Sep/090
Off to Warwick
Well, I’m off to Warwick in October to read Physics; and I’m thrilled.
Pretty much everything is sorted out, and by that I mean that there’s still a large amount of paperwork that I’ve got to force my way through before I’m entirely ready.
Aug/090
A holiday (working title)
Just over a fortnight ago I set off aboard the Queen Victoria to cruise around the Mediterranean with the majority of my newly extended family. And without boring you all with some very delayed and boring travelogue, I’m going to write a bit about the places I visited. Especially as I only visited each port for a day, and everything I’ll have to day will sound entirely vacuous and obvious to anyone who’s spent more than about 5 minutes in these places.
Aug/092
These things need titles?
It’s certainly been a while since I posted anything that cannot be described as depressingly numerical, dull, or entirely pointless.
I could talk about Lola Rennt
I have been reading quite a bit lately, and by that I mean, more than I usually bring myself to, and less than I would like to. For all the intellectual benefits it brings, I’ve yet to find somewhere comfortable to do it.
I’d like to devote a small section to the entire rebranding of this blog. Although that’s a silly term to use here- it’s pretty much what I’ve done. I mean, this is hardly a brand. So, as from a few days ago, madebyalex.org has ceased to exist and been replaced with MostFoolhardy.org, in some vain hope that using the same name for this blog as I do across the internet at large will somehow encourage me to write more.
Madebyalex was a poor name, and somewhat arrogant. It has not been renewed. (This is also because godaddy.com is not a company I relish doing business with, but that’s for another day.)
If you wish to subscribe, or continue subscribing (all seven of you) then feel free to point your feedreader here.
Oh, and lieu of any interesting content here is a video of Plant and Page playing Nobody’s Fault But Mine:
Oh, and if you want to get the best upscaling performance when you watch video on your pc- changing the resolution of the screen to the same as the source and telling your graphics card to handle all upscaling itself works quite well. This same effect can be achieved with media-player classic homecinema, but I’m not sure how. Also the PS3 has an exceptional upscaler and can make even the worst quality videos watchable.
May/080
Upcoming Exams
Again, yet more exams have crept up on me; ready to surprise me in new and possibly unpleasant ways.
- Maths C2, C3, C4, M1, S1
- Physics modules 2 and 3
- Chemistry Module 2
Good luck to everyone else taking exams this season.
-Alex
Mar/081
Module 1: result.
Well today was the day, the first of many many A level mark days; and I think it's safe to say that I came out of it fairly well.
- AQA Physics Unit 1: A 90
- Chemistry: A 77
- Maths MEI C1:A 80
- Maths MEI C2:B 77
I'm fairly sure that I'm going to resit Maths C2, because I was really not on form when I did that paper. Otherwise, I'm fairly happy with those grades- especially physics. 
Mar/080
Reports are in…
Reports are in, confirming something that I have known for a long time.
Hats are awesome.
Also, the Asia concert was beyond awesome; and if they're playing near you; then you should certainly go and see them- Steve Howe is the most masterful guitarist that I have ever seen.
Mar/081
Some horrifically overdue updates
It's been several months now since I last said anything noteworthy (bar expressing my disgust at the science funding crisis) and it's probably time that I wrote something. Thanks to AppleCare my ageing iBook miraculously changed into a macbook before Christmas by virtue of some faulty bluetooth chip, my mac mini has since transformed into a powerhouse of an Intel Quad 2 machine running Fedora 8, by virtue of Christmas and has now got two monitors (running fairly happily under compiz, which is as the internet leads me to believe; is a complete miracle or the norm- depending on who you ask). I am currently in the first year of my A level course studying Physics, Chemistry and Math/Further Math and have just taken my first set of module exams back in January and am expecting results imminently, and am just at the stage of looking at Unis and courses. Any University propaganda is welcomed heartily, especially if it discusses the merits of a Computer Science and Physics joint honours course or either of the two as single honours.
I expect to be posting reactions to my AS module 1 grades, the Asia concert tomorrow night and the hopefully upcoming Jonathan Coulton concert sometime this month.
And my driving test. >_< So until then,
Alex.
In other news, Kristopher Tate is rolling out another Zooomr update on Monday, which should be fairly awesome, and should see some concert photos from me.
Feb/080
A massive blow to Science in the UK
The STFC have recently massively slashed the budget for Physics in the UK by £80million. It means amongst many other things that the UK will drop out of exceedingly important international research, and many British research programmes will come under threat. It will also make it exceedingly difficult to take up further studies of Physics as a career.
No matter how this is construed, I cannot see anything good coming out of this decision and therefore urge all of you who are eligible to sign this petition and to join this group on facebook, which also plays host to much important information regarding this.
Jan/080
Happy New Year!
Happy (belated) new years everybody, it's been a fairly hectic 2007 for me; and things are starting to look up for 2008. However, I am currently snowed in with AS level stuff; so am going to be unable to blog as often as I would like to- and I've got some exams around the 10th which need revising for.
Since the iBook's replacement by Apple, I've also built myself a fairly nice Linux box with the individual parts which I got for Christmas from my family. I'm happy to say that I'm running Fedora 8, although I did try out ubuntu and didn't like it. [This advice is indispensable] With an upcoming Windows HDD for playing games [mainly in case they don't want to run under wine] so within the next month or so I'll try and post some thoughts on both Linux and the Orange Box , and maybe several posts on the virtues of not randomly editing system config files. Using Linux is not without some caveats unfortunately, although from the limited recent experience (I used to use SuSE back at version 8.2) it does seem to have the most to offer in terms of features alone.
Well, a prosperous new year to you all- for I must go now. I hope to update with some more frequency this year.
Edit:
I also have some play-asia vouchers for $5 off of $50 which I won't be able to use in time, so if anyone especially wants them; just leave a comment.
Dec/070
My little Christmas present from Apple
Recently, my iBook's bluetooth module and Sleep LED assembly decided that actually functioning was not worth the endeavour- so I took it along to the Apple store in Southampton. Unfortunately, the problems with my iBook were irreparable and as it was under Apple care; they gave me a new MacBook.
Moral of the story: get AppleCare whenever you buy an Apple computer.