Happy Chrimblis everybody!

(coo, 1st Xmas-related post).

I like the snow covered piccy over on the left. Hail eris :)

It's on Linux.

And yes, he does know there's several already, he's just doing it because of boredom, I think.

Don't ask me... I know nothing else about it, apart from that. :p

Jimmy: What platform is he trying to build this player for? I presume, since you mentioned 8-bit sound, it's for the Arc.

If it is for the Arc, please remind him that there are some rather shonky linear-to-log tables involved (if in doubt use Acorn's code), and by default the tuning is a bit off anyway - try poking any of the old Krysalis games to find the relevant "*Tuning" corrections/fudges.

Oh, and if he's hooked the playback routine onto anything other than the IOC timers or TimerV/callbacks he needs shooting ;)

Watermelon solved!
For quite some time, one particular section of the lyrics from "All around the world or the myth of fingerprints" by Paul Simon has perplexed Rob and myself - namely the lines:

  Well, the sun gets weary
  And the sun goes down
  Ever since the watermelon

Alison has just solved the puzzle. The watermelon in question is the watermelon from the live performance of "I'm going home" at Woodstock. As can be seen in the video footage, the lead singer gives a powerful performance of this rock protest song with a huge watermelon on stage with him. At the end of the performance, he picks up the watermelon, perches it on his shoulder and walks off the stage. I therefore assume the watermelon from the lyrics is merely a reference to effective protest songs.

thanks for the book, you have no idea how much that cheered me up.

(For those of you who don't know, it's "The Book Of Bunny Suicides")

Also, for those who are annoyed at the profusion of christmas carols on TV/Radio/EVERYWHERE, who just can't stand it anymore - it's not that bad. Give a little thought for those less fortunate than yourself (me) - Dan is writing a soundtracker player at the moment; it does play; indeed, just the rhythms aren't quite right, and the tuning isn't either.

Out of tune 8-bit "Sailor's Hornpipe" with the rhythms just that little bit off gets a little annoying after the tenth repetition.

Jimmy - bugger. And where did you get that chao? It's very nice - am actually looking for a large 3D-rendered chao atm. If you see one, will you let me know pls?

(While he's away and can't defend himself:)

Awwwwwwwwww

Rob: I have to be at a lecture at 9am on Monday 5th.

Perhaps we should rearrange things a little? :P

And now a brief interlude for those of you who still have a thing about llamas.

May I suggest a "s/check out/peruse/g", or similar incantation?

As an aside: Wouldn't it be useful if, as well as a spell-checker, blogger included an absence-of-mind checker? Something which analyzed your posts for common phrases, sentence structures, deliberate mis-spellings, phrases you never use even when other posters would, etc. and pointed out when your brain was acting "off-topic"... Would be damn near impossible to program, as the theory is well beyond any commercial AI, but it might be fun to try :P

*leaves as an exercise to the reader*

S**t! I meant "check out" in the ironic sense... of course... because I'd never seriously use that phrase when speaking/writing/typing/blogging/whatever.

Those who haven't yet discovered A Softer World might want to check out Oct 24 and Dec 5.

Did I miss something?

Ben: About 71600, according to Google. Mind you, I wouldn't be so sure myself, especially when this comes up at the top end of page 10, and this on page 14...

Anyway, I prefer to rate beauty in thoughts or looks, not Watts, but that's probably just personal preference.

OMG PORPOISE WTF LOL!!
somebdy sex m plz.

<voice type="exaggeratedly-innocent-menacing">
...crunchy porpoises...
</voice>

You put that porpoise down right now! You haven't a clue where it's been! ... I don't care where you got it from ... No, I will not calm down! When was the last time it had a bath, hmm? ... Don't you get cocky with me, young man, I know perfectly well where porpoises live ... And how many times have you peed in the ocean? Precisely. Now wash your hands this minute or you won't get any tea.

... yes mum ...

mmmmm... porpoise.

Toby - I sympathise deeply. Oh well. You always have the option of installing Solaris x86 for stress relief porpoises now...

<nag>You know what would be cool? If we just all went on a #perkinwarbeck IRC channel rather than using that stupid messenger crap. That'd be cool :P</nag>

What're you using for ad removal, Toby? (Asides from not using Messenger, obviously)

Also, I hate to say it, but it's that time again - Linda, what bus are we meeting on, and at what time, on Wed?

Ok, so now I remember why I hate sisters. I'm only back 20 secs and Becca forces me to install all the add-ins for MSN Messenger, resulting in my nice clean Messenger install being filled up with ad banners. She insists it's non-optional and vital to her well-being. Fuck that. I'm therefore boycotting Messenger over the Christmas break, save for if I'm on my laptop - the version on there is completely ad-free and has all sound-effects and smilies turned off. It's almost usable like that. If people want to contact me, may I suggest you text me?

Furthermore, Becca being like that has only reinforced my view that I need to spend as little time as possible at home this Christmas, and what little time I do spend here, I should be pissed, or otherwise occupied for.

Ooops! I forgot to post the WIDDYWEB in an Ann Widdecome post. Naughty Jimmy... Jimmy must be punished...

Ann Widdecome in the Spectator on "Feminism in the Modern Age" (from Michael Kelly's Page Of Misery)

I'm on holiday now, so if anyone wants to talk, I'm probably going to be hitting F5 on this page every 5 minutes or so :P

wibble wobble wibble wobble... jelly on the plate

"My Ass Still Hot From Your Hand: A Biography of God, by Adam"

Yeh.... there's a lot of tidying left to be done, some of my class-dependent code needlessly uses reflection, a bad habit ;). I've currently got +, -, *, and / working on numerics and strings, and a while and an if and various stack fu. Any ideas for random routines to put in standard lib?

Oh, and I can't imagine being able to compile this easily... it's rather too dynamic. That which I have at the moment is very definitely an interpreter.

*headaches*

And lo, 'tiz done.

Why is writing a compiler so easy, yet dealing with System.in and newline characters so bloody difficult? Methinks there is much injustice, politics and general metasyntactic variable jiggery-pokery involved in the JRE.

And now, relax.

Keith: Just for your information, MISBL lives (albeit running in Java). Now working on a suitably quirky standard library for it - Toby, Jimmy too: Please tell me of any ideas you have for said standard library. I've run out of ideas shortly after string multiplication and division.

teeth, claws
breakup sex


you so shouldn't have missed buffy.

I was in such a mood just now - i came so close to being VERY rude to several irritating students but thankfully managed to restrain myself - not a day to annoy me! grrr...

Picture a long cue at the returns desk, me being the only one on that side as the other two were dealing with the queue the other side: student decides to bypass the queue, dump books on desk and walk away *calls student back and tells him not dump his books* "but they're not overdue or anything, just a quick return" *reminds student that there is a cue and he should wait his turn (whilst trying hard not to pick up his books, throw them at him and tell him to just f**k off)*

Just out of interest, which function is this in particular?

I'm betting one or more of the following:
1) It's not zero at some point, or along some lines.
2) It's also not continuous at said points
3) 0 is being divided somewhere

I'd agree that Statistics is a load of bollocks, but still useful bollocks. If done correctly. Which it often isn't, owing to the results not being understood, or bad assumptions being made. Or trying to interpret results without understanding the assumptions, or ignoring them.

Well, enough of my Mathematics banter!

Coo, after 5pm today, no more official work for the year. Joy!

why is it that my monthly hormones only kick in when i'm about to see jimmy and alex?

Right, so you've got a function of two variables, lets call it f(x,y), right?

And for any given x and y, the value of it is zero.

But, if you integrate over all values of f, you get 1. So, somewhere, it isn't zero. And, of course, while it isn't zero, it isn't zero in some places more than others. So you can say, for example, that integrating one part of the function would give you a completely different result to another one, despite the fact that at all points on the function, f(x,y)=0, so the integral (area under the curve/surface) should of course always be one value - zero.

Then, just to make things complicated, it turns out that while we've been talking about the integral of this function, you can't actually integrate it at all. BUT, we've made some really good guesses as to what it might be, you know, and so we're pretending that the integral actually exists. When it's been proven that it doesn't.

In summary: anyone who attempts to persuade you that Statistics is a branch of mathematics that is based on proof, and that is derived from some logical basis, is lying to your face.

Pumpkin lanterns?

Anyone who wants to decorate (requires IE, I think) PW can go away and die. Unless they have a *really* good idea of what we should do.

"I've just been festive"... *sniggers* :P

I've just been festive with red tinsel :D want to decorate more now!! hehe - maybe i'll decorate toby if i see him tonight :P

Thankyou Super Special Brilliant Team Of Organisers/Ticket Buyers Toby and Linda. This all sounds good. I also will be at West Quay at 17.30.

The other page is nicer simply because it works in any browser apart from IE5+/Win with JS turned on. Which the official Odeon page definitely does not. Even if it is slightly less perty.

on thur i'm hoping for an evening that involves fast food and alcohol (i have a craving for archers and lemonade!) :P we can do the civilised thing on the 17th.

I shall be in the entrance to West Quay at 5:30pm so if anyone wants to join me, that would be great, otherwise i'll just stand looking cold and confused :P

Jimmy: I like the other cinema page better :P

Right, executive decision: 3:15 showing of LOTR followed by a meal in Quayside Pub (the one next to leisureworld). If anyone has any complaints they'll have to come up with a better suggestion themselves

Toby: please can you book tickets for 3 students and 1 adult for LOTR on wednesday 17th december at 3:15pm

yay! buffy. Cinema - I'm not too fussed about times; a) I have nothing better to do, b) I am unfussed about seeing daylight. Meal does, however, sound nice. Mmm. Food.

Could be go for a MEAL though, not student food? Pub food or something like that would be nice. /me has been eating so much SUSU CAFE LARGE BREAKFAST for the last three months that I need something a little more, um, less like a McChicken Sandwich. (Yes, I know you're going to object here, Toby... But we haven't had proper food for ages, and we ALWAYS have BK/McDs...)

So just get Toby and the benji to agree on a time or something. :P

As for thursday, please can someone tell me what's going on so I can meet people at a time/place? I leave lectures at half-three, so I'll be in town from half-four onwards, I imagine. Anyone who wants to come pester me at that point is very welcome.

*slumps in chair mumbling incoherently* TOO MANY PEOPLE!! :p

Buffy night tonight :D if i can stay awake :P

firecrackers? crosses legs. The more controversial form of contraception? :P

(organisational mode)

looks like it's the 4 of us going to LOTR (Jimmy, Benji, Toby and me). I can't get a response from Andy, everyone else is either busy or broke :P

on thur (psycho) Dave will probly turn up at 9:30ish after work, alex will be there + the above mentioned. Toby may bring Dave or Mark?

Why did i attempt to organise TWO gatherings at the same time? most people have difficulty with one :P

*pokes jimmy, toby and benji* we need to agree on a time for LOTR - way i see it, we can either see it early (11am) and have a late lunch afterwards, meet up 4 lunch first and go to the cinema about 3ish or go about 3ish and have an evening meal afterwards. Anyone have a preference? I quite like the idea of cinema then evening meal, but i am aware that people might want to see some daylight so i'm not really fussed :P

Odeon

and thur?

I think that Nick Cave + Girls Are Pretty is possibly a bad combination...

Right, i've texted people, some twice :P Alex can come on thur but not LOTR. Nicx has to work both times and no-one else has replied. They have until tomorrow before we book without them :P

Benji: can you come to either gathering?

Toby: I thought it was me who normally had damp underwear ;) aww, no-ones ever needed me as much as they need food and sleep before (except my parents, obviously :P) *huggles*
hmm... i don't think you'd be able to talk much with your mouth full ;) :P

Linda: the one at the top should be... strangely familiar...

Woot! I have clean pants! :)

Unfortunately they're damp, clean pants :(

Why don't they make radiators with horizontal slatting in, for hanging socks off of? I suppose there must be some theoretical reason why all radiators have vertical slatting or dents, as opposed to horizontal, but surely a compromise must be possible? Radiators with slats at 30 degrees to the horizontal, anyone?

Hmm... S'pose I ought to do some Compiler Engineering revision, in lieu of doing the coursework. Talking bollocks is far more edifying though.

I wonder how one "talks bollocks"... "Talk" as in "to produce forth from the mouth", or "talk" as in "to lecture in"? A combination of both would no doubt be messy and unlikely to draw a very large audience... <instills bad mental image in the mind of the reader>

My work here is done ;)

Lobsters versus Goddesses... oh my.

"A friend needs a hug. And after the hug, they need to crack open a lobster, dunk it in butter, and get their fingers all messy. We call it Lobster Therapy. And it works."

Back from the dead, and smelling fresher that your average zombie ;)

I have brain lag :/

I also, theoretically have a working VISA debit card (which ODEON don't seem to mind), but I'm intending to do coursework and pissups in roughly equal quantities until the middle of January, interspersed with eating, sleeping, Linda and the other pre-requisites of life :) Someone else had better round up the likely suspects and tell me who is attending and when. I don't mind booking but I have plenty of rubbish of my own to organize ATM - bloody SEG project, rant, moan, etc. :P

Love you all...
Wish I was all there...
Wish I had some clean pants for tomorrow :S

I don't have any kind of credit/debit card either, so I can't help.
During the day is fine for me, we all stop at uni on the 13th, I believe...
Perhaps you should find someone who has a credit card?. Not wanting to state the obvious, and all that.

umm... I just honestly did the buffy 'dream date' quiz on the bbc website and it came up with Giles as my dream date, oh dear :P

would we need to book during the day? there are 10 showings with available seats between 11am and 4:45pm. If we all met up about 10 or 11, we could get tickets for a later film and have lunch first couldn't we? or is that too risky? If you don't want to do that someone else will have to sort out the booking.

I just had a look at the odeon website, if we want to see LOTR on the 17th, we'll have to go during the day and book very soon. The latest showing available on that day is 4:45. Need feedback. I also cannot book online as they don't accept Visa Electron, so can anyone else?

I missed last night's episode :( but a combination of retail therapy, toby (and Dave :P) and then pizza hut with parents was far too tempting!

Jimmy: Spike back in leather :D The last scene was very like LOTR as well. So does that mean that every slayer is part-demon? Is that why buffy always falls in love with vampires? :P hmm... does buffy need to become less human to beat the first? yes... and needing spike like neo needed trinity... i see what you mean. At least Giles isn't the first, we hope :) :P ooo... I so would like to see andrew and zander get together :P that scene from tuesday's episode when zander came home from being stabbed was so funny! Andrew is cool in a cute puppy kind of way :P

"... for he took up my legs sometime ..."

in my plan we are beltless.

What a good question. I'm sure we'll think of something by then.

Alex may well be dead; I haven't spoken to him for a few days, think I talked to him at the beginning of the week.

Rob: what Linda said :P

Linda: how cool was Buffy? :P I also thought it was quite reminiscent of a few themes from the Matrix trilogy, too...

What are we going to do on the 11th?

Jimmy: agreed. guess i'll have to sort that out soon then
Is alex still alive? I've tried to text him but i'm not getting any response :P

Rob: are you going to be in bishops waltham at all over christmas?

Wish I were about...

11th sounds good. Perhaps everyone who reads this should put a "yes" or "no" depending on whether it's ok for them? And as for LOTR, we could always just go for those of us who we know will pay you back going, and have a small trip... if it gets any later, it'll be getting awkward.

I have an interview in 20 minutes, help! :P

if people want a gathering, next thur (the 11th) is the best i can do if you want me there :P I'm happy to nag people to turn up, but need suggestions regarding what we'll be doing.

While i think about it, when do people want to go see lord of the rings? i can't make the 18th or 19th. If we see it on the 17th we'll have 2 book well in advance, which means people actually have to turn up or be hunted down until they pay the cost of the ticket!

hmm... a guy randomly wandered around the library earlier wearing a christmas hat and holding a balloon, mumbling something about charity work :P Oh well. He didn't look like he was particularly with it

only joking - before jimmy has a panic attack :P

I think we should all turn up on jimmy's doorstep and watch pirates of the caribbean :P

Please don't ask toby to organise this, he'll self-destruct if he has anything else to think about! :P *hugs toby* I'll see what my parents think about either this thursday or friday, if they're ok i guess i could organise a small gathering. Thur might be better because i was gonna be in town anyway (plus west quay is open until 9pm)

Oh, no. Out of curiosity I had a little look at how much it would cost me to make a computer *extremely quiet*. It seems to be worryingly affordable. I may *have* to spend money on this, just because. Which is, er, not good. (And yes, I do know, I should get a Powerbook and then the fan would never come on at all...)

now THIS looks interesting. Mr. Jeff Minter is working on something he calls his "dream project". Jimmy can only hope that one day they make his dream project - "Hamsters" in 3d...

Reasons why the OGG format is cool, part 1:

"For crossover works, or ambiguous works, use as many GENRE tags as you think it takes to describe the styles used."

Yay?! The only problem now, is trying to remember an appropriate genre for everything...

I have no idea either. Perhaps Toby might? :P Friday does sound good...

I have no idea about gatherings - anyone want to organise one? :P preferably on a friday or saturday

I have Pirates of the Caribbean on DVD! Yay *huge grin*

wow, The Beast Must Die takes on a new meaning when you re-soundtrack it late at night on channel four with the beach boys. a seventies black shaft-clone [but distinctly more badass, especially in a b-movie] hunting werewolves to I Get Around, Surfing USA, and for good measure some Leaving On A Jet Plane [john denver] just really sets it off nicely.

"I'm leaving onnnn a jet plannnne.... dont know when I'll be back againnn...." as someone has just been ripped apart by a fake-looking black dog. beautiful.

Now look at your simple shuttle on earth, have you noticed the pilot you've put
in at the beginning, he's now amiral (waoh if not just pass time) well put him
in the orbital station, go down and replace him with another pilot, you'll need
4 or 5 amirals later on :)