Learning, coding, exploring, living.
Thought I’d say a quick Happy Birthday to one of the worlds lost geniuses.
Find some of his music here, and just so you know, Mozart’s full name is: “Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart” though he seems to have changed it a lot!
#flag: Birthday, Mozart, links, music
I think you’ll find it was YOUR idea to go shopping on Saturday – I specifically said I don’t want to just go shopping.
If you didn’t have such a bizarre fetish for Kentucky fried chicken I doubt we would even have gone into Oxford at the weekend…
But as luck would have it… I did buy a rather nice book…
#flag: Girlfriend, shopping, fun
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with buying stuff on credit, but here’s a little tip about it.
Even if your absolutely sure you’ll get the credit, NEVER put down a deposit on the goods BEFORE you get confirmation of the credit agreement. As, if for some reason (and there’s loads of stupid reasons you might not get it) you’ll have no way of paying for the goods and you’ll have lost your deposit.
Although I personally think it would be a very hard company who wouldn’t cancel the deposit free of charge… (Check my story out)
#flag: tip, credit, purchase.
At the weekend I decided to buy myself a Sofa. Since I moved in to my new flat I’ve been siting on a futon – probably one of the most uncomfortable things ever invented to sit on, and when its in its bed position it isn’t much better (probably worst!), so it was definitely time to get something a bit more permanent.
So I decided to buy a sofa that was in a sale, had several hundred pounds off, and the store was offering interest free credit for two years which was a sweet deal as I didn’t real want to spend a lot of money all at once.
So I picked one out, and went through all the documents and signed my name at the bottom, the only thing now was to ring the finance company to confirm my credit and pay a deposit. As far as I know I’d have no problem with the credit so I paid the deposit and left the store before they had a final confirmation from the company… that was my first mistake….
About half an hour later i got a phone call saying the credit had fallen through and I wouldn’t be getting it. (As the information is confidential the finance company couldn’t tell me why, but the BIG problem was that they said they’d already confirmed the furniture from the manufacturer so unless I could find the money from somewhere else I would loose my £300 (pound sterling)
Dammit! (For moral of story find totd here!)
Conclusion – I’ve had to raid my savings to pay for it. (Well technically I haven’t yet, because I’ve got to wait 8 to 10 weeks for devliery…)
#flag: moan, flat, purchase
The stardust nasa mission has just returned to Earth after seven years in space and being bombarded by a comet. Its has on board material stolen from that comet, and should help to understand the origins of our solar system.
It was a successfully touchdown, the parachute opened and as far as is known, the material is on board waiting to be analyzed…
…and the good news is you can help to find it! Berkeley university has created a program that acts like a virtual microscope. You’ll be able to zoom in on the material to try to work out if its actually material that has come from the stars! But first you’ve got to pass a test! The website is here and you can register for the test by giving your email here – I’ve already signed up of course – Good luck!
#pic: http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/
#flag: science, space, links
So I thought it was about time I told you a bit more about me. So here I am…
I’ve been working as a computer programming for about six years now (although I prefer the terms “Coder” as it sounds cool or “Software Engineer” as it sounds really professional!
I’m currently working for a company who produces educational software, I’m a bit nervous about revealing the name so I’m not going to, but I will say its a rather large company employing around 1200 people, and has produced many different educational programs for UK schools.
Currently I’m working on an interface to a 3D engine that will be used to teach Geography – imagine an island with just about every geographical feature you could imagine and you’ll get a good idea of what it looks like. It will be written in the programming language C# , I’m only just getting in to this, but I already think its great (at least for a programming language! ) and I’d recommend it to anyone.
#flag: “about me”, work, software
Yep, you’ve guessed it, I’ve finally got Broadband in. Only took a week to set it all up, send me out a modem, and hook in. Not bad me thinks. Thanks PlusNet.
As I said before I’ll be reporting on how well they do, but so far I’m very happy with it. And I’ve even got a 2Mb connection – well it’s pretty fast for the UK anyway! (My last was only 512 k)
No, its late so I’m off to bed.
#flag: Broadband, PlusNet, link
A new rocket engine has been created – more efficient then any other engine. Its called the DS4G Ion thruster and its created by an Australian team for the ESA.
Once it gets scaled up it could even push people all the way to Mars! Now, that’s a trip I would love to take.
Have a look at the engine here and you can find out how they work here, but if you’d rather not look at this, basically an Ion drive works by pushing ions out of one end of a space craft to force the space craft to move in the opposite direction. Simple…
#Pic: www.esa.int
#flag: Space, engine, science, links
Just found an interesting website. Its about a large telescope, 2.7 metre mirror, being flown around in a Jumbo Jet.
Apparently, it will be able to view things in more detail than larger telescopes on the ground can manage.
Though, I have no idea how they keep the telescope still while flying faster than 500 miles an hour…
http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Sofia/sofia.html
#Pic: www.sofia.ursa.edu
#Flag: Science, link, telescope
