Friday, June 23, 2006

If only

If only research was so easy...

The 'Feynman Problem Solving Algorthithm':
  1. Write down the problem
  2. Think very hard
  3. Write down the answer

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Linux woes

No! No! No!

The server on which all my data is stored is being rebooted, but it’s taking way way longer than anticipated, so I haven’t been able to run any scripts for the past two days. Meanwhile, my supervisor is attending a course in Italy and wanted to show my data to a researcher over there. She keeps emailing me asking for data but I can’t do anything till the server is back online.

Feel completely paralysed at the moment.

Friday, June 16, 2006

World Cup Stories

I found the following article in India Today magazine:

"As part of coach Juergen Klinsmann's new-age methods, the German team watched a 10-minute film on the culture of Costa Rica before their opener against the Central Americans. The duration of the film was recommended by the team psychologist who noted that the men under his charge had an attention span of exactly 10 minutes for most things beyond their normal areas of interest."

"The civic authorities who ran extra tram services in Gelsenkirchen to get fans in and out of its World Cup stadium quickly discovered that some fans didn't want to get off - namely the Ecuadoreans, who came to town for the match against Poland and had never travelled in trams before."

"Spain's El Pais newspaper called the England team "flat, grotesque and contaminating" and its striker Peter Crouch a "two-metre asparagus"."

"Even the turf is official: only two varieties of grass are prescribed and allowed to be grown as football turf in World Cup stadia: the lolium perenne (rye/perennial grass) and poa pratensis (blue grass/Kentucky grass)."

"The Ghanian camp includes the mother of one of the players whose express purpose for being in Germany is to cook her son's favourite dish of rice and groundnuts."

Friday, June 09, 2006

World Cup Predictions

I have World Cup fever!

With the tournament kick-off only minutes away, I thought I'd share my predictions for the competition. That way you can chastise me when I get it horribly wrong.

Winners: Netherlands
Golden boot: Fernando Torres (Spain)

What do you reckon?


Next week sees the climax of the Dauphine Libere, an important warm up for the Tour de France. My tip for that was Floyd Landis, but he's still outside the top ten. For the Tour itself, Ivan Basso looks mighty but I'm hoping Jan Ullrich shows just how good he can be.

Talking of cycling, I had a bad an expensive problem on Wednesday. I have cantilever brakes, and cycling back from College my rear brake cable snapped. My supervisor (a bit of a bike expert) recommended I get a new cable professionally fitted, but Halfords have quoted £70 (£4 parts, the rest labour) to do so. Ouch!