Contention

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:35:04 GMT

Mass Effect, lunar VI assignment:

So you're on a mission to shut down a rogue computer before it kills more people. You finally zap it, and you receive the following message...

A burst of white noise over all frequencies nearly deafens you. Your hardsuit's heads-up display interprets it as a series of 0s and 1s:

01001000
01000101
01001100
01010000

They repeat again and again, blanketing all frequencies, until the lights on the final VI cluster flicker and die.

Of course, if you're an utter geek, you go off and do the following:

128 64 32 16  8  4  2  1                ASCII code
--- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
0   1  0  0   1  0  0  0  = 64 + 8      = 72           = H
0   1  0  0   0  1  0  1  = 64 + 4 + 1  = 69           = E
0   1  0  0   1  1  0  0  = 64 + 8 + 4  = 76           = L
0   1  0  1   0  0  0  0  = 64 + 16     = 80           = P

So yes, I am a sad, sad man. :)

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:22:01 GMT

Notes on a couple of Alcohol Fridays - missed this week and don't have proper records of the last two, hopefully will do better this week...

Mixed fruit cider - alright, but the lack of a specific flavour leaves it tasting bland and rather boring.

Pear vodka - don't drink this neat! Quite nice, and very unusual, in coke.

Sat, 30 May 2009 17:06:45 GMT

Quick update to cover the last couple of Fridays:

Cava Negro - ~£8.99/bottle from your local cornershop. But don't; if you're going to drink Spanish sparkling wine, for God's sake spring for some expensive stuff from a reputable source. This tasted less like chlorinated water than the white label Perrin bought from the same place - which is to say it was drinkable, not that it was nice.

Southern Comfort & lemonade: pretty nice, actually! I have something of a weak spot for alcopop-esque drinks. Perhaps £3.xx a glass.

Mon, 18 May 2009 20:47:03 GMT

Very belated Alcohol Friday post:

Drink: St. Peter's Suffolk Gold™ ("local beer")
From: St. Peter's Brewery, Suffolk, UK
Alcohol content: 4.9%
Available at/price: Asda, £1.50 / 500ml bottle

Andrew said: Not sure if it's just because it's been so long since I've had a decent bitter, but this was really good... almost wish I'd bought more than one bottle.

(Drinking another bottle of the Cusquena tonight - i.e. Saturday - now that I'm more sober than I was the last time, this lager tastes a bit odd to be honest.)

--

Also had a rather uplifting state-of-mind episode tonight. Upswing from the depression the other day?

Not going to claim it's profound, but - here I am arguing with my girlfriend again, too much on at work, no more idea what my life is for or what I'm going to do with it than I did ten years ago. So I step along the treadmill on my half mile warm-up for my gentle one mile run (calculated not to strain anything since my joints just seem to give way when I throw myself into it these days), and I just think - this is living.

This run is not about pushing myself to my limits, it's not going to make me thin and nobody is going to be impressed by it: yet everything else becomes irrelevant, and I can lose myself in just the pleasant feeling of my body moving.

I am a mouse among mice, both victim and hapless beneficiary of societal forces that are no less real for being invisible. Yet I am alive, hear me squeak. :)

Fri, 08 May 2009 21:55:43 GMT

Alcoholic Friday Notes:

Cocktail Friday (only new cocktails noted) -

Iguana-wana - alcoholic orange juice? nice. £5!

Ipanema Breeze - ugly! Enema Breeze! £5.30 (tastes like melon) Gemma says nice.

Sangria - £4.90 genuinely weird. You can taste the red wine.

...

May edit to add ingredients, may not.

Fri, 01 May 2009 23:56:38 GMT

Drink: Bulleit Bourbon Frontier Whiskey
From: The Bulleit Distilling Co.
Alcohol content: 40% abv
Available at/price: ASDA, £17.48 / 700ml

Andrew says: Shit, I'd forgotten what whiskey tastes like... need some coke here!

Gemma says: I can't drink it!

With cherry coke:

Andrew says: Meh. But different from almost anything I've ever drunk, actually.

Gemma says: I can't face it, I'll probably throw up.

--

Drink: Cherry Coke
From: Coca-cola Co.
Alcohol content: 0% abv
Available at/price: Tesco, £1 / 2l

Andrew says: Mmm, sugar.

--

Drink: Cerveza Premium Cusquena Imported Beer
From: Union de Cervecerias Peruanas Backus y Johnston S.A.A. Lima-Peru
Alcohol content: 5% abv
Available at/price: ASDA, £3.30 / 4x 33cl bottle

Andrew says: "The Gold of the Incas" is not a bad lager. It's also not a particularly good lager...

--

Overall Friday verdict: next week I'm trying something I will like!

Little Nicky - on the surface such a shit film, and yet it has some quite amusing ideas. "Angels never get older!"

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 08:42:58 GMT

Fiiiiinally:

For The Expert Computer Users Out There:
The Xandros OS that comes with the Eee 701 can also be made to connect to 3 Mobile Huawei E160G. The steps are:
1.Power up the Eee 701 without the E160G
2.Once bootup finishes, plug in the E160G into an unused port
3.Type CTRL-ALT-T
4.In the terminal type: sudo /sbin/huaweiAktBbo
5.In the terminal type: sudo rmmod option
6.In the terminal type: sudo modprobe option
7.Now click the tab named "Internet" and click the icon named "Network". Proceed to add a new GSM/UMTS connection. Xandros now should find the Huawei E160G.

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:23:20 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7955406.stm

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:30:12 GMT

Hmm, haven't been here in a while. Again!

A couple of things that have happened that I probably haven't bothered to write down:

I got a permanent post working as an assistant to the deputy chief executive. It'll be interesting to see how that turns out.

Gemma has turned this month into birthday month for me, so much so that between that and work I haven't had time to think about presents for my family. Slovakia has been great, though, even with having to stay another day because Sky Europe are cunts. Nice surprise birthday present. :)

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:15:39 GMT

Today, I was told that Ewan had died.

What do you say to that? I could take my pick of the things you're supposed to say; things you're supposed to feel. But what do I really feel? I've never been that well connected to my emotional side – topic for another day there, perhaps – so I have to stop and try to work it out: how am I really reacting?

I feel saddened. Brutally aware of my own mortality, and all the things that I have never done and probably never will. Deep down, angry at the world (no change there, then). And beyond that... numb. Guilty that I don't feel more? I suppose it's a bit much, when I'm quite willing to be called a cold bastard, to expect to be sobbing into my Lucozade! Yet for some reason, I do. I guess I still need time to make myself believe it.

This can't be a proper eulogy for Ewan. God knows he deserves one, but I never took the time to get to know him outside of conventions, and anime fandom. “Warm”, though, is a word that springs to mind. He worked harder to make things happen than almost anyone else I know, and to greater effect. “Meticulous” is another word that might fit. Some might say “fussy”, but I think that would be an injustice. Ewan generally knew which things to get worked up over and which things you can let slide – unlike most people, who just think they do.

As Treasurer of Aya and Minami Ewan was directly responsible for holding together the foundations on which everything and everyone else came to depend. Financial Director would be a much better title, to be honest. He controlled the budgets; held the purse strings; made sure the things that needed paying, got paid. More than that, he lent a steadying hand of reason to proceedings on more than one occasion: Ewan's very presence and unspoken competence were immensely calming. Not that he never got rattled himself – far from it. But caught between screaming idiots (anime fandom has always had enough rejects to stock a seconds shop), and young enthusiasts on the committee trying to take things in new directions, you would have been hard pressed to find even one more person with the personal dignity, authority and implicit trustworthiness needed to safeguard other people's money. I don't know who first said it, but on more than one occasion committee members have been moved to say: “If Ewan dies on us, we're screwed.” Oh yes.

Not only is there now a great, Treasurer-shaped hole in two convention committees. There is a massive empty space where once stood someone we could rely on completely. I wonder how many people will ever appreciate what a difference Ewan made? I doubt I understand the full extent myself, so what hope is there that the people who only knew him as that large, older bloke with the cash boxes will appreciate the contribution that his prudent financial management made to their fun? “Modest” is another word often applied in these situations, and yet in this case is nothing but the truth.

I will miss Ewan. That's the simple truth. If I can't claim the honour of having been his close friend, he was never anything less than a good one.

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:39:40 GMT

Sitting in bed in the flat with Gemma, after quite a hard day - not so much at work, as getting to work (1:40 min commute each way these days, including a freezing train journey in today, not to mention a few minutes walking around in the bitter cold that were genuinely quite painful).

Just had a pollo pancetta pizza at Pizza Express, which could perhaps be more accurately described as a large moist nacho. Nice though. I have coke and chocolate now, which is also nice.

Feeling a bit ill. I probably have something I should be doing, but god knows what.

Sorry to anyone who noticed that I haven't been around online for the last six months or so. ;)

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 09:57:07 GMT

MindMap

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:13:30 GMT

Goodbye, PlayOnline.

We had some good times, and some frustrating ones. FFXI was truly a world of wonder, which makes it a shame that so much of my time there was spent repeating mindless tasks, dying due to lack of attention, and standing around waiting for something to happen. I met some cool people, about half of whom would have been really irritating if I'd had to put up with them in real life. I never got that far with the game... I wasn't willing to worship you with all of my life.

Despite everything, I cancel the subscription - which I haven't used properly in perhaps a year, probably much longer - with a kind of regret.

Joined: 11 December 2003
Canceled: 5 October 2008 (Effective 31 October 2008)

Estimated fees: £7 * 58 months = £406
Total playtime: Not very much
Cost per hour: Doesn't bear thinking about...

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:22:21 GMT

The council have started our private Saturday-night fireworks shows again (that is, they let off fireworks on the seafront, directly in front of our window).

Thinking of downgrading the PC to a C7 mini-ITX. It's not like this thing can play the latest games anymore... for about £200 I could have something: virtually silent; cheaper to run; and small - rather than the howling Alienware monstrosity that I've been using for the last four years.

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:51:29 GMT

Running times:

Mile 1: 7:07.97
Mile 2: 7:33.23 (14:41.20)
Mile 3: 7:53.92 (22:35.12)
Mile 4: 7:34.27 (30:09.39)

Stitch on mile 3; I really need to drink more water.

Woman walking along sea front: "Do you only run up and down this little stretch?"
Me, startled: "Yes, pretty much."
Me, thinking about that 'little' mile, to woman's rapidly retreating back: "YOU TRY IT!"
Me, to fat woman now looking at me: *shakes head* "Stupid cunt."

Gemma has commented on this before. There's something about a lone runner that invites people to have a go - perhaps that you're a single [weak] person doing something that they don't [outsider] but that they wish they did/know they should [making them feel uncomfortable about themselves].

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:23:24 GMT

Running times from Saturday:

Mile 1: 7:12.57 (but I missed my turn - I would guess this was about 7 minutes)
19.26 (getting back to the mile marker)
Mile 2: 8:02.59 (15:34.42)
Mile 3: 8:21.09 (23:55.51)
Mile 4: 8:05.35 (32:00.86)

I wasn't trying to run particularly quickly, and was thinking of other things (that was probably obvious anyway, from the above). I was running in the middle of the day, and in the second half the sun came out, which did not please me at all...

Off to do it again.

Before I forget again...

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:35:57 GMT

Three axioms to live your life by:

1. Know yourself

2. Love yourself

3. You are going to die.

Sounds simple, if not trite... really not. It's incomplete, however, without a moral element. How about:

4. Do as you will, so long as you harm nobody.

?

Sadly, none of this tells me what to do with my life, and I've never figured that bit out.

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:15:16 GMT

Running times:

One mile: 5:51.52 (Last Friday, after breaking up with Gemma - not sure if that helped or not. Back together for eight days now, and counting...)

Yesterday:

Mile 1: 7:19.31
Mile 2: 7:33.50 (14:52.81)
Mile 3: 7:32.59 (22:25.40)
Mile 4: 8:03.36 (30:28.76)

The times make more sense if you consider that there was a decent wind behind me on the mile out, and in my face on the mile back...

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:22:32 GMT

Official splits:

Pos

RaceNr

Wave

Name

Swim

BikeLap1

BikeLap2

BikeLap3

BikeLap4

Bike

RunLap1

RunLap2

RunLap3

RunLap4

Run

Total

10094

SAT4

A SHORE THING

00:26:56

00:03:03

00:18:00

00:17:34

00:17:01

00:18:26

01:11:00

00:02:37

00:13:15

00:13:02

00:13:18

00:12:24

00:51:57

02:35:30

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:43:04 GMT

Further research reveals that according to the organisers, the bike was 42k and the run was 10.4k (making my average mile almost exactly 8 minutes, which I'm happy with). We came a respectable 91st out of 417 teams, although I was correct in my assumption that almost all of the runners were faster than me - you have to get down into the lower third of the teams before the run times are often slower than mine.

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:51:00 GMT

Mazda London Olympic Team Triathlon -

Swim - 26:56 (My brother; 1500m)
Bike - 1:11:00 (My dad; 40k)
Run - 51:57 (Me; 10k)

Total - 2:35:30 (Including transition times.)

This is the same event that I competed in last year, couldn't take the monstrous heat, hill and barbeque smoke (not kidding) and ended up walking half the distance. This year it was still warm, but it was overcast and raining with no "£$%^&* barbeque - much more my kind of weather, so I managed to complete it with a halfway decent time. The hill was in fact much shorter than I remembered, although the slope was about as bad as I'd thought; I just slowed right down and took it easy each time that I had to go up it.

Lap times, each roughly 2.5k distance:

(Spent about a minute running out that I wasn't sure was part of the course and didn't start the watch for.)
12:10.52
25:10.66 (13:00.14)
38:29.19 (13:18.53)
51:02.28 (12:33.09)

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:24:43 GMT

That Personality Test :: Your Results
The latest personality test from ThatSurveySite... now featuring more and better questions than ever!

Emotional (30%)	[..........\|\|\|\|......]	Logical (70%)
Concerned about self (63%)	[.......\|\|\|..........]	Concerned about others (37%)
Atheist (66%)	[.......\|\|\|..........]	Religious (34%)
Loner (67%)	[.......\|\|\|..........]	Dependent (33%)
Laid-back (48%)	[....................]	Driven (52%)
Traditional (57%)	[.........\|..........]	Rebel (43%)
Impetuous (70%)	[......\|\|\|\|..........]	Organized (30%)
Engineering mind (64%)	[.......\|\|\|..........]	Artistic mind (36%)
Cynical (64%)	[.......\|\|\|..........]	Idealist (36%)
Follower (49%)	[....................]	Leader (51%)
Introverted (72%)	[......\|\|\|\|..........]	Extroverted (28%)
Conservative (44%)	[..........\|.........]	Liberal (56%)
Logical (47%)	[..........\|.........]	Romantic (53%)
Uninterested (41%)	[..........\|\|........]	Sexual (59%)
Insecure (30%)	[..........\|\|\|\|......]	Confident (70%)
Selective (5%)	[..........\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|.]	Tolerant (95%)
Pessimistic (57%)	[.........\|..........]	Optimistic (43%)
Principled (40%)	[..........\|\|........]	Pragmatic (60%)
Tolerant (57%)	[.........\|..........]	Opinionated (43%)
Humble (10%)	[..........\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|..]	Elitist (90%)

Take the test!

No real surprises there. I wonder if these things ever reflect reality - the worst ones don't work, some bad ones just say what you want them to say, but do even the good ones do more than tell you how society sees you?

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:03:12 GMT

Your result for The Attachment Style Test...

The Free Agent

22% Anxiety Over Abandonment and 37% Avoidance Of Intimacy

You like to be independent, to play by your own rules. You're not terribly interested in finding a partner and settling down, and it makes you nervous to imagine that someone might depend on you for anything. Were you to find the right partner--someone as independent as you, probably--you'd not be too put out about sharing your adventures with him/her.

Fictional characters with whom you might identify: Han Solo (Star Wars), Beatrice ("Much Ado About Nothing")

Other Attachment Types:
Secure:	The Unicorn	\|	The Cuddleslut	\|	The Free Agent
Preoccupied:	The Cling Wrap	\|	The Squid	\|	The Insect
Fearful:	The Doormat	\|	The Leper	\|	The Exile
Dismissing:	The Hermit	\|	The Stone	\|	The Player
Confused:	The Waffler

Take The Attachment Style Test at HelloQuizzy

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:50:28 GMT

Great time in Paris over the extended weekend - it felt like a much longer holiday than it actually was, and relaxed me a lot.

Being in Paris, on Bastille day, and still missing the parade doesn't phase me at all. :P

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:47:39 GMT

Your result for The Elemental Balance Test...

Balance

~ 44% Water ~ 63% Wind ~ 59% Earth ~ 37% Fire ~

And I know and I believe

There's a way out to the sea of happiness

It seems your personality is in perfect harmony; your impulses are tempered with thoughtfulness, and your emotions are balanced with a healthy amount of reason.

In order to maintain that harmony, try wearing a Jade, a Chrysoprase or an Agate; all three enhance balance and stability, as does the Snowflake Obsidian that will help remain balanced during times of change.

In detail: You are more balanced than most people. Your Ground Chakra, (associated with the element of fire and representing our basic desires and driving force), your Creative Chakra, (associated with the element of earth and representing our need to preserve and grow), your Heart Chakra, (associated with the element of water and representing our sense of love and compassion), and your Throat Chakra, (associated with the element of wind and represents our desire to learn and communicate), appear to be on an equal footing with each others.

These are the results you will get if you score highly on...

None of the four elements: Balance Wind: Gust Fire: Blaze Water: River Earth: Valley Wind & Fire: Thunder Wind & Water: Clouds Wind & Earth: Canyon Fire & Earth: Lava Fire & Water: Tornado Water & Earth: Trees Wind, Fire & Earth: Storm Wind, Fire & Water: Stars Wind, Water & Earth: Forest Fire, Water & Earth: Avalanche All four elements: Harmony

Take The Elemental Balance Test at HelloQuizzy