Thoughts on the world

Here I am, waiting for the first Robosoc meeting to start, I decided to show up obsessively early (I just didn't want to have to go to 'pret a manger' and spend money on expensive soup just to be sociable for a change) and my thoughts slowly drifted to my blog, and how I have neglected it the last few weeks. So the following is an update on what is going on. I'm currently at Stamford Street London (map link) I've just had my electromagnetism lecture, according to my friend (Michelle) our lecturer resembles Al Pacino, what do you think?





I'm not sure, clearly it has been too long since I last watched a movie with Al Pacino (especially in his post-godfather era) so just either leave a comment or email me a response, or twitter me up.

I am still very tempted to join the KCL Mountaineering society, however reading through their list of regulations has genuinely terrified me from doing almost anything. I think I ought to go climbing with my friend Elly before I actually join any society.

The robosoc meeting has just commenced, I am adding in my own wry and witty comments. Craig Charles has been brought up, as has robot wars and a sudden point of order has come out relating to an evil robotic stapler, my fembot has just been brought up. The cunning plan is to build a fembot, seduce Gordon Brown with it, then put the video on the internet, there are always sickos willing to watch anything.

Unfortunately there are no photos today :( However after this robosoc meeting is over, I shall go to Waterloo Station and take some photos to post, deal?

Recent Events...

Over the last few days, cabin fever has set in. A face that once bore a happy-go-lucky expression now bears the anguish that can only be caused by multiple days stuck inside, because I forgot to purchase suitable shoes for snow and such, but perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself.

It all began on Saturday, when I realised that because of the snow forecast, I would need some sort of shoe appropriate to such weather. So off I went to the nearest place I thought would stock such a shoe. Unfortunately, I get distracted by a larger chocolate rabbit called 'Magnus'. But be fair, it's a giant rabbit named Magnus, whoever came up with that name clearly has a sense of humour, I also dropped off a gift for a friend, I timed the drop off to create the most awkward questions possible, the link is here, I'm mentioned towards the end.



So, Monday came and I awoke to find this vista from my window:-



Almost a total whiteout, I had problems sleeping because of the light reflecting off the snow from the streetlamps. My initial thought was that I had to ensure that the driveway was clear so that outsiders could get to the entrance without undue hindrance. I was surprised how easy it actually is to shovel snow from one place to another, I don't know why people complain about it, within an hour a passage had been created, allowing outsiders a choice of directions to get to the house. My lectures had been cancelled for the day, so I sat down and decided to do some Maths (Yum, Fourier series derivations :D) and discover the joys that the internet had to offer. (See my del.icio.us account for some of the stuff I liked, I'll post the top few right here) Then I had found that by accident, while gritting the path, I had used up all but a token amount of salt, so had to endeavor to the shop to get some more, which is how I came to be in the position of taking these photos:-





Having made it back alive, I decided to celebrate my victory over nature with some green tea.



I watched the Dark Knight while I was at it, an excellent movie, shame there wasn't really enough Joker in it for me, I can see why he didn't get a nomination for best actor, he's just not in the movie enough. Although a twisted moment was where I was watching it and thinking "Yeah, I could run a criminal empire like that, I'm insane enough." Speaking of which, not a big fan of Christian Bale now. He's a bit of a crazy bitch who needs to lay off the steroids.

The two sites that have made me chuckle most over the last few days:-

http://www.angryalien.com/ Rabbits remake famous movies
Flickr tag 'whats in my bag' You wouldn't expect it to be as fascinating as it is.

Fembots and the Geeks who love them (really)

Fembots are potentially one of the greatest successes in future human history. Imagine it, for nerds it will provide the opportunity to converse with a girl-simulation before trying out conversation starters in the real world.

Commonly, amongst the masses, the perception of the android has been shaped by HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it is my firm belief that the masses have misinterpreted it, HAL wasn't evil, he was designed to carry out his program, perhaps his programmers were evil but he was just a computer, he could only obey his programming.

To a certain extent, HAL 9000 is a creature to be sympathised with, he couldn't do anything but obey his programming and was destroyed for it.



Now since the heady days of 1969, technology has progressed to allow conversations between humans and robots on an almost equal level. What made me personally excited was Aiko at the end of last year. It was a new fembot designed to perform all sorts of civic duties that, due to Japan's aging population, it is simply unrealistic to expect the young to carry the burden. 'She' can carry out simple tasks such as information distribution, calculations and physical movement. This can only be a good thing, we're now well coming to the stage of human imitation where it appears to be nothing but a grotesque impression of a person, or the 'Uncanny Valley' as coined by Masahiro Mori in 1970. The next few years will be important for the industry as they try to either completely leap the valley, or quickly pass through it while losing as few investors as possible. It will be difficult.

Anyway, the fembot could solve many of humanity's problems, now this is a legal and moral grey area, but a lot of the current problems with prostitution could be solved instantly. Perhaps it would even become socially acceptable to do such things, I can't predict the future. Nerds wouldn't have to be concerned with their poor social skills, they could build their own. Of course there are those that say that fembots aren't able to surprise you like a real human female can (And at the current time I have to admit I agree with them, a fembot is limited by its programming, and eventually a person will realise its response to everything)

Despite that, I am a Geek who loves fembots, maybe that's why I joined the KCL robotics society and no girl will look at me....

Will I dream?

New Laptop post- plus unboxing photos!

Well, my new laptop arrived yesterday and I've finally got the configuration just the way I like it. It's a Sony Vaio VNG-SR290 which I imported from the US, in total it has cost me just under 650 pounds (Approximately half the price I would have paid in the UK for the same machine) it has 3GB of RAM running at a refresh rate of 800MHz, a 2GHz dual core processor, nothing too massively blow-me-out-of-the-water there really, although I am quite proud to say that it runs Vista 64bit edition, which leaves me far more wiggle room in the future for upgrades and such. What is fast becoming an incredibly comfortable chicklet keyboard and LED backlit screen, the same sort of thing Apple did 3 months ago is what my laptop currently has, I have definitely noticed the difference in brightness compared to my old one, I didn't think I would. Other than that, a few fancy extras that are nice but non-essential, webcam, fingerprint reader, although I note that I get firewire and the new Macbooks don't.... *giggle* Am currently running down the battery a few times so it remembers what a 100% charge is.

Anyway, unboxing photos:-





On the right of this photo is the documentation, which Sony very kindly put in a plastic wallet which I am duly keeping duly safe. One the right is the battery supply and transformers, I was smart enough to realise that Sony use a standard input between the transformer and the mains which really worked out for me.

And the final shot is of my 'new baby' shortly before birth, yes I do get protective about my computers.

Update from last post

Further to the previous comments, I regret that the iTunes link for the podcast does not work. However I have received instructions allowing me to give you a link to http://www.photoblog.com/kieran which is Kieran's photoblog documenting his travels throughout Japan, as I speak I'm sure he is write yet another fine post with which to amaze and dazzle us. I subscribe to the rss feed myself which is how highly I recommend it.

Incidentally, while reading 'Stormy Cliff' I recall a single passing mention to the school that the older children attend on a different island. This has ignoted my curiosity and I do hope this school gets described in further detail either further on in the book or in a future publication. I originally typed this out on an iPhone, however the app I was using simply didn't post it, however that is why this is so brief.

The Bench (of Groove)

On Thursday, I visited Lewes to see the sights and sounds, but that's all irrelevant, because I GOT TO SEE THE BENCH OF GROOOOVE.

This is the immortal place where so many events took place that indirectly affected my life in almost 4 ways.

1. My good friends Kieran and Luke whiled away counted hours writing their comedy sketches here.
2. It is where Kieran's stalker (Soon to be his girlfriend) first started sitting next to Kieran on the trunk next door.
3. Kieran and Luke filmed a number of their sketches there.
4. I visted it on Thursday

Here it is:-



On the left is the bench, and the trunk on which Miss Jessica sat while pursuing Kieran. Seeing it for real was akin to visiting a major world landmark (Hence the camera)



This is a recreation of Kieran and Luke atop the bench (Kieran on the right hand side of the picture, Luke on the left). It is unfortunately but an echo, much like seeing a footprint atop the sand, much has changed since the glory days of yore. Kieran has his music, Luke his books. Both have each other still.... moving on from rampant implied homosexuality the link for their bench of groove podcast is www.pduainc.co.uk/rss2.xml which you can place into the rss reader of your choice or iTunes to hear the good old days in stunning aural pleasure on your very own digital music playing device.

Luke has published a book which I feel honour bound to plug at this point, it is called 'Stormy Cliff' and is available from numerous online bookstores but you can get a signed copy of the book from the website http://www.stormycliff.co.uk/buy.html, I highly recommend it, and not just because he's my friend.

I will await further instructions as to whether Kieran or Jessica wish for me to plug their respective websites (In exchange for which I'd want a link back please, Google doesn't make you #1 link when you search my name by itself you know)

As a further incentive.



Ankles and trees, what better incentive is there?

Fembots coming soon!

New computer plans

My current computer (A Philips Freevents x67, actually a re-badged Twinhead) has never been the fastest machine. When I bought it I was very concerned partly as it was less powerful than my previous Dell (Which in itself is a story) and mostly because it was running Vista. Well I gave Vista a try and have found it at best erratic, at other times I've wanted to dual boot to Ubuntu. At first the Wireless would just drop, and refuse to reboot, requiring a reboot of the whole OS to solve. Since then, it has improved immeasureably, I only get occasional wireless signal drops which are soon sorted automatically. (Just had one as it happens) This machine is light, and adequately fast for basic computing.

However, the battery life on this thing has been dropping since the day I got it, despite my best care for it, I'm now down to 90 minutes of battery life. After careful research I've found a new battery would be approximately 100 pounds. This is a price where it's not stupid to at least research what's on the market. Currently I'm looking at either a Netbook and a powerhouse machine for my hardcore stuff, or a midrange machine light enough that I don't get long arms when I carry it.

Currently, I'm looking at for the respective categories, a Samsung NC10, a Macbook Pro (15 inch) and one of the Sony Vaio SR series (You can find them cheaper on eBay and such)

I feel obliged to at least look at a Mac seeing as I'm a shareholder, but I also have to promote Microsoft as I'm also a shareholder in the Borg.

On a totally different subject I'm wearing a proper button up shirt for the first time in probably two years with a red T-shirt under it, I feel like Kevin Rose without the stubble.



And this is where he meets the girls for which it is more 'of a masturbatory thing'. Skip to 14:50 for the awkward first meeting, although the shirt I'm wearing is stripey, very web 2.0 :D



Revision 3, truly better than TV, full credit for the above videos go to them.

Adieu