a log of links, thoughts, notes and scribbles
Month: October 2005
The world’s largest kebab has been made by Costas Dasios of Patras, Greece.
The pork kebab weighs in at an astounding 1,850kgs and sits on a 1.73-metre steel skewer.
It took a staggering 150kgs of spices and 100kgs of salt and a two-ton natural gas tank to cook it.
Good effort…
How good is that !!
Lovely family christening today.
My two nephews and niece were christened in their village church.
I’m godfather to the eldest.
I haven’t been to church since school and a Sunday service was a bit of an alien experience. However, the vicar was brilliant and explained the meaning of the service to the kids and was very relaxed about children running around and little ones screaming and fidgeting. His style was more conversational than preachy and his message was accessible even to non-believers like me.
We sang a few hymns, said some prayers, heard a reading from the bible and a sermon on being a good neighbour.
At the appointed moment, we gathered round the ancient stone font to witness the baptism. The vicar said a few words, made the sign of the cross and wet each head with water. The symbolism was special and really quite moving.
Despite my views on God and religion, I felt it important that the kids should be christened in their local church.
For me it’s more a cultural right of passage than a profound religious experience. The service was very good and I’m touched to be chosen as godfather.
As a godparent, I now have responsibilities towards him and will take a special interest in his development and life.
My own godfather gave me a leather bound bible on my christening. I was only a few months old and it was years before I appreciated the gift. I still have it and it’s a treasured possession. So, in turn, I gave my nephew a leather bound King James Bible with a personal inscription to mark the occasion.
After the service we all piled back to my sister and brother-in-law’s place for a celebration. They put on a wonderful spread, complete with champagne and yummy cakes.
I then had the pleasure of driving back to London in the new car, rather than heading to the station to catch a damn train.
Bought a car today… hooray !
Spotted a nice little motor in autotrader on Thursday.
’95 1.8 VW Golf GL with 62,000 miles on the clock in metallic grey.
Electric sunroof, good stereo and good condition. One careful owner.
Sweet.
Went to see it this morning, checked it over and did a test drive.
Bargained him down by a few hundred quid and agreed a nice price.
Sped to the bank to get a bankers draft and sorted out some temporary insurance before driving it away.
Ha ! Piece of cake.
Spent the afternoon in a dusty inspection pit changing the oil and giving it a service, before popping online this evening to find a very reasonable insurance quote.
Job done.
I have wheels… How good is that !
I’ve worked on some really funny projects where the functionality list goes crazy once the budget is signed off. We’ve costed a detailed spec, gone round everyone carefully explaining it and got the budget approved on time. Then, as if from no where, new functionality and extra bits start to seep into the requirements lists from all directions.
‘The account team were talking in the pub last night and decided China is the next big thing. We need the new site in Mandarin and Cantonese as well.‘
‘The marketing manager’s daughter saw a cool animated chatroom thing on a Japanese website and he wants one on the site by Friday. He’s got a press release going out on this tomorrow‘.
You know the kinda thing, crazy scope creep while the budget gathers dust in a drawer. When you’ve been through the ‘they want WHAT ?!‘ thing a few times you start to see the funny side.
Anyway, the general rule when developing software, or for that matter any application, is always prioritise those feature requirements….
Joel Spolsky over at Joel on Software has written a great piece on this called, Set Your Priorities. Well worth a read. Here’s an extract:
“Custom development is that murky world where a customer tells you what to build, and you say, ‘are you sure?’ and they say yes, and you make an absolutely beautiful spec, and say, ‘is this what you want?’ and they say yes, and you make them sign the spec in indelible ink, nay, blood, and they do, and then you build that thing they signed off on, promptly, precisely and exactly, and they see it and they are horrified and shocked, and you spend the rest of the week reading up on whether your E&O insurance is going to cover the legal fees for the lawsuit you’ve gotten yourself into or merely the settlement cost. Or, if you’re really lucky, the customer will smile wanly and put your code in a drawer and never use it again and never call you back.”
Gah ! I’ve got flu. Been laid up since the weekend with congestion, sore throat, a temperature and the shivers. It’s been floating round the office recently and was almost inevitable that I would get it at some point.
Bastard thing…
Get this…. the Australian Bible Society have claimed to be the first to translate all 31,173 verses of the Bible into text message speak. I mean Jesus, what are they thinking ? That is the most bizarre thing ever. Why ?
Looks suspiciously like a misguided attempt to get in wiv the yoof. There’s a slight creepy element to this, it has to be said. I’m always a bit wary when the god squad try to get too close to children.
Anyway, here’s that famous bit from the Sermon on the Mount in txt (via):
Blessed R d pOr n spirit,
4 thRz iz d kingdom of heavN.
Blessed R thOs hu mourn,
4 dey shaL b comforted.
Blessed R d meek,
4 dey shaL inherit d erth.
Blessed R thOs hu hunger & thirst 4 righteousness,
4 dey shaL b fiLD.
Blessed R d merciful,
4 dey shaL obtain mercy.
Blessed R d pure n hart,
4 dey shaL c God.
Blessed R d peacemakers,
4 dey shaL b caLd sons of God.
Blessed R thOs hu R persecuted 4 righteousness sake,
4 thRz iz d kingdom of heavN.
Wkd m8 !
Makes Monty Python’s Sermon on the Mount sketch in the Life of Brian seem rather normal. Blessed are the cheesemakers….
Ha Ha ! My Remoska arrived yesterday.
Very excited.
A new, easier way of cooking opens up before me.
How good is that.
Am using it as we speak !
This little weblog is 3 today….. hooray ! Here’s to another 3 years…
I’m rapidly converting to the merits of open source software. I’ve just downloaded and installed Open Office, a neat open source office application complete with word processor, database, presentation package and more.
I’ve had a quick look and it’s pretty cool. If you don’t fancy paying Microsoft’s inflated prices give it a go. Saves all those annoying licenses and serial codes. It’s free too !
So yeah... 