Navigation

Author Archive | Ian Robinson

Rainy Belfast

By on December 3, 2005 in General

Been even wetter than usual in Belfast for the last few days. Sometimes its like the air has turned to liquid! I don’t mind rain. You can’t live in Belfast if you mind rain. I have a lot of time for the Rob McKenna character from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The amount of rain over the last few days however is just taking the piss! I’ve been thinking of buying a new motorbike. It might be more prudent, given the bloody weather, to get a boat instead.

It was George Best’s funeral this morning here in Belfast and it was chucking it down. Really chucking it down. Large numbers of people still turned out to welcome him home and say goodbye for a final time. Football was always second fiddle to cricket and rugby for me. Goalkeeper was my thing when I did play football. However it was impossible to grow up in East Belfast and not be immersed in the legend of George Best. I never saw him play live but from the video that remains he really was something special. Every now and then sport throws up people who are gifted and appear to be just that bit better than those around them. George Best was one of them. From my lifetime the only other person that springs to mind in the same ilk is David Gower when batting. I’d rather have watched David Gower score a stylish 50 runs than other batsmen plod their way to 100 or more. Sport should be entertainment. Gower, and Best from what I’ve seen, provided it.

We could do with more like them.

Another check-up done

By on November 30, 2005 in Uncategorized

I had another 6-month checkup today after my TC in 2003. Physical examination was clear, results of ultrasound done a few months ago were reviewed. They were clear. I also had a chest x-ray taken for a clinician to review for any signs of remission. If that is clear, and I expect it will be, then my next check-up will be in a year.

So, onwards and upwards. 🙂

Hapiton theory

By on November 27, 2005 in Science

Thesis: happiness is carried by a fundamental particle, hereby known as the hapiton. When there are lots in your vicinity you are happy. When they are scarce you are sad.

Hapitons can be made to cluster around you by consuming alcohol, talking with friends, eating good food, listening to music etc. Listening to Intelligent designer creationists, other creationists, fundies and other religious bigots can release anti-hapitons. Hapitons and anti-hapitons annihilate when they come into contact releasing a photon of pure rage.

Must be a research grant in there somewhere. So how would we test this?

Experiment: Set-up some social situation in a room where people will interact and be happy. Maybe a small party. Introduce music, food, Guinness, Tiger Beer and other favourite drinks.

Let party develop.

Open two previously covered thin slits in one wall of party room. If hapitons are being generated by party they should flow out through slits [1]. Directly opposite the slits, on the outside of the party room, line up approximately 20 people parallel with the wall containing the slits and at right angles to a line joining the wall with the line of people. The distance between the line of people and the wall with the slits is unspecified and should be varied during the course of the experiment.

Question the 20 people in the line as to their state of happiness [2] on a scale of 1 (very sad) and 100 (ecstatically happy, maybe even giddy) during the course of the party. Vary the distance from the wall and repeat questioning for duration of party [3]. Perform questioning with no slits open and then with one slit open and then the other.

Analyse results from questioning, after party, to see if there is any pattern that would suggest quantum mechanical interference as the hapitons pass through the slits. Was there a happy, sad, happy, sad, happy sad… pattern? Did the pattern disappear when only one slit was open? What about when both slits where closed? How did the distance from the wall effect the happiness of the subjects. Did any of the subjects get annoyed when you asked them the same bloody question over and over when they could have been at a party?

Enquiring minds want to know the answer! Sensible people want to be at the party and not in the line outside!

[1] Ensure that walls of room are not transparent to hapitons.
[2] Question subjects before the start of the experiment so as to get a baseline happiness reading.
[3] Ensure that sounds of merriment coming from party does not influence those in line. Perhaps earmuffs should be used.

My Essential IT books

By on November 22, 2005 in Uncategorized

Doing Windows based IT pays my bills. There are several dead forests worth of books on Microsoft software, and other IT topics, published every year. The list below contains what I consider to be my current essential IT books, with links to Amazon UK.

If you have a favorite IT book feel free to post details in the comments.

Poll shows more people of no faith in young age group in UK

By on November 18, 2005 in Uncategorized

This is encouraging. A poll by the BBC on religion for BBC News 24’s “faith day” (WTF does News 24 need to have a “faith day” for anyway?) shows that there are more people in the 18-24 age group that say that have no faith (43%) over those who profess to be Christian (41%).

Older age groups have more people who profess a religion. But as they grow old and die, with more and more of the younger generation not having a faith then the long slow death of religion in the UK will continue. Which is good. Details of the survey are available in a PDF downloadable from the BBC site.

Music reviews aren’t worth the paper…

By on November 14, 2005 in General

That they’re printed on. I’ve never got the point of page long, or longer, reviews of music. What’s the point of reading about somebody else’s take on a particular album or track. If they like it it doesn’t mean that you will. if they hate it it doesn’t mean that you won’t like it. I’ve lost count of the number of times I read in a music album review that a certain track was the “worst” on the album, only to discover that they are referring to my favourite track. What music you like is very subjective. It doesn’t matter at all what others, like reviewers, think of it. Music reviews should consist of the following:

1) X has a new album/song out.
2) Here are the details. Title, label, etc.
3) I like it/don’t like it. But so what. YMMV.
4) Go listen yourself. Here’s where you can hear samples.

The chances of this happening are about the same as the chances of a whelk in a supernova. Most music critics seem to be full of themselves.