26:42 2006

 How about a good grammar book and a dictionary?
Sheri
- Thu Jan 19 10:26:34 2006

 pda=personal digital assistant, i meant the predictive text made me type bad english. "a bad workman blames his tools" - i know! ;)
kev
- Thu Jan 19 10:25:05 2006

 What's pda?
Sheri
- Thu Jan 19 10:16:00 2006

 Is one half of an Italian swimming pool unused?
John
- Thu Jan 19 10:13:43 2006

 sorry about english - pda is not helping much today!
kev
- Thu Jan 19 10:08:48 2006

 lox:i was sort of joking about the swimming, you mentioned going several lengths for kn. - but it sounds unfair about having to pay so much up front for swimming pool access is criminal ! i would have thought swimming good for exercising your knee shame you can't do any for free or small nominal price.
kev
- Thu Jan 19 10:07:44 2006

 Kev: In theory I can swim but the practice says that 2 weeks away from leaving Florenec all the swimming pools that I called asked me at least 400 pounds worth of "seasonal tickets" to enter the pool in the "free swim" period. I'll have to wait until I move back up north. :(
Lox
- Thu Jan 19 09:28:49 2006

 Travis: Thanks for the receipe!! Right up my alley-way! Gonna print that one and keep it until next summer...!! As for age... Oh, I'm so ooollldddd!!! You might have guessed previously when I mention my love of BASIC, DOS and assembly programming... C (without any +'s or #'s). A good reason to stick to a "Classics" education. A tech qual. becomes redundant quickly unless you constantly update it. :(
Nigel
- Thu Jan 19 08:56:35 2006

 Good morning everyone. Buongiorno a tutti.
Sheri
- Thu Jan 19 08:23:22 2006

 John, I thought you were a bit older as well (probably because of the PhD), but that makes sense. I think Rob's about 28, no? By the by, what time is it in your neck of the woods. It's almost 10 pm here. I'm translating Aristophanes' Frogs, but I'm about to watch a film to unwind for the evening.
Travis
- Thu Jan 19 03:49:24 2006

 More importantly though, what am I going to have for my lunch today?
John
- Thu Jan 19 02:47:06 2006

 Travis - I'm 28, although daft as it sounds I'm not entirely sure I remember correctly. I had you pegged as older than 26 for some reason!
John
- Thu Jan 19 02:46:22 2006

 Jimmy: Patrick Moore...?
John
- Thu Jan 19 02:45:13 2006

 If I may be so bold, I'd like to see how old other people are as well (ladies excluded, of course; that wouldn't be right). I'm 26.
Travis
- Thu Jan 19 02:25:31 2006

 What you were all awaiting: http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2006/01/18/guinness_ice_cream/?p1=MEWell_Pos1
Travis
- Thu Jan 19 01:15:23 2006

 lox: can you still go swimming with your bad knee at the moment then ? ;)
kev
- Wed Jan 18 20:48:12 2006

 I completely agree with Sheri, she is just drop dead gorgeous... And yed I would go several lenghts to have some "free time" with her :P
Lox
- Wed Jan 18 20:39:40 2006

 Nigel- you twisted Keira's nipples?! Sheri- 32. John- Patrick Moore.
Jimmy
- Wed Jan 18 17:39:42 2006

 Ha! That's exactly what I did Jimmy! (The firewall here didn't let me see any rude ones though - doh!) Never heard of her, nor her nipples. I think I must qualify as an "Old-Fogey" too then... Oh well.. it had to happen I suppose...
Nigel
- Wed Jan 18 13:10:47 2006

 Ah! What wouldn't I do to twist Keira's nipples....
Sheri the obscene frog
- Wed Jan 18 12:50:09 2006

 Is it rude to ask your age, Jimmy?
Sheri
- Wed Jan 18 12:42:21 2006

 PS- what's wrong with being an old fogey? I certainly think I qualify.
Jimmy
- Wed Jan 18 11:41:53 2006

 I don't know who Keira Knightley is ... so I put her name straight into Google Images. The rude ones are very close to the top of the list, aren't they?!
Jimmy
- Wed Jan 18 11:41:12 2006

 I think I meant 'wearing' rather than 'where' then!!
Kev
- Wed Jan 18 11:26:42 2006

 I am not sure how Keira Knightly would solve Jimmys problem, perhaps she could distract the other drivers by where a spider suit, with butterfly wings ?
Kev
- Wed Jan 18 11:26:10 2006

 Does anyone have the telephone number of the Royal Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals (and insects)!
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jan 18 11:25:31 2006

 Ah but Kev - the "butter-side UP" proposition is only valid in the northern hemisphere. I believe in the antipodes it's always butter-side DOWN. Fair enough if the racing takes place in the UK, I suppose. The baby spiders idea is a corker! And as the tensile strength of house-spider webbing is so great in relation to it's weight, perhaps it could be used to tether dandelion seeds to the bodywork, otherwise impossible using modern gluing techniques? The furry seeds would catch more dust...
Nigel
- Wed Jan 18 10:48:37 2006

 Keira Knightley is just gorgeous!!!! And -fuck!- she's twenty one! Makes me feel like an old fogey...
Sheri
- Wed Jan 18 10:36:58 2006

 on the capsizing problem, butterflies in a jar are only really usable once since they wil fly away. instead all boats should have a piece of buttered bread(margarine will work too) in a glass case. br3ak glass, bread falls out, buttered side is up voila!
kev
- Wed Jan 18 10:34:17 2006

 i agree nigel, moth dust would be a pain if it got into the air intake system. I am not particularly technical in this area, but i think th e answer is in baby spiders. loosely attach baby spiders to bodywork, as they spin fine strands upwards to parachute away(extra lift) the strands left behind will catch the moth dust. problem solved.
kev
- Wed Jan 18 10:30:46 2006

 Butterflies always fly up? This is new to me. Perhaps they could be employed another way ... knowing which way is up is often a problem for people in capsized boats, so maybe a jar-full of butterflies should be provided along with the life-jackets. And there's another one: cats always land on their feet. I don't know if this can be utilised in motorsport, but it can be used to make a very effective smart-bomb for the army: simply detach the feet from the cat, and glue them to the target. Next, strap a bomb to the cat, and drop it from a plane somewhere over the target. The cat will land on its feet- BOOM!
Jimmy
- Wed Jan 18 10:30:36 2006

 I don't think training butterflies to fly acrobatically would be a problem. Afterall they are only stupid insects. A carefully placed daffodil could be used as a lure. Depending on configuration they would fly in any direction. As for moth-dust, I've been working on the formula: D (dust) * AD (air density caused by venturii effects) = F * C (coefficient of altitude and number of moths)... Early days with this one. Can anyone offer a soultion?
Nigel
- Wed Jan 18 10:29:54 2006

 Ah, now we're talking! Moths! Trouble is all that "dust" - could get sucked into the carbs causing disturbance in the fuel/air mix. Has anyone tested the volatility of moth dust?
Nigel
- Wed Jan 18 10:20:45 2006

 jimmy: to get over that grip problem caused by the butterflies on the bodywork, you should attach ants(by their backs using super glue) to the tyres - that should provide lots of grip Since ants can stick to vertical walls) - also nigel-butterflies on the underside of the is a stupid idea because butterflies always fly Up
kev
- Wed Jan 18 10:02:21 2006

 True enough, wheel-hop can be a problem ... but dampers take care of that (hopefully). But I like your very good point that attaching butterfiles to the underside of the car might cause them to produce downforce. Whether or not they could be persuaded to keep flapping in a 200mph wind is questionable, though. Also, they might cause more drag then they're worth. Perhaps the use of moths might be better ... they seem more likely to last the race-distance!
Jimmy
- Wed Jan 18 09:52:04 2006

 Ahhh... But then you could be into "unsprung weight" whereby if the weight/mass of the wheel/tyre unit is high, unwanted bounce can occur reducing the cohesion of the tyre/surface interface. Whereas, using a butterfly attached to bodywork might cause downward thrust (if said insect's wings were at the correct AOA) increasing grip.... By the way, I have no idea what I'm talking about - I haven't had enough caffeine yet!! :))
Nigel
- Wed Jan 18 08:56:13 2006

 Good morning everyone! I think we've been making great progress with the mathematics... let's keep up the good work. Kev- butterflies are (I'm sorry to say) a dreadful idea. If you stick them to the car, they produce lift when they flap their wings. However, this doesn't decrease the *mass* of the car. F being equal to M times A means that you still need the same amount of force to get the car to accelerate (either ahead or around a corner). Also, lift is a *bad* thing ... because it reduces the vertical load on the tyres. The tyre forces are frictional, and hence proportional to the vertyical load (remember mu?) ... hence why we try to produce downforce instead of lift.
Jimmy
- Wed Jan 18 08:38:58 2006

 John. This might interest you. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/whatson/prog_parse.cgi?FILENAME=20060118/20060118_1300_18112_30354_45&tmp=bbc7/whatson/programme.tmpl
Sheri
- Wed Jan 18 07:57:29 2006

 sorry john, seems like i've lowered the tone of the board by talking about mutilation!
kev
- Tue Jan 17 23:56:04 2006

 sorry to bang on, but is anybody else watching ch4, they are doing live autopsy's. they just brought some dead matey in using a digger all wrapped in a foam block! and now they are cutting him up with a power saw. cool!
kev
- Tue Jan 17 23:53:57 2006

 talking of msdos- i remember spending 120 pounds on a 2x cdrom with an atapi card and my first pc a 486 dx266 with 32Mb and a extraordinarily massive 210mb hd. in '93 this machine could have taken over the world - only i was too lazy to take advantage ! - Hmmm i need a new fast pc to play with :)
kev
- Tue Jan 17 23:50:24 2006

 Well gentlemen, to summarise our "improvements" to the field of mathematics, it sounds like we're restricting it to positive real integers only, and I also see a building of consensus towards doing away with division. What we've got there is an abacus! Fine by me, I never saw the point in division anyway. The classic problem of how to split the cake between X people can be handled much better with subtraction and a pecking order. I.e. the most important person takes away how much he wants, followed by the next most important, and so on, until the least important person gets whatever is left over. In fact lets ditch multiplication too while we're at it, that's just a fancy pants version of addition for people who are too lazy to do more than one plus.
John
- Tue Jan 17 23:49:01 2006

 the days of small codebase is long gone, i am afraid, however .net assemblies(executables) are also quite small - of course you have to have downloaded the 20mb framework! good job theres only one to get - whoops - here comes .net2 ;) lol
kev
- Tue Jan 17 23:43:39 2006

 Evening all! Well, I've just been installing more Windows software on the new PC (this could get boring, couldn't it?!?). Managed to find a little freeware disk-cataloguer - a Windows app at only 58k (yes "k"!!) Hard to believe. It's a wee-bit "limited" but does what I want... Why reinvent the wheel?! In the old MS-DOS days, I remember finding a 3D CAD programme which compiled to smaller than the then MS mouse driver!! Oh what fun... :))
Nigel
- Tue Jan 17 22:48:06 2006

 Then, Sheri, you might want to change the sentence to conclude, "...to which I was alluding." I know it's a matter of preference at some level, but it certainly sounds terrible in the mouths of the unlearned when I hear prepositions tacked on to the ends of words.
Travis
- Tue Jan 17 20:14:59 2006

 Alluding 'to'! (Felt compelled to correct it, being a bit of a stickler for spelling)
Sheri
- Tue Jan 17 17:56:14 2006

 But yes, we could say it sounds like an Ethnic African roots type drama... :)
Sheri
- Tue Jan 17 17:31:15 2006

 Nigel. Ask Lox! Being like me granted with a Latin temperament, he is surely in a position to tell you what I was alluding too...
Sheri
- Tue Jan 17 17:29:57 2006

 They are particularly useful for very strong encryption.
dsp
- Tue Jan 17 17:06:34 2006

 I have invented "even-more complex numbers".
Here are the rules:
EMCNs are not divisible by themselves,
Prefer to be next to the number 3, and,
Cannot be used between 6 and 7 PM.
dsp
- Tue Jan 17 17:05:17 2006

 Sheri: Is that a DVD? Not heard of it before. Sounds like an Ethnic African roots type drama... :)
Nigel
- Tue Jan 17 16:52:23 2006

 I think we should make all numbers "imaginary numbers". Get a problem you can't solve? Just use an "imaginary number" Physicists have been doing it for years and I'm all for it!
Nigel
- Tue Jan 17 16:21:43 2006

 Yeah jimmy! hahaha! Had a chuckling geeky moment there. Can we also force the rest of Europe to make a kilometre the same as a mile. Would make life a lot easier.
Rob Lang
- Tue Jan 17 16:06:47 2006

 jimmy, have you harnessing butterflies ? Sort of stick their legs to the bodywork?
Kev
- Tue Jan 17 16:01:54 2006

 Yeah- and let's make a real, positive root of -1, while we're at it! That would *really* cheese-off all those mathematicians that have wasted years worrying about its (now unneccessary) complex roots.
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 17 15:51:25 2006

 Sending the Monster (Sheri Jr) to his grandparents. Tonight, kabawanga with Mrs Sheri...! Cannot wait!!!
Sheri
- Tue Jan 17 15:39:02 2006

 While we're at it, can we round down the square root of 2. It would make control theory much prettier.
Rob Lang
- Tue Jan 17 15:20:55 2006

 John- I've run a quick simulation, and I reckon that reducing G to 9.0 would be worth about 1.6 seconds per lap- which would be an astronomical advantage! The difficulty comes when trying to run our car at 9.0, whilst ensuring everybody else stays around the 9.8 value. Any ideas?
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 17 14:43:50 2006

 I was looking at the "cookbook" and it seems that the main page has be "deleted" so that there is no more link to the recipies... Tom something's wrong? Anybody has a clue on what might have happened?
Lox
- Tue Jan 17 14:21:24 2006

 Oh come on, don't be so picky Jimmy. I mean, would you miss that extra 0.80655, really, would you? What has it ever done for you?
John
- Tue Jan 17 14:07:35 2006

 From 9.80655(-ish) ?! That's not rounding, that's just ... well ... it's a bit like casting it to an int, isn't it?
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 17 11:46:44 2006

 Morning all! Lox: It's only 11++ here. Travel back in time to the UK!! :))
Nigel
- Tue Jan 17 11:21:05 2006

 Morning... (even if it's 12:00 AM)... :P
Lox
- Tue Jan 17 11:01:14 2006

 Will 9 do? I'm much more of a rounding down sort of person.
John
- Tue Jan 17 09:42:33 2006

 John- thanks for the update. I think it might make my job easier too, having a round value of pi. Do you think you could get G fixed at exactly 10 as well? Ta!
Jimmy
- Tue Jan 17 09:29:28 2006

 Jimmy, no, that's by design. We found it a bit difficult to implement, so opted instead to petition the ICA to change the rules of chess. We also managed to get Pi rounded off to 3 while we were at it, which made the maths a whole lot easier!
John
- Mon Jan 16 23:31:02 2006

 Rob: Thanks for the info, I was going to walk that path but it's nice to see that you think in the same way! :)
Sheri: Will send it soon to everyone!
Lox
- Mon Jan 16 16:38:32 2006

 John, Travis, Dsp: I sent the script to Lox. Thanks again for being willing to read it.
Sheri
- Mon Jan 16 15:58:02 2006

 John- In Mr. T chess, if you get a pawn to the far side of the board, it doesn't get converted into a piece of your choice. Bad show, sir!
Jimmy
- Mon Jan 16 14:53:50 2006

 Lox, for a gaming machine, I'd go with a single core (less expensive) and put the money into a really good graphics card. In the end, the Graphics card takes a lot of the processing away from the CPU and does it onboard. All the CPU then has to do is a bit of AI and keeping everything running together. You don't need dual core for that. Some future bits of software will make good use of the dual core (rendering does, although a Nigel rightly note, RAM is more useful there) but at the moment the speed up won't effect much else. I'd buy a motherboard that can handle both (like the AMD Socket 939 type boards) and uprgade in the future.
Rob Lang
- Mon Jan 16 11:51:52 2006

 What a grey day. Still off out for lunch with my brother in a minute.
Mad Mumsie
- Mon Jan 16 11:51:14 2006

 I'd go dual core but I need a cool and quiet system. If I were to update the processor in the future, I'd go for the AMD Dual core. My whole puter will be 700.
Rob Lang
- Mon Jan 16 11:34:48 2006

 Hi Guys! Thanks Rob - your project sounds pretty good too! Yes, I also like the idea of a quality case to put it all in. Lox: I'd follow Rob's lead if I were you. His spec is much better for 3D gaming and I guess the 2GB RAM Rob's gone for is for all that splendid rendering he does!! (Rob?) As for dual-core, yes, you're quite right. Parallel processing is how super-computers work, so it's a step in the right direction! :))
Nigel
- Mon Jan 16 11:33:20 2006

 Morning all! Nigel, great spec there. I am in the process of looking at upgrading mine to: 2.2 AMD 64, Geforce 7800GT and 2GB of RAM. In a coolermaster case. All the other usual trimmings etc.
Rob Lang
- Mon Jan 16 10:32:08 2006

 Nigel: Well I was planning to use the computer to play games as well, but I haven't quite undrstood what the dual core means.. Is it 2 processing cores in 1 cpu?
Lox
- Mon Jan 16 10:26:37 2006

 Morning all! Hi Lox: Well I went for single-core Intel Celeron because I *really* appreciate cool-running. Don't need dual core and 3D running is fine on the system as is. However I do only use 1024x768 display anyway :))
Nigel
- Mon Jan 16 08:51:36 2006

 Nigel: Dual Core or single core (AMD)? I have to do some research anyways but any opinion is welcome! :)
Lox
- Mon Jan 16 00:20:56 2006

 Erick, welcome! Any chance you might consider moving a bit further South?
John
- Sun Jan 15 23:43:38 2006

 Evening all! Well, continuing in my "nerdy" vein... dsp: Ay, quite right! Something totally for me, this PC. The other (Sony) is being used by all and sundry, so this new one is Nigel's Toy! Must say, these new Intel chips and the ASUS BIOS make for a quiet, cool system. Better than most I've had experience of. Lox: I believe AMD are faster, buck for buck, but Intel run cooler.
Nigel
- Sun Jan 15 22:23:33 2006

 Sheri: Lolita as in Nabokov's Lolita which was subsequently made into two films...the first by Kubrick. I've never seen the Kubrick version, though he is probably my favorite director. Strange.
Travis
- Sun Jan 15 20:53:30 2006

 Travis. Lolita as in Kubrick's Lolita ?
Sheri
- Sun Jan 15 19:33:36 2006

 Thanks Dsp. I'll send the script to Lox in about 2 days. Still need to work on a few rectifications.
Sheri
- Sun Jan 15 19:32:29 2006

 I'm taking reading suggestions. I have a short(ish) list. Working on Baudolino now and I have Name of the Rose and Lolita in the wings. I'm looking for books that will really blow me away. I'm hard to impress.
Travis
- Sun Jan 15 17:41:22 2006

 Sheri: Send the script along and I'll forward to everyone I can..:)
Eric: Welcome to La Maison! I hope that you stick along with us, Mexico is a great contry I definiately need to visit that place sooner or later!
Lox
- Sun Jan 15 17:06:26 2006

 Sheri: I would be happy to read your script so long as it is nothing to do with spanking Englishmen. Lox - feel free to forward to me :-)
dsp
- Sun Jan 15 16:57:44 2006

 Nigel: the new pc sounds great! Often I enjoy intense nerdy self-indulgences! Good for you!
dsp
- Sun Jan 15 16:56:11 2006

 Nice message, thank you Erick! I visited Mexico a couple of years ago. We stayed on the Yucatan Penninsula. You have a beautiful country and lots to be proud of! All the people I met were wonderful! I loved it!
dsp
- Sun Jan 15 16:54:36 2006

 I don't mind about spankings...
Sheri
- Sun Jan 15 10:18:18 2006

 I greatly prefer guest posts like Erick's as opposed to those dealing with talcum powder, incest porn, and spanking. I hope I'm not alone.
Travis
- Sun Jan 15 06:01:34 2006

 Lox: Let me see if I still have your email...or you may have mine from ICAR?
Travis
- Sun Jan 15 04:00:17 2006

 Hi Erick! Yes this site certainly is a good one if you like virtual tourism! They're also a very friendly bunch :) Well I've been "burning-in" the new PC (while topping up my personal tanks with Guinness!) and despite reloading vast amounts of software and updating it, the new PC has barely broken into a sweat! CPU temp at mo is 32-degrees C, motherboard 30. Pretty quiet too. Oh I _am_ enjoying myself again!!
Nigel
- Sun Jan 15 00:03:02 2006

 Hi Maison this is Erick Silverman from Mexico city i just watched all the pictures you have in your site, i noticed you've traveled almust from all around the world, ufff that's wonderfull, i did something like that in my last summer, i spend 6 months to visit all the United States and some cities in Canada, beautiful experience, and some new friends... anyway congratulations for all the STUFF you have in your web, bye, bye.
Erick Silverman
- Sat Jan 14 21:49:28 2006

 Well I'm back on-line with the new "Beast" - Up and running!! We have an Intel 2.93ghz LGA775 Celeron, 1GB matched DDR RAM, and an ATI 9550-256MB AGP card for graphics... Case is Lian-Li. And of course Windows XP !! PCI wireless card anda DVD writer, but not much else at the moment. Time for that Guinness!! :))
Nigel
- Sat Jan 14 21:25:19 2006

 Thanks Lox. I'm glad you still want to read it.
Sheri
- Sat Jan 14 19:18:06 2006

 Sheri: Marvellous send it along! :) I can pass it to John, Dsp, Tom, Rob but I haven'tt got the addesses of the others...
Lox
- Sat Jan 14 19:11:02 2006

 JOHN, TRAVIS. I'm currently rereading the script. I'm still modifying a few passages. It should be ready in two or three days time. May I ask you to pass on your respective email addresses through Lox? LOX. It's the same script you read a few months ago. But it has been almost entirely rewritten and properly finished. The draft I sent you was awfully bad!!!!
Sheri
- Sat Jan 14 19:07:45 2006

 Sheri: Send it along and I'll check it out, I am really curious!
Lox
- Sat Jan 14 16:49:06 2006

 Lox: My concentration generally is Aristotle. Right now, however, we've just begun reading Aristophanes' Frogs and we're reading Cicero. We also have a 10th century scroll of Plato's Philebos to decipher. It's the first time we're reading handwriting so it's a bit tricky. Nigel: I'm not 100% sure what you mean. Obviously, some Greeks didn't believe in the Olympian gods, notably Plato and Aristotle. It's tough to tell to what extent the polloi did really.
Travis
- Sat Jan 14 16:05:39 2006

 Sheri: I'll look at it. Maybe US English is sufficiently different that I won't understand it all, but I think I can judge the story content.
Travis
- Sat Jan 14 16:03:08 2006

 I will be happy to have a look Sheri!
John
- Sat Jan 14 15:03:30 2006

 GUYS. This mail is for all the regulars. I have written a script which I intend to submit to the BBC Writersroom. 1) My English being far from perfect, I need you guys to check it. 2) I need an impartial assessment of the story, and perhaps your suggestions. Would you mind having a look at it?
Sheri
- Sat Jan 14 13:30:56 2006

 Nigel: Might I ask you what did you settle for? I am going to buy a new monster for myself, but I haven't started any usual research on the several pieces that I'll have to get... For starters AMD or Intel?
Lox
- Sat Jan 14 09:55:33 2006

 Travis: I think that if you read an author through a translated text it's 100% insured that there are going to be some "interpretations", that's why I try to read all my books in the language that they were thought in, so that I don't have to mediate through someonelse's mind. As for Latin and Greek, most of the texts that I remember were wuite straightforward (not much space for interpretations), but the nice ones (Ovidius, Virgilio, Caesar, Cicero for example) are really hard sometimes. What sort of texts are you concentrating at the moment?
Lox
- Sat Jan 14 09:53:26 2006
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