Is It Working Yet

Debt

2005-07-25T15:02:00.000+01:00

Just added up all my debt that i owe from my studys, ive calculated two costs one being personal debt and the other being study debt. Study debt is the big one being all my student loan fees, this is 11k or their abouts, im planning on saving 100 a month on top of payments and making a bulk payment each year. Im not bothered about this debt because like my dad said its a loan to pay for your future earning.

Personal debt aint that bad, this is my overdraft and creadit card bill. Notice bill not bills as i learnt my lesson on these bastards. I have £1867 on my credit card from 5 years of study, this aint bad as a lot of that was my holiday to America. Planning on paying 100 off a month on that as well. Ive spoken to a few friends who graduated with 3-4x that and huge overdrafts i have a £250 overdraft that is clear atm so i must be on the right track.

Anyway i really should be doing some work not thinking about what i owe to the banks :(

Another Quiz

2005-07-19T10:56:00.000+01:00

Which Family Guy character are you?

Peter Griffin

You get yourself into a lot of trouble due to your slow and braindead thinking. The stupid things you do are usually totally on whim. You have learned a couple things but you end up loosing those things by next time. On the plus side, however, The Fonz is your guiding spirit.

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Updating

2005-07-14T15:44:00.000+01:00

Been a weird and super busy week. Mondya was th ebig day when i finally finished uni for good, i had my graduation ceremony, was super hot and felt like a tit wearing the gown and hat and everything. Went for a meal wiht my fmaily afterwards then blew them off and hit the tow big time, looking back this was not the greatest of ideas as i had to be in work early for a meeting i got in on time, but felt like absolute shit.

Struggled through Tuesday to find out on my way home that Kellie was going to Liverpool to her friends for the night. Now we had abit of a barney the night before because she said she was hungry and only wanted chips (fries) now we walked past a Tesco i told her to get a sandwich later on she was moaning and moaning and it really pissed me off and i let her know about it then she did what all women do and made me feel guily for wanting to try and enjoy a night out with people i doubt i will see again. Am i wrong for getting pissed off with her moaning.

Yesterday was pretty uneventful but doid some good code at work and people were impressed with the speed im picking up and doing the project work, to be honest nothing to troubling or tasking has presented itself yet, but hopefully it will. I rushed home and had to go to my parents to pick up some mail, then had to go to my grandads to fix his broken tv. Now i say broken but what really was up is that channel 3 had become detuned. Simple 2 minute job and it was sorted now i can let this slide with my grandad hes 72 but my uncles and cousins had been round and not evben worked out how to tune in a channel, lazy bastards.

Today, well not done muych at work if im honest, had a meeting about how to intergrate my interfaces with the rest of the project and thats about it apart from writing this :D

FInshed work for the week now fish

2005-07-08T16:52:00.000+01:00

So finished my first full time week. Was fun and slow, today was good wrote a litltle java package for getting a excel file and exporting it to antoher system for pricing. Apart from that its been meeting meeting and a little bit of greeting.

Mates have all gone fishing for the weekend i cant go tonight as its kellies birthday and i dont think she would be impressed with me pissing off fishing on her birthday. So mates coming back for me at 7am tomorrow monring should be a good laugh, come back sunday afternoon then monday i have my graduation ceremony, so the next post will be after then, ill hopefully be bale to post some pics form my digital camera.

Work Work Work

2005-07-05T11:30:00.000+01:00

Ive finally started my full time non-contracting job, having fun, not doing much as have to meet all the different departments over the next couple of weeks. Messed with some JSP whihc i havent done for over 2 years it all came back to me fine. Apart from that and being told their going to take us away for a couple of days in august ona piss up nothing much has happened.

Ohh and on another note ive now spotted two semi famous people who live in my apartment block. Ian the gay lad in Shameless and the lesbian daughter from 'At home with the braithwaites'. Hmmmm i see a theme developing here.

US Goverment = Power Hungry Pigs

2005-07-01T14:00:00.000+01:00

"The United States Government intends to preserve the security and stability of the Internet’s Domain Name and Addressing System (DNS). Given the Internet's importance to the world’s economy, it is essential that the underlying DNS of the Internet remain stable and secure. As such, the United States is committed to taking no action that would have the potential to adversely impact the effective and efficient operation of the DNS and will therefore maintain its historic role in authorising changes or modifications to the authoritative root zone file,"

So they wont release the root DNS servers which control the internet naming service to a centrally controlled world body ie the UN. Why because why should they, they are america, they are big and strong and dont ant to share their toys. They need to accept that the Internet is a global thing, fair enough it was the US who invented ARPANET but its no longer just that, thanks to the man of the centry tim burners lee :D

Just a little rant while im sat at my desk for the last time here at contract work place. Think ill play some poker now :D

Its all offical

2005-06-28T15:26:00.000+01:00

So its all offical, i got my results breakdown and notification of classification today from university, i have now finihsed uni with a 1st Class Honours degree in BSc (Hons) Computing. All over or is it, im currently sat writing the skeleton of a conference paper. Will be submitting if accepted i am considering doing a MSc next year part time as long as i can find a research based one and who knows after that may do a part time PHd, if one exists :D

On another note, ive finally moved into my apartment not the original one a new one, living room is a lot smaller but the huge balcony the stretches over the two rooms and living room more than makes up for it, seeing as we have nice weather, ill see how i feel about when its raining or freezing in winter.

First night their last night, it was fully furnished but will be ripping the duvet and pillows off tonight and putting my stuff on the bed. Lets just say the pillows were like sleeping on tow big pieces of cotton candy. I like my 8yr old feather pillow which i take on holiday with all the time. People laughed at amsterdam on the coach but they were not laughing when it was all comfy and asleep and they were contorted.

Anyway im in work, n ot doing the work i should be doing and getting paid, so i best get back to it.

Long Time, No Speak !!!

2005-06-25T02:02:00.000+01:00

Hello,

So its been a long time since i posted, a lot has happened some good some bad,. Where to start? Well my original fla tall fell through, found a new one but its been one hell of a ball ache getting it sorted. Apparently ive been missing since December 2004 - March 2005. Basically i didnt vote at the election and was not on the electoroal role. I was ment to move in tomorrow (read today). So im moving in monday now as long i can prove i have not been homeless for 5 months :D

Ok what else, well today i found out i gained a First Class Honours Degree from uni, so im tpying this kinda pissed. Yay.

Ive been working my ass of contracting for the last month hence the lack of posts. Been fun but glad its coming to an end. Start my new proper graduate job week monday looking forward to the money.

Anyway i think its time i hit the sack ive got to go and do shopping tomorrow and ge a bank statement to prove i am not a missing person.

Thanks
Ben

2005-06-03T17:09:00.000+01:00

Might be buying this.

Damn ive been busy.....

2005-06-02T19:06:00.000+01:00

So been trying to update since last friday. Been flat viewing as flat fell through, been to Royal Leamington Spa, Started full time contract work, snooker and lots of beer to wash it all down. GOing to see sin city tonight will post something about it as been looking forward to it. Surprise Surprise interuppted tea time :D

I Feel Like Im Retired

2005-05-26T12:04:00.000+01:00

So im sta here with nothing to do, well thats a lie being the family and friend pc doctor who works for free, ive taken on my mates sisters laptop, its riddled with virus's, adware and spyware, found 398 virus's on the scan upto now, and according to Norten which she had installed their were none :D.

Ive been waking up at like 10am which im happy with as ive been use to 7am for the last 2 months of working on revision time. When i do get up im all right for the first hour or so, then i get so bored. The solution to this for the last three days has been, to goto the pub and play some snooker or pool for the afternoon, then come home and smoke some nice stuff.

Ahhh well best enjoy it because have three weeks of full time contract working starting next week. Got to save save save for my new flat as im moving in in like 3 weeks, got to go down for one last look on saturday to decide if we defo want it.

Just A Quickie

2005-05-21T01:49:00.000+01:00

Finished Uni Exams - Yay!!!!!
Got Very Drunk - Yay!!!!

Had Nandos for tea - Yay!!!!

Saw Episode 3 it blew chunks, was one of the biggest disapointments ever - Boo!!!!

Bed - Thank God !!!!!!!!!

Photo Friday - Early

2005-05-19T09:57:00.000+01:00

Im having to do this day early because of the fact that tomorrow i have my very last final thats it, its over exam for uni. Going straight out and getting pissed, then Starwars at 9:30pm so what a way to end it all. Anyway pictures from the New Years trip to Amsterdam we all took. This is what 4 days in Amsterdam does to your head.

Amsterdam Madness On New Years Day

I Can See A Light At The End Of The Tunnel

2005-05-17T12:27:00.000+01:00

God everything hurts at the moment, my finger has a big blister on it from writing revision nots for like a week. I hold my pen funny and it cause pain after a while. My head hurts because im not sleeping too well atm, with stress from uni and parents are pissing me off. I thought i would post because im waiting for kellie to come round so we can have dinnner together as i have one break of 45 minutes from revision today. I wont see her till after weekend now, because i have an exam tomorrow and have to jump straight back into super cram mode for my friday exam, i know ive done the best revision ive ever done in my educational life, but i still feel greatly underprepared for these two exams.

Well its all over at 12:30pm on friday then im going straight to the pub for a well deserved drink till around 9pm. THen ill be making my eay to the cineam to see Episode 3, coming home sleeping. Then up and going on a stag do all weekend, then its my birthday on Monday, so i suppose its quite a good way to finish life at uni. In the way i started it, a 4 day bender.

Any she has just arrived food time :D

Photo Friday

2005-05-13T13:04:00.000+01:00

Ok as im super busy and will be for at least the next month what with exams, then picking up a load of contract work to make some money and improve my portfolio, i have decided to try and post as much as possible but for today as im deep in revision and havent posted that much recently i decided to post a picture. This was taken on the Jaws ride at Universal Studios Florida in Novemeber 2003, the last time i went on a proper holiday, i dont count Amsterdam at new years. God i need a holiday, maybe America again if Kellie goes NY for four months to study.

Jaws - Universal Studios 2003

Mass Update

2005-05-10T20:36:00.000+01:00

Ok one big huge update as a lot has gone on and will go on over next week and dont have time to regualr posts. Firstly my contract came for my job after uni. I wont be starting till the beginnning of July which is a bit of a ball ache as was hoping to start striaght away, i want money. I cant start because my boss is on holiday for the last two weeks of july and want to be their when i start which i suppose is a good thing.

So i had my Enterprise Programming exam, wasnt sur ehow well i did. When i was in the exam i was ripping my hair out thinking am i doing this right. After going over some of the stuff i wrote after exam it would appear i was bang on with most of it so i hope i didnt mess it up.

Now been revising for my final two exams which are on a week Wednesday and week Friday. I figure got to do well in one and can get away with a average mark for the other. Going with Advanced Multimedia Design for the better mark, its just a matter of learning everything because quite frankly the level of teaching on that module was appaling. I dont think they could teach some small children how to do basic stuff never mind get across the principals of advance 3D modelling techniques. Think emails from the lecturer saying stuff like 'thats past my knowledge of the subject' worries we quite a lot. Especially when the thing i am talking about is one of the two basic 2D texture mapping approaches. Ahh well just got to crakc on, looking at all dayers for next couple of days to allow for some revision for the other one.

Ok and finally ive decided to move into Manchester city center for when i start my new job, at the moment i would have to get the bus and then the train to get their. This means leaving around 6:50-7:00am at the latest each day and hoping the bus turns up. If i move into town i can simply jump on the train at most of the major station after 8am and be their for around 8:45am. This is ideal for me. I cant afford to move in on my own as Kellie cannot afford to move in as shes saving to study in New York for 4 months. This leaves me moving in with my mate Dunc. It will be cool proper bachelor pad. Anyway we went looking and we have settled on a flat, just trying to sort out money, may have to put it off till mid June move in. Anyway brand new building so lots of aprtments to rent the one we went to see can be seen below:

Kitchen

Living Room

Anyway i think it looks nice and is within my budget just hope my wage goes up over the first 6 months which they said it should. Anyway got to get back to revising now and look at particle and fractal modelling.

Spank Me.... Damn Ment Spam

2005-05-04T17:37:00.000+01:00

Final Spam Graph April 05

Well the months over and all spam has been collected and counted. 3439 pieces of spam were recieved by myself. Still havent got time to look at it all and break it down into subject matter. I wonder if their is any kind of come back to my ISP about this as they took over the email account originally setup. Who knows. Ill carry on collecting and counting.

My Sister The Second Coming ?????

2005-05-03T22:08:00.000+01:00

I dont know if i have mentioned this but for the last two years of uni and my agult life (16+) i have lived at home. This was a nice arangement at first as it allowed for zero rent and free food. I didnt get in my parents way they didnt get in mine we coesited in perfect harmony. That was until about 3 months ago.

My sister is an English teacher and as such has come to the conclusion that it is her duty to inform everyone how they should live their lives and how she is the perfect role model for society. Why else would she be in the position of teaching our future leaders. Thats her opinion ad being a teahcer and hence infalible it must be correct.

So she moved back home to save money to buy a house. And this is where the remodelling of the house natural ecosystem began. First it was little things like the volume of my tv at night (i work late sometimes till 3am). Next it was the availble food, we cant have what she refers to as crap as we need space for her stuff like 16 tons of fruit which goes off and never gets eaten. She likes to think she is a super healty eater, so what if she is, it dosent mean i am.

Now here is the problem its the parasitic way in which she has invaded my life. Ill give her credit she has done it in a way that Sun Tzu would have been prud of. She corrupted the ultimate power in the household, my mum. She got her on the healthy eating plan so now if i ask for something like a bottle of coke i get the huge lecture about how its not good for me and im killing myself.

So now she has corrupte my mum and bent her to her will, she is viewed as the messiah of the house and can not put a foot wrong, her views must be adhered to. I am no longer to have an opinon on anything of importance. The issue of asylum seekers being the main area which is now become silenced. Its not politically correct my opinion or so i am told so is theirfore wrong and unjust.

Well anyway i shal be leaving thsi shrine to my sister as soon as possible. To quote my friend 'like shit off a highly polished shovel' is the speed i am looking at moving out. Got some cash stashed and some contract money on the way so hopefully will be moving out weekend after exams which should fall on 23rd may, my borthday!

Anyway moan over.

Stressed

2005-05-02T20:21:00.000+01:00

Ok so im super stressed now. Been a while since i posted lots has happened. Firstly had my first of four final exams. It went quite well. Maybe dropped a little collock on one of tehge questions but the others went well. Ok thats that.

Ok now ive got my Enterprise Programming exam on friday cracking the books a little today, not as much as i would have like, but cant get in the mood, so sat watching the contender. Ill be in panic mode tomorrow which is good for me as i seem to absorb a lot of info when panicking for some reason

Finally i went for a second interview a couple of weeks ago for a C++ programming job. I basically have no experience in this language but i went along, had to give a 15 minute presentation and do some exam. I got a phone call explaning that i didnt get the job in C++ but they offered me a JAVA job so looks like ill be finishing uni and going straight into work.

I WILL BE A WORKING MAN.

The Scene

2005-04-25T17:10:00.000+01:00

©TheScene

So ive been watching a new type of TV show, one that i dont have to fear the **AA knocking on my door for grabing off the net. The Scene is a tv show which is distributed through all of the popular P2P networks such as eMule and Bittorrent. THe show revolves around 'The Scene' which for those who dont know is where all of the major film, music and TV show which are availble on P2P come from and is run by groups which compete for basically bragging rights.

The way this is released is a new format to me, with viewers simply downloading the new episode when its reelased. This shows another major legitimate use for P2P which the major record labels and movie studios seem to think dont exist.

I sent the shows producer an email asking some questions and he was kind enough to reply to in a very fast manner :D

Q: How did you come up with the idea for the project?

A: We've felt for a long time that the scene was fascinating subject
matter. The idea for the show came from a desire to do something new
and different in a format that no one had seen before.

Q: How much research into the scene took place?

A: Members of our company have been part of the scene for many years.

Q: Where was this research gathered form (Groups, members)?

A: It wasn't so much research in the formal sense as it was being a part
of the community and learning the ins and outs of it.

Q: How many downloads do you think have taken place?

A: Each episode is being downloaded hundreds of thousands of times in
over 70 countries around the world!

Q: Where do you see the project going?

A: From a creative standpoint, we'd like to let the story and the
characters continue to evolve on their own. From a business
standpoint, we're actively discussing the show with corporate
sponsors, and we hope to use it as a template for creating other
series in the future.

Q: How many episodes do you plan to do?

A: We haven't put a cap on it as of yet. We plan on creating new episodes
as long as people continue to enjoy them!

So it seems that the show has taken off quite a bit. I for one will be eagly awaiting the new episodes to come, i wont ruin it for anyone who hasnt seen it but it s got a really good twist in it. Thanks go out for the interview.

Bordem

2005-04-24T21:26:00.000+01:00

Well today was such a nice day, nut i wouldnt know being trapped in the revision prison all day. Was looking forward to the exam but as it gets closer the more worried i become about thing i may have forgoten. Never mind. Nothing on tv, coffee is wearing off and tiredness creeps in slowly. Think i may start Dan Brown 'The Da Vinci Code'but cant see me getting much read with these heavy eyes.

New Xbox 360?

2005-04-23T10:19:00.000+01:00

The New Xbox?

Well no one is sure if its genuine yet, but it apparently meets all the leaked specs upto now. Lack of control ports but a io on the left inidicates wireless controllers. These babys come out the end of the year, i hope that its a worldwde release or if im working (Fingers Crossed) and thats the US release i may be tempted to import one. Anyway back to revision first final is tuesday.

Change Of Plans

2005-04-19T17:44:00.000+01:00

After talking to a few people they raised that for a better picture of my spam i should run it over a month and see what the results are like. At the moment i was running 18:00 -> 17:59 which dosent amke any sense really. God knows why i was doing that, so i started to sort my mail out by day for this month and came up with the following graph of Aprils spam activitys i will need to keep back tracking and sorting mail out, hopefully get another month done this week at some point. Heres the picture upto now:

April Spam Traffic Per Day Up To Now

Ok if anyone knows of any software where you can search for keywords in microsoft outlook/express mbx mail files and do some analysis would be interested in hearing from you.

Are tuesdays the worse day

2005-04-19T14:18:00.000+01:00

Im thinking that tuesdays are the worse day, and have come up with a couple of arguments for the case:

At least on a mondya you think the week might get better, but by tuesday you realise that it wont.

The tv is crap on a tuesday this is just a fact, there is nothing on.

Anyone else think that tuessdays are the worse day. Im not a monday fan but the hope that it will be a good week is always there on a monday as stated above you just realise that its not going to get better, you going to be doing the smae old stuff and moaing about it. Anyway took another of those test today on my 1/2 hour off from revising:

:: how jedi are you? ::

Revision And A Little Spam update.

2005-04-17T22:34:00.000+01:00

Well last night was my last night out for the next month as i have my final exams and cant afford to be on the piss all the time. Shame because i have been doing quite a lot of drinking again latly and have started to enjoy it again. Wonder if thats a bad thing. Spent all day revising for my first exam which is a week on Tuesday. Not worried about this exam as i ended up with 84% on my assignment which is 24.9% of total module mark going into the exam.

Revised all the OLAP database stuff today for it and must say a lot of stuff i didnt pay attention to made sense first time and examples we were given were worked through then compared to the answer. Did well say hovering above the 80% mark, just hope can maintain that in the exam.

Anyway on the spam front it would appear that Sundays are busier than Saturdays on the spam front. Tomorrow ill find out about my prediction tomorrow. Only got 13 in last 5 hours so, not as busy as yesterday. Here is the update graph.

Todays Update

Spam Me Project - Update

2005-04-16T14:43:00.001+01:00

Ok so ive collected data for the last two days now and processed it through some PHP scripts to get a accurate view.

Current Overall Level

This is kinda useless thinking about it as it purley shows the level of spam rising this should be better in the weeks and months to come, i will not update this one now till the end of the month. Below is better:

Amount Of Spam Per Day

Here we see that the level of spam has shot up from friday, is this because spammers are busier on the weekends, who knows but time will tell.

Spam Me More

2005-04-15T11:33:00.000+01:00

So ive been reading a lot about spam. So i though i would share my spam experience with you. I setup my first email account back in 1997-1998 with Lineone.net as they offered free pop3 at the time. Shortly after i moved to a hotmail acocunt. I decided to use my Lineone account for anything that needed a email for signup. Well i think this account has come of age. See below:

All That Spam

Here you can see the deleted items of my outlook express (dont ask why i use it). You can see the 15000+ items of mail. Not one single item in that folder isnt spam, and here is the killer thats all from this year. I usually delete around every 1000 but i have decided to leave it and start to map the average amount of spam per day, week, month over the coming year. Yes i am bored

Another Interview

2005-04-14T21:33:00.000+01:00

So had another interview this morning was kinda informal, but went extremly well. I was asked back for a second interview next Thursday. The job was for C++ i thought it was JAVA but that job is on hold i literally have the first 6 hours of Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 24hrs experience, but the guy was enthusiastic about my ability to learn the language coming from a JAVA background so, maybe i can.

Busy Bumble Bees

2005-04-13T23:09:00.000+01:00

Ive been super busy since weekend and my attempts at messing with google maps, i found a nice mySQL table with all the GPS coordinates i needed, but got some strange results still, made a good start on the PHP code but not finished and it wont be now till June after my exams.

Did some revision for exams, looking forward to one for the first time in my life. Today i picked up my dissertation/project/thesis or what ever you want to call it. I was well impressed so happy with the finished product, if i get a chance will take some pictures as it is, its sat on my bed.

Help Needed

2005-04-10T04:51:00.000+01:00

I need a list of the GPS coordinates of every state capital in the USA. If you can help you will be fully credited in my work to combine google news and google maps.

Google Maps Are Fun

2005-04-09T17:54:00.000+01:00

So ive had a really, well one couild say unproductive day. Ive been looking at stuff all day and stumbled across articles on google maps. So i went off in quest of futher articles on how to hack the google map system and inject your own code into it as it runs on a XML backend making it easy to format your own google map data.

I needed some GPS coords for something had to be in america so i just thought of 5th Avenue and found some GPS lonigtude and Latitude coordinates. Pumped them into the XML and sent it off to google using rancidbacons Python script (Rancid Bacon)

This allowed me to come up with this result also shown below.

My go at custom map

So it looked good but then i saw my coordinates are off. So then went off on some more mad ideas about how i could do this myself. Rancid bacon offers the script in Python so im going to have a look at it and see if i can convert it to PHP, as this is the language of my choice.

From their who knows, ive seen google news map and thought it was great idea, but what about wiping the news and pumping it out to the google map interface instead of the static image. I dont think this ouwl be too much problem just a matter of writing some PHP to wipe the news find state names at first (Google maps is only in US atm). These state names could be stored in a DB with corresponding coordinates. Then pump the coordinates and news out to a XML file for google maps to use.

Anyway have to get ready as im off on a stag night.

So true...

2005-04-07T18:09:00.000+01:00

So ive been looking through bash.org after handing in me project for binding and i found some quotes that are funny yet very true.

drealoth: one of the differences between a geek and a normal person is that, when a warrenty ends, a normal person is worried that it might break
drealoth: the geek, on the other hand, is like 'hey, I can take it apart now.' (bash.org)

Ender: I made a goal once. That goal was to have one goal. I find I have always meet my goal. (bash.org)

cheetah: heh, military ads usually suck, but this navy ad had a good line ... "rocket science is more fun when you actually have rockets" (bash.org)

Just thought i would share some as most people dont know the little hidden treasure that is bash.org. And for those that dont get it, its a site with quotes taken from irc chat rooms.

Power To The People

2005-04-06T23:43:00.000+01:00

Denver (MD) – In a desperate move to get Web site publishers across the world to better adhere to Web technology standards, fans and supporters of the ATTAFTDODTDA launched protests and attacks against furniture stores throughout the Midwest. Protests included picketing outside several furniture stores, denouncing tables.

“Cascading style sheets are the future of the world! Whether its tables on the Internet or tables in your home, we must rid the world of tables!” says Ken McDormand, spokesman for the ATTAFTDODTDA, the Anti-Tables Tables Are For Tabluar Data Only Die Tables Die Association.

When approached about the misspelling of the word tabular, McDormand said it came about as the result of constant heated debates about tables in Web design Internet chat rooms where arguments were typed at incredible speeds to keep up with the onslaught of users who supported tables.

“It just became a habit after telling people over and over again tables are for tablu—I mean, tabular data only,” McDormand explained.

ATTAFTDODTDA members were seen at several furniture stores, picketing against the use of tables. Originally targeting Web sites, the ATTAFTDODTDA has officially launched an anti-table campaign against table furniture. (Article)

Power to the people

So its begun. Ive been fan of CSS for a while now. I dont pretend to be a CSS stlye guru, i just tend to struggle along. I recently made an effort to redesign the front end appearance of project website:

Finished deisgn

I really made an effort and you can see the full thing here , im happy with the result and actually consider thebest most clean design ive done some more, its actually inspired me tor ead more about CSS i only tinker with intermediate stuff at the moment.

An Amusing Tale

2005-04-06T09:24:00.000+01:00

"AN OHIO teen was severely traumatized after discovering the stars of a downloaded porno flick were none other than his own parents.

Timmy Shannon, 17, recalls the moment that scarred him for life. "I was like five minutes into this porno called Horny House Wives 4, when I thought to myself, 'Hey, that couch looks exactly like the one I'm sitting on. Oh crap, it is!' I remember the horror overcoming me when I realized the woman bent over that couch was my mother, and the guy giving it to her was my father. I instantly pulled my pants back up and vomited."

Timmy's parents, "Captain Throbberson" and "Gina Jiggles," as they were credited in the film, believe that their son needs to grow up and get over it.

"Tim's mother and I are completely comfortable with our sexuality. I think our son's a little scared he might learn a move or two from his old man."

While his family seems to be in turmoil, Timmy admits that future family gatherings will probably be a little uncomfortable. "Call me crazy, but it's going to be pretty hard trying to enjoy a nice Thanksgiving dinner knowing that your parents have probably done it all up and down the dining room table!"" (Orignal Article)

What would you do, i would probably cry.

Interviews Over

2005-04-06T08:51:00.000+01:00

Well all my interviews are over and the very first one still appeals to me. Feel like it went good and will find out at the end of the week so fingers crossed.

Recurrsion

2005-04-01T13:34:00.000+01:00

So good news the other day and now good news today. I have another job interview, not much particualars on this one. Its in Manchester so kellie will be happy. The other company still appeals to me more and they seem cool, as you would expect from a design company. Well we will have to wait till next week.

The first company has accepted how much i want paying and when i can start which turns out to be my birthday so thats a bit weird.

Dr Who

2005-03-31T15:47:00.000+01:00

"The day after the BBC confirmed there will be a second Doctor Who series next year, as well as a Christmas special, new Dr Who actor Christopher Eccleston has revealed he will not continue in the role, for fears of being typecast. Billie Piper, who plays his assistant Rose, will probably continue in her role." (Slashdot)

So hes leaving after the series has just come back to TV. Bit of a shame as i watched it and really thought he showed promise. At least billy piper is staying :D

Good News

2005-03-30T16:47:00.000+01:00

I have a job interview, ive had offers of jobs before but always starting before im finished at uni, which is impossible for me. Well anyway got a phone call today asking me to come and see them on Monday which is alright, because i need to buy a new suit. Anyway back to splinter cell.

Hungover + Football

2005-03-27T23:21:00.000+01:00

So i kinda went full circle over the last 24 hours, it started in my local at 2pm yesterday, i went in to watch the England match. Basically turned into a full day out, for which my dad paid for as im skint. Ended up 24 hours later playing football for 70 minutes.

God my legs hurt.

The Day Of Nothing

2005-03-25T19:11:00.000Z

Today i have done absolutly nothing, was ment to be a nice day, but that was just a lie. Was going to take the dog for a big walk but Kellie is feeling ill, we watched TV. Kellie fell asleep so i played xbox all afternoon. Ahh what a perfect day.

In My Wildest Dreams

2005-03-23T00:42:00.000Z

Tell me you dont want one.

Monster RAAAAAARRRR

"Samsung has unveiled what's possibly the world's largest plasma monitor screen - a monster 255cm (102in) high density panel codenamed 'Atlas'.

The resolution is a mere 1920 x 1080, little bigger than most larger PC monitors, but with a contrast ratio of 2000:1 and a 1000 candlepower per square metre brightness rating, the giant screen should leave viewers feeling sufficiently in among the action." (The Register)

Now tell me you dont want one, imagine playing Halo 2 on that or even kicking back and watching something great like Star Wars. Right just got to find the 42k it costs now.

The Woes Of Formatting

2005-03-23T00:27:00.000Z

Basically spent most of the day combining the seperate chapters of my report together. I figured out i have 13 chapter in total and i have gotten the first 4 put togheter. Total page count stands at dead on 60 pages done. Ive been ruthless with stripping all white space, i dont ahve the luxury of starting each sub chapter on a fresh page as it would probably come to round 400 pages im looking at around 280-300 pages atm.

Going to bed more formatting in the morning.

ISM Revision

2005-03-21T22:35:00.000Z

So i started to read all the crap concerned with Information Systems Management for my final exam, what a load of complete bollox, im a strong beliver that you cant teach someone to manage it just comes with experience. Some people are managers some people are not. I had to take this module because of the options availble to me. It was this or Multimedia Design which is shit, they dont even cover stuff like Web Design properly, no mention of CSS or even basic principals like Accessibility issues. So anyway was surfing blogs and found this:

Wonderful definitions of designations at office.

1) Project Manager is a Person who thinks Nine women can deliver a baby in One month.

2) Developer is a Person who thinks it will take 18 months to deliver a baby.

3) Onsite Coordinator is one who thinks single woman can deliver nine babies in one month.

4) Client is the one who doesn’t know why he wants a baby.

5) Marketing Manager is a person who thinks he can deliver a baby even if no man and woman are available.

6) Resource Optimization Team thinks they don’t need a man or woman; they’ll produce a child with zero resources.

7) Documentation Team thinks they don’t care whether the child is delivered, they’ll just document 9 months.

8) Quality Auditor is the person who is never happy with the PROCESS to produce a baby.

Just saw it and thought how fucking true is that. Anyway i will most likly be posting quite a lot over next month as i go on the final crunch towards my final exams. Just hoping everything goes to plan.

Another Quiz - Another Result

2005-03-21T19:54:00.000Z

You're a dragon. You're smart and cunning, and
enjoy taking risks. Your need for independence
is an advantage, but sometimes it alienates you
from others. As far as *good* and *evil*,
you're pretty neutral--but you may have
something of a wicked streak.

What mythical beast are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Let The Revision Begin

2005-03-20T19:49:00.000Z

Ok well basically finished my report write up today need to do a conclusion and abstract ont he writing side. Then got to do some rewrites, organise my references, go through and do all the labels on images in order.

Other than that basically time to think about priniting it and getting it binded. Will make it all avail;ble online as well i think. Doubt anyone would want to read it though :). Tonight im going to watch Platoon as Kellie has never seen it and shes been watching Vietnam war films like theirs no tomorrow. We watched 'We Were Soldiers' last night and i have never seen it. I really really like it and am considering putting it on my birthday list for someone to get me.

The Mist Around My Cloudy Head

2005-03-19T15:27:00.000Z

... Is finally clearing. Got most of my experiements written up. Anyway some tech news shown a good thing today:

"Market share for the open-source Mozilla Firefox climbed above 6% in February, while Microsoft's Internet Explorer share dropped below 90%."(InformationWeek)

Finally see that people are starting to understand the inherent security lfaws present in IE. Ive tried to explain this to so many family members and friends, but still they insist on using IE and then ask me to fix their comps when the get infected with spy/mal/adware.

Hungover

2005-03-19T10:12:00.000Z

Basically been drunk or hungover since thursday night. My head hurts, i dont know where my digi camera is. Got a feeling keelie has it. Ive got to do a shed load of write up this weekend. On the plus side i am now going to go downstairs and either be lazy and have a bowl of ricicles or be good and make a full english breakfast.

Happy St. Patricks Day

2005-03-17T17:26:00.000Z

Coming from a somewhat irish background it my favourite time of year, well between christmas and my birthday in may. ST PATRICKS DAY.

Top Of The Evening

Tonight will be a night of druken irish madness. I plan on consuming at least 10 pints of the black stuff and getting absolute shit faced. I have my green tshirt ready and more importantly my Guiness clover shaped sunglasses (Thanks Guiness). Im aiming for my usual target of at least two Guiness hats.

Ill be taking the digital camera so any general madness will be photographed. Expext an update tomorrow around noon when i surface.

Work, Starwars and A Pack Of Custard Creams

2005-03-16T17:11:00.000Z

Ok been trying to log onto blogger for last couple of hours and this is first time, that pissed me off somewhat.

Anyway, been working again today got quite a lot done over the last 24 hours, i now have the back end ACF system working in unison with my front end website, which is nice. Predictioons are coming out thick and fast and hopefully are all ok.

I watched Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi before, the new DVD edition and something hit me, along the lines of Randals rant in Clerks. At the end of the new versions the death sart is blown up, luke kills vader who killed the emporer. Everything appears to be wrapped up.

But what i want to know is how long was time difference between the destruction of the death star and the ensuing party. In the new DVD editions it shows all these planets like Naboo having big partys. Fair enough they are not in the heart of the Empires control.

Now look at the ending and it clearly shows Coruscant and people running around having a big party and ripping down the statue of the Emporer (Reminds me of Gulf War 2). Now Coruscant is the heart of the Galaxy and of the Empire. The rebels are all around Endor which isnt that close to Coruscant. So what i want to know is how a planet which is the center of the Empire go from, total control under the Empire to people rioting basically. It dont make any sense to me.

I know people are going to disagree but basically if something happened miles away you would wait for confermation to be sure it had happened. IE people wouldnt go round running riot just because of a rumor.

That rant may not make sense to people who read it, but screw it i wanted to put it down somewhere.

Tomorrow i may well talk about the inherent flaw in the back to the future series, revolving around the issue of incess.

Back to the custard cremes.

------EDIT--------
Finally got his posted after trying several times throughout the day

2005-03-16T01:10:00.000Z

Only In America

Dont Piss Off The Catholics

2005-03-15T15:07:00.000Z

Mess with the church, mess with the amazing SAS off shoot group the NUNS.

Go Go Go

Dance Fatty Dance

2005-03-14T18:52:00.000Z

Found this was quite funny:

Dancing Man

I Finally Think Its Working

2005-03-14T10:43:00.000Z

So was working like a POW over weekend and while in terms of writing i didnt get much done, i finally finished all code for my project. Added in the clustering into the ACF and the results i was getting were expected, their shitter than the normal method. This is to be expected as the neighbourhood size is dramatically smaller, hence less people to draw the prediction computation from.

Other things i did this weekend apart from work were minimal. Kellie came round on Saturday night we watch Under Seige then Parkinson. We had to stop Under Seige because Peter Kay was on Parkinson and wanted to watch it. Nothin much happened. I played the new Fight Night on the xbox and won the Heavyweight Belt with Muhammed Ali. Ricky Haton is on their so will do it with him i think.

Got an important meeting today to settle on a conference paper for my work. Im looking at San Deigo myself as its not a IEEE or some other impossible for a undergraduate to get in conference. Uni have kinda agreed they will pay for me to attend the conference if my paper is accepted. We will see.

GOD DAMN

Fogot to push the publish post button when i wrote this, this morning. Well never mind had a good day got 60% in my second ISM assignment not great but not bad.

Black Box, White Box - I Want A Magical Box

2005-03-12T13:14:00.000Z

Ok well ive done sweet f all today. Im in the shit got to do my testing and questionnaire write up today and ive done nothing. Well not completly true ive gathered all the research for my testing writeup so got to get writing, but gonna make some dinner first.

On a positive note, i will br writing a conference paper for the san diego conference on web based user agents. And it looks like uni will be paying for me to attend the conference which would be good.

Anyway wheres that magical box.

My head is bursting.

2005-03-09T17:02:00.000Z

So its come to crunch time, from today till next week i envisige 14hr+ days. I decided to look at the front end because their were some loose ends that needed tieing up. Turns out IMDB have changed the HTML source output of their search engine. Having a hell of time trying to change my regular expressions to parse the film id and the movie name from the HTML. Not going to weel as it looks like IMDB have started to include randomn html in thier to stop people nicking their data.

On other news ive been using Mozilals calender application Sunbird. Its a nice open source application. Was looking at the HTML publishing and while its output is weak their are a few free sites that actually parse the information from the application file. I setup a account and updated my calender to include my schedule, here it is:

My Online Schedule

I Pity The Fool

2005-03-08T13:10:00.000Z

Ok i sqw this on Ebay if i only had the money i would buy one.

I Aint Getting In No Bath Fool !!!

Heres the live auction link

A Night With My Mistress: Football

2005-03-07T23:45:00.000Z

Went to watch the footie with my mates Dunc and Ian. Overall a good night off from project write up. Felt it was well deserved as the 42 pages i wrote over weekend had 7 mistakes, 1 being a missing reference and the other six being the use of 'we' in the writing. Discussed this with Darren fom my old office who is a PHd and he said 'we' should be fine but he also said he uses 'i' so will ignore his advice and change them tomorrow.

Tomorrow is writing up the changes to my final assignment on JAVA distributed objects. After that is finished which i think will take 3hours max, im going to read all 30,000 words of what i have written change any 'we' or 'i' to passove voice and then finish the night off with the second half of the Man U vs Milan game and the pub quiz.

Well thats the plan !

2005-03-06T16:42:00.000Z

Ive been applying for jobs as im getting ever so closer and closer to graduation. Last exam is inlike 2 1/2 months. So anyway i saw this and thought thats quite funny:

Ikea - Killing hands one product at a time.

Reef Girl 2005

2005-03-05T22:29:00.000Z

Just got back from betitng at the dog track and finally found the reef girl 2005 competition pictures thought i would share a couple with you:

Ohhh Yes

Treat Me

Some Of My Childhood Heros Remembered

2005-03-03T19:15:00.000Z

Here you go some blasts from the past to carry on with the latest trend of me posting 80's cartoons:

Power Of The Bear

Man Meets Machine

Knights Of The Magical Table

Exceptions: I Take Exception To Many Things

2005-03-02T23:48:00.000Z

So all day ive been finishing off a shed load of my Data Engineering coursework. Tkaing screenshots etx. Then i realised i had only put Oracle standard exceptions in a couple of my procedures. So spent around two hours putting in all the exceptions that apply to each procedure. What a pain in the arse. Ive psent well over 30+ hours on this course work. If i was to be given it agin i could do it in 4hrs tops. Now ive realised i shouldnt moan about this as it just simply proves that ive learnt a hell of a lot about Object Releation Databases.

Anyway i finished around Nine. I figured i would go play some snooker with my mate. HGot thier and as its a wednesday and only a pound a hour their was a waiting list of 8 tables. Ended up in what i consider a dive, but a pound in and a pound a drink i wasnt moaning. Six pints of cider later im sat in complete darkness contemplating doing some write up on my report. Fuck it im going bed. But first heres a randomn picture.

Hooooooooooooooo

Top 100 Cartoons

2005-02-27T23:00:00.000Z

So ive been sat here trying to sort some changes out on publishing system for some contract work. And ive had on 'Top 100 Cartoons Ever'. Its been really good, but my biggest gripe is that Transformers only came in at 37. Thats a farce. Anyway heres a pic of the boss himself.

Robots In Disguise

Im going to take some pictures of my Transformers toys to show you how good these are. The cross over from cartoon to toy, has to be the best ever. I only like Generation 1 really not the newer stuff.

The Hamsters Are Taking Over

2005-02-27T14:04:00.000Z

Found on /.

"This project was initially fueled by the desire to explore the MIDI protocol. It was decided that this would be accomplished by building a MIDI device. I also aimed to make something novel that had never been done before. But to balance out the unusual nature of its design, I wanted to also to create something that was very musical.After much consideration of different technical design aspects and contemplating various musical ideas, I was able to arrive at a project that would fulfill all of my musical and engineering goals.An intelligent MIDI sequencer was designed with hamster control. The MIDI sequencer intelligently produced melodies by manipulating the musical elements of rhythm and note-choice. Guided by inputs based on hamster movements, Markov chains were used to perform such beat and note computations. In culmination, 3 simultaneous voices were produced spanning 3 octaves and 3 rhythmic tiers. Each voice was controlled by two hamsters: one that was responsible for adjusting the rhythmic qualities of the melody and another that modified the note sequence. With all of these elements in combination, an output was produced with very musical qualities.All of this was implemented using an Atmel Mega32 microcontroller, distance sensors, a HamsterMIDI Controller, and 6 hamsters. Embedded C programming implemented the algorithms and computations within the sequencer.Overall, this project was successful. The control between the hamsters and the musical intelligence turned out very well. The music sounds as good as I imagined, and I am very satisfied with the outcome of my design experience."

Hamster Controlling MIDI Sequencer

Full Report Here

So it looks like the hamsters are first trying to take over the music industry, then the world. Be prepared. BE PREPARED.

Disturbing But Cant Stop Laughing....

2005-02-26T11:54:00.000Z

Found this while looking at other Blogs.

Leave A Funny Caption In Comments

Thanks to Bogsdoody Blog as this is where i found the picture. If people leave a captio i will update it with a list and maybe a poll. Then the best will be used.

First Ever Web Picture...

2005-02-26T10:21:00.000Z

Ok here it is, was reading about this little peice of history and how it was the first ever image to be posted for web use, by Tim Berners-Lee. Its got to be one of the most horrible pictures ever:

Funny little thing my mate sent me

2005-02-25T14:10:00.000Z

Stella. Evil Evil Stella

2005-02-25T14:02:00.000Z

My had is in two places just helped my mate move out of his house. With a huge hangover. 14 bottles of stella at snooker last night. Didnt leave the snooker hall till gone 1am and was drinking till i fell asleep at 4am. Anyway im toying with the idea of going into uni for my last lecture, but first i want to have a cheese and tomato sandwich first.

What type of assin are you

2005-02-22T17:16:00.000Z

Just got sent the link on MSN. Anyway here are my results.

NINJA: I never saw you. You're a professional,
but you don't get to take the credit for your
work that other assassins do. The night is
your only ally, and you wouldn't have it any
other way.

Which Type of Assassin Are You? (With Anime pics!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Databases + Paris Hilton. Weird Combination

2005-02-22T11:04:00.000Z

So ive come into uni to get my Data Engineering assignment finished. THought i would come in as their are less distractions. Had to wait to see my lecturer for some help, so was browsing it news on The Register and saw the story about Paris Hiltons phone being hacked again. This is the second time you think she would learn. Its all around the net but the best place to look is:

Hilton Hacked

And more importantly for people like me the pictures:

Phone Pictures

Some good contact details availble in the phoje books section a quick look and i found Cristina Aguillears phone number both home and mobile and fred dursts personal email.

Anyway enough of these distractions on with database.

Snooker

2005-02-20T15:17:00.000Z

So i went to the pub last night, was distracted by friends i havent seen in a while, and i missed the snooker, from what iread in the paper this morning wasnt much of a match, Jimmy got punded 6-1 by Ronnie the Rocket. Was expected so im going to watch the final tonight.

Kellie my girlfied, dad sent me a funny link today:

Michael Jacksons - Favourite Things Anoimation

Is really good and only implys about his "alleged" child tinckering in a sutle way. Anyway enjoy.

Contract Work = Finished

2005-02-19T12:23:00.000Z

Well i tell alie its got to go in a nice UI but thats about it. All problems that re now occuring are to do with the server. As far as im concerned its working. It was a small scalle backup and publishig system for a web site, the following was done:

----Backup ----
Scan the dynamic backup site from root
Find Links
Make a Tree Structure
Save Structure To Local Time Stmaped Directory

---- Publish ----
Open FTP to live site
Recurse through timestamp directory
Send file over FTP to live site
Close FTP

---- Interface ----
Allow User to make backup
List backups
Allow user to click backup to send to live site

Been working on this from beginning of New York wasnt that it was hard was that it was just tedious anyway managed to do it in under 5k of code. So quite happy. Hopefully will have it signed off this week. Then boss can invoice companie, they are fast payers so will have some cash in my bank by the end of the next 14 days.

Ohhh on another note i sorted my xbox, it wasnt my tv but the video cable on the xbox. Tempoary solution till i get the money from the job above it to simply tape the video cable forward onto the xbox.

Anyway time to play some NBA street.

Day Off and Everything Goes Tits Up

2005-02-18T19:45:00.000Z

Ok so i was gonna stay in tonight and do some contract work as fiscal funds are running low. Been working on a publishing system, was written and tested on my server worked fine. Then it goes to the contract work server and it goes wrong. Tits up number 1.

Cant fix the problem on my side as the server needs configuring for use with the php scripts also looks like from the errors the server is having a old versions of PHP grip or a DNS issue. Tits up number 2.

So decided that i was gonna play some xbox as ive just gotten my hands on NBA Street and wanted to give it a roasting. Plug xbox into fron connection on TV and nothing comes through, slight flicker. Ive seen this develop over the month so wasnt a big surprise, just very disapointing that cant play on games. Tits up number 3.

So overall the day has gone TITS UP.

Daaaaaaaatabases The Return

2005-02-17T19:47:00.000Z

Ok so got most of my memeber functions sorted today. So im nearly at the stage where i can put the erro checking and exception handaling into my code. Then i can insert the data and write my three pl/sql blocks and then im finished whooooooo.

Dataaaaaaaabase

2005-02-17T12:13:00.000Z

Today im going to get all the hard procedures done and out of the way on my Data Engineering assignment. Cant get my insert procedure working its killing me, really stuck, it appears alright but it obviously aint. Back to it.

Sweet Sweet Coffee

2005-02-16T17:02:00.000Z

Ok it turns out my mum has a old coffee machine in the cupboard so that has now become property of me. Just had a nightmare chipping my mates xbox, wire snapped on non solder adapter and so improvisation had to take place. All sorted now.

Got roughly 3000k words done today so think im going to give up for the night around 8pm.

Over and out...

Java (Not The Code) Is What I Need

2005-02-16T09:47:00.000Z

Well my coffee machine packed up around 3am last night. I need to purchase a new one, but with no time to go out and get one, no money to buy one with, i may have to try and explain the urgency to my parents and see if they will have pity on my caffine dwindling body.

Ok well got just under 1600 words done on the back end implementation, will try and finish it today, i was very over optimistic with getting evrything done in two days, will be a four day job.

Just applied to Yahoo for a job, was a setof hard yet fun questions to answer, mainly seemed to be based around the development of accessible web sites using CSS. Also got the chance to slag off table layouts which was fun.

Anyway back to work

Todays Progress

2005-02-15T18:47:00.000Z

Ok wasnt that bad. I got the following done:

Today
Rewrite backend clustering
2000 words on backend implementation
Do backend screenshots
Get all rewrite notes in order
Produce chart of rewrites

Im quite happy. Did cheat a little and watched the new malcolm in the middle and king of queens on my laptop around 12pm and 6pm. So not that bad. Planning on getting all the screenshots and the 200 words on my implementation done tonight before 10pm.

Then ill watch Shameless at 10pm, make a snack and get in bed to watch The Breakfast Club. Such a class film. But Coming To America is on as well. God the choice. After such a hard days work i dont want to make the choice.

Faster Faster Harder Harder

2005-02-15T10:43:00.000Z

Today and tomorrow are the days i have to really nuckle down and start to finish off my final prject write up. No messing around, no taking a 10 minute break which turns into a 2hr trip out of the house. Its getting done.

Today
Rewrite backend clustering
2000 words on backend implementation
Do backend screenshots
Get all rewrite notes in order
Produce chart of rewrites

Tomorrow
Finish backend implementation
Start backend design
Finish fuzzy clustering literature review
Start 10x Cross Validation Experiments

Hopefully this will please my superviosr and myself, take a lot of stress off, because then all i have to write up is experiments, evaluation and go through check references and label all figures correctly.

Anyway here goes, will update with my underperforming progress tonight.

Forgot It Was VDay Today

2005-02-14T15:53:00.000Z

Friend of mine pointed me at this site, hes just gone through a messy breakup but i think its one of the best sites ive seen in the last couple of months. Not only the design which i love but the actualy content. I found this on their:

www.fuckvday.com

Anyway have a visit to the site www.fuckvday.com

Work Work Work

2005-02-14T10:31:00.000Z

Been up since 7am writing about clustering. Its getting tedious. But has to be done. Looks like will need some code rewrites to do the actual clusterd predictions. Get quite a few experiments done. Just done a shed load of visulisation of clustering. Heres one below:

Simple K-Means Clustering - 6 Clusters

Clustering on Age into 6 clusters using simple K-Means. Not the best pic i know but app has black bckground. If you click on it should get a better pic. Anyway have 50 minutes to do 1000 words, then set off for uni.

Derby Day Misery

2005-02-13T17:28:00.000Z

So the invetiable happend.

Gonna analyse this in a non bias way as possible.

So the match started great for city. In my opinion we were all over United for the first 20-30 minutes. Macmannaman had a great chance and like the scouse muppet he is blew it. Should have scored think i could have scored that, but sent it wide. Hopefully that will be his last mistake for city and we woont have to deal with his incompetence next season. United took the lead which was an identical goal to Macmanamanss blunder, but unlike him the other scouse git Rooney scored it.

For their not much to say United pretty much dominated the rest of the game and fair play to them they got the goal. Dont want to hear anything about the own goal, as nothing much can be said appart from unlucky.

Wasnt the derby i hoped for, nothing like Novemeber encounter, not much scrapping on the pitch like last years derby.

All in all was a good day out, went to a few pubs ive never been, one being a full on red pub, but was good laugh not much hostility. About the same as last season when we tounched United 4-1. Was going to stay in tonight but my firend Paul wa sunable to make it today because fof family problems, but because hes a great guy is inviting everyone round for a bit mor ebooze at his gaff.

Up early as people have work and were going to leave tomorrow at 7:30am so any work i would have done tonight will be done tomorrow, and to be honest would have most likly had tea dont a couple of hours work and then watch Oceans 11.

Whooooooo Derby Day

2005-02-13T11:04:00.000Z

Well its upon us again for the second time this season, the good old Manchester derby. Being a City fan i hope we stuff United. Will give me immense pleasure it taking the buscuit out of the following people:

Dad.
Brother.
Neil.
Jon.
Every other peice of red scum.

Well i have to be in the firtree car park for 11:30 to get to see the match on time. Will do a match update after the match when i get back.

Rigamortis Is Setting In

2005-02-12T13:58:00.000Z

I feel like i am becoming like a mouldy block of cheese. Hmm reading that back it sounds a bit weird. But thats how i feel. Sat in the lab still doing my Enterprise Programming group essay and it must be pushing 90 degrees in here. New building, 42 desktops in the lab were in and it feels like the air conditioning is not working and were slowly sinking towards satans firey pit.

Were at the 1100/2000 words stage and a lot of the next section we wrote about in out design patterns assignment, so were thinking that we should reuse some of our assignment one reports in this. Well design patterns do encourage reusability!

Understanding Design

2005-02-12T11:29:00.000Z

Well its a saturday and ive been in University for the last hour. Meeting up with team member to tackle the report for our Enterprise Programming Groupwork assignment. Feel really bad today, my foot is playing up again and didnt get much sleep last night. Last thing i can remember is lay i bed with my ibook on my lap watching Tilt. Then waking up this morning in the same position at 8:30am.

Had an email back from both my degree leader and year leader about the super late return of my first Advanced Multimedia Technology assignment, so looks like something is being done or i could just bb being fobbed off again.

Right back to work on the assignment, then home to cook my girlfriend a curry for valentines. Mmmmmmmmm curry....

First Experiment Results

2005-02-11T12:20:00.000Z

So thought i would post up some of my experiemntal results here.

First Experiments Results

Dont mean much to most people, but thats nearly a years worth of research, coding, and checking. Pretty much what i was expecting. Shows the average MAE over ten runs. The experiment randomly selects 10 randomn ratings. This is then passed into a nmaximum neighbourhood of 250 other users for performing the prediction. MAE is given by:

MAE

University Gripes

2005-02-10T16:35:00.000Z

So been thinking about this little thing all week:

"Handed in first Advanced Multimedia Technology On November 19th.........."

Yes November 19th. Thats coming upto three months ago, i have never in my 4 years at university had to wait this long for an assignment before. I feel and many other students i talked to today about this is totally taking the biscuit. Every time i go and see the lecturer which is a weekly thing, i just get fobbed off with the excuse 'its nearly ready, next week you should get it'. SO i decided to send an email to the degree leader and the year leader expressing my utter dismay at this.

And if they dont sort it all out...............

BEN NOT LIKE LECTURER, BEN MAD

Follow The Green And Yellow Brick Road

2005-02-10T13:47:00.000Z

I followed the green and yellow brick road to subway half an hour ago for a nice Italian BMT sandwich. It was todays special offer and at £1.99 was well worth it. Should have bought a footlong. Not sure if the 'make it footlong' for £1.20 extra offer applies to the daily special offer. Next tie i make a visit i will clairfy this with a memeber of staff.

Ive started my Data Engineering second assignment again as it was all going a bit pear shaped. Decided to do each object specification, table and procedures in a seperate file. Once its working i will add them all together. Its actually looking a bit harder than i though. Only one bit though. Hoping to get it finished by early next week at the latest.

On my project front, ive been testing the system to see what MAE its returning. I did a hack for the NaN for the moment, basically dont count them in the MAE formuale. Results are pretty conclusive.

test: 10 predictions for ten different users on predicting for american beauty, where the user has already rated American beauty. For increasing size of negihbourhood.

Neighbourhood Size: 25 MAE: 0.95
Neighbourhood Size: 50 MAE: 0.91
Neighbourhood Size: 100 MAE: 0.893
Neighbourhood Size: 200 MAE: 0.873

Basically shows that as the size of users to perform correlation against increase the MAE gets lower. This is exactly right. Next step is to make tables from the clustered data and get some MAE back using the same test. Pretty confident that the results will show a higher MAE as the neighbourhood is restricted in size.

I Feel Bad

2005-02-09T15:25:00.000Z

Apart from solving why i was getting NaN (Not a Number) in my JAVA ACF engine, and finally getting the MAE (Mean Average Error) of the engine predictions, i havent done as much as i hoped to do.

Found out where my misplaced Adavnced Multimedia Technology assignment paper is. Its at my mates house, im going tonight, so will take my little ibook and do the work at his place.

Nearly Nearly finished the free paintball website that ive been working on. Got a banner designed by a fellow paintballer who is also a designer by hobby i believe. Looks really good not sure about the site colour scheme now. May need to change it. Anyone reading please have a look and tell me what you think:

The Firm Paintball Site

Thats all folks !

What to do today

2005-02-09T10:13:00.000Z

I was going to make a start on my Advanced Multimedia Technology Assignment today, but it turns out like many aspects of my degree my lecturer is incompetent. I emailed him on monday night explaining that i have misplaced my assignment sheet and would he please email me one or make one availiable online like all my other lecturers do. A big surprise is that he hasnt done either. I pay tuition to have the piss taken it seems.

So im left with what to do today.

My Eyes Are Held Open By Matchsticks

2005-02-08T10:40:00.000Z

Im really really tired. Its all to do with constant worry about how much work i have to do, how many bills i have to pay and how little money i actually have. Had an offer from a mate to lend some cash if i need it, but dont like to borrow money from friends.

Got some contract working coming my way so hopefully ill start to see a little money. God i hope so.

Tonight

2005-02-06T03:21:00.000Z

Well didnt go to bad, although i started drinking at 3:30pm and have just got in, i dont feel tha drunk. Ill tell when i read this back. Ended up spedning around 20 quid not that bad but must say thanks to some of my mates who fulled my drinking throughout the night. You all know who you are. Anyway bed is calling and have to write up some of my project tomorrow so....

Night Night

Just For Kicks

2005-02-05T15:02:00.000Z

Me with a goatee

Was having a shave because i havent in a while and thought i would try a goatee more for a laugh than anything.

Moan Moan Moan

2005-02-05T14:31:00.000Z

Is it me or do people always have a firend who is unable to meet you at a pub or bar where you and all your friends already are? They moan about having to go alone. I personally find this one of the most irretating things ever. All of my friends wanted to start drinking early tonight on the monthly lads night out but one of my firends is moaning that he cant make it till 7:30pm and we are all being unreasonable by making him meet up with us.

On other news i have taken up a little free web development project for a new paintball site thats opened. Messed with it this morning and did the gallery for them. Inital concept site can be found here:

The Firm Concept Site

Bit sparse at the moment but havent been given all the content. Im sure it will look better once a logo and more content are added.

Are OO Databases Any Good

2005-02-03T19:51:00.000Z

So i did my UML Class Diagram for my Data Engineering assignment, it all got approved, so i set off creating a script to make all the object tables and functions. I started at 1:45pm and finished around 6pm. Looks like ive got a good start on it seen as it was only really issued today, see if i can get it finished this weekend.

Ive had to call off going out on Saturday as i have far to much work, ahh well only 3 months of student life left.

Seconds Out......Round Two

2005-02-02T23:43:00.000Z

Second round of assignment are coming out now at uni will try to keep putting stuff hear but it might not be possible. Finished my Information Systems one last night but got to make a start and polish off Data Engineering befor my Enterprise Programming and Advanced Multimedia Tech come flying at me.

Dont think anyone actually reads this but ill be good for a read back sometime.

Plodding Along Singing A Song

2005-02-01T11:21:00.001Z

Well got on a big high last night as i had the great idea of writing a conference poster, deadline was friday, so decided its to close and would need to pull some 24hr shifts and i cant as i have an assignment due in a week thursday.

Got another assignment yesteday for my Data Enginneering module. Dosent look two bad did the first part the UML Class diagram this morning in like 30 minutes just have to create the tables and then create the various querys.

Outside of Uni did do much, went to my mates last night and watched some TV and then i did some of my assignment for next week. Watched the new free DVD which comes with the latest FAC3-FULL magazine. ITs a paintball magazine if you dont know.

Today im gonna have to finish the code rewrite and then start to look at creating the database tables. Then tonight watch as Manchester United hopefully get stuffed by Arsenal in the pub with my mates. Their they are below.

Lou, Ian and Dunc Amsterdam 01-01-2005

The Move To Cleanliness

2005-01-31T16:21:00.000Z

So i sat down and starte dto look at the coding ive been doing over the last three to four months on the ACF system thats in development. My god was the code in a ugly messy state. No indenting where ive changed code, system print outs everywhere to check the output is looking good.

So....

I decided that i should spend the day tidying up the code, and commenting it so that when i come to hand it in for my final year project i dont have to comment it all in one last crunch. It was all going well then i realised some of the classes were sharing methods such as getSD and getMean. So i started to move it to a nice new OO implementations, this has all gone well. So in my usual perfectionist state i decided to move it to a nice design pattern. Abstract Factory seemed a good choice as their were some shared mehtods that could be abstracted out.

Well to keep it kinda short.....

Its taking a long time, and now i have to write up my section on clustering and what i found out, which i dot know yet, as ive not finished it.

Ill be so happy in a months time when i can finally hand this in and if i dont get a high 1st for it, i feel their may be some bloodshed around the university.

So it begins.

2005-01-30T18:16:00.000Z

So ive been working on a Automated Collaborative Filtering system, Basically something that makes predictions for ratings on movies based on past user history, much like how Amazons recommendation system worlds. Ive got the actual prediction system up but now i have to start to looking at the effects of clustering the dataset will have on accuracy predictions. Basically clustering data looking at results for any type of performance increase. This is going to be my whole day. Anyway as the title says 'So It Begins'.