tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33767722009-02-21T13:19:33.106ZNotes on Software design, engineering, and anything else that is currently on my mind.Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.comBlogger205125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1163428023654486362006-11-13T14:21:00.000Z2006-11-13T14:27:03.656Z

What's cool: I saw via Technorati that Raph Koster, author of "A Theory of Fun", has linked to my blog (in the 'Hugo Meme')What's not so cool: I've now had a load of comment-spam, so I have now limited commenting to blogger members, and I have enabled word verification and moderation.

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1163240843953860362006-11-11T10:25:00.000Z2006-11-11T10:27:23.970Z

I'm having new windows installed. Yesterday they replaced all the windows upstairs - they will do the ground floor on Monday. The work they have done so far seems to be good quality, but I was a bit annoyed that they have left this pile of old windows in the front garden when they left.

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1151309941849789612006-06-26T08:18:00.000Z2006-06-26T08:19:49.086Z

Hugo meme, after Moonshadow and SunkittenWhich Hugo-winning novels have I read? (in bold)2005 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke2004 Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold2003 Hominids, Robert J. Sawyer2002 American Gods, Neil Gaiman2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling2000 A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge1999 To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis1998 Forever

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1145203026805537552006-04-16T15:25:00.000Z2006-04-16T15:58:04.110Z

I first developed my taste for traditional swords-and-sorcery fantasy with the classics like T.H.White's Once and Future King, Tolkien, and Fritz Leiber's Swords series. There were so many authors jumping on the bandwagon in the 80s and 90s with fantasy trilogies that it became difficult to find the really good work. There has been some good work, and I did put together a list a couple of years

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1143756220203303232006-03-30T22:03:00.000Z2006-04-02T10:14:48.390Z

Congratulations to my friend Dominic Green who has been nominated for a Hugo Award for his story "The Clockwork Atom Bomb". The story is currently available to download from InterzoneTechnorati Tags: dominic, hugo, interzone, story

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1142367065983444522006-03-14T20:04:00.000Z2006-03-14T20:13:21.763Z

Via The Daily Grind - and Gia, I found this Greasemonkey script to help add Technorati tags when creating a Blogger post.Tags: quernstone, gia, greasemonkey, technorati, blogger

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1142280622878358182006-03-13T20:10:00.000Z2006-03-14T20:15:32.460Z

John Crowley is one of my favourite authors - his "Little, Big" is one of my all-time favourite novels. His latest book is "Lord Byron's Novel - the Evening Land". According to Mary Shelley's introduction to Frankenstein, one evening in June 1816, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley and Dr Polidori met at Villa Diodati near lake Geneva. After a ghost story, Byron suggested they all write a

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1141821256278062002006-03-08T12:34:00.000Z2006-03-14T20:16:56.960Z

Wallace & Gromit in Curse of the Wererabbit - now in JapaneseThe translation process dragged on a bit through December and January, but it finally hits the streets in Japan next week. We found a reveiw on amazon.co.jp which was translated into delightful engrish by google:Finally! As for W&G fan propriety! (*' ? `) /, 2006/2/15March 18th of 2006 with ???? and ????? vegetable field of release

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1141046470502708562006-02-27T13:21:00.000Z2006-03-14T20:17:49.483Z

Flickr Cambridge 1, originally uploaded by peter2403. Peter's photo of me taking a photo of him at the first Cambridge Flickr meeting - at the Fort St George yesterdayTags: flickr, cambridge, fortstgeorge

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1140866667858915662006-02-25T11:24:00.000Z2006-02-25T11:24:28.450Z

penjual, originally uploaded by Farl. "The ordinary becomes exotic to first time visitors of Bali. In here, the bamboo wicker, the heavy weighing scale, the strange fruit, the traditional robes- all add to the allure. As a frequent visitor to this magical place, I find Bali special for their way of life, on how they manage to keep the old and imbibe the new.Farl's photos give us a virtual

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1140822235761618682006-02-24T23:03:00.000Z2006-02-24T23:03:55.810Z

Old Rocker, originally uploaded by notarivs. Black-and white street photos from Barcelona are only one style from Notarivs' work - go and have a look at some of his other photos in his stream

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1140717160104380452006-02-23T17:52:00.000Z2006-02-23T17:52:40.153Z

Noa, originally uploaded by carpeicthus. An excellent photo (as usual) from Ryan Brenizer, a New York photojournalist.

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1140632741681524222006-02-22T18:25:00.000Z2006-02-22T18:25:41.733Z

b l o k e s. . .XXXII, originally uploaded by dR. . .. Here's an example of dR...'s amazing style of (mostly B&W) children's portraits.

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1140557734950559832006-02-21T21:35:00.000Z2006-03-14T20:19:26.383Z

The Seven Basic PlotsI'm about three-quarters of the way through Christopher Booker's "The Seven Basic Plots: why we tell stories"I never liked English Literature as a subject at school, but since then I've come to love mythology and fantasy fiction. The idea of Storytelling has some small relevance to my work as well.In the first part of the book, Christopher Booker explains his idea of the

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1140556934713053002006-02-21T21:22:00.000Z2006-04-02T10:19:11.216Z

Photos on this BlogWhen I started writing this blog I intended it to be notes about programming and software engineering, but I found that the level of confidentiality in my work means that I find it difficult to find anything I can safely write about.Since becoming more involved in photography, I decided to post some of my favourite photos from contacts on flickr. This serves a couple of

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1140556031370874712006-02-21T21:07:00.000Z2006-02-21T21:07:11.416Z

The circle of life moves us all, originally uploaded by neloqua. It's summer right now in Brazil, and Neloqua's colourful photos bring some much-wanted sunshine in February (and all year round!)

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1140366577676598322006-02-19T16:29:00.000Z2006-02-19T16:29:37.723Z

100_0353, originally uploaded by EAFAUPEL. My friend Elizabeth has just joined up to Flickr, and ahs posted a few photos from our skiing holiday last week. Here's a rare shot of Duncan's teeth!

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1140108659647612082006-02-16T16:50:00.000Z2006-02-16T16:50:59.706Z

The Forbidden Room, originally uploaded by Mattijn. Dutch artist Mattijn has created a fascinating nightmare sequence of images: follow the sequence here

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1140024832304532512006-02-15T17:33:00.000Z2006-02-15T17:33:52.363Z

Morning colors, originally uploaded by JoLoLog. An amazing desert landscape from Lorien & Joe (nspiration Point, Bryce Canyon Nationa Park Utah, USA)

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1139939541238940112006-02-14T17:52:00.000Z2006-02-14T17:52:21.243Z

Nidderdale, originally uploaded by hchalkley. One of my own photos, for a change - this has gained 1500+ views and 38 favourites in just two weeks. It's a (fairly heavily) processed version of a snap taken in Yorkshire last August. I wrote up the technique on the 2 minute photoshoip tricks wiki.

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1139938993369300572006-02-14T17:43:00.000Z2006-02-14T17:43:13.433Z

Neomoorea wallisii, originally uploaded by Eric in SF. One of Eric's fine orchid specimen photos

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1139857300496769232006-02-13T19:01:00.000Z2006-02-13T19:01:40.540Z

Locker Low Moor, originally uploaded by Rob Hardy. For great british landscape photography, have a look at Rob's photos

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1139864322034616582006-02-09T20:53:00.000Z2006-02-13T21:01:46.453Z

We had a coach trip to Cortina d'Ampezzo on Thursday, 08:10 start! It took nearly two hours to get there through the mountain roads - it's about 16 miles as the crow flies.Cortina is a fashionable resort, so the visitors spend most of their time in town being seen in their furs or shopping in the boutiques; the ski runs were almost empty.We visited both the Faloria and Cristallo areas.

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1139863996392371952006-02-08T20:50:00.000Z2006-02-13T21:01:20.570Z

After three hard days skiing, I decided I needed an easy day. I met Wendy in the morning after she dropped the kids off at their lesson, and took her up the Ciampanoi lift, and back via plan de Gralba. I then met Ann and Jane when their lesson was over, had lunch in Selva, and repeated the same route with them.In the evening, we went on the 'crazy bowling and pizza' outing.

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376772.post-1139863826007932842006-02-07T20:41:00.000Z2006-02-13T21:00:57.203Z

Trip to Lagazoi: up early, via Dantercepies, Grodner Joch, Colfosco to Corvara. One of the chairlifts at Corvara was broken, so we had a half-hour hike through the village. Up to Col Alto and via Piz Sorega to Armentarola for a bus to the Lagazoi lift.Duncan, Matthew, Peter and Richard decided to do the back down to the bottom of the lift and come back up again then catch up, while Elizabeth,

Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00846321726061052937noreply@blogger.com0