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Microsoft Certified Architect certification

By on November 6, 2005 in Uncategorized

Microsoft have introduced a few new certifications. They are outlined at the certification page. The Microsoft Certified Architect one looks quite rigorous. There are currently 2 tracks; Solutions Architect, which looks developer orientated, and Infrastructure Architect, which looks to be more more platform focused on servers, networks and delivery. it also looks like these new certifications will be hard to get. Good. The last thing we need is another raft of certifications that give us architectural equivalents of the famous paper MCSE’s.

The Q&A section at the Microsoft Certified Architect certification website is interesting reading. Looks like only about 25% of the required knowledge will be based on Microsoft technologies. From the web site:

Q. Does the certification cover only Microsoft Technologies?
Q. What competencies will the program address?
A. t the present time, it is expected that only about a quarter of the emphasis of a candidate’s knowledge will be on Microsoft-related architecture technologies; the rest will relate to general architecture principles and best practices that aren’t Microsoft specific. A candidate for the program will have to have a broad-based knowledge that extends well beyond Microsoft technologies. In addition, the non-technical skills domain that candidates will face throughout the process will be broad, including such knowledge areas as project management, decision-making, strategic thinking, and oral and verbal communication.

That looks very encouraging. Hopefully this’ll be a worthwhile programme that helps raise the level of professionalism in the IT industry.

The Snow – Adam Roberts

By on November 5, 2005 in Uncategorized

I really like the books I’ve read by Adam Roberts. I’ve just finished his book called The Snow. The basic premise of this book is simple enough. It starts to snow. It continues to snow. Everywhere on Earth. For a long time. This continues until the snow is several kilometers deep and everyone except for about 150,000 people are dead. The survivors were mainly related to the military and their bases, are snow experts who were skiing in The Alps (for example), or have been dug out of buildings under the deep snow by the new Food Miners who dig down to get resources.

The story is told from the perspective of 2 main characters whose paths cross a few times, and also by the device of government memos and reports. Early in the book there is an explanation of how it is possible for so much snow to fall. I don’t want to say anything more about that as it’d be a spoiler for anyone who wants to read the book. The ending wasn’t what I was expecting from the early and middle sections of the book. If you like character driven sci-fi you should check this out.

BTW Adam Roberts also writes comedy books under the pseudonym A. R. R. R. Roberts. For example The Soddit.

Human Papilloma Virus Vaccines

By on November 4, 2005 in Science

There is a really good article by DarkSyde on the Human Papilloma Virus, the recently developed vaccines (that studies show are 100% effective at stopping it causing cervical cancer), and the efforts of some religious groups to prevent a mass vaccination program. It beggars belief that I can still be shocked by the actions of these religious kooks. You can read the article at the UTI site.

Talk Science discussion group

By on October 2, 2005 in Science

A new discussion group has been set-up on Yahoo groups to provide a place for the discussion of various science topics.

The group is an off shoot of the DebunkCreation group. Any science related topic is suitable for discussion. Some things are off-topic however as they usually lead to flame-wars. The list description gives details but basically politics, religion& ethics are off-topic. We stick to the how questions of science not the why or should we questions.

You can join the group here.

New Kate Bush song

By on September 21, 2005 in General

After a 12 year wait. The new Kate Bush single “King of the Mountain” was released to radio today. It got its international debut on Ken Bruce’s BBC Radio 2 show. It’s very, very good indeed.

I got my radioShark to record the show when I was at work. I then used Audio Hijack Pro to cut out the track from the rest of the radio show and save it as an AAC file. I’ve been playing it a lot this evening. What a voice. I stand by my statement from 2003.

Really looking forward to the new album.

Update: The new Kate Bush web site now has a snippet of the new track. And it is now available from the iTMS.

Recent additions

By on August 8, 2005 in General

Recently I’ve added quite a few new artists and albums to iTunes. Almost all of these have been via the iTMS. Some notable additions are listed below.

The Killers – Hot Fuss. I love this album. One of the best I’ve heard in a long time.

Kaiser Chiefs – Employment. I bought this because somebody I know said it was good and I’d probably like it. They were right 🙂

Aimee Mann – Lost in Space. Came to this via a weird route. Was checking out the HD video examples at the Apple QuickTime site. One of the examples was Aimee Mann performing The Moth. Liked it so much I got the album.

Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand. Was loaned a copy of this as I’m going to TVital05 in Belfast in August and they are playing. Scissor Sistors are also playing and it was them I wanted to see. I’m actually looking forward to seeing FF more now. Really good album.

Patrick and Eugene – Postcard from Summerisle. Bought this after The Birds and The Bees was the free single of the week on the UK iTMS. Excellent stuff. Includes a ska/reggae cover of Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind.

Surveillance Ultrasound

By on August 8, 2005 in Uncategorized

I had the ultrasound that was mentioned in my last post a few days ago. As expected this was all clear. Lateral transfer of TC is quite rare so I didn’t expect anything to show up. Good to know for sure though.

And another one gone…

By on June 1, 2005 in Uncategorized

Had my 6th post I/O & radiation check-up today. Nothing unusual to report.
The lung x-ray that was taken at the last check-up was clear. Today the oncologist did an exam of my testicle, abdomen and also listened to my lung sounds. All fine.
He re-instigated the blood marker checks that were skipped at the last check-up (my markers were always normal) and ordered a precautionary ultrasound on my testicle. He also said I’d get another CT scan in 12 months.
So happy days then 🙂

Tori Amos – The Beekeeper

By on March 6, 2005 in General

Brilliant new album from Tori Amos. Back to the quality of the early material. Much happiness!

I didn’t know this new album was out until I saw it in a banner advertisement on the UK iTMS. Tori Amos’s early albums were very, very good indeed. Her debut album, Little Earthquakes, was stunning with tracks like Crucify, Precious Things, Happy Phantom and Winter especially good. The next album, Under the Pink, was better than the previous one. Nearly all the tracks on this album were, and still are, brilliant. After this there were a few albums that were different! There were a few good tracks inter-spaced on the albums Boys for Pele, From the Choirgirl Hotel and To Venus and Back. Venus did have a 2nd live disk with stuff from the early albums on it. Which was good. Some people loved those albums. I didn’t.

The album Scarlet’s Walk, which was released in 2002, was a step back towards the good material. The track Wednesday was very, very good indeed and a few others as well. The new album, The Beekeeper, is brilliant. I’ve listened to it about 15 times over the last few days. There isn’t a track on it I feel like skipping. Toast is my favourite. Closely followed by Witness, Parasol and Ireland. It’s all good though. You can listen to 30 second snippets at the album home page on the iTMS. There is a track on the album called Sweet the Sting that sounds very like it’s Alisha’s Attic performing it. Which is no bad thing.