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2000-09-12 02:30:44 Source: Blogger archive
I've just heard about the petrol crisis in the UK! What can I say?
Hahahahahahahahahah! It's things like this which make me so glad I left the country. The UK has built an almost totally car dependent society - the great British countryside has been ripped down and paved over so that everyone has their inalienable right to travel where ever they will - forget the fact that when they get there there's only another road to look at. Now suddenly the price of petrol is too high and blockaded petrol refineries mean the country is running out of juice. I mean, it's all just too funny.
In Sweden, where the greater distances mean that cars are even more essential, people use their cars sensibly. There are car pooling schemes, people drive each other to work, special traffic lanes make it quicker to get to places if there is more than one person in the vehicle, public transport WORKS, cycle lanes mean it's safe to use your bike on shorter trips and guess what - we have NO petrol crisis here!
With any luck, this event will make the British populace sit up and realise some home truths about car usage and how they can improve the UK for everyone - but I fear that instead people will only think about themselves and how terrible it has been to be without petrol for a week.
Please - spread the word - help people to see that they have to reduce car useage if the UK is to not become a smog-choked, grid-locked, paved-over, car-crazed hellhole!
OK - rant mode off again...
2000-09-12 02:04:23 Source: Blogger archive
Hehey! Got a bottle of champagne from my boss today! It's a very belated prize for guessing how many responses we would get to our last direct mail campaign.
Mmmmm - champagne!
2000-09-08 02:26:12 Source: Blogger archive
I was browsing through the site of Nomadic Research Labs - the homepages of a chap called Steven Roberts who has dedicated his life to the design and use of exquisite connected bikes and boats and lived a techno-nomadic lifestyle.
Anyways, I came across the following text, which I thought was probably one of the best descriptions of the start of the creative process and what the first stage of planning a project is all about. I think you'll agree that it's equally applicable to web building as it is to building a microship (as it is to any project in fact). Its simplicity, insight and honesty reminds me of parts of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". You can find the original at this page.
"It is essential, when designing a complex system, to spend some relaxed time fantasizing about what it will be like when it’s finished. After all, this is what drives the process of engineering: at some level between rigorous and fanciful, an image of the finished product must be held in the mind, savored, and examined from all sides. Only after this playful interlude (which, to a manager, may be disturbingly indistinguishable from unproductive wall-staring) can decomposition of the design into subsystems, tasks, and packaging make any sense.
Trying to shortcut this by starting on Day One with formal design methodologies can have the catastrophic effect of committing one to an ill-defined goal state, whereupon the end result is shaped more by design tools than the supposed objective. That’s why so many products seem malformed, patched, and otherwise inelegant... the industry loves formal tools, and generally looks askance upon such frivolous notions as approaching product design as a delicate blend of art and engineering. The exceptions, when they occur, are a joy to use. The rest simply miss the point, no matter how stylish their exterior... or how sophisticated the underlying technology."
Wonderful!
2000-08-31 05:46:40 Source: Blogger archive
Gonna meet Lotta, have a drink and then go to see "The Filth & The Fury" this evening :-)
2000-08-31 01:21:26 Source: Blogger archive
The weekend's crayfishing was GREAT! We had the best weather that Sweden has received all summer, caught 137 edible sized crayfish and drank a LOT of schnapps!
I handed in my notice on my flat today. That gives me 3 months to find a new place - but as the existing one had been a "temporary" flat for the last year and a half, it's about time. Keep your fingers crossed for me (or hold your thumb as they say in Sweden).
2000-08-24 08:52:17 Source: Blogger archive
It's been a while - but I've been busy, so yah boo suxs!
What have I been busy doing though? Well, I've created some creatures at Terrania, my dad is over for a visit, which means I'm doing great touristy things and I'm working hard on the planning for our website at Biljettpoolen.
Later today, I'm off with my dad to Lotta's family's summer house in Sundborn in the middle of Sweden. It's time for THE CRAYFISH PARTY! Hurrah! This means a weekend relaxing by the lake in one of the most beautiful parts of Sweden, then an evening of fishing for crayfish on Friday and an evening of eating crayfish on Saturday :-) Loads of fun.
I'll still be contactable by email through the weekend thoughm as I'll be taking the laptop with me, which kinda goes against the general feeling of being at Sundborn, but has to be done this time, as I have a lot on the go at work.
I hope you all have a great weekend too!
2000-08-18 04:07:38 Source: Blogger archive
Fantastic! Got two comments in a row at the top of the comments queue on Slashdot! Probably means nothing to anyone out there who isn't a Slashdot user. The great thing is that they aren't trolls, but genuine comments (even if one did get momentarily modded down as flamebait by some clueless idiot!).
The articles are:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/08/18/133219&mode=thread
and
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/08/18/1249217&mode=thread
2000-08-17 10:28:27 Source: Blogger archive
Most excellent! Just got my review copy of "Professional WAP" through the post from Wrox Press. I'm going to be running book reviews on Wap-Dev.
Apart from that, I oversept by 2 hours this morning and I'm STILL knackered :-(
2000-08-15 01:46:59 Source: Blogger archive
It's been a while - for no other reason than that I've been so deep in my work that I've been forgetting to come in and update the blog. That's a GOOD thing :-)
I've been sleeping very badly. I've still got my cold and it's starting to drive me potty. Last night I sweated and sweated and despite getting to bed around 11:30 I couldn't get to sleep till way after 1:00.
I'm waiting for a package! It *should* contain some nice "free" books from Wrox Press (or one at least). I've been in touch with them to arrange to do some book reviews on Wap-Dev, so I'm anticipating that the parcel (which should arrive from the depot today) contains their latest WAP book. Yum!
Also, my ol' man is coming over next week for a week's visit. We'll be including a trip out to the summer house, to coincide with the annual crayfish party. Should be great fun. I'm definitely looking forward to it.
2000-08-09 11:41:38 Source: Blogger archive
Wow! I've been finding a wealth of information on Tuvan throast singing, or Khöömei as it's more properly called. It's the type of split voice style that Yat-Kha use and which I have been enthusing about lately. If you are intrigued, check this page out, which has a bunch of sound clips of the Khöömei voice. I promise you, this is the MOST amazing sound you have ever heard a voice make. Awesome stuff.
I've also happily noticed that Yat-Kha are playing in London in November and I believe that New Model Army are playing as well, so I may try and get over to coincide with them both if I can.