# The condom machine in the gents at The Crow's Nest accepts both pound coins and Euros. It's good to know that people visiting our city won't be prevented from enjoying the full range of entertainment available for the lack of a bit of loose change.
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#[linkfarm] XML Pointer
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#[linkfarm] Jakarta Lucene
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#[linkfarm] AspectJ 1.0.4
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# By popular request (although probably destined to fall into disuse by next Tuesday afternoon) --> JDOM Sucks Weblog.
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# Words that should be banned: Vegetarian - ... it's got to stop; pretending that you only eat vegetables, when in fact you'll eat vegetables, cockles, muscles, whelks and, as it turns out, all seafood ...
Next week: Zoe Williams explaims why the word Humourist should be banned - It's got to stop; pretending that you're funny, when in fact you don't "do jokes" and the best you can manage is perhaps a wry smile of recognition (although not in this case obviously).
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# Nat mowed the lawn.

I played Hover Bovver.

Virtual mowing rocks more than actual mowing.
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# Something strange is happening. I think I'm turning into a Baggies supporter. I don't even like football. If I didn't have to spend tomorrow hanging around in Stratford while Nat runs a half-marathon, I'd quite fancy going down The Hawthorns and watching the match against Crystal Palace.

angry_john said Bloody glory hunter! [added 21st Apr 2002]

smellygit said No one could accuse you of that could they angry_john :)) [added 22nd Apr 2002]

angry_john said screw you ya scouse wannabe [added 22nd Apr 2002]

prashton said When did WBA start being called the Baggies? I am old enough to remember some of their glory days in the old First Division in the early 60s and I don't remember any nicknames back then. [added 24th Apr 2002]

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#[linkfarm] New C++ XML parser/writer; yoctoXML
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#[linkfarm] Is there a C++ equivalent of JAXB?
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#[linkfarm] SAX parser in Mozilla?
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# SOAP? Bah! What's wrong with /bin/sh? - Today I was sent details by a proud PR representative of his company's Google-over-email service, using the SOAP interface. What a waste of space ...
Doh! Remember, do the simplest thing that could possibly work.
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# I was wrong. Found three bugs last night. Damn those boundary conditions. Fixed one. Know how to fix the second. Third I'm still working on.
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# Another excellent Food Junkies last night, this time on sugar. It focussed on the shady dealings of Coke, Smith-Kline and chums engage in to keep it and research about its health effects out of the public eye and firmly out of public policy.

In many ways the tactics used by the refined sugar industries are the same as those used by tobacco companies. Sir Saxton Tate, formally head of Tate & Lyle, appeared on the program and flatly denied that refined sugar was associated with any health problems. Well, some of those other sugars might be, he conceded, but not Tate & Lyle.

The International Life Sciences Institute is

a nonprofit, worldwide scientific research foundation seeking to improve the well-being of the general public through the pursuit of sound and balanced science. Its goal is to further the understanding of scientific issues relating to nutrition, food safety, toxicology, risk assessment, and the environment.

ILSI findings are often at odds with other nutritionists, possibly because it is funded by virtually all the major food multinationals.

I probably seem desperately down on all this stuff - vegetarian, detox-dieting, cook every day - but I'm not really. I just like to know what I'm eating. How can you enjoy food if you don't know what it is?

Not at all. It's about informed choice. Any food in very large quantities isn't going to be terrifically good for you, so we are its sensible to eat things in moderation. But what is a moderate amount of something? It 90lbs of refined sugar a year large or moderate? It's difficult to find out, because the sugar industry sets out to obfuscate. The same is true of fast food, of alcohol to a lesser extent.

I mentioned that the food industry has adopted the same approach as the tobacco companies. Today, the only people who say that tobacco isn't a serious health risk are the tobacco companies. Do you really want to get to the point where the only people who say that food is "safe" is the food industry? [added 18th Apr 2002]

It's not a question of how "safe", because nothing's completely safe. It's about risk and evaluation of risk.

Remember how Edwina Currie kicked off a big scare about eggs, by saying they were all infected with salmonella? There was a problem, but she overstated it rather. In general though, the risks associated with food, whether through over-consumption, contamination or whatever, are hugely understated.

Food should be a thing of enjoyment. If you don't trust the bloke saying "go on, it's really nice", then that enjoyment is diminished. [added 19th Apr 2002]

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# Software you can have - Mango, a Java library of generic algorithms, iterators, and functions.
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#[mango] First release. Hurrah! Mango's initial release contains two new iterator types, five algorithms and a whole pile of interfaces.
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#[Arabica] Packaged a new release. This includes Peter's MSXML fixes and some additional typedefs. All the SAX templates now have a public typedef stringT, which is the string type used to instantiate the class. Those templates that also take a string adaptor parameter have a string_adaptorT typedef too.
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# Preserving classic software products - First, tell me what's in your top ten list of classic software products. What software artifacts would you want to preserve for future generations, products that made a difference in shaping the software industry?
Perhaps I'm just a programming saddo, but make would definitely be on my list somewhere.
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#[Arabica] Rebuilt against libxml 2.4.19 and happily it all seems to work.
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#[Arabica] Finally applied Peter Lundblad's patches. I used patch, amazingly enough, and it only took a few minutes, so I don't know it's taken over a week to get around to it.

There are a few typedef fiddles I'd like to add, then I'll cut a bug fix release.

On the horizon somewhere is catching up with Xerces 1.7, and maybe a bit of a catch up with libxml2 as well.
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#[linkfarm] Develop Your Own Applications Using Google
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# Interesting program on Beeb2 last night, Food Junkies, about the rise of fast food. There were some amusing titbits. Colonel Sanders, for instance, wasn't a colonel, practiced law without a license and practiced medicine while not being a doctor. It didn't record if he was part of a travelling show, but it does make you wonder about the "secret blend" of herbs and spices.

There was a lot about MacDonalds too, how could there not be. Did you know they donated $250,000 to Nixon's presidential campaign, while promoting a bill which would allow them to employ students at sub-minimum wage levels? Me neither. Much was also made of the health risks, not just that eating loads of junk food isn't very good for you, but also the burgers themselves are inhierently risky. Because they're minced, they might contain meat from any number of cattle. If just one of those carcasses was contaminated with salmonella (from feces), then you're looking at a big potential problem. To minimise the risk of poisoning all their customers, McDonalds burgers are cooked so the internal temperature reaches 105 Centigrade. Try cooking a steak like that and see how edible it is.

Perhaps the saddest thing was the parade of people saying that they couldn't live with out fast food, that they were addicted. A woman proudly showed of her gleaming showroom-condition stainless steel kitchen - I do use this knife she explained for cutting lemons for my gin and tonics. One particularly pathetic family ate takeaways at least five nights a week. It was put to them that they didn't eat any fruit or vegetables. Well McDonald's do do a burger with salad in it countered the father. Unfortunately he was cut off by his wife You never order that anyway

Related: McLibel
Nine Inch Nails - Ripe (With Decay) was used as backing music throughout

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#[mango] Getting web site ready for first release.
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#[linkfarm] The Coccinella - Jabber-based whiteboard
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#[linkfarm] Collaboration and Flexibility: Critical for Efficient Content Management
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#[linkfarm] Your clients need a Content Management System
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#[linkfarm] Writing PAM-Capable Applications
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#[linkfarm] peerkat
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#My-child-is-so-cute-comedy-conversations
What shoes is the Bean wearing?
New shoes!
What shoes is Mummy wearing?
Boots.
Thats right, walking boots. What shoes is Daddy wearing?
Slippers.
Well done. What shoes is Badger wearing?
Um. Toes.

planetcutie said Aaaah. Reminds me of the time I gave my 2 year old sister an extra strong mint. She put it on the table to cool down. Aaaah. [added 8th Apr 2002]

anonymous said Look grandma, look at my willy, sometimes it's hard and long, sometimes it's short and soft. [added 9th Apr 2002]

anonymous said I should add that the grandma-willy conversation was between my 3 year old and his gran. I wonder what age he would be when that kind of conversation becomes a little worrying? [added 9th Apr 2002]

Annmarie Guthrie [e] said Annmarie Guthrie..... My 3 year old daughter ( Victoria ) calls herself Toria so I said to her it's not Toria it's Victoria, then I asked what is your name and she answered "Victoria" and when I asked her what my name was she said "Vic Mummy" [added 2nd Aug 2005]

diana [e] said well you have corny jokes! but it was nice! it was successful...but you need to make it a little longer! [added 26th Feb 2009]

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# Things my girlfriend and I argue about - I'd like Neve Campbell to surprise me in the shower; our wet, naked bodies sliding and pumping against each other as we become dizzy and breathless, lost in desire. But I don't want to have sex with her.
No, me neither.
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#[Arabica] Received a set of patches from Peter Lundblad today, mainly concerned with fixes to the MSXML wrapper. Will try to get them incorporated and released as soon as I can.
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# Ozzy Osbourne 'invited to White House' - "I thought I'd be on a wanted poster on the wall, not invited to his place to tea."
Classic local-boy-makes-good story.

anonymous said Claim to fame: It was said that Ozzy used to live around the corner from us in Moseley, so did the drummer from ELO.

[added 10th Apr 2002]

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#
My hero
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#
Bloody hundreds of them!

angry_john said cool - frogs rock ! [added 5th Apr 2002]

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# First time this year - I've opened the skylight because it was getting a bit too warm in the attic.
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# Doom with a view - After a decade of gaming Andy Bodle has hung up his mouse, and decided to get a life ... the psychological effects of video games [include] "Increased violence and aggression levels, including high-risk behaviours... alcohol and tobacco use and the accelerated onset of sexual activity"
Unfortunately it never had that effect on me.
[Thanks Mr S]

angry_john said thats cause you were too busy getting gibbed you lamer [added 4th Apr 2002]

planetcutie said Gaming does have an effect on behaviour, obviously. Look at me - I've been playing Sim City games for over 10 years, and I have these uncontrollable urges to zone land, deal with taxes, and make fully functional transport and water systems. [added 4th Apr 2002]

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#

smellygit said Yay - Jez is retoxed - beer and sandwiches for lunch! [added 3rd Apr 2002]

angry_john said that's Jez ??? Why he's but a shadow of his former self [added 3rd Apr 2002]

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# I am detoxed!

Here's what I've learned over the last month

• Following a detox diet is much, much easier if you do a bit of planning. Nat and I have tried detox in the past, and frankly I did wonder if we could last a month. Happily, the (and I'm ashamed to say it) Carol Vordermann book we used is actually pretty good. It's a little weak on some of the explanations (ironically, given Carol's public educator persona), but it really scores by giving you a full breakfast, lunch, tea menu for every day. That's much easier than being given a load of principal and practises, and left to fend for yourself.
• It's a piss-simple way to lose weight. Even though detox diets arn't really intended as weight-loss diets, you do tend to loose weight because you're eating less fat. I've dropped around 9 pounds, Nat 10 and half.
• It's actually been fun. Some of the recipes have sounded kind of wacky - especially some of the salads, which fling nuts, fruit, spinach and watercress together with some abandon - but they've nearly all tasted good. Having the menu laid is fun too - you get to peek ahead and look forward to things, and you don't have to rootle through the fridge thinking what shall we have tonight.
• The shopping's easy. Look at the menu, write down what you need, go shopping.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more just doing a menu seems like a top plan. We used to, but not in a very disciplined way. From now on, I think we'll apply ourselves to it a little more.

planetcutie said I'm following my own diet. It's called the 'Tox' diet, where I consume nothing but dairy products, wheat-based products and alcohol. Tonight I'm having 4 cheese pizza, with lots of white bread, a packet of chocolate chip cookies, and washed down with Australian Shiraz and vodka. And 3 pints of milk before I go to bed. It's a great sacrifice, naturally. But you have to persist with what you believe in. [added 2nd Apr 2002]

It's funny because it's true. [added 2nd Apr 2002]

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