Doing something useful with my life October 17, 2007
Posted by Lloyd in Life Choice, getting older.add a comment
Well I’ve made a life decision. I getting older and haven’t really done anything useful with my life (except my son of course)
I have always regretted not going to university so I’ve decided to bite the bullet and do a degree at the Open University.
There are just two flaws to the plan:-
1) It’s going to cost about £ 4000 to do the degree of choice.
2) I can’t decide which module of the course to start with.
Probably start with an easy 1 week residential course next may to start me off gently as it is a requirement of my degree of choice, which I have realise I have told you which one. It’s a Bsc in Physical Science (my personal preference will be on the astrophysics elements)
So there you go!
Photography 101 October 13, 2007
Posted by Lloyd in Funny stuff.6 comments
So what is the most basic rule of photography ???
No matter what type of camera you use in my opinion the most basic rule is check your framing.
Alway take time to look for the lampost that may be sticking out of your subjects head ect.
If you dont you may end up with something like this!
Bloody Laptop October 13, 2007
Posted by Lloyd in Computers.5 comments
Well i came up with the clever idea to get a wireless network up an running so both me and my partner can access the internet at the same time. Now it works as the main Pc and the laptop can share the same connection. The problem is the laptop.
You see the thing is a dinosour, It has a grand total of 64mb in system memory. Yes thats right 64mb and i’m begining to wonder if this was a good idea. It works, don’t get me wrong, its just i have to wait 10 mins per webpage.
So it seams i’m left with two choices with regards to the laptop. Upgrade my current laptop which will cost about £ 100 or Buy a new laptop, which would cost about £ 700. Even if i go down the upgrade route i only get 512 mb.
So it would appear that my laptop is in fact not a laptop, its a craptop.
And having just read a article on collin’s geek rants blog would appear that the best thing i could do is nail a couple of peices of wood to it and use it at a bedside table.
Still since i currently do not have the money to replace the craptop, I’ll have to upgrade it, still on the bright side it would give me 10 times the system memory. Which will mean i only have to wait 2-5 mins per webpage.
Is Maths the universal language ? October 12, 2007
Posted by Lloyd in Science.add a comment
Whether or not you believe in intelligent extra terrestrial life scientist seem to agree that maths with turn out to be the universal language. Now, this may well be true, it does have a problem which in themselves can cause issues.
For example the answer to the following sum seems obvious: 1+1 =
Now the answer for us is 2. Now we use, most commonly, the decimal system of numbering i.e. we can use the digits from 0 to 9 without the need to repeat them. However, commonly in use by us today there are 3 main numbering systems: Binary, decimal and hexadecimal. Binary only has two digits, 0 and 1, Decimal has ten digits and hexadecimal has sixteen. So the answer to the sum above, in the three numbering system, is as follows:-
Binary = 10
Decimal = 2
Hexadecimal = 2
So although we get an expected result from two of the numbering systems, from binary we get a result that looks like ten to us. But it is in fact the same answer.
So let’s look at it in a slightly different way. If we take the number 10 for example this means radically different things depending on the numbering system used. In Decimal it of course means ten. As above in binary it equals two. In Hexadecimal however it is the equivalent of sixteen.
Although the fact that if you have an apple and add another one you have two apples remains the constant. The way that this number is denoted could be radically different. The three systems above are those in use by us today. However, there are many different ways that numbers can be recorded. It may be that a system similar to the Romans is used. It is equally possible that they could use a Pentidecimal system or an Octidecimal system.
So although the maths may be the universal language before any communication is possible we need to understand which numbering system they use.
Finally back October 11, 2007
Posted by Lloyd in Uncategorized.add a comment
Well I’ve finally got back up and running so should be writing my rants soon
