Ciao guys I am back in Florence and (of course) I don't want to leave anymore this place... Today went to the lake for some swimming and will go to a concert tonite... Wooo it's back to "life" for me!! Will post some pictures soon..
Lox
- Sun Jul 31 16:28:22 2005
Not only beyond their sell-by date, but probably now also soaked and inedible!
John
- Sun Jul 31 13:11:37 2005
Ahhh.. Funny you should mention that... :( Oh well, at least it means we cleaned out a few cupboards and found all those things you've forgotten about, don't need and are beyond their sell-by date... :/
Nigel
Oswestry, ... - Sun Jul 31 09:52:07 2005
Nigel - if your other half says anything along the lines of "well we've been needing a new kitchen anyway", then don't let yourself believe that it was anything other than deliberate sabotage.
John
- Sun Jul 31 03:57:57 2005
Art-noon! Well a good start to the weekend... When I came down this morning the sink drain in the kitchen had obviously been leaking. Floor and cupboard drenched :( Being chipboard too, meant that the wood had swollen... Oh lovely! Trying to dry it all now... Is it time for beer yet?
Nigel
Oswestry, ... - Sat Jul 30 16:27:59 2005
That's a good point Lox. Happens here too. Employees are allowed to take 5mins every hour to have a smoke, while I don't get a break except for "natural breaks" because I don't smoke. However as I supply all the milk, tea and coffee for the office, I manage to get away every now and then to buy supplies - and never run short of a drink ;)
Nigel
Oswestry, Home... - Fri Jul 29 19:33:54 2005
There's a big debate about it in Italy, frankly speaking I don't understand why it is acceptable for an employee to take 3 to 5 cigarettes breaks during the day + 2 coffee breaks, and it's not acceptable to check an homepage... It's just hypocritical.
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 18:24:24 2005
Hi Lox. Yes, I find the corporate firewalls and security here really cripple browsing the internet some days. Still they do tell me that is not my prime purpose here...
Nigel
Wrexham, Still... - Fri Jul 29 16:47:01 2005
Mmm mit might be company security, they have updated the security system yesterday apparently.. Oh well, I don't like Java too much although I understand that is a good cross platform programming language...
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 16:37:22 2005
And my fait-a-complis is - this is what you can do with JAVA : http://www.artofillusion.org/ Splendid!! :)
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 29 16:17:33 2005
Ho-ho! what_do_you_mean(clear); { scrolled++ //Arrgg!
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 29 16:13:29 2005
JAVA *is* a problem. Period.
tom
- Fri Jul 29 16:00:26 2005
Mind you, is this on the LINUX setup, or Windows?
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 29 15:52:19 2005
Not sure this is a JAVA problem Lox. The site you mention loads ok here as an ASP page. Viewing JAVA here where I work is *severely* limited by corporate security. Hmmm... "Background process" springs to mind... Could this be an anti-virus scan conflict?
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 29 15:41:08 2005
As for the runtime I have installed the Sun Java and when I go on some pages (www.fiorentina.it for example) firefox slows down massively and starts behaving strangely (slow, strange errors, loads urls that I didn't specify, tabs are crap...) I have posted on Firefox message board but I have had no luck...
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 15:17:26 2005
What happens is that there are some pages that run a Java applet and another pop-up window asks for password, username and DOMAIN!! Then I have an expternal program that was working until yesterday, and now cannot connect to the server anymore, I guess that java doesn't go out on the net properly... so I have tried to configure it from Java but it still doesn't work...
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 15:15:36 2005
Lox: Are you talking JIT Javascript or good, solid JAVA applets? If JAVA, which runtime is messing with your Firefox?
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 29 15:07:05 2005
Kev: Unfortunately it didn't work, oh well I am fed up with Java, it's destroying Firefox too, the browser behaves VERY strangely when Java is running... :(
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 14:55:14 2005
Have you tried applying for Yahoo/Google Japan? I have been told that they were recruiting quite a lot of people, maybe the position is not what you want but it's a different area of IT for sure...
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 14:54:23 2005
Hi John: Round here they get called "Empire builders". I hope this new person is offering a brighter light at the end of the tunnel. Did you read the Inquirer article about Gates talking to one of his leaving managers who's going to Google?
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 29 14:46:43 2005
I had another email from (a different person at) that well known software company today, which sounded slightly misleading, but a bit more positive than the last one. What's that film - is it "Clash of The Titans"...? You know the one were the gods play a sort of chess game with all the mere mortals... Anyway, whatever the film is I feel a bit like one of those chess pieces... Oh well, it's not like I've got anything better to do!
John
- Fri Jul 29 14:42:14 2005
Lox: try http://username:password@192.168.0.1
Kev
- Fri Jul 29 12:55:49 2005
Guys I need some help with Java... Basically they changed all the authentication procedure here in the company, and now we need a password and username to go on the internet. Though the browser goes on line, if it has to load a java script it needs the password and username AGAIN, and prompts for it. I have configured the Java so that now it knows that there is a proxy, but it wouldn't allow me to specify a pswd and usrname... Is there something that I can do? I don0't remember the syntax used to specify username and password when inputting an ip. (for example 10.9.1.15:username@password - or 10.9.1.15@username:password)? Can anyone help?
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 12:32:39 2005
Ciao Tim, thanks a lot, and thanks for dsp bot too, I will be in florence this weekend so I'll try using it from there.
Ciao!
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 12:27:04 2005
Lox: Fixed and cleaned. Thanks Kev for the diagnosis it made the fix v. quick. BTW Lox, I did get your email about the dspBot, but I've been a bit too busy recently and havn't had chance to reply. Sorry. I'll have a look at your requirements this weekend. Cheers, Tim
dsp
- Fri Jul 29 12:19:18 2005
"Yesterday I was in... Today I'm out...." Tomorrow I'll be shaking it all about...
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 29 11:46:27 2005
Never mind, Perhaps we can guess what Lox did yesterday.
"Yesterday I was in.. a large vat of custard..."
Kev
- Fri Jul 29 11:40:13 2005
Yes, I hope someone can! I'm a bit worried about the "Yesterday I was in Nigel" line.... :/
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 29 11:35:38 2005
No way I can't access the ftp site... We need ROB, JOHN or DSP to edit it... sorry guys!
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 11:35:27 2005
I can try to fix it (I think) sorry for the inconveninece and mess...
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 11:33:50 2005
Maybe someone who can edit the board text can go and fix the quote mark so we can what Lox got up to yesterday - I am intrigued now :)
Kev
- Fri Jul 29 11:31:59 2005
If you "view source" you can see what went wrong - it was a mising close quote on your last post lox when you posted the link ?
Kev
- Fri Jul 29 11:01:03 2005
Ciao Kev! You are right, the last messages have been deleted
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 10:57:39 2005
Waahhh, what.. where.. for why, where did the last few posts go ???
Kev
- Fri Jul 29 10:56:12 2005
What is happening?... I posted a comment and it came out as NIGEL and the links are all messed up...
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 10:55:36 2005
Yesterday I was in London. How are you all? Last day at work before the holidays for me!!
Lox
- Fri Jul 29 10:47:26 2005
Hi dsp. Yes, it's actually something rather Govern-mental :/ Part of the DWP network - but not a Jobcentre... User Support call-centre etc... Cube is too glamourous a word for it... When I did Sysadmin we never had anything as flash as this... Carcdboard box...? I should have been so lucky...
Nigel
Wrexham, Calling.. - Fri Jul 29 10:02:50 2005
Morning everybody - happy Friday!!
dsp
- Fri Jul 29 09:19:03 2005
Hi Nigel! Looks almost 'cube' like. Where is it you work again? (I know its something govermenty)
dsp
- Fri Jul 29 09:18:35 2005
Not so good I'm afraid, but I had to try... Pic-1) The first essential of the day - tea!!, Pic-2) A typical system "time-out", Pic-3) An uninspiring out-tray... I suddenly realise how un-grotty this environment is. I must be a fussy berger! Others are much more interesting then mine... Not allowed a "real" camera I'm sorry to say.
Nigel
Oswestry, Home - Thu Jul 28 22:17:06 2005
<Nigel>Nigel's WorkStation - Hmmm... This PDA camera is pretty bad isn't it? Sorry about the quality - they won't let me take proper camrea in :(</Nigel>
dspBot
- Thu Jul 28 22:07:04 2005
There must be money to be made here somehow.
Mad Mumsie
- Thu Jul 28 16:24:57 2005
Jimmy: I bet it's those damn aliens again!
Sarah
- Thu Jul 28 16:17:16 2005
And I used to be thin (honest!) - so I must be up the duff ... maybe only 2 months to go! Any ideas for names? Anybody know who the father is? Anybody care?
Jimmy
- Thu Jul 28 16:08:47 2005
What a load of weasel-words from Gerry Adams et al. It reads like a management-gobbledegook-generator. I kind-of expected to find "counterpoints the surrealism of the underlying metaphor" somewhere in there!
Jimmy
- Thu Jul 28 16:07:27 2005
I am not sure I could be doing with all that "waiting around for 2 weeks" bit. And Tom, I think you are right it does actually look quite difficult to get right ( if you don't know what to expect at each stage! )
kev
- Thu Jul 28 15:58:11 2005
Used to make our own wine some years ago, some of it was quite palatable. Cyberdad goes to a motorbike rally in Gloucestershire once a year, where the organisers have demi johns full of the stuff. Pretty potent I hear.
Mad Mumsie
- Thu Jul 28 15:31:14 2005
The IRA have issued a statement saying that they are going to be peaceful: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4724599.stm
tom
- Thu Jul 28 15:30:10 2005
Never tried making beer or anything else alcoholic for that matter. Might be fun. Jimmy - pregnant or fat you look the same up until about 6mths before you can start to tell. How far gone do you think you are? ;-)
Sarah
- Thu Jul 28 15:26:04 2005
I'm going on maternity leave! Or am I just fat?
Jimmy
- Thu Jul 28 15:17:42 2005
If you try it you'll find out that it's harder than it looks!
tom
- Thu Jul 28 15:17:38 2005
Mmmm Beer
http://www.cbc.ca/aih/features/2005/open_source_beer_20050721.html
Kev
- Thu Jul 28 15:15:00 2005
Both. Don't think I've felt this happy for ages!!
Sarah
- Thu Jul 28 15:04:20 2005
Way to go, Jimmy! Sarah: You mean to the weekend... Or to maternity leave perhaps?!?!
Nigel
Wrexham, .. - Thu Jul 28 14:55:25 2005
One day left to go, one day left to go, tumm tumm tee tumm tumm tumm, ond day left to go.
Sarah
- Thu Jul 28 14:50:36 2005
Personally, I'm a git in the grumpy-sod sense. There's nothing computational about me!
Jimmy
- Thu Jul 28 14:31:06 2005
Oh, but only "git" in the sense of that famous runtime process called "Go around the memory map and then arrive just - In - time". An acquired art and not one most programmers can live up to... (yes, ok, I'm losing it...)
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Thu Jul 28 14:01:46 2005
I think you've hit the nail on the head there, Kev.
Jimmy
- Thu Jul 28 12:54:48 2005
er.. by not having a fancy office that is....
Kev
- Thu Jul 28 12:50:36 2005
whereas I am just a git ( of course )
Kev
- Thu Jul 28 12:50:14 2005
They're just gits in a fancy office- that's what they are!
Jimmy
- Thu Jul 28 12:45:24 2005
I'm still using my old Palm Pilot (Palm IIIx). I've been trying to get hold of Acrobat Reader for Palm version 1, as this is the only compatible version. I know it is, because the Adobe website tells me. When I say 'tell' I actually mean 'taunt' because they don't offer it for download anymore despite suggesting that they do. Bastards.
tom
- Thu Jul 28 10:36:11 2005
Definitely.
Mad Mumsie
- Thu Jul 28 10:25:43 2005
I need help don't I?
John
- Thu Jul 28 10:24:30 2005
I get a sick pleasure out of having ZoneAlaram installed. In this way I can always toy with Acrobat after it starts running, and requests internet access. Every time I hove over the "allow" button and then at the last minute move over to "deny" instead. Then I cackle in an evil fashion - you shall NEVER EVER EVER get to the internet Adobe Acrobat - NEVER!!! Mwahahahahaahaha!
John
- Thu Jul 28 10:23:32 2005
and don't you just love the way every time you run Acrobat it insists it need to connect to the internet to dowdload useless plugins or update iteself
kev
- Thu Jul 28 10:02:07 2005
REUTERS London 15:08 Thursday
President Chirac has officially raised the French terror alert from "Run"
to "Hide". There are only two higher alert levels in France, which are
"Surrender" and "Collaborate". The rise was precipitated by a recent fire
which destroyed France's white flag factory - effectively crippling their
military capability.
Reuters
REUTERS London 15:08 Thursday, - Thu Jul 28 09:30:46 2005
Yeah, Jimmy. Good idea. I took some a while ago. If I can find them I'll post one later this evening. (I agree about Acrobat. Up to version 5 was just about bearable, later versions are horrible).
Nigel
Wrexham, Workstation - Thu Jul 28 09:15:40 2005
Hey- we could all send "Workplace photos", and compete to see who has the grottiest!
Jimmy
- Thu Jul 28 08:59:23 2005
I *hate* Adobe- because they make that buggering Acrobat reader. It's like a cancer- it gets everywhere, and just keeps getting bigger with every version. It's a slow as hell, and packed with features you'll never ever ever ever want. Also, it has a tendency to start its own process "AcroRd32" (or something) that hangs around in your system for ages, even when not it use! AAAARRRGHGHHHH! Also: the andriod-thingy- I think we all know where this one is going ... It looks like a woman, it moves like a woman- it's a very expensive sex doll!
Jimmy
- Thu Jul 28 08:57:53 2005
Oh dear. Now I know why Photoshop costs so much! Do all you software engineers have offices and parties like that!?! Geesh! Why did I get out? (Well probably because we *never* had facilities like that...:( Also because I'm not that good...)
Nigel
Wrexham, Work - Thu Jul 28 08:50:54 2005
Morning all
Tom: Spoke to Rob last night, said he would be delighted, and will be in touch when he gets back to work next week.
Mad Mumsie
- Thu Jul 28 08:17:06 2005
Check out the quality of this working enironment: http://www.photoshopnews.com/feature-stories/a-visit-to-adobe/
dsp
- Thu Jul 28 07:52:29 2005
Hmmm, I'm not convinced by the BBC story of Japanese robots. For one - if that is a "genuine" android - what we actually have there is an "automaton", a compressed-air powered mannequin. I think looks are less important than "ability". that way we - in future - we will recognise a "replicant" before we ever need Decker. Is this the old "form over function" debate? In this case "function should win. In my view... :)
Nigel
Oswestry, Evening - Wed Jul 27 21:06:33 2005
Have a read of this crap: http://www.livejournal.com/stats/latest.bml I'm glad I don;t know anyone with a blog........ Ah.
tom
- Wed Jul 27 17:33:53 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4714135.stm
tom
- Wed Jul 27 17:29:16 2005
Didn't they already mix fruit juice and call it Um Bongo. Apparently, they are rather partial to it in the Congo.
tom
- Wed Jul 27 17:06:35 2005
Lox, just noticed, you missed the William!
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 16:49:33 2005
Gosh Lox - Well Spotted. I shall have to see if I can find any other INTERESTING type photos.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 16:48:55 2005
Sarah: You are not allowed to drink beer while pregnant?
Lox
- Wed Jul 27 16:26:49 2005
Mad Mumsie: Mmmm Let me guess might he be Mr. RAF "I only risked my life 4 times this weekend" Robert Ian Lang?
Lox
- Wed Jul 27 16:24:41 2005
Where's that, then?
Jimmy
- Wed Jul 27 15:39:29 2005
I can't believe it will be another year before I go to Scotland again.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 15:30:53 2005
So, who recognises the red headed one in the front of this picture. Aw, doesn't he look sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 15:29:49 2005
<dsp>Another Piccy from Jill</dsp>
dspBot
- Wed Jul 27 15:26:18 2005
Ah. Maybe "Stor" has only one "R".
Jimmy
- Wed Jul 27 15:09:19 2005
<Jimmy>Coming back the other way, the "Old man of Storr"- just outside Portree.</Jimmy>
dspBot
- Wed Jul 27 15:08:13 2005
Sarah - only a lady in your delicate situation would think of mixing that lot together!
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 15:07:55 2005
Ah Jimmy, you've discovered Red Cuillin beer then. We bought a few bottles back with us!! When we were in Uig, they didn't have any on draft, much to my husband's disgust. Super spot and the pottery there is absolutely lovely.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 15:07:01 2005
Yeah, that's taken from the Kyle side, so I guess it's the Cuillins in the distance too. Actually, I tried out the Uig brewery on John's recommendation- a few bottles of the Red Cuillin and a few of the Black. Not a bad beer at all!
Jimmy
- Wed Jul 27 15:04:25 2005
John: probably the only good use for a video phone hooked up to a plasma ( although it might be cheaper to jump on a plane ) - actually that could make a great advert - copyright by me just now (tm)
Kev
- Wed Jul 27 15:02:11 2005
Umm, I wonder what that lot would be like all mixed together....
Sarah
- Wed Jul 27 15:01:26 2005
Cranberry, grape, carrot, pear, lemon, lime, mango...
John
- Wed Jul 27 14:53:19 2005
Have you tried branching out Sarah? Hey, there's a whole world of juice out there - tomato, pineapple, grapefruit, apple....
John
- Wed Jul 27 14:51:43 2005
Groan.
Sarah
- Wed Jul 27 14:46:53 2005
That'll be orange juice for you then Sarah.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 14:35:46 2005
Can't wait. Seems a bit strange having leaving drinks on Friday after being here for about 11yrs. Looking forward to eating all those things that I've not been allowed to for the past 7mths like pate, seafood and soft cheese..... Getting a bit impatient for the baby to be here already (for purely selfish reasons though I have to say.)
Sarah
- Wed Jul 27 14:34:18 2005
Only two more days then Sarah. Lets hope the weather gets a bit better for you over the next 8 weeks.
Mad Mumie
- Wed Jul 27 14:28:31 2005
I'd love a pint, in another 8 to 9 wks I'll be able to have one!! Sigh.
Sarah
- Wed Jul 27 14:25:33 2005
I'll just go check my jacket for change.... Damn! Sorry! could use a pint right now...
Nigel
Wrexham, Tum-ti-tum - Wed Jul 27 14:23:31 2005
Does anyone fancy going for a pint? It's going to cost you just over 500 quid, including the plane fare. I don't think that's unreasonable, though.
John
- Wed Jul 27 14:15:42 2005
Or even Sebastian. Although I suspect as it was a French name it was meant to be spelt with an 'e'.
John
- Wed Jul 27 14:13:20 2005
Come on Sebastien!
John
- Wed Jul 27 14:06:18 2005
Yea yea yea - you can't do gymnastics on a bicycle either Rowan!
John
- Wed Jul 27 13:52:09 2005
Lox: This will spark an old argument. We can't use PHP on the maison.
tom
- Wed Jul 27 13:41:06 2005
Oh it saddens me... Scotland only ever used to be 60 quid away - now it is 500-and-60 quid away.
John
- Wed Jul 27 13:40:30 2005
Aaaaa I love Scotland!! I should organize an holiday there sooner or later, anyone on for it? Maybe we could do a week or something, same style as Mad Mumsie did!l
Lox
- Wed Jul 27 13:25:12 2005
Jimmy: I don't think any photo truly represents Scotland, east or west, you have to go there. Nice piccy of the bridge tho. I assume the bumps in the background are The Cullins.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 13:20:31 2005
I think the Giant Causeway effect, is the result of perspective, but I see what you mean.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 13:18:45 2005
Is that the Kyle of Lochlash then Jimmy? As a pointless bit of trivia the "Caol" in Caol Ila (one of the lesser known Islay whiskies) and Kyle are in fact the same word, apparently. Both mean "sound", as in the sound you get around an island.
John
- Wed Jul 27 13:16:02 2005
Jill - very nice pictures - I like the one on the left hand side particularly, it has a bit of a giant's causeway feel about it don't you think? Oh how I miss Scotland!
John
- Wed Jul 27 13:07:15 2005
<Jimmy>Well, here's the Skye bridge, if you're gonna be like that ;)</Jimmy>
dspBot
- Wed Jul 27 13:01:04 2005
Jill: They are amazing!! I like the scenary, you are right saying that you need to be there to fully appreciate the power of the Highlands. Very nice shots!
Lox
- Wed Jul 27 12:59:59 2005
Small white blob is about 1cm to the left of the trees.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 12:47:36 2005
Sorry, should have said thankyou to dsp for posting these photos for me.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 12:46:04 2005
Just two, to give you a flavour. The first is in the Cairngorms, taken by my friend on a walk. The second is taken from the hill behind the cottage we were staying in. I am not sure if you can spot the very small white blob - our cottage. The Road is the main A9 to the Highlands.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed Jul 27 12:45:26 2005
<dsp>Piccies from Mad Mumsie!!</dsp>
dspBot
- Wed Jul 27 12:35:08 2005
Quite near ... lake Orta is (I think) the smallest of the lakes ... probably a bit to the West of lake Maggiore. It seems to be most famous for having that tiny island in the middle.
Jimmy
- Wed Jul 27 10:43:29 2005
Jimmy: I think it's near where I live now!! Was it in near Lago Maggiore? It's a nice view!
Lox
- Wed Jul 27 10:03:18 2005
<Jimmy>Here's a view of the lake (with the island in the middle) from the piazza at Orta.</Jimmy>
dspBot
- Wed Jul 27 09:53:26 2005
Yeah- we went to lake Orta last year- which was beautiful. Hang on a mo... I'll try to send a picture ...
Jimmy
- Wed Jul 27 09:48:51 2005
Jimmy: Never been to Italy before?
Lox
- Wed Jul 27 08:57:07 2005
Great pictures Lox! Now I *really* wanna go there ...
Jimmy
- Wed Jul 27 08:30:33 2005
John: I thought so, yesterday I downloaded greymatter directory and started looking at the files. Tonite I want to keep doing it until I find something. Certainly moving to a different system might be the solution (Tom uses Durpal), we could try it out on a separate folder... Anyways changing structure alltogether is a longer process, so I'll try to see how to make the sub-blog work in the meantime..
Lox
- Wed Jul 27 07:42:23 2005
Lox - the CGI files themselves have some paths in them, in the header, and you'll probably need to edit these in a text editor first. This might be a good opportunity to try using something better than greymatter! Perhaps Tim or Tom can give you some advice on this! (bearing in mind the usual limitations of what can and can't be done on the maison, as in php doesn't work etc)
John
- Wed Jul 27 03:59:47 2005
Nigel: Thanks I am glad that you liked them! I have soooo many but I also have a56k modem so uploading them (until Tim's dsp-bot) was a problem. I should post more in the near future!
If you want any of thoose for wallpaper, printing whatever let me know and I'll send you the full resolution ones by mail!
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 20:44:45 2005
Lox: Great photos. I really enjoyed flying the world with you (though *noy* the massage, obviously!!) Splendid pictures of peopple and scenery. Really cheered me up this evening :)
Nigel
Oswestry, Home... - Tue Jul 26 20:17:10 2005
John/Tim/Tom: I have a problem with Greymatter... I have tried to copy the cgi files in a separate directory in my folder, basically Iwanted to have a sort of "sub-blog" to be used for the recipies section. Unfortunately it seems that when I edit the settings of the new blog, it also updates the settings in the OLD one! I have now removed the folder and moved it outside my "lox" dir. (folder is called recipiesblog)... Any ideas of what am I doing worng or why it's not working?
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 19:29:25 2005
Since I am crap at CGI and Pearl I had to resor to the "classic" way of making the "Latest Addition" page on my pictures bit. Don't take the piss too much please! :)
Thanks to Tim I can now upload from work!Nigel: Take a look I have uploaded some more pictures from Florence, more will come in time.
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 19:26:39 2005
Nigel: Marta is a "sort of" partner I'd say, we live together (it has been 4 years now) but it's a trange involvment.. I cannot really put my finger on what we are (I guess boyfriend/girlfriend)..
Dsp: San means "MR." so yes you would be Hastings san, but since the Japanese tend to use first names with foreigners (and second names between each other) you'd be "Tim san"! (and Abi san, Claire san)..
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 19:23:48 2005
Lox: Glad it worked! Excuse my ignorance, but what does san mean after a Japanese name? Would I be Tim san?
dsp
- Tue Jul 26 19:10:53 2005
Hi Lox: are these the new photos on your blog? If so they are splendid!! Great scenery of Florence etc. I really enjoyed the "virtual tour" :) Is Marta your wife/partner?
Nigel
Wrexham, training services completed... - Tue Jul 26 16:47:39 2005
Tim: So am I.... Well to sum it up, DO NOT add the ZIP function it's not needed, I can send the JPG as I did today, it worked greatly!
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 15:51:26 2005
Lox: I am completely confused.
dsp
- Tue Jul 26 15:21:31 2005
Tim: I just realized that two messages down I wote by mistake JPG, of course I meant ZIP... :P
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 14:51:14 2005
Tim: I have sent several mails, let's hope I don't flood the mail server and get nicked for spamming!!
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 14:49:09 2005
No porblem Tim, it's ok not to have jpg I can send multiple images that's what I need.
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 14:44:14 2005
It worked! GRANDE DSP!!
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 14:43:41 2005
Lox - it does not support zip files, I've tested it with up to 10MB of JPGs.
dsp
- Tue Jul 26 14:37:27 2005
Dsp: Tried with 3megs, let'ssee if it works...
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 14:34:21 2005
Dsp: No prob will send them bit by bit! Thanks!
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 14:31:03 2005
Hi Lox: The dspBot will only process JPGs at the moment. I could code it to process zip files but it will take me a couple of days. 20 MB will probably be too big for the inbox because when transmitted as an email its become bigger. When implemented, 10MB shouldn't be a problem.
dsp
- Tue Jul 26 14:17:55 2005
DSP: I need your help. If I send a 20megs zip with the e-mail-upload-dsp-bot service, do you think that there'll be any problems? Will I be able to unpack it afterwards once the file is on the FTP server (I should think so, but I think it might take some time..)..
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 13:19:00 2005
Jimmy: No need to worry, in Florence you'll find that there are plenty of people speaking English, it's one of the cities in the world with the highest number of turists. As I said I can provide you with top quality info (I am a florentine even though I don't live there now it's still my home town), and you can also find a lot of resources on the net.
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 13:17:15 2005
Dunno about VRTs, though!
Jimmy
- Tue Jul 26 13:16:04 2005
VTR is also a video tape recorder. Of course, in the home they're VCRs, but (for some unknown reason) they're known as VTRs profesionally.
Jimmy
- Tue Jul 26 13:15:11 2005
Florence, eh? Alison reckons it would be nice to go there. Sadly, our inability to speak or comprehend Italian may be our downfall in a big city ...
Jimmy
- Tue Jul 26 13:14:08 2005
Volunteer Reserve (Training) VRT. Goes after RAF.
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jul 26 12:58:10 2005
What's a VTR?
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 12:30:15 2005
Tom: Rob's on holiday at the moment, and I'm not sure how often he gets on the net, but I'm seeing him tomorrow and will give him your message.
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jul 26 12:18:17 2005
rob: can I use you as a reference (as a VRT?) for something? Coul d you email me tom at rowan dot me dot uk with your address and phone number if that's ok?
tom
- Tue Jul 26 12:07:15 2005
Lox, because I go so often (well once a year) most of the scenery has been taken. But a friend has taken one or two on an ordinary camera, and we'll see what they are like. The only trouble with taking photos of the Highlands is, you really don't get an feel of the grandeur of it all.
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jul 26 11:45:06 2005
Thanks Jill, well I guess that the "real" problems are others. After all I still have a job, though I hate every little bit of it. But I cannot take too many risks in changing, after all it's not my first employment. Pecker is up anyways (DODGY....) will certainly look for other opportunities! Glad to see that Scotland was a good holiday, any chance for some pictures?
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 11:14:43 2005
Morning all, Sorry to hear of all your problems Lox, but maybe the right job for you is just around the corner. To quote an "Olde English" phrase - Keep your pecker up. Never actually discovered what a "pecker" is or what it derived from, but it seems to fit the bill at the moment.
Mad Mumsie
- Tue Jul 26 11:09:56 2005
Morning all ! Busy here too... training others... :/
Nigel
Wrexham, training... - Tue Jul 26 10:18:32 2005
Hi Lox! Yes busy, but not too busy to say hello! Hiya.
dsp
- Tue Jul 26 10:10:06 2005
all busy today?
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 09:58:38 2005
John: Sorry could you give me again the addresses to thoose pages to look for jobs in Japan?
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 08:31:20 2005
John: I definitely think that the Jorenzon project has to start after your last message! Pisa is of course shite, I mean what's so important abour a tower that has been built all skewed and dodgy?
Lox
- Tue Jul 26 08:04:47 2005
Graf: Very nice photo albums there!! Splendid day! What were you driving on the Stag do?
Nigel
Oswestry, hmmm - Tue Jul 26 07:11:05 2005
Yes Jimmy, definitely Florence uber alles! Lorenzo has successfully brainwashed me, and I am convinced it is the most attractive city in Italy - perhaps in all of Europe! I went to Milan once, and all I could think is "not bad, but not quite Florence"... and Pisa only left me thinking "I'm glad Florence is close by"...
John
- Tue Jul 26 03:22:34 2005
I JUST WANT TO APOLOGISE FOR MY PATHETIC ATTEMPTS AT TROLLING YOUR BOARD.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT POSSESED ME AND IM SORRY.
GOOD DAY.
STEVENSEAGALSAPOLOGY
- Tue Jul 26 00:52:18 2005
Here you can find the account of what happened to me in the last week, stressing about the potential job and so on... Thanks everyone for the support, help and wishes, next time I see any of you first round iis on me!
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 21:23:02 2005
Jimmy: Beign from Florence I have to reccommend that city above all the rest. In any case look on my blog thinghy for my e-mail address in you need ANY info, advice or anything let me know and I will be more than glad to help.
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 21:17:31 2005
AAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGG - Well I guess that you were fishing for it, as a matter of fact birds DO fly upside down, first because it's more stylish, second because they get shot if they shit anywhere, beign Italian soil extremely rare and generally expensive, surely more than thoose two rocks that you have in England anyways... (aaaaaahhh off my chest!!)...
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 21:15:44 2005
Jimmy: I heard that in Italy the birds fly upside down because it isn't even worth shitting on. Save your money. Eh Lox? ;-)
dsp
- Mon Jul 25 20:35:11 2005
OK- so imagine this scenario: cheap flights to Cyprus are unavailable, and I wanted to go to Italy instead anyway. Where do you all reckon I should go in Italy? In the second half of September?
Jimmy
- Mon Jul 25 16:34:20 2005
Today is my anniversary (7 years!). Congrats to me. John, just for you...yesterday was 35 degrees and today should get up to 35 as well. Tomorrow might be the first time in 3 weeks that it doesn't reach 90 F as a "cold" front moves in, seeing temps dip into the upper 70s and 80s for a few days.
Travis
- Mon Jul 25 16:29:02 2005
Tonite I will post the job-related ordeal on the bloggy thing, so that at least you know how it went... :)
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 16:22:59 2005
Well, what do you know. Suddenly I'm training raw recruits.... Put pay to my Maison conversing until later me thinks!
Nigel
Wrexham, Training... - Mon Jul 25 15:08:16 2005
Jorenzon-dsp Incorporated... SHEER GENIUS. I can sell practically anything give me 3 months to learn about it and off I go! As for what to make I have no clues at the moment, I guess that Japanese are professionals at making things that are completely useless but get a worldwide success (Tamagochi, pokemon, Manga, dildos)...
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 12:52:33 2005
http://weblog.rowan.me.uk/?q=node/340
tom
- Mon Jul 25 12:34:48 2005
He was just starting out after moving to a new area so his rates were very reasonable, and he's a great photographer. He must have been pleased too, because he's put some of our pictures in his wedding portfolio (http://www.valephotos.com/acatalog/book.html)
Graf
- Mon Jul 25 12:33:53 2005
DSP: We were incredibly lucky with the photographer. We met him by going to the wrong wedding fair (we decided to follow the signs to the wedding fair and ended up at a different on to the one we were aiming for).
Graf
- Mon Jul 25 12:33:37 2005
Sorry, this message was too big.
Graf
- Mon Jul 25 12:33:21 2005
We got married in Wokingham Town Hall, and the reception was at Cantley House Hotel a couple of miles up the road. It was good, and incredibly lucky to find such good venues within 3 miles of our house. Married life is good.
Graf
- Mon Jul 25 12:25:35 2005
Thanks Nigel! You're HIRED!
dsp
- Mon Jul 25 11:56:56 2005
And... dsp for business manager! He's got what it takes guys! Now you need a name for this enterprise - not "Jorenzon-dsp" although it *does* sound kind of corporation multi-national, dopesn't it? Don't forget your fellow maison-board-frequenters when it comes to share-options... :)
Nigel
Wrexham, working... - Mon Jul 25 11:47:20 2005
Graf: You're wedding pictures are great! What a good photographer! He's taken some fantastic portraits! Its great to see a hair style you can look back on and appreciate in many years ;-)
dsp
- Mon Jul 25 11:44:33 2005
Lox/John - No MUTANTS! Enough already! Sheeesh! Lox, you were right, you need to start a software company. Lox with you're knowledge of the culture and John with Chie and her friends/family, you have the perfect opportunity for market research. A couple of months for a working prototype, get Lox to sell it, he can have 50% of anything he can sell. Lox - dig deep - what piece of software or service are you confident you could sell in the Japanese market place? John - what killer app are you confident you could produce?
dsp
- Mon Jul 25 11:38:14 2005
All: News from the job thing. Basically the are sticking to their original offer, 6 months earning less than what I do now (all things considered), and then after the trial period we move to an higher wage that will be more or less what I have asked them... Now the ball is in my hands, any suggestion is welcome, I will go for lunch now and around 2 I have to give a reply... I have a good 1,30hour of thinking to do!!
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 11:37:16 2005
Graf: Nice pictures! Where did you get married?
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 11:35:23 2005
Mmmm Jorenzo!! MARVELLOUS! Yes we ought to do it, of course Chie and Marta will understand and will not be jelaous!! :)
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 11:34:47 2005
Congrats Graf, hope married life is treating you good!
dsp
- Mon Jul 25 11:34:31 2005
Thanks for all your sympathies. It's been a pretty bad few months. The start of the year was good though - we got married on the 8th of Jan. Pics here, if you're interested:-
http://bohemiannight.co.uk/graf/gallery/wedding
Graf
- Mon Jul 25 11:28:35 2005
John: you could get a sub-dermal implant and have lox translate for you :)
kev
- Mon Jul 25 11:28:32 2005
Or... "Jeremy Clarkson driving the new Jorenzon V6 coupe..."
Nigel
Wrexham, work... - Mon Jul 25 11:26:33 2005
I'd like to suggest that the twisted mutant half breed creature be called "THE JORENZON". No doubt, shortly after its' creation it will immediately become evil and take over the world.
John
- Mon Jul 25 11:15:15 2005
Tim - your suggestion could mean one of several things. Do we need (A) an expert in human cloning (B) some extremely strong fertility treatment and a wig or (C) a long coat, a pair of stilts, and/or a cunning disguise...?
John
- Mon Jul 25 11:13:07 2005
One downsmanship - 10 degrees coming to work in north wales this morning :(
Nigel
Wrexham, Work - Mon Jul 25 11:11:06 2005
Dsp: Does it mean that I have to physically MATE with John in order to produce the perfect "beign", or do I just simply sit behind John and translate everything that gets thrown at him? :) We could set up our own company I guess... but what do we sell?
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 11:09:45 2005
Actually Italy looks pretty hot too - 36 degrees in Rome. OK, I'll shut up then.
John
- Mon Jul 25 11:08:17 2005
John: I guess that you have a point there. Certainly IT is something that you must constantly look after, to avoid being obsolete in 3 months. I didn't think about that, and English teaching is certainly unskilled... Web designer? Pages in Japan are rather dull, there must be some company who does web design in a serious way..
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 11:08:10 2005
Lox/John: The solution just came to me. Lox wants a career in IT and is a salesman that speaks Japanese. John is an IT powerhouse in Japan that cannot speak Japanese fluently. Do I need to spell the rest out?
dsp
- Mon Jul 25 11:07:52 2005
Apparently it is 20 degrees in Reading today - so don't any of you try to tell me it's hot there too. I'm just off to check the temperatures in Northern Italy and Travisland to ward off any potential challenges from those directions too.
John
- Mon Jul 25 11:05:51 2005
Apparently it got up to 35.8 in Hiroshima today. It did feel really quite hot. I have noticed an irritating degree of one upmanship when it comes to temperatures. If any of you are thinking of saying "that's nothing, the other day it was blah-dee-blah-point-plah" then I would like to invite you to come over to Japan, and do any kind of physical exercise for more than about 30 seconds. Then, in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, after you've collapsed from heat exhaustion, I shall permit you to retract your statement about "35 degrees - that's nothing"...
John
- Mon Jul 25 11:01:43 2005
Hello everyone - I'm back from beautiful Scotland. Super holiday, weather fair most of the time.
Mad Mumsie
- Mon Jul 25 10:56:51 2005
Bugger.
tom
- Mon Jul 25 10:48:04 2005
Lox - Besides, the real issue is that the longer I spend out of IT, the less employable I will be when I try to get back into it again, as obviously things change. So careers wise, if I can not get a "proper" job here in Japan, I would be better off going back to England, getting a decent job there and taking evening classes for the language or something, rather than hanging around here doing something unskilled, only to find out in a year's time that yes, I can speak Japanese, but I'm now so out of touch with IT that nobody wants me.
John
- Mon Jul 25 10:47:57 2005
Lorenzo, I'm not sure teaching English actually improves your Japanese at all - most language schools actually tell you specifically to speak only English in lessons. Mine and Rob's friend Dale spent a while working as an English teacher here in Japan and said he learned almost no Japanese - and my friend Leon said he only really learnt Japanese outside the school as well. In fact Leon spent a year and a half living in Japan, teaching English, and when he got back to England he said he thought I knew more Japanese than he did!
John
- Mon Jul 25 10:44:21 2005
Tom: I have a very good friend who works in oil drilling. He's a geologist and he said that oil will NOT run out for at least the next 200years... :( I agree with you anyways, it would be better to move away from this source of power, Germans are already doing it..
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 10:41:01 2005
John: I understand your feelings, but you have to see the opportunity more than the cliche involved. If by teaching english you improve your Japanese, and get some money doing so, it's worth considering. Of course you'll be looking for a better job in the meantime. If worse come to the worse and after 6months you have had no luck, at least you'll have a better language skill and some money. At that point you might as well go back to England, or wherever you want to. You might look for employment as a GUIDE in Mianjima, but there not a lot of Japanese to be learnt there...
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 10:38:41 2005
In a twisted way, I can't wait until the oil runs out.
tom
- Mon Jul 25 10:34:58 2005
Tom: Mmmm You can't say that they are completely worng. Hunting for suicied bombers screaming at them it's not the best tactic ever. There is only one way to be sure, either deport all the muslims (innocents and suspects altogether) to their respective homes (but that would bring us back in 1922 when a guy called Adolf started his political career), or stop this "preventive war" crap and let them be with their oil (switching to alternative sources for power, like nuclear or eolic/photovoltaic). Personally I am more inclined towards number 2, but that clashes with too many interests from the actual political class, so in the end I think that we'll have to live with this terrorism shite for quite some time... alas.
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 10:34:07 2005
Lox - I wrote a very long rant about being an English teacher and decided not to post it for fear of swamping the board, but suffice to say NO! I think I would probably rather give up on the idea of working in Japan altogether than just fall into the unbearable cliche of becoming an English teacher!
John
- Mon Jul 25 10:30:29 2005
Some different perspectives: http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/ and http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
tom
- Mon Jul 25 10:23:29 2005
Cheers Tom! I was wondering how to get round that... Believe it or not the menu background grid played havoc with fuzziness... Any guidance welcome!
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Mon Jul 25 10:14:04 2005
The articles look good - will have a proper read later on on a break. The only comment would be that I'd use png or gif instead of jpg for the text-graphics. Then you won't get fuzzy edges.
tom
- Mon Jul 25 10:11:41 2005
Nigel: I like the Linux article, it's exactely how I felt the first time I got my grips with UBUNTU. Now I am waiting to go to this friend of mine in Florence, he will show me what to do, but it's complex like hell to install a sound card driver, either than that the os is good.
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 10:07:55 2005
John/Lox: Whatever you guys do... Don't give up and go into call-centres!!! I know I made a boo-boo :~( Well, why don't we all go into writing *about* IT? I've been fooling with a site - truely not pro, just playing, my writing's c*@p as well - take a look if you're bored - www.technologynow.co.uk. Please dsp, don't run your HTML analyser on it - I'd be so ashamed!!!
Nigel
Wrexham, work.. - Mon Jul 25 09:57:56 2005
Well you can start teaching english, I know it's not the best job but it will be good for your Japanese. I think that if the language is going to be the barrier it will be good to leave Chie during the day (a person that you know can understand english) to mix with other people who might have a lesser english proficiency. I think that in 3 months you should be able to imrove significantly, by the 6th month you'll be at a level that might get you through a work environment (based on my experience). Either than that I can ask my associates if they have a position for you in textiles...
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 09:56:31 2005
Lox - yes it is not over until the fat lady sings, I think I am still in with a chance, but it really could go either way. It would be good if I do get that job, but if I don't I'm prepared to accept that it's just the way of things! At the back of my mind I've been thinking I'd actually quite like to get out of IT, and maybe this might be a good opportunity to do so... the only problem being I don't have any other qualifications!
John
- Mon Jul 25 09:42:10 2005
Nigel: You are right, and I am more of pessimistic person than an optimistic one. I have to see what they come up with of course. The notice is a 2 months one, works both ways. In Italy it's easy to walk away from a job, but if the company wants to fire you it's really hard, or they pay you a lot of money. To be honest if I am shit at the job it's fair enough that they want to fire me, but on that I cannot start already defeated. The strange thing is why are they keeping the offers so low, this I cannot understand what they are getting to...
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 09:33:43 2005
John: Mmmm the "well known software company" didn't either say anthing negative though, so as we say in Italy, until there's life there's hope. Anyways having plan B ready to kick in is a good idea, it's strange that in Japan software developing teams speak japanese, I would have expected English to be a standard in that field...
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 09:29:45 2005
Graf: Hope things start to get better. Are you and Hester married now? Congratulations!
dsp
- Mon Jul 25 09:28:56 2005
Nigel - JEIDA - now there's an idea - I actually hadn't thought of talking to them! I guess a quick email costs nothing...
John
- Mon Jul 25 09:26:29 2005
John: Oh poo... Last time I had experience of American recruiting was for Toyota. Believe it or not they kept me hanging on for a year (yes, 12 months!) before finally letting me down. The monthly updates were thoughtful... Luckily I'd given up myself, long before and found this job (well it's IT precursor). Why not look into JEIDA - you're on their home ground now! :)
Nigel
Wrexham, The phones.. the phones!!! - Mon Jul 25 09:21:10 2005
Actually almost immediately after saying that there weren't any jobs that didn't require fluency, a visa or sybase I found one that needed none, and have immediately applied for it. So the moral of the story is keep thinking positive!
John
- Mon Jul 25 09:19:03 2005
I had an email from that "well known software company" saying they are currently in discussions about whether or not it is going to work out having me in the position I'd applied for, given that I'm a long way short of being fluent, and the rest of the team work almost entirely in Japanese. They haven't come to an absolute final verdict yet, but the wording wasn't particularly encouraging, and things are starting to look a bit gloomy for that particular job.
So back to the drawing board I suppose! Having had a browse around various job websites there really isn't that much on offer - all the IT jobs either require Japanese fluency, or an existing visa, or solid experience of Sybase (for some reason there are loads of financial type IT jobs which need this).
John
- Mon Jul 25 09:09:24 2005
Lox: John's a good friend! For one he's an Optomist!! I wish sometimes I could be so positive. The point about no notice required is a good one. I must admit from my (more pesimistic!!) view, the employer is doing themselves no favours here. You are worth employing. If they realise that then they should make more effort!! Graf: My sympathies.
Nigel
Wrexham, Work... - Mon Jul 25 09:08:52 2005
John: I guess you are right. This is the conclusion that I draw in two days. It's not the best of starts of course, but it would be worth a try. If things go absolutely pear shaped (get fired in 2 months), then I can think of something different, life goes on. The thing that bugs me is that for all the other jobs that I have taken I didn't have to think 1 second about it, the offer was so much better that didn't leave second thoughts. This one is a bit different...
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 08:52:32 2005
Lorenzo - if they do meet your offer, then that's good isn't it? You have an exciting new opportunity ahead of you... and if it turns out you don't get on with the new job, you can always leave. You said before that they don't have to give you a notice period if they want to terminate your employment, so presumably that works both ways... In which case there is no need to fear the unknown - you are not stuck with it!
If on the other hand they don't meet your offer, and you are not prepared to accept a lower salary then, well, in my opinion it just obviously wasn't meant to be.
John
- Mon Jul 25 08:38:13 2005
John: I wish it was like that. I really don't know what to do, I have been stressing all w/e, if they accept my requests I guess that I should go for the job, if they don't I am surely going to leave it. The problem is that all this negotiation has really dragged a lot, they offered me a lower salary than what I was getting here to start and then upped the ante after I told them that it was not enough. It's a strange behaviour, that's why I am not sure about this company. Product seems fine, but... Pay is in Swiss Francs and basically the job agaency made a mistake converting to euro and told me a figue that was higher than the reality. When I found out I called them again to explain asking that they put the NET wage to what I think it's enough to break even with the Italian wage (more details later).. Now I am waiting.
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 08:32:05 2005
Graf: Sorry to ready your post. As we were saying before all the bad luck seems always to strike at the same time, though it's of little consolation my hope for you is that things start recovering soon.
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 08:27:07 2005
Hang in there Lorenzo! I am sure better things are on the horizon!
John
- Mon Jul 25 08:26:49 2005
Nigel: The re-negotiations are still on the way. This morning they have to call and tell me if they accept my last proposal. To be honest these talks have been going on for a long time and I am rather fed up, because every time I decide to make the jump something strange always comes out and we have to start again. I have not updated my page because I am waiting for this to finish then I will make a huge post to describe this ordeal. On one side I want to leave here, on the other they are haggling a lot and made me a very low offer for a Swill job, I really don't know where to stand. :(
Lox
- Mon Jul 25 07:48:56 2005
Hi Graf - this is sounding like a terrible year for you, I'm really sorry to hear it. I had a bit of a year like that last year, there just seemed to be so many funerals - even one is one too many of course. I really hope things start to brighten up for you from now on.
John
- Mon Jul 25 07:12:32 2005
I know I'm a week late, but Winkflash.com are excellent for photo developing in my experience. Got all our wedding pics done there (and most other pics). My excuse for being late is that we were on "holiday" last week, which involved rather more "going to crematoriams (again)" and less "getting out of the country" than we had originally intended.
Graf
- Mon Jul 25 00:34:28 2005
Lox: How did the re-negotiations with the Swiss go?
Nigel
Oswestry, Jornada - Sun Jul 24 19:35:58 2005
Hi all. Mmmm. Just to prove my geekiness I'm browsing the Maison on an HP Jornada 720 PDA... Quite acceptable really - despite large fingers!! No problems with Firefox here!! As it's got a 206mhz ARM processor things actually move fairly quickly... for an old machine. :)
Nigel
Oswestry, Diningroom table... - Sun Jul 24 17:45:48 2005
Mmmmm Firefox will have many more bugs found out I think, it's bound to happen, but hopefully the fact that is open source means that the community can act quicker than M$oft...
Lox
- Sun Jul 24 14:57:14 2005
Who uses GreaseMonkey? Read this: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/20/firefox_greasemonkey/
tom
- Sun Jul 24 13:59:03 2005
Well, Suzy, No.
tom
- Sun Jul 24 13:38:40 2005
Great site, well done!
Visit my site
steroid treatment
Suzy
de, - Sun Jul 24 09:20:51 2005
~flips through his trusty 'Computers for dummies'~
Jeff
university of Texas, - Sat Jul 23 21:25:52 2005
--snip (john)--
Thanks John! C#'s one of those "new" ideas I should be able to leverage my "old" C training into... Previously I was using JAVA - though not professionally like you guys. Work was always consoles and scripts and networks and headaches... Now that I no longer work hands-on, just call-centre, I can take my time and hopefully enjoy... Right, about time for a Guinness... :)
Nigel
Oswestry, Recovering from shopping... - Sat Jul 23 16:00:05 2005
Nigel - perhaps you have worked this out for yourself already, but I think what you may want is the "express" edition of Visual Studio - this seems to be the free version (at least the beta releases are free). Try here.
John
- Sat Jul 23 15:23:19 2005
Sorry, this message was too big.
trytu
- Sat Jul 23 07:03:05 2005
Oooh Rob that XSLT is very clever - I hadn't managed to work out before how to split a list of items into groups of four (i.e. table rows) like that before. I think "following-sibling" is just great, and it fills me with a sense of zen-like contentment. I bow to your superior XSL intellect!
John
- Sat Jul 23 05:26:12 2005
rob: have been having a look at your xsl/xml pages. I begin to understand he power of this now. The xsl is a stylesheet to show the browser how to display the xml data. It is BROWSER based, not server side in any way. Nice.
tom
- Fri Jul 22 21:39:38 2005
Stay safe
Jeff
U Texas - Fri Jul 22 18:47:27 2005
Well, I could stay a BIT longer.
Galahad
- Fri Jul 22 17:22:20 2005
for a non-microsoft dev ide for c# you could try http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/
kev
- Fri Jul 22 17:03:11 2005
Ahh - found it! http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/vctoolkit2003/
Not found a C# yet... still looking...
Nigelq
Wrexham, Doing no work at all...! - Fri Jul 22 16:54:04 2005
Ah! Messages crossed. I looked at Eclipse the other night too (has it devolved from IBM now at myeclipse ?) Do you rate it?
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 22 16:51:40 2005
Rob: Well, there's certainly a C# Express edition 2005 - at beta, but the C++ I found was 2003 and "lite". Not obvious where though as I search again. I'll check later at home...
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 22 16:50:09 2005
I'm told by an office geek that C# .NET can be plugged into the Eclipse IDE made by IBM. Brilliant!
Rob Lang
- Fri Jul 22 16:44:55 2005
Rob: Hmm. Not sure... Worth a look though as a full MS compiler in only 32MB.... If you can't find one, when I get home later I'll post the link - it wasn't obvious.
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 22 15:46:07 2005
Rob: surprisingly your page worked here - being a restricted government system I didn't think XML would operate, but it did - and very well!
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 22 15:42:18 2005
Nigel, did you see a C# version too?
Rob Lang
- Fri Jul 22 15:38:13 2005
I have to add though that you should probably take what I said with a pinch of salt - I *did* download Visual C++ NET Express Edition the other night, which is MS's gratis lite version, not-beta, just 2003.... Only 35MB too...
Nigel
Wrexham, Working... - Fri Jul 22 15:35:20 2005
I have finished the XSL stylesheet. Just need John to add title and description tags to the top of the xml and change the caption tag to description and it's done. I've added a javascript rollover but this won't work if IE stops it from popping up (active content, you see). Check out the camel page: http://www.maison-de-stuff.net/rob/pics/gallery/camel/icar/index.xml
Rob Lang
- Fri Jul 22 15:17:42 2005
FOR WHAT?
MAKE UP YOUR OWN MINDS.
SEAGALS IS RESPONSIBLE?
- Fri Jul 22 15:01:31 2005
Lox: Trouble is, Open Source doesn't drive an economy, it rides on top of it. Marketing by large companies is a financial river Open Source can float on (sorry about the dodgy metaphors here!) but it's can't provide the water... Ok, if Microsoft turn to hardware production big-style should they release all software FOC? Do pigs fly? Perhaps we should argue then that all food and water should be free too :)
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Fri Jul 22 14:20:52 2005
Tom: Well, I'm not sure. I use JAVA for it's cross-platform C++like qualities. Don't have any SUN hardware. I can write for PC and PDA alike. It's only an example and SUN do sell Pro tools too. Microsoft .NET ties people to the Visual Studio range. But it's just MS's alternative to JAVA and PC-only... (Maybe!!)
Nigel
Wrexham, ,... - Fri Jul 22 14:15:53 2005
Sun make their money on super reliable hardware. The OS software is free now - but you need their hardware to run it.
tom
- Fri Jul 22 14:10:52 2005
There are economics theories that state that Monopolies will die in the long run, I think that the more tecnologically minded menkind will become, the more people will shift to open source resources. Now most of the population in the world don't know anything about computers, but the younger generations will...
Lox
- Fri Jul 22 14:07:13 2005
John, I need another change done to the schema. Can you replace <caption> with <description> because 'Caption' is actually an HTML reserved word and IE doesn't understand how to clear the formatting off it. Ta. That and the page header/footer is the last thing to do before finishing the XSL!
Rob Lang
- Fri Jul 22 14:06:36 2005
Yes, and why should they? Open Source is great - long may it thrive - but that doesn't mean *all* software should be so. Creative effort has to be paid for - we all need income to be able to eat. I use JAVA, which is in essence free, but SUN are a profitable company. Open source is a "facet" but shouldn't be a "de facto". In my opinion !! :))
Nigel
Wrexham, Russians! - Fri Jul 22 14:05:29 2005
No, Microsoft will never go open source. ever.
Rob Lang
- Fri Jul 22 13:59:23 2005
Rob: Speaking of Open Source, don't you think that the move to Firefox and other open source resources (linux in primis), might mean that things are slowly changing?
Lox
- Fri Jul 22 13:56:38 2005
On which note, I shall disconnect. Yeah right.
tom
- Fri Jul 22 13:30:27 2005
http://news.com.com/Driven+to+distraction+by+technology/2100-1022_3-5797028.html
tom
- Fri Jul 22 13:29:20 2005
Nigel (you're right about php), I agree, it would be nice if there was just one standard language but that would require the big companies to go open source - which they won't.
Rob Lang
- Fri Jul 22 13:29:16 2005
On to more pleasant subjects - Tom, I went over to Drupal's site the other day. As I understand it, Drupal's another runtime/scripting extension that is built on a PHP server-side core (??). XML is an extension, XSL too. .NET is a runtime like JAVA - even the famous Castinet and Bongo are JAVA extensions... Doesn't it just make you wish for a unified runtime envirnment for Server and Client sides? Or am I naive?? :/
Nigel
Wrexham, Work - Fri Jul 22 13:13:16 2005
Scarily fair analysis Tom. Accounts seem confused but one things is true. The Police were brave... no one's mentioned that - only the five shots. Would "you" dive on a man in a bomb-belt to stop him at all costs? Took guts. I just truely hope is wasn't a mistake :(
Nigel
Wrexham, Working - Fri Jul 22 13:01:45 2005
My site is powered by Drupal (http://www.drupal.org). It's capable of SO MUCH more.
tom
- Fri Jul 22 13:00:02 2005
Tom, what's the name of weblog wizard that you use to make the blog? As for the shootings I think that even if they fired 5 shots it would have been to ensure that the guy doesn't pull a triegger or anything in his last living moments. I have to go to London to meet Burberry's boss next Thursday, I am totally not looking forward to it to be honest..
Lox
- Fri Jul 22 12:53:53 2005
http://weblog.rowan.me.uk/?q=node/339
tom
- Fri Jul 22 12:48:55 2005
Hmm. I'm planning on spending next weekend in London. I have to say that I'm not feeling in the least bit deterred, though!
Jimmy
- Fri Jul 22 12:44:30 2005
Woow! The information age is incredible!
dsp
- Fri Jul 22 12:41:03 2005
The Crusades -> Cool. Do I get to wear armour?
tom
- Fri Jul 22 12:37:05 2005
Apparently he was carrying explosives on him. (so italian news say)... This is utterly shite, we are going back to the crusades if things keep going like that!
Lox
- Fri Jul 22 12:18:59 2005
Bang bang! Lets hope he was the right guy: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4706787.stm
tom
- Fri Jul 22 12:08:50 2005
John, another thing, right at the top (under the xml declaration), I need you to put a reference to the xsl stylesheet: <?xml-stylesheet href="maison.xsl" type="text/xsl"?> Which will force the browser to load the stylesheet.
Rob Lang
- Fri Jul 22 11:56:54 2005
John, the only thing we need to add is a title and page description tag to the top of the document. At the moment, there are only images listed. We could really do with a few extra tags in the top. They can start off empty, of course but the XML generator should really be there.
Rob Lang
- Fri Jul 22 11:44:37 2005
(Warning! This may be irreverent! ) - Let's play "Invent a New Scripting Language!". How about "Fireball XSL 5! !! Or "Burphp". Or "Castanet and Bongo Programming" .. oh no... that's "real" :/
Nigel
Wrexham, Going barmy... - Fri Jul 22 11:44:17 2005
John, that is a thing of beauty! I shall finish the XSL this morning and upload it somewhere sensible with a test page.
Rob Lang
- Fri Jul 22 10:18:27 2005
Morning all. Grey and gloomy here - and that's just me... Still, it is Friday.
Nigel
Wrexham, As usual... - Fri Jul 22 10:04:36 2005
Ciao everyone!
John: How are you? Will you update the photostudio page with the final version, once it is finished?
Lox
- Fri Jul 22 08:14:29 2005
Rob - I've built and uploaded a new version of Photo Studio with the image source, width, height laid out as you requested. You can get at it here. I've just uploaded the EXE by itself this time - you will probably still need those two DLLS from the earlier zip files to reside in the same directory (or if you're feeling brave you could pop them in your system32 dir).
John
- Fri Jul 22 07:41:32 2005
Been busy with school and work of late but I popped in today. What's all this about Steven Seagal? I know some secrets about him...but I only tell for the right price.
Travis
- Thu Jul 21 22:00:53 2005
Nigel: You are right, I am going to meet the former salsman tomorrow and then I should have an idea on the type of work in details + how hard it is going to be. Of course this will shed some light onto the commission issue, as I will know what is the turnover, expected turnover and so on. They are well scared as I know that they do not have a real alternative, so there might even be the space for some more haggling, though it's going to be hard to do it in front of everyone (president, ceo, and so on). Let' s see I will tell you more tomorrow evening... thanks a lot! (BURP)
Lox
- Thu Jul 21 17:44:02 2005
Well, all I'll say is that the gas has to go somewhere..
tom
- Thu Jul 21 17:35:49 2005
Well Tom, how about the odd "bottom-burp" instead then? The counts as two regular Burps! I believe...
Nigel
Wrexham, tum-ti-tum - Thu Jul 21 17:28:19 2005
[damn]
tom
- Thu Jul 21 17:23:36 2005
How does he breathe...?
tom
- Thu Jul 21 17:23:24 2005
Which leads on nicely to: "My dog has got no nose..."
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 17:21:51 2005
Incidently, I recently met someone who could not smell. His name was Alex.
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 17:21:16 2005
(without covering your nose of course)
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 17:20:34 2005
Sorry to hear that, could you manage a sneeze?
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 17:20:12 2005
Yummy, that sounds nice
Sarah
- Thu Jul 21 17:19:55 2005
I can't burp since my operation.
tom
- Thu Jul 21 17:18:54 2005
Well boys and girls, its a Chinese Banquet for tea tonite in honour of my buddy Dave's birthday. Mmmm Crispy Duck!!
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 17:16:41 2005
Tom: No burp?
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 17:15:56 2005
Now all I need to do is parse this XML neatly in PHP.
tom
- Thu Jul 21 17:13:07 2005
I second that! (burp!)
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 17:12:00 2005
Lox: Well done on the "upgrade"! They obviously want you - they came back to you very quickly :)It sounds to me like a big move for you, so only say "yes" if everything is in your favour... Remember the old saying about women who marry men thinking they can change their bad-habits later... It never happens... (Burp!)
Nigel
Wrexham, Lates again... - Thu Jul 21 17:00:12 2005
Tom - can you send me a couple of up to date photos of Dominic. Cheers
Sarah
- Thu Jul 21 16:26:43 2005
rob: I've written some code to take a directory listing and produce XML like your suggested in your last schema. It also creates the thumbnails using imagemagik... It's now running away on 16gig of photos. YAWN.
tom
- Thu Jul 21 16:16:15 2005
On DVDs you forgot BLUE RAY, RED RAY, DUOBLE DENSITY and DOUBLE LAYERS!! Marvellous! The power of diversification! It's like toothpaste don't you think?
Lox
- Thu Jul 21 16:00:08 2005
Brief Update: I have got an higher poroposal, it's not what I wanted but I am going there tomorrow to speak to the leaving sales manager and I will have a talk about the commission story and so on. The feeling now is that in the end I am going to go with them, but I have to gather more info tomorrow. I never would have thought that it was going to be so hard... In the end I think that the higher you go in terms of salary, the harder is to be surprised when a new company offers you something. Maybe I am mistaken, I didn't sleep yesterday night, I hate to feel like that.
Lox
- Thu Jul 21 15:59:08 2005
Ahh (again!). Thanks for that. Need a cup of tea now... :)
Nigel
Work, Infront of a NEC Powermate... - Thu Jul 21 15:50:18 2005
dsp: how clever, how did you know about the hidden code?!
Sarah
- Thu Jul 21 15:36:00 2005
dsp: how clever, how did you know about the hidden code?!
Sarah
- Thu Jul 21 15:35:56 2005
I'm actually incredibly bored. God knows what I'm going to do next week at work.
Sarah
- Thu Jul 21 15:34:15 2005
Nigel: Unlike MIME which does not have any length encoding and is VERY fussy about the contents. You message must not contain the all important separator.
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 15:33:44 2005
Don't be fooled John.
Sarah: Did your message contain hidden codes telling Tom that his linux build is nearly ready and that his choice of distro was optimal for running a web server? (and you're embarrased about his use of .ini files?)
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 15:32:45 2005
Nigel - the segment starts with a length field, and that many bytes will be skipped regardless of what they contain, so no need to avoid any particular byte sequences or anything.
John
- Thu Jul 21 15:32:08 2005
Well, I could have tried if it had been about firewalls etc. but I'd just get myself into pooh if I tried to join in with the current conversation.
Sarah
- Thu Jul 21 15:30:53 2005
I like the way Sarah wasn't at all put off by the geekiness of the conversation.
tom
- Thu Jul 21 15:28:05 2005
Ah, thanks John. Did wonder about the specifics. I've seen some pretty big "inclusions" but I guess you can actually get another pretty big JPG in a 64k segment alone! Usually they've been "MIME'D". Does this avoid the start-of-file marker thing?
Nigel
Wrexham, ... - Thu Jul 21 15:16:11 2005
Three more working days next week and that's me finished. Can't wait! Two months to prepare for the monster to arrive although I don't think any amount of time is going to prepare us. Bad news about London again, guess this is going to keep happening now for a time.
Sarah
- Thu Jul 21 15:15:24 2005
Nigel - each application specific marker segment has a limit of 64k (yes, the length field is two bytes!), but you can have as many of them as you want, so yes, you can embed an unlimited amount of data into a JPEG file.
John
- Thu Jul 21 15:03:59 2005
I know what you mean Tim, I didn't get CD burners either - all that R and RW nonsense. Whatever happened to just straightforward floppy disks? There was only one type, and you could write about four bytes of data to them as many times as you wanted. Well, until they wore out at least, which usually occurred about a week after you'd bought them. Memory sticks are they way forward - I'm sure the price differece between 4 gigs worth of memory sticks and a whatever DVD is probably less than the amount it has cost your company already for you to have wasted your time being confused by which DVD you need!
John
- Thu Jul 21 15:01:50 2005
One interesting thing you can do with JPEGs is add *any* data in them (I guess as long as it doesn't contain a paired-byte the same as the start-of-file marker?) One trick people use is to use the comments data section to conceal whole documents and pictures. I'm not sure what the size limit is, but it's pretty large. So if a JPG is well compressed and another big file hidden inside it, nothing looks too untoward from the "outside"... Steganography is similar...
Nigel
Wrexham, Online Again!!!!!!!!!! - Thu Jul 21 15:01:24 2005
Thanks John. Its not as complicated (it would seem) as DVD writing. We've just got a DVD writer and I thought I'd buy some discs. It turns out that there is: DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD RW/R and DVD-R. Ours does not support DVD+RW. Guess which ones I bought.
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 14:56:11 2005
Yes Tim. To complicate matters, the EXIF chunk of data is actually a TIFF file, and may contain its own image data (for example a thumbnail image)... but it is just a parasite living within the structure of the JPEG file. A standard JPEG reader which is not EXIF aware can just skip this data harmlessly. An EXIF JPEG file is just a perfectly normal JPEG file to all intents and purposes - you don't need to do anything different to display it, it just happens to have an extra chunk of data inside it.
John
- Thu Jul 21 14:49:19 2005
John - so to summarise: JPEG allows people to include their own data in the file format (like IFF). And EXIF is just a standard way of encoding bits of data (that can be put in a JPEG file). A bit like putting notes on scraps of paper in a matchbox, and then putting that in a envelope with a photograph. The envelope is JPEG and the matchbox is EXIF.
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 14:44:03 2005
Tim - It is probably possible to argue either way, but the way I see it, EXIF is definitely JPEG's bitch. The JPEG standard allows for an abritrary number of application specific data segments to appear at the start of the file, and the EXIF data is just one of these basically. I suppose it is a bit like putting meta tags at the start of an HTML file.
John
- Thu Jul 21 14:36:02 2005
Glad everyone's ok. John... Can I ask a muppet level question: Is EXIF a data format contained within a JPEG, or is it a format by itself that contains JPEG? Which one's the daddy?
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 14:30:52 2005
I can't help but wonder if the BNP is somehow behind all of this - they're the people who are most likely to benefit, aren't they? No doubt they're blaming all of this on "them immigrants" - I bet they're having a field day.
John
- Thu Jul 21 14:26:34 2005
When I got to London these days, I tend to end up at the BBC. That would have me passing through Shepards Bush. Phew. (Home again today.)
tom
- Thu Jul 21 14:12:19 2005
Well one of the advantages of working in a government office is an intranet - "...Shepherd Bush, the Oval and Warren Street. " apparently. Advised to contact the Metropolitan Police website - http://www.met.police.uk/. Sadly my access is grinding to a halt again - as it did last time :(
Nigel
Wrexham, work - Thu Jul 21 14:08:03 2005
This is dangerous, mediatic terrorism is even worse than the real one. Keeping the population ignorant and under fear is the best way to control it. Also in Italy they are speaking about it, but it might have been a malfunction. Do you remember after 9/11, one plane crashed near JFK? It lost an engine that felt on the houses, some people got killed. At first everybody thought it was a terrorist, only later they said it was the birds flying into the engine causing the accident...
Lox
- Thu Jul 21 14:03:39 2005
Well I can do that, John but it's dirty.
Rob Lang
- Thu Jul 21 14:02:30 2005
Blimey it's on the telly here in Japan already - bad news travels fast! Although it sounds at the moment like they weren't proper explosions...
John
- Thu Jul 21 13:56:36 2005
That sounds pretty ominous doesn't it - another three tube stations...? Although it is hard to glean what is going on from what the BBC has on its website, at least it seems to suggest everybody has been evacuated, so as yet, no casualties or anything...
John
- Thu Jul 21 13:53:30 2005
Naaaaaah Rob - you don't need the src, width etc to be made into elements rather than attributes do you? Can't you just use the @ symbol....?
John
- Thu Jul 21 13:47:10 2005
More Tube trouble http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4703777.stm
Rob Lang
- Thu Jul 21 13:31:45 2005
Yes, I think JEIDA should offer John a couple of million to buy the domain, don't you? :)
Nigel
Wrexham, Work... - Thu Jul 21 12:14:40 2005
And even cooler is the No 1 Google hit for Exif!!
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 11:55:48 2005
Was writing an XSL sheet for it and I have an adjustment or two to the xml. Please have another look at the example schema. I need the IMG tags broken down so that I can add style and class information into them! I shall reconstruct them in XSL. Ta.
Rob Lang
- Thu Jul 21 11:41:52 2005
John: What I want is a folder batch mode ;-)
tom
- Thu Jul 21 11:21:17 2005
Ok. Well, that's what I want to use then I guess. If I have an xml file in each folder with the details of each jpeg, and the thumbnails them selves in /thumbs, then I can use a single php script to read the xml, parse it , and print the page. I guess input to the php script is the directory path?
tom
- Thu Jul 21 11:20:47 2005
Cool! John's exif site is linked from this article: http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/exif_reader.asp
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 11:19:05 2005
Tom: INI files are SO last year. XML is the new INI file ;-)
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 11:17:23 2005
Can I ask a muppet level question: Is EXIF a data format contained within a JPEG, or is it a format by itself that contains JPEG? Which one's the daddy?
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 11:16:17 2005
What I would like is a means to a) create thumbnails folders in each of these sub folders, b) allow me to create a nice simple PHP script (in each folder) to display them based on an ini file.
tom
- Thu Jul 21 11:11:05 2005
I've got a similar requirement I think. I've got all my photos sorted into a folder structure like: photos/2004/01-jan/05 (I wrote a perl script to do this, which you can get from http://weblog.rowan.me.uk/?q=node/338).
tom
- Thu Jul 21 11:09:10 2005
Ciao guys, thanks for the advices! I have called the head hunter and told her that I was not going to move for less than 3500 Euro (they offered 2500 and I earn 2650, they knew my salary). She called and now they are deciding, let's see what happens. Though it might sound like a lot, from what I know is pretty standard in Switzerland to get thoose wages..
Dsp: I can take a cut down, but in this company (is rather small) I will always be a salesman, so the wage is hardly going to rise in the years, maybe commission is going to change but the fixed part not. Of course no prospect of career I am moving because I don't like my present condition, but I am not unemployed. Moreover is Swizerland you don't get all thoose "social covers" that you do in Italy.
John: It's better than "piss off" but when are they going to let you know the next step?
Lox
- Thu Jul 21 11:08:43 2005
Thanks John! Still got the date in the caption but that's the only problem left. I will get onto writing an XSL document for you.
Rob Lang
- Thu Jul 21 11:04:31 2005
Oh actually it is working again now - you can download the updated version here - really must go now!
John
- Thu Jul 21 10:59:02 2005
Rob - Hmmm well the FTP server for both the 'maison and stuffware seems to have broken... I have made the changes you suggested (more or less!), but can't get it to you for the time being - have to take a break for dinner now... Might be back online later, but can't guarantee I won't be drunk, as Chie's father will no doubt force me against my will to imbibe seemingly endless quantities of delicious cold Japanese beer.... mmmmm
John
- Thu Jul 21 10:57:10 2005
Well, you know. Any exif data you think it poignant. You could stick it all in there but then the file is getting quite large. Having said that, most XML files are large and then converted by the transform in the browser.
Rob Lang
- Thu Jul 21 10:15:24 2005
If you do a view source on that other document, you can see the xml header. Really basic one.
Rob Lang
- Thu Jul 21 10:14:38 2005
Hmmm Rob, can you clarify what you mean by "all the data" there?
John
- Thu Jul 21 10:14:35 2005
Splendid! Works a treat. Here's some additional things: [1] Instead of choosing how the captions work, just stick all the of the data into the xml document, the xsl can pick and choose what you want. [2] Don't include font size and colour information. [3] In the XML, would like the xml header but I have created a little schema based on yours that might do the trick... Idea for the xml schema. If you write it, I'll do you a nice XSL transform. :)
Rob Lang
- Thu Jul 21 10:11:28 2005
Rob - it is a bit on the basic side - but if you're prepared to put in some legwork with defining your own caption format you can get just about any information you want about your images into your XML files... So actually basic probably isn't the right word, errr, not sure what the right word is though.
John
- Thu Jul 21 10:06:25 2005
Tim - I got an email saying that "the interviews [in Seattle] seemed to go well", and they are "currently deciding the next steps". This is a bit cagey and non-comittal, but I suppose it is somewhat better than "piss off, you're crap". I am guessing I will have another interview in Tokyo, and hopefully the final yes or no will come after that
John
- Thu Jul 21 10:03:36 2005
That worked! Now moving on to test the new feature! :)
A very happy Rob Lang
- Thu Jul 21 09:57:53 2005
Rob - oh pissing eck - I hate this sort of thing! Why does nothing ever, ever work first time...? Visual Studio 2005 is such an akward sod for making executables that redistribute easily.... I have a vague recollection that this has something to do with manifest files. Have a go with this zip file instead.
John
- Thu Jul 21 09:56:06 2005
John: Good advice. Have you heard any news?
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 09:52:16 2005
Lorenzo - that is a tricky situation, obviously you should try to negotiate however possible. Perhaps you do need to tell them how much you are earning at present, as this ought to suggest to them that their offer is not so attractive to you. I don't know enough about the evil schemes of recruiters to comment with any authority, but as you mentioned there was another candidate (or at least that was what they told you), then it does make me wonder if they are trying to see who will accept the lowest offer. Me personally, being an arrogant sod, I would probably decide on a minimum I am willing to accept, and if they can't offer that, then it's time for "...AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON!", errr, but perhaps a little bit more politely, not wanting to burn bridges etc. It really comes down to how much you want the job (or more appropriately how much you don't want your current job!). You have to decide an acceptable threshold that you are willing to put up with in order to have a less hate filled working life... Ultimately though if they can't come up to that threshold, then it obviously just isn't meant to be!
John
- Thu Jul 21 09:47:46 2005
Lox: Did you have an idea of the salary before you applied for the job? If you are taking the job as a next step on your current job, then taking a cut is out of the question. If it is a change of career for you because you don't like your current path, then a drop is acceptible. Ask youself how long it will take to get back to your current salary? 12 month? 2 years? And are the longer term propects significantly better, ie. worth the short-term drop?
dsp
- Thu Jul 21 09:45:25 2005
I unzipped and tried to start and I got the following error: "The application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem." Using XP SP2.
Rob Lang
- Thu Jul 21 09:43:34 2005
OK I've had a bash at the XML output thingy - although the specification is very open to interpretation! You can click here to download the zip file. There is a new wizard, which looks a lot like the old wizard, for doing XML output, and it has its own toolbar button / menu item / keyboard shortcut. I have included the two MSVC8 DLLs I think you'll need, but no doubt there'll be another million it will complain about, or it will just crash, in which case, can I say in advance "it works on my machine".
John
- Thu Jul 21 09:37:51 2005
As Rob says... Also ask yourself if the new company knew what salary you are currently on. If they did then...
Nigel
Wrexham, wwww..... - Thu Jul 21 09:36:07 2005
I would say that you negotiate.
Rob Lang
- Thu Jul 21 09:01:48 2005
aiaiaiaiaia... bad news.. The interview was good, as they offered me the position, the problem now is that their offer is WAY BELOW standard (they are offering me LESS than what I get now). They said that there will be commissions, but since I don't know the product/company I cannot discuss this part with them now, and anyways I will not get anything for more than 1 year (6months trial no commissions, and then the other 6 months are covered but they pay them at the end of the year)... Usually moving from Italy to Swizerland gets you at least 50% more than the italian salary, mostly because you can be fired today for tomorrow (no notice), and you don't get a leave "bonus" as you do in Pizzaland. Now I am really puzzled because the offer is so under par that makes me think that they are playing with me, and for a future employer is not certainly something that "sells" them to me... Will ask them to speak with the guy that is leaving, then maybe I'll counter propose... Any ideas guys?
Lox
- Thu Jul 21 08:52:36 2005
Sounded a bit Simpson-esque that, didn't it? Not that I actually work "server-side" these days... Ah well... to work...
Nigel
Oswestry, Cool, hard light of day... Sober - Thu Jul 21 07:01:31 2005
Oh how cool is that?!?! Both of you - Dupiaza *and* PHP !!! Dinner and pudding! Thanks dsp for reminding me I only had Scampi and Chips - Thanks Tom for having the link! I must admit I *nearly* picked up a book on PHP/XML/... probably a "Dummies" catch-all book as it seemed appropriate. Can I leverage my old "C", "ASM" and BASIC skills into this new format?!?!? Is there room in my brain...:/
Nigel
Oswestry, Home Sony-ing... - Wed Jul 20 20:10:17 2005
http://www.daemonchild.net/t00lz/ip.php
tom
- Wed Jul 20 19:55:53 2005
Easy in php!
tom
- Wed Jul 20 19:55:12 2005
And of course an Nan bread :-P
dsp
- Wed Jul 20 17:20:25 2005
I think I'll have a Dupiaza(?)
dsp
- Wed Jul 20 17:15:33 2005
Mmm Curry :-)
dsp
- Wed Jul 20 17:08:43 2005
Mmmm, not sure...
dsp
- Wed Jul 20 17:01:56 2005
I need curry!
HUNGERMAN
- Wed Jul 20 17:01:42 2005
Just a thought guys... Why not have a field in the board display for the IP address of the poster? I'm *not* a web expert like you fellows but I've seen a dynamic display of a user's address when visiting a site before. All automatic. Is this a lot of work? Or are we talking sci-fi here?!? I know people redirect and proxy and go down the street and back but that takes effort... which in the end we might all admire...
Nigel
Wrexham, Work... - Wed Jul 20 16:40:27 2005
I think he's an aikido master of some sort... I never watched one of his movies though. As for "masters of the universe", it was one of the biggest cartoons here in Italy for at least 3 years... but I didn't know that they made a movie out of it! Glad to see that our troll is an expert of B-movies and B-actors, a B-Troll perhaps?
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 16:14:08 2005
I feel sorry for Seagal/Segal - there seems several ways to spell his name. Just read the bio over at IMDB and he doesn't deserve fans like this...
Nigel
Wrexham, The dojo - Wed Jul 20 15:57:01 2005
I quite enjoy your trolling. As odd and Pythonesque as we can be, we're not nearly as random as someone going on about Seagull or someone. It's great. If you fancy being a regular, we quite enjoy having random people in.
Rob Lang
- Wed Jul 20 15:40:34 2005
THAT'S ABOUT AS FUNNY AS YOU FIND MY TROLLING.
WHICH I MUST SAY I ENJOY IMMENSLEY!
SEAGALS SECRETS
- Wed Jul 20 15:33:21 2005
Probably in pigtails.
tom
- Wed Jul 20 15:32:46 2005
I believe he wears a pubic tupee, though.
Rob lang
- Wed Jul 20 15:31:00 2005
Hers a bonus secret to make your day, Seagal DOES NOT wear a wig contrary to popular beleif amongst fools.
SEAGALS SECRETS
- Wed Jul 20 15:25:58 2005
-- snip (john) --
ALMOST AS EXCITING AS READING YOUR MONOTONOUS POS......... ZZZZZZZ
SEAGALS SECRETS
- Wed Jul 20 15:22:33 2005
This is fascinating.
Rob Lang
- Wed Jul 20 15:19:58 2005
Spot the furtive self-manipulator here... It isn't one of the usual residents...
Nigel
Wrexham, Wrexham - Wed Jul 20 15:14:13 2005
Hey Lox, Dolph Lundgren played He-Man in the 80's film, Masters Of The Universe.
THE FACT STRAIGHTNER
- Wed Jul 20 15:10:58 2005
Did you know that Seagal is a 7th dan? I think this means that hes hard as nails.
That is today's revelation.
SEAGALS SECRETS.
- Wed Jul 20 15:10:06 2005
Do you think that it's a random troll bothering to post crap on the board or a bot of some sort?
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 14:57:24 2005
HEY TROLL - THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT
dsp
- Wed Jul 20 14:39:07 2005
We missed you! You forgot to tell us Segal secret yesterday! Enlight us oh master of the universe!
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 14:29:16 2005
-- snip (john) --
Nigel: No I am the last I think... Nice this "define:" thingy! I like it!
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 13:43:40 2005
I like Google! Can't see "Moon" from here as the firewall is playing silly-bergers. I guess I'm last to learn about entering "define:" then a word in the search field? Marvellous! I may be slow but I usually get there...
Nigel
Wrexham, Working... - Wed Jul 20 13:42:04 2005
Mmm. Wallace would be pleased.
tom
- Wed Jul 20 13:36:10 2005
Have you zoomed in to the max? Just what I always suspected...
dsp
- Wed Jul 20 13:29:49 2005
http://moon.google.com/
tom
- Wed Jul 20 13:25:38 2005
I seem to remember a discussion on the thermal properties of modern laptops....
tom
- Wed Jul 20 13:23:02 2005
Hi Tom. Ah, that must explain how good the laptop feels compared to my desktop. I now feel a little glow of smugness! It's a Sony by the way... bit big I suppose, but it does just about everything quite competently. Don't think I could actually work with it on my lap though!
Nigel
Wrexham, Working... - Wed Jul 20 13:18:50 2005
Nigel: I think you can times the processor speed by 1.5 if you have a mobile pentium (Centrino). So, 1.6 = 2.4 which explains a lot!
tom
- Wed Jul 20 12:58:33 2005
dsp: I have a Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook S. But then, I work for Siemens.
tom
- Wed Jul 20 12:57:26 2005
Seaweed Jhon? Say hello to Chie and her family!
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 12:15:03 2005
DINNER!?
Rob Lang
- Wed Jul 20 11:46:41 2005
Hmmm so as I suspected it won't build in Visual Studio 2005 - this will require a small amount of work to fix, but hopefully this is not too insurmountable. Will keep you posted, but first, I have to have dinner!
John
- Wed Jul 20 11:41:23 2005
I thought the same thing Nigel - there's great spoof potential there, for subsituting those pictures for real photographs of real typical developers - ugly, spotty, stressed out, hate filled, reprobate, socially incompetent, etc. (present company accepted of course!)
John
- Wed Jul 20 11:22:19 2005
Thankyou, John! Hopefully, the XML output will mean that the index system will output everything in beautiful XML. The good thing about this is that it can then be transformed by using XSL into whatever style webpage you want. Splendid. The upsot of this is that I can the start organising and uploading the wealth of digital photos I have already taken. :) Thanks John, this little bit of extra functionality is going to make life a MILLION times easier!
Rob Lang
- Wed Jul 20 11:20:05 2005
John: So can you tell us what the XML implementation will actually do? Which flashy features will you unlock in this new release?
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 11:14:41 2005
AAAAAAAAAAAAA.... Didn't even try to type anything as I gave for granted that I couldn't specify anything... Better! :)
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 11:13:37 2005
Looking at the Microsoft Visual Studio Express pages I was wondering how they choose the clip-art photos of their typical developers? Who do *you* think you look like most? I reckon I look most like the J# developer - old and grey having programmed in JAVA before!! :/
Nigel
Wrexham, As usual - Wed Jul 20 11:13:36 2005
For the first time in about two years, Photo Studio is actually building.... although no doubt the build will fail because it was an eighteenth century version of Visual Studio last time I did anything with it.
John
- Wed Jul 20 11:10:53 2005
Err Lorenzo - in that control you are referring to you can just type in whatever you want. In programming terms it is an edit control with a combo box attached. So ultimately whatever is typed into the edit box will be put verbatim into the HTML. The combo box (the dropdown list, or slider as you call it) is just there to give you suggestions in effect - a list of sensible defaults. If you type "chickens" into that box, you will find the string "chickens" in your resulting HTML!
John
- Wed Jul 20 11:05:57 2005
Rob - I managed to sort out a new development environment today, after some confusion earlier it appears I can in fact still get a beta release of Visual Studio - albeit the express version - but I think that is sufficient for my needs. Having got some new RAM today as well, I ought to be well set up to do a spot of development - I will look into Photo Studio XML output as my first priority in your honour. Indeed it shall be codenamed "Project Lang".
John
- Wed Jul 20 11:01:50 2005
John: It seems to me that Rob is very subtly trying to get you to add XML features to Photostudio. Though I quite don't see the final use (I assume it's going to be easier to update onlin-pages + XML feeds), I am sure that if Rob asks there must be a good use for it.. . Since you are there, can you change the slider of the page-wizard where you get to choose the colour of the tables where comments go? I think it's better to put it in a way that you can input the values that you like, not just the usual "green", "white" and so on.. :)
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 10:52:41 2005
John: thanks! I'll keep that in mind. During my interview, I have been rather enthusiastic, nerdy (I started asking them about Twain protocols and if the system was programmed under Linux, the two interviewers didn't have a clue what I was talking about!!), I have asked questions on the product and told them blatantly that I can gain whatever technical skill they think I will need, not because I need it, but because I like learning thoose things. This got me the second interview, I think. Now I have to state all thoose things again, putting more enphasis on the learning bit, I think... Oh well, we'll see can't really plan an interview in all details, will have to go with the flow... Still, thanks to everyone for the ideas/advices!
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 10:48:07 2005
John, hows's the photostudio XML output going?
Rob Lang
- Wed Jul 20 10:44:27 2005
Dsp: Mmm good tactic, during the first interview I have asked a lot of questions, but there are more to be satisfied so I am going to try asking more specific ones. Let's see how it goes, I know I can do this job, which is a good start, now I have to convince them!
Nigel: That's it, the coolness of the computer is a feature that a lot of people pointed when talking about Centrino. My old PIII heats up so much that I can cook on the keyboard (I have to open it as much as possible to avoid meltdowns, even when I am working, usually I unscrew all the unimportant parts of the casing, battery, FD and so on).
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 10:42:55 2005
So Lorenzo, in my humble opinion, the keywords are enthusiasm, and maybe even geekiness... Obviously somebody that is excessively geeky is going to come across as having no social skills, but in your case that shouldn't be a problem - you have bucket loads of natural charm and I am confident you can win them over!
John
- Wed Jul 20 10:40:39 2005
Lorenzo - yes, regarding your interview, enthusiasm goes a long way. I was told that when I got my job at softel, my enthusiasm was a major part of why they hired me. Every time they asked about a technology I didn't know I said "give me a book and I'll learn it", probably a bit of a cliche, but it obviously worked nonetheless. For my Microsoft interviews I read around on the web a bit and several people advised that it was good to be nerdy, and be excited about technology... Luckily the area of work I am applying for (digital TV) is something I actually really enjoy working with, and have spent a lot of my own time outside of work dabbling with too (e.g. StuffTV). So even in the "down time" - the bits between interviews etc, I would gabble on about cool applications for digital TV - not in a contrived way, but because I am really that geeky and I really enjoy talking about DTV.
John
- Wed Jul 20 10:37:31 2005
Yes, mine's a Centrino - 1.6 I believe. Runs cool and is actually surprisingly fast, but this is probably down to a 2mb on-die cache. The other major difference is the wifi built-in.
Nigel
Wrexham, Working... - Wed Jul 20 10:33:25 2005
Thank you all - well that's that mystery solved! I can be a real thicky from time to time when it comes to PC issues, and it is important to remember that having a PhD in Computer Science doesn't necessarily mean I know anything about computers! The memory is safely installed now, and my little PC does seem notably quicker and happier. I don't really mind a whole 64MB going over to graphics memory - I just wish I had been asked at some point!
John
- Wed Jul 20 10:30:36 2005
Lox: You need to convince them you are very keen and are a quick learner. Apparently I got this job over somebody else (who wanted a lot less) because I asked lots of questions about how stuff worked.
dsp
- Wed Jul 20 10:30:31 2005
I have a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D something or other.
dsp
- Wed Jul 20 10:28:26 2005
I have an IBM Thinkpad R31. It's quite old but does the job well.
Rob Lang
- Wed Jul 20 10:25:23 2005
Doh! too late! :) Rob: what laptop do you have? Has anyone tried CENTRINO processors? A friend of mine told me that they are really good...
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 10:23:29 2005
John: I agree with Nigel. On my laptop (rather old) you can set up a max of 64 meg for the graphics. You should be able to enable it from the bios, check the setting for "shadow graphic memory" or something like that. It might be that your laptop allocates automatically 1/8th of the memory that you have onboard. It would be strange if you could not change that... In any case 64megs to the graphic is not that terrible it will help loading picture faster, and when you close applications going back to desktop should be faster too (if you have background pics they usually are loaded in the GPU memory).. From my experience it should be that one, I cannot think of other periphreals that need memory off the RAM...
Lox
- Wed Jul 20 10:21:32 2005
John, it is graphics memory indeed! I found the same thing. It takes a proportion of whatever you put in (a good idea, really). I am waiting for a 512MB module (should arrive today) for mine so I can run DTP products on it for Icar. :)
Rob Lang
- Wed Jul 20 10:20:32 2005
Yep!
Nigel
Wrexham, Work - Wed Jul 20 10:17:34 2005
Thanks Nigel - you have confirmed my suspicions! OK well all is well then!
John
- Wed Jul 20 10:17:30 2005
John: My initial reaction is that the 32/64MB deficit is being purloined by the system for graphics memory - standard proceedure on mid to lower end laptops. Sometine you can actually set how much is used in the machine's BIOS. :)
Nigel
Wrexham, Worketty-work - Wed Jul 20 10:16:12 2005
Does this have something to do with video RAM...?
John
- Wed Jul 20 10:15:53 2005
Hi boys and girls, I have a stupid question about RAM that I really ouhgt to understand. My humble laptop has a mere 256MB, which I wanted to upgrade to 512MB (apparently the max it can handle) so I bought another 256MB. I am pretty sure I have the right type - PC2700, 200 pin etc et
