R.I.P. Arthur C Clarke
Writer Arthur C Clarke dies at 90
To my eternal shame, I have never read any of his books or seen 2001: A Space Odyssey. I shall have to rectify that at some point in the near future.
posted by Paul at 10:23pm on Wednesday 19th March 2008 | 2 Comments »
Darling the Killjoy
4p on a pint of beer, 14p on a bottle of wine and 55p on a bottle of spirits.
posted by Paul at 6:18pm on Wednesday 12th March 2008 | 1 Comment »
Just to prove that I’m still alive…
…because sometimes people think that I’m not if I don’t blog, appear on MSN or update my status for over a month, here is a brief update on what I’ve been up to as of late.
Friends of the Earth stuff is still taking up large chunks of my spare time, but I’m enjoying it and this seems to be my main social group at the moment too. I’m also not sure what’s happened recently, but all of a sudden national Friends of the Earth has started asking my opinion about things, which is cool—I think this means I’ve now been around long enough that people actually know who I am.
In terms of my PhD, things seem to be going quite well. My literature review is coming together, which means that I won’t have to write my entire transfer report at the last minute as this will form a part of it. My supervisor also commented that my writing is far better than what he usually sees at this stage, which I think is largely thanks to my MA. In fact, I think my Masters degree was far more useful in general than my undergraduate course, as the latter taught me things which I already knew or could find in a textbook, rather than teaching me how to think for myself.
I also got bored of wearing black all the time and being mistaken for various combinations of goth, assassin, hacker and bouncer, so I switched to some more colourful shirts from M&S about a week ago. This resulted in my supervisor nearly having a heart attack every day for a week, and he now believes that a woman is behind the change—i.e. that I’ve suddenly got a girlfriend. Alas, that’s not the case, although I did get several compliments on how I looked so it’s not too bad. 
Finally, I’m looking forward to the UKUUG Spring 2008 conference, where I will be in attendance as a Council member and perhaps chairing a session. Oh, and you should all go and listen to Jennie sing and read poetry, and particularly check out the amusing logo next to ‘My Conservative Friend’. 
posted by Paul at 11:22pm on Saturday 8th March 2008 | 2 Comments »
The Internet party
What Happens When Google’s Parents Leave Town for the Weekend? (via Jon)
Absolutely hilarious, if you’re geeky enough to understand all the references to the sites mentioned in the clip.
posted by Paul at 3:58pm on Thursday 17th January 2008 | 2 Comments »
Damn. Double Damn. Triple Damn.
I have just come across Finding and linking incidents in news, which appears to be a published paper on more or less exactly the topic that I’ve been working on for the last three months. Given that I have to make an original contribution to research in order to get a PhD, this really stuffs things up for me. 
posted by Paul at 5:17pm on Friday 4th January 2008 | No Comments »
New Year’s resolutions
I think these probably count more as spring cleaning exercises than resolutions in most cases, but they are things which I definitely need to do this year.
- Pass my transfer report: Some time in September/October (which isn’t that far off really), I have to justify myself to two examiners in my department in order to transfer from the first year of my MPhil to the second year of my PhD. If I can’t convince them, I’ll have wasted a year in academia without getting a qualification, which will be disappointing to say the least, and I’m not entirely confident about it at the moment.
- Don’t buy any more domains: I own far too many already, and am letting lots of old ones expire until I have a small enough number to develop.
- Cancel magazine subscriptions which I don’t read: There are several magazines which I’m subscribed to but never get round to reading, and therefore should be cut. I’ve already started on this, but should probably be a bit more ruthless than I have been so far.
- Get the Warped Library off my hands: I failed miserably to do this last year, but I need to get shut of this mound of books for a society which I’m not really that involved with any more.
- Reduce workload where possible: In other words, don’t volunteer for any more committee positions or take on too much freelance work.
- Keep blogs up to date: I let Data Circle and Politics Watch go quiet from July onwards, but this year I’d like to keep them up to date with at least one post a week each.
- Work on one site at a time: I’ve got a huge list of site ideas in a folder which just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and consequently I’ve never actually got round to turning most of them into reality. Working on one idea at a time and not thinking about the next until the current one is ready to be released is something I need to concentrate on this year.
There are a few other things as well, plus some financial goals, but I think that will do for the time being.
posted by Paul at 9:48pm on Thursday 3rd January 2008 | No Comments »
Responsible behaviour
The latest xkcd (work safe) cracked me up this morning when I saw it in my feed reader (edited so that it will fit into my blog – horizontally it’s too long otherwise).
N.B. For non-geeks, signing a public key of someone you don’t know is probably worse than sleeping with them, as everyone can tell that you did it
posted by Paul at 11:38am on Monday 31st December 2007 | 6 Comments »
Voyage of the Damned
Or Robots of Death II, as so many of the plot elements seem to have been taken from this Tom Baker classic story. Still, it was an entertaining watch, with the usual Doctor Who magic, plenty of cultural references and satire. Kylie was much better than expected, much better than her appearance in Street Fighter. Numerous other famous people made cameo appearances too, which shows that Doctor Who is still as on form as it used to be.
Looking forward to the new series, the trailers even make Catherine Tate appear bearable, though I’m reserving judgement on that for the time being.
posted by Paul at 2:40pm on Thursday 27th December 2007 | 1 Comment »
Review of the year
Have done this for the last three years, so here I go again…
Best bands seen:
Haven’t seen any, though I was mercilessly mocked for not knowing who Ash and Damien Rice were (or indeed James Blunt, but people were more of the opinion that this was a good thing).
Worst bands:
As above.
Exotic towns/cities visited:
I haven’t been anywhere special this year, though Oxford was lovely (albeit a bit small and quiet) as always.
Girls I fancied but failed to get anywhere with:
None, which is a bit odd given previous answers to this question.
Girls I fancied and did get with:
None.
Great gigs this year:
Haven’t been to any, should really make an attempt to do so in 2008.
Mad Stuff done in 2007 that if you’d told me I was going to do last year I’d have laughed at you:
- Gone back to Computer Science to start a PhD.
- Being elected onto the council of UKUUG.
What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
I’d like to own (or be paying a mortgage on) my flat rather than renting it, as at the moment I’m paying £500/month and not building up any capital to show for it. I doubt this is going to happen though.
What dates/events from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory?
- Having someone actively avoid me because they thought I was a nightclub bouncer.
- Getting the offer letter for my PhD whilst I was in the middle of telling people how much job hunting sucks.
- Being told that I was “the next John Latham” (a lecturer in my department who runs the first year labs).
- Hearing that some of my colleagues thought I was a goth(!).
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Graduating with a MA in Ancient World Studies, and getting a funded PhD in Computer Science.
What was your biggest failure?
Not doing a little bit better in Latin in order to get a merit overall in my MA.
Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
The senior management of the University of Manchester, who seem to think that making budget cuts of 20-25% in core services (without consultation with students) is a sensible way to get themselves out of the financial hole created by a vast and unaffordable programme of capital expenditure.
Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier in some ways (PhD, lots of new prospects, better off, lovely new flat etc.) and sadder in others (lots of friends I have lost contact with/don’t see anymore), probably happier overall though.
ii. thinner or fatter? about the same, my weight rarely changes by more than half a stone either way.
iii. richer or poorer? significantly better off, thanks to the EPSRC, some good financial management and investments which paid off.
What do you wish you’d done more of?
I wish I’d had the time to go to more comedy stuff in Manchester (I’ve completely stopped doing this due to lack of time) and go on holiday.
What do you wish you’d done less of?
There’s nothing I regret having done too much of, but not working quite as hard might have been a good idea.
Did you fall in love in 2007?
I don’t think there’s anyone for me to fall in love with…
How many one night stands in this last year?
Zero.
What were your favourite TV programmes?
The only things I really watch are Doctor Who, QI, Have I Got News For You, the Money Programme and Working Lunch (and Top Gear when I remember that it’s on), so I guess those are my favourites by default.
What were the best books you read?
I enjoyed Northern Lights, couldn’t put down Imperium, and Rogue Trader gave me an interesting insight into the collapse of Baring’s Bank.
What were your favourite films of this year?
Stardust made me laugh the most, all of the other films I saw were either extremely disappointing (I’m thinking particularly of The Golden Compass here) or just not particularly good or bad.
What did you do on your birthday?
I don’t think I did anything at all this year, I’m not really one for making much of a fuss.
Who were the best new people you met?
All my colleagues in IMG, particularly at coffee.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007?
Just because someone has been published and/or has lots of letters after their name, it doesn’t automatically mean that they have any idea what they are talking about.
Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
“I don’t know where I’m going
But I sure know where I’ve been”
(first two lines of Here I Go Again by Whitesnake)
General thoughts on 2007:
Totally crazy, most manic year yet.
posted by Paul at 10:46pm on Saturday 22nd December 2007 | No Comments »
Busy
Ack, it’s been almost a month since I last posted a proper update. I’m so busy at the moment (even more so than usual, if that’s possible), think I may well have taken on slightly too much this year and should probably drop some of my responsibilities, though I’m not sure that I can do that easily. Still, I seem to be managing to juggle a PhD with being a coordinator at Manchester FoE, running my own business and being a part-time teaching assistant, as well as all the other things I do. I’m quite pleased with how well some of my sites are doing too, I think if I can get a few more small niche sites online I’ll get a reasonable regular income with little effort which can I put towards buying a house (ideally I’d like to be in a position to do this once I finish my PhD, though that’s probably a bit optimistic).
Thankfully it’s the last week of term now, so I’ll be able to relax (as much as I ever do anyway) towards the end of the week, and my todo list is finally starting to clear, though I have lots of things to do over Christmas, including five reports/articles to write. Not sure what I’m doing for new year yet, though it will probably be spent with the Megs. For now though it’s back to the grindstone, no rest for the wicked…
posted by Paul at 11:54pm on Thursday 20th December 2007 | No Comments »