8th Week: On Windows Vista (rescued from Google Cache)

This is good stuff. The OP took it down after a few hours of it being online; I've retrieved it from Google Cache. The following words are not mine: they are the words of someone who was a Windows team manager for five years. Slashdot link to this article (which is no longer there). The server is also now "too busy" - but then, it is an IIS...

The World As Best As I Remember It - Broken Windows Theory

Vista. The term stirs the imagination to conceive of beautiful possibilities just around the corner.  And “just around the corner” is what Windows Vista has been, and has remained, for the past two years.  In this time, has suffered a series of high-profile delays, including most recently the announcement that it would be delayed until 2007.  The largest software project in mankind’s history now threatens to also be the longest.

Admittedly, this essay would be easier written for Slashdot, where taut lines divide the world crisply into black and white.  “ is a bloated piece of crap,” my furry little penguine would opine, “written by the bumbling serfs of an evil capitalistic megalomaniac.”  But that’d be dead wrong.  The truth is far more nuanced than that.  Deeper than that.  More subtle than that.

I managed developer teams in Windows for five years, and have only begun to reflect on the experience now that I have recently switched teams.  Through a series of conversations with other leaders that have similarly left The Collective, several root causes have emerged as lasting characterizations of what’s really wrong in The Empire.

The Usual Suspects

Ask any developer in Windows why is plagued by delays, and they’ll say that the code is way too complicated, and that the pace of coding has been tremendously slowed down by overbearing process.  These claims have already been covered in other popular literature.  A quick recap for those of you just joining the broadcast:

• Windows code is too complicated.  It’s not the components themselves, it’s their interdependencies.  An architectural diagram of Windows would suggest there are more than 50 dependency layers (never mind that there also exist circular dependencies).  After working in Windows for five years, you understand only, say, two of them.  Add to this the fact that building Windows on a dual-proc dev box takes nearly 24 hours, and you’ll be slow enough to drive Miss Daisy.
• Windows process has gone thermonuclear.  Imagine each little email you send asking someone else to fill out a spreadsheet, comment on a report, sign off on a decision – is a little neutron shooting about in space.  Your innocent-seeming little neutron now causes your heretofore mostly-harmless neighbors to release neutrons of their own.  Now imagine there are 9000 of you, all jammed into a tight little space called .  It’s Windows Gone Thermonuclear, a phenomenon by which process engenders further process, eventually becoming a self-sustaining buzz of fervent destructive activity.

Let’s see if, quantitatively, there’s any truth to the perception that the code velocity (net lines shipped per developer-year) of Windows has slowed, or is slow relative to the industry.  is said to have over 50 million lines of code, whereas XP was said to have around 40 million.  There are about two thousand software developers in Windows today.  Assuming there are 5 years between when XP shipped and when Vista ships, those quick on the draw with calculators will discover that, on average, the typical Windows developer has produced one thousand new lines of shipped code per year during .  Only a thousand lines a year.  (Yes, developers don’t just write new code, they also fix old code.  Yes, some of those Windows developers were partly busy shipping 64-bit XP.  Yes, many of them also worked on hotfixes.  Work with me here.)

Lest those of you who wrote 5,000 lines of code last weekend pass a kidney stone at the thought of Windows developers writing only a thousand lines of code a year, realize that the average software developer in the US only produces around (brace yourself) 6200 lines a year.  So Windows is in bad shape – but only by a constant, not by an order of magnitude.  And if it makes you feel any better, realize that the average developer has fallen in KLOC productivity since 1999, when they produced about 9000 lines a year.  So Windows isn’t alone in this.

The oft-cited, oft-watercooler-discussed dual phenomenon of Windows code complexity and Windows process burden seem to have dramatically affected its overall code velocity.  But code can be simplified and re-architected (and is indeed being done so by a collection of veteran architects in Windows, none of whom, incidentally, look anything like Colonel Sanders).  Process can be streamlined where inefficient, eliminated where unnecessary.

But that’s not where it ends.  There are deeper causes of Windows’ propensity to slippage.

Cultured to Slip

Deep in the bowels of Windows, there remains the whiff of a bygone culture of belittlement and aggression.  Windows can be a scary place to tell the truth.

When a vice president in Windows asks you whether your team will ship on time, they might well have asked you whether they look fat in their new Armani suit.  The answer to the question is deeply meaningful to them.  It’s certainly true in some sense that they genuinely want to know.  But in a very important other sense, in a sense that you’ll come to regret night after night if you get it wrong, there’s really only one answer you can give.

After months of hearing of how a certain influential team in Windows was going to cause the Vista release to slip, I, full of abstract self-righteous misgivings as a stockholder, had at last the chance to speak with two of the team’s key managers, asking them how they could be so, please-excuse-the-term, I-don’t-mean-its-value-laden-connotation, ignorant as to proper estimation of software schedules.  Turns out they’re actually great project managers.  They knew months in advance that the schedule would never work.  So they told their VP.  And he, possibly influenced by one too many instances where engineering re-routes power to the warp core, thus completing the heretofore impossible six-hour task in a mere three, summarily sent the managers back to “figure out how to make it work.”  The managers re-estimated, nipped and tucked, liposuctioned, did everything short of a lobotomy – and still did not have a schedule that fit.  The VP was not pleased.  “You’re smart people.  Find a way!”  This went back and forth for weeks, whereupon the intrepid managers finally understood how to get past the dilemma.  They simply stopped telling the truth.  “Sure, everything fits.  We cut and cut, and here we are.  by August or bust.  You got it, boss.”

Every once in a while, Truth still pipes up in meetings.  When this happens, more often than not, Truth is simply bent over an authoritative knee and soundly spanked into silence.

The Joy of Cooking

Bundled with a tendency towards truth-intolerance, Windows also sometimes struggles with poor organizational decision-making.  Good news is that the senior leaders already know this and have been taking active steps to change the situation.

There are too many cooks in the kitchen.  Too many vice presidents, in reporting structures too narrow.  When I was in Windows, I reported to Alec, who reported to Peter, to Bill, Rick, Will, Jim, Steve, and Bill.  Remember that there were two layers of people under me as well, making a total path depth of 11 people from Bill Gates down to any developer on my team.

This isn’t necessarily bad, except sometimes the cooks flash-mob one corner of the kitchen.  I once sat in a schedule review meeting with at least six VPs and ten general managers.  When that many people have a say, things get confusing.  Not to mention, since so many bosses are in the room, there are often negotiations between project managers prior to such meetings to make sure that no one ends up looking bad.  “Bob, I’m giving you a heads-up that I’m going to say that your team’s component, which we depend on, was late.”  “That’s fine, , but please be clear that the unforeseen delays were caused by a third party, not my team.”

Micromanagement, though not pervasive, is nevertheless evident.  Senior vice presidents sometimes review UI designs of individual features, a nod to Steve Jobs that would in better days have betokened a true honor but for its randomizing effects.  Give me a cathedral, give me a bazaar – really, either would be great.  Just not this middle world in which some decisions are made freely while others are made by edict, with no apparent logic separating each from the other but the seeming curiosity of someone in charge.

In general, Windows suffers from a proclivity for action control, not results control.  Instead of clearly stating desired outcomes, there’s a penchant for telling people exactly what steps they must take.  It’s creating a generation of McDevs, few of whom enjoy the monotony.  (For more on action control vs. results control, read Kenneth Merchant’s seminal work on the subject – all $150 of it, apparently).

Uncontrolled?  Or Uncontrollable?

We shouldn’t forget despite all this that Windows Vista remains the largest concerted software project in human history.  The types of software management issues being dealt with by Windows leaders are hard problems, problems that no other company has solved successfully.  The solutions to these challenges are certainly not trivial.

An interesting question, however, is whether or not Windows Vista ever had a chance to ship on time to begin with.  Is merely uncontrolled?  Or is it fundamentally uncontrollable?  There is a critical difference.

It’s rumored that VPs in Windows were offered big bonuses contingent on shipping by the much-publicized August 2006 date.  Chris Jones even declared in writing that he wouldn't take a bonus if slips past August.  If this is true, if folks like Brian Valentine held division-wide meetings where August 2006 was declared as the drop-dead ship date, if general managers were consistently told of the fiscal importance of hitting August, if everyone down to individual developers was told to sign on the dotted line to commit to the date, and to speak up if they had any doubts of hitting it – mind you, every last one of those things happened – and yet, and yet, the August date was slipped, one has to wonder whether it was merely illusory, given the collective failure of such unified human will, that Vista was ever controllable in the first place.

Are Vista-scale software projects essentially uncontrollable by nature?  Or has Microsoft been beset by one too many broken windows?  Talk amongst yourselves.

Published Monday, June 05, 2006 8:00 AM by philipsu

Filed Under: Software

8th Week: Hayfever

There's revision to be done (there's always revision to be done!) so I'll be brief - this morning I had a doctors' appointment at 19 Beaumont Street Surgery about my hayfever. The appointment was for 10 o'clock. At 9.58 I saw Dr. Schuman. At 10.03 I was walking to Cornmarket Street with my prescription. At 10.14 I had my prescription (thanks to Boots).

Whatever the media reports about the NHS, it's good to give time for stories like this. Be it thanks to or (rather I suspect) despite the Government, on the ground there is still an excellence that we should be pleased with.

Oh - and it was all free (I'm still 18). :-)

8th Week: You are being spied on

If you are using Microsoft Windows XP and have gotten any of the online updates: you are being spied on. GROKLAW have an article that completely rips apart Microsoft's handling of some software known as "Windows Genuine Advantage". This supposed "priority update" connects to a Microsoft server as much as once a day and report back to Big Brother Bill:

The genuine validation process will collect information about your system to determine if your Microsoft software is genuine. This process does not collect or send any information that can be used to identify you or contact you. The only information collected in the validation process is:

• Windows product key
• PC manufacturer
• Operating System version
• PID/SID
• BIOS information (make, version, date)
• BIOS MD5 Checksum
• User locale (language setting for displaying Windows)
• System locale (language version of the operating system)
• Office product key (if validating Office)
• Hard drive serial number

Hard drive serial number? What in the blazes? Also, this list has been revealed to be incomplete: they also receive "IP address and date/timestamp data relating to systems' booting and continued operations". So they know where you are, if you've turned on your computer today, and if you've bought a new hard drive of late.

It gets better... Microsoft are also calling this software a beta - or, in their words, "This software is a pre-release version of the software intended to
update the technological measures in Windows XP which are designed to
prevent unlicensed use of Windows XP". It's not finished. They're using you to test their software for them, in many cases without asking your permission.

They go on (this is in the EULA) to say: "By using the software, you accept these terms. If you do not accept
them, do not use the software.
As described below, using some features also operates as your consent
to the transmission of certain standard computer information for
Internet-based services."

If you do not accept them, don't use the software. Fair enough. Sadly, though, there is a problem here... See, you only get to see this EULA after the validation software has been installed (it comes in two parts, and this EULA is shown when you install the "notifications" part). And, just to ice the cake, "You will not be able to uninstall the software but you can suppress the reminders through the software icon in the system tray."

To summarise: You have to install it (in fact, if you have Automatic Updates turned on, it's already installed). Once installed, you are then asked to agree to it telling Microsoft far more than is really necessary; if you don't agree, tough, because you can't remove it.

By Microsoft's own definition, spyware is "deceptive software
that is installed on a user’s computer without the user’s consent and has some
malicious purpose." I'm guessing that if you're reading this while running Windows (and please say you're using Firefox), you both have this software installed and were unaware of its presence and function. So we have deceptive. As for malicious: firstly we have no sure knowledge of what it does (which is dodgy enough for me). Second, it allows Microsoft to collect more data from you than they say it can (by their own admission). Third, it uses resources on your computer without your permission (someone posting in reply to the Groklaw article uses the analogy of someone taking your car for a joyride without you knowing). That, in my book, puts this "critical update" firmly in the category of spyware.

There are a whole load of other issues that contribute to this argument: the legality of any EULA, for example; what security holes are opened up by this beta-test software, based on Microsoft's track record? And just how many of our rights and how much of our privacy are we prepared to give up - are companies - are governments prepared to give up to Microsoft?

The inevitable conclusion to this article is: why put up with this? "If you wish to remove the Windows Genuine Advantage tools, and I
expect most of you do," it reads, "why not go the whole hog and remove the entire
software package, replace it with GNU/Linux, and find out what it feels
like to be treated with respect and to breathe free?"

I am a free man.

8th Week: Love Oxford

It was a first for Oxford: Forty churches joining together on a gloriously sunny and hot Sunday morning to worship God and declare His name to the city. The stage could barely hold all the leaders of the churches; the crowd of worshippers stretched back almost to the Bodleian, and easily from Baliol and Trinity to the shops across the street. Just a few yards behind the stage, the cobbled cross where Bishop Latimer and others were martyred; today, Anglican, Catholic, Baptist and more joined together in one voice to celebrate God's love.

I managed to drink a litre of water in about an hour - that's a lot. Charlie invented a new theological term - "prophetic ambiguity" - while purples and reds are "the rainbow God wants to see" (in a rather funny introduction to the offering - though I was slightly worried it wasn't as tongue-in-cheek as we all took it to be!)...

Vaughan Roberts was completely on song as he preached the Gospel - "We preach Jesus crucified" - as was OCC's Steve Thomas - "You need more notes for a short sermon than for a long one" - and Martyn Layzell was as spot-on leading worship as ever (although, in a dramatic break from tradition, only one of the songs we sang was written by him!). He couldn't help but deviate from the service plan though (I always said they needed a screen... and me operating it... ;-) ) for the chorus of "How great is our God, sing with me..." - but, what better words to worship God to - He is great!

A slight rewrite of the words to Father of Creation allowed us to sing "Let your glory fall in this town, let it go forth from here to the nations..." as opposed to the usual "room". But we couldn't sing that outside anyway, could we? Standing on Broad Street, singing On Holy Ground's "Where saints have walked this road before / Carried their cross through heaven's door" took extra poignancy.

OICCU President Greg Tarr read from 1 Corinthians, and Martin Smith's call to "Open up the doors and let the music play / Let the streets resound with singing" (Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble) was just the right choice of song to close with. Well, almost close with, followed by a unique arrangement of Amazing Grace (because, you know, no Christian gathering is complete without it...)

Plenty more I could blog about, but it's tomorrow already and I have less than seven hours in which to sleep. Plus a tute arranged for tomorrow without me having done any work for it... and less than 37.5 hours until my first exam... eek...

7th Week: 666, 6.06 and 158...

In the immortal words of Granny Weatherwax... I ATEN'T DEAD!


Don't worry, I haven't converted to numerology - but the three numbers in the title of this post all have a certain significance. Firstly, 666... If it were written in hex, then its value would be 1638. But, it seems, there's a lot more to it than that (so people think). From BBC News: BBC NEWS | Have Your Say: Superstitious date: 06/06/06 ...



Hmm... 666... the Number of the Beast... the anti-Christ child... the end of the world... and Vladimir Putin, apparently. Where does this come from, what does the Bible actually say, and what does it all mean? All worthy questions, IMO.


Firstly, 666. This occurs (in fact) four times in the Bible (NIV at least) - twice referring to the amount of gold King Solomon received in a year; 666 exiles from Adonikam in Ezra 2:13; and the famous "number of the beast" verse in Revelation. Let's build some context here. John is having a vision. He sees "a beast coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon... He also forced everyone... to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead...which is the name of the beast or the number of his name." (from Revelation 13 vv11-16) Then comes the famous bit, I'll quote it here in full: "This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the
number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666."


And... that's it. (Well, obviously the book goes on for another few chapters yet, but that's as far as the whole beast thing goes.) If you haven't looked at this before, you might be slightly disappointed. Where's this little brattish kid that's supposed to be destroying the world? etc. But this is what's actually there in Revelation.


What of this 666? There are two main (sensible) theories about this. For more see the IVP New Testament commentary from BibleGateway.com, from which I will paraphrase briefly.


One theory runs: The number "666" (programmers will hate me for citing it like that!) is a numbers game in which each letter of the alphabet is assigned a numerical value. The number, then, is the sum of the values that make up a person's name. Trouble is, with a little bit of fudging the figures, it can work for quite a few names (including Adolf Hitler, whom I'm sure John didn't have in mind).


Another theory, and the one that I prefer: The number 7 is regarded in Revelation as the number of God, of perfection. Thus, 666 falls short of the magic seven three times over. The beast falls short of God's power, His majesty, His wisdom, His strength, everything - "Failure upon failure upon failure". At any rate, it's usually safe to consider that the minor details of apocalyptic writing can be secondary to the main themes that are portrayed. The main themes of Revelation? "God is powerful. Jesus Christ reigns forever. Those who suffer for Christ will ultimately share his victory." (from the Youth Bible)


And what of this "anti-Christ"? The media tends to jump on the bandwagon of showing the antichrist as a person, inevitably an American brat called Damien, and with "666" somehow adorning his body. This doesn't come from Revelation at all - in fact, it comes a couple of chapters before (not necessarily chronologically) in 1 and 2 John. Who is the antichrist? In John's words: "Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the
flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver
and the antichrist." (2 John 1 v7). Even if they're not called Damien.


That's 666 down. Now, 6.06.


Dapper Drake - Kubuntu 6.06! - was released on the 1st June. It is no coincidence that my last blog post was on the 31st May. Suffice to say, the upgrade wasn't as simple as all the instructions suggested. After three failed attempts to upgrade packages, I was left with an X that wouldn't load and a kernel that wouldn't boot. I managed to scrape back to a loosely-functioning GUI and regrouped to #CompSci (there's another story in there, but that's for another - distant - time. If you're reading this, Claire - I'm still sorry...) where we agreed the easiest course of action would be for me to back up as much as I could to Alex's computer, repartition and reinstall. And it was easy... until I realised a few crucial little things that I'd forgotten. Like a website I'd spent about 90 hours working on. And all my E-mail. Apart from that, things are now looking very rosy - and in the next few days I'm hoping to take delivery of a nice 12" TFT monitor I found on eBay. Just right for watching TV while I'm working on the other screen. I've always fancied a dual-monitor setup, ever since we got one at church.


The last of these mysterious numbers - 158. That's greater than the number of hours I have left to my first exam.


Eep.

6th Week: Microsoft and Babies (two disjoint thoughts!)

Some fairly random thoughts tonight. It's 6th Week, I'm allowed to be random!

Firstly, some news reported by the BBC: Microsoft debuts security package. The essence of the story is: Microsoft are releasing a commercial software package dubbed "Windows Live OneCare", a combined firewall/antivirus/antispyware kit.

Now, let's think about that a bit more closely... Why do you need anti-virus software? Why is it that spyware is a problem in the first place? Yes, that's right... because of flaws or omissions in Microsoft's Windows coding. Not only are they now asking you to trust them with some more coding to (in theory) cover up these holes - but they're also charging you for the privilege!

A few weeks ago in an IRC conversation, I predicted that M$ would start charging for updates to Windows at some point after Vista's release. The question now arises: surely there is a conflict of interest within Microsoft? If the Windows coders do their job properly and create a secure and stable OS (there may still be some hope! I'm reserving judgement on Vista until it comes out!) then they'll make OneCare obsolete. As OneCare is only just launching, I'm guessing they're not expecting it to become obsolete any time soon. Do you see where this is heading?

The conjoining of "Windows Live" in the title is ominous, too. This is Microsoft's move (to be fair, copied by many of the big players) to further blur the online/local divide. How OneCare fits into the same umbrella as having your contacts and appointments stored on a website is slightly baffling at this point. One theory put forward - I think this was in PC Plus - was that a basic Vista OS would be released with certain features disabled until you activate them online - for a cost, naturally. They even went as far as to suggest that Vista would be the base for all Microsoft OSs for the foreseeable future, with just modular updates available for (priced) download. Like sudo apt-get dist-upgrade, but with money involved, it seems.

The idea of paying extra (on top of the ~£200 for the OS to begin with) to get your computer to do the things it should be doing anyway seems wrong in a number of ways. I think it's also planned to be a monthly subscription-based thing, though the site seems to have stopped responding so I can't be sure. One thing I will predict confidently, though: You'll see a one-(or perhaps three- or six-) month trial of OneCare installed by default on Vista, thus in a stroke hitting companies like Norton and F-Secure hard - despite their products being (probably) superior. And despite free alternatives being available, people will happily fork out - why? Because it's easier that way. Fair competition? Microsoft don't know the meaning of the word. They also don't know the meaning of "interoperability", but that's another story.

I mentioned babies in the title. This was no coincidence! Yesterday morning my tutor Joel's wife gave birth to young Mathias Ouaknine. Congratulations to them! And I don't have to finish that tute work for tomorrow after all...!

Back to OneCare... after nearly ten minutes, the site decided to serve me a web page. The clever thing worked out that I wasn't using Internet Explorer (while trying to install OneCare on Kubuntu!) but refuses to give me any information about how much the thing costs - the Beeb do: "OneCare costs $49.95 (£26.50) to protect three computers for a year.". And it looks like a 90-day free trial is available. Vista, here it comes. And the free world doesn't even notice.

5th Week: The saga is complete...

STAR WARS Marathon .:. Tuesday 23rd May (5th Week)

It had to happen... I had foreseen this! Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design! And now, young blogwalker... you will die. And other miscellaneous Star Wars quotes.

Yes, yesterday was the day I finally got to watch all six Star Wars films in sequence, one after another, in one day and with minimal breaks between them. And it was gooooooood. In fact, it was go{o}*od. Kudos to Masha for being the only one other than myself to stay for the full course of things - Alex was next with one film missed, and Tim with the equivalent of one film missed - Adam missed one and a half - Sol missed three! And, thanks to Mel for visiting, even if it was only for five minutes of Episode III. ;-)

Now, I'm square-eyed, tired, probably malnourished (though it was a great pizza from ASK), and unfortunately my love for Star Wars has been rekindled... so much so that it has to be time to resurrect the mothballed Star Wars.tar.gz project - to film a condensed version of the sexology* complete with our own CGI shots. An example of such a shot is currently (very slowly) being uploaded to YouTube for your general viewing pleasure... No sound yet, just the video. Matt, if you're reading this, it's time to get this thing restarted. At least, it will be once I've finished my exams...

Great stuff today. I've just realised that it's half one, and I really do need to go to sleep. I also feel really guilty for having a whole day without doing work... Time for bed.

5th Week: St. Aldate's Live Album, Take Two

A fantastic evening of worship - just pure and powerful seeking the heart of God and praising Him, for a good three hours. No chairs, no sermon, and no doughnuts (contrary to what we were promised...) - just an amazing atmosphere of praise. It wouldn't be a shock if this sort of evening (albeit minus the expensive recording equipment!) became regular at St. Aldate's - as Gordon Hickson (or possibly Anita Cleverly) said, "Sunday evenings will never be the same again!"

A new song that was introduced for the CD is "Hosanna" by Brenton Brown and Paul Baloche (full lyrics and chords are up at pwarchive.com):

'Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your presence all our fears are washed away
Washed away

Hosanna, hosanna
You are the God who saves us
Worthy of all our praises
Hosanna, hosanna
Come have your way among us
We welcome You here, Lord Jesus

An amazing song about an amazing God. Hosanna - save now! Worthy of our praises, we welcome you, Lord Jesus. Amen!

5th Week: Gah! 5th Week!

It is raining in Oxford.

There's plenty else afoot, too, but the rain is persistent. It's been raining solidly all day. Enough of that; what else is happening?

This evening is the second of two evenings of recording a live worship album at St. Aldate's Church. The couple of hours on Friday night were brilliant: they'd taken the chairs out completely - just a group of people coming together to focus on God and seek His heart in worship. Even more technology than usual was employed to make all this possible; it continues this evening at 6.30. The CD, the second Aldate's album, should be released in November-ish.

In other Aldate's-related news, Charlie brought us the news on Thursday (and again this morning) that Greg Downes, student pastor at the church, is leaving at the end of the term. This was a real shock to most of us. We'll be praying for Greg and his wife, that they would know what God is calling them to next; and also for the rest of the leadership team at Aldate's for God's guidance at this time.

Wow, the last time it rained this hard my roof started leaking.

The SJC CU is going well - things are a little strange with exam season upon us, so all the finalists (except Tim!) and many of the others are rather busy. Still, we had a brilliant Bible study on Wednesday, and the thrice-weekly prayer meetings continue to be a real time of blessing. Exciting plans for the next four weeks include a joint CU punt-and-Bible-study down the Cherwell river, and a trip to see The Da Vinci Code (followed by plugging some of the many events put on by OICCU and local churches to remind people that it is, actually, fiction...)

Looks like the rain's stopped. I hope it's better weather than this in three weeks' time for Love Oxford - it's going to be fantastic...

Oh yes, and it's 5th Week. And there's a Star Wars marathon happening on Tuesday. Do I know you? Are you in (or can you possibly be in) Oxford on Tuesday? This site should tell you all you need to know, and probably some things you don't.

4th Week: 24, 10pm-11pm

This post may contain spoilers for up to the fifth series of 24, to the end of the specified episode - hour 16, 22:00-23:00! Anything else is speculation.


Body Count: 7? / My guess: 4

In fact, this post contains such a big spoiler that you'll have to highlight the hidden words to read. That's how big the spoiler is.

So, Jack's about to find out that President Logan is the mole inside the White House, masterminding the whole events of the day, from the assassination of David Palmer to the nerve gas, and all the time feigning incompetence! OK, hands up who honestly suspected the vice president - though, I see now, that would have been too obvious. And I never liked him anyway - the corpse of Palmer would be a better President, but now we know why, at least.

But what possible purpose would it serve him to try and bring down the President's administration? Surely that's shooting yourself in the foot, and it can only pave the way for the VP to take over instead. This is deeper than the political differences between him and Palmer. Why would he aid terrorists in his own country against his country?

So many questions... so many blanks... and once more Henderson escapes. He's doing really well, for a man whose central nervous system had completely shut down less than three hours ago. He may have trained Jack, but Jack's grown since those days.

Am I the only one who remembers the start of Season 1 seeing Jack having to deal with the fallout of whistle-blowing against the former head of CTU - Henderson? Or am I making this up? I still haven't seen the last third of Season 1. I should do that sometime.

4th Week: More Punt Photos

This time, with the more experienced crew, we were able to actually go where we wanted the punt to go (mostly), and even overtake some other punts, as the photographic evidence below suggests. Apologies for the many sci-fi references. Hey, it's me...


We navigate a low bridge (we went under lower!)


Hostile craft at 2 o'clock! Red alert!


Stay on target...


All your base are belong to us! (Later on, we had to shout at these people "MOVE YOUR POLE!" as we almost knocked it into the water... we were shouting for quite a while before they heard, just in time...)


All batteries, fire! Fire!


Another one bites the, uh, water

Even I had a go at actually wielding the pole this time... and I was just getting used to it when we arrived back at the boathouse. Next time, folks.

3rd Week: Lightning, power blip and Avenger

We had a thunderstorm about half an hour ago. I was in the kitchen cooking - pan-fried chicken with tomato and basil pasta, and very nice it was too - when the lights flickered.

Yes, you guessed it. My computer cut itself out and rebooted. As far as I can tell, the only damage was to a MySQL database, which just gives me the excuse to upgrade to the latest Myth (I managed to salvage the channels table, which is the bit that takes hours to sort out) as there are no programmes I've set to record until tomorrow. I'm out this evening, which gives it the chance to compile.

That's if the processor (or I) don't melt... It's apparently 27 degrees in my room, and the processor is sitting at round about 60. And, typically to thundery weather, it's humid, too.

Tonight is a novelty for the CU: Our "links" group - that is, the joint CUs of St. John's, St. Anne's, Keble and Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) - are all meeting together, rather than as college groups. Dan Blanche is giving a talk on evangelism. And I get to do the notices! What fun.

Incidentally, Performancing seems to work brilliantly. It gets a second day in charge of posting my blog.

3rd Week: A wonderful advert for my home city

BBC NEWS | England | Hampshire | World's most travelled bike found

Well, really... What a wonderful piece of publicity for Portsmouth City! At least he got his bike back. I like a happy ending.

Incidentally, I have no idea how this post will appear - I'm trying out Performancing for Firefox. It lets me blog while I'm browsing - in this case, while I'm reading the aforelinked article. So you might well see a few more posts than usual appearing here. Or, at least, the same number; work is really ramping up now. I need to get to bed, I have three tutes and a lecture tomorrow, and they're not the sort of thing to face on less sleep than is physically needed.

Well, Performancing... your first test... here goes nothing...

3rd Week: 24, 9pm-10pm

This post may contain spoilers for up to the fifth series of 24, to the end of the specified episode - hour 15, 21:00-22:00! Anything else is speculation.


Body Count: 9 (I think) / My guess: 6

Well, well, Jack's in a spot of bother here... and getting slightly hot under the collar. And indeed above the collar, as the gas distribution centre explodes around him and Vladimir Bierko. (Surely Jack must survive!) But if that was truly the last of the Sentox nerve gas going up with the rest, what are they going to do to fill the remaining nine hours?

Well, we still have a lot of loose ends... Firstly, the assassination of America's greatest President, David Palmer. Was Bierko behind this? Why was whoever it was behind this trying to kill everyone who knew that Bauer was still alive?

Next, what does Wayne Palmer know that Bierko doesn't want CTU finding out? He looked in a bad way when we last saw him. Can Aaron get him to safety and find out what Wayne wants to tell him? Surely it must be related to all the above. Someone high-up in government, perhaps, with links to the terrorists? Perhaps the Vice-President?

I'm sure Kim is going to be important in the next few hours, as well. I can't believe that the short "arrive, nearly get killed by nerve gas, have semi-emotional scene with Jack, leave" that we had a few hours ago is all that we'll see of her. And surely that psychiatrist bloke is a baddie? Quite honestly, I'm expecting Kim to get herself into trouble again. And the whole breakup with Chase? There's something more there. There must be.

And do we believe Audrey's innocence? Back in Season 3, Gael was a goodie playing a baddie playing a goodie. What's to stop Audrey from being a baddie playing a goodie playing a baddie playing a goodie? If you want to get to Jack, then surely she and Kim are the people to do it. Speaking of baddies, surely that new girl with the attitude problem is bad, or at least going to be a thorn in everyone's sides. Like Chloe was in her first series. Sexual harrassment, my bottom (not hers, that'd be sexual harrassment).

Let's take a moment to remember Tony Almeida. CTU are running out of experienced personnel fast today. Tony was one of the best. And why is nobody hunting down the guy who killed him?

Do I really have to wait another week for the next episode?

3rd Week: Punting Photos

A few CompScis went punting on Saturday evening... click for a 640x480 image. It was about halfway through the trip before I realised my phone, which I had on me, had a camera on it, so you don't get to see the marginally dodgy start to the journey.

<< Tim and Ben at the front

Masha and pole at the back >>

<< Only a few minutes in, and it feels like we're miles away from the city centre

Look out for the trees, Masha... Masha, the trees! TREES! >>

<< Red alert! Hostiles at 12 o'clock!

"In the name of the Empire, halt your craft and prepare to receive boarders!" >>

2nd Week: Local Elections and stuff

Morning all!

I'm very impressed that I'm actually up at this time in the morning. Seeing as it was local election night last night, I stayed up until 3am watching the results come in. Actually, I would have watched for longer, but something went wrong at the BBC and they had to show News 24 for a bit, at about 3, so I decided to go to sleep instead.

It was Maths Dinner last night. Surprisingly, with such a high concentration of mathematicians in one place, the universe seems to continue largely unaffected... And if you're wondering what I was doing at Maths Dinner, it's because there aren't enough Computer Scientists to have their own. Here are some of the many jokes that were bandied around:


Q. Why did the Computer Scientist take forever in the shower?
A. Because he was following the instructions: Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Q. Why do mathematicians rarely visit the beach?
A. Because they have sin and cos to get a tan.

In other news... this morning's 8AM prayer meeting was moved to Dave's room, after someone else had checked out the Graves Room key. Thanks to Second Year Dinner on Wednesday night, we had more people at the prayer meeting than at the main evening meeting!

The two results that affect me (Portsmouth and Oxford) both came out NOC, with the Lib Dems the largest party in both. Most amusing story of the night is the ballot box in Winchester, which caught fire when trying to remove the sealing wax... the Fire Brigade then added water... and we're still waiting for the ballot papers to dry out.

My analysis in a nutshell: A bad night for Blair, though perhaps not as bad as it should have been. A good night for the Tories, though perhaps not as good as it could have been. "Modest gains" for the Lib Dems. And a worrying night for British politics, with 15 BNP councillors elected.

2nd Week: What happened to 1st Week? And May Day Morning

"Oh, to see the dawn..." If it weren't so darn rainy at dawn this morning... not that you can tell from this photo, which shows the St. John's choir atop the tower at about 8.30am. But my day started at 5am, when it was indeed raining. OICCU had organised a mass doughnut-and-tea-and-coffee-giving-out based in Radcliffe Square.

I'm getting ahead of myself... This is all based around an Oxford tradition. On May Day morning, Magdalen College choir sing in the dawn at 6.00, heard by hundreds of people who flood the High Street from about 5.30. Once they have finished, two things normally happen:

1. Everyone jumps of Magdalen Bridge into a very shallow river, causing mass injury.
2. Every single belltower in Oxford rings constantly until about 7.45.

This year, the police (possibly with horses of strictly heterosexual persuasion) closed of Magdalen Bridge, thus preventing (1). (2) was still possible. And, while all this was happening, a large and merry (and damp) band of Christians from across the University were distributing doughnuts, offering tea and coffee (all free) and asking lots of people about their beliefs. And getting wet.

Well, about 7.45 we packed up, and I ended up in Trinity College by 8 listening to their choir (after only my second cup of tea of the day). After this, I fought my way past the Lancre Stick and Bucket Dancers (OK, not really) outside the SJC lodge, and listened to our own choir, before heading up to my room, completely failing to go back to bed, and writing this.

Oh, yes - I'm back! It's now 2nd Week of Trinity Term. At some point, hopefully at the other end of the term, I will have exams (Mods). This means I need to do work towards them. This means doing past papers, as well as finding the time for the 13 tutorials we need to squeeze in. The exam timetable isn't out yet, but the rumour mill suggests they're in 8th and 9th Weeks.

Ah, what fun! After us all getting rather soaked, it's now gloriously sunny in Oxford.

8th Week: The End, again

Well, it's about half past midnight as I write these words: term is officially over. The second of my Oxford life, Hilary Term seemed about three times as long and at least twice as hard as Michaelmas. The OICCU mission, "Love, Actually" (note the comma) was a whole month ago, and the last time I got to bed before 2am seems just as long (actually, it was Tuesday).

None of which has stopped me from playing around with the design of this blog, sharpening up my web skills for a project I have lined up for over Easter. Watch this space. Hope you like the new template.

So, what plans do I have for the immediate future? Aside from sleep, I'm staying in Oxford for a few days, as my parents can't pick me up until Thursday. I'm using this time to go and visit Andrea in Loughborough, as well as make sure all my notes are in order and present (and, perhaps, finally buy a folder for Logic and Proof...)

At the other end of the "vac" (shaken or otherwise), the OICCU Reps' Conference is in Ledbury. In case I've failed to mention it previously, I'm one of the two new CU reps (with Dave Howie) for St. John's College. It's going to be a big year... I've already been given moderator privileges to the mailing list, and of the two major E-mails I've sent out so far, both have contained at least one major reference to food.

So, sleep, end of term, pizza, Andrea, what else? Oh, yes, I've yet to conclude the ChoicesUK at War saga.

A long time ago, on a website far, far away...

It is a grave time for the ChoicesUK website. Rebel agents, striking from a hidden base, have won their first major battle against the suppliers.

During the battle, trade disruption led many users to order from other companies, such as the excellent CD-WOW. Angered by these defections, the ChoicesUK Emperor made an express effort to deliver the orders before such users could cancel them.

Now, with two copies of Empire at War on my desk, I must choose which one to send back, and return peace and order to the galaxy...

In fact, as the CD-WOW one was a) 2CD, rather than DVD, and b) £3 more expensive, that's the one that's going back. Plus the ChoicesUK one had a seven-day return window, rather than a thirty-day one. Useful, as it's been about two weeks already... Time flies when you're in that peculiar part of the Trousers of Time that is Oxford.

Friday, 8th Week: 1.27AM - Nova-T Linux Howto

As posted on the Hauppauge UK forums - but I thought I'd post it here, if only so that I can reference it in future. Nova-T Linux users, ever wanted to get your remote control working just like (in fact, better than) it does in Windows? Here's how.

OK, Linux-babble ahead.

The kernel recognises some of the buttons and generates keyboard events for them. However, the keymap in the kernel is incomplete for the Nova-T remote. Fortunately, the remote's events are also sent to /dev/input/eventx for some x.

Right, so how to go about getting the remote working?

The key is: lirc. This wonderful (if confusingly-documented and fiddly to set up) piece of software can listen to the /dev/input/eventx device, and turn them into keypresses.

I compiled from source, which in this case is probably easier (if you're comfortable with it). Download from the website at http://www.lirc.org/ and follow the included instructions to compile - the important bit is to select "Linux input layer" as the driver when you run setup.sh. Find it in Driver Configuration -> Other. Then sudo make install.

Lucky for you, I'm able to save you the whole irrecord/getting a config file working trouble. I've attached my lircd.conf file - copy this to /etc, without the .txt extension. Once this file is in place, you can start lircd: but, there's a trick here.

$ cd /dev/event
$ cat input3
(you may need to use sudo)
Then press a button on your remote control. With any luck, you will get something like
8D"
HD&
Dz
HD
8Dx
HD}
D
HD
DRD0DxRD}D
Yup, rubbish, but it means that you've found the right device. If you just get a number, then Ctrl+C out and try a different number. REMEMBER THIS NUMBER.

You can now start lircd (again, you may need to be root).

$ lircd -H dev/input -d /dev/input/eventx

where x is that important number I said to remember.

Next, install IRKick - this is the interface between KDE and lircd. With lircd running (eg after you've run the above command), start IRKick, and it should (after perhaps a few seconds delay) give you a message that it's found the lircd server.

Now, the fun begins! You can right-click the IRKick icon in the system tray, and choose Configure. Then you can configure all sorts of fancy functions for your remote - have a play. Kaffeine is one of the apps it recognises and will let you configure especially.

Sorry for the slightly bizarre tone of this howto - it's the second night in a row I've been working until gone 1am, and it's starting to affect my sanity.


Footnotes:

It's probably possible to automate the starting of lircd. However, I use Kubuntu, which has the habit of assigning everything in /dev/input different event numbers each time the computer loads. And so, occasionally, I put the wrong number in and lose control of the keyboard. I guess that playing with udev(?) may help, but I haven't fiddled yet.

I've got this working under Kubuntu 5.10, with kernel 2.6.12-9 and -10. I think the DVB support (or at least, Nova-T support) was broken in 2.6.10 and 2.6.11.

IRKick is a KDE program. I don't know if it'll run under Gnome, or if there's an equivalent available.

Saturday, 6th Week: In Pictures - Pro-Test

11.30am, Broad Street: and there's a pro-test in progress. News and media reporters abound too - note the boom mic

Strictly heterosexual police horses watch from a distance

Young and old - from students waving placards to gentlemen in suits, the Pro-Test drew the crowds

Note to SPEAK: This is what co-operation with police means... you might like to try it sometime.

What a pun it turned out to be... my throwaway gag becomes immortalised on T-shirts

Final score (according to BBC News) : Pro-Test 600 - 150 SPEAK. Build the lab, and ALF leave us alone.

Thursday, 6th Week: A Happy Bunny

I am not.

The ongoing ChoicesUK at War saga continues to be ongoing... In fact, their latest estimate is the 6th March. Did they politely E-mail me to tell me this? No. I phoned them up. Thankfully, there were no automated phone systems to contend with; in fact, the support department at ChoicesUK are brilliant, some of the best I've encountered. It's a shame the stock control department don't match them. So, "problems with the distributer for all the games" mean I have to wait...

THE 6TH OF MARCH! I'll almost be leaving Oxford by then! So here's what I'll do: I'm cancelling my order with ChoicesUK. I'm ordering instead from CD WOW!, who have been reliable in the past. It's a few quid more expensive, but at least I'll get it while I'm still at the delivery address.

Thursday, 6th Week: HAZOP

As promised, an extract from an earlier conversation on IM. Edited slightly to keep it on-topic. Pay close attention to the timestamps: yes, this conversation really did last that long.

(16:23:02) A@LU: what does 'HAZOP' stand for anyway?
(16:23:22) A@LU: you can tell i love hazard analysis lectures :P
(16:23:36) James@SJC: "Have A Zany Organised Party"?
(16:23:45) A@LU: hmm
(16:24:08) James@SJC: "Hello All, Zebidee's On Painkillers"?
(16:24:26) James@SJC: "Here Are Zee Other Plans"?
(16:24:40) James@SJC: Shall I go on?
(16:24:46) A@LU: no
(16:24:59) A@LU: i shouldn't have got u started... :P
(16:26:17) James@SJC: Hand a zoo over, punk.
(16:26:36) James@SJC: Hot and zticky? Oh, please!
(16:26:46) A@LU: eeew
(16:26:53) James@SJC: OK, so that one doesn't really count.
(16:27:16) James@SJC: How about, zoos on parade?
(16:27:33) A@LU: it's 'Hazard and Operability' apparently
(16:27:45) A@LU: and u haven't covered zebra yet
(16:27:55) James@SJC: I was just getting to that
(16:28:13) James@SJC: Hey! Alarm! Zebra over perimeter!
(16:28:30) A@LU: indeed
(16:29:10) James@SJC: Hey, Andrea. Zee omnipresent parallelepiped.
(16:29:50) A@LU: hmm
(16:30:20) James@SJC: How are Zeke's only parents?
(16:31:19) James@SJC: Hit a zebra on Parks Road. (Ish.)
(16:33:10) A@LU: bored yet?
(16:33:43) James@SJC: No
(16:34:50) James@SJC: Has any Z-axis only points?
(16:35:32) James@SJC: Ha, although zoologists ordinarily perish.
(16:35:59) A@LU: Has a zebra orthoganol pointers?
(16:36:08) James@SJC: lol
(16:36:41) A@LU: rather 'orthogonal'
(16:37:36) James@SJC: Her awful zpelling omits plenty.
(16:37:50) A@LU: indeed
(16:38:01) A@LU: but that's no a proper word either
(16:38:46) James@SJC: Has anyone zoomed over Portsmouth?
(16:38:52) A@LU: not me
(16:38:54) A@LU: :(
(16:39:40) James@SJC: Favourite character in Neighbours?
(16:39:47) James@SJC: Harold and Zeke, or Paul
(16:39:58) A@LU: Harold accidentally zipped over Percy
(16:40:00) A@LU: :P
(16:40:04) James@SJC: OUCH!
(16:40:11) James@SJC: That *IS* a hazard!
(16:40:20) A@LU: hehe
(16:40:48) James@SJC: Holistic anthropologist zookeepers own Paris.
(16:42:10) A@LU: Hungary's airspace zone owes precipitation
(16:42:28) James@SJC: Has anyone zeen our penguin?
(16:42:58) A@LU: me is too cold
(16:43:07) James@SJC: That doesn't fit with HAZOP
(16:43:14) A@LU: i know
(16:43:26) A@LU: was just telling you :P
(16:43:47) James@SJC: Hot? A'z oppositely placed.

Wednesday, 6th Week: Room Ballot

It's a political, tactical, "sexually frustrated" (as the Kretch put it) time of the year... the JCR Room Ballot is concluding this evening with the Remainder Ballot - that is, anyone who's not a finalist or in a house.

I wanted a nice North Quad B-grade. I got a nice North Quad B-grade, with the bonus that it's a JCR grade C+, giving me a critical edge in next year's ballot (when I'll be on the Finalists' Ballot... scary!) - I told you it was tactical!

Well, a brief check suggests I will indeed have a mobile phone signal there; whether or not I'll get a DTT signal is undecided. I can always rig up a MythTV backend somewhere high up, if a friend has a higher room... try doing that with your Media "Center" PC without getting a headache or a nasty letter from your bank manager. It's ground floor, which should stop Mum complaining about having to climb lots of stairs.

More later, including an interesting conversation about HAZOP... wait and see...

Saturday, 5th Week: The End Of 5th Week - Almost!

Well, last time I made an "end of 5th Week" post, it all went downhill from that point... not taking chances here, though so far 5th Week Blues haven't arrived.

Speaking of things that haven't arrived: am I happy with www.ChoicesUK.com? No. No, I am not. On the 21st January (that's nearly a month ago) I pre-ordered a copy of the excellent-looking Star Wars: Empire At War PC game, which was released yesterday in Europe (Thursday in the States).

Now, a bit of back story: originally, ChoicesUK has the release date as the 10th February. No idea where they got this from, everywhere else in the known universe was correctly giving the 17th as the right date. So, lo and behold, on the 10th I receive an E-mail telling me that "due to circumstances beyond our control, the despatch of this product has been delayed." Fair enough, though they don't tell me when they expect it to be dispatched.

ChoicesUK's pre-release policy says that "when you pre-order a title that has not yet been released we aim to deliver it to you on the release date." Which would be the 17th, right? Uh... no.

Seeing that my order had not been processed by mid-afternoon, I sent an E-mail enquiring as to when I might expect to receive the game. Credit where credit is due, the response was extremely quick (in fact, only three minutes!); but not the one I wanted. In fact, I learn that " The product is currently delayed until the 23rd of February." Why? They didn't say. Later that day, I received yet another generic "this product has been delayed" E-mail.

So, I wait for Thursday to arrive... and hope it doesn't get stolen by Rebel spies while in transit...

A scary moment earlier today when I used my last teabag. A quick trip to Sainsbury's relieved the tension, and I have a cup of tea on my desk right now. (Since I was ill during 4th Week, my tea consumption has been cut dramatically... time to make amends.

This last teabag was used to prepare a cup of tea for my mum, who came to visit with my sister today. Catherine seemed to be more impressed with the internet connection than with the architectural jewels of the City of Dreaming Spires. I have taught her well.

No tutorials in 6th Week; my tutor is away in Germany. Gives me a chance to catch up on the work I had hoped to catch up on during the equally tutorial-free 4th Week, which I was unable to do thanks to the "hyperflu" that Andy, fellow CompSci-in-crime, seems to now be suffering from.

Roll on 6th Week!

Tuesday, 5th Week: Let Valentine's Day be an n-dimensional vector space over R

A Love Poem for Valentine's Day

Your linear transformations are to me
As flower petals on the vector space tree
Your kernel surely must be small
As with your rank you best them all

Friday, 4th Week: Palm IR Hotsync on Linux

Not the most gripping of post titles, I admit, but for those who have been trying it's good news...

I finally got my Palm syncing with KPilot via my IrDA dongle. I'm fairly certain that the USB connection is iffy, though it's only HotSync that fails with USB, and other software works fine over the connection. Oh well, I've had it too long for it to still be under warranty. IrDA is slower, but it still works!

OK, so here's the setup: I have a SigmaTel USB IrDA dongle. This makes it a tad more involved than with a serial one. First, a few modprobes (as root, of course): irda-usb, ircomm, and ircomm-tty need to be loaded. Then an irattach irda0 -s connects everything up. Telling Kpilot to listen to /dev/ircomm0 then allows the Palm to sync!

It sounds so simple, and I've tried so many things so close to this before. I actually found out by trying to find some software that would let me download stored SMS messages from my phone, and trying that via ircomm0. It worked. I thought, "Hmm. That hasn't happened before" and the connection was made!

This week I also got a nice shiny new leather case for my Palm, as the original flip cover has split quite badly. It's lasted ages, to be fair! So now my PDA has a leather jacket. It opens the "wrong" way (with the PDA on the left and the flap on the right), though this does give somewhere to rest my hand while I use the stylus.

So I guess you could say it's been a pretty PDA-centred week. It wouldn't entirely be true - if anything, it's been illness-centred and hopefully Christ-centred, being mission week - but you could say it nonetheless...

Friday, 3rd Week: The power of (a play on) words

Protest.

Pro-test.

See the subtle difference there?

OK, some background. You may have heard about the new medical research lab being built in Oxford (actually, just a stone's throw away from where I am now). Animal rights groups, ALF and SPEAK (whom I deliberately group seperately) have been organising regular protests against its construction. The Cherwell has several reports on the nature of the protests; in addition to these legal protests, several Oxford colleges have had their boathouses burnt down; and recently Oxford Architects suffered several acts of vandalism at the hands of the ALF.

A recent ALF statement read: "This is just the beginning of our campaign of devastation against anyone linked in any way to Oxford University. Every individual and business that works for the University as a whole is now a major target of the ALF. We must stand up, do whatever it takes and blow these f****** monsters off the face of the planet." (My asterisks).

Oxford students are, to tell the truth, not impressed, and certainly not intimidated. On a recent trip to Oxford, the boyfriend of an Oxford student decided to take a stand. Read his blog post here. One of the comments in reply to this post was from myself - and in it, I happen to make the pun as detailed above. I wasn't quite expecting for it to become the name of a new, pro-lab protest movement, Pro-Test!

SPEAK are seemingly worried: in response to the formation Pro-Test they published an article that, rather than addressing the issues on the table, decided to instead launch a personal attack on Pro-Test's founder. I'm not going to dignify it with a link from here.

The first Pro-Test Protest is scheduled for the 25th February.

In other news: I want to program using this language.

Thursday, 1st Week: Neighbours Crash Latest

All here at SJC are saddened by the continuing events in the Bass Strait off Tazmania. A website has been set up at http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sjoh2340 to give information about the known survivors of what the police are calling a "suspicious" crash. The Neighbours following in the TV room wish to pass on to the families of those affected - to Harold, Janelle, Karl and Extras - as well as their friends and neighbours - our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time.

Susan HAS to survive! Her and Karl are still in love... and they both know it...

On a serious note - the first in this post! - it's worth a comment about the reactions to such an event that people have. Harold, a Salvation Army member and re-committed Christian, could be criticised as being naive for suggesting "They're all OK". Many people would react in anger, as Karl did: "What does God say, Harold? Did He tell you why He lets Isabelle survive and not Susan? This God of yours, in all His infinite wisdom!? If ever I needed any evidence there's nothing out there, this is it."

Harold's reaction to this time of crisis is the right one: committing himself to prayer. However, the prayer he prays serves not as a petition to God, but as a way of simply making himself and those with him feel better:

"Dear Lord, we pray for the lives of our families and our friends. Please, we know you'll look over them, you'll protect them and send them back to us safely. Amen."

Being a Christian does not mean living a trouble-free life. Jesus himself said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34). The latter half of Revelation depicts Jesus holding a scroll, while a multitude of "natural" and supernatural disasters occur on Earth. I don't understand the mystery of suffering: but I do know that God is in control. Nothing that happens on Earth will ever catch God by surprise. This is not saying that God causes such suffering; but God can use suffering in order to change us - that is, his followers - to be more like him. The Psalmist says,
"For you, O God, tested us;
you refined us like silver." (Psalm 66:10)

But Harold heads straight for his Protector in this time of crisis, because he knows that is where he will find refuge. He will find God's peace - and it will be a struggle for him to get there, in the days ahead (I haven't read any spoilers, but I'm fairly confident). And there are times in our lives when we do struggle to be in God's presence; times when even the most committed Christian finds it hard to pray. These are the times when it's important to be around our Christian friends and family, for the support and prayers we know they will be able to give. (Cue Harold's Salvo friends?)

Karl's argument is difficult (even impossible) to explain away. But in his emotional outburst is a flawed argument which can be seen in the harsh light of day: First he blames God for what has happened, and that Susan is still missing; then he uses this to "prove" that there is no God. How can God be blamed for something if he doesn't exist?

Susan is a wonderful person. Izzy... well, she's Izzy. It is clear that Karl is both still hurting from what Izzy has done to him, and still in love with Susan. And human nature is slow to forgive, and our love imperfect. But take a look from God's point of view: Both Izzy and Susan are His creations. He loves them both equally - despite the wrongs of their lives. It's the same love that, back in the real world, is offered to each one of us today: a love so powerful that it was willing to sacrifice Jesus, who was "by very nature God", that he should take the punishment due to us for our own wrongs.

So the message to Karl (should Susan be confirmed dead and not found next episode) is: God is grieving with you at the death of His child, whom he loves. But trust in Him - and you will find the comfort that only He can give.

The message to Harold is: Trust and know that your God has not abandoned you. He is your strength, your protector, your fortress. Though all around, waves come crashing down - Christ the Rock does not move.

The message to you, the reader, is: Do you know that you are loved by the living God? Loved so deeply that he was prepared to lay aside his majesty by coming to Earth, humbling himself and becoming "obedient to death - even death on a cross." In fact, " This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us." (1 John 3:16)

Tuesday, 1st Week: On DRM and all that

This came out of a conversation I was having on IM last night. Thought I'd share it with the world, as it's quite close to my heart. Firstly, the conversation, minus any names.

(22:49:54) ###########: :P i like windows media player. i find it easy to use for my purposes

(22:50:47) James@SJC.Linux: Yes, but under the hood there's a lot of stuff I disagree with on a lot of levels. I think a lot of what they're doing ("they" being MS, as well as the major record/media companies) is very wrong. *I* want to control what I can and can't watch or listen to. I don't want some major company doing that for me. If I buy a DVD, why shouldn't I be able to watch it how I want?

(22:52:19) ###########: that doesn't really bother me, but i don't have the 'under the hood knowledge' like u do

(22:52:52) James@SJC.Linux: If you pay money to buy a Westlife CD, you have the right to listen to it. Agreed? (The whole issue of why you'd pay money to listen to Westlife is another matter!) ;-)

(22:53:37) ###########: :P yes, i have the right to listen to it

(22:54:13) James@SJC.Linux: Exactly. Not, "I have the right to listen to it on a particular CD player", or "I have the right to listen to it for thirty days from date of purchase and then it will wipe itself". Or even worse, "I have the right to listen to it on a particular *company's* CD player". Do you see where I'm coming from?

(22:55:33) ###########: yes, but still, i don't experience that problem, or any equivalent problem

(22:56:23) James@SJC.Linux: Not yet, but that's where we're headed. The capability is just about there, it's just when they decide to start using it. And there's a lot of legislation going through the EU right now. I don't want that to be the future of digital media. If you could only play Sony/EMI CDs on Sony CD players, [Sony employees] would get a lot more commission but people would complain in a big way. And we could very well see exactly that happen with computers very soon.

I really do have some grave concerns about the future of digital media. The scary thing is - most people, like the very good friend I was talking to tonight, have little or no knowledge of what "Digital Rights Management" (or, as it has been frequently termed, Digital Restrictions Management) could mean. A very scary thing is that people don't care. They don't care because right now, it just works. They can download music, video, play it on Windows Media Player, or in iTunes, maybe move it to their iPod or Pocket PC, and they see no problem.

I think the Sony CD analogy above is quite a representative one. For the people who own Sony CD players, there's no problem. They expect (rightly) any CD they buy can be played in their Sony hi-fi. They do not care about the issue because they do not see an issue. (This is not an attack on Sony or their customers!)

I'm on the other side of the fence. As you can probably tell from the above, I don't run Microsoft Windows, but a Linux distribution, Kubuntu. (To use the CD player analogy: I don't use Sony, I use a CD player made by a small, independent company.) One of the problems, and it's digital rights related, is this: technically, it could be illegal for me to watch my DVDs on my computer.

I'll explain. Most DVDs use a copy-protection device, an encryption so that it can be viewed but not copied. The trouble is, you need to decrypt the disc in order to watch it. On Microsoft Windows, and as far as I know on Mac, this isn't a problem: you have WinDVD, PowerDVD, or whatever (commercial) program to watch DVDs with. No problem so far. But, the code used to decrypt a DVD for watching can also be used to decrypt it for copying. With commercial software, that's not a problem; the company writing the software buys the right to use the decryption code (essentially) and includes it in their program. The end user (viz. you and me) never see the source code, so the decrypt is quite safe.

Most Linux programs are open-source. This means that, unlike with commercial programs, you can actually download a copy of the programming code used to create that software. You can also (if it's released under the GNU Public License) actually rewrite as much or as little of that program as you want. Use bits of its code in your own projects. You can see the issue here: if you release the DVD decryption code as open-source, then anyone can get their hands on it and the encryption is useless.

Thing is: I need to be able to install a copy of that decryption code to be able to watch my DVDs. This I have done. libdvdcss is the name of the package that is essential to watching DVDs, and you won't find it in any Linux distribution. In order to protect themselves from possible legal action, the big players in the Linux world (understandably) do not include this library in their packages. You instead have to download it from elsewhere. This is, possibly, illegal.

Wait, wait - back up there. "In order to protect themselves from possible legal action" - for letting their users watch their own DVDs? What's gone wrong?

Microsoft's WMA and WMV formats, and Apple's AAC format - probably many more - all contain code that only allows certain devices or software to play the file. Again - if you use Windows Media Player for all your video and audio, not a problem for you. But not exactly fair competition, is it? If you just so happened to want to use software from someone other than Microsoft (say) - what if that software can't play your files, because of this DRM blocking? (And there is a high likelihood that software that can play it has used reverse engineering at some point - again, a legal grey area.) It's not just stifling competition - it's removing it. Windows Media Player comes installed by default on probably 98% of home PCs sold in Britain today - maybe higher. Why bother to install anything else, now you've put your favourite air guitar album on to your PC? If it won't work with other programs - why go to the effort?

And that, in my book, is not fair on the competition; and inevitably, bad for competition means bad for consumer. We've already seen this: the lack of real competition for over a decade to Microsoft's Windows OS has resulted in Windows XP. Sure, it has some good features. OK, the default settings make it look like it was designed for a three-year-old (or maybe by one?) and the focus on tasks, rather than tools, is not to my liking - I like to be able to control options, not just click a button and have something come out close to what I want. But that's not the point.

Since XP was released, there have been countless security updates. Googling for 'xp security updates' returns about 18,900,000 pages (that's pages not updates - not even Microsoft could be that bad!) If anyone has a definite count, please let me know. And that's just the security updates - not the non-security updates that maybe you need to stop your computer from crashing every five minutes.

When you bought XP (if you did - and if you bought a new computer with it preinstalled, you did), you were supposed to be buying a finished product. Coded, compiled, packaged, and on the shelf ready for you to buy. I bet you didn't think it would be delivered in instalments.

Some updates are inevitable. But if you bought a new car, and you had to take it back to the garage about once a month (if not more) for them to tweak something; replace one of the instruments on the dashboard; change how you unlock the car; suddenly discover that if you're doing 50mph and you turn left too hard, the roof falls off... etc, would you be happy? According to the AA website, the Ford Mondeo has had 17 recalls in ten years. XP could probably clock up that many in a fortnight.

This isn't all Microsoft's fault (shock!). For a decade, there has been no real effective competition to their vision of the home computer (and it is a whole vision, not just an OS). PC users rarely cross over to Macs - will this change with the new Intel-driven Apples? Linux - of which, you will have picked up, I am a great fan - is still too fiddly for the average user who's grown up on Windows and used to everything being done for them. I have great respect for those few who find their way to the Kubuntu forums, switching from Windows to Linux - and, when things don't work exactly as they want, rather than throwing a tantrum and going back to MS, actually try and learn a bit about how things work in Linux, how to set it up the way they want. Those who persevere, rarely regret it.

But for many users they simply do not perceive a choice, nor the need to have one. The thing is, unless we work hard to make sure there is a choice - that digital media remains free - we won't have a choice but to follow with Bill Gates' vision of the digital home: your Windows PC streams WMV to your Windows Media Center (sic) box, which acts as your television (even though at present it's broadcast driver architecture (BDA) - the bit that lets it act as a TV, in essence - is completely messed up - and that's not just my opinion). Your Windows Pocket PC can get WMA audio streamed to it as well. Then maybe, one day, someone will say - "Hang on - surely there's a way I can do this?" And there won't be. Because it wasn't in Bill's vision (or it was coded badly and never works, more likely).

This vision of the future scares me. A future where, unless you follow a single company's way of doing things, you won't be able to listen to your CDs, watch your films, watch television. But the vision of the present - the present where this is happening, and nobody seems to notice or even care - that vision scares me more.

Monday, 1st Week: The Boys Are Back In Town

...actually, I was back in town last Wednesday (well, briefly on Monday). This is pretty much a sort of catch-up for the events of 0th week (the holiday, or 'vac', ceases to exist when you revert to Oxford reality).

So, 0th Week! The CU Houseparty to the Frontier Centre in Northamptonshire. A great couple of days away - good company, good teaching, good food (always important in any Christian context!), and an amusing walk past at least four "No Entry" signs (or similar). And mud.

Bought a couple of books from the bookstall (courtesy IVP!) - at the moment I'm reading Jesus Driven Ministry by Ajith Fernando. It's a very good book. I'd recommend it to anyone in any form of Christian leadership.

Got back to Oxford on Wednesday evening. Had to survive a whole 24 hours more without my computer, as this was being brought up on the Thursday by my parents. It's now up and running with the latest svn of MythTV, and with the signal booster I installed a few scant minutes ago I have now solved my reception problems with the three muxes I had trouble with. For some reason I can't get a lock on Sky (690MHz) without moving the aerial up a shelf; but if I do that, I can't lock on five (714MHz); and the bit error rate on the other muxes shoots up. Got to be something to do with the strange architecture of the Sir Thomas White building... and I see they're still transmitting on 554MHz, something to do with the mobile TV trials in Oxford using DVB-H. Can't watch it though... ;-)

Enough technobabble. There's plenty happening this term: hopefully my first laundry of the term will be less eventful than the last one. I'm using the Tommy White machines this time, just in case! Major protests by the animal rights lobby (or at least the yobs who claim to be on that side) are scheduled for this term. This was the scene on Saturday on Cornmarket Street: around 50 police and four horses (of undetermined sexuality), but no obvious protesters by this stage. Reports are that around 500 people turned out in the end. Some of them (it sounded like) were rattling the fence at the bottom of my staircase. The fence withstood the attack.

Friday, 8th Week: The End

5.00, and I had finally finished my first term at Oxford! This last week has been the busiest of all - last night I was up until 2, working. Mostly...

There is a tradition of the CU here that involves root vegetables. It started with Weetabix (I am aware that this does not fit the whole root vegetable theme) then moved to potatoes... And so, at midnight last night, I was creeping around the college planting onions outside CU members' doors, accompanied by Numbers 11 verse 15:

" We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic."

Soph and Tim, who both prefer the KJV version, had specially-printed verses from that translation.

After I had returned to my room, I heard a slight rustling outside. After opening the door, I found I had been delivered some garlic... I immediately suspected Benj, my partner-in-vegetable-delivering-crime; he denied involvement, claiming to be in bed. However, the fact that he had hung the carrier bag I had given him on my doorknob at the same time was a bit of a clue...

Anyway, that was very early this morning. Since then, a vast quantity of events have occurred. These include, but are not limited to, the last 8am prayer meeting of 2005; bacon for breakfast in Tim's room; a lot of rain; a lecture and three tutorials; and my room being decimated by the process of packing everything, ready to move back to Portsmouth tomorrow.

Will I get any sleep tonight? Will I be able to fit everything into the boxes I have available? Will this rain ease off? Can I conclude without a question?

Other news - I hear my ex-girlfriend has a new interest. Which is fine, but why does she boast to me about him?

NEWS UPDATE: Laundry crisis

Early reports indicate that the laundry crisis is now resolved. At 16.10 today, I entered the North Quad Laundry Room and cried "They're free!" This is the sight that lay before me:

Note again the prominence of my jeans (foreground) and boxer shorts (top). A dinner shirt is also visible, though sadly no longer identifiable as such.

After extracting those items not suitable for tumble-drying (whatever good that will do after they've been immersed for 18 hours), the remainder of the items were moved to the TD for recovery. One non-tumble-driable item is the brand-new SJC Hoodie, essential wear for the Christmas holidays. The next user of Washing Machine One was said to be "a bit nervous" as she had heard of the dilemma.

Latest Pictures: Laundry Crisis

Clearly visible on the left is Washing Machine #1 of North Quad Basement. Contained within is my washing, still part immersed in water. Just visible at the bottom right of the row of LEDs (just left of the programme dial) is a flashing red light, signifying that there is a problem draining the water.











Here on the left, you can clearly see parts of my jeans, and indeed my boxer shorts, still trapped inside.





In reaction to this news: environmental groups may be pleased to note that I was washing at 40 degrees Celsius, and not 60 as some people do. Domestic Stores have been informed of the situation.

Tuesday, 8th Week: Laundry

BREAKING NEWS
Thirteen hours after my washing cycle began, my laundry is still trapped in the machine in North Quad. If anyone from Domestic Stores is reading this - please help!

It seems to be a drainage problem - water is not draining from the machine, and so it will not allow the door to be opened. More updates as things develop between lectures and tutorials today!

Sunday, 8th Week: Time flies (or, Falling out the end of the Trousers of Time)

A little song to start us off:

"Seventh has come and passed,
The Oxford terms, they never last.
Wake me up, when Friday 8th Week ends,
Wake me up, when Friday 8th Week ends."

It's a wet start to my last Sunday in Oxford before the new year. But never mind - CU Breakfast in but a few short minutes (even here, it's fairly safe to approximate the passage of time in minutes rather than OxMinutes of Oxford Time) will help to wake me up.

Highlights of 7th Week have to include St. Aldate's black-tie Student Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday (see right). The church was transformed into a sea of red, orange and yellow balloons, with around 250 students being extremely well fed with turkey, sweet potato and marshmallow (a strange combination for us Brits, but something I could get used to), and other food-type goodies.

More mundane matters: Tomorrow is the deadline for my Functional Programming practical work. Just as well, then, that it's already finished... I'm not looking forward to (last day of term) Friday - as it gives our tutor a chance to set a marathon of tutorials to catch up on any sheets we've missed. (What do I mean when I say sheets? Take a look for yourself: you can get some of them at http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/~earl - and enjoy the wonder of calculus!)

Yes, it's not the traditional lazy last week of term - this is an Oxford term, and the work keeps going until the bitter end (literally, 6pm of the Friday...) This time next week, I'll be getting ready to go to my home church for Catherine, Katherine, Rachel, Lisa and Anna get baptised. What a service to come home to!

Saturday, 5th Week: The End Of 5th Week!

It is true what they say about 5th Week. It's all true. 5th Week Blues are almost unavoidable... but I have survived!

It's been a very long week. It already seems like I've been here for years - at least three of which have been this past week. I slept until 11.30 this morning - late even for me! Tonnes of work at the beginning of the week, but somehow managed to get it mostly done on time.

An amazing week spiritually, too... We've started 10.30pm prayer meetings in the chapel. It's been challenging, encouraging, and many other adjectives ending in ing. I'm sure I remember telling someone that I'm sure I've learnt more about God in the past five weeks than I have about computers, and it's pretty much true.

For one reason or another, I haven't been to bed before 1am most of this week - and with 9am lectures, that's never a good thing. 6th Week should be easier: our tutor is in Europe, so we only have one tutorial. (We'll regret this come the last day of term, when we have a solid afternoon to catch up...)

Music news: Delirious?'s new album came through the post today. The Mission Bell is almost completely different in sound to World Service. I read somewhere: "Where World Service was about grace, The Mission Bell is about mission... a call to arms". My personal favourite tracks are Solid Rock and Now Is The Time; lyrics from which I will leave you with.

"Now is the time for us to shine,
Shine with the face of Christ divine;
No compromise, for all heaven cries,
Now is the time."

Tuesday, 4th Week: Sacrifice

(Right) I had to say goodbye to a close friend.






(Left) Too late to turn back now... or is it?








(Right) Goodbye, old friend.