Well, the weekend was pleasant. Sunday even saw a fantastic trip to the pub with Livejournal:milchi, Livejournal:nunfetishist, Livejournal:cjwatson and Livejournal:gerald_duck (Oh, and mdw)—All in all, a very pleasant time was had by all, and I didn’t get any of the work done which I wanted to. I did manage to read through Greg Egan’s ‘Quarantine’ and most of the way through “Schild’s Ladder”. Looking forward to finishing the latter there, very interesting ideas. Well, work now, eyepoking tomorrow.

So I’m meant to be writing documentation, only the muse is most definitely not with me, so I’m here vegetating. I wish I was at home. I have stuff I want to do there. sigh

Well, I was asked yesterday if I had enough work to be getting on with. “No” I replied “I have about 30 mins of work left” and then I went home. This morning, in response to the lack of new work, I sent an email saying “I have only 30 mins of work left, anyone want to suggest something for me to do?” and now I have run out of work. I’m not normally anxious to have more work to do, but when I’m literally at the stage of having no constructive work to do, it kinda feels pointless to be at work. Oh well.

Well, this is quite a long post, so to spare people who already know the details…

Cut — Click here to make money now!
On Saturday was the Wilburton beer festival. Myself, Livejournal:nunfetishist, my friends Greg and John, and my friend Tim and his girlfriend Sandy all went to the festival. Much enjoyment was had by all, I managed to get sunburnt in the shade in interesting geometric patterns. Many beers were consumed by those that way inclined, and I even managed to have two different ciders (half-pints of course). The Hogroast was really rather yummy, so food was good too. Now then, when I got home (with John, Greg and Livejournal:nunfetishist, we were sat in the lounge discussing insanity sauce and I was going to demonstrate how it changes colour to a deep evil red when you shake it. So I grabbed the bottle of insanity sauce and shook it. BIG MISTAKE My finger slipped off the end of the bottle and the lid flew off, allowing about a years supply of insanity sauce to spread itself around the lounge, but perhaps more pressingly, all over me and my eyes. Suffice to say that with very rapid response by my beloved we got most of the insanity sauce off my face, and bathed my eyes in optrex, before I then spent 10 minutes with my head under a shower-head pouring cold water all over my face. Eventually we got to the point that I could bear to have my eyes open, we determined that I could at least see and so we persuaded Tim to take me to the hospital. I shampooed my face and arms to get rid of as much of the insanity sauce as I could find. Then Tim took me to A&E at Addenbrooks. The triage nurse didn’t believe me that chilli sauce got hot enough to worry about—so I carefully explained to her (with the insanity sauce bottle) that one of the listed uses of this stuff is driveway cleaner. Eventually I got to see a doctor who was good with eyes. (And my goodness he was easy on the eyes too, and had a gorgeous accent) So on to the second most painful thing of the evening—having the pH of my left eyeball taken. This involved stuffing some litmus paper under my lower eyelid and waiting for it to hurt enough that my eyes watered. Fortunately the right eyeball was much easier as a result. Then we had the weird bit—the doctor put some yellow dye into my eyes and the entire world went sepia toned. This was to check that the surface of the eye balls weren’t damaged in any way. Unfortunately my face is now tear-stained yellow, but it made for some fantastic psychedaelic sights on the way home as things went yellow/white/yellow/white over and over again as we sped past them ;-) Time passes Sunday morning we wake up and decide that we haven’t seen the cat, but since our internet connection doesn’t work either we ring up Livejournal:gerald_duck and go over to his to listen to nice music and chat. Eventually spending the evening in a very nice pub, we get home and wonder where the cat is. We go out hunting for her (in the rain) and fail to find her. Monday morning, I ring around all the vets etc and lodge descriptions of her. Monday night at about 21:30 I was starting to think we’d not see her alive again. And then at 21:45 a bedraggled, skinny, unkempt pussycat of mine came running into the lounge miaowing at the top of her little lungs. So we shut the back door and locked the catflap, generally secured the place (while lizzie drank water) and then we examined her. She was scratch-free, bite-free, generally fine, just looking crap. (Most unlike my pussycat) This morning, she had smooth shiny fur, she was bulking back up (having had her usual dry food, a bit of ham and some cat-safe milk) and was purring away when I went downstairs after my morning ablutions. So now I have to ring round all the vets, thank them for their efforts and tell them that she has come home. (Oh and find out how much it is to get her chipped) All in all, quite a weekend.

Cut — Geek alert!
Yes, it's true, the GIF patent is set to expire today. Will this signal the end of PNG? Will GIF rise again into favour with the FSF -- Will the 'Burn all gifs' campaign have to close up shop? (Perhaps more importantly, who cares?)

(Angry Men) + (Steps) + (You?) + (Monkeys) + (How far under the sea?) + (How many were flying over a type of clock’s nest?) + (Number of Magnificent AND the number of the famous ones as well) + (How many morrows never die?) + (How many brothers for brides?) + (Oceans) + (A funeral, any weddings?) + (th element) + (How many towers?) + (RIP race) + (And interstellar affair set in which year again?) + (Head in box) + (How many days after?) + (Smoking containers of beer) + (The state of Britain) + (Vicious circle) = ?

Cut — The discussion unfolds
Now, so far, I have it down to: 12 Monkeys, 40000 leagues under the sea, 1 flew over a cuckoo’s nest, magnificent 7 and famous 5, 2 morrows never die, Oceans 11, four weddings for the funeral, 5 th element, 2 towers, 28 days after(later), state 51 That leaves: Angry men, Steps, You (which I think might be 1), brothers for brides, rip race, the interstellar affair, head in a box, the smoking beer and vicious circle. Any ideas?—- Update—- I think the vicious circle might be catch 22 and I’m led to believe that 12 angry men is what I want.—- Update—- A cute young man has informed me that it might be 7 brothers for 7 brides.—- Update —- Thanks to Livejournal:gwendraith whose comments are below, we now believe in 39 steps, and 7 deadly sins for the head in the box.—- Update—- I think the beer one is 2 as in ‘Lock Stock and TWO smoking barrels’—- Update—- Thanks to Livejournal:gerald_duck we have ‘Death Race 2000’ as the ‘RIP race’ answer—- Update—- Jaffa (from elsewhere) suggests that “You?” is “U-571” and I’m inclined to agree.—- Update—- Richard from OUT suggests that the interstellar affair is 2001 A Space Odessey(sp?)—- Collate—- (12 Angry Men) + (39 Steps) + (571 You???) + (12 Monkeys) + (40000 How far under the sea?) + (1 How many were flying over a type of clock’s nest?) + (7 + 5 Number of Magnificent AND the number of the famous ones as well) + (2 How many morrows never die?) + (7 How many brothers for brides?) + (Oceans 11) + (4 A funeral, any weddings?) + (5 th element) + (2 How many towers?) + (2000 RIP race) + (2001 And interstellar affair set in which year again?) + (7 Head in box) + (28 How many days after?) + (2 Smoking containers of beer) + (51 The state of Britain) + (22 Vicious circle) = 44789—- Feh—- Irritatingly, that’s not the answer. Unfortunately I have yet to discover where we have gone wrong.—- Update —- It’s 20000 leagues under the sea, not 40000, so with a total of 24789 we have an answer which is correct yay

Okay, so I’ve come across this cryptic clue. 9 letters… “My friend owns a huge multinational company, it strangely transports insects, he also loves word play, I guess that’s why he named the company ????????? Ltd” A super snuggly hug to the first person to correctly guess the word.

So, today is warm right? And apparently around 44% relative humidity, so it’s hard to cool down by sweating… I am unhappy, hot, and tired. At least I have apples, and a special treat for Livejournal:nunfetishist tonight when I get home ;-)

What a weekend. I had a lovely time at the home of my friends Vince and Becky. We spent Saturday morning/afternoon preparing-for and being in a meeting with simtec about the Pepperfish AudioStation. The AudioStation is a HiFi separates unit which myself, Livejournal:nunfetishist and Vince have been designing. The idea is that if the meetings we have planned for the next month or so go well, then the implementation of the AudioStation will be Rob’s day-job. We estimate that if we can get the point of selling one per week, then Rob can earn around 10,000 UKP/year doing it. Now I’m just tired and want to sleep lots. There’s one disadvantage to visiting Vince and Becky—they have two children, one nearly two, one only three months old.

Here’s some answers to questions from Livejournal:gwendraith

Cut — You know, I feel like my head is about to explode…

1. Daniel is such a lovely name. If you had to change your name to another ordinary one, what would it be? And a unconventional one?

   Well, I’ve always been fond of the names: Harry, Steven, Gerry and David. I guess however, I’d prefer to be a Mike since I think it fits better with me. In terms of unconventional names, my brothers have been trying to convince me to follow in my elder brothers’ footsteps and change my name to ‘Sha-waddy-waddy Bananarama Funkyboogaloo-Smythe’ which I think could be funny for about 10 minutes.
   BTW, thanks for the compliment ;-)

2. What three positive traits do you admire/like about Livejournal:nunfetishist? and three negatives ones?

   Gosh, well, in terms of positive traits I admire, I like how cuddly he is, his brutal honesty is refreshing and I suppose he’s a loyal and loving man. In terms of negative traits, I suppose I most dislike his self-deprecation, especially in terms of what work he is or isn’t capable of. He has a tendancy to want to be told the answer, instead of working it out for himself (because it’d be quicker if he were told); and he keeps waking me up as I drop off to sleep (allegedly because I snore, but I don’t believe a word of it).

3. Haddenham is a charming and gentile village to live. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?

   Haddenham, and indeed most of Cambridgeshire, is rather lovely, yes. However I’d love to live in a castle, because it’d be really rather cool. Probably in the south of Germany, perhaps near Bavaria; most likely on the franco-german borders. I love that part of Europe in terms of scenery, people and good food. It would be hard, being away from friends and family, but with a huuge castle, people could just visit whenever they wanted.

4. What is your proudest moment?

   I think that the moment I was most proud was simultaneously the moment I was most scared. And that had to be the afternoon when I walked into an estate agents in Ely and said “Hello, I’m Mr Silverstone, and I’m here to collect the key”—I was handed a small keyring with two keys on it, and at that moment, I was in posession of my first house. I was 19 years old.

5. You find a magic lantern. The genie offers you three wishes. What would they be and why?

   Well, following the accepted rules of ‘Genie cannot be cheated’ and ‘World-peace, end-of-suffering etc won’t cut the mustard’ I guess my three wishes would be:

   1. I would wish for happy, fulfilled and loving lives, without financial or medical worries for myself and my close friends and family
   2. I would wish for an increase in empathy and understanding for others’ sorrows and pains in everyone.
   3. I would wish for a better education for all of our children; so that our investment in the future will be in good and well-prepared hands.

Erm, thassit.

Well, Livejournal:cjwatson has provided the following questions…

Cut — Click here to be enlightened

1. Where was your best childhood holiday? Why?

   Hmm, as a child, I remember only three types of holiday. First, holidays in gîtes in France; second, visits to my Grandmother and finally, visits to the holiday cottage in Wales which my parents finally bought in 1994. I would say that my favourite ones of those must have been the 1990 visit to a place called ‘Sammarçolles’ where we stayed in a gîte behind a bakery. I, being a typical 10 year old, was bored with what my parents did, and, naturally, fascinated by the bakery. As a result, I forced my mother to teach me the phrase “May I help you?” so that I could proudly go and ask the baker if he wanted a hand. I can only assume my mother had spoken with him beforehand because he “took me in” and I spent a great two weeks learning about baking french bread and croissants; how to make brioche etc. I can’t remember a bloody word of it, but it was great fun for a budding french speaker.

2. Lua is (if you don’t mind me saying so) a fairly obscure language. What got you into it?

   Well, firstly, no, I don’t mind you saying so. However Lua isn’t as obscure as you might think. I first found Lua when I was scouring the ‘net for programming languages suitable for embedding into a talker-client I was thinking of writing. I wanted a language which I could use both to extend the client, and to be extended by the client. I considered Perl, Python, TCL, Lua and many others before settling on Lua (3.2 as it was then) as my language of choice. Lua was the smallest language of the set to learn, it had the simplest embedding interface of the lot, and had been designed, from the outset to be small and efficient. At the time, I still had the mentality that 500k of RAM was 500k I shouldn’t use if I didn’t have to. Perl was big and scary, Python’s language upset me fundamentally (and still does) and tcl was just nasty. Lua turned out to have a pleasant and helpful community surrounding it, and so we settled on it. Three major language revisions later, and I’m the Debian maintainer for the Lua packages and my major home programming project is a Lua-based web-application development platform (called aranha) hopefully to eventually rival PHP.

3. If you could have a meal anywhere in the world, where would it be?

   If it was me alone, I think I’d want to have a meal somewhere in northern Africa (possibly French Guyana) because I’ve always wanted to see that part of the world, and I feel that food is a great way to get to know somewhere. However if I were allowed to take Livejournal:nunfetishist with me, I guess it’d have to be somewhere in Thailand for a real thai green chicken curry.

4. What’s your all-time favourite piece of music? (Or, put another way, you get to keep one piece of music. What would it be?)

   That is such an evil question. I guess that if I had only one piece, and was never allowed to have another bit ever again, not even humming/singing to myself, it’d be one of the Enigma variations by Elgar.

5. Pepper or fish? Pick one only.

   Aah, well, this one is easy. Pepper is a spice which is easily replaced by any of a number of peppery spices, but fish is something which you cannot substitute for. So I’m choosing to keep fish.
   

Well, in warner-brother’s stylee—Th.. Th.. Thh… That’s all folks

Well, Livejournal:ewx has asked me five questions, so here we go…

Cut — Caution, boredom awaits…

1. Why “pepperfish”?

   Unfortunately this has less of an awe-inspiring story than I would have hoped, so here goes with a brief-history of Pepperfish…
   <flashback style=“wavey lines”>
   Approximately two years ago, a group of friends, some of which are on LJ (Livejournal:nunfetishist for example), and I got together to purchase a computer to get hosted in Telehouse in London. Once it was installed, some more friends of ours approached us saying “Can we have some space?” or “Can you host a website for me?” and we realised that we could charge a minimal fee for this, and still they would come. We needed a name for this machine, calling it 195.149.39.195 was wearing quite thin, so we all pooled the domains we owned at the time and tried to choose one to use. For a reason none of us could quite fathom, one of us owned the domain pepperfish.org and we decided that we could come up with computer names for that (calling them all fish for instance) so we settled on calling the box salmon.pepperfish.org. As more and more people wanted hosting, we decided to try and look a little more professional, so we designed a logo and called ourselves ‘The Pepperfish Consortium’ and got on with things.
   </flashback>
   These days, we are Pepperfish Limited and we continue to grow.

2. If you could wall off any town or city in Britain, which would you choose? Would you be inside or outside?

   Crikey, go for the hard ones eh?.
   I’m not a great city person—I far prefer the country (E.g. I live 10 miles outside Cambridge rather than inside the town/city)—but having grown up there, I’d have to say that for the safety of the rest of the world, we should immediately wall-up and dome-over Birmingham. It’s for the good of the Earth I tell you. (And yes, I’d be outside)

3. What what be the ideal length of a day?

   I’m afraid I have to be rather selfish here. I think work-days should be about 6 hours long (but staggered) so shops are open from 3pm until 9pm on week-days and stuff like that. Weekends should have the days elongated by six hours each, so that I can have a huuuuge lie-in and still get everything done.

4. What was the last book you read, & was it any good? Ditto last film.

   The last book I read was Robert Rankin’s The Greatest Show off Earth. It was extremely odd and really rather good. I think I’ll have to re-read it before I’m satisfied with leaving it alone for a year or so. Just prior to that, I read my first Alexi Sayle book: Barcelona plates which is a collection of short stories which really punch your sense of reality around a bit. Very good and I’d recommend it to anyone with a compatibly odd and slightly dark sense of humour.
   The last film I saw was The Matrix Reloaded which I think was a very good film. The Wachowski brothers have out-done themselves I think. Although the CGI broke down in places and became a touch-too-obvious, it was overall a bloody good film.

5. What’s on your desk?

   Let’s take this one in two parts: Firstly, on my desk here at work there is… a document describing a presentation on bridging busses between hypertransport and RapidIO. Also an OpenMOSIX HowTO document. An install/documentation CD for a Netscreen hardware firewall. Various other bits of paper, and my work notebook. Also my wallet, keys, phone etc and my calculator. Finally there’s a tube-map with various stations ticked-off as we use tube-stops as our naming scheme here at work.
   Now, at home, I have a desk which is covered in bits of paper, CDs, a keyboard and mouse and various other bits of guff. However I tend to sit downstairs on a comfy chair with my laptop and an 802.11b card, so I guess my desk in that sense is the coffee table, which has a copy of Private Eye some unopened letters, and all the remote controls for our HiFi and TV etc.

Phew. Hope that answers them well enough. As per the meme’s structure, feel free to comment/ask additional questions in the comment space below, and also feel free to ask for question sets.

Right, so we have some commercial software here, and rather than trusting you to not abuse your licence, they decide that they have to use the shoddy-as-fuck LM system to protect their arses. (Like I’d want to use their shoddy pile of shite software anyway) So, here I am, trying to get one bit to work, I have a licence key for it, but like fuck will it accept it. They automatic licence update tool takes the licence key in, validates it, and then silently ignores it, so the one bit of their entire toolset I want to use I can’t. All I need to do is validate that their debug probe works with our debugger, but without the licence working, I can’t even do that.

I woke today with more snot in my head than was ever used to gunk people on Noel’s House Party. I have managed to use half a box of kleenex while the antihistamines kick in. Why can’t pollen just fuck off, leave me alone, and not coat every part of me, my house and my car in a fine yellow dust designed purely to cause me to be incapacitated for most of the summer months? sob

Is it just me, or are others having what I can only describe as an incredibly boring day? I have plenty of work I could be doing, but something is forcing me not to. Gah, I feel so utterly listless.