Recently in Everything Else Category

Drilling for Oil

By Tom on May 22, 2010 1:08 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
I find it somehow disturbing that we are able to drill a hole into our planet and make it "bleed", and in such a way that it's so hard to do anything about it.

In fact, come to think of it, the whole idea of drilling a hole that deep, under so much water, is pretty incredible.  I've never really thought about it before.

Expat Financial Scams

By Tom on April 4, 2010 8:32 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
A somewhat eye-opening experience last week.

I had a phone call from a company offering "independent" financial advice regarding offshore savings and pensions - to "make the most" of my residence abroad.  The company in question will not be mentioned on here, but there is plenty of information about their dodgy business methods and even their recruiting strategies available on the web.  To cut a long story short:   It's nothing more than a scam: their representatives are usually not qualified financial advisors, but simply salespeople who will subject you to high-pressure sales tactics in the hope of getting their (huge, up-front) commission which is taken from your contributions, and can be as much as your whole first year's worth of payments.

While the underlying products they may advertise may be basically sound, they tend to be very expensive and unsuitable for people in my kind of situation. The worst thing, however, is that they often use restrictive contract terms which lock you in to paying huge fees which negate any potential tax benefits.

It seems like there's quite a lot of this kind of thing going around.  Needless to say, I know where I'll tell any other financial "advisors" who call me to go...

Most readers probably think they're far too clever to fall for such a thing, but I've now experienced first-hand how powerful the illusion is and how easy it can be to fall under the spell, and it's very scary.  Beware.

As ever, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is..!

OpenStreetMap's Role in Haiti

By Tom on February 25, 2010 8:12 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
This is very cool.  Volunteer contributors used satellite imagery, which was made available especially, to create detailed maps of Haiti which the aid workers used to help find their way.

New Year

By Tom on January 8, 2010 9:05 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
2009 was an awful lot better than 2008 for me, for many reasons.  2008 had a lot of negative things of various types, but I won't go into detail about those. 2009 began with my falling into what could possibly be described as my dream job (particle accelerators and computers!), the completion of my PhD thesis and passing of the subsequent examination before being whisked off my feet by the beginning of an international adventure.  I suspect the adventure will be ongoing for the rest of my life.  When I moved out of my last long-term accommodation in Cambridge back in May, I knew that things would never be the same again.

I won't go into more detail than that, because his journal has become more about technical things and "productive" aspects of my life rather than personal wibbling.  Along which lines, I hope to soon be able (/allowed) to post details of the exciting science I've been doing...

Comments Enabled

By Tom on November 20, 2009 9:51 PM | 3 Comments | No TrackBacks
Due to popular demand, I've enabled comments and trackbacks here.  Please don't all spam me at once... :)

Mains Adaptors

By Tom on October 21, 2009 10:54 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
I brought some UK-style multiblock extension leads over from the UK, and replaced the plugs with continental European plugs bought for €0.99 shortly after I arrived here.

There are no words which adequately describe how superior the resulting devices are compared to those one-piece plastic adaptor things you buy at the airport.

It Doesn't Feel...

By Tom on October 14, 2009 1:38 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
... like I'm in a different country.  Not in the same way that it does (or did, previously) when I visited other countries.  Maybe it's because almost everything at work is done in English, or maybe it's because I've had such a long time to get used to the idea before coming.  Or maybe it's because things aren't actually that much different over here from what I'm used to.

Moving to Hamburg (for real, this time)

By Tom on September 30, 2009 7:04 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
So, writing up my PhD thesis took a little longer than expected, as did organising the viva.  But last week I passed said viva, and tomorrow I'll be getting on a plane to Hamburg with no immediate plans to return other than for visits.

It feels less scary, right now, than it sounds.

(This is my excuse for the reduced number of exciting Mesa commits and blog posts recently, of course.  I need to grow some more brain cells after using my current stock up last week...)

Mutopia

By Tom on August 14, 2009 6:41 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
I've recently discovered the Mutopia Project, which is about producing Free (mostly Creative Commons) sheet music, mostly typeset using the LilyPond software, which I've also only just discovered.

One of my favourites is the 16th Fugue from Das Wohltemperierte Clavier (The Well-Tempered Piano) by Bach.  One of the first sounds I ever heard coming out of a computer was this, played by a program called Maestro using a fairly hideously synthesised sound effect on an Acorn A3000 in about 1990.

There is also the Passacaglia, which the attentive reader of this site will recognise.  Not that there are any.

It almost makes me want to take up music again (playing it, that is).  But on my own terms, rather than following a strict grading scheme.  It's the difference between doing something because you want to, and doing it because your teacher told you to.

Mew

By Tom on July 19, 2009 12:17 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Thanks to the release of a second batch of tickets since the first lot sold out, I was able to see Mew at the ICA in London this week.  In short: most fun I've had at a concert since about 2003.  Great music, high audio quality - powerful but without the metallic overtones which seem to be far too familiar, and a great atmosphere.
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