Archive for July, 2006
Twin
After being here for approaching three years I’ve finally filled the final picture hook with something of my own choosing (rather than the slightly dubious number of flower paintings there were on the wall when I moved in). The winning picture was the Tatooine twin sunset picture from Firebox, which fills the hole nicely.
So hard to find pictures that are going to fit. Buying them online or buying them in person doesn’t make that much difference, it’s still a challenge to create a vision in your head of what’s going to look like once it’s actually placed in its final position.
Stawberry
My disgust for Mac text editors is pretty legendary at this point, so I imagine my surprise when there’s actually some movement in the area that finally looks promising.
Smultron is an open-source editor that has been around for a years that was always pretty high up my list of potential switching options, but there were always enough things wrong with it to put me off. But with the recent 2.0 release it addresses almost all my problems with previous releases and the problems with all the other editors on the Mac platform.
It has tabs. It has proper auto-indenting (which is more than just keeping the tab level when I press enter, which is what most editors believe is all it takes). It doesn’t have FTP, but can at least integrate with a lot of FTP clients out there. It understands that when you select a bunch of text and press tab, that the block of text should be indented, not replaced with a tab (although shift-tab doesn’t do the opposite, annoyingly). It’s fast, can be pretty much configured to look how I want it, and like WriteRoom from a few days ago, is free.
Perl programmers, make haste.
Header
And so the world cup comes to a close for another four years (or three years and eleven months really). I really enjoyed following the tournament this time around, although once it got to the group stages the quality of the matches took a bit of a dip purely because everyone is so afraid to concede any goals they become more defensive and less attacking.
The final will always be remembered as the one where Zidane got a little crazy, his head-butting of another players chest and ultimate sending off probably cost France the title, which is a shame because they did seem like the better team on the day. They certainly didn’t start the tournament looking like a team who could get past the group stages, yet alone make it to the final, but that’s exactly why it’s worth watching, it can sometimes be so difficult to predict what might happen next.
Let’s hope that Scotland can pick themselves up and make it to the next one, things are much more interesting when there’s some local interest.
Forty
In 40 years I predict that things will be very different in the world. Global warming will not have consumed us all. Stem cell research will have led to cures for many of the problem ailments of today, although new diseases will now be more common place. But expect to see the end of things like Cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and a lot of spinal injuries.
Cars won’t be flying, but they will be more automated, driving between many destinations themselves, therefore cutting accidents and reducing congestion. Inner-city driving will probably be a lot like it is today, with more hands free situations confined to motorways.
Computers will be truly intelligent, with quantum technology allowing for system speeds far in excess of what we have now and even faster than the human brain. There will still be things they’re simply not as good at though, like perception and creative thought, but expect these barriers to be dropping. You will be able to talk to your machine and it will be able to talk back, all without hesitation on your part and without sounding like Stephen Hawking on its.
Robots will be more prevalent, but don’t expect to see Data-like androids. You’re more likely to have a robot pet than a laundry robot, with the increases in computing power providing 24 hour companions for young children. This isn’t AI though, don’t expect them to look human as users would find them far too creepy.
This is all because of a discussion with Andrea after hearing the song “2040″ by Spymob. What are your predictions for the 40 years from now?
Blogging
Something I forgot to note before is that I’ve now been going a solid two years with a blog post (nearly) every day. There’s a couple of minor holes in there, but I’ve done double posts on other days that hopefully even that out a little bit. Coming up with something to say every single day has been a constant battle because hey, let’s be honest, I don’t always do the most interesting things. But I still keep going because I figure that in twenty years time it’ll be interesting to look back and see what I was up to. Even now being able to look back 2 years today is fun (although it looks like that day wasn’t).
And to those of you who have blogs but never update them, or don’t have one at all, think what you’re potentially missing out on. You can’t be any more dull than me.
Cooking
The problem with cookbooks as I see them, is that all the recipes are too self-contained. They tell you what to go buy and then tell you how to make the meal, but you’re always left with ingredients at the end. I’ve spent a small fortune on single meals, and since I don’t actually know how to cook, I never know what to do with what I’m left with at the end. This is fine for those with more experience, because they can look at a cupboard full of items and know what to do, but for those of us who are still trying to master the art, it’s not very helpful. You can’t just go and buy a clove of garlic, you need to buy a whole bulb. But without guidance, I probably wouldn’t use those other five cloves before the garlic needed to be thrown out.
The ultimate cookbook would organise itself in such a way that recipes were grouped together by similar ingredients, so that the items you bought at the start were then carried through the other meals in that chapter. We live in a world where people are short on time, and are likely to be doing their shopping on a weekly basis, so surely it would be best if you could be given a shopping list of things to buy, followed by the things you could make with them. I’m not just talking about a chapter dedicated to chicken here, I want to see what’s remaining from one recipe go into the next one and so on. Eventually you’d begin to understand all the different things you could do, and could move onto something else, but as a beginners cookbook, this is surely the way to go.
I’d really just be happy with a book layout that allowed me to look in the cupboard, see what I had, and cross-reference that with what was in the book. But I guess that kind of thing is difficult to do in paper form.
Batches
If you’re on a Mac and you like to write, then I can definitely recommend WriteRoom. It’s a pretty much no-nonsense text-editor, meaning it’s low on features and high on usability, offering up not much more than a full screen, big font writing environment where you can be free from any distraction apart from your own words.
I’ve been writing all my blog posts in it recently (since they seem to be getting posted in batches) and it’s a nice way to work, being able to sit back from the screen and not have it filled with font and styling toolbars I’m never going to use. You don’t even need to manage your documents and remember to save, it does all that for you as well.
And it’s free. Which really is the best price.
Strains
I still love watching Shuttle launches, and it was great to see it leave today without a hitch. The sheer number of camera angles they offered of it sitting on the launch pad, on a beautifully clear Florida day, coupled with the crazy statistics offered up by the commentary (like using half a ton of fuel a second) made it quite clear that space travel still isn’t routine, it’s still not normal, and that we should be impressed when it all goes according to plan.
And I find it difficult not to be impressed, often by the scale, but mostly because when those main engines light up, and it strains on the mounts before the solid boosters kick in, shortly before it truly goes WHOOMPH, I just get giddy like a small child.
Majesty
A new album by a band you like can always be a terrifying prospect, because it’s always going to be compared to what you consider to be their previous best, and since that is so often a production you’ve spent years with, it’s easy to be disappointed.
But while it may not live up to the sheer majesty of Casanova, The Divine Comedy mark an excellent return to form with Victory for the Comic Muse. It’s nice to hear more orchestral licks surrounding the warmth and tone of Neil’s voice, especially after the mild disappointment of Absent Friends. And while a long for the day he does something as sweeping and powerful as something like In Pursuit of Happiness once again, it’s at least nice to know that he’s still capable of providing a full albums worth of entertainment on a yearly or so basis.
Smoking
Went to see Thank You For Smoking today (or Thank You For Not Smoking as I incorrectly called it in the cinema, making myself feel like a complete idiot as soon as the words spilled from my mouth), and enjoyed pretty much every minute.
The story of a lobbyist for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, Nick Naylor, who can spin anything to his own advantage, even if it happens to be a child recovering from cancer on an Oprah style TV show. It’s smart and funny and I’ll save my full review for whatinterest.
I was surprised to see how busy the cinema was, for a late Sunday afternoon showing, for a film which I’d hardly call mainstream there was barely an empty seat. I found myself amused at one point as I looked over at this mass of heads, only slightly illuminated and therefore each having a mild glow, as they all stared forward in silence at the large screen in front of them. It reminded me of the radio and music thing I wrote about last week, and how the achievements of the human race can quickly appear to be ridiculous when viewed in the correct light.
Ions
It seems to be a terrible time of year for headaches. I think it’s the weather, there’s a constant kind of thundery, harsh, permanently brewing storm out there right now and it seems to be having averse effects on me.
I heard something on the radio a couple of weeks ago that explained this phenomenon, that positive ions build up before a storm, causing an increased level of serotonin in the brain which can in turn result in headaches. After the storm is gone, then come the negative ions, which reduce seratonin and make you feel great. That nice, fresh feeling you get after the air has been cleared.
The suggestion was that you go buy an ioniser and give it a shot, as it might just work for you and if it didn’t, then you didn’t spend too much to try. There hasn’t been much research on this kind of thing since the 70’s, but I figure I’ll give it a shot. Anything to reduce the amount of suddenly started getting again.
Unrelated to that, it’s another birthday, today Mark is 34. I don’t think 34 really means anything, other than you’re probably quite pleased not to have crossed the threshold that puts you nearer 40 than 30.
