Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Look how far we have come

I was looking at vintage computer advertisements and it made me both nostalgic and amazed at how far technology has come. From having to explain to users what copy and paste did, and how fast electronic mail is most people now have these things in their pocket on a smartphone.

As predicted by Moores Law technology has roughly double in power or put another way more power is increasingly cheaper. So much so that the smartphone in your pocket is considerable more powerful that the computers in these adverts.

My first computer was an Acorn electron it was 8-bit running at 1Mhz and loaded programs from tape. My mobile phone (which itself is a little dated) is a Nexus 4 running a 32-bit processor running 4 cores at 1500Mhz. Incredible really.

However one area which maybe hasn't come so far is design. I recently saw this amazing video on design.
 
Aral Balkan: Superheroes & Villains in Design from Thinking Digital on Vimeo.

Monday, February 03, 2014

Gone girl

I just managed to finish Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. It is really an excellent read. The title like a lot of things in the book has a double meaning. It is hard to talk about the book without ruining the experience, so I can't really say much about the novel without ruining the surprise.  It is the sort of book that you will get to the end of and immediately want to talk about.

There is a forthcoming film, however from what I have read about it, they have changed the ending of the book.

Bitcoin mining

I decided to try some bitcoin mining, after reviewing a few options like buying an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). I decided the the least effort seemed to be to buy mining on a rig someone else has paid for. I bided on 4 GH/s on ebay at CEX.io one of the largest cloud based mining solutions.

Friday, January 31, 2014

Interesting solutions

I saw an article that today that brought me back to a directors throwaway comment, only this one was for real.

Years ago I worked on a site for a company, it had been developed at a huge cost by an external company. The client and outsourcer had fallen out at some point and the application was brought in house. That was my job to support this application. The only problem was it was a dogs dinner, the commercials were all wrong and in the end less than 100 clients signed up for the package only two for the site. The director decided to can it and stated "It would be cheaper to pay for spearmint Rhino to personally delivery the statements than continue this project".

I remember being a little upset at the time after working on the site for months. However it was the right decision. I though of it today after reading about Nursing jobs in the US who have decided it makes better sense to buy new PC's for their clients stuck on IE7 than to optimise their website to run on it!

I am going to try this on my boos next time a feature breaks in an old browser.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

All of Me

I have just finished reading the second Inspector Rebus book "Hide and Seek" by Ian Rankin. Jono had given me the first book "Knots and Crosses". I was very impressed Rankin has a real feel for the dark underbelly of Edinburgh.

In the first novel John Rebus is a troubled policeman haunted by events from the past and present. His past some of which he can't remember following a nervous breakdown after a terrible time in the SAS. Add to this a troubled relationship which his daughter and ex wife, and overachieving brother. Then mix in the dark drug dealing parts of Edinburgh.

The second novel follows almost immediately from the first. Following the events of the know and Crosses Rebus has been promoted, but his relationship with Gill has failed, she taking up with a DJ. A junky is killed and laid in a satanic pose leading Rebus into a dark underworld of crime, run by Hyde.

Both novels heavily reference Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a book that I have never read but certainly will try and pickup.

The action takes place in the 1980's so there are some weird anachronisms reading today. I couldn't help but think, how much mobiles phones have changed things so much. No more calling bars, and other places where someone might be. Or struggling for change at a payphone are a distant memory, the internet generation wont even know what it was like not to be constantly available.

Fight the power

I wrote before Christmas about my weird case of the water meter that wasn't there. After much convincing they had given me a month from which they worked out the average water usage and then backdated the payments. Today I received a revised statement, I am very happy with the result!

They calculated that over the last five years I have overpaid to the tune of £1,437. They are going to refund this to my water account. So no only has getting a water meter meant I save around £20 month on my payment but I am also getting a huge cheque back too. It's well needed after the Christmas excesses.

In other news I have been evaluating getting solar panels for the last couple of months. It might seem an odd idea living in the North West of England, however with the government subsidy the figures stack up well as a long term investment. If you are planning to stay put for at least 10 years and have a southerly aspect its really a no brainer (at least in financial terms, at lot of people argue the eco benefits but I was less concerned on that score). The cost is easily repaid by the governments feed in tariff over the lifetime 20 years. Unfortunately for me on balance the chance of staying put for 10 years seems unlikely at best. Therefore with a heavy heart my idea of self generated power goes on hold for now.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Hollow talk

Yesterday Jono came round for dinner, I made chilli. I got a text from Bruce who was in the Kings Hall with Nina, Philip and Caroline.

Bruce and Nina are jetting off to Mexico next week, by the sounds of it they are going to have an amazing time. Phil was telling me about the diving he did there, it sounded incredible.

We sat and chatted, bitcoin came up a lot, I think I have missed the boat but it we live in interesting times. I have decided to try and do a bit of mining. The window of opportunity is nearly closed but hopefully I can get in and mine something before it snaps shut.

I felt a little tired and was missing Kath a lot, but it was really nice to see everyone.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Honesty

There has been a lot in the media about the impending opening up of migration rules which would allow Bulgarian and Romanian citizens to freely move around the EU. Clearly as I am married to a Pole I have a certain bias. Indeed I think the migration Policy has been correct in terms of Europe. The UK economy has benefited from the influx of hardworking and cheap labour.

In Geography class they used to teach about push and pull factors in migration. When Poland joined the expanded EU in 2004, the UK had been very positive supporting Polish entry and not putting up barriers as some European countries had done. For Bulgaria and Romania the UK did put in restrictions, even going so far as to use negative adverts.

A lot of people think take issue with the sheer number of Polish people who came to the UK after the 2004 expansion of the EU. There was also a long history of Poles migrating to the UK. Not least after the settlement act following the second world war. Given The UK twice let down Poland, in World War 2, firstly by failing to do anything practically to stop the Soviet Union and Germany carving up Poland, then at the end of the war the Yalta treaty allowed the Soviet union to keep Poland under communist rule. Rather than delivering the free democratic state the exiled Polish government had hoped for.

One thing I haven't seen much of is the raw numbers. In terms of population Romania at 21 million and Bulgaria 7 million people. In 2004 Poland's population was approximately 38 million people. So even if the same proportion of Romanian and Bulgarians moved to the UK as did Poles, in terms of numbers there would be far less actual people. Thanks to the lower combined population.

Therefore in terms of simple push and pull there are less cultural ties between the UK Bulgaria and Romania less pull factors in terms of our failing economy, so right now I don't expect to see as many Romanian  shops as Polski Skleps.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Reflector

I received a letter in the week to inform me that the price of my Virgin Media services was going to increase by £4.50 per month. This is pretty annoying as I had renewed only last month after negotiating a discount.

Money Saving Expert had done a 50% discount on SKY for an entire year, this would have been significantly cheaper than Virgin  so I was all geared up to cancel the service. However Virgin offered a new deal including a price match. That was great until this price rise (which starts in February).

Fortunately Ofcom have recently decreed that price rises inside contracts represent  "materially detrimental" to customers.

This Guidance sets out that:
  • Ofcom is likely to regard any increase to the recurring monthly subscription charge in a fixed-term contract as ‘materially detrimental’ to consumers;
  • providers should therefore give consumers at least 30 days’ notice of any such price rise and allow them to exit their contract without penalty; and
  • any changes to contract terms, pricing or otherwise, must be communicated clearly and transparently to consumers.
Therefore I have 30 days to find a better offer, or suck up the price rise.


Saturday, November 09, 2013

Disappear here

I was awoken early this morning by an engineer from United Utilities. I had done a survey on their website after advice that I am spending too much on the water charge from the Coop bank. It appeared that having a meter could save me £150 per year, and given installation of the meter is free seemed like a good idea.

I called United Utilities last week and asked for an installation. They sent me a message saying that they would come and do a survey. The guy arrived at 9, and after checking outside comes back to inform me that I already have a water meter, and not just that the reading on the meter is pretty low. He installed a different meter apparently the new ones have some sort of circuity to allow easier reading.

The meter is sat out on the road next to the water stop tap I never lifted the cover as its not on my property. When I moved in they could have told me that I had a meter! Surely they should know what buildings have meters? I am going to write to United Utilities and see if I can get the meting backdated as the engineer helpfully gave me the reading and serial number.  The reading was pretty low so it helps justify getting a meter.

Sunday, November 03, 2013

Abduction

I have just finished reading a book Jono gave me called Abduction, by Mark Gimenez. It follows the abduction of a young girl. It was quite entertaining, especially the first section which focuses more on the effect of the abduction on the family and the response of the FBI. I must admit the larger plot and eventual ending was a bit much for me to stomach however the characters were very well drawn especially the mother Elizabeth and Vietnam veteran grandfather Ben.

Interesting to compare the drunk character in this to Jo Nesbo's Detective Harry Hole. Nesbos character seems more realistic, whereas Ben is an all American hero who cant stop drinking to save his marriage but suddenly stops to save his granddaugher. In the plot itself is somewhat better done than I lay out. The action plays out in an exciting and interesting way coupled with several story arcs to keep you entertained.

Indigenous Britons face a bleak future

According to this telegraph article British citizens have generally worse literacy and numeracy skills than immigrants. It appears that schools must be failing to instill the most basic skills. Odd given that A-Level and GCSE pass rates have risen for over a decade. What is really happening here, is the general population suffering from a lack of skills, or are people with the skills not applying for the jobs forcing employers to look abroad?

Mind Your Manners

Kath was over this weekend, she arrived Thursday evening, I picked her up from the airport after work. After a quick stop off at home to drop off Kath's bag, we headed out ont he train to Wilmslow. The aim was to catch the early evening buffet at the Samsi. We walked in on a Thursday night at 6.30pm. The restaurant was nearly empty when we entered but the waitress insisted on going through the rigmarole of checking how many reservations there were (I can tell you there weren't full up at 8.30pm when we left). Service was pretty good once we sat down though it was difficult to attract their attention. The banquet started with Miso soup, followed by a choice of 4 pieces chef's choice sushi, Gyoza, Karage Ginger and Garlic Fried Chicken or Vegetables tempura. I took the sushi and Kath took the Vegetable tempura, it was really good, the batter was light and crisp and the teryaki sauce was lovely. The main course was a choice of Chicken or vegetable yakisoba noodles, Yakitori grilled chicken skewers with rice, Pork Katsu curry with rice or Crispy chicken curry with rice. I had the chicken katsu curry and Kath ate the chicken skewers. Both were very nice, the skewers had a really nice flavour, while my chicken was succulent, the curry sauce was lovely not too spicy but flavoursome. Finally there was ice cream. The banquet was excellent value at £12.95 per person, the drinks were a little more expensive £5.50 for a can of Sapporo beer. After the meal we headed to the Bollin fee for a drink before catching the train home. It was ages since I was last in Wilmslow drinking, it used to be a regular thing but things change. On Friday Kath and I went to visit my aunt Jean*, unfortunately we managed to miss her. The chairs had been broken so we decided to take a trip to Ikea to look at tables. We wondered the huge expanse of furniture, trying to decide on things like all the other people on the Conveyor belt drifting from soft furnishings to kitchenware. In the end we bought a new table four chairs and after finding its impossible to get replacement parts from Ikea we bought a replacement shoe cupboard. Spending the rest of the afternoon putting everything together. Then I made a stir fry dinner to christen the table. Saturday we relaxed built the shoe rack (which oddly took longer than both the tables and chairs). I made dinner of tuna steak, using our new blender to whip up a fish sauce. The weather was cold and wet so we decided to mostly hide from the world and enjoy each others company. A lot of people ask what Kath and I are going to do when she is over, and often we do try and do special things together. Sometimes thought its just good to be with each other, I think a lot of people don't realise the value of spending time together, not just the special event time but the normal everyday time together. For Kath and I we spend most of our time apart so we miss those moments. Making dinner together, lounging on the couch watching TV these are precious times. *she isn't my actual aunt rather a close relative.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Lighting up my life

Just replaced the last of my compact florescent GU10 bulbs for Osram GU10 7 Watt LED GU10 Bulbs, so much better instant light and only 7 watts.

LED bulbs are so much better than halogen and compact florescent. They light up immediately, rather than slowly light up from a dull glow. They also last up to 15,000 hours whereas a standard halogen bulb has a lifespan of around 1,500 - 2,000 hours.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

The Girl Who Fell From The Sky

I spent most of the day reading The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Simon Mawer. I got the book free from WHSmiths as an O2 priority offer, and its sat on my side table for quite a while. I quite regret that now as it was an interesting read, following a women recruited into the Special Operations Executive her training and posting to France. Some of the scenes were a little clumsy bit it chipped along at a good pace and was pretty entertaining.

Other than that I finally completed all the main missions on Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox 360). Overall it took around 40 hours of playing, tohugh I did complete a lot of the side missions in the tat two. Not sure I have the patients to find all the letter pieces though.

I tried playing online but it wasn't much fun, out of passive mode your lifespan is short. No-one seems to want to play the missions, I tried to begin one and waited for 15 minutes without anyone joining. It was a great game though, I really cant believe how large and detailed that map is, its truly amazing.


Thursday, October 24, 2013

Facebook is a weird world

Readership of this blog has dramatically fallen off in recent times. Mostly that is down to my failure to publish, but also notably attributes to Facebook removing the ability to publish from bloggers RSS feed.

Increasingly I have been wondering what facebook is for. Everytime I go on my feed is full of narcissistic postings. I am as guilty as anyone for posting things that portray me in a good light, tha the point though itsnt it?

This weeks nes that Facebook allowed posting of videos showing someone being beheaded made me think what a strange digital world this has become. If a pervasive and agenda setting website like Facebook which blocks pictures of Women breast feeding but allows pictures of beheading. What is going on with our society if the perfectly normal is veiled but distressing and violent scenes are allowed?

You only need to see how many Facebook share buttons adorn the average news website to realize Facebook how incredibly important Facebook is in terms of promoting news stories.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

All abord the failboat

I saw this on Slashdot, its a report on the failure at Knight capital whom lost over $400 million after a glitch in their trading software.

I can't imagine how I would feel if I had worked on that! Its a typical developer error, a logic flaw introduced accidental, then not tested and put into the wild without peer review. Generally these are caused by oversight and sometime arrogance on the part of the developer, unfortunately god syndrome is quite prevalent amongst some developers especially in the high octane world of finance.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Police

I have just finished reading the latest book from Jo Nesbø, Police
. Its the eigths in the Harry Hole detective series. I think he is back to his best form. It reminded me of the Redbreast the third in the series, and probably the best of the lot. The book follows on from the events of the last book the Phantom which left on a cliff hanger with us not knowing whether Harry would make it. It takes about a third of the book before we find out what happened.
 
Like the other Nesbo books I have read the action clips along at a pace with plenty of Red Herrings and twists to the plot. I  could bearly put it down once I got into the story, overall a very good read.




Saturday, October 19, 2013

Wedding photos have arrived

We finally got the professional wedding photos back this week. The look really nice, Kath and I look really nice. Now we need to chose our favourite and make an album. I already have hundred of photos taken myself and given to me by others. Such amazing memories of our wedding, happy times.
Kasia and John by the fountain
Photo in Bialystok

Monday, October 14, 2013

Summertime sadness

Kath has been over this weekend. It's the first time since we returned from honeymoon in September. She arrived on Saturday and we spent the day relaxing and enjoying each others company. I made dinner of Higgidy Pie salad and wedges.

Sunday I booked us in to the Hilton Hotel for afternoon tea. The Hilton has a bar on the 23rd floor called Cloud 23 (see what they did there?). The view is pretty spectacular, we dined and enjoyed a cocktail overlooking the city, even saw a rainbow over the horizon.

Today we had a busy day. We are trying to integrate Kath into the UK signing her up for a bank account and to the local GP surgery. Getting a bank account involved a producing lots of different type of ID and answering what seemed like never ending questions including a full account of our major regular income and outgoings. We were also advised to go and get a will!

 The GP was slightly less difficult just a couple of forms and proving our address and photo ID.

After all the boring form signing it was a treat to go and see my relative Jeanie. Due to her health she hadn't been able come to the wedding, so she seemed really pleased to see the photos and see Kath and I. She was in good spirits talking about my cousins.

There seemed to be something slightly surreal about this weekend, the first of our normal married life. We had a really nice time just being together but always somewhere in the back of my mind that she is heading back to Poland on Tuesday. Hopefully in time it will become easier,  and eventually there wont be so many times apart.