teh bigbro blog(tm)
Bigbro's foray into the scary world of blogging
11 2005

Tue, 29 Nov 2005

There's a statistical theory that if you gave a million monkeys typewriters and set them to work, they'd eventually come up with the complete works of Shakespeare. Thanks to the Internet, we now know this isn't true." -- Ian Hart.

http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/essay40.htm

A very enjoyable read on why smart people defend bad ideas.

http://www.geocities.com/HappySurfer1/

Some of Cambridge's Rock and Roll history. I was surprised to see how many of the people on the list I knew and flattered to see how many I'd played with at some point or another.

Mon, 28 Nov 2005

After already having some kind of flu thing for a couple of days last month, I've been managing to avoid coming down with the usual Winter cold... until Saturday evening that was. I am now routinely emptying my pockets for the benefit of Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare (UK) Ltd., manufacturers of Lemsip, which is, to be fair, the only reason I'm at work today.
Mental note to stop at a shop on the way home and get some more Lemsip and tissues.
posted at: 15:20 | path: | permanent link to this entry

Sun, 27 Nov 2005

Brother In The Land. I think the copy I found was from Sinéad's schooldays - and she recommended I read it. Very enjoyable and still as relevant today as when it was written - perhaps even moreso. With the tagline, "Which is worse? To perish in a nuclear attack? Or to survive?" you should be warned from the outset that this story does not smack of happy endings. At about the 150 page mark, it's easy to read within a few hours but likely to leave a lasting mark.

posted at: 23:29 | path: | permanent link to this entry

Fri, 25 Nov 2005

Oooo! Matron! Look what we found on the internet today...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4468884.stm

Some empirical study of the beer goggles effect, an effect well understood the length and breadth of the country. What I want to know is when they'll release the 'beer goggle pocket calculator' which you can bring with you to the pub, type in how many pints you've had, and it will warn you whether or not you should give the lovely lady across the room your phone number. ;-)

http://thc.org/root/phun/unmaintain.html

How to write unmaintainable code - a must read for any jobbing developer. It's still funny (and often painfully accurate judging by some of the code I have had the privilege of amending.)

http://www.claus.com/naughtyornice/nn_hmpg2.php

Use Santa's patented Nice-o-Meter(tm) to find out if you've been naughty or nice in advance of this holiday season.

Tue, 22 Nov 2005

http://www.houseblinger.com/

'Tis the season to plaster your house with lights, neon, LEDs and various festive ornaments. I think I'll probably get the tree up and decorated, but I can't see me going to some of the lengths these people go to. I'm sure more will be added over the coming weeks.

http://www.sonysuit.com/

In case you've not been following the entertainment, Sony themselves are now allegedly guilty of a breach of copyright - and certainly almost certainly guilty of the deliberate installation of what has now been classed as a rootkit (You really don't want one of these on your PC!) The lawsuits are now rolling in - I expect Sony are not going to have a very happy Christmas given the wrist slapping that will undoubtedly ensue.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004144.php

A list of the infected CDs and products that Sony released.

Fri, 18 Nov 2005

Winter has well and truly set in, here in Bradford. No snow yet, but all the broken water pipes that are leaking up onto the road have frozen. It's 'like' safe, but subtly different. Brrrr... Extra woollies tomorrow I think.
posted at: 09:04 | path: /observations | permanent link to this entry

I've been dragged in to deal with sound for a youth production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at The Priestley. Adam is dealing with 13 radio mic's and I have 4 minidiscs and over 50 separate sound cues.
After a disappointing start, cancelling the opening night, the final dress rehearsal gave the players the time they needed to get their lines, entrances and exits in order. I'm hoping tonight (the real opening night) will be a cracking little performance. In fact, I've no doubt it will be :)
posted at: 09:02 | path: | permanent link to this entry

Mon, 14 Nov 2005

...go very well together indeed.
posted at: 23:46 | path: /observations | permanent link to this entry

Thu, 10 Nov 2005

I've found a bizarre bug in Nokia 6230 software that breaks dialup internet from the phone. Calling a number from the keypad will work as normal, but any number dialled via the modem serial interface (I was using the bluetooth interface) will immediately disconnect and claim it wasn't answered. This problem has thrown me for a couple of weeks as I thought it was a Windows bug - but after confirming that an ATD failed using HyperTerminal I tried removing and replacing the battery. This fixed the problem. I'll post again if I manage to reproduce this bug.
posted at: 07:50 | path: /technical | permanent link to this entry

Wed, 09 Nov 2005

I've just got out of work, after a most interesting discussion on ID cards with a colleague. I promise I will write up some of my thoughts on them in a future technical article. I've got train tickets and even a seat reservation so I'm all set for Birmingham tomorrow morning. All that remains is to set the alarm clock and get a taxi for the 6:30am train... *cry*
posted at: 20:14 | path: | permanent link to this entry

Everyone seems to have more time than me to write interesting and insightful blog entries at the moment. This upsets me... but only a very very little bit. Maybe I'll be less busy next week :-)
posted at: 00:57 | path: /observations | permanent link to this entry

Tue, 08 Nov 2005

Sinéad and I got pedometers over the weekend. Something to do with it being the new craze at her workplace... Today is the first day I've managed to go a whole day without swiping the damn cover off and knocking the batteries out (and resetting it.) If I find the time, I shall write a stern letter to the manufacturers regarding their design.
Yesterday Sinéad managed 8,146 steps - though today has been a little less impressive with a total of 4,000 steps and change. (She won't tell me the figure cause it's way below the quoted 10,000 steps you're supposed to take every day... or something... the cheeky monkey!)
I've managed 5,053 steps so far today, and will have to run up and down the stairs and in and out of the kitchen a few more times this evening. Either that, or I'll knock the battery cover off and reset it again *cry*...
posted at: 23:58 | path: | permanent link to this entry

Thu, 03 Nov 2005

Yesterday evening saw almost every seat in a University of York lecture theatre filled to hear Prof. David M. Howard speak. Topics spanned the physical properties of how humans generate sound, through formant detection and analysis, diphone synthesis and physical modelling, redundancy characteristics in voice and culminating in him singing a four-part harmony with himself. Some video demonstrated very clearly why smoking has horrendous detrimental impacts on the vocal chords and liberal smatterings of audio examples reinforced his points throughout.
Thanks also to the YEE (York Electronic Engineering society) with whom this lecture was hosted.
For information on future events check www.iee.org.
posted at: 10:05 | path: /technical | permanent link to this entry

Wed, 02 Nov 2005

I'm sitting here eating a bag of Onion rings that Róisín opened but deigned not to finish - and as I near the bottom I discover a veritable treasure-trove of white chocolate buttons! A double whammy of onion ring corn snack flavoured delight and white chocolate button creamy deliciousness.
I suspect readers of this blog will be feeding back to me how lame my life must be to think this interesting... but I can personally vouch for it's vast superiority over finding minstrels as you reach the bottom of a cup of tea.
posted at: 22:57 | path: | permanent link to this entry

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