Recent Posts
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about 6 hours ago
This past week I’ve been doing a bit of creative writing, something I haven’t done seriously since school. After a few spluttering starts, and a handful of fits, resulting in a collection of words thrown up on paper (well, screen), I decided that I’d have more success if I had some old-school tools to hand.
So, this weekend Sam and I went to town, and I picked up a “concise” version of the OED, its thesaurus companion, and the latest edition of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable from Waterstone’s reference section.
It’s not long before I’m back at my desk with thousands of pages of lexicographical tomage. Naturally, my mind begins to wander, and the procrastination gene leads me to discover that the OED is only in its “2nd” edition. Wikipedia also tells me a 3rd is in the works, but isn’t expected to be completed until 2037.
2037. That’s way beyond hoverboards. I can’t even begin to imagine what the late 30s will be like. Will the Oxford University Press emerge from their secret bunker, final draft of the OED3 in hand, and be received by a cybernetically-enhanced hive-mind humanity?
Will paper still exist in 2037? What will our education be like? Will there still be a need for a dictionary? What about the English language? What’ll be the latest internet meme? Will the internet even be recognisable by today’s standands? Will this blog still be around to comment on then? I’ll be 54, so there’s a great chance I’ll be around to comment on this very entry. Watch this space.
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about 1 month ago
So these past few days I’ve been working on a project at work. A secret project. Codename and all.
It’s last Friday, and Paul, my project manager, tells me that we’ll be writing an entire application from start to finish in three days, starting on Monday. Well, it’s Wednesday evening now, and it seems that Spend Meter is live, so I guess we did it.
Agile development can work! But how? When you find yourself writing an application from start to finish in less time than it should take to write a decent specification, what really helps?
- Get comfortable
Get the coffee brewing, set yourself up with some decent music, and enjoy yourself! - Get a huge whiteboard
We were scrawling on three of them by the end, but our simple E-R diagram, and a couple of hand-drawn mockups were invaluable. - Recycle – Reduce – Reuse
Don’t Repeat Yourself. With a limited timeframe you can’t afford redundant code. There will be changes, and if your code is WET then you’ll only make your job harder when they come. - Know your tools
You’re not going to build anything in three days if this is the first time you’ve used CakeRuby, ZendIgniter, or Sprinjo. I’ve been working on Tactile for a while now, and got to know my way around its MVC framework. Having experienced Ruby On Rails’ code scaffolding, I’ve learnt how to get things up and running quickly in its absence. - ZOMBIES
Most importantly of all, get that R&R in. Maintain strict boundaries between your work life and your home life. Don’t work extra hours if it means you’ll – “Molotov here!”
Oh yeah, Left 4 Dead is awesome. I’ve been dying for someone to make online co-op enjoyable, and Valve have really hit the nail on the head here. It’s like someone took all the suck out of online gaming. Zombies, as far as the eye can see.
- Get comfortable
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6 months ago
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8 months ago
Hurrah, RevLob lives again!
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10 months ago
On Saturday Sam and I went to London to see the
QueenLevellers at Brixton Academy. It was an event called Beautiful Nights, one of their 20th anniversary gigs, and it was awesome.
That’s the band exploding in some kind of plamsa ray feature. Supporting the Levellers were 3 Daft Monkeys (who are very good), and Alabama 3. The Wikipedia article on Alabama 3 features this amusing quote:
The band was formed when Jake Black met Rob Spragg at an acid house party in Peckham and they decided that a fusion of country music with acid house was a musical possibility.
I mean, what the hell were they doing at this party? Playing Musical Twister?
Rob: (spins spinner) “Ok Jake, left hand country and western”
Jake: “Okay”
Rob: “aaaaaaand, right foot… acid house”
Jake: “Hmm… That could work”Just because something is possible, doesn’t mean you should go ahead and do it. Regardless of how they decided to embark on such a musical journey, the end result was pretty good. Worlds away from Dolly Parton at any rate.
The other guest band was Dreadzone, who continued with the theme of musical fusion. Their flavour is a blend of reggae, dub, techno, and dance. Reggae has never really been my thing, but just as Alabama 3 have made me look at country music in a new light, Dreadzone I think have opened doors for me. Musical doors. Musical doors in a house of sound, in a city of noise, on a planet of shoes.
We also went up the London Eye! Only three things can fly higher than the Eye in London; property prices; birds; and helicopters.
Last night I finished reading the final volume of Neal Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle; The System of the World. That’s nigh-on three thousand pages of late renaissance adventure, romance, war, politics, and Natural Philosophy. I started reading the first book over three and a half years ago, soon after I was given it for my 21st birthday by Daf. I did manage to fit a few books in between volumes, some Gibson and some Banks, and I did read Quicksilver twice, but I’ve been following the story of Daniel Waterhouse and Jack Shaftoe for such a long time now, that coming to the end of such an epic tale has left me somewhat stunned. There are no more pages to turn. I’ve already read Cryptonomicon.
What the hell do I read now?!
I had better find something soon, otherwise I may be tempted to read the whole thing again. I may be tempted to buy the whole thing again.