Dan Q
Yes! Yes! Yes! I’m about two-thirds of the way through the development of the new Troma Night website (between bouts of revision). Should be ready within the next 12 hours. Fab.
If you’re a Troma Night person, go visit www.tromanight.co.uk tonight (Wednesday night).
Hugz;
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.
[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 …
[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 …
[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 …
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.
This report by the BBC, published yesterday, gives evidence that we science/engineering graduates live longer than our artsy opposite numbers. Made my day.
Is there a correlation between head circumference and intelligence, as measured by GCSE scores? Our research says no.
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 |