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This page represents only my own views, and not those of any university or other body. Posted Saturday 28th April 2012 at 7.13pm Bureaucrazy I had to fill in a tax return yesterday. The following Asterix video sums up my feelings quite well. Genius! (Thanks Philip!) 0 comments Posted Thursday 19th April at 9.15pm Kindergarten complexity Someone on the computer science stack exchange linked to my site as part of an answer to the question "I wonder how to explain quicksort in the simplest words possible. How can I prove (or at least handwave) that the average complexity is O(nlogn), and what the best and the worst cases are, to a kindergarden class? Or at least in primary school?" (Admittedly the main point of the answer was the animated gif from wikipedia that's on my quicksort page.) I want to meet any kindergarten class that understands on any level what O(nlogn) means, let alone why quicksort has that complexity... 0 comments Posted Tuesday 17th April 2012 at 11.38pm This situation has to change Allo Darlin! Some more good indie pop from the UK. Some of their songs remind me of Belle and Sebastian ("You still send me" is like an early B+S responding to late B+S's "You don't send me"), the Magnetic Fields ("Let's go swimming" definitely has an "All the umbrellas in London" vibe going on), and Jens Lekman (their version of the Boss's "Atlantic City" nicks the drum fill from Jens' "Maple Leaves", although no doubt Jens nicked that from somewhere else first). Maybe they're not as distinctive as Standard Fare, but with a list of influences like that who needs distinctiveness? 0 comments Posted Sunday 15th April 2012 at 11.00am Sunburnt again! 0 comments Posted Wednesday 11th April 2012 at 7.42pm Charity There are several more good points in this article by Mary Dejevsky. One such is about there being a limit on counting charitable donations against income tax. It's good, of course, to encourage giving to charity - but income tax is a kind of charity in itself and, I would say, a better cause than many of the "charities" that get large donations from people who are only donating to avoid paying income tax. In fact forget the limit, I'm not sure charitable donations should count against income tax at all. Can anyone give me a good reason why they should? (Charities would and will complain, of course, but in general I think a good test for whether a law should exist is to imagine we have never had it before and ask whether anyone sensible would suggest it now.) 5 comments Posted Tuesday 10th April 2012 at 12.35pm Taxman Here (for a change) is a realistic good idea from Polly Toynbee. I've never understood the taboo on asking someone how much they earn. Make it all public, and taxes at the same time. As Toynbee points out, the taxman will always be one step behind determined evaders, just like the music industry will always be one step behind file sharers. If you want to cut down on either in the long run you have to find better ways than running around shouting the odds and flailing a big stick. 0 comments Posted Sunday 8th April 2012 at 9.39pm The difference is thin Whenever I'm back in Nottingham, I have a sort of competition with my dad... when a song comes on the radio or TV, and one of us recognises it, we'll ask "who's this by?" Generally I have no idea about anything on the radio nowadays, but on TV adverts they often use indie pop songs. There's some furniture company that uses Peter Bjorn and John. My dad's indignance at being asked whether he knows a (to him) obscure band involving three Swedish men means he now retorts "Lars, Peter and Dave" - or variations on that theme - whenever I ask about any band he doesn't recognise. I remember when, when I first moved here, A long time ago, Cos I heard some song I used to hear back then, A long time ago. This song reminds me of standing on the U-bahn, on my way from Schönhauser Allee to Hausvogteiplatz. If only this competition had existed two years ago... 0 comments Posted Thursday 5th April 2012 at 6.40pm Nuts Kevin Pietersen has now scored more hundreds than any other batter in England's history. Records like that have to be taken with a pinch of salt - there is so much more cricket played now that back in the day - but it's still quite an achievement. It (and his innings last night underlines the point) shows how important he has been to England's rise over the last few years, and if he never becomes the all-time great he could have been on the world stage, he will at least be remembered as one of England's best ever. 1 comment Posted Sunday 1st April 2012 at 9.00pm Pirates! See me scoring a run in snow cricket, and taking the presenter's wicket (caught behind) in indoor cricket, on Canadian TV! 0 comments Posted Saturday 31st March at 8.58pm Port of Morrow The new Shins album is out! I'm not sure I'm a huge fan, although it is growing on me. I get a definite Elton vibe from certain songs (including this one). 0 comments
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