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“What’s that you said? Yes, grandaughter, I remember the Ikea riots of ‘05. Oh, terrible it was. There were flaming bags of GLIMMA being hurled over the BILLY barricades, then exploding in a waxy splash on the AMORF. KLACKBOs were being fashioned into makeshift trebuchet to chuck RESPEKT at those packed into the warehouse. I even saw one woman use a KLIPPAN on a trolley as a battering ram. Shocking. Of course, back in those days, Ikea just sold reasonably priced furniture, not like today.”

I got my first ever library fine today: a whopping 40p. I’m like some kind of outlaw. I expect there will be posters up in Police stations around the country offering a 30p reward for information about my whereabouts.

I have a question: does anyone know of good resources for adults to improve their handwriting? I don’t mean calligraphy, but everyday fluent handwriting. I used to have really neat handwriting when I was at school, but as I’ve used computers more it has gradually degraded to the scruffy, illegible scrawl I use today. When I look back at my old school books, and even my undergraduate notes, it’s hard to believe that it’s my handwriting. I’d really like to neaten it up again.

I think part of the problem is impatience. I’ve got used to typing very quickly, so when I try to hand-write at the same speed, I get frustrated and the result looks like a stoned spider with inky feet reeling across the page.

Now that I’ve released the next version of what is now called Tracks, the awful realisation has hit me that my icon designing skills leave everything to be desired. The icons I made for Tracks are grey blobs. All of them. So I’m on the hunt for some replacements. I’d like some 16x16 pixel icons for edit, delete, show note and perhaps also a ‘done’ bullet point (a tick or checkmark in a circle).

IconExperience and IconBuffet both have beautiful royalty-free icons which would be ideal, but as I’m not making any money out of Tracks, I can’t really afford their packages. Also, I only need a few of the icons, so a full package wouldn’t be very good value for me. Does anyone know of any free (as in beer and speech) sources of suitable icons? Or does anybody feel like contributing something of their own? Tracks is GNU GPL licensed now, so I can offer you only the undying gratitude and rapt admiration of everyone who has to peer at my blobs and wonder, “Is that an edit symbol, or a delete symbol? Uh-oh.”

…Happy New Year!

I’ve fallen in love with Subversion. Some time ago, I had a go at using another version control system (CVS), but I never managed to get the hang of it; it seemed more trouble than it was worth. But when I moved to TextDrive, I found that I had access to Subversion repositories, so I decided to see if I could get to grips with it.

The Subversion book proved invaluable, but it all seemed much simpler than CVS once I’d got the basic idea. I’m currently working on the next version of my GTD app, and it’s been wonderful to be able to hack away at it without worrying that I’m not going to be able to put things right again if my new feature turns out to be a gigantic mistake. As long as I make sure that the app is working properly (or at least that I know exactly what is working and what isn’t) each time I submit a commit, I have a reassuring safety net, and can experiment to my heart’s content.

It’s fantastic! I almost wish that I could have my whole life administered by Subversion so that—in the likely event of a major mistake on my part—I could just svn revert to a previous, non-messed up version.

I’m moving hosts again—I’ll explain more when the transition has been made. So there may be some odd things happening, posts and comments appearing and then disappearing, 404s and so on until things have settled down. Do not adjust your sets!

Here are a few photographic tips for you:

1. When you put your trousers in the wash, check the pockets for 35 mm film canisters that you meant to drop off at the photo processors on your way through town. Vigourous agitation in a detergent solution at 40°C does not suit colour film—who would have guessed?
2. When you forget about Tip 1 and you go to pick up the photographs after having experimentally submitted them for processing, do remember to run away when the assistant tells you that the film couldn’t be processed because it was wet for some reason, and also smelled of summer meadows. Under no circumstances should you hang around and try to explain why, because you’ll just end up sounding stupid or crazy or both.
3. When you realise too late that you should have followed Tip 2, do remember to pay for that sandwich you’re holding before you make a hasty exit, blushing deeply. Otherwise you’ll look like a stupid, crazy shoplifter.

Two girls, chatting in a sandwich shop:

I don’t feel so guilty when I eat crisps, because they’re like… flat.

Excellent, the thickness-based diet—you can eat as many thin foods as you like. Crisps, crackers, After Eight mints, processed cheese slices and salami can all be eaten ad libitum, but apples, tomatoes and broccoli are right out the window.

I must suffer from some rare and highly specific form of dyslexia. Even though I know exactly what the difference is, I keep using = when I mean ==. I reckon that about 80% of the problems I’ve had while writing Ruby have come from using the assignment operator when I really want a comparator.

I need to tattoo = != == on the back of my hand.

One of the things I’ve noticed travelling on the train is the number of people who lose their place momentarily. They might be reading, listening to music or just day-dreaming, when they suddenly realise that they don’t know exactly where they are because they haven’t been paying attention to the stops. They search the darkness outside anxiously for some familiar pattern in the lights and shadows.

It’s happened to me a couple of times, and it’s very disorienting. The odd thing is that you think that you know the line intimately, travelling on it every day. I think that the problem arises because the familiar landmarks are strongly bound up in their linear sequence; recognising where you are is rather dependent on knowing where you are in the sequence. Even in the daytime, if you lose your place along the sequence, it takes several moments to place what should be very familiar landmarks. Odd.

This photo reminded me of something I meant to write about when I got back from Germany, but forgot about. Frankfurt airport has an amazing link corridor through which those moving walkways run to speed you between gates. It’s painted white and generally dimly lit, but a series of lights paint the walls with a shifting set of colours, producing an effect a little like the Aurora Borealis. At the same time, there’s a sound track of bird song, running water and gentle bells, which is quite soothing. However, they they didn’t stop there, and there’s also a subtle but perceptible smell of mint or citrus (or perhaps both), which has a refreshing effect. I found it quite a nice—if slightly odd—experience after being cooped up on a plane for several hours, although the whole thing made me feel as if I’d unwittingly ended up on that space station in the film 2001. It had the same self-consciously futuristic feel.

[via blue - Everyone’s Tagged Photos]

Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets last night. It is a fictional—though factually-based—account of a six-year manned mission to all the planets in our Solar System. I thought that the combination of fact and drama might be really cheesy, but it was pretty well done. The facts were somewhat simplified for a popular audience, but it wasn’t dumbed down too much. The combination of ‘interviews’ with the scientists and astronauts involved, and the information on the voice-over worked quite well. The simulations of the landings on the planets, and also the scenes on Pegasus were beautifully done, and did bring the facts about the planets to life. There’s a good reason that the cameras mounted on the Viking Mars landers were at human eye height: we find it difficult to understand things unless we see them from our own familiar viewpoint. That’s why it’s so powerful to see human figures wandering around on a simulated Mars and Venus—it gives you a much better impression of scale. Even the dramatic bits weren’t gratuitous because space missions are really dangerous.

I got the impression that some of the quirky details might have come directly from stories told by people involved with space missions. There was one bit where one of the astronauts was talking about a bet they had during G-force training on who would withstand the highest G before fainting. The Russian won, but none of them could understand how he could survive 15 G until they found out he could faint with his eyes open. That had a ring of truth about it.

Of course, it may be that I didn’t pick up any of the egregious errors, physical impossibilities or huge generalisations because I’m not a planetary scientist, astronomer or astrophysicist. I tend to be much more critical of documentaries about biology or natural history. Anyway, it was fun and I’m looking forward to the second part next week.

I overheard this exchange at the bus stop this morning, delivered by three boys commenting on every car that went past:

[Boy 1, in a pre-pubescent Brummie squeak]: Whoa! That’s a Subaru!

[Boy 2]: Like the one in “2 Fast 2 Furious”!

[Boy 3]: Yeeahh!

[All watch in awed silence—crowded on the curb for a better view—as the car goes by]

[Boy 1]: Crap spoiler¹, though.

[Boy 3]: It’s the worst spoiler in the world!

Everyone is a critic. Bless ‘em.

¹ By which they meant the aerodynamic spoiler on the car, not a spoiler of the film variety.

I’ve just had some spam from Yoda:

Hello!

The company on development web project are required Financial Leader(permanent or temporary work). You it is necessary whole only pair hours a day for this work, rest we shall teach you. The company guarantees the social package, honesty in cooperation, ensuring the salary beforehand on acceptance on work, vacation. Acceptance is realized on competitive base. We are pleased each workman!

Salary from 5000 pounds in mounth.

Being a Jedi Master must not pay as well as it did, so poor little Yoda has had to diversify into web development—he might be using the name ‘Ninette’, but I’d know that syntax anywhere. I must say that I’m interested by the £5000 in mounth (one orally-delivered pay cheque per month?), and reassured that “is necessary whole only pair hours a day”. You don’t want to be working those unpaired hours—it’s a killer. So tempting, particularly as the boss might even teach me how to use a light sabre during my lunch hour!