Sarah got a letter today informing her that she’d have to do Jury service - I found this to be quite a bit random.

Anyway, I’ve been working on the site a bit more, and got the projects page “up”. It’s not finished yet, but it should be good once it is. Adding files and images and all that on Monday, since I’ve got the Introduction to Fluids module going on. Should be great fun.

On other topics, I have to decide what to do with this site. I find some of the older entries to be quite crass, and I’m considering taking them off of the public viewing. Perhaps I’ll add the registration page soonish, so that people can see the old ones if they want to.

In fact, I think I’ll do that now. Will be back in a bit with an update.

11:36 pm | Posted in Exams, Personal, Site Development | 5 Comments » | Show comments » | Hide comments » |

I’m off to bed, but I have the comment system working. So the 1 person that reads this blog can now comment!

Enjoy.

1:40 am | Posted in Computing, LaTeX, Site Development | 2 Comments » | Show comments » | Hide comments » |

So, I was looking at the rather nice LaTeX that I’d generated last night, and figured that I’d check how it looked in IE. The answer? Not good. You see, I’d forgotten that I’d set up the LaTeX script to generate PNGs instead of GIFs, which is bad for IE because it’s a big retarded pile of poo and doesn’t handle alpha blending at all.

But there is a fix, thank goodness. So, for any of you web developers out there that haven’t already found this, take a look at the IE PNG fix. It’s basically a neat and easy way of fixing PNGs so that you get proper alpha blending. So now I’m able to properly put a nice little alpha layer on the PNGs in the LaTeX code, and people are still quite able to see them. How nice. It uses the DirectX filtering control which means you won’t mess up your CSS and by using conditional commenting, only IE users will have to go the extra yard to download the JavaScript. Hurrah!
Meanwhile, I’m in a Vector Analysis kind of mood; it’s a pretty cool course, covering both some vector calculus and, also, some complex analysis. I have to say that I find it quite enthralling to work out integrals like using contour integrals; it’s all quite funky.

Anyway, I’m going to fix a few things on the site, and then get back to revision. I shall return later with more things of a posting nature.

1:42 pm | Posted in Computing, Maths, Site Development, Web Development | No Comments »

Hurrah, LaTeX is installed. Now I can write such prettyness as:

It had to be done.

Edit: having just posted that, it looks rather nice, and it seems to fit in quite well as well. Here, have some more:

Cauchy Integral Theorem:

Fourier Transform:

You know you love it really.

2:29 am | Posted in LaTeX, Maths, PHP/MySQL, Site Development | 1 Comment » | Show comment » | Hide comment » |

Got around to putting lists on here now.

• Now I can talk like this
• Over and over
• and over and over…
• And make everyone really annoyed and leave

So yes, that was fun. Also, I got my essay back today with no mark, but a nice comment:

An excellent essay, written well on a challenging topic.

This was nice, because I did actually put a lot of effort into that topic. For those that didn’t know, my essay was entitled “Chaotic Systems and Strange Attractors”. As is usual with me, I decided to LaTeX it all, and I’m contemplating putting it up on the interweb for scrutiny. Without wanting to blow my own trumpet, I do find the essay quite interesting, and that was always my intention. It doesn’t have all that much maths in it, but you’re going to need your head screwed on when you read it. Maybe I’ll post it up later, when I get back.

I’m still in the maths department though, which sucks. Sarah’s at the Arts Centre tonight, and the thing she’s seeing is a play, performed in Russian with surtitles at the top for those who don’t speak the language. It’s 3 hours long (eek) and has an after-show performance. I got a SMS from her, informing me that she’d be finishing around 11:45pm. So, looks like I’m here for another hour then. Maybe I’ll blog some more in a bit.

10:42 pm | Posted in Academia, Maths, Site Development | No Comments »

So, I went and stayed away for quite a while, didn’t I? Oh well. It doesn’t matter all that much I suppose. It’s not like anyone actually sits down and reads these posts.

Yes, indeed. I’ve been updating this site in secret!!!! (shock horror etc). Now that the site is hosted somewhere apart from my box at home, I like to develop the site in stages and then upload once I get to a point of significant progress. As far as I can see, things are coming along nicely:

• Added some rudimentry bbcode-like stuff
• Fixed some annoying bugs
• Replaced the links/stats sections so that they actually work.
• Minor tweaks to the database.

Next on my list, in order of priority:

• Finish the registration form
• Re-write the blocks code because it’s ugly
• Finish the projects page
• Populate the admin CP (which you can’t see) with some options.

I’m thinking that I might actually release this at some point, just for the sheer hell of it. Although that’s maybe a bit of a crazy idea because compared to WordPress et al, it stinks quite badly. I’m just hoping the RSS feed will work now, because if it doesn’t I may actually have to beat and simultaneously poke the server.

So, what’s new? Not a lot. I’ve started my exams - here’s the results so far:

• Algebra II:
  Went well, but not as well as I had hoped. Still, I’m not going to complain; I reckon I got something like 60%.
• Variational Principles:
  This was the best exam ever; questions that I could answer, and they still made you think a bit. Somewhat akin to the Differential Equations B exam I had last year, methinks.
• Number Theory:
  I had originally thought that after my rather dismal 50% on the in-class tests, this would be a crap of an exam. However, it turned out to be pretty good in the end. The questions weren’t all that hard, but they were still quite challenging.
• Differentiation:
  This was today’s examination. Unfortunately, it didn’t go brilliantly but I was fairly happy with the last two questions, and two of the other ones I staggered through somewhat. It was to be expected, though; I hadn’t really had the time to do all that much revision of the course due to Number Theory yesterday. Never mind.

I’ve still got 3 left, but in all honesty it’s getting to the point where I don’t actually care all that much. Metric Spaces ensues to be a horrible exam, but I’m quite looking forward to the Vector Analysis paper (it’s quite a fun topic, and has a gentle introduction to complex analysis). Then there’s Introduction to Fluids on Monday. I get the feeling that I may actually fail this one.

Apart from exams, there’s not been a lot going on. I’m sitting in one of the IT workrooms at the moment, and quite shockingly it’s a Linux-based system (more precisely, Mandrake). I’m not a huge fan of the distro, but it suffices quite nicely (and more importantly has X-Chat installed). Doesn’t have Firefox, and the latest version of Mozilla is 1.4 - ouch. So, I downloaded and installed Firefox onto my USB flash pen, and now I’m chugging along quite nicely. The only downside is that I have to have that with me when I’m around here, but since it’s attached to my car keys, I can’t see that being too much of a hassle.

Anyway, I’m going to go off and maybe do a little more revision now. Alternatively, I could mess around with some LaTeX and see whether it’s worth my while installing my mod on this blog. Hmm.

I think the latter idea sounds better.

8:04 pm | Posted in Academia, Exams, LaTeX, Linux, Maths, Site Development, Web Development | No Comments »

Sorted. The toolbar is much nicer now, and I’ve changed the index page a bit as well. There’s a few things to fix with regards to IE, but that can definately wait ’till the morning (or afternoon at this rate).

Anyhoo, I will, at some point, be arsed to put some registration formage on here so people can sign up and post comments and funky stuff.

I shall also be around town for the next three weeks if anyone would like to go out for a pint (or seven). But for now, it is time for bed.

3:52 am | Posted in Site Development | No Comments »

So, I’m back again - and this time with some new features.

Some things you can expect from this website soonish maybe:

• A commenting system for you guys
• Forums, if I can be bothered.
• A new layout; this one is starting to grate for some reason. Might be a while though.
• Possibly a return of the pictures collection, if I can write the code to fit in with the layout.
• Much, much randomness.

So, all in all, a fair amount to come. I’m also going to make a concerted effort to completely remove the new toolbar I put in, because it is now starting to annoy me and I quite liked the old one. However, to get it working with crappy IE5/6, I’m going to have to muck around with JavaScript. Oh, the fun, the fun of it all.

Anyway. Enough ranting. In a meaningless attempt to try and organise my life, I am now going to present to you the life of Dave in concise, bullet point notation.

• I went back to uni.
• I did lots and lots and lots of maths.
• I drove around a bit and got some nice shopping.
• Again, the maths thing.
• I did a little work here and there when I had time.
• One of my housemates left. Which annoyed me.
• Maths. Lots.
• I finished term, and went down to Plymouth for a week and had a lovely time, thank you very much.
• I came back to sodding Walsall and did yet more bloody mathematics of a crap nature.
• On the upside, I went out and saw Paul and Jo yesterday and Sam today.

So, there we have it. My life for the past three months. Isn’t it great?

No.

(Apart from one obvious thing which doesn’t need to be mentioned).

I will update later. Right now, the toolbar calls. Which is quite wrong and somewhat disturbing really. Oh well, never mind.

2:17 am | Posted in Academia, Maths, Personal, Site Development | No Comments »

Woohoo, RSS feed seems to work. For those that care (and/or know what it is). Make sure you have an RSS-enabled browser (i.e. Firefox) and you’ll be able to keep track of all the headlines from here. Will probably improve this a little but it’s quite easy to maintain and implement.

(RSS - Really Simple Syndication - is an easy way to announce things like news articles, blog entries and the like.)
Anyway, I will be updating the site with some various bits and bobs at some point today/tomorrow/whenever I have free time because I’m quite bored.

Other than that, Sarah’s come over to stay for a few days (which is great) but I’m really, really knackered so haven’t shown it very much. I’ve worked my arse off for the past 2 days on coding bits and pieces and editing a piece together today. In total, I got maybe 5-6 hours sleep over the past 72 hours so I’m really not feeling terribly well. Also, having been up since 7:30am this morning, it’s getting rather late and I’m feeling rather tired - I really don’t know why I’m writing this now, for instance.

Anyhoo, as far as the updates are concerned, I’m going to completely overhaul the backend and make it a lot more nicerer (yes, I know, it’s not a word, although it should be) to work with when I’m implementing new features. The new backend will be something rather cool from a programming point of view - for those that are interested, my backend is quite modular in nature, using a lot of OOP in the new PHP 5.
It won’t look particularly different to you guys (yet) but as I continue to upgrade the code (which I mainly do, just so you know, to try and keep my skills ticking over) with some new stuff, I’m going to try and add user comments and maybe a way for all the QM people to keep in contact. Who knows, I might even scrounge enough money to make the photos get back online.

Anyway, I’ve said enough for tonight. It’s now 2am, I’m tired and I ache like shite. But I’m going to sleep now and make it all better. w00t.

Catch you all later.

1:59 am | Posted in PHP/MySQL, Personal, Site Development, Web Development | 1 Comment » | Show comment » | Hide comment » |

I’m posting this purely to test my brand spanking new automated poster thing I made in about 10 minutes (yes, I’m quite bored). Hopefully it’ll work; if not, bugger.

Will be making some other alterations to the site soon - maybe add a “comments” thing because nobody can be arsed to e-mail me - not that I blame you. But seriously, it’d be nice to hear from some people (and also hear whether anyone visits this anymore).

Anyhoo, gotta get off to bed. 7am start tomorrow - eek.
Later all.

12:37 am | Posted in Site Development | No Comments »