What do you do when your USB hub fails? The answer would seem to be “not a lot”. It broke when I was in a hurry to get a few things done before we went out. I got very cross with Apple, Microsoft, finally, myself, when I realised that the reason that my keyboard and mouse were dead wasn’t laptop or Windows 7 failure, but actually the “bargain” USB hub that I bought a couple of years ago.
There is probably a lesson in here for me, but I’m too daft to see what it is.
I think this is my favourite picture of the day.
Took the camera, and a bunch of lenses, down to the Little Weighton Steam Rally today. I went last year and really enjoyed myself taking pictures. So this year I did it again. By way of an experiment I put the telephone lens on the camera just to see what difference it makes to the results you get. Great fun. I could do close ups from a great distance and get some lovely out of focus effects like the one above.
The event is on tomorrow too, so if you like the smell of hot oil, burning coal and the sound of steam, you should go along there.
Gloves
Tractors in Line
Foden.
I’ve just got my new glasses for using the computer. And you know what? They are great. Text leaps from the screen, and everything is shiny sharp. Just like my old pair used to be a few years ago.
I’m really pleased I had my eyes tested and got some new glasses. Apparently my eyes haven’t changed a lot, but enough to make me need new ones to use the computer.
A piece of advice from someone who has been wearing specs since he was two. Get your eyes tested regularly, particularly if you do close up work. I left my recent test a little too long, which made for a lot more pain in computer use then I needed.
What use is 5ebe2294ecd0e0f08eab7690d2a6ee69?
Actually, quite a lot. Particularly if you have lost the password to your website and you need a value to put in the password table. Which is what I did last week.
We tell people never to write down passwords, but that still leaves us with the problem of what the server does to remember them. The server has to “write down” the password so that it can be compared with whatever the user types in to gain access to the site.
The problem is solved using a technique called “one way” encryption. This takes whatever you give it and converts it into gibberish. It is called one way because the idea is that it is very hard to take the gibberish and work out what it originally meant. Sort of like the notes that I take during meetings, but more useful.
When someone logs in the password that they type is passed through the same encryption process and compared with the gibberish in the password file. This means that anyone stealing the password file from your server ends up with a file full of gifbberish which they can’t easily convert into the actual passwords that were entered. This is why your sysadmin can’t tell you what your password is, because they don’t have that information. They can give you a new password though, because they can take some text and run it through the encryption before storing it against your username.
So, if I am stupid enough to forget a password I’m sort of stuck. Which is where 5ebe2294ecd0e0f08eab7690d2a6ee69 comes in. The one way encryption that is used most is called MD5. If you take the word “secret” and run it through MD5 you get the block of gibberish you see above. I put that into my database in the right place and, hay presto, I was able to log in with the password “secret”.
One of the nice things about getting up early to review the newspapers for the local radio station is that you do get to see the city looking rather nice.
I love the phrase “Big Size”.
A neat little package arrived today from Hong Kong. This contained an unbroken version of the bit of my helicopter I smashed a week or so ago. I thought it would take a minute or so to fit the replacement. Not so. We had to remove a little metal pin from a little plastic thing, and then put it back without any damage.
We got one out of two, but it the craft is now mostly mended. It doesn’t quite hang in the air like it used to, but that is because the stabiliser bar is now stiffer than it use to be and so I’ll have to loosen that bit. But it is a lot more mended than it was.
I so, so, soooo want one of these.
I got some new glasses last week. I came to the conclusion that it would be nice to be able to see things closer than two feet from me, something which my existing specs didn’t let me do very well. I’ve already been able to fix my robot dog using my new super vision skills. I was actually able to see the deposit on the battery terminals from a leaky Duracell that was stopping him (it) from powering up.
I’m now going round the house looking at things close up and marvelling at the details. The downside is that when I check the mirror I now look around 10 years older…
Got back to work and the first thing I did was make a list of around 15 tasks that I need to do. I like making lists of tasks. The first thing on the list is always “make a list of tasks”. Then, when I’ve finished the list I can cross that one off….
We had our two and a half hour meeting this morning where we discussed all the marks and made sure everything lines up. Then it was onto the road for the journey back. The route my SatNav chose took me right past the Angel of the North sculpture. So I stopped to spend a couple of minutes taking pictures.
Headed off to Newcastle for external examiner duties today. Used the SatNav in the car and got lost as usual. I’ve done this before in this town. For some reason the arrangement off junctions and roundabouts they have render instructions like “Turn Next Right” strangely ambiguous. The good news is that I never end up lost for long, as after a hundred yards or so the system tells me to turn round and head back.
Spent the day going through exams and project work (it is actually more fun than you might expect). Then a nice meal and off to bed.
According to a scientific study (so it must be true) people who research by following loads of links on the interwebs and not concentrating on the job in hand don’t tend to do as well as those who focus a bit. No kidding. I’d love to do a study like this. Take something that everybody with a bit of common sense already knows and then get paid a lot of money to prove that is is true after all. I suppose there are other studies in the works involving bears in the woods and the religious affiliation of the pope.
If you follow things like LifeHacker you will know all about techniques that you can use to improve your focus, even going to extremes like turning off internet access so you can get on with something important. Worth a look.
One way to fly the flag I suppose…
We had a nice trip to York today. The place was full of folks all dressed up for the races. Fortunately I was wearing my “wherewouldyouthink” T-shirt and so I was also looking ultra-stylish. I like York, you can point your camera in pretty much any direction and get a nice photograph out of it.
Boat and bridge
Bridge Side.
We had a “mini-Bash” today, with those students who were still around on the very last day of the semester getting together for some fun and frivolity. We had enough people for a good game of Team Fortress 2, some Lego Rock Band, Buzz Quiz and Wii Sports, with some amazingly amusing sword fights… The pizza turned up right on time and fun was had by all. We even had a Super Word Search with Super Prizes.
Helen with one of the “super” prizes and a completed wordsearch.
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Sam discovers that yes, unfortunately the speakers are working….
A couple of weeks ago I was in a toyshop with my dad. We were watching this awesome radio controlled helicopter buzz around the top of the shop. I mentioned that the thing I wanted at that moment most in the world, really really wanted, was a helicopter just like that. So dad got me one for my birthday, even though it isn’t for a while. He even let me play with it in advance, which was great. It was just like being a kid again.
And, just like when I was a kid, I’ve gone and broken my toy. By cunning use of a wall I’ve managed to smash the rotor pivot thing which holds the blades on. Fortunately I’ve found a supplier of the part needed to fix things up. If you have a Syma S032 “Fiery Dragon” you can get pretty much all the bits you’d need to build another one from here. You have to pay postage from Hong Kong, which is a bit of a pain, but the actual part is very cheap. I’ve bought two.
This is what the part should like. Mine is in more than one piece….
The only good news is that I used PayPal, and discovered that I had a little bit of money left on my PayPal account that I’d forgotten about, which means that I can regard the replacement bits as free I suppose.
I just hope I can get everything mended and working before dad comes round again…..
I asked number one wife what she thought about the the world cup. She shrugged and replied “Humm. England are around 8th or 9th in the world. Quarter Finals if we are lucky”.
I think that’s about all that needs to be said on the subject. Me, I’ve got boxed sets of “How I Met Your Mother”, “30 Rock”, “Chuck” and “Big Bang Theory”. Should be a great one….
Yes, it’s that time again. In fact, it is very nearly too late. Because of exam timetabling issues and marking we will be holding our Summer Bash on the very last Friday of the semester starting at 4:30 pm in the department.
We will be having all the usual fun and games, including Rock Band, Wii Sports, Buzz Quiz, Team Fortess 2, Fizzy Drinks, Pizza and those little cup cakes with the icing on top. You know, the ones that you like so much.
Anyhoo, If there is anyone left in Hull who fancies a break from packing, then you can get your tickets (priced at an economical 2 pounds each) from the departmental office from 2:15 pm tomorrow.
Now, I don’t make many demands of my readers. In fact I’m perpetually surprised how many people keep coming back and reading my stuff. (I really must stop being perpetually surprised though, it is very hard on the eyebrows).
Anyhoo, I don’t ask much of you, dear reader, except every now and then. This is one such situation. Number one daughter, who you can see above doing something daring, is doing something daring again. For money. (at least I taught her that much…)
It is in a very good cause, and I’d be most gratified if you would swing along to her donation site and drop her a little something. They take Paypal, and if you are a UK tax payer you can get the Inland Revenue to bump up your contribution. You can find the site here:
Choose your weapon….
Just spent a couple of hours invigilating. It was a law paper, and looked deeply scary. Then again, Computer Science papers probably look scary to lawyers…..
One game that seems made for the iPad is Plants vs. Zombies It is a bit like a tower defence game, but with fantastic graphics and beautifully paced gameplay. Number one son put me on to it, and I’m very glad he did.
Great fun.
Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.
