The Life and Times of Neil

Well firstly, first blog in a while! About 4 months ago I moved overseas to start a new job and haven’t really had the time to blog so far. Am not going to say exactly where I am, only that it’s in the Middle Eastern region.

Anyway, now I’m getting a little more settled in am starting to look for other activities to get involved in; but it seems one of the most common ones out here is golf. Only problem is, most of this area is desert. Yes, some grass courses do exist, but my experience today was on one of the desert courses.

Now I have played golf on and off when I was younger. I used to play fairly often about 15 years ago. I also managed a round last year also on the desert course on a visit to the region before I ended up working here. It’s an interesting experience with its own unique challenges!

The main thing out here is the heat. On a golf course, you’ve very little opportunity to get into any sort of shade. Temperatures in the shade at the nearest known monitoring station were pushing the low 40s (degC), so I dread to think what it was out in the sun. Thankfully, the desert course is now very quiet since they opened the grass course next to it, so when you do come across shade you are able to have a sit down for a little while without holding people up or getting out of turn. It’s also an advantage given I’m unlikely to give Tiger Woods et al. a run for their money any time soon. The heat also means you need lots of water. Sadly, because the desert course is played by so few people it is becoming neglected and I am told there is rarely any water available. However, we were in luck today as there was a butt of water sat in a shaded position at the 5th tee. It even had water in it!

One thing that probably crosses the mind when talking about desert golf is “Well isn’t it just like playing in one huge bunker?” Thankfully not… The desert around here is more hard baked earth with a fine coating of dust, so you’re playing off a fairly hard surface. Of course, this does pose another problem – how do you play without wrecking your clubs. The fairly simple solution is that you carry a piece of astroturf around with you. You get to your ball, lift it, place the astroturf under it, the put your ball back down to play your shot. (The tee shots are taken off a fixed mat using rubber tees.)

So then we move on to the hazards. Bunkers do exist, usually marked with black/blue posts. The also look like bunkers from a distance, but when you get close up you realise a lot of them no longer contain sand. However, if you land in one, you have to take the shot without the use of your mat and just hope there is sand in there, or try not to ground your club too hard. There are even water hazards on the course! Of course, there is no water in them, but one is an open-topped tank that is sunk into the ground and the others are just ditches across the fairway; all of which are also marked with posts so you know where they are. Despite the fact there’s no water in them, you still have to treat them as if they do and so landing in one incurs the standard penalty and dropped ball.

Finally, you (eventually) get to the green; or rather the brown! Keeping in with the desert theme, instead of a lush carpet of green grass to put on you instead contend with an area of sand, compacted and mixed with oil. This has some interesting side effects. Firstly, the browns tend to be quite slow which means you need a fair bit of power in your putt, especially when putting uphill. Secondly, you end up with a nice trail showing where your ball travelled. This has an added benefit that if your opponent asks you to move your ball you don’t need a marker. All you do is tap your ball a short distance in a different direction and you end up with a nice V, the point of which is where your ball was laid. Finally, because every footstep leaves a mark on the brown once you have finished you are required to “sweep the brown”. This involves taking the 1m wide brush from the side of the brown and dragging it behind you, sweeping a circle centred on the hole and doing enough circuits to brush an area 2-3m from the hole.

Sadly, I can’t give you a final score from today’s round… It was too hot for me to complete the full round. I daresay I’ll acclimatise eventually, or it will start to get cooler as we head towards winter (relative terms out here), and hopefully my game will improve such that my scores will look like I’ve only played 9 holes instead of 18!

Using Drupal – Choosing and Configuring Modules to Build Dynamic Websites
* Author: Jeff Robbins, Angela Byron, Addison Berry, Jeff Eaton, Nate Haug, James Walker
* ISBN: 978-0-596-51580-5
* Publisher: O’Reilly
* Publication Date: December 2008
* Pages: 490
* Price: £34.50

As someone who looks after a few websites in his spare time, Drupal is a project I’ve taken interest in lately as a way of giving the people whose sites I maintain easier ways to update their sites. Given the amount of customization in the core install, and the expandability through the community add-on modules, this new book from O’Reilly seemed a good starting place to learn more about Drupal.

However, I have to start this review with a little rant… O’Reilly is a publisher whose books I have used a lot in the past and so come to trust and respect. Sadly, Understanding Drupal disappointed on the quality front. I am not usually one who picks up on errors in books, however I was quickly spotting issues here: text missing, transposed URLs, incorrect definitions of acronyms and incorrect code examples were the first 4 errors I spotted. And that was just in the first 90 pages. There is an errata on the book’s website, and it is scarily lengthy! This is a first edition, but the list still gives the impression that very little proof-reading and/or editing went into this book. Additionally, there are 6 authors credited on this book… Were they not checking each other’s text?

OK, so rant over; and so let’s get down to the book itself. After a brief overview of Drupal we are straight into the system with a “Jumpstart” chapter. This covers most of the basic core Drupal functionality. Because of this, the chapter is a little lengthy – just over 80 pages in all. Thankfully, there is the usual O’Reilly detailed Table of Contents, and each function is individually headed. Subsequent chapters introduce new modules from the community to show how these can be added to a site to provide additional functionality, such as a photo gallery, job advertising, and online commerce.

In order to help the text appear relevant to the real world, each chapter is written in the form of a “case study” where a hypothetical client is introduced along with a set of requirements. The text then takes the reader through the steps of setting up the new module and fine tuning the configuration. All the examples used in the book are also available from the book’s website.

Overall, despite the concerns over the care taken when proof-reading this book, the overall impression is generally positive. New features are introduced one at a time so as not to overload the reader, but the interactions between core elements and add-ons are clearly explained, particularly useful given Drupal’s in-depth permissions system! The Table of Contents is detailed so it should be easy to find details on a particular module of interest, and the online materials are useful for working through a practice before working on a live site.

Score: 6 out of 10 [Would probably have been an 8 if it weren't for the proof-reading issues!]

Buy this book from Amazon

This review was written as part of the O’Reilly User Group review scheme with the Durham University Computing Society.

Photshop CS3 RAW
* Author: Mikkel Aaland
* ISBN: 978-0-596-51052-7
* Publisher: O’Reilly
* Publication Date: 2007
* Pages: 252
* Price: £26.99

As memory cards get larger, digital cameras more sophistaicated and software more affordable and feature-rich, an increasing number of digital photographers have the chance to capture the RAW data from their camera’s CCD to manipulate in the digital darkroom.

Mikel’s book takes the reader on a tour through the RAW workflow using Adobe’s Photoshop CS3; starting with the basics of is RAW the right format to be using, getting your photos into Photoshop and applying basic tweaks. The book then goes into more details about the finer adjustments available to the photographer in Photshop CS3.

Each chapter starts with a brief overview and a list of the chapter’s contents. The content of the book is split into 2 halves on most pages. One column provides a text “commentary” including elements such as an introduction to a process, the steps being carried out and overviews of the various features in Photoshop with the 2nd colum providing sample photos, dislogue boxes; both with useful features highlighted. A number of side-topics are also raised but clearly separated from the main text by use of different background colours. Example photos from the book are also available to download from the book’s website.

Overall, this book will be of more interest to the keen amateur and those heading into professional photography and who want to have the ability to work on the purest data their camera can offer; avoiding the compression factors from allowing hte camera to compress and save as JPEG. This is not a book for everyday point-and-shoot users. The book is laid out in a clear manner that gives both step-by-step instructions alongside useful screenshots and examples.

Score: 8 out of 10

Buy this book from Amazon

This review was written as part of the O’Reilly User Group review scheme with the Durham University Computing Society.

Well, is it weird. I’m having trouble thinking of a decent title for this post…

They say you should never talk about sex, religion or politics. However, every now and then a story appears that you just can’t help but have a giggle at.

My attention was recently drawn to the BBC headline ‘No God’ slogans for city’s buses. The story itself sounds fairly straight-forward… We’ve all seen the religious advertising out and about, so a campaign group decided to attempt to raise money to put forward the atheist/agnostic point of view in a set of adverts on some of London’s infamous bendy-buses.

First point of interest is that the campaign only set out to raise £5,500 but actually managed to raise six-and-a-half times this amount. Was this a case of underestimating, or is it a sign that as a nation we are starting to tire of religious debate dogging our daily lives?

But the part that made me laugh was the response from Christian Voice:
“Bendy-buses, like atheism, are a danger to the public at large.

I should be surprised if a quasi-religious advertising campaign like this did not attract graffiti.

People don’t like being preached at. Sometimes it does them good, but they still don’t like it.”

So let’s take it a line at a time…

Why are bendy-buses a danger to the public at large? For that matter, why is atheism? Surely a free society is about letting people choose; and when did you last hear of atheists persecuting other religious orders?

Given the amount of public support that is suggested by the size of the donations, I’d be very surprised if these adverts attract graffiti. In fact, if we stereotype for a moment and say that the people most likely to graffiti these adverts are the “yoof” of today, I’d say Christian Voice adverts are more likely to fall victim given how organised religion is becoming less and less important to today’s young people. And anyway, so what if the ads attract graffiti… This is a risk of any advertising!

But it was the last line that actually made me laugh… That people don’t like to be preached at… I’m sorry, but how many time do you see Christian groups advertising on billboards? How many “nutters” (and I use that term in an affectionate way) do you see in town and city centres spouting on about how we need to turn to Christianity to save our souls? Now think how many times you’ve seen an advert or heard someone preaching about how there is no “supreme deity”… Still thinking on that last one, aren’t you?

At the end of the day, in the UK your religion is a personal choice. I, personally, am quite happy for you to believe what you want; just as long as you don’t force your ideals on me or judge me for my own beliefs. Yes, religious debate can get emotional, but the fact that we can have these debates and challenge each other is surely a good thing; just as long as we don’t then go around feeding each other to the lions!

I think Christian Voice have probably done themselves a certain amount of harm and opened themselves to a great deal of ridicule with their reaction as it implies they feel that only Christianity should be allowed and that any debate on the matter should not be allowed. Yes they say “Sometimes it does them good,” but isn’t that just like saying “I’m not a [sexist|racist|etc] BUT…”?

And just remember, this is a country where 0.7% of the population claim their religion is… “Jedi Knight”! [2001 Census Report]

Ok, so recently I’ve had to do a few trips back to my spiritual home of Blackpool. Part of this ritual involves the M6 between junctions 38 and 33 or 32 (depends on exactly where am visiting).

Generally speaking, I don’t like driving, but the M6 is, generally speaking, fairly pleasant. It’s a 3-lane stretch of motorway with good long stretches between junctions, generally free flowing and has some lovely scenery. It does experience hideous weather sometimes (windscreen wipers on “Apocalyptic Doom” speed, headlights on, rear fog lights on, 40mph and can still see barely 10m in front of you!) but I can’t really grumble about people on that occasions. In fact, people were being sensible for a change.

Anyway, I digress… As I said above, this stretch of M6 is 3-lanes in each direction. Common sense, and general teaching tells us that we stay in the left-hand lane, moving across lanes in order to overtake slower moving vehicles. This is certainly how I was taught and how I drive, and it works nicely.

However, there is a minority of drivers out there who think differently… These are the centre lane hogs. Imagine the motorway is quiet: the dead of night and there’s no-one else ahead of you for miles. You’re holding a nice 70mph on the left-hand lane. Suddenly, you notice a car slowly catching you from behind… Slowly. They always seem to do about 75mph, these centre lane hogs. Eventually, they pass you. Ahead of you and behind you, there’s no-one else on the road. As you’re thinking about other road users as well as yourself you expect them to pull over into the left-hand lane ahead of you. But no… They stay in the middle lane.

Now; this may not sound too bad. And in that situation it’s perhaps not. The main problem is when they stick to this idea on slightly busier roads. So let’s turn out attention to the more usual scenario. Once again, you’re in the left-hand lane holding a nice steady 70mph, but there’s a lorry up ahead which you are going to need to overtake. You check your mirrors, and there is one car behind you. He’s in the centre lane, of course. You can see he is gaining on you, doing 75mph as they always do. You also notice the right-hand lane is empty, and there is no other traffic behind either of you. Realising this means there is enough road for all 3 of you you signal your intention to move to the right, and then do so. You’re expecting the driver behind you to move over into the right-hand lane to overtake you.

WRONG!

Instead, the driver maintains his 75mph until he is almost up your exhaust pipe. He then sits there, following you much closer than the 2 seconds we were all taught as drivers. You maintain your 70mph, now overtaking the lorry. You get a safe distance in front of the lorry and decide it’s now safe to move back over to the left-hand lane; so you signal. Immediately you can tell the vehicle behind is starting to speed up; forcing you to move over quicker than you may have planned (Yes… How many drivers think the person in front is really going to move over as soon as their rear bumper has passed the front bumper of whatever they’re overtaking, and at an 89degree angle??? I will move over when *I* think it is safe and at an angle *I* think is safe… You can wait!) And now, the centre lane hog who has had to slow down to follow you speeds off into the distance, still in the centre lane.

Look, if you really want to travel at 75mph, don’t let me stop you… This is what the good Yeadon (ok, maybe not him personally, but he’s the only road design-related person I can think of, and lives/lived near Blackpool) gave us the 3rd lane for. Why don’t you use it?

Of course, the 2nd place the centre lane hog becomes a hazard (possibly more so than above) is that they are so eager to obtain their deity-given right to be in that lane when they join the motorway that many of them don’t even consider looking to see what is already there. I’m thinking about *YOU* who nearly cut me up on the M6 on my last journey! And of course, when they want to leave the motorway, who is it who causes all the phantom traffic jams… The centre lane hog who won’t give up that lane until the junction off-slip is about to stop cutting across whatever is in the left-hand lane to get off the motorway, causing much slamming on of brakes.

If any of you out there are centre lane hogs, please feel free to try and justify your actions. I hear there is a school of thought that says that the centre lane is the safest place to be as you have 2 lanes to dive into in an emergency. However, I’d counter this by pointing out you (generally speaking – it is a legal requirement for a motorway, as I understand it) have a hard shoulder next to the left-hand lane to use. In fact, if you suffered a blow-out or engine cut-out, the left-hand lane is probably the best place to be as you can easily get onto the hard shoulder without having to cut across other traffic. And if you’re looking well ahead of you and thinking further ahead than your front bumper, you should be able to spot potential dangers (I admit not all are pre-emptable) and take appropriate precautions.

Anyway, spleen vented! I have more trips to Blackpool to come, so I shall be mounting the roof cannon once it arrives, ready to punish the centre lane hogs!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!