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 »
R.I.P Verity Lambert
Doctor Who’s first producer dies (she also worked on Jonathan Creek and May to December, amongst many other things, as was the youngest (and first female) producer at the BBC).
posted by Paul at 11:15pm on Saturday 24th November 2007 | No Comments »
I am not a lecturer
As mentioned in the previous post, I finally got the results for my MA this week, so I am now unofficially an arts graduate (unofficially as I haven’t actually graduated yet). I’m not entirely sure what mark I got for my dissertation, I think Campus Solutions displayed 60% at one point, which is disappointing as I’d expected to do much better, and I only got a pass because of my Latin result, despite being on track for a merit overall. I’ve decided not to bother with graduation though, mainly because I object to paying an extortionate amount of money for a piece of black cloth to a monopoly supplier and the chance to listen to some pompous person from the higher echelons of the University talk about how well the institution which they contribute nothing to is doing. As well as that, most of the people on my MA can be split into three groups: people who I will see anyway, people who aren’t coming to graduation and people who I never really spoke to on the course anyway.
I also managed to get to the AHC-UK conference this weekend, despite Transport for London’s best attempts to stop me by closing the part of the Tube which I needed to use and just generally being incompetent (the escalators at Euston are still not fixed). I met lots of interesting people, made some useful contacts, and got mistaken for being a lecturer on several occasions—I have no idea why this keeps happening to me (dutyoffice in my department also thought that I was a research associate by now).
On the Friends of the Earth front, I was mocked mercilessly earlier this week when I had to admit that I had no idea who Damien Rice and Ash were. Apparently I have to go to the next James Blunt concert (where we will be trying to get people to sign postcards) in order to make me connect with ‘popular culture’—I feel like Ian Hislop!
PhD-wise, I’m not entirely sure how things are going, as my supervisor has been away for the last couple of weeks. I’ve more or less finished the mini literature review he left me to write, although I’m not entirely happy with it so I imagine the rest of today will be spent redrafting it.
Finally, I have brought Rogue Students back up, or at least the forums part. I have finally discovered how to stop automated registrations on phpBB (image verification doesn’t work as spammers figured out how to crack it ages ago), so the forums are once again manageable. Eventually I will write a proper system for the site as I have a number of plans for it, but I think that will have to wait until the Christmas vacation now.
posted by Paul at 5:04pm on Sunday 18th November 2007 | 1 Comment »
Master of Arts
According to Campus Solutions, I am now ‘Paul Waring BSc (Hons) MA MIET MBCS’. Woo!
posted by Paul at 12:28am on Thursday 15th November 2007 | 5 Comments »
Dustiness
Research topic
After the confusion caused by last week’s meeting with my advisor, I didn’t really know where I was going with my research. Thankfully though, this week my two supervisors confirmed that what I had originally been thinking (i.e. detecting and linking events on the web, broadly speaking) was the right path to be heading down, so I am much happier about the direction of my research than I was this time last week. Alas, I’m tied up in a compulsory seminar series (which I have to write about so there is no escape, and no lunch is provided! grr) for three days this week, so the prospect of getting much research done is greatly diminished.
Stardust
A few of the old guard of the Megalomaniacs went to see Stardust on Wednesday. I’m not entirely sure what the plot of this film is, it’s as if someone has taken bits of generic fairy tales and combined them into one storyline. The rating (PG) was a bit odd too, given the amount of (often extremely obvious) sexual innuendo (described as ‘risque humor’ by IMDB). The whole thing reminded me of Robin Hood: Men in Tights, with dozens of cameos from famous people, many of whom had featured in Men in Tights. Overall though it was an extremely funny, if somewhat confusing, movie and definitely worth going to see.
Freelance work
I’m still getting offers of freelance work, probably about one enquiry every fortnight as a result of people finding my CV (which I need to update at some point) on my website. I’m being ultra-careful this year not to take too much on, but so far the work has just involved small amounts of website maintenance and the odd bit of consultancy, which is a good balance between staying grounded in academia whilst keeping a foot in the real world for when (if?) I eventually return to it. I don’t really have time to sort out my company at the moment though, so I will probably switch it to dormancy status until I need it.
Anyway, I still have a few things to get done tonight, so I should probably re-attach myself to the grindstone…
posted by Paul at 10:18pm on Sunday 28th October 2007 | 4 Comments »