YPC

I've been watching what is probably the unfunniest comedy the BBC has ever produced 'Horne and Corden'. I guess that the only reason they have a show is as a result of the popularity of 'Gavin and Stacey'.

Maybe i'm being a bit harsh. There is one sketch though that has had me in stitches... The YPC or 'Young People's Church'.

Basically, they do a take on trendy Youth Workers, trying to act all 'hip' and 'cool' and speak in that ever so slightly patronising tone that you sometimes hear when Teenagers are being addressed by people trying to sound 'relevant'.

Now, I don't know whether or not I should be offended by them when they start singing about God coming into peope's rooms at night and touching them.. or when they replace God with 'Pam St Clement'.

Maybe I should be.. but the thing is, I find it hilarious that they have picked on this stereotype.. are we really perceived this way by non Christians?

My Desk

My Desk
Originally uploaded by robforster

Birthday Cake!

Birthday Cake!
Originally uploaded by robforster

It's my Birthday!!

When i got into work I found this waiting for me!

Monday Mornings

I'm not a fan of Monday mornings, as they usually involve the realisation that another working week is starting. My usual routine is to get up late.. stomp around for a bit then head off to work about 8.30ish.. Ok.. that's pretty much my everyday routine but hey!

I have more recently though started to work on the train. I have a 30 min train ride to Pompey each day and it's ideal quiet time to catch up on emails and stuff that I can easily sort out. for example, Friday morning's journey was spent updating my Integrated Delivery Plan for my 11.30 meeting. as i type, we have just got in to Swanwick, so about 15 mins before I have to get off at Cosham... I'm just glad i don't have to be getting off at Fratton as that has a whole other meaning in these parts...

So, I sit here typing now on my trusty Thinkpad, bluetoothed to my phone and connected via 3G to the net. And to think i used to use train journeys as quiet sleeping time!

Comic Relief

So.. Friday night was once again Comic Relief on the BBC. This two-yearly fest of raising money and having a laugh has raised over £50m this year. Quite remarkable when we are in the middle of the 'Credit Crunch' and all tightening our belts.

Once more the causes ranged from the plight in Africa, to more home-grown charities. all a good thing.

An interesting point though was raised by a work colleague who said he didn't really go for this whole Comic Relief thing. You see, he does a lot of work for the Scouting movement and has done so for many years. He has given thousands of hours (and probably pounds as well) over the years to help this cause. So giving up time and money to help good causes is second nature to him.

Made me think a little.. do we need all this fanfare and expense of 'Red Nose Day' to do something good and give time / money to charity? probably not. Think of all the people of who give up time and money as part of their everyday lives to support charities or causes such as the Scouts, Local Churches, Voluntary groups etc... and maybe we could all make a difference if we too got involved in something like this.

Niddler's Law

Niddler's Law states:

Beyond a certain point, most people won’t care if technology advances are made in either speed or capacity, as it won’t make a noticeable difference to their usage of it.

Which is very interesting indeed. Give it a couple of years and I think this will be required teaching in any CompSci Degree.

It is also interesting as It fits in nicely with a purchase that I am about to make. At present I'm currently sitting here typing away on an Athlon 64 3800+ with 2GB Ram, 200GB HDD, a 256MB Nvidia Graphics card, a DVD writer and running Fedora 7. Which is not by any means Top Spec, but still a respectable configuration.

Well.. for all you pedants out there i'm ACTUALLY typing on a keyboard, but this is attached to said machine.

That said, it's noisy, big, and consumes a huge amount of power.

So, i'm buying myself a netbook. Partly so I can jump on the cool and trendy bandwagon, partly to have a small light battery friendly machine to take places, partly as they are low power, and partly because they are more than adequate for what I use a computer for.

The majority of my usage is either, Web browsing, BBC iPlayer or Email. All of which are fine on a netbook.

I've decided on a Samsung NC10 as it comes in a fabulous dark blue.

As for my Linux Box, it'll stay, but will be turned off most of the time.