Another bizarre article about Life in space - those wonderful scientist lads have found evidence of organinc cellular structure- like molecules in outer space. Hmmmm.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 18:09  |  

Saturday, January 27, 2001

If you are interested in Intellectual Property issues, such as the granting of "obvious" patents and trademarks, there is a petition you can sign. More information is available by clicking the image below. I have not signed it - although it is an issue close to my heart, the aims outlined in the petition don't match mine. You may feel differently.

posted by Jeremy Smyth 11:45  |  

I've been warned I am infringing a registered trademark every time I use the symbol :-( by this article. Actually, I should have written :-(® there. The trademark grant is valid...

The article mentions other stupid intellectual property decisions made lately, including a method of exercising a cat. What is the world coming to?
posted by Jeremy Smyth 11:29  |  

Thursday, January 25, 2001

Oh, nearly forgot. I am the "Member of the week" on Yap, and I haven't received ONE email. How sad is that? Really bad picture there, if you want a look...
posted by Jeremy Smyth 19:25  |  

Tooth: Betterish. Haven't taken any drugs in nearly 24 hours. Have a bad taste in my mouth, which is supposed to be a good thing. Means the abcess is draining or something. Either that or the burger I had for lunch is repeating on me. Thanks, Terry.

Work: Finished the training course. Got handed a killer of a "mega-priority" job, will wreck plans, but hey. What's new?

Home: Grrrr.

Love: F's b'day tomorrow. Haven't bough a pressy yet, deary! Going away for the weekend, should be a giggle. Only down to Achill. Lovely place.

Other: Big brain, little brain, big brain, little brain.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 19:18  |  

Wednesday, January 24, 2001

This sums up exactly how I feel about Microsoft software right now - here is their New Operating System, a hybrid of their "best" work.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 13:30  |  

*sigh*

Don't you just hate when you overcome all the hardware issues, and then your own software lets you down?

Our visitors are probably desperate to get home. We're doing little more than waste time in a frustrating dance, tripping from server to server, unforeseen catastrophe to more catastrophes. If it was any other time, any other person, it would be insanely funny. But it's not.

Speaking of funny, I laughed so hard for so long this morning. And the awful thing is I cannot explain why. I could, but it would take so long, the best way would be to do what I did (read a sequence of mails), which would not be worth the joke.

It's sad. I feel that way about quite a few things. How unfair it is that one person can find something so emotionally uplifting, be it a piece of music, a poem, a view of sunset over a mountain, an accidental conversation with a spontaneous punchline... and it is impossible to share. We see different things, and what makes my spine tingle makes you think of elevator music. What makes your spine tingle makes me think of wallpaper.

*sigh*
posted by Jeremy Smyth 11:40  |  

WOWOWOWOOOWWWWOOOOWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a couple of days on, but it still works... ;-)
posted by Jeremy Smyth 00:02  |  

Tuesday, January 23, 2001

I don't often write about work. I don't want to. It spends too much time in my head, it doesn't deserve to spend any more time than I give it.

But feck does it p*ss me off sometimes.

Today, the first day of a training course, all went fairly according to plan until lunchtime. According to plan in this case means the guys settled in, feigned attentiveness for some time, fell asleep at random intervals, etc. You know the drill.

Lunch arrived. I got my drugs (tooth abcess - I need anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial stuff), my eyes (three month supply), and some munchiefood.

After lunch, time came to install the software. We started with Windows NT^TM. Fatal mistake. Two servers, neither of which would work independently (independent teams, CDs, systems). Things in common: Installation procedure (documented, worked perfectly on many systems up to now), same electricity, etc.

To cut a long story short, we found the problem NT^TM doesn't like large hard disks. Very funny, because the only hard disks you can buy these days are large. As far as NT^TM is concerned anyway.

Some mind-over-matter instinct stopped me getting on a plane over to the manufacturer's warehouse with a baseball bat and a serious attitude.

How's that for a wasted afternoon? Didn't even finish the operating system installation, never mind put on the system specific hardware and software.

Also, things are looking decidedly weird in this company - in the last two months, at least three people have gone or were pushed. In the next few, I know of at least two that intend to leave. One was pushed by one part of the company, and pulled back by another. Am I wrong in thinking that's insane?

That's enough of work for now.

In other news, my Swedish online chum says hi. At least she said I have to mention her. She's a bit of a publicity freak.My US chum in Oz is having SO trouble at the mo, well, potential SO trouble, if you know what I mean ;-)

Cuz is getting married in 2½ months, and I haven't even booked the flight.

Nigel cooked last night. Thanks Nyg !!

That's all for now. I'm a bit past it. Tiring day, early start tomorrow. It's awful not having a life. Does anyone know where I can buy one?
posted by Jeremy Smyth 18:49  |  

Monday, January 22, 2001

This morning's Pros:

• Greasy sausage and egg toasty
  
• Coffee
  
• Online chatting with buddy
  

This morning's Cons

• Coffee (don't ask)
  
• This week is still in front of me
  
• Personal shit (don't ask, at least not here)
  

This week at work I have approximately 4 hours that has not been allocated to something or other. That's scary - normally I'm fairly fluid in tasking time. This time it's scheduled meetings, training, meetings, and more meetings. In fact, one meeting (today) is scheduled to happen during a lunchbreak in another meeting, because I had nowhere else to put it.



I'm going mad.

posted by Jeremy Smyth 10:18  |  

Thursday, January 18, 2001

The Purple Face Of The Apocalypse. Enough said.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 11:05  |  

Things just get weirder - a Canadian friend is learning Irish. I always knew she had a fetish for all things Irish, now she's studying it. And asking for advice - which is extremely funny, because my Irish is pretty dire.



And she may be coming over, which is cool. Haven't seen her in ages.



In the meantime - this place is looking a bit better. Not much. A bit.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 10:54  |  

Wednesday, January 17, 2001

Here's a link to a real-life Deep Impact - NASA bods shooting at a comet to see if they can knock it off course. Fortunately for us, it's not anywhere near our orbit, so we can expect the Atlantic seaboard to remain in its current condition for a while (apologies to all Anti-US readers...).


My silly web page project is STILL embryonic. Playing with graphics is a pain in the arse, and Netscape/Linux has a really odd way of handling CSS fonts. *sigh*
posted by Jeremy Smyth 11:39  |  

Monday, January 15, 2001

Firstly, depressing news about eye cancer caused by mobile phone usage. That really puts a shine on my day.



I LIVE on the phone. About 50% of my commuting time is spent on the phone. This does not make me happy. Time to buy yet another handsfree kit.



Oh, and this morning I was nearly in an accident. It was quite frosty last night, so the roads were a little wet and me driving to work. So when the column of traffic in front of me decided to stop suddenly, my wheels didn't hold the road particularly well. I managed to pull into the hard shoulder alongside the van in front - if there had been no hard shoulder, I would've hit it. Ah, well.



Oh, and I didn't sleep much last night. Working until 11:30pm, awake reading "The Collapse of Chaos" (mentioned in an earlier blog) until about 1:30am, and then awoken by the soft thudding of a toothache at about 5am. I was very happy. Of course, I missed a meeting with my boss at 9am, but she's understanding that way. It's insane to schedule a 9am on a Monday morning. Nevermind after a near-miss with a delivery van.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 17:25  |  

Sunday, January 14, 2001

The problem with living the life of an IT thingy (how's that for a job description?) is that one spends a silly amount of time at work, then in the car, then relaxing reading the news online or in front of the TV (ha ha, not bloody likely), then in bed.



As you may have noticed, there's not a lot of room in there for the b part of the equation
i - b = 9f
where

• i is the daily intake of calories,
  
• b is the calories burned per day, and
  
• f is the grams of fat added to the body (or lost, if it is negative)
  

The upshot of this is that I - and countless colleagues in the industry - have "spread out" a little since joining the workforces and getting a car. And I'm starting to dislike it a lot.



When a poor struggling student, I cycled - to University (6 miles each way), to work (8 miles each way), to my family's home (14 miles each way), and anywhere else that needed going to. With my home in a northern suburb of County Dublin, and friends and family spread around the city, I cycled quite a bit. My physique was somewhat leaner back then, you could even say "weasly".



Now, however, there is a little more meat there, only some of which is accounted for by the weights I bought and pushed around a bit when the mirror made its first protestations and I started listening.



Yesterday I visited a gym. I have never been a member of a gym. I have worked out in a gym maybe twice in my life. Fitness is not something I have ever spent much time or energy on. Maybe it's about time.



So in my research, I came across Space Diving, a new "sport" that is maybe a little too far removed from the realms of sanity for my liking. My guess is that more calories would be lost in the profuse act of sweating manically than any other way. Watch this space.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 18:05  |  

We've had floating magnets, floating frogs, and now superconducting DNA? What is the world coming to...
posted by Jeremy Smyth 13:32  |  

Thursday, January 11, 2001

Found something on the web about Mungo Man, an Australian who died about 60,000 years ago. Scary thing is he doesn't share any DNA with us, although he looks similar...




posted by Jeremy Smyth 11:21  |  

Wednesday, January 10, 2001

I dunno.



Last night was odd.



Of course, not waking up until 10:45am was even odder, but then we all have to do that every now and then.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 19:10  |  

Tuesday, January 09, 2001

Ooooooh... too long reading science fiction stories.



Found something on the web about Robots that eat to get energy - ideas as harmful as an Orange-grove maintainer that gets its power from eating fallen fruit. The creator says they don't currently eat meat because "meat tends to run away when possible, or fights", and that this "presents behavioral challenges too complex for any existing robot."



That's reassuring. So when his research comes up with solutions to these "behavioural challenges", what then?



Oh, and some clever dick keyed the passenger side of my car. I'm not happy.

posted by Jeremy Smyth 13:20  |  

Friday, January 05, 2001

Got a book last night, post-christmas present. Something about Chaos, not sure. Written by this mathematician guy who acts as a consultant to sci-fi authors. Should be interesting.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 11:06  |  

Thursday, January 04, 2001

Went to see "The 6th Day" last night. More rubbish. I've liked Arnie in one or two things, but he is SOO plastic in this. He's better playing plastics people, a la T2.

Of course, the film is technically silly also - cloning is possible, but there's no such thing as a "DNA-free blank". DNA is responsible for giving us two arms, two legs, etc. But anyway.. enough of that. I took my cynical pill this morning.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 13:05  |  

And so it begins.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 12:46  |