#[Arabica] Wrote a few of the classes that actually evaluate an XPath. I've got classes for boolean, numeric and string values, together with plus and minus operators. It's not much, but it's start.
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#I am seven years old
Took a trip out with my comics-chums last night to see Spider-Man 2. We have to, you understand, we read comics.
Me, I've read maybe half-a-dozen Spider-Man comics in my life, and most of those were rubbish. Didn't find the character - Peter Parker or Spider-Man - appealing, and a lot of the villans are just rubbish. Rhino, anyone? Others in our little party are similarly unenamoured, Pete for instance, balanced by long-time followers Tony and Dan. Not sure about Matt and Tom's affiliations in this respect.
We have a number of long time Sam Raimi fans in our party too, myself included. Despite taking the studio cheque, Sam Raimi retained our respect (as Tim Burton had before) by not submerging his natural style, and delivering an entirely acceptable first film. Good enough to not disappoint the long-time Spider-fans, enough Raimi humour to keep his admirers happy, and enjoyable for a general audience.
So, we were set for a light evening's entertainment, bracketed with a drink beforehand and perhaps one afterwards. We had the bookending drinks, but the film in the middle wasn't quite what we were expecting.
Spider-Man 2 is the most exciting film I have ever seen. And fun! Such fun! At the end, we were all laughing and clapping and giggling. It gave me a cinema-rush inside, like I was a small child and had been to the cinema for the first time. Wonderful, absurdly brilliant fun.
Nick [e] [w] said j'adore spidey. A much better film than the first. Wheras the Goblin was pretty much 100% unpleasent even before he was twisted Doc was actually a really cool guy, thus the actual plausability of his appeal in the concluding fight. Also, my continued love for J. Jonah Jameson waxes unabated.
[added 26th Jul 2004]
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# And the
Moseley MasterTeam is ... well, it would be immodest to say.
stu said Congratulations.
You put me to shame.
In all the years I lived in Müseli and I never got into the hip scene. [added 26th Jul 2004]
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#Swam it. Swam it all.
Warm up
8 lengths straight
4 lengths straight
4 lengths pull
4 lengths kick
Main set
8 lengths straight
8 lengths pull
8 lengths straight
8 lengths pull
8 lengths straight
Sprints
6 lengths sprint
Warm down
4 lengths, different stroke
Yay. Go me.John H [e] said How long are your lengths? It's a little less impressive if you did this in the kiddy pool!
[added 16th Jul 2004] The pool is a shade over 20 metres, so it's about 1400 metres for the whole programme. [added 16th Jul 2004]
John H [e] said That's very nearly a mile!
[added 19th Jul 2004] danp said Well the list of activities sounded more than a little rude to me. Are you sure you were just swimming?
[added 20th Jul 2004] It only looks rude when viewed through the lens of rudeness, Dan.
Straight is front crawl. Kick is legs only with your arms on a floar. Pull is arms-only crawl with a pull-bouy float stuffed between your willing thighs. Not rude at all. [added 21st Jul 2004]
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# Not quite sure when this happened, but the
Nine Inch Nails site has content and a fantastic 70s-fanzine-bashed-out-on-a-cheap-typewriter design.
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# Why do all baby clothes have a prominent "Keep Away From Fire" warning?
smellygit said Cos they'd burn if they were too close to the fire.
[added 12th Jul 2004] Your comment is undeniably true.
It is also, like the label itself, undeniably stupid.
Clothes are flammable (except hopefully those given to firemen). Why then are baby clothes especially labelled? Do people feel particularly inclined to dangle babies over naked flames, perhaps? Are we likely to mistake a cotton vest for an asbestos coverall? [added 12th Jul 2004]
Pete Ashton said I was quite struck by my niece's pram which has warning signes plasted all over the inside of the seat. Can't remember what they say right now but stuff like "Warning!" and "Danger!" is very prominent. I wonder if this will have any effect on her...
[added 12th Jul 2004] They all have them - "Warning! Even though your baby is strapped into this seat, it is your responsibility not to crash your fucking car!" or "Caution. This pushchair is not designed to let you carreen wildly down a hill into the path of on coming traffic!".
The warnings on baby products are about as helpful as the mythic airline peanut warning - "Caution: This product contains nuts" [added 12th Jul 2004]
Pete Ashton said The "nuts" thing just seems quaint these days when a cup of tea from a vending machine warns you it might be hot. Might be? Bloody better be!
Obviously it's litigation culture, once again. The baby stuff is marketed as being safe for kids so they need to make sure stupid people don't think it'll protect their kids from the apocalypse. [added 12th Jul 2004]
Presumably it is the culture of litigation we're all supposed to be living in these days. Call me an old duffer if you like but shouldn't "But really, your Honour, the plaintiff is plainly a complete fuckwit" be a defense in law? [added 12th Jul 2004]
Pete Ashton said At a certain comics event this spring the general complaint was that there wasn't a cafe or bar on site, so I offered to run one the next year - just a table with a kettle, some tea bags, coffee, sugar and milk. The organiser said it couldn't be done and sent screeds of legaleese my way. I said if anyone wanted to sue for getting burned by tea they I would laugh in their face until they went away. No go.
[added 12th Jul 2004] If anyone tried to sue for being burned by tea, the "he's a fuckwit" defense should surely apply. You can't get burnt by tea. It's a liquid, so you get scalded. [added 12th Jul 2004]
Assuming, of course, that you're stupid enough to throw a cup of hot liquid over yourself. [added 12th Jul 2004]
Pete Ashton said (You're being pedantic again...)
It's something I have trouble conceiving - a situation where, after an accident involving small quantities of boiling water (say, the kettle fell over at worst) I would apportion blame and expect compensation. When did "it was an accident" stop being a reasonable excuse?
Bah... [added 12th Jul 2004]
smellygit said Having been on Holiday with a Personal Injury lawyer, I was led to believe that courts do expect you to have some common sense, The 'scalded by tea' example most likley wouldn't be won here.
PI claims haven't actually increased a lot over the last 10 years. Though I expect tabloid reporting of them has! [added 13th Jul 2004]
That's the most stupid part of all - the common-sense free can't sue you anyway, but everything is still plastered with warnings. I bought a cup of coffee at Warwick services this morning, which was labelled "Caution: The drink you are about to enjoy is VERY HOT". Because it was printed in relatively small type and was covered by hand while I held the cup, I didn't see it until I'd drunk all the coffee and put the empty cup down on the passenger seat. Who's more stupid, those issuing or those needing the warnings? [added 13th Jul 2004]
danp said Have you ever thought that its the stupid people that should be plastered in warnings. Perhaps they should all be made to wear tee-shirts bearing the words 'Danger! Stupid person. Likely to behave like a twat and then blame others when things go wrong.' Or perhaps a tatoo across their forehead - does saying that make me a bad person?
[added 14th Jul 2004] smellygit said I thought that is what the red cross flags people attach to their cars were for :)
[added 14th Jul 2004] Pete Ashton said And fishes in the rear windows. In fact, as part of a road safety lesson, a Christian biker expressly warned me to keep clear of any cars with a fish on them. They believe God will protect them from accidents...
[added 14th Jul 2004] smellygit said I think Ayrton Senna thought that too....
[added 15th Jul 2004] stu said Recently when on a business trip to LA (nothing to boast about - really), we noticed signs everywhere in the parking lot (which was the only place anyone could smoke in the vicinity of the hotel) exempting the hotel from any responsibility for substances that anyone might inhale in that location. Don't know that was for emissions from cars, cigarettes, or just the air outside. Even the New Yorkers there found it a little absurd.
And then on one of the replays of "Alastair Cooke's Letter from America" (something which I would normally have found the most boring piece of radio ever), there he was saying (sometime in the late 70s perhaps?) how ridiculous the litigation culture would become if people had to put signs up saying that they couldn't be responsible for injury caused by breathing in the air in a particular location.
So perhaps tatoos might not be so far off. [added 19th Jul 2004]
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# Three and half minute compile and deploy cycle - what a productivity killer.
smellygit said you need to buy yourself a shiny new computer :)
[added 9th Jul 2004] no I need less code, which is what I'm trying to do something about [added 9th Jul 2004]
smellygit said thats not the thinking that got the computer industry where it is today ;)
[added 12th Jul 2004] angry_john said Or you could try getting it right in the first place
[added 21st Jul 2004]
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# Disappointing the tax office had a metal posting box, so you couldn't see how many other tax-laggards there were. At the office in Coventry you actually did have to push your forms under the door. Ah, the good old days.
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# Will shortly be zooming into the city centre to stuff an envelope full of tax forms (
P11D Expenses and Benefits 2003-2004 and
P11D(b) Return of expenses and benefits - Employer's declaration 2003-2004 if you're interested) under the door of the tax office. Deadline for submission is tomorrow, and there are fines for late submission. It's been a few years since I've run a set of forms down to the wire like this (stupidly, in this case, because it's taken less than half an hour). I take a small crumb of comfort knowing that I'm not the only one, as there will undoubtedly be a small heap of other envelopes already there.
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#Optical mice r00l
Because you use them on the sofa, or on your leg, and they just work.
Technology that just works always r00lz!smellygit said Just wait till the battery runs out, I bet you won't be so glowing then :p
[added 5th Jul 2004] At least that's a hardware problem I can solve :) [added 5th Jul 2004]
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