Comment moderation

Comment moderation has been disabled to enable freer debate. The people who caused chaos when this blog first started are probably no longer watching - and if they are I hope they have grown up. I did not like having the moderation on but it was forced on me.
I am still being notified of comments so if rude and offensive ones do appear they will be removed hopefully within a couple of days.
Thank you

Teaching teachers Ipods are evil

UPDATED:

Recently I helped (or rather explained that DRM, Ipods, Itunes and Apple were evil while someone else who knew what they were doing helped) a physics teacher get music from one computer onto her laptop without deleting all the music she already had on it. This was done by plugging the ipod in, choosing not to let itunes synchronise it (and delete everything that the computer did not have) and then going onto options and secleting manage things manualy. This means that all the music you want to transfer accross has to be dragged and dropped (in the larger selections the better) rather than happening automaticaly. but it does beat the DRM.
In a recent survey reported by the BBC (cannot be bothered to find the link) it showed that people who use the internet lots were significantly less likely to have an ipod than the rest of the population - the reason given was that there is a limited choice of stores for online music for ipods. No the real reason is that people on the internet are more likely to know that ipods (and DRM) are evil.

There is a whole campaign - called Defective by design (ipods are defective by design) (ooky picture.

Glossary

DRM means DynamicDigital Rights Management and is where evil companies prevent you from being able to copy music onto devices etc and impose limitations on it through their evil software.(thank you Zzorn for the correction - others see comment)

Iridum makes rubbish laptops

I have extracted the name of the manufaturers from iansyst. Iridium make really rubbish laptops do not buy Iridium laptops they break!
Iridium laptops do not have the screws stuck in properly so they fall out, the CD/DVD drives fall out and they generaly break.
Iridium take ages to fix laptops because they run out of parts due to so many laptops being broken
Don't buy laptops from Iridium!
even if they look cool.

annoying IT

he he :-) I enjoy annoying IT by asking them why stuff keeps on being blocked or not working (such as Nasa image of day and mp3 files and BBC radio player) not that they have responded...
They like feeling loved. They just keep blocking stuff until people notice (wry smile)
(smiles sadly)

(from the worldforge IRC channel)


On the plus side iansyst say they have my laptop back and want a couple of days to 'thoroughly test it' I hope for the best

The chapel stirs

The chapel stirs
As trickling through the door
The rising murmur
As the people
Arrive
The church waits
For the word
Waiting expectantly
For the joyful rejoicing
For the heart felt praise
Of so many hearts
To the one who makes
Them rejoice
The one who made them.

‘The most important issue we face’

‘The issue is urgent. If there is one message I would leave with you ..... it is one of urgency.’ PM Tony Blair.*

A while ago I did work experience at BP(Alternative Energy)
I was asked what could stop Global Warming. I went through the list: solar, wind, wave, tidal, geothermal, heat pump, random kinetic, biomass, hydrogen, carbon sequestration, ENERGY EFFICIENCY.
I ran out, many of these technologies are in early stages and cannot be used on large enough scales quickly enough. 300km2 of today’s solar panels could power the world if they were in the Sahara desert – but we don’t need power in the Sahara desert and who would foot the huge bill? It would not be enough anyway of the resistance in wires.
If we really tried, an Apollo program sized push, war production levels, we could do much, enough? No.
That is my conclusion – we cannot save the whole world. Hundreds, perhaps hundreds of thousands of species will be wiped out.
We will get 3 degrees more – even if we stopped now – and we can’t. 1degree is too much for the permafrost, bye bye permafrost. Catastrophic comes to mind, Positive Feedback Loops!
Millions of people will die, for all the efforts of humanity. The whole world will suffer for our folly. All we have left to decide is whether millions die or hundreds of millions. The difference between a major catastrophe and an absolutely massive humongous catastrophe. It will be bad. Do you want your World horribly over cooked or burnt? That is the decision You must make.

*I do not often preface my work with a quote from a fool but here at least he is saying the right thing – even if he does not act upon it.

Thrice stupid but not forever dumb

Today I felt very stupid on 3 occasions.
This morning I found that after lending my laptop to someone the night before they had watched a DVD on it - I thought the sound was broken and that after exaustive checking for software volume things that the problem was with a slider thing on the side and that the person who I had lent it to had found this straight away. I had come to the conclusion that the sound driver was broken because it was coming out realy realy quiet and had to be boosted on headphones to be heard at all.
In core maths I got my indicies muddled up and ended up with 6^-3/2 - 6^3/2 = k rather than 6^3/2 - 6^3/2 = k = 0 and the problem was not managing to do 2 - 1/2 which is pretty stupid.

After deciding that my bedroom floor was much to dirty and I would have to hoover it, going and finding a hoover in a cupboard and carefuly hoovering the floor (and the desk because it was getting dusty in places) and taking the hoover back to the cupboard where I found the cleaner who said that she was going to clean my room tomorow this made me feel very stupid.

But I got 23/24 in my chemistry test and got my little fighters AI in my computer game to make it so that they only shoot if they are pointing near the enemy (to within 40 degrees each way) the only bug with that is that it does not shoot if it is pointing at the second nearest one but not the nearest 1 ( but when it is attacking it is pointing at the nearest one so this won't matter unless the fighter is being attacked from multiple directions anyway - and with object avoidance and being shot at from each side it is probably dead anyway) Not dumb just sometimes stupid.

The darkened fields

The darkened fields
go flying by
hidden by the rain
and gathered cloud
as the sun sinks
unseen
far far away.

Out of the mist
trees loom, quickly passing
as the train travels on
passing on
as the light fades
futher
on the humming rails
over moors
through valleyss
Scotland passes by
the glass pane
a barrier
growing stronger
as the light fades
reflecting an enclosed world
Striving to keep out reality.
Failing.

The world reaches
into hearts and minds
will not be held out by
a pane of glass
but while the journey
travels on.
through a landscape
of beauty seen
though a clouded pane
clouds low lying
dropping their load
gently onto the
expectant hills

and though I know
the world trembles
here it steems only
the train.

Knowing the folly
of mankind could
destroy it.
hoping it will be saved.

not ready, not yet
not now.
'will you ever be ready
will you truly be done
the time's been set
the day will come
and you'll not be
ready
but you might be saved'

One should not sleep through ones alarm

It is a bad idea
It causes breakfast to be rushed and muscle burn to occur in the muscles of the jaw. This is an interesting experience.
Thankfuly someone started practising music after they had finished breakfast and this woke me up. My first thought was 'what a nice way to wake up' my second was 'what is the time' my third was 'ahhh!' further thoughts were muddled by high speed dressing followed by running followed by fast eating. but everthing was fine so everythind is alright.
:-)
I do have other posts to post - I just don't have all of them with me.

When the sun is shining

When the sun is shining
and I'm having fun
I'll cycle cycle, cycle on.
or cross the fells traverse
and over sparkling water go
and down the frothing river

but when its
raining dreary
wet.
I'll stay inside
or as yet
walk between the drooping trees
and think.

Or prehaps.


When the sun is shining
and I'm having fun
I'll cycle cycle, cycle on.

but when its raining dreary
wet.
I'll stay inside
or as yet
walk between the drooping trees
and think.

People listening to music on the train

on ipods with big speakers

Background music on trains?
Ugggh. And not even good music just annoying music – since when have we had to listen to horrible music on trains? People can listen to their own music that they like but forcing everybody to listen to horrible music… why? And it does not ven stop for the announcements. The guard of the driver fancies themselves a DJ? Not that there is any talking but the music changes a lot.

Actually it was the person sitting in front of me with big speakers bouncing it off the ceiling that made it sound like it was coming from the overhead speakers. But it seemed so strange that I stood up to check and saw instantly. Has this person no concept of personal space or noise pollution? On busses in London they sometimes have posters asking people not to be too noisy with their music and play it through their headphones so loud that other people can hear – to be considerate. But here on the train someone is using speakers.

But it is a grown up and I have not the courage to ask them to stop. From hair colour estimating 40-50+(and he listens to Bob Dylan not the worst but dates him) White Male. There is hardly a peep out of anyone else. *sigh*. He is giving such bad press being so inconsiderate. Occasionally he sings along and that is even worse – oh and explanation – he brought his own alcohol not that he is drunk just slightly less in control.

Oh well enough complaining already.

Enough complaining for a while in fact.
I will make a concious effort to be positive and to make your day more enjoyable.
The world may come crashing down but we will go down fighting - with a smile on our face.

Spacefighter will rise again

better and stronger than before. We are doing in maths vectors and differentiation again and so I will go back to basics an rewrite my problematic gravity code. I worked it out on paper anyway.

It is really annoying to have lost the sourcecode though the only link still working to internet based ones is the googlepages one that is the exe and the only one I ever gave to someone else to test was an exe. Though perhaps if I am lucky there might be an early version on the main computer J my hopes rise again.

Ha I found an old version - it was before I invented planets or lots of graphics and types of ships - but I have the minimap and the player conroled ship. Yey.