musingstudio

February 4, 2015 · 5:38 pm

Time to celebrate engineers

Brian Cox has done his bit to raise the profile of engineering.

“The impact of science and engineering is central to our culture,” said Prof Cox. “It is the most important thing we do in civilisation and what engineers do genuinely affects people’s lives.

“We need a cultural shift to celebrate intellectual adventuring: engineers and scientists should be celebrated more than X Factor stars are.”

The Institute of Engineering and Technology regularly bemoans the lack of a professional designation for engineers, equivalent to a doctor or chartered accountant. Anyone can claim to be an engineer, leading to a lack of status.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

January 11, 2015 · 6:38 pm

Book Review: Personal, Lee Child

This is the latest Jack Reacher thriller – I bought it hot off the press in the autumn but kept it until Christmas. This story is for a large part set in London, which unusual for these thrillers. Reacher must engage rival gangs in the East and West End to track down a sniper who wishes revenge on Reacher himself. Reacher has to outwit Little Joey, who dwarfs Reacher (no mean feat, Reacher is 6’6″ and 250lbs, something Hollywood casting directors would do well to remember).

Ultimately this book is more A Wanted Man than Never Go Back, but worth a read nevertheless.

Leave a comment

Filed under Book Review

Tagged as Jack Reacher, Lee Child

January 11, 2015 · 6:24 pm

Book Review: Foundation’s Triumph, David Brin

This is the third of the second foundation trilogy written by authors Benford, Bear and Brin. It tells the story of Hari Seldon’s ‘Last Hurrah’ as he undertakes a voyage away from Trantor in his old age. I really appreciated how this author brought the many threads of the stories together, including the motivation behind many of R. Daneel Olivaw’s plans. In fact, it’s the first time I’ve fully grasped the inter-robot battles and the reasons why many did not support Olivaw’s Zero’th law revolution.

1 Comment

Filed under Book Review

Tagged as David Brin, Isaac Asimov, SF

December 21, 2014 · 3:46 pm

Book Review: Bravo Two Zero, Andy McNab

I read this book some time after reading The One that Got Away by Chris Ryan, another story from the Bravo Two Zero mission. That didn’t prepare me for either the foul language in McNab’s book or the horrific treatment he and the other soldiers received after capture by the enemy. The story is gripping and certainly no holds are barred in the telling.

Leave a comment

Filed under Book Review

December 16, 2014 · 4:14 pm

SatNav Innovation by Jaguar

Jaguar have proposed a new approach to navigation – displaying a ghost car to be followed along the route.

Officially known as “Follow-Me Ghost Car Navigation,” the system uses the heads-up-display technology to project an illuminated “ghost car” that looks to be driving right in front of the actual vehicle.

It’s a brilliant example of putting the information exactly where the user wants it.

Leave a comment

Filed under Technology

Tagged as Interaction

December 3, 2014 · 11:56 am

How to change notepad print formats

It’s sometimes useful to use notepad to print basic text, but it also prints a header and footer by default.

It turns out that you can change the formatting, for example to output the current date and time.

Command Action
——- ————————————–

&l Left-align the characters that follow
&c Center the characters that follow
&r Right-align the characters that follow
&d Print the current date
&t Print the current time
&f Print the name of the document
&p Print the page number

Often, though, you might want the print format to be disabled by default

Goto the key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Notepad
Then add string values “szHeader” and “szTrailer” with value “”

Leave a comment

Filed under Technology

November 20, 2014 · 8:47 am

Cache is the new RAM

Excellent article on the various technologies used over the years to deliver server-side applications.

Leave a comment

Filed under Programming, Technology

November 18, 2014 · 9:18 pm

Book Review: Norfolk Mystery (The County Guides), Ian Sansom

This is the first book I’ve read by Ian Sansom, and the first in his series of County Guides. The story is set in the 1930s and doesn’t take itself too seriously (unlike Rogue Male, written and set in the 1930s, but a much grimmer tale). Professor Morley recruits a young assistant, Stephen Sefton, to help him tour the counties of England writing a guide to the history of each. Morley is a prodigious writer, publishing a book every 6 weeks at the same time as writing for several papers. Sefton left Cambridge without much of life plan, fought in Spain and found himself penniless back in London – Morley’s job offer coming at just the right time.

The tale is told through the eyes of Sefton and we’re encouraged to admire the knowledge and industry of Professor Morley, whilst privately sniggering like a school boy at his infuriating habits.

Leave a comment

Filed under Book Review

Tagged as Ian Sansom

November 18, 2014 · 8:54 pm

Book Review: The Color of Law, Mark Gimenez

This is the first novel by Gimenez and starts the story of Scott Fenney, continued in Accused. It’s worth reading them in the correct order, but it was still a great journey even knowing the outcome.

I found the passage where Scott Fenney’s life as a hotshot lawyer is slowly dismantled particularly vivid. The daughter of his client, Pajamae, is refreshing in that she doesn’t wallow in her misfortune, instead bringing her street smarts and common sense to this high-flying Dallas familiy.