Chilli Freak

Patents on software are something I have argued against for a long time. Apart from stifling innovation. Copywrite protect developers while patents grant a monopoloy sometimes on vary spurious grounds for 20 years. I also appears that only large companies are able to enforce patents anyway. The register has this article patents do not protect small firms/.

Civilisation 5 Patch now out

Firaxis is launching a massive patch for Civ 5 which addresses a lot of the criticisms about he clueless AI. This patch list has so many fixes but one of my personal favourites is
"New “Angry Genghis” loading screen (replaces the “fluffy-bunny Genghis” loading screen)."

There are also some fixes to reduce the memory footprint so hopefully that will stop the game from crashing later on (something which has all but stopped me playing.

Some commentary on Ars Technica here

Hannibal

Ever needed a fake number but worried about making one up that is actually somebodies real number? Ofcom has the answer, a list of Telephone Numbers for use in TV and Radio drama programmes

The lighthouse

Yesterday was full of unexpected surprised. I got two presents, Kath bough me a new sports bag. My old one was literally falling to bits, I have been uysing it since I was in high school. She got me a nice new Puma one, I really like can't wait to try it out at the gym tonight.

I also got a second parcel from Lulu. She sent me a CD with photos form her wedding and a cap from the Shanghai expo. I didn't have a chance to check out the photo yet so more on them later.

Not sure where this year has gone too, seems to have gone by so quickly, already nearly Christmas. Fortunately thanks to the internet I have already bought all but a few presents.

Dry and Dusty

Ars Technica have an interesting look of the effect of cognitive dissonance . For those not familiar cognitive dissonance is the state of mind where you hold two conflicting views on a subject. This can be anything from buyers remorse after an expensive purchase, you wanted it but are then guilty. The study had people in an MRI scan while rating items then having them compare items with the same ratings. All goes to show the brain is a strange and complex beast.

Old Stone

Just in case you were worried about getting sued after clearing the snow away from your drive, the government have helpfully produced a best practice guide

There's no law stopping you from clearing snow and ice on the pavement outside your home or from public spaces. It's unlikely you'll be sued or held legally responsible for any injuries on the path if you have cleared it carefully. Follow the snow code when clearing snow and ice safely.

Profiler for Mono

Saw a great blog about writing a profiler for Mono. I would love to use something like this to profile our software. One day I will.

Tumble and fall

I read this article on Ars Technica. It made me think how much the world has changed even in my lifetime. When I was young the big fear seem to be drugs. The media was obsessed with "drug fiends" junkies who would prey on normal society do anything to get their fix. There was the myth of the first time being free as if dealers were lurking around giving out drugs like candy.

Somewhere in the last decade thought the fiend focus seems to have shifted. Nowadays the big fear is that somehow paedophiles are lurking ready to pounce on young children. This has caused all sort of reactions from the banning of parents being able to video tape their children in the school nativity play, to children being prevented from playing outside. Most of these fears are irrational, the chance of a child being snatched away are infinitely small especially compared against the risks of say crossing the road. Plus locking use all away in hermetically sealed boxes actually stops children developing the skills to deal with risky situations.

I hope when I am a parent I am able to be rational, judge the real risks and not live my life in fear that some unknown force is going to get me. Obviously there are risks in life. Would I be the person I am if I was more conservative as a child? I used to play in the fields, had a rope swing over a pond which was deep dirty and dangerous, I feel in and it could have gone the wrong way, but it didn't nor does it for the majority.

Safe without

I finished Wolf Hall last night. At 650 pages it is a bit of an epic, but well worth it. The author Hilary Mantle has managed to take a well known piece of history Henry XIII wives and put a new spin on it. The main character (though there are a lot of characters in the novel) is Thomas Cromwell. She manages to turn what could be very dull historical moments like Parliament sessions into dramatic and interesting scenes. Building a portrayal of 16th century England which is accessible and interesting. Opening with his childhood, abusive father and trip overseas. Then switching to Thomas as a 40 year old in the service of Cardinal Wolsey. Thomas stays loyal to Wolsey despite his fall from grace after failing to obtain a annulment of Henry XIII and Catherine of Aragon.

I found it to be a page turner and was sad in a way to reach the end. I can certainly understand why it won the man booker price in 2009.

There are much better reviews than I could write by the Gaurdian and Telegraph

Firework

Kath got me a surprise gift cannot wait to load it up with some tunes and take it for a spin. Its almost 10% the capacity of my iPod 3rd generation but smaller than the wheel should just clip to my shorts while I am at the gym, amazing! Thanks so much!

Coffee and a sweet treat to think better?

Caffeine and glucose combined improves the efficiency of brain activity

According to this piece on ScienceDaily (2010-11-24) The combination of caffeine and glucose can improve the efficiency of brain activity, according to a recent study in which functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to identify the neural substrate for the combined effects of these two substances.

All the more reason for a coffee and a cake :)

Golden Platitudes

It is my birthday today and I have been greeted by lots of lovely Facebook messages. I guess with site like Facebook it is getting more simpler to remember when peoples birthdays are. Still it ways a pleasure to get lots of nice messages so thanks everyone!

Bit worried about Kath today she has some stomach bug, wish I could go and make her feel better.

I got really angry with work today, there are some problems and unfortunately I took it out on someone else which is always a bad idea. I will have to apologise next time I see them.

Currently fighting a weird issue with NHibernate, for some reason it refuses to save my IDictinoary child objects. It Saves other things correctly just not IDictionaries, very odd. I even bit the built and tried upgrading to a later version which caused a few breaking changes. At least through the magic of Spotify I have been able to listen to the Manics all day to take the edge off.

Kind of glad I didn't stay up for the start of the Ashes last night, like my colleague I gave up after Andrew Strauss was out after the third ball.

Zombie Bite Calculator

Created by Oatmeal

Crystal Castles - Not In Love ft. Robert Smith

Crystal Castles - Not In Love ft. Robert Smith

Chromatic

I woke up this morning to the news that North Korea had shelled South Korea. I remember reading a long time ago about the Korean war and how devastating it was. The use of incendiary bombs, and a scored earth policy levelling most of the North and parts of the South. There is a good article on History News Network. Surprising the almost casual use of Napalm and even the consideration of using Nuclear weapons to destroy Chinese forces and create a radioactive divide between Korea and China.

Do You Want It All ?

Sunday Morning and I feel achy, my knees are sore and my back is killing me. Would like to say I was at some crazy rock concert jumping around like a mad man. Instead I spent most of yesterday in my loft crawling about wearing googles and a facemask while laying insulation. So hopefully the house will be warmer now.

I used two different types of insulation, some mineral wool I bought a while back and the other recycled plastic bottles. Having used both I would say the plastic bottles are lass itchy but way more of a pain. Harder to cut and more elastic so as soon at the roll is out of the plastic is expands quickly unfurling itself.

Hopefully it will be worth it. Being the cost of the materials was about £40's it shouldn't be difficult to recoup the costs.

Skype on Fedora 14

I was getting an error after installing Skype "Failed to execute child process “skype” (No such file or directory)". Fortunately a quick google search lead me to the answer here

Ballmer and Gates: Here's why we're not breaking up Microsoft

Ballmer and Gates: Here's why we're not breaking up Microsoft

The Suburbs

Tuesday

Kath Has been in the UK Since Tuesday and here is a blog of our adventures together. I picked her up from Liverpool airport Tuesday night. It was a cold evening, colder in the UK than in Poland. It is always a great feeling to see her waiting for me. By the time we got back from Liverpool it was getting late so we got ourselves fish and chips from the big fish which is an awesome chippy.

Wednesday

Unfortunately I couldn't get any time off at the moment so I had to head into work. Kath walked into Handforth at lunch time and we went to Konak Cafe. I had a tuna melt panini while Kath had a Club sandwich. Both were very tasty but I think the club sandwich was a bit special.
In the evening we had planned to meet Nick, but he had come down with a bad cold so instead we went shopping. The plan was to make a nice pie have a couple of beers and enjoy each others company. However on returning one of the beer bottles managed to escape through the bottom of the shopping bag, exploding beer and glass all over the kitchen. It also chipped one of the floors tiles which was very annoying. Fortunately after the clear up and consumption of the remaining beer (and pie) we were able to laugh about it, in fact it was a very giggly evening, triumph from catastrophe.

Thursday

My parents invited us for dinner. They made beef bourguignon which was very tasty. I showed Kath what my dad and I had bee upto converting my old room into an office. It looks really good now the bookcases are all built. Just need my dad to start moving all his stuff in.
Had a lovely evening with them, and storm doggy.

Friday

We decided to meet up with Andy Gilmore in Manchester. Taking the train was an experience, it was late by nearly 30 minutes, which is actually longer than the journey time to Manchester. It started to feel a bit cold stood on the platform. There were mostly young lads in groups ready for a night out. By the smell of it there was a lot more than tobacco was being consumed in the train shelter :D
We finally made it into the city and started walking to meet Andy on Market street there seemed to be an endless crowd of people all going in the opposite direction. It was amazing I had never seen so many people. Fighting the crowd we finally met Andy near boots, apparently the crowd was due to Joe McElderry switching on the Christmas lights.
After all the delays we were all getting pretty hungry so Andy suggested Sam's Chop House. It was pretty busy but we managed to get a table after a 20 minute wait. I had never been before and I was mightily impressed. Descending the stairs into a warm friendly pub setting. The food was hearty, tasty food and excellent service. I had a steak, Andy Steak and Kidney pudding and Kath tried the sausage and mash. I really enjoyed it. Andy had some big news for us, he has a new job which is going to involve a move. Seems like an amazing opportunity for him so I wish him all the best thought I will miss meeting up with him, despite the fact we dont do it often enough. After the meal we had another drink in the Ape and Apple before leaving Andy to catch the train home. Being slightly early for the train we had a nightcap in the balcony bar before catching the train, which was bang on time.

Saturday

Given we had enjoyed such a good evening there we decided to take spend the Day out in Manchester.
Kath wanted to go to Primark as it it cheap even compared to Polish prices. Unfortunately the rest of the world seemed to have decided the same thing the queues were immense. In spite of the crowds Kath managed to find some pretty tops and some lovely underwear.
This earned me enough brownie points that she offered to buy lunch. We headed to the print works and decided to try the food at Papa G's. A kind of Greek Cypriot restaurant they did a lovely line in cooked meat and bread. Service was rapid and the food was edible, thought I felt like it is basically an up-market kebab house.
After lunch we walked around bit then went into M&S o I could buy a few shirts for work, no Christmas shopping yet.
We did a lot of walking I tried to show Kath a bit of Manchester, from the Gardens to St Annes square, the Town hall Lincoln Square. Then a tour round Manchester Art Gallery.
Amazingly during our wonder, I bumped into an old friend, James Kay someone I have not seen in something like ten years. Strangely enough I had only been talking about him the night before as I just ordered Goldeneye for the Wii a game we used to play obsessively in my college days. Strange as it was to bump into him at least he lives in Manchester, the next people we meet were fresh up from London Paul, Saskia and Andy Fletcher were also in the Art Gallery as we walked in. They had come up to see Andy as it was his birthday.
I must make an admission despite living in Manchester all my life I had never been round the gallery before. So it was very interesting. I liked to see the Painting by Edwin Landseer done before casting the bronzes which sit at Nelsons column in London. You can certainly see how wealthy the Manchester corporation was to amass such a collection. I thought it was interesting the ornate way the works are framed with placards at the bottom.
After walking around the various galleries we started to feel tired to headed home stopping off at Cafe Nero for a Chai Latte before taking the train home.
I made us dinner while Kath packed (and was kind enough to do some ironing for me isn't she wonderful!). Dinner was spicy prawn and garlic stir fry with rice noodles. I think it is one of my better dishes, we both enjoyed it.
I felt very sad in the evening knowing I would soon have to crop Kath off at the airport and revert back to my solitary existence. We stay pretty close while she is in Poland, talking often by text phone and the internet, but nothing quite matches the intimacy of being physically close, holding her in my arms.

Cannot log into SQL Server following SSL certificate installation

I managed to lock myself out of sql server on one of our servers. I got the following error on login with the following error "A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an error occurred during the pre-login handshake"

After a lot of googling I finally found that the issue was that I had installed a self signed certificate using the Windows 2003 resource kit. Due to the fact SQL server uses ssl certificates to secure the login my certificate had broken my ability to log in.

Following the steps listed in this Microsoft Knowledge base article fixed the problem. Essentially stop sql server, removed the certificates regenerate (ensuring to use the identifier as listed in IIS manger on the S parameter of selfssl e.g. C:\Program Files\IIS Resources\SelfSSL>selfssl.exe /N:CN=YOURSEVER /K:1024 /V:7
/S:1899305700 /P:443) then restart sqlserver.