Troma Night Website

I’m working (at long last) on updating the Troma Night website. Going OK so far, about a third of the way there. Am contemplating pulling a long, late night and seeing how much of it I can get done at once. Ideally I’ll have it all sorted for next Troma Night, on Saturday – including the new webcam feature! We’ll see…

In other news, Claire’s looking a lot happier now that she’s put the revision to bed for the night.

Claire Seems Distracted

[this post was damaged during a server failure on Sunday 11th July 2004, and it has not been possible to recover it]

[this post was partially recovered on 12 October 2018]

Claims tiredness. Suspect she’s stressed about upcoming exams. Hope that it’s one or the other.

A handful of my friends keep posting entries to their ‘blogs rapidly, in quick succession. Have you heard of putting things in the same entry?. Save your friends from scrolling themselves to death!

My first exam, Monday (Formal Methods In Software Engineering), went better than expected; should have done quite well. Feel confident about The Internet: Architecture And Operation on Saturday morning.

In other news, my new soundcard arrived, giving me an audio system which doesn’t (a) short-circuit and cause my computer to crash from time to time, (b) give me quite painful electric shocks when I connect things to it and (c) gives me stereo sound all the time, without switching to mono for no apparent reason. In addition, I have a ‘front panel’ with heaps of cool-looking connectors, MIDI ports, etc. And a few tweaks later and it works fantastically with the …

The Student Loans Company Are Wankers

[this post was damaged during a server failure on Sunday 11th July 2004, and it has not been possible to recover it]

[this post was partially recovered on 12 October 2018]

Well, they give me money, so I can’t complain too much, but regardless…

My student loan should have been credited to my account on Monday (12th). Paul got his on Sunday! But when mine hadn’t come through by this morning, I got a little concerned. So I phoned them up on the enquires number listed on their web site.

“You have called the Student Loans Company. For enquiries regarding your student loan, press 1. To change your bank account details, press 2. For any other enquires, press 3.”
I press 1.
“If you are calling on behalf of a third party, we must advise you that they must cal personally owing to customer confidentiality. If you have any general enquiries, please visit our web site at www.slc.co.uk. Thank you.” <click>
WTF?

I call again, and this time press 3. Some confusing buttons later, I get through to a nice Scottish woman called Alison. It turns out that they had the incorrect sort code for me (and they had known this for several months [sort code had come up invalid upon entry] – but hadn’t bothered to phone or write to me). How had they gotten the sort code wrong? Well; they’d read one of my …

Hand-Ins & Russian Spacecraft

[this post was damaged during a server failure on Sunday 11th July 2004, and it has not been possible to recover it]

[this post was partially recovered on 12 October 2018]

Got my assignment finished in the end. Next stop: up to campus to deliver it.

I’ve got a fab Civ3: Conquests game on the go: I’m Premiere of the the Russians, and it’s 1856AD. I landed on the moon in 1812AD, and I’m now half-way to building an interstellar spacecraft. Damn I’m good at this game.

Unfortunatley, the Celts (with whom I share borders) have become jealous of my progress and have launched an invasion, which, while technologically inferior (mostly consisting of riflemen on horseback and on foot, and a handful of automatic weapons – compared to my M16s, TOW missiles, and jet aircraft) is a sizeable force and caught me very much off-guard, hitting me at a couple of weak points and capturing two cities, putting them in a good position to attack Moscow. I’ve begun conscription, drafting in citizens to military service to defend our country, and been pulling forward the military I have towards the front line… but this isn’t going to be pretty.

The AI in the game at the higher difficulty levels is really something. During my invasion of Spain in the 16th Century, the Spanish retreated deeper into their heartland, destroying key roads as they …

Bugger

I’ve just discovered that I have an assignment deadline tomorrow for an assessment I didn’t realise I had, in my weakest module. Joy!

On the upside, I’ve just looked at the assessment and it’s got very little to do with the module; in fact, it oughta be comparatively easy: still – 4-8 hours work I didn’t anticipate.

In other news; a stunning article (plain English, both an introduction to the subject and an ongoing summary) about the state of play with digital music, DRM, and all that on Bill Blog today. If you listen to music on CD or watch DVD movies, you oughta read this one.

Head Sizes

Is there a correlation between head circumference and intelligence, as measured by GCSE scores? Our research says no.

Graph showing no correlation between head circumference and GCSE points; the axes are definitely wrong as the smallest head is only around 1cm.

Raw data:

MALE Head Size (cm) GCSE Score TOPLINE BOTTOMLEFT BOTTOMRIGHT
60.4 45 12.87 115.025625 21.855625
57.2 48 31.605 56.625625 2.805625
57.5 44 1.565 61.230625 32.205625
56.4 41 -18.83 45.225625 75.255625
57.1 44 1.485 55.130625 32.205625
56.6 42 -12.465 47.955625 58.905625
54.9 42 -9.405 27.300625 58.905625
55.3 38 -32.625 31.640625 136.305625
55.6 49 30.81 35.105625 0.455625
57.5 42 -14.085 61.230625 58.905625
56.9 43 -5.78 52.200625 44.555625
54.3 41 -12.95 21.390625 75.255625
57.4 42 -13.905 59.675625 58.905625
56.9 42 -13.005 52.200625 58.905625
53.5 44 0.765 14.630625 32.205625
56.7 40 -26.695 49.350625 93.605625
58.3 39 -41.4 74.390625 113.955625
57.7 43 -6.42 64.400625 44.555625
53.5 40 -14.535 14.630625 93.605625
60.3 40 -40.375 112.890625 93.605625
57.2 45 9.03 56.625625 21.855625
53.6 47 12.56 15.405625 7.155625
58.6 51 64.26 79.655625 1.755625
52.3 53 24.15 6.890625 11.055625
55.1 40 -20.615 29.430625 93.605625
54.0 36 -33.735 18.705625 187.005625
54.1 43 -3.54 19.580625 44.555625
57.1 49 38.61 55.130625 0.455625
53.6 45 4.71 15.405625 21.855625
54.4 46 10.395 22.325625 13.505625
FEMALE 56 38 -36.685 40.005625 136.305625
60.0 47 33.04 106.605625 7.155625
58.8 40 -34.675 83.265625 93.605625
56.1 53 59.11 41.280625 11.055625
52.1 37 -16.49 5.880625 160.655625
53.0 37 -22.61 11.055625 160.655625
56.5 49 35.49 46.580625 0.455625
55.9 45 7.47 38.750625 21.855625
56.2 36 -50.895 42.575625 187.005625
55.0 37 -36.21 28.355625 160.655625
52.5 51 20.34 7.980625 1.755625
55.0 40 -20.235 28.355625 93.605625
58.8 37 -62.05 83.265625 160.655625
56.1 44 1.285 41.280625 32.205625
55.9 48 26.145 38.750625 2.805625
56.0 50 39.215 40.005625 0.105625
52.7 48 12.705 9.150625 2.805625
57.2 45 9.03 56.625625 21.855625
56.7 39 -33.72 49.350625 113.955625
60.2 41 -29.47 110.775625 75.255625
53.4 40 -14.155 13.875625 93.605625
57.9 41 -23.03 67.650625 75.255625
53.9 50 26.195 17.850625 0.105625
57.5 51 56.34 61.230625 1.755625
59.1 40 -35.815 88.830625 93.605625
57.7 44 1.605 64.400625 32.205625
52.3 53 24.15 6.890625 11.055625
58.5 50 54.715 77.880625 0.105625
58.5 46 19.415 77.880625 13.505625
60.0 47 33.04 106.605625 7.155625
2980.5 2628 -34.3 2864.3825 3362.5375
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