Minimal

Sticking with the space theme...

I’m currently watching a spacewalk, live on Nasa TV. Man, I love the internet! :)

Fly me to the moon

Around this time last year, shortly after Columbia burned up in the skies of the Mid-West, Wired reported on how the tragedy might help promote the idea of a space elevator. A year on, I wondered what had come of it and found a proposal from the Institute for Scientific Research. And you know what? I think they’re serious. This summer even sees the third annual convention on the topic, so it’s clearly not going away. Cool! :)

Hmmm... I wonder whether our simian friend in the Whitehouse will be sending a delegation. Might fit in nicely with his plans. ;)

Full metal jacket

Is it just me, or does Ash look worryingly at home in a suit of armour? :)

Floodranger

Videogame to help flood planners [BBC News]
While it might sound cool, is a game set in fictional landscapes really the best way to use the developers’ knowledge of flood defence strategies? A few questions come to mind:

• If we know the factors that make successful strategies, why don’t we just go straight to the solution instead of taking a trial and error approach?
• If this is impossible becasue the problem is generally chaotic in nature, then what’s the point of even attempting to simualte things when small errors in the model or changes in the variables can count for so much?
• Why the fictional landscape, anyway? Why can’t we play it on 3D models of the real British countryside? Are the developers trying to avoid the blame when a successful in-game strategy for, say, Blyth Valley ends up flooding half of the town in real life?

Don’t get me wrong — I fully understand how complex a system they’re modelling. I just think that if they’re not confident enough in their model to use real landscapes, then the model’s worthless. Alternatively, if they are confident enough, why not include real landscapes and why make it a game? If you know the answers, just give us the damned solution!

That’s that, then.

It’s official. I’m out of the Michelin Renault Scholarship. Bugger.

Extreme Noise Terror

There was a time when the Brit Awards were worth watching. That time was 1992 as the KLF performed 3AM Eternal with thrash metal outfit, Extreme Noise Terror. As you’d expect from the KLF, it was more than a little unhinged. Read all about it, or listen to the song (1.3MB), as hastily recorded from Mark Goodier’s Evening Session and since transferred to MP3 (hence the poor quality).

A special welcome

There’s a small article in this month’s Citylife describing the new process for becoming a British citizen. Apparently, local government’s now been tasked with this and Newcastle City Council has jumped at the chance to make a big deal of it. That’s not why the article caught my eye, though. This is what raised the hackles:

New citizens will swear their loyalty to the Queen and also to uphold the UK’s rights, freedoms and democratic values.

You what?! Rights, freedoms and values is all well and good, but what about people’s right to be a republican? And there was me thinking that the days of the empire were behind us.

Quirkyalone?! Jesus, take me now.

Bah, labels everywhere! [via t-melt]
Why can’t people just get on with life instead of having to pigeonhole themselves all the time? It’s as if they need to feel validated somehow. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Complex UI made simple — know any?

Right, this may be a sign of desperation, but it’s worth a shot. I need your help — especially you Mac users. At work, we’re designing the user interface (“UI”) for a new image processing package. As inspiration, I’m looking for examples of software that combine the following nicely:

• a tool-based approach for mouse interaction, as seen in most paint packages
• a task-based approach, as seen in MS Office and its task panes
• multiple different views of a document (single image, tiles, tabular data, etc.) visible at the same time

If you know of any software that combines these features (or even just a couple of them) without feeling complex or cluttered, I’d love to hear about it. In fact, even if you know something that does the above, but doesn’t work well, that would be good to know too. Cheers. :)

There was a time when I cared, you know?

I’ve made a rule to not blog about political issues any more, as I’m sick to death of the subsequent frustration and feelings of impotence. I will only say this: I can’t wait for the next general election. Someone commented to me today that “Blair’s sure to lose the next election after this Libya stuff.” Ermmmm... hello? Have people really forgotten the escalating nightmare that is Iraq and all that went with it e.g. eroded human rights? I would list other controversial actions the government’s taken here, but I can’t think of any that compare. Well, ok, maybe there’s the mess in Afghanistan too, but only a small part of that is Britain’s, right? Just thank god you don’t live in these places.

Of course, I’m no authority on these topics. I can only make judgements based on what I see, hear and read and based on whom I trust. Which is another good reason to keep schtum. Incidentally, I did get the book of Get Your War On for Christmas and, yes, it’s very good. It even contributed to the landmine clearance efforts in Afghanistan. Maybe we’re not so impotent after all.

Site updates (but not mine)

How long’s it been since I put this site live? Two, maybe three years? And barely a single enhancement in all that time (not least to the writing!). Steve’s site, on the other hand, is just 6 months old and already he’s offering alternate stylesheets. And all without any server-side scripting. Nice one.

Transatlantic misunderstandings

We all know not to tell an American we’re “popping out for a fag,” but I think I’ve just goofed up better than that. I started an email response to a respectable American lady (a world-renowned tech author) with the following resigned exclamation: “Hey ho, ...”. Ooops. :)

Sick and tired

You know how it feels when you get a bit of food stuck in your throat? Or maybe the feeling of someone gently strangling you without inhibiting breathing (if such a thing’s possible)? Yes, it’s more like strangulation. Well, imagine that discomfort and then imagine having that discomfort for 5 days straight — every waking hour, minute and second. Believe me, it messes with your head. I’m getting rather tired of it. I can breathe fine, I can swallow (small, slippery things), and I can get about fine, but having to resist the choking/swallowing response all day is getting right on my wick. Even pneumothorax was better than this. :(

Right, I’ve had enough, I’m off for some beer. Even if it doesn’t help me forget, at least I’ll be getting drunk. Hurrah for beer! And ta-ta for now. :)

Apologies for the somewhat alarmist, self-pitying tone, btw. I am getting it sorted. This is just a cathartic release, so leave me be. ;)