The Asylum

UK Taxes

2008-07-09T10:35:00.002Z

Taxes are confusing. Working out what you should pay isn't straightforward, but thankfully the good folks at http://listentotaxman.com make that a little easier to work out how much HMRC leaves you with at the end of the month.

Comes in handy when you have to plan out how much rent you can afford and where you can live!

Trying out viewat.org

2008-04-28T22:09:00.006Z

I've decided that hosting my own panoramas is something I can't sustain in the long run - sure, learning to write PHP was fun and everything, but I enjoy writing code for embedded devices and that means Java, C, Python... not PHP!

As there's some places on the web that host your panoramas for you, here's time to try one of these out. Please note that for now, their viewer requires a recent version of Flash installed. I have no idea if Gnash will suffice!

Blue Bridge, St James' Park, London, December 2007

FOSDEM 2008

2008-02-24T14:41:00.004Z

Just wrapping up with FOSDEM 2008 in Brussels and all I can say is that it's been another fascinating outing with fellow Open Source enthusiasts; we're all out to change the world... one person at a time!

My particular focus is Open Source Java and this year didn't disappoint. Our numbers grow and it seems that each year we get promoted to a larger room! Even with the steady churn of interested people in and out of various specialty presentations, we were keeping a fairly steady 50-60 people in the room.

As last year, Sun took active part in this event and keep showing their commitment to opening up OpenJDK completely. Progress is tangible and philosophy re-education within Sun is clearly going forwards; with the occasional hiccup that is to be expected. "Turning a supertanker is a little trickier than executing a handbrake turn"

This year we had the pleasure of having the people behind Duchess giving a talk about Women in Java technology. I greatly appreciate constructive approach to addressing the clear disparity between genders in our subsection of the technology. I strongly encourage everyone interested to look them up.

My own presentation went very well, considering the usual problems with demos not starting and laptop not picking up the projector. FBToolkit slides - in time-honoured fashion - were prepared 20mins before the presentation. FBToolkit is still growing up and with it comes growing pains. Expect big refactoring efforts over the next few months.

Everyone expecting some photos from this FOSDEM event won't be disappointed; photos from the Saturday portion of the conference and followup dinner can be found here.

I'd like to thank everyone for being great friends, for being there, for helping me get caffeinated most mornings and for helping me have fun instead of having a good night's sleep!

See you all there next year!

Future Of Mobile 2007

2007-11-16T02:18:00.000Z

This week I went to a short 1-day conference at the London iMAX. The majority of lectures were quite interesting as they confirmed some of my 'finger-in-the-air' assessments.

Of course, no visit somewhere new would be complete without lots of picturetaking, so here they are:

FutureOfMobile2007

And for something a little different how about something elaborate?

Future of Mobile, London iMAX, November 2007

Body protection...

2007-10-25T11:20:00.000Z

... is a must-have for the next time you make an off-colour joke (blokes: or sexist joke...)

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/9080/

Some points to note:
"In case you weren't aware, [this item] does not stretch."
"If you have long hair, [tie it up] otherwise [the item] could get tangled in your hair."
"You might feel a bit claustrophobic when first wearing [the item] but don't worry you won't get stuck."
"PLEASE wear a shirt or some other garment underneath [the item] is a bit rough and can scratch you."

My Desktop

2007-10-21T11:51:00.000Z

I'm barely back from my long holiday and still sorting through photos and I get tagged by Vero. Tagged! Now, you'll be able to tell from my blog that I don't take part in these tagging larks, but this time it sounded like fun. So without further delay I present to you, My Desktop:

1. Souvenir from my twice-weekly climbing sessions
2. Hot cup of tea|fruit tea|juice|etc
3. SE W880i, wish it was more stable
4. I'm a photo-nut so my camera is almost always with me (Canon 350D+IS Lens+QR)
5. Current photo backup solution, 60/100GB drives (*news* 60GB one no longer big enough)
6. Old BenQ FP783 LCD... stylish, wish more PC stuff was this nice!
7. 2GB MicroSD in adapter - of course, stupid SonyEricsson don't use them. Grrr.
8. Cheap Dixons keyboard with fading letters
9. Moo cards from my flickr stream
a. Tissues (for the hayfever and spilled tea on the desk)
b. Canon TC-80N3 intervalometer + adapter (wouldn't work in the 350D otherwise)
c. iPod cable... who knows where the iPod itself is though...

Now, I don't really know of who else to lumber with this particular meme, so I'll tag Mario, Dalibor, Cheeser and Tanya :-)

And now I'll get back to sorting through my mountain of photos from my trans-mongolian train ride!

Police cordons

2007-09-07T12:42:00.000Z

Something we've gotten used to in the UK through the years of the IRA threats, is police cordoning off chunks of London, typically a few blocks as a result of having a suspicious package or car.

Police cordon off 4-5 streets between Westminster and Victoria, London

Today was no different, with people calmly walking away from the cordoned area as directed by police on site. It's markedly different from the general panic typically seen elsewhere around the world.

I wish this calm attitude was something intrinsic with people, rather than having come from repeated exposure to such threats.

Common sense?

2007-07-07T12:36:00.000Z

Common sense really does seem to be disappearing... why, oh, why is it necessary to warn people to stay away from the edge of train platforms?

Any instinct of self-preservation would surely be triggered by the 1.5m drop onto tracks, or the electrified line or the sheer SIZE of trains passing at speeds in excess of 40km/h.... but no, I imagine that if something did happen, the train company would be sued.

Redundant warning?, Brookwood, United Kingdom

Common sense for everyone, and transplants for those that have none!

Of buns and ovens...

2007-06-27T11:33:00.000Z

It feels like every time I bump into someone this year, they're either expecting or have had a baby...

Sleeping baby, Battersea, London, United Kingdom

It's not just complete strangers either, friends from all over the place are giving me the good news... Michael, Roman, Bina, Andy... I think this abundance of procreation has sensitised me to the absolutely massive number of buns-in-the-oven around me everywhere ;-)

For everyone with a babe, or one on the way, Congratulations!

Repetition, repetition, repetition...

2007-06-14T21:00:00.000Z

My other half is off to another interview/assessment this Friday as part of her jobhunting, these days these things seem to include:

Personal interviews
Problem solving
Monitored groupwork
Business analysis and presentation

What struck me is how much preparation is really necessary for these things and how much they mimic a typical workday and short-term project.

She's been given 2 days to prepare and I'm proud to see her bear well under the pressure.

Champagne flutes at a wedding, London, United Kingdom

For anyone else in the same situation, here are some tidbits of advice for each of the points above:

Personal Interview: This one's usually the easiest, be calm and composed. Keep good eyecontact with the interviewer(s) and try to keep your hands passive and well aired; it's never nice to shake a sweaty palm ;-)

Problem Solving: This is hard to prepare for, you're never quite sure what they'll throw at you, but you somehow know they're going to try to catch you out so I can't emphasise this enough: be certain you understand the question thoroughly. They will be looking not just for a correct solution, but also for a logical and methodical approach to finding it. Breaking the problem down into chunks that are easier to solve is usually a good approach. Once you're there, be creative! Creative solutions will highlight your ability to think laterally (or *shudder* outside-the-box).

Monitored Groupwork: This one's interesting in that the final solution reached/decided by the group is usually only incidental to the interactions you display while the activity is in progress. You should aim to maintain a professional attitude at all times and to make sure you play an active part in the task. It's surprisingly easy to identify the Mice and Dictators in such situations and most businesses want neither.

Business Analysis: This is similar to the previous one, except you'll often be given the subject ahead of time. Armed with this, it's always a good idea to research everything the company makes available to you (website, printouts, google searches, contacts) and to approach it from more than one perspective. It's usual for business/client perspectives to be requested but it never hurts to prepare others.

Presentation: Tied to the analysis is normally some type of delivery of your research, be it to a group of your fellow interviewees or to a fictional Board of Directors. Be sure to tailor your language and delivery in a fashion appropriate to your target audience. One aspect that should be underlined is the structure that all presentations should take:

Introduction: I tell you what I'll tell you about
Material: I'm telling you what I'm telling you about
Conclusion: I'm telling you what I told you about

The key aspect is repetition, repetition, repetition. Oh, and don't forget to practice and keep it concise, you'll likely have only about 10mins to deliver it. For time management, know that you should be spending about 2.5mins per slides (if you use them), so factor that in.

And take heart! Most people go through a number of interviews before finding a job that suits them ;-)

To all the jobseekers out there, good luck!

Summer is here!

2007-05-02T12:39:00.000Z

Temperatures are soaring around 22C and the public transportation infrastructure is suffering a systemic failure in the UK.

Nameless purple flower, Farnborough Station, United Kingdom

In other words, SUMMER has finally arrived to the UK!

Fosdem faces #1

2007-03-02T22:41:00.000Z

As a followup to my previous post, I've started post-processing my photos.

As everyone with a dSLR knows, one of the prices for having the flexibility of dSLR-type cameras is that you'll sometimes have to work on the photos a bit (colour balance, noise reduction, cropping).

The first photo to make it through this process is this one of Tom Tromey:

Tom Tromey, Fosdem 2007, Brussels, Belgium

The room we were all in has been various referred to as 'the crypt' and 'the cave' and I have to agree - capturing this without flash needed iso1600 and therefore introduced a significant amount of noise (which I've only partially managed to remove!)

Fosdem 2007!

2007-02-27T11:08:00.000Z

Fosdem this year was great, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone I've so far only known over IRC, seeing people again after a few years and of course meeting completely new people!

As a photography nut, I was very busy taking shots of just about anything... and now I have to deal with the fallout of being so trigger-happy :-)

I'm not the only one, Mario and I took a combined 700+ shots over the 3 day event. We'll both have to do some post-processing to weed out the bad or the merely good ones to find those gems for everyone else to enjoy!

For now, both our raw set of photos are available here - please feel free to let us know if there are any you'd like at a larger resolution :)