http://www.hopkinson.net Life And Times - Simon's Blog Personal Weblog http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=72 Well it took quite a bit of work to get the site written and working, but Steve and I managed to launch www.p365.org on 2nd January. Granted we overshot by a day, but considering the amount of work involved in conceiving and creating it, and the timing of the thing - straight through the Christmas and New Year window - I don't think we did too badly. Steve has written all of the image uploading, resizing and image watermarking routines/APIs and I've written the webpages and created the graphics. Steve also found me some workarounds for misbehaving databases a few times.. without which I'd have been a tad screwed. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=71 "Hey Sam, you thought about doing a Project 365?" "A whaaa?" "Project 365! Take a photo every day for a year, put it online. Badoom." "Oooh!" And so Project|365 is born. UKCT invested in the domain name www.p365.org and I threw open an invite to everyone on Facebook to join in. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=70 In my original story the village chief was advised by his own witch doctors who would cast runes and chicken bones, deduce the will of the volcano god and identify those actions of the villagers that angered the god. The witch doctors would then impart their divine understanding to the village chief, who would levy penances and order sacrifices to appease the volcano god. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=69 I've waited quite a long time to write a piece about the 'Climategate' scandal. I will assume that anyone reading this will already be familiar enough with the story and that I need make no lengthy explanations, but if on the off-chance it's of no interest to you then please feel free to skip past this blog. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=68 I'm a strong believer in live and let live. I believe that we make mistakes in life and we move on. Where possible, we make right what was wrong but ultimately we leave the bad things, the mistakes and indiscretions, in our past as we strive forwards. Sadly not everyone takes this philosophy to their heart, however, and this includes my case in point: My ex wife. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=67 This rump Parliament, brought to its knees by scandal, has one final chance left to redeem itself (Printed in the Independent Newspaper, 16th November 2009) On Wednesday, all the pomp and ceremony that Parliament can muster will be rolled out for the Queen's Speech, setting out the Government's list of new laws for the coming year. But the glitz and glamour will be based on a complete fiction. Parliament will find it difficult to pass any of the bills promised in the Queen's Speech this year – there are just 70 sitting days left before it is dissolved for the general election, too little time to debate and approve the Government's latest legislative shopping list. The current average time taken for laws to make it from first reading to royal assent is 240 days. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=66 http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=60 This is the first of a series of photography tutorials that I intend to run. Though I'm a mere amateur photographer, I've always been interested in the topic. As it turns out I've learned quite a bit about the whole process over the past 25 years that I've been shooting photos - as much about what NOT to do as what TO do. I'll be picking off a few of the more common questions over the next week or so. Today's lesson is "Depth Of Field". http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=59 The behaviour of Republicans in US town hall meetings, where health care is being debated, is world news. That's unfortunate, because the image being portrayed in these town hall meetings really is a poor reflection on the American people. Of course, you have to ask what on earth has got all these people whipped up into such a furore. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=58 First things first, to the pub! We were greeted by our old friend Paul, who'd already downed three pints of beer before we arrived! I hadn't seen Paul since our teens but he's another one that hasn't changed since then! Both Paul and Jonny Parker have managed to avoid growing older, and I want to know how! http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=57 Well, John and I wil have to resort to drowning our sorrows in the pub. I just received a text from John to say that our dear friend Paul Beck will be meeting us for a drink this evening, though, so to me that's the evening saved! The weather has let us down. Although, right now, there are blue skies and little puffy clouds it's clear that this isn't going to last. The skies are about to fill with a belt of thick clouds, cast our way by an almost permanently fixed rotating system over the North Atlantic. I'll be taking my coat, extra socks and enough money for snacks just in case the clouds dissipate while we're in the pub, mind you. Ever the optimist! http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=56 I received a PM from my bud John ([http://www.theregoestheday.com]) the other day on Facebook, letting me know that there will be a meteor shower in a few nights. Tuesday 11th August (through dawn on Wednesday), the Perseid meteor shower will be overhead. It's a booking! If, of course the night sky is clear, John and I will be heading up into the Yorkshire Dales. If it's cloudy, there's really no point, but we'll be hoping for the best! http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=51 Well so much for my plan to blog frequently. :p But I've had sooo much to do, so many places to go, so many people to see.. so I'm sure you understand! My (oft-posting) friend Beth, whose life is clearly full and fulfilling, still manages to share a bit of almost every day with a rather significant following on her blog, so if she can do it so could I! http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=50 I have to store this somewhere. It's an absolute epic. So I figured I'd store it here. Reading it is a challenge, but I think it's important to at least try. This is the epitome of the Republican intellect and mindset that exists at the moment. If anyone were idiot enough to question whether or not the country's decision to choose the Democrats was the right one, then read on. The irony is that those people that still think the Republican ticket was the more viable are probably the least likely to be able to comprehend ANY of the idiocy uttered by Palin. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=47 After about five years of almost no use, I decided to sell my dear old 500mm Reflex-NIKKOR lens. It was a manual-focus lens and while the focusing was smooth, the entire barrel rotated.. it made it really hard work to use it, and it's not fun if you're fighting the lens on your camera. Add to that, the fixed f/8 aperture made the camera completely redundant on anything but the brightest of days - few and far between, this being the UK! I put the lens on Ebay and it sold within a few minutes (careful Starting and Buy It Now pricing - gets 'em every time). Very happy with the money I got, I decided to immediately buy another lens. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=46 It's a long time since I tried to write anything that was anything other than a technical manual. Is it obvious? Does it show? Writing naturally is something I was able to do when I was younger but I don't seem to be able to do it easily these days. Writing naturally, as in writing in natural form. I think there's the problem. "There's the problem, I think."? Clarity, precision.. wanting to communicate clearly, if not concisely, and that being the over-riding construct - more important than just chatting in textual form. In fact, writing concisely is a facet of casual writing that's long gone for me. I miss being able to write with fluidity. I miss being able to write without stopping.. just letting the words fall out of my mind and onto paper or, these days, splashing over the keys and being linearised on the screen before me. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=44 If you've been on your jollies for the last 3 weeks, or if somehow you've missed the news regarding Britain's "Mother Of Parliaments", please go here first: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/ I've been following the current furore over MPs expenses very closely and I've come to the conclusion that few journalists, never mind politicians, have a grasp on the reasons behind the public anger. In more and more commentary on this topic, and the broader topic of British politics, it is becoming clear that the issue of MPs and their expenses is purely symptomatic. Public outrage is manifestly a distilled dissatisfaction in our entire political system as a whole. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=42 I've been pretty lax in recent weeks about maintaining my blog. When I first relaunched hopkinson.net, I figured I would probably blog three or four days in a week. I didn't expect that I would be so slack about blogging that two weeks would pass between writings. It's a mind-set that will probably change, as I get more familiar with the idea of having a current blog. When I first blogged, back in 1997 (before the term blog or weblog had been coined!), it was daily. But it was also new. This time blogging as an activity is not new to me, while allocating time in the day for blogging, in my current daily routine, is. I'm out of the habit, but I'm going to work on addressing that. I'm an avid content consumer - I spend a good two hours in every day consuming the blogs and newspaper websites that I frequent - but I need to reassert myself as a content contributor. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=41 Wow! I had a fantastic day yesterday (Monday). My dear old (not OLD old, old as in in-yer-youth old) friend Sally came to visit. And shortly after Sally arrived, my old (not OLD old, old as in in-yer-youth old) next door neighbour and friend Simon arrived. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=38 My friend John [http://theregoestheday.blogspot.com] recently went to an early screening of the new Star Trek film before flying on to LA (to meet some official obligations regarding the official Highlander fan club, if I read the acronyms correctly) and it got me to thinking. I was never a Trekkie about the first (Kirk/Spock) incarnation of Star Trek, even though I clearly remember having a shirt with the insignia ironed on to it as a kid, but Star Trek The Next Generation (TNG) caught my attention roughly a season in. Then I was hooked. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=37 Yeah. I dropped my camera. From about 4ft :( Fortunately, being a Nikon pro camera, it bounced. The filter took a hit (pictured) but that's neither here nor there, since I never use multiple filters on the 24-50mm. It's external focusing (the front filter turns as you focus) making things like polarisers difficult to use. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=31 These days, it's difficult for me to resist over-developing a website. There comes a point where I need to say to myself that enough is enough, and leave well alone. When I become passionate about a site, stepping back can be an insurmountable challenge in itself. It's impossible to keep myself from tackling the next little niggle or tweak. I completely understand how budding car mechanics can never stop tampering with their cars - always replacing headlight bulbs or adding turbo chargers, fitting posh HT leads or messing with the engine's ECU. You set yourself a challenging task and when it's complete, though you're proud of the result, it's only a matter of minutes or hours before you think of the next thing you'd like to conquer or the next thing you'd like to polish. Having thought of it, until you do something about it, it nags you and pesters you, remaining just on the periphery of your mind's eye, jumping up and down, waving or, worse still, standing with crossed arms, "tutting" loudly and shaking its head, sighing heavily until you do something about it. That's manifestly OCD, I'm sure of it. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=33 I didn't find this on facebook, I found it on another blog that I follow. I haven't counted the half-finished books. I also didn't count the ones I've seen on video rather than reading the book. I haven't read much classic literature in a long time. I did go through a phase of soaking up some of the classics in the early nineties, and that's where I get most of my score from. In the last 10 years or so, I haven't read much besides Terry Pratchett, though of course I've read everything he's written! http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=12 Seven years ago, now, almost exactly to the day. I was driving home from Des Moines to Chicago. I decided to take a somewhat more scenic route home. I'd driven to Des Moines along the I-80, through rather severe conditions from driving rain to blizzard. The drive, which every other time had taken me about 5 hours, took a good 9 hours or more thanks to the weather. A week later, on my way home, the weather had improved dramatically. It wasn't warm by any stretch - perhaps the high 40s or mid 50s. Sweater weather - but it was beautifully sunny and Spring was springing. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=30 That's the question I'm begging to answer every time I sit down to design a new website. Do I spend the additional amount of time and effort on creating a site that "validates" with the W3C, or do I just get on and quickly create a site that works? Rapid deployment. Expedience. Value for money. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=28 The UKCT server fell silent in February, following closure of the CTRA. I suppose I got used to serving up content that got seen a lot, but visitor fall off has really been a rude awakening for me. When I developed and delivered the CTRA website it immediately saw fairly heavy use. Because LFSers are addicted to statistics, the number of regular visitors to the site grew as I added features and everything I delivered seemed to go down very well. It felt like I could do no wrong, and on reflection it was a ruddy good feeling. The CTRA website was by far the most heavily trafficked website I've ever been involved in - over a million impressions per month and an average visit of over quarter of an hour was, for me, a veritable frenzy of activity. Obviously, compared with newspaper sites and prominent portals, Ebay, Dell and so on it pales by comparison, but back in the dotcom days I remember that many a multimillion dollar enterprise would have killed for visitor statistics like CTRA's - I know because I worked for 'em! http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=27 Dad and I managed to get the Vauxhall Velox through its MOT this week. It took us the best part of 6 months to find a problem in the fuel system which prevented the car from driving uphill - the ability to drive uphill being a prerequisite for anyone living in Haworth, let's face it - and with all that solved, the car sailed though its test. I'm looking forward to seeing the car getting some use at last. It's been sitting either in our garage, or the garage at the bottom of the hill, for two years now and it really needs to see some action. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=20 Once upon a time there was a village at the foot of a giant volcano, on a remote island, isolated in the middle of a giant ocean that stretched further than the eye could see. The volcano above the village frequently belched smoke and flames into the sky. It did indeed seem like an angry volcano at times, roaring and spitting and shaking the ground, but then it would fall quiet again. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=21 It is an oft-touted factoid that most people who start a sentence with "To be honest" are about to deliver anything BUT honesty. When I found this factoid many years ago, I determined never to begin another sentence with those words. I consciously changed my patter to begin "Honestly.." or "Frankly.." or some other similar adverb. It was a long time before I stopped to ask myself whether I'd made the change because I was in fact a compulsive liar, or because of a lack of confidence in my friends, that those that heard my words might not believe in me. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=16 Soooo.. I finished up postponing my ickle trek into the Dales by a day. I didn't have a good reason, except that after adding my blog I ended up getting my hands dirty with code, extending some of the admin features of the hopkinson.net website. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=11 I talked to Jay yesterday about the new V1 year and I gave him a brief outline of my intentions for a new website interface. The plan is to merge some of the features of the www.v1racer.com website and the former MyCTRA website, to deliver a single-point interface for racing candidates. The CTRA website was a tremendous success, attracting an average of 1.3 million page impressions each month. The new site will be more useful and more focused than either of the site's predecessors and should serve V1 well. Fortunately I have a few months to create the new site because we will not be launching the new V1 season until at least part way into the next F1 season. This will give me the time I'll need to casually build the site in exactly the way it needs to be, to maximise its effect. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=10 I've begun posting images that I've taken in 2009. I haven't taken many photos yet this year because the light has been abysmal, but now things are beginning to get better, the light is stronger and the window of opportunity in the day is getting wider. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=9 The membership features of the site are almost complete. Next I will begin extending the content of the site to provide more general information about me, show off some of the things I do or have done in the past, and generally pump up the volume of the website over all. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=8 It was the most difficult decision of the new year so far, for me, to close the CTRA*. In the end became too tiring and time-consuming to maintain. I literally ran out of steam. I need a breather and with spring and summer on their way, I'm plannng an all-out photographic assault on the areas around me. Spring is a fantastic time of the year to take photographs. I find it mesmerising to watch the earth explode with new life. Spring is a really feel-good time of the year and I really feel like feeling good! http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=7 Emotions have run high over recent events in Gaza. And in this impassioned essay, Howard Jacobson argues that just below the surface runs a vicious strain of ancient prejudice. [http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/howard-jacobson/howard-jacobson-let8217s-see-the-8216criticism8217-of-israel-for-what-it-really-is-1624827.html] http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=5 http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=4 It's about twenty years or so since I habitually played the keyboard. I originally bought my synthesizer (a Korg M1) to coax myself into staying at home. As one butters a cat's paws when one moves house, the Korg was necessary for me to break my habitual travelling to Horsforth, where all my friends lived, and to save a bit of money. It worked, too. The M1 cost me around £1100 but by staying home and teaching myself to play the keyboard, I saved many times that in petrol and pubbing. There was a downside, though. I became used to my own company and I gradually became introverted. Nobody saw that coming. http://www.hopkinson.net/?ContentID=1 This feels a little strange. I haven't written a blog in what seems like an incredibly long time. Actually it is a long time. About four years, in fact. I suppose, since this is going to be my new home on t'internet, that I should set out my stall a little. This is where I'm most likely going to splurge on the things that interest me, the things that irritate me, those things that occasionally happen to me and more than likely the things that I happen to happen to.