Mum: an excellent find! We must see if we can get a digital recording of it somehow....
John
Fri Aug 31 22:19:26 2007

JM: I see.... Well is it a cartoon actually made by John? The only drawing that I have ever seen made by John was the "Moon on a Stick" page, and I am not entirely sure it's all his work...
Lox
Fri Aug 31 21:59:09 2007

Sorry, Lox, the cartoon isn't in any way embarrassing, just what a child would do who is going to grow up to be a big noise in the computer world. If we'd only known at the time....
John's Mum
Fri Aug 31 21:34:11 2007

:)
Sheri
Fri Aug 31 21:00:20 2007

Would that be "Mecca Bingo" Sheri? We have a chain of bingo halls by that name in the UK and I can give you directions to the nearest one, if you'd like? ;)
Nigel
Fri Aug 31 20:32:42 2007

Btw, what way is Mecca ?
Sheri la profane
Fri Aug 31 20:06:13 2007

Allllllllllllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaah akbar. Allllllllllllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaah akbar. Allllllllllllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaah akbar.
Sheri (ze Frog, so it's ok if it's insane!)
Fri Aug 31 20:03:30 2007

John: Good stuff!!! I'd get drunk if I were you... :D Though I might not need to say that now that I think of it....
Lox
Fri Aug 31 19:36:39 2007

I have finished work! Holiday, holiday, holiday!
John
Fri Aug 31 19:24:17 2007

JM: Is it a very embarrassing thing? If so can we have a copy? :D
Lox
Fri Aug 31 18:48:56 2007

I'm doing an attic clear-up and have found the tape of when John got a cartoon on the Rolf Harris Show. This has made my day, I though we had lost it. I'll let him tell you all about it. Have a good weekend everyone!
John's Mum
Fri Aug 31 17:49:38 2007

Well, Brian has finally gone. I hope somebody else can do hard sums! BUGGER.
Jimmy
Fri Aug 31 16:57:43 2007

hometime in 22 minutes yay
Kev
Fri Aug 31 15:38:44 2007

That's a good idea John! I did try it here once, but had a visit... They send everything here via Outlook and basically "watch" when you read it. If you don't.. clip-clop, clip-clop... You can hear them coming...
Nigel
Fri Aug 31 10:54:50 2007

I was reading an article recently about people setting up their out of office auto reply even when they're in the office - or extending it to a couple of days before / after their actual holiday to give themselves a bit of breathing space. So, as an experiment I have set mine up already, and hopefully I can actually relax a bit and get some more stuff done today as a result.
John
Fri Aug 31 10:45:28 2007

Morning all!! I'm on a General Enquiries Desk today, so more relaxed... So far...
John: Ah! Nice one!! :D Electric Six remind me a little of the B52's. I take it no royalties came your way?!?!
I'm coming to a conclusion that "work-caused guilt" is something we all need to seriously exorcise - unless we are self-employed, maybe. The condition makes for serious damage.
Nigel
Fri Aug 31 10:17:46 2007

Morning Kev! And everyone else! Today is my last day in the office, before going off to Scotland for a week, largely with the intention of drinking lots of whisky. I should be all excited and looking forward to it, but instead I find myself somewhat stressed at all the things I should have got finished at work before I left, but haven't.
John
Fri Aug 31 09:41:40 2007

Nigel: a good choice - I recall that video being a bit of a favourite of mine as well. Small point of related trivia: some guy made a documentary on bands from Detroit (including Electric Six) and used a video I'd taken of them at Glastonbury in it. Well, I say "used" - he asked my permission to use it, but the quality was pretty poor so I'm not sure if it ever actually made the final cut in the end.
John
Fri Aug 31 09:36:16 2007

Morning All
Kev
Fri Aug 31 08:35:42 2007

I've also just noticed that among the new iTunes music videos, there is to be found the excellent: "Electric Six - Danger High Voltage". This is totally barmy but I rather like it! :D
Nigel
Thu Aug 30 23:13:07 2007

Ha! So true guys! To be honest I don't mind £1.89 a 50-min episode. For example that new "Columbo" DVD partwork costs £7.99 for two episodes... And as it's not streamed as such - you get to keep it - so maybe the p2p thing doesn't apply, Kev? (I'm not a video tech-guy like you chaps, so could be off-base there! :)) I would hope the quality is good. However the choice so far is abysmal!! Yes, John, "Lost" as you say, then mostly obscure US shows I've never heard of and would never watch... And I have to admit to buying the complete DVD set of "Camberwick Green" (for my kids of course!!) for the princely sum of £5.97!
Nigel
Thu Aug 30 22:54:46 2007

While I was in Japan I used to constantly check if they had started doing TV shows on iTunes, and now when I'm back in the UK and have just gone and bought a very convenient means of recording iPoddable programs off the telly, they finally get their act together... Although, unless I'm missing something, it appears to only be episodes of Lost... plus I really like the way they dutifully show all of the most popular user reviews - which unanimously denounce the whole thing as a rip off!
John
Thu Aug 30 22:24:41 2007

Hmm, buying tv episodes, not sure about that. Problem is p2p. Although Sky do a free( if you subscribe ) p2p service called anytime which is quite a cool compromise
Kev
Thu Aug 30 22:10:16 2007

Evening! Well I've just been looking at the new TV Episodes available on the UK iTunes store... OK, things should improve given time... Shouldn't they?
Nigel
Thu Aug 30 22:07:27 2007

... well I used to have a compiler which compiled *.obj to Windows *.dll - maybe it was the PowerBasic Console Compiler (OK, don't laugh!!!!! :D Sorry I'm not really any use!)
Nigel
Thu Aug 30 16:42:55 2007

... except that c# doesn't compile until just-before it runs.
Jimmy
Thu Aug 30 16:18:11 2007

OK. I feel the need to impart my own, ancient, programming practice for you Jimmy. Write whatever code you want, complite to an *.obj and then just "Link" it at the compile stage. Easy! See? OK, maybe I'm twenty years out of date... :)
Nigel
Thu Aug 30 16:09:01 2007

... if only life was a cartoon... ! :D
Nigel
Thu Aug 30 15:45:16 2007

I now have this image of a tiny mushroom cloud going "phffft!" just above a certain search-engine's offices in London... :) :) :) :) :)
Nigel
Thu Aug 30 15:38:49 2007

John- doesn't Platform Invoke mean that I have to put my stuff in a DLL? If the answer is "Yes" than that's OK. Ideally, I'd statically bind to my c++ .LIB, but it'd be nice to know if this is actually *possible* ...
Jimmy
Thu Aug 30 15:36:57 2007

Nothing to do with railways, then?
Jimmy
Thu Aug 30 15:01:39 2007

mod_proxy_balancer anyone?
dsp
Thu Aug 30 14:41:45 2007

Actually Lox I believe it may be an obscure Harry Potter reference.
John
Thu Aug 30 14:19:52 2007

LOL Lox, nice! That's the sort of thing wifey would say!
Rob Lang
Thu Aug 30 14:19:50 2007

John: Are you trying to get a typical women shoe to appear in front of you, or is it something technical related to programming? (given that you are shite at programming i'd go for the first option)
Lox
Thu Aug 30 14:02:25 2007

Platform Invoke
John
Thu Aug 30 13:59:13 2007

Jimmy: platform invoke, platform invoke, platform invoke... why are you not paying attention to the fact that I keep saying platform invoke?
John
Thu Aug 30 13:58:27 2007

botheration.
Jimmy
Thu Aug 30 13:50:39 2007

Oh and it was unmanaged. Some of it was even in C.
Rob Lang
Thu Aug 30 13:33:26 2007

jimmy, definitely though COM, sorry!
Rob Lang
Thu Aug 30 13:33:06 2007

John: Could be a good beer mate if he gets the job right?
Lox
Thu Aug 30 13:02:30 2007

Lox/Jimmy/Nigel: all good suggestions. In the end though we just had a very standard conversation about all the great perks of working for my company... Unfortunately I started to stumble when he said "...and what do you all do after work...?". I just avoided answering this, but the reality is, at least on my team, we never go to the pub or do anything outside of the office at all really.
John
Thu Aug 30 12:54:03 2007

Jimmy: platform invoke might help here.
John
Thu Aug 30 12:50:22 2007

John: Carbon neutrality - that's a buzz at the moment. Floods - the use of search engines for info...
Nigel
Thu Aug 30 12:26:06 2007

Celine Dion???
Jimmy
Thu Aug 30 12:23:35 2007

Rob- you say you've caled a c++ library from c#. Was that "Raw" c++ or managed? If the former, did you have to wrap it up in a COM object, or could you link to it some other way? I'd like to avoid a COM object if possible!
Jimmy
Thu Aug 30 12:23:02 2007

John: Sex, Women, Arse, Feck! Ah yes you could also speak about Football, Computers, which is the best search engine in his opinion (honest, it's not an interview, really it is NOT)...
Lox
Thu Aug 30 12:07:23 2007

So I'm about to go for lunch with a guy who is interviewing for a position here - apparently lunch is supposed to be informal and not an interview in itself. Any suggestions for topics of conversation?
John
Thu Aug 30 12:02:18 2007

Never a truer word.
tom
Thu Aug 30 10:59:56 2007

Celine Dion can be helpful in the event that you actually want to induce vomiting.
John
Thu Aug 30 10:33:57 2007

Tom: Got you.
dsp
Thu Aug 30 10:32:29 2007

Tom: Maybe, but when drunk I think that Iron Maiden will serve a better purpose than Enya.... In any case I will report this TERRIBLE happening of a FAMILY FATHER GETTING DRUNK to the authorities... I can see the Evening Standard titles already... :D
Lox
Thu Aug 30 10:12:35 2007

Well, if hungover you want soft music don't you? Enya, rather than Iron Maiden?!
tom
Thu Aug 30 09:37:21 2007

Rowan: Eh? Lilting harp? WTF?
dsp
Thu Aug 30 09:31:45 2007

Ooo - Kev: yes, a bit - this morning I had mysteriously got red wine lips. Actually, now I think about it, no mystery at all.
dsp
Thu Aug 30 09:31:05 2007

Not so much AWESOME POWERCHORD, but more lilting harp required huh?
tom
Thu Aug 30 08:55:48 2007

Morning All, hangover dsp ?
Kev
Thu Aug 30 08:22:22 2007

(whilst drunk)
dsp
Thu Aug 30 01:18:40 2007

**AWESOME POWER CHORD** with air guitar gestures.
dsp
Thu Aug 30 01:18:22 2007

................... ...................
RSyREGL
Thu Aug 30 01:15:50 2007

Evening all!! :D Not much happening my end. So... Er... Right then..
Nigel
Wed Aug 29 22:27:23 2007

:D
Lox
Wed Aug 29 15:36:13 2007

I love the way the board descended into nerdyness and then lox cuts through it all!
tom
Wed Aug 29 15:18:00 2007

Father Ted is GRAND, I am totally sorry that they never broadcasted it in Italy, but of course it would loose all the funny bits as probably they'd translate it in italian and spoil it all... :(
Lox
Wed Aug 29 15:09:00 2007

I agree with John on this, generally I've had good VS experiences with this sort of thing in the past.
Rob Lang
Wed Aug 29 15:07:40 2007

Generally speaking I actually thought this was all handled really well in .NET, although I have a suspicion Jimmy is about to uncover some obscure edge case in which it all falls apart. Visual Studio even does a pretty good job of letting you debug code which is a blend of managed and unmanaged.
John
Wed Aug 29 14:53:05 2007

Jimmy: I recall making COM objects, and then building interop DLLs to wrap them. I think VC++ will do this for you fairly automagically. The other option were some command line tools which I believe included a utility called tlbimp. I also vaguely remember there was something called p/invoke (platform invoke?).
John
Wed Aug 29 14:48:43 2007

Used interop to call a C++ library from within C# .NET 2.0.
Rob Lang
Wed Aug 29 14:43:30 2007

I haven't done it that for a while Jimmy, you either need to make a managed C++ layer wrapper to access the native C++ or use dllimport attribute to hook the method calls straight from a preexisting c interface that wraps the C++ implementation. There may be other ways too.
Kev
Wed Aug 29 14:41:14 2007

Anybody ever tried calling c++ from c#? And I mean *proper* c++, not that bastardised managed version.
Jimmy
Wed Aug 29 14:36:19 2007

It's shite. In fact, it's suprising that (unlike UHT milk) there's any demand for it whatsoever.
Jimmy
Wed Aug 29 14:06:13 2007

SQL is such a miserable language.
Jimmy
Wed Aug 29 14:05:29 2007

Actually I had every intention of thieving his work and pretending it was mine! Regrettably right now I find myself required to do stuff in SQL, and I fear Dr. Wadler's mastery of all things Lambda-esque may offer little help in this dark hour.
John
Wed Aug 29 13:48:07 2007

tom, nasty.
Rob Lang
Wed Aug 29 13:27:05 2007

You'd probably only copy something from the bask of his notes and pass it off as your own... :p
tom
Wed Aug 29 12:18:46 2007

I can't believe it - Philip Wadler (of Bird and Wadler fame - the textbook from which all my bet winning programming knowledge is derived) is coming to give a talk at my office next week, and I'm going to be on holiday. Bugger it.
John
Wed Aug 29 10:53:38 2007

On an unrelated note, the other day I laughed until I was in tears at this line from Father Ted:
You'd better get going, because milk gets sour. Unless it's UHT milk, but there's no demand for that. Because it's shite.
John
Wed Aug 29 10:38:49 2007

Honestly, the phrase that he wrote could have been "decent" much better than "cloridesulphurateosside" that we used to get, but at least put a BLOODY DECENT NAME YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!!
Lox
Wed Aug 29 10:02:36 2007

... maybe he'd like to take Chie away for a weekend too ...
Jimmy
Wed Aug 29 09:53:35 2007

:D :D :D :D :D :D
Nigel
Wed Aug 29 09:49:18 2007

Kev: sure no problem - should I give him a spare key to my flat as well?
John
Wed Aug 29 09:48:57 2007

John, can you just not give RaniRevaves an admin password so they he can post links> as long as he promises not to share it then that should be ok, shouldn't it ?
Kev
Wed Aug 29 09:44:37 2007

Rani: the best way to get started is to be a real person. I fear you may have fallen at the first hurdle there.
John
Wed Aug 29 09:26:17 2007

Good morning boys and girls! As for the request of RaniRevavi a link will be sufficient but I doubt that your game is of any interest among us...
Lox
Wed Aug 29 09:25:23 2007

Morning!
Well speaking personally I really don't want tp see any pictures from your game, Rani-whatsit. Sorry and all that...
Nigel
Wed Aug 29 08:40:59 2007

Can someone let me know the best way to get started on this board. I am confused. I want to post a funny picture from my game. How do i do this?
RaniRevaves
Wed Aug 29 02:08:38 2007

Now I can see great fun being had swapping out the cold water for some boiled water from a kettle !
Kev
Tue Aug 28 20:52:39 2007

Ha!! Good point Kev!! Did you know that apart from all those clever devices you can get now-a-days to detect microwaves, one old way was to put a glass of cold water close to the oven... If the water began to warm you pulled the plug out!!!!!!!!! :)
Nigel
Tue Aug 28 19:48:36 2007

I wonder if there are any hotspot neighborhoods where the eggs in your fridge mysteriously seem to be always 'pre-cooked'
Kev
Tue Aug 28 18:00:22 2007

Well I worry about city-wide wifi. Microwaves in the S-Band (which includes 2.4GHZ) is what we are talking about. True there are a wide range of "Microwaves" as such, however a cumulative effect of wifi, phones et al makes me a little nervous - especially if I was living in such a place.

Just thought I'd add a cheery voice to the discussion!! (Sorry!! :D :D :D )
Nigel
Tue Aug 28 16:51:24 2007

TM: Now... the "We are off to Intercourse" could be open to interesting double meanings... or is it just me? :D:D:D - It seems incredible that they have free wifi everywhere in the US, it's kind of cool!
Lox
Tue Aug 28 16:28:10 2007

Greetings from beautiful downtown Lancaster PA library - free wifi - hooray! Washington was grand, nice to look at. Today we are off to 'Intercourse' (it's a place!). 'later guys.
Tims Mum
Tue Aug 28 15:08:29 2007

The algorithm itself looks simple enough. That's what I found most impressive, in fact.
Jimmy
Tue Aug 28 12:53:01 2007

Wow that image resizing is surely great, I wonder how long it took them to devise the algorithm...
Lox
Tue Aug 28 11:55:42 2007

Tim: that is uber clever! Have you noticed though the Maison de Stuff banner at the top of the main page does something a bit similar - a clever little HTML trick of Rob's I believe?
John
Tue Aug 28 10:35:07 2007

Check out this clever image resizing!
http://go2web2.blogspot.com/2007/08/fascinating-content-aware-image.html
dsp
Tue Aug 28 09:18:40 2007

Morning all. I too don't really feel like being at work today - I guess that is the curse of having a long weekend!
John
Tue Aug 28 09:15:25 2007

Good morning all! Well, I'm back in work... Oh poo...
Nigel
Tue Aug 28 08:46:21 2007

Morning all!!
Lox
Tue Aug 28 08:31:01 2007

morning all
Kev
Tue Aug 28 08:21:29 2007

Hello all!! Well I've been rather lazy today, seeing as it is the day before I have to return to work. Most household chores were done yesterday.
I'm just listening to the iTunes music I've bought, through my headphones. Not a vast amount I thought, but it tells me there's 5.9 hours of the stuff here...
Nigel
Mon Aug 27 17:19:03 2007

Well I am here at home munching over a bunch of emails that I have got from my employers... Things are pretty nasty for me, I hope for a speedy solution in the next days...
Lox
Mon Aug 27 12:59:25 2007

Morning Lox - it is August bank holiday here in England today, which means everyone is off work, and hopefully have a nice day out somewhere or other... I, on the other hand, am being taken shopping. I guess it will be pretty quiet round here today.
John
Mon Aug 27 11:44:08 2007

Good morning!!
Lox
Mon Aug 27 10:44:41 2007

Yea, we know the layout of the Royal Albert Hall now - so tomorrow we could go back again and deliberately sit somewhere that we know will get on the telly. :)
John
Mon Aug 27 00:05:54 2007

John:This is rather bad I was hoping to see you there! Better luck next time maybe? :P
Lox
Sun Aug 26 23:45:58 2007

Hmmm... well it looks like we didn't get on the telly after all - we were right off the top of the screen the whole time. I am quite disappointed.
John
Sun Aug 26 23:12:13 2007

We're back from the Proms now. I doubt you would have seen us - we were up in the highest circle. However I did record it and I'm now going to scour it just on the off chance...
John
Sun Aug 26 22:14:09 2007

Could I ask you to wave a banner, John? Saying someting along the lines of "Maisoneers, I'm here!" You know, just to give me a chance... ;)
Nigel
Sun Aug 26 18:19:24 2007

We're off to the Albert Hall in a short while to watch the Proms - if you happen to have BBC Four and very good eyesight you may be able to see us (although as Chie bought the tickets we're in very cheap seats miles away from the front, so you'll have to squint).
John
Sun Aug 26 17:45:43 2007

Nice one Lox!! I love it when people know what they are doing when it comes to food. Me... I would be a fast-food man if it wasn't for Joc!!!!!!! :D
Nigel
Sun Aug 26 17:11:00 2007

I have listened to the radio commentary of the first Fiorentina match (we won!!) and cooked 2 litres of meat sauce that I am going to freeze in ice cubes for future use... Since the meat sauce has to be cooked properly it takes normally 3 hours of boiling in the sauce to get it done well! :D
Lox
Sun Aug 26 16:27:34 2007

Ho I say! I do like it when one of the Maison's regulars is off and about!! Well done TM!! :D
Me? I've been painting outside window frames; mowing lawns; strimming... Now I'm drinking a Guinness and surfing!! :D :D :D
Nigel
Sun Aug 26 16:23:55 2007

TM: Washington DC!!!! Wow! never been there... How is the city? If you happen to see Mr.President, please do tell him that he's stupid... :D
Lox
Sun Aug 26 12:55:30 2007

I'd better get my skates on - some nice hotcakes for breakfast then the Smithsonian, I hope, and back to Lancaster on the backroads. Nice. Went through a place called 'Little Britain' last year.
Tim's mum
Sun Aug 26 12:21:25 2007

How observant John! Us old people don't need much sleep!
Tim's mum
Sun Aug 26 12:17:14 2007

TM: you're up early then aren't you - isn't it just after 6AM there? Jetlagged per chance?
John
Sun Aug 26 11:19:14 2007

Greetings from Washington DC! Courtesy of the city's free wifi. 'I like it hot, but not this hot.' 95 degrees today. A storm broke just as we had set sail on an evening river cruise. Unfortunately I missed every picture opportunity to capture it on camera. I've never seen horseshoe lightning before!
Tim's mum
Sun Aug 26 11:09:12 2007

Morning all! Tom - yes I probably meant sore. I blame that misspelling on the blisters.
John
Sun Aug 26 10:22:38 2007

Hi Cindy. Come and see me. We'll talk about it.
Horny Sheri
Sun Aug 26 09:25:23 2007

Hi ladies! Hopefully I post in the correct spot. I'm after an affordable but decent health insurance policy. I live in Maryland. Would appreciate any personal advice. Thanks a lot! Cindy
cindymayse
Sun Aug 26 09:02:04 2007

Saw or sore?
tom
Sat Aug 25 21:37:08 2007

Apologies for the quadruple posting earlier, have fixed it now. We're back at home now, feeling a bit saw after all that walking!
John
Sat Aug 25 21:29:54 2007

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...!
Sheri
Sat Aug 25 20:11:58 2007

Perhaps you ought to reduce your drinks to one or two glasses...
Sheri
Sat Aug 25 20:11:02 2007

Hum...
Sheri
Sat Aug 25 20:08:42 2007

You OK, John ?
Sheri
Sat Aug 25 20:07:27 2007

Well we walked as far as Birling Gap where we got on a bus. The Seven Sisters were really nice but hard work! Hopefully going to have a bag of chips and maybe a pint on the seafront in Eastbourne before heading back to London.
John
Sat Aug 25 16:52:02 2007

That sounds disgustingly healthy.
John's Mum
Sat Aug 25 11:59:51 2007

Chie and I are on a train down to the South Coast, we're going to walk over the Seven Sisters this afternoon, from Seaford to Eastbourne. Apparently it is 13 miles! We'll probably take a shortcut and do some of it by bus though...
John
Sat Aug 25 11:41:08 2007

Morning everyone! Tonight grilled steak party for me!! :D
Lox
Sat Aug 25 10:41:05 2007

Right, so now I am up to $21 of virtual money - and here's the crazy part - I have just found out I can actually sell that for real world money. OK it's only 8 US cents, but still - what a bizarre concept!
John
Fri Aug 24 23:49:04 2007

Wow, I have now amassed the grand sum of $17 in Second Life.
John
Fri Aug 24 23:01:57 2007

No, haven't been frightened away, just busy working still...
John
Fri Aug 24 20:01:18 2007

Pizza party? Who?
Lox
Fri Aug 24 19:34:06 2007

John .... John... Have I frightened you away? Or is it the beer and pizza party?
John's Mum
Fri Aug 24 18:04:59 2007

(My apologies for appalling spelling there... I've been imbibing... :)
Nigel
Fri Aug 24 17:56:02 2007

Tom: How do you fid Boot Camp? I find it's super-splendid! Have you ever had a beta version expire? Will I have to by a Leaopard to keep this transformed PC?
Nigel
Fri Aug 24 17:55:24 2007

'ello.
tom
Fri Aug 24 17:44:05 2007

Good evening all!! (Who's "Stive"?)
After yesterday's madness I've taken it easy round here - just a spot of window painting today.
Also - and rather controversially - I have to admit to running XP in Boot Camp on the Mac and rather liking it!!!!! (Hangs head in shame) Must be the structure of a Mac PC but it's fast, stable and overall, rather lovely! Perhaps the fact it has to run a virtual BIOS makes all the difference, but this PC really rocks!!
Nigel
Fri Aug 24 17:28:14 2007

Mum's here as well. Mum's ALWAYS here!
John's Mum
Fri Aug 24 14:55:02 2007

Waaaa!
John
Fri Aug 24 13:41:37 2007

I'm behind you, John.
Rob Lang
Fri Aug 24 13:26:46 2007

Quiet around here today - where is everybody?
John
Fri Aug 24 13:13:19 2007

Guys if you need help against arseholes bosses this seems to be the place to go... Apparently this guy is selling lots of copies! Here
Lox
Fri Aug 24 07:57:07 2007

Hi John. Yes, Wales it was! Traffic was horrible and it took 2-1/2 hours to get to North West Wales from Os. The run over the flats into PorthMadoc was chocca.
As for EyeTV - yes I was "eying" up those little white gadgets for a while! The software was the thing, I believe. Didn't bother in the end, purely because I get enough TV from other sources at home.
Nigel
Thu Aug 23 23:54:06 2007

Have just discovered the little video editing tool in EyeTV - it is so neat! There's a little film strip of thumbnails and everything - I am in my element. :)
John
Thu Aug 23 22:52:59 2007

Was just watching the Daily Show (recorded on my EyeTV), and saw Barack Obama for the first time (I have been pretty ignorant of the media recently, having not had a telly until this week). What an astonishingly charismatic man! He makes me want to illegally gain American citizenship just so I can vote for him. Failing that, if he doesn't win the 2008 US election I think we should have him be our next prime minister.
John
Thu Aug 23 21:53:32 2007

Whereabouts did you go Nigel? Wales perhaps?
John
Thu Aug 23 20:00:41 2007

... and a LOT of driving... :(
Nigel
Thu Aug 23 19:50:59 2007

Hi Lox. Yes, I have "caught the sun" a little, and look to be in rude health - rare for me!! :D Plus a little throat lubrication - with Guinness - is helping relax me after a day of manic children!! :)
Nigel
Thu Aug 23 19:49:40 2007

Nigel: You are tanned then, are you? As for the customer driven service, I cannot but agree with you, too many customers think that they know it all, and that is the biggest downfall... On the other side "money and time" approach always works as Dsp points out...
Lox
Thu Aug 23 19:14:21 2007

Just back from the seaside, by the way :)
Nigel
Thu Aug 23 18:18:59 2007

Evening guys! Interesting stuff!! I agree one of the failings of modern business is that much too much emphasis is given to what a customer wants at any given time. dsp sets a good example (and, I have to say so did the great IKB!!) Try saying to a builder: "Oh and could you just pop on a nice little west-wing for me?" It would only work if you have deep pockets and long arms. Customers don't know everything despite them being led to believe they do (and they are fools for accepting the flattery if they do) Thankyou! :D
Nigel
Thu Aug 23 18:18:17 2007

Yeah? YEAH? Whatcha gonna do about it, eh? Gonna search-engine me to death, Google-boy?
Jimmy
Thu Aug 23 15:46:10 2007

Predictable dsp, predictable. But true. :-)
tom
Thu Aug 23 15:27:26 2007

Yeah Tom, so are we.
dsp
Thu Aug 23 15:25:06 2007

I'm so glad that I don't write code!
tom
Thu Aug 23 15:21:07 2007

You have to be upfront with the customer and 'do a swap'. At the start of the project, you say 'I will accept late requirements in exchange for any fixed deadlines or budget', we then review what we've got regularly and decide when to stop. It's as much about business agility.

Critical to the success of our agile approach are the following:

• automated unit and acceptance testing
• code coverage
• continuous integration

The above magical trio serves as a safety net for brutal refactoring when you want to change things.
dsp
Thu Aug 23 15:20:19 2007

How dare you criticise my analogy!
John
Thu Aug 23 14:59:02 2007

John- I think your parallel with IKB is poor. The main difference is that he built physical structures. The point with software is that the customers have no idea what they're asking for. It would be like going to the great man himself and saying "Nice railway bridge, Mr. B! But can you upgrade it so that *only* the sales team can travel in the first-class carriages on the first half of the bridge (on the westobund journey, that is, we don't care about the return trip)?" Mr. B would then say "Well, you'd have to put them in those carriages at the previous station" and then you'd say "Look, the train is on YOUR bridge, so you own everything that happens on the bridge. The bridge must therefore be capable of shuffling the passengers under these circumstances." I think IKB would refuse, but poor old software developers have to find a way to make it happen.
Jimmy
Thu Aug 23 14:28:19 2007

But provided they pay, who cares? (Devil's Advocate)
tom
Thu Aug 23 13:54:25 2007

...but I think agile/extreme disciplines are also about dealing with internal change - such as when after a few weeks you realise your initial approach to solve the problem was really quite sucky, and you've found an entirely better way to go about it. Or if one of your key developers is eaten by wolves.
John
Thu Aug 23 13:50:54 2007

I think part of the problem there is just customer driven development. Once upon a time engineers would just make stuff they wanted to make, then present it to customers, and say "Hey, how about this?". The customers would be in sheer awe of the brilliant shiny new thing those clever engineers had made, and immediately buy 20 of them. Did Isambard Kingdom Brunel have to worry about awkward customer requests and requirement creep? No, I imagine not. He just knew what was the right thing to do, and built stuff that was way better than what anyone else could ever have envisaged. Management consultants often waffle on about "customer focus", which I suppose is common sense, after a fashion... but at the other extreme you could just make stuff that nobody is expecting, and blow everybody out of the water with it.
John
Thu Aug 23 13:48:24 2007

Rob: I agree! Although I am not a programme like you guys I cringe every time I discuss with people about the way they got a certain company to make a software for them... The customer is completely ignorant at what it takes and the amount of problems that are encountered to make a piece of software, and the way they manage their business is usually amateurish and superficial. No research is made, they wake up one day and think that they need to implement this NECESSARY function or this other MASSIVELY IMPORTANT routine... The problem is that these requests are bound to impact the way the program was made, meaning more bugs, time to code etc etc... What you need a very good sales department, knowledgeable enough to make the client understand how things are, without being too nazi (denying all the requests) because that is a dead end under sales point of view... Bottom line: TRAIN SALES!
Lox
Thu Aug 23 13:43:48 2007

The truth about Agile is that it hands technical decisions to people who aren't technical. They don't see (no matter how much you explain it) that changes to the requirements toward the end of the project mean more coding than if specified at the start. Furthermore, if you're extending a mature code base, then things that sound simple can have huge ramifications. The client doesn't really want the cost of agile. You end up spending much more time creating something that doesn't work as well.

Better for the customer to have a good think about what they want it to do. Make them do the thinking about what logic they actually want. What the screens look like. MAKE THEM THINK FIRST. Not based on whim or "wouldn't it be cool" but actual need. Then produce a design. Then a first version and get it into production. If they want more, they then go through another iteration of the process. In agile, "small" (point of view of the customer) requirements get sneaked in late in the day. They don't want cost, they think it's small. They want it quickly, regardless of effort required. You can't manage their expectations because they refuse to understand that the more code you have, the more changes are required for a small requirement. The accoutants own the deadline, so the changes due to agile development shouldn't impact that. It's just fucking sloppy.

Agile sounds great but at the coal face of coding, you're just going to get fucked by it. It's all to easy to end up with a mess that the client doesn't actually want.
Rob Lang
Thu Aug 23 13:14:27 2007

I'm quite like the idea of incorporating a ceratin amount of making-it-up-as-you-go-along into the development process. The thing is, it's delusional to think that you know where you're headed from the outset. The only customers who don't change their requirements mid-project are dead customers. And they don't pay well.
Jimmy
Thu Aug 23 12:36:59 2007

Unfortunately, as much as I am naturally inclined to be sceptical of trendy software engineering paradigms, on reading the wikipedia pages about agile and extreme, I find myself nodding and thinking "well, you do have a point there...".
John
Thu Aug 23 12:21:42 2007

Yes, I only started hearing about all these "trendy" development paradigms since starting my new job. The one I particularly dislike is "Extreme Programming". I'm not sure it is actually the methodology itself I have a problem with, as much as the name. Any attempt to make programming sound exciting is doomed to failure. It reminds me of equal daft applications of the word "extreme" such as "Extreme Ironing" and "Extreme Tax Return Form Filling".
John
Thu Aug 23 12:17:28 2007

You got it, Lox.
Rob Lang
Thu Aug 23 11:23:36 2007

Rob: Agile development? A way to say "well let's start this thing and then just basically adjust all of it while we code it?"
Lox
Thu Aug 23 10:28:36 2007

Agile development - perfect for people who don't know what the fuck they want. Not at the start. Not in the future. No fucking idea.
Rob Lang
Thu Aug 23 10:12:42 2007

Which reminds me of one of the most regrettable episodes of my career. Once I was in a room with Russ and a load of other distinguished and very well respected broadcast engineers (Norman etc) who had all been writing software for the broadcast industry for donkeys years. At one point we were discussing a bug in the piece of software I was currently working on, to which Russ helpfully pointed out "well, as long as it is repeatable, just bung in a load of printfs and you'll soon get to the bottom of it". I rather snottily replied "yea, we have debuggers nowadays". It is still not clear to me who I was expecting to impress with that comment.
John
Thu Aug 23 09:32:36 2007

Is it broken Jimmy? Try adding in some printfs....
John
Thu Aug 23 09:27:55 2007

arsebiscuits
Jimmy
Thu Aug 23 08:46:54 2007

Good morning
Kev
Thu Aug 23 08:25:40 2007

Morning John!
Lox
Thu Aug 23 08:18:52 2007

Good morning everybodies.
John
Thu Aug 23 08:14:52 2007

Nigel: Trip was great I am working on the blog update as we speak...
John: No... just feeling like it I think... i hardly touched beer in two weeks!!
Lox
Wed Aug 22 21:32:27 2007

Lox: excellent work - I am very proud of you! Any particular occasion prompted this bout of drinking? Or just bored?
John
Wed Aug 22 21:29:28 2007

Forgive my manners Lox: Welcome back!!! Hope the trip was bearable! :)
Nigel
Wed Aug 22 21:24:09 2007

Kev: Let's say that I "borrowed" it from him... :D But on the other side he never said "royally drunk"... So it's a sort of a mixed line... Gosh I am drunk........ I am trying to write the comments to the pictures that I have to add on the blog... they are surely going to be amusing! :D
Lox
Wed Aug 22 20:23:23 2007

Lox, isn't that Johns line?
Kev
Wed Aug 22 20:18:22 2007

Nigel: At least we know you are alive!! :D On a secondary totally unrelated note I am royally drunk....
Lox
Wed Aug 22 20:09:25 2007

Sorry to hear that Nigel - but it's nice to have you back! Glad to hear you haven't been abducted by aliens or anything!
John
Wed Aug 22 19:07:34 2007

Hi all... Sorry for the absence. "Not since the unpleasantness" would probably cover it nicely... Yes, work have been right-royally mucking me about. I'm off for a few days now and plan to update my CV! Other than that... Let me catch up with the board and I'll post a more relevant comment or two! :)
Nigel
Wed Aug 22 18:33:41 2007

I'll have one too.. :p
tom
Wed Aug 22 16:44:18 2007

John: GRANDE!! :D
Lox
Wed Aug 22 15:53:38 2007

Lox: I'll see what I can do... Jimmy: it's just the name of the project, plus the company logo and a little picture of a TV... Nothing that amazing, but I really like it.
John
Wed Aug 22 15:44:14 2007

(LENOVO, even)
Jimmy
Wed Aug 22 15:42:19 2007

Indeed, it has got so bad that they have re-arranged their "LENOVE" logos to read "NO LOVE"
Jimmy
Wed Aug 22 15:42:02 2007

If it's anything like out IT department, it will say "I dismantled an important server without bothering to ask the users if they were still working on it."
Jimmy
Wed Aug 22 15:41:15 2007

What does it say?
Jimmy
Wed Aug 22 15:39:57 2007

John: Can I have one too? Plese pleasy pleasy...... :P
Lox
Wed Aug 22 15:28:47 2007

Wow, I have just received the first T-shirt for our project - I guess that means it is serious now!
John
Wed Aug 22 15:18:00 2007

None whatsoever ... it's just a silly comment. Such as "Do you have any children?" "Not since the unpleasantness" etc. etc. Alternatives include "No, that would violate the conditions of my parole" (obviously not applicable in this case).
Jimmy
Wed Aug 22 14:45:22 2007

Lox: ...I too noted their absence. Sheri tends to come and go a bit anyway, but it's unusual for Nigel to vanish for such an extended period... I do hope he's OK!
John
Wed Aug 22 13:58:51 2007

Which particular unpleasantness was that Jimmy?
John
Wed Aug 22 13:58:04 2007

Not since the unpleasantness
Jimmy
Wed Aug 22 12:48:05 2007

Have they run off together?
tom
Wed Aug 22 11:45:16 2007

Morning everyone!! I have seen that Nigel and Sheri have disappeared from the board, do we know what happened?
Lox
Wed Aug 22 09:19:21 2007

Morning... but is it really morning? (spooky background music).
John
Wed Aug 22 09:14:33 2007

Morning
Kev
Wed Aug 22 08:45:19 2007

Well it's almost midnight, and I appear to be working. This isn't good...
John
Tue Aug 21 23:50:54 2007

Good night Tom!
John
Tue Aug 21 22:22:44 2007

Right - off to bed then. Night John-boy.
tom
Tue Aug 21 22:19:41 2007

They are obviously serious about keeping him off the net at work: but what about home?
tom
Tue Aug 21 22:12:38 2007

It's been over 2 weeks since Nigel last posted - I do hope he's OK!
John
Tue Aug 21 22:10:07 2007

Oh and by the way, where has Nigel disappeared to?
John
Tue Aug 21 22:09:09 2007

Tom: yea I guess with stream audio/video you could quickly use that up... We seem to manage pretty well on a paltry 2 meg though...
John
Tue Aug 21 22:08:50 2007

John: are you surfing from the Mini now?
tom
Tue Aug 21 22:07:44 2007

Dunno. I don't do legacy media.
tom
Tue Aug 21 22:06:30 2007

Oh, and it's essentially the same price as the 4meg, so how could I not have it? (4 quid extra per month).
tom
Tue Aug 21 22:06:00 2007

Hmmm... so, TV... It has been over two years since I've had a TV in the UK, and I'd been looking forward to making my own PVR type setup so I could record shows to watch on my iPod etc... but I've spent a while yesterday and today searching through the program guide, and have found very little I actually want to record. In short, there's not really a lot on, is there?
John
Tue Aug 21 22:05:54 2007

I expect so.... we already max out the previous 4meg quite regularly. Sarah uses the phone (VOIP) while surfing - or uses skype for video calls. We also use Internet radio at the same time, plus I connect in from work almost constantly during the day. Then there are p2p and patches downloading. Yeah - I recon we'll use it.
tom
Tue Aug 21 22:05:29 2007

John: My friend Matteo has a 24 meg one... he uses it all... although I personally think that he's overdoing it a bit! :D
Lox
Tue Aug 21 22:00:27 2007

20 meg? Bloody hell! Are you actually going to be able to make use of all of that bandwidth?
John
Tue Aug 21 21:55:35 2007

Cool! (As is my new 20Meg broadband)
tom
Tue Aug 21 21:54:19 2007

Tom: yes I believe it to be, although I haven't tried anything like that with it yet.
John
Tue Aug 21 20:59:01 2007

John: is the EyeTV applescriptable?
tom
Tue Aug 21 17:23:00 2007

Rob: Thanks!!! :D I am trying to sort the after-holiday mess so today I will not update blog or anything... Holidays were great, apart from the fact that I incidentally decided to test my DC resistance to abnormal shock with terrible results (read: I felt on my camera and completely destroyed it...) :(
Lox
Tue Aug 21 16:26:33 2007

Welcome back, Loxie!
Rob Lang
Tue Aug 21 11:17:42 2007

John: Check out the solid state discs based, low power - rapid for random access. Pricey too.
dsp
Tue Aug 21 10:47:41 2007

I'm thinking about making it a 2.5" external HDD, simply because they seem to be generally powered by USB alone, and it means one less plug.
John
Tue Aug 21 10:36:30 2007

So I've got my Mac Mini and EyeTV all set up as a PVR now, which is really great. I'm particularly impressed with the power management stuff - it can go to sleep after a recording, and then wake up again when it needs to start recording the next one. However, I very quickly realise I'm a bit limited on storage - there was only 10GB free on my Mini's HD, which will probably only get me 8 or 9 half hour programs. So I think my next purchase is going to have to be a nice big external HDD... and then maybe a large screen to actually watch it all on.
John
Tue Aug 21 10:34:25 2007

I know what you mean Jimmy. I have also noticed that the person that ruins it for you for you by pointing out some catastrophic flaw seems to take great delight in deflating your ego. I think it should be made legal to shoot those people.
John
Tue Aug 21 10:25:01 2007

Don't you hate it when you have a brilliant idea ... only to find out later that it was a complete turd?
Jimmy
Tue Aug 21 09:42:03 2007

Thanks Lox and morning all!
John
Tue Aug 21 08:17:35 2007

John: saw the email will reply tomorrow (also to your mum), all went well will post pictures and details later tomorrow!
Lox
Tue Aug 21 00:14:04 2007

Welcome back Lox! How was it? I sent you an email recently by the way...
John
Mon Aug 20 23:14:42 2007

I am finally back!!! :D
Lox
Mon Aug 20 22:41:04 2007

Have just installed the EyeTV and to my delight it actually works! I appear to be able to get all of the Freeview channels, even though I'm only able to use the funny little indoor antenna (I guess that's down to the dual tuner wizardry in the Diversity)... Oh and I have immediately gone and bought a TV license on line, just in case anyone is wondering.
John
Mon Aug 20 18:47:26 2007

... and you can sell maison-ice-creams to raise cash. There's a scripting API ... it's gotta be easy.
Jimmy
Mon Aug 20 18:01:35 2007

Nice plan!
tom
Mon Aug 20 17:06:54 2007

Does it have to work that way? For instance, can you write your own maison-world, store it inside a party-balloon, and then tie the balloon to something physical in a prominent public location? Even if there's no way to alter the scale, why can't you replace the balloon with a giant, floating inflatable, bouncy-castle?
Jimmy
Mon Aug 20 16:54:30 2007

Correct me if I am wrong John, but didn't you moan about the hot humid conditions in Tokyo the last two summers...?
John's Mum
Mon Aug 20 16:45:59 2007

...but surely in a virtual universe those kinds of measurement are irrelevant? That is to say, we could fit an entire country in that square foot, just at a different scale to the rest of the world.
John
Mon Aug 20 16:41:12 2007

That'll buy about a square foot. Niiice.
tom
Mon Aug 20 15:51:47 2007

I've got $11...
John
Mon Aug 20 15:49:09 2007

Maybe we could buy a maison-de-stuff island? We could generate cash by sitting around all day in those Japanese virtual lounges earning free bucks and then splash out on a little bit of virtual real-estate?
Kev
Mon Aug 20 15:20:50 2007

I'm looking about how to make a dolphin character....
tom
Mon Aug 20 14:29:46 2007

Have you gone onto Second Life as a woman yet?
Rob Lang
Mon Aug 20 14:16:54 2007

Rob: well I quite like it, but I'm not sure why. It ends up just a glorified chat system with some nice scenery. It's like IRC, but with fancy sounds and graphics.
John
Mon Aug 20 13:51:29 2007

John, tell us about Second Life, is it good, worth a go? A bit of a laugh?
Rob Lang
Mon Aug 20 13:38:11 2007

Writing a task-scheduler would be simple in comparison to trying to work-around one that already exists but you cannot control.
Jimmy
Mon Aug 20 12:34:30 2007

I have created a FaceBook group for the Maison de Stuff.... www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4720053786
tom
Mon Aug 20 12:08:11 2007

Touche! It did occur to me though, yes. I *was* tempted to suggest the judicious application of a 'jumper', but I have learned not to cross pregnant women.
tom
Mon Aug 20 11:58:04 2007

Tom: that'll learn the climate! If it starts giving us crappy weather in summer, we shall punish it by creating more carbon emissions. :)
John
Mon Aug 20 11:45:53 2007

John: it was cold enough yesterday for Sarah to get me to light a log fire... better than cracking up the heating and such a nice warm glow. :-)
tom
Mon Aug 20 11:42:33 2007

Jimmy: you know somebody is now going to ask you to write a user mode task scheduler for that now. :)
John
Mon Aug 20 11:37:18 2007

Got OnTime RTOS-32 working. Yay! Windows is for girls.
Jimmy
Mon Aug 20 11:31:49 2007

Yeah. Except that I'll still only have one ... because it didn't bloody arrive!
Jimmy
Mon Aug 20 11:26:09 2007

Or, jimmy if its not sent recorded, complain that its lost and get another one sent then you have two
Kev
Mon Aug 20 10:53:45 2007

I hate it when you order something and it doesn't arrive. And the vendors take your money, but you've got nothing. And then you have to chase them to try to get the thing you've already paid for. Argh!
Jimmy
Mon Aug 20 10:40:29 2007

...in fact it will be a crushing defeat, and I'll have to explain to Chie why I've spent 100 quid on a gadget which is effectively completely useless. Come to think of it, I'm not actually looking forward to my EyeTV arriving at all.
John
Mon Aug 20 10:31:22 2007

On the plus side my EyeTV should be arriving today! Although having said that, there's a strong chance I won't be able to get a signal with it, in which case it will be something of an anti-climax.
John
Mon Aug 20 10:30:21 2007

Did I mention the fact it was cold? ...and August?
John
Mon Aug 20 09:59:34 2007

I was really quite cold on the way into work. It is August 20th. I was cold on the way into work. It is August 20th. It's cold in my office too, and I can't work out how to change this bloody air conditioning (just want to turn it off altogether basically - I have no great need to have cold air blown at me on a day like today). It is August 20th.
John
Mon Aug 20 09:51:44 2007

Morning all, gloomy and raining :(
Kev
Mon Aug 20 09:47:23 2007

That aside, morning all!
John
Mon Aug 20 09:01:19 2007

A lovely summer's day here in London.... happened in 1973. This year however, there aren't any of those it seems.
John
Mon Aug 20 08:20:23 2007

Gah! Rain rain go away!
tom
Sun Aug 19 22:38:11 2007

Borders are sending me 20% off coupons pretty regularly. It almost makes me want to use them...almost.
Travis
Sun Aug 19 18:26:33 2007

Lox: if you are indeed back, I've just sent you a mail.
John
Sun Aug 19 12:16:24 2007

So is Lox back from holiday yet then? His last post was on the 8th, and he said he'd be away for 10 days...
John
Sun Aug 19 11:53:58 2007

I suppose you could! From my experience, visiting Borders during the daytime, the customers are mostly matronly like me, with the occasional 'early retired man'! (Silver surfers)! In Lancaster i've seen people sit down with a coffee and a pile of magazines off the stands! Now that's cheeky!
Tim's mum
Sun Aug 19 10:01:08 2007

Of course the ironic thing about a bookshop providing free wifi is that it makes it all too easy to compare the price with Amazon. In fact you could even use Borders to browse the book you want, then sit down in a nice comfy chair and buy it online.
John
Sun Aug 19 09:45:51 2007

Yes, I think I recall the coffee was actually OK in Borders as well - just watch out for those political ne'er-do-wells!
John
Sun Aug 19 09:44:13 2007

For 'settee' (non-U) read 'sofa' (U)
Tim's mum
Sun Aug 19 09:36:35 2007

The reason I like to pop into a Borders bookshop is because of the comfy settees for a 'nice sit down' and to enjoy the air-conditioning, as it is often in the 90's when we go! I don't actually buy any books, maybe a magazine. I never go into Starbucks unless absolutely desperate for coffee, but I would if they gave free wifi!
Tim's mum
Sun Aug 19 09:33:10 2007

Oh and Borders is probably even worse. I've always thought book shops with cafes attached were a hotbed of subversive politics and radicalism.
John
Sun Aug 19 09:28:12 2007

You have to show them your passport? Well I suppose that's just in case you use it to browse howtobecomeaterrorist.com or similar. So I suppose that means that libraries are completely devoid of terrorists, whereas at Starbucks it is their main source of customers (because who in their right mind would actually go there for the coffee?).
John
Sun Aug 19 09:27:15 2007

John: Thanks for the info. I've done a bit of digging round and found that there is no free wifi in Lancaster PA. How tight is that? However, the library do give you an hour free whenever you want, by producing your passport. Borders and Starbucks are T Mobile by the looks of things.
Tim's mum
Sun Aug 19 08:57:16 2007

Hi, I only care that I have my mother proud of me. Because I know that my father hates me so I really don’t care if he is proud of me or not. I have tryed to walk the strait and narrow path and faltered afew time. But, at the end of the day I would like to know that my Mother was proud I was her son I am sorry if it to you not interestingly.
Tomas Wong
Sun Aug 19 04:39:17 2007

In Tallahassee, Florida for the next 3-4 years. I finally have Internet access. First time I've had cable. Haven't noticed a massive difference from DSL, but I'm pleased with it. Yes, I suppose all is back to as normal as it will be for some time. Appreciate the well wishes as does the wife.
Travis
Sat Aug 18 22:25:03 2007

TM: most laptop power supplies accept 100-240V input, so you can almost always just put on an adaptor and charge away to your heart's content. I've had two different UK models which have worked fine in the US and Japan. As for the internet connection in Starbucks etc, I'm not sure actually. Here in the UK you seem to have to set up an account (you can often do that in the coffee shop itself), but I had a vague feeling it was completely free in the US, althought I've never tried it there myself. Where I go in the US now (Mountain View in California), the whole city has free wireless internet, even outdoors, so it's not really an issue!
John
Sat Aug 18 19:09:13 2007

Also - Am I ok charging up my laptop using the usual transformer plugged into one of those travel adaptor thingies? I don't want to lug the laptop all the way to USA and then find I can't use it! I thought maybe one of you 'globetrotters' might have some advice for me. TIA
Tim's mum
Sat Aug 18 13:29:16 2007

Hi peeps! Hope you are all having a good weekend - it's raining here in the NW (no surprises there then). I would like some advice/tips/thoughts on using my laptop in starbucks/border bookshops wifi when I go to USA for my hols. Am I likely to encounter any problems? Is there any protocol to be observed? Do I just sit down at a table, order my latte, and start up my laptop? I don't want to be an embarrassment!
Tim's mum
Sat Aug 18 13:27:31 2007

Hmmm, there was a bit of an influx in spam there....
John
Sat Aug 18 10:09:26 2007

Morning all.
John
Sat Aug 18 01:28:30 2007

Although I have managed to earn a staggering $9 just by sitting still.
John
Fri Aug 17 22:16:33 2007

Oh dear, I appear to my utterly wasting my time making fake money in Second Life. I really need to get out more!
John
Fri Aug 17 21:37:45 2007

Majorca, Sicily, Italy, France and Spain. Was just told the details yesterday as I have to brush up all the languages. Will pick your brains about Barcelona when you phone. And there's Internet Access from the boat so don't you lot think you can get away with anything behind my back!
John's Mum
Fri Aug 17 18:15:47 2007

It is my experience that the potential for offence in swear words is, if anything, inversely proportionate to their length. Anyway, that's the first I've heard about you going to Italy! Sounds very nice...
John
Fri Aug 17 17:48:23 2007

hello world!
Galinasa
Fri Aug 17 17:39:37 2007

John- it may well come down to statistics, but the point-cloud in question is the laser-scan of a circuit. It's nothing but millions of x,y,z, points with no connectivity information. Trying to get the computer to extract planes, eges, corners etc. is a fecking nightmare!
Jimmy
Fri Aug 17 17:04:02 2007

You little tyke, I know MUCH longer swear words than you do! AND I am going to Italy as part of my special birthday cruise so may see Lox before you do! I think I have told you about a thousand times you have to get up VERY early in the morning to get one over on your mother :D) Mothers of the Maison - Unite!
John's Mum
Fri Aug 17 16:33:41 2007

Have fun Ma'am.
tom
Fri Aug 17 16:01:29 2007

4pm is home time for me today. Off to a two week cadet camp tomorrow near Gosport. Nice part of the world, camp overlooks the Solent and the Isle of Wight. Its a tough life, but someone has to push the paper around! Trouble is, no internet connection. See you all in two weeks. Behave yourselves.
Mad Mumsie
Fri Aug 17 15:57:16 2007

Tea. Someone make me a cuppa!
tom
Fri Aug 17 15:44:48 2007

how about home-time at 4pm ?
Kev
Fri Aug 17 15:44:40 2007

We just had a live video link up with our new office in Germany to celebrate their opening this week. Bavarian beer and some really good pretzels at 3PM on a Friday afternoon - it doesn't get any better than this!
John
Fri Aug 17 15:34:43 2007

Jimmy: I have no idea what one of those is! Is that something to do with statistics? I've realised that I know embarrassingly little about that field, which has turned out to be quite important in my job recently. I think I may have to invest in a copy of "Statistics for Dummies" or similar.
John
Fri Aug 17 14:37:56 2007

Anybody ever tried to extract features from a point cloud? Have I asked this before?
Jimmy
Fri Aug 17 13:26:32 2007

Yeah - you have a point.
Tom
Fri Aug 17 11:30:59 2007

morning all
Kev
Fri Aug 17 09:07:10 2007

Morning all! Well I'm feeling lethargic again today... I wonder when Lox is back from holiday? I feel a trip to Italy is required...
John
Fri Aug 17 08:45:28 2007

...although I'm sure it's only a matter of time before my Mum joins Facebook, and then I'll have to tone it down a bit. :)
John
Thu Aug 16 23:13:05 2007

I for one quite like the ability to have a web presence where I can swear to my heart's content without fear of my Mum reading it. :)
John
Thu Aug 16 22:44:58 2007

What happens in Facebook stays in Facebook Tom.
John
Thu Aug 16 22:43:58 2007

Well... I figured you could drag out data such as the "Dave is illegally gutting a fish in a bank vault" stuff and then post it elsewhere - such as here?
tom
Thu Aug 16 22:25:39 2007

Why would you want to do that Mr. Tom?
John
Thu Aug 16 22:14:31 2007

There has to be a way to syndicate data out of facebook?
tom
Thu Aug 16 21:07:58 2007

I take it that it isn't just me who hates: i wish u wer gonna com back 2 rdg john Pesky kids!
tom
Thu Aug 16 16:06:38 2007

Jimmy, perhaps I'll join you. There's nothing I like more than being pedantic.
Mad Mumsie
Thu Aug 16 15:07:04 2007

MM - I imagine you're right. No matter, I'm off now to be pedantic elsewhere ...
Jimmy
Thu Aug 16 15:00:48 2007

Jimmy, it's no good arguing with the criminal classes.
Mad Mumsie
Thu Aug 16 14:31:35 2007

Nuffin is spelt "nuffin".
Rob Lang
Thu Aug 16 14:15:51 2007

The I suggest you watch out, because your original post was clearly missing an apostrophe at the end of "nuffin".
Jimmy
Thu Aug 16 12:56:35 2007

We's criminals don't fink much of de spellin but we kneecap any toe rags wot get der punctu-fuckin'-ation rong.
Rob Lang
Thu Aug 16 10:26:25 2007

What I love is the way that even when Rob pretends to write like a simpleton, he cannot help but still use the correct punctuation and appropriate capitalisation of first words of sentences. This is more than can be said for the large majority of Internet users today, regrettably.
John
Thu Aug 16 10:03:56 2007

Spelling up to your usual standard then Rob.
Mad Mumsie
Thu Aug 16 09:26:04 2007

I is innocent, Guvnor. It wos a frame job, I din't never do nuffin!
Rob Lang
Thu Aug 16 08:43:23 2007

Escaped? ESCAPED??!?! I was deliberately released, I'll have you know.
stool
Thu Aug 16 08:41:52 2007

Maybe its one of Robs Random AI programs that has escaped ?
Kev
Thu Aug 16 08:35:30 2007

Yes Jimmy, it is oddly endearing, but I don't see why they bothered - there are no links, and not even any keywords that might prompt your curiosity... so is this just a campaign to desensitize people to spam...?
John
Thu Aug 16 08:30:06 2007

I quite like that one, too!
Jimmy
Thu Aug 16 08:14:11 2007

Hello. Very luck. Good nice! ,
stool
Thu Aug 16 04:26:09 2007

Yes I agree Kev, I too am inclined to leave this rather seminal work where it is - spam which apologises for itself - now that is a new one.
John
Wed Aug 15 21:36:06 2007

lol, gonna leave that one for you guys to laugh at, Honest spammers, whatever next !
Kev
Wed Aug 15 21:07:51 2007

hello , you have a very nice site, but Im hired to leave advertising comments on sites, sorry i hate to do it but i have to . If you dont like advertising comments please send me an email with your site address to tedirectory(at)yahoo(dot)com and I will not write on your site. Sorry for inconvenience.
galinagirll
Wed Aug 15 20:40:10 2007

As I have always said "Diversify, Diversify, Diversify"
Kev
Wed Aug 15 19:27:24 2007

Look guys, our total quality vector isn't going to re-align itself! Unless we're proactive about leveraging synergy we're in danger of getting trampled underfoot.
John
Wed Aug 15 17:20:40 2007

It certainly sounds like it will out-perform its own market sector.
Jimmy
Wed Aug 15 14:49:45 2007

You should probably demutualise whilst your at it too!
Kev
Wed Aug 15 14:27:59 2007

I don't understand a word you just said.
Rob Lang
Wed Aug 15 14:00:58 2007

In line with some highly successful corporate re-branding exercises of the past (Consignia, Diageo, Accenture, Corus, Innogy, Amicus, Centrica being just a few examples) I think it is time for the Maison de Stuff to be re-branded. I'd like to propose "Obsignaturagize". I think it sums up our corporate ethos very aptly.
John
Wed Aug 15 13:57:07 2007

John: your skin must be waterproff already, or all your juices would leak out.
tom
Wed Aug 15 11:19:26 2007

Good choice.
Jimmy
Wed Aug 15 10:17:03 2007

Been getting well into the Pixies lately.
Rob Lang
Wed Aug 15 10:16:10 2007

Ah, John, don't think of it that way. Summer is great because it's not cold. I bet it's not fecking freezing in London today. That's a thing to be happy about, isn't it? Also, you've got a cool job that involves being indoors, rather than out in the crapola.
Rob Lang
Wed Aug 15 10:14:25 2007

I really don't feel like working today. Weather is miserable again. Given that we are now half way through August and still really haven't had any decent weather for more than a couple of days in a row, I really feel a bit short changed by this so called "summer".
John
Wed Aug 15 08:58:19 2007

Morning All
Kev
Wed Aug 15 08:57:56 2007

Does this mean if I stop using soap I will become waterproof...?
John
Tue Aug 14 20:35:44 2007

Quote from one of my Yahoo Groups today: "Rain is technically not wet as it forms globules bounded by a thin 'skin' so that it rolls off non-porous things without wetting them. You have to add an agent to dissolve this 'skin' to make it wet, such as a soap or detergent."
John's Mum
Tue Aug 14 16:07:52 2007

you are only coming through in waves
Jimmy
Tue Aug 14 13:04:00 2007

Hmmm... the rain we have here in London is of the damp variety.
John
Tue Aug 14 09:51:59 2007

It's lovely in Reading, a nice smattering of rain and a light wind. Charming!
Rob Lang
Tue Aug 14 09:16:36 2007

Morning all! What a lovely day it isn't here in London!
John
Tue Aug 14 09:06:13 2007

Maybe. Maybe not.
Jimmy
Tue Aug 14 08:37:55 2007

Jimmy: that is truly horrible. However, on the upside, any tale like this which highlights just how stupid the youth of today is should be reassuring for us, as it means we are still of value to society.
John
Mon Aug 13 19:11:47 2007

Well, I'm having a 'riot' right now ! Cheers !
Sheri
Mon Aug 13 18:32:40 2007

Ok ... something really terrible is happening to the world. Have any of you heard of "Predictonyms"? Apparently, when you go to write an SMS message using predictive text, it often suggests the wrong word. The two words from the same combination of numbers are "Predictonyms". So far so good. But what I hear is that people (presumably the kiddies) can't be bothered to correct the text. Worse still, they've started to deliberately use the predictonym in spoken conversation. ARGH! That's right, if sombode tells you that you're "Un-book" it means you're un-cool. If you're invited out for a "Riot", they really mean a "Pint". EVEN IF IT'S SPOKEN.
Jimmy
Mon Aug 13 17:50:04 2007

Yeah, it's quite out of the ordinary.
Rob Lang
Mon Aug 13 15:16:20 2007

...as for the video thing, I don't know any of the background to that. However pissing off customers and making itself generally unpopular is not, I hope you'll agree, generally something Google intends to do, so I assume in this instance the rug was pulled out from underneath Google and they had no choice. Hey, we all make mistakes...
John
Mon Aug 13 15:09:14 2007

Thanks John. I was listening to it this morning and thought of you. I then chuckled to myself and butchered the lyrics. I might record it as a cover.
Rob Lang
Mon Aug 13 15:08:51 2007

It's a masterpiece...! Unfortunately something of a niche market - the intersection of the group of people who write software for a living, and the group of people with in intimate knowledge of CAKE lyrics. So basically just you and me then Rob!
John
Mon Aug 13 15:05:41 2007

Oh dear Google, Naughty Naughty. You're not going to stop the pirates doing that.
Rob Lang
Mon Aug 13 11:22:47 2007

A Song For John