Blog

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    <title>Blog &#8212; CMBuckley.co.uk</title>
    <link>http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/</link>
    <description>Shameless self-promotion</description>
    <language>en</language>
        <item>
      <title>Yay, xkcd</title>
      <description>Makefile:&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;pre&#62;
&#60;span class=&#34;default&#34;&#62;me&#60;/span&#62;:
	&#60;span class=&#34;keyword&#34;&#62;@&#60;/span&#62;true
&#60;span class=&#34;default&#34;&#62;a&#60;/span&#62;:
	&#60;span class=&#34;keyword&#34;&#62;@&#60;/span&#62;true
&#60;span class=&#34;default&#34;&#62;sandwich.&#60;/span&#62;:
	&#60;span class=&#34;keyword&#34;&#62;@&#60;/span&#62;[ -w /etc/shadow ] &#38;amp;&#38;amp; &#60;span class=&#34;function&#34;&#62;echo&#60;/span&#62; &#60;span class=&#34;string&#34;&#62;&#34;Okay.&#34;&#60;/span&#62; &#124;&#124; &#60;span class=&#34;function&#34;&#62;echo&#60;/span&#62; &#60;span class=&#34;string&#34;&#62;&#34;What? Make it yourself.&#34;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/pre&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
Shell:&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;pre&#62;
&#60;span class=&#34;keyword&#34;&#62;$&#60;/span&#62; make me a sandwich.
&#60;span class=&#34;var&#34;&#62;What? Make it yourself.&#60;/span&#62;

&#60;span class=&#34;keyword&#34;&#62;$&#60;/span&#62; sudo make me a sandwich.
&#60;span class=&#34;var&#34;&#62;Okay.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/pre&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
From &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.cli-apps.org/content/show.php/show.php?content=89734&#38;amp;vote=good&#38;amp;tan=29063073&#34;&#62;CLI-Apps&#60;/a&#62;. See also &#60;a href=&#34;http://xkcd.com/149/&#34;&#62;xkcd&#60;/a&#62;.</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:31:52 BST</pubDate>
      <link>http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2008/10/17/yay-xkcd/</link>
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      <title>Spotting a Fake Pound Coin</title>
      <description>Supposedly &#60;a href=&#34;http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7628930.stm&#34;&#62;2% of all pound coins are counterfeit&#60;/a&#62;. But how do you know when you have a fake? I heard the news item and had a quick look at the pound coins in my pocket, and couldn&#38;rsquo;t see anything. I thought that maybe it wasn&#38;rsquo;t all that easy to spot. But then I saw one my &#60;a href=&#34;http://pictures.scholesmafia.co.uk/index.php/?profile=36&#34;&#62;Mum&#60;/a&#62; had:&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/coin/obverse.jpg&#34; rel=&#34;lightbox[pound]&#34; title=&#34;Obverse &#38;mdash; the fake is on the left. Notice the lack of detail on the crown and hair, and general fuzziness of the image and lettering&#34;&#62;&#60;img src=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/thumbs/coin/obverse.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Obverse &#38;mdash; the fake is on the left. Notice the lack of detail on the crown and hair, and general fuzziness of the image and lettering&#34; /&#62;&#60;/a&#62; &#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/coin/reverse.jpg&#34; rel=&#34;lightbox[pound]&#34; title=&#34;Reverse &#38;mdash; again, the fake is on the left. The difference is even clearer on this side.&#34;&#62;&#60;img src=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/thumbs/coin/reverse.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Reverse &#38;mdash; again, the fake is on the left. The difference is even clearer on this side.&#34; /&#62;&#60;/a&#62; &#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/coin/side.jpg&#34; rel=&#34;lightbox[pound]&#34; title=&#34;Side &#38;mdash; the fake is at the top. The lettering around the side is incomplete and off-centre. It is also the wrong way up, but this doesn&#38;rsquo;t seem to be standard.&#34;&#62;&#60;img src=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/thumbs/coin/side.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Side &#38;mdash; the fake is at the top. The lettering around the side is incomplete and off-centre. It is also the wrong way up, but this doesn&#38;rsquo;t seem to be standard.&#34; /&#62;&#60;/a&#62;&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
There are a few noticeable differences:&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;ul&#62;&#60;li&#62;The lettering and images are faded&#60;/li&#62;
&#60;li&#62;The images have less fine detail&#60;/li&#62;
&#60;li&#62;They may not pass the &#38;ldquo;spin test&#38;rdquo; (although mine did) &#38;mdash; the obverse image is not in the same orientation as the reverse image&#60;/li&#62;
&#60;li&#62;The lettering on the side is incomplete or off-centre&#60;/li&#62;
&#60;li&#62;The side inscription and obverse or reverse image may not match the &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.royalmint.gov.uk/Corporate/facts/coins/OnePoundCoin.aspx&#34;&#62;supposed year of print&#60;/a&#62; (although, again, this one did)&#60;/li&#62;
&#60;li&#62;The material of the coin may feel different &#38;mdash; this one felt less dense than the real one; gold paint may also flake off&#60;/li&#62;
&#60;li&#62;A vending machine will probably not accept it&#60;/li&#62;
&#60;/ul&#62;

There are other things that you can do beyond just looking at it, such as weighing it on some very accurate scales, or testing the resistivity.&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
One thing that doesn&#38;rsquo;t prove it&#38;rsquo;s fake, however, is the orientation of the lettering on the side. All my pound coins (except the fake) have the obverse facing upwards when reading the lettering, but I&#38;rsquo;ve seen &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.flickr.com/photos/skink74/195599914/in/set-72157594200037238/&#34;&#62;other coins&#60;/a&#62; where it&#38;rsquo;s the other way around. There&#38;rsquo;s a &#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.alism.com/fake-one-pound-coins-part-one/&#34;&#62;three&#60;/a&#62;-&#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.alism.com/fake-one-pound-coins-part-two/&#34;&#62;part&#60;/a&#62; &#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.alism.com/fake-one-pound-coins-part-three/&#34;&#62;post&#60;/a&#62; over at Blogalism that goes into more detail, and in &#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.alism.com/fake-one-pound-coins-part-one/#comment-3853&#34;&#62;one of the comments&#60;/a&#62; explains that the coins fall from the face-stamping machine into the edge-inscription machine, giving it a 50% chance of appearing either way up. More information is available on the &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.wbcc.fsnet.co.uk/sub009d.htm&#34;&#62;old WBCC page&#60;/a&#62;.</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:10:17 BST</pubDate>
      <link>http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2008/09/24/spotting-a-fake-pound-coin/</link>
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      <title>Leeds Festival 2008</title>
      <description>I&#38;rsquo;m still tired even a whole day after getting back, but I though it was worth it to mention how good the festival was, yet again!&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
I didn&#38;rsquo;t get a ticket immediately after &#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2007/08/27/leeds-festival-2007/&#34;&#62;last year&#60;/a&#62;, but &#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2008/03/31/leeds-festival-line-up/&#34;&#62;waited until March&#60;/a&#62;. With hindsight, I reckon an early bird ticket might be required from now on, as it was even busier than last year! I even missed out on the brie and crackers&#38;hellip;&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
Again, my list of bands includes a couple of bands for whom we only saw the odd song:&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;table class=&#34;noborder&#34;&#62;
&#60;tr&#62;
&#60;th&#62;Friday&#60;/th&#62;
&#60;th&#62;Saturday&#60;/th&#62;
&#60;th&#62;Sunday&#60;/th&#62;
&#60;/tr&#62;
&#60;tr&#62;
&#60;td&#62;
Metallica&#60;br /&#62;
Pendulum&#60;br /&#62;
Avenged Sevenfold&#60;br /&#62;
Dropkick Murphys&#60;br /&#62;
Plain White T&#38;rsquo;s&#60;br /&#62;
Alexisonfire&#60;br /&#62;
Mindless Self Indulgence&#60;br /&#62;
Eureka Machines&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;/td&#62;
&#60;td&#62;
Babyshambles&#60;br /&#62;
Rage Against The Machine&#60;br /&#62;
Vampire Weekend&#60;br /&#62;
Goldfinger&#60;br /&#62;
Friendly Fires&#60;br /&#62;
Biffy Clyro&#60;br /&#62;
Serj Tankian&#60;br /&#62;
Dizzee Rascal&#60;br /&#62;
Taking Back Sunday&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;/td&#62;
&#60;td&#62;
The Killers&#60;br /&#62;
Bloc Party&#60;br /&#62;
You Me At Six&#60;br /&#62;
The Raconteurs&#60;br /&#62;
Seasick Steve&#60;br /&#62;
Hifi Handgrenades&#60;br /&#62;
The Automatic&#60;br /&#62;
Random Hand&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;/td&#62;
&#60;/tr&#62;
&#60;/table&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
Again, I felt like I missed a load, but with so many on at the same time it&#38;rsquo;s impossible to get it all in! Thanks go out to &#60;a href=&#34;http://rdmsoft.com/&#34;&#62;Rob Marshall&#60;/a&#62; for his &#60;a href=&#34;http://bugs.rdmsoft.com/leeds/&#34;&#62;clash finder&#60;/a&#62;, which helped out greatly!&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;a href=&#34;http://pictures.scholesmafia.co.uk/index.php/2008/08/22.08.08_24.08.08-leeds-festival/&#34;&#62;View pictures of the festival&#60;/a&#62;</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:37:12 BST</pubDate>
      <link>http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2008/08/25/leeds-festival-2008/</link>
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      <title>Radovan Karadžić&#8217;s disguise</title>
      <description>&#60;a href=&#34;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radovan_Karadžić&#34;&#62;Radovan Karadžić&#60;/a&#62;, the recently captured war criminal, was doing a good job disguising himself as &#60;a href=&#34;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Sharkey&#34;&#62;Noel Sharkey&#60;/a&#62;:&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;img alt=&#34;Noel Sharkey&#34; title=&#34;Noel Sharkey&#34; src=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/noel.jpg&#34; /&#62; &#60;img alt=&#34;Radovan Karadžić&#34; title=&#34;Radovan Karadžić&#34; src=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/radovan.jpg&#34; /&#62;&#60;br /&#62;
Er, I can&#38;rsquo;t remember which is which now.</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:58:30 BST</pubDate>
      <link>http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2008/07/24/radovan-karadzics-disguise/</link>
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      <title>Firefox 3 World Record</title>
      <description>The &#60;a href=&#34;http://mozilla.com/firefox&#34;&#62;Firefox&#60;/a&#62; team are going for a new world record &#38;mdash; &#38;ldquo;Most Software Downloaded in 24 Hours.&#38;rdquo; The (currently beta) version 3 of their popular web browser is due to be launched in late June. Visit the &#60;a href=&#34;http://spreadfirefox.com/worldrecord&#34;&#62;Download Day 2008&#60;/a&#62; page for the official date, and to make your pledge!</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2008 12:09:28 BST</pubDate>
      <link>http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2008/05/30/firefox-3-world-record/</link>
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      <title>All Work and No Play Makes Facebook a Dull Network</title>
      <description>The walls have spoken. In the last week or so, Facebook has introduced a new feature called &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.facebook.com/lexicon/&#34;&#62;Lexicon&#60;/a&#62; (&#60;a href=&#34;http://www.facebook.com/help.php?topic=lexicon&#34;&#62;learn more&#60;/a&#62;), which allows you to enter a number of search terms and see how popular those terms are on people&#38;rsquo;s walls.  The &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.facebook.com/lexicon/index.php?q=party%20tonight,%20hangover&#34;&#62;graph&#60;/a&#62; of &#38;ldquo;party tonight&#38;rdquo; when compared with &#38;ldquo;hangover&#38;rdquo; is quite predictable, especially around Hallowe&#38;rsquo;en and New Year&#38;rsquo;s:&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/lexicon.png&#34; rel=&#34;lightbox&#34; title=&#34;Lexicon compares search terms; people are predictable&#34;&#62;&#60;img src=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/thumbs/lexicon.png&#34; alt=&#34;Lexicon compares search terms; people are predictable&#34; /&#62;&#60;/a&#62;&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
The &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.facebook.com/lexicon/index.php?q=work%2C+play&#34;&#62;graph I found interesting&#60;/a&#62;, however, compared &#38;ldquo;work&#38;rdquo; and &#38;ldquo;play&#38;rdquo;: it seems much more people are talking about the former! Or maybe it&#38;rsquo;s just that they&#38;rsquo;re complaining about it?&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
Or maybe it&#38;rsquo;s because people who go out and have fun actually go do it rather than sitting on Facebook talking about it, whereas people at work just sit on Facebook and complain&#38;hellip;</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:27:39 BST</pubDate>
      <link>http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2008/04/22/all-work-and-no-play-makes-facebook-a-dull-network/</link>
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      <title>Dell &#38; Linux</title>
      <description>I was never a big fan of Dell, mainly because it really annoyed me that they only shipped Windows with their machines. Reading &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-File-Secret-against-Gates/dp/0812927168&#34;&#62;&#60;em&#62;The Microsoft File&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/a&#62; made it clearer, if no more acceptable; Microsoft bullied retailers to shipping tied processor&#38;ndash;product bundles, effectively forcing other operating systems out of the market.&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
Dell redeemed themselves in my eyes when they &#60;a href=&#34;http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/05/01/13147.aspx&#34;&#62;announced that they would be offering Linux as an alternative&#60;/a&#62;, but it seems that&#38;rsquo;s not the &#60;a href=&#34;http://rudd-o.com/archives/2007/07/11/dell-paying-lip-service-only-to-linux/&#34;&#62;whole story&#60;/a&#62;. To summarise the summary, it would appear that every time Dell offers some kind of alternative to Windows, there&#38;rsquo;s always something that means the Windows users get preferential treatment over everyone else&#38;hellip; Now that doesn&#38;rsquo;t seem fair, does it?</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:32:06 BST</pubDate>
      <link>http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2008/04/07/dell-linux/</link>
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      <title>Leeds Festival Line-Up</title>
      <description>Woo, I got my ticket! Here&#38;rsquo;s the line-up so far:&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/leeds_poster_31.03.08_2100.jpg&#34; rel=&#34;lightbox&#34; title=&#34;Current Leeds Festival poster&#34;&#62;&#60;img src=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/thumbs/leeds_poster_31.03.08_2100.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Current Leeds Festival poster&#34; /&#62;&#60;/a&#62;</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:04:19 BST</pubDate>
      <link>http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2008/03/31/leeds-festival-line-up/</link>
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      <title>Delicatessen &#38; Digressions</title>
      <description>It was late on in the morning (ooh, at least 11). The conversation had wandered. It&#38;rsquo;s taken me a few minutes sitting here to try and piece together the conversation again, but I think we started talking about Dave&#38;rsquo;s &#60;em&#62;foot noir&#60;/em&#62; (his ingenious idea at James&#38;rsquo; leaving do) where he kicks a football around a fog-drenched pitch, lamenting James&#38;rsquo; absence. We then tried to think of a suitable score for the film, and I came up with Yann Tiersen&#38;rsquo;s &#38;ldquo;Comptine d&#38;rsquo;un autre &#38;eacute;t&#38;eacute;: L&#38;rsquo;apr&#38;egrave;s-midi&#38;rdquo;, an apt lament. I&#38;rsquo;d only seen it in &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.aidangibbons.com/&#34;&#62;Aidan Gibbons&#60;/a&#62;&#38;rsquo; &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.aidangibbons.com/piano.html&#34;&#62;The Piano&#60;/a&#62; (&#60;a href=&#34;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr64NI33qUo&#34;&#62;YouTube&#60;/a&#62;), but apparently it&#38;rsquo;s from the &#60;a href=&#34;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am&#38;eacute;lie_(soundtrack)&#34;&#62;&#60;em&#62;Am&#38;eacute;lie&#60;/em&#62; soundtrack&#60;/a&#62;. So from &#60;em&#62;Am&#38;eacute;lie&#60;/em&#62;, via &#60;a href=&#34;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_Jeunet&#34;&#62;Jean-Pierre Jeunet&#60;/a&#62;, we get to &#60;em&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delicatessen_(film)&#34;&#62;Delicatessen&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/em&#62;. A vision of dystopian France meant I just had to bring up &#60;em&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_13&#34;&#62;District 13&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/em&#62;, then parkour and &#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2006/11/26/casino-royale-planet-of-sound/&#34;&#62;&#60;em&#62;Casino Royale&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/a&#62;, but I digress.&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
Anyway, Emma lent me &#60;em&#62;Delicatessen&#60;/em&#62;, and I watched it this evening. So many little things caught my eye that I couldn&#38;rsquo;t turn away for one moment! For those who haven&#38;rsquo;t seen it, I won&#38;rsquo;t say much, but suffice it to say that an underground gang of vegetarian rebels is an interesting film concept&#38;hellip;&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
Oh, and I know that this post is around 75% digression, but I must add that for some reason &#60;a href=&#34;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominique_Pinon&#34;&#62;Dominique Pinon&#60;/a&#62; reminds me of a certain &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.milienzo.com/2007/07/10/epuron-advert-will-make-you-smile/&#34;&#62;misunderstood&#60;/a&#62; &#60;a href=&#34;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw_n_02-gN4&#34;&#62;individual&#60;/a&#62;&#38;hellip;</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:34:18 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2008/03/04/delicatessen-digressions/</link>
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      <title>Happy Switch</title>
      <description>After spending too much time looking at &#60;a href=&#34;http://imagechan.com/img/4093/&#34;&#62;images&#60;/a&#62; on &#60;a href=&#34;http://imagechan.com/img/4062/&#34;&#62;imagechan&#60;/a&#62;, I was reminded of a perfect photo opportunity from childhood, sitting just in my garage:&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;a href=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/happy_switch.jpg&#34; rel=&#34;lightbox&#34; title=&#34;Happy switch is happy&#34;&#62;&#60;img src=&#34;http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/images/thumbs/happy_switch.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Happy switch is happy&#34; /&#62;&#60;/a&#62;&#60;br /&#62;
&#60;br /&#62;
Maybe I should be doing some work.</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:36:17 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://blog.cmbuckley.co.uk/2008/02/25/happy-switch/</link>
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