SharQ's New Writeups

February 2, 2009 (idea)

2009-02-02T09:59:45Z

England is completely pathetic

There, I said it. But I also mean it. I woke up this morning to about 3 – okay, perhaps 5 – centimetres of snow on the ground. Enough to persuade me that riding a motorcycle to the station might not be the wisest option. So instead I take the bus, who – despite driving very carefully indeed – nearly spins out on the first sharp bend.

Anyway, so I made it to the station in about 45 minutes instead of 20 minutes (very careful bus driver), and I arrive to discover that all the trains are either 45 minutes delayed (!) or cancelled altogether. Now, I don't want to appear cynical, but a train weighs... what... 200 tonnes? 300? I completely fail to understand how a loosely conglomerated alliance of snowflakes can stop a six thousand horsepower colossus of steel.

Now, upon finally arriving in Paddington (on a train that was 45 minutes delayed, but rolled into the station about 2 minutes after I…

Slumdog Millionaire (review)

2009-01-14T14:18:55Z

Slumdog Millionaire is a movie released late in 2008. It was directed by Danny Boyle (of Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 days later and Sunshine fame). It is set in Mumbai, and tells the story of Jamal Malik, a young man who chances his way onto the Indian version of Who wants to be a millionaire – or 'Whowantstobeamill-in-air', as the presenter hilariously continues to call it, after an 18-year old life as an orphan trying to get by in the Indian slums.

As alluded by the movie's title, Jamal does quite well in the game show, much to the surprise of the presenter – but not because he is particularly clever or well-read. By using the Who wants to be a millionaire game show as a story-telling device, the story is driven forward, with the various questions – often by very tenuous links - coinciding or having an effect on the with many (often deeply tragic) events that happen to Jamal in his life. One particularly tragic story explains, for example, how he knows who is pictured on the…

Same-Sex Marriage and the Law (idea)

2008-11-21T23:57:14Z

A note on the legal system

Around the world - but especially in the UK - 'political correctness' combined with a growing litigation culture means that there are a lot of taboo subjects, and harassment or preferential treatment are dealt with rather harshly. Not hiring or refusing to serve somebody because of the colour of their skin, religion, sexuality, age, and lots of other factors is frowned upon from the legal system.

Should, for example, a man be chosen for a job over a woman because of the latter's lack of a penis, for example, work tribunals (not to mention the press) would have an absolute field day.

A note on weddings

In principle, weddings are quite simple. One human is fond of another human, feels that this fondness will never ever go away, and decides to create an ever-lasting bond as a symbol of this fondness. In addition, these two humans are given some legal, financial, and practical perks because they…

History of the E2 Voting/Experience system (thing)

2008-11-20T00:42:04Z

Legacy Voting and experience system
    or 'things were different when I was young'
    or 'how things used to be 'round here'
    or 'a slice of Everything 2 history which I think would be a shame to lose...'

E2 has always been a beast in constant flux, but all in all, the Voting and Experience System has proved remarkably consistent. It hasn't been completely static, however, and I find it interesting how E2's history can be seen as a number of iterations around the theme of . The most recent change, on October 29, 2008, we saw a series of changes: Now, you either have votes (50 of 'em, from level 1 onwards), or you don't - and you either have the power of Ching (but only one of 'em, from level 4 onwards) or you don't.

... But I'm getting ahead of myself; back when I was a young baby-noder, things were very different indeed. For one thing, you'd have to…

My hacked iPhone was better (review)

2008-11-19T20:57:31Z

When the Apple iPhone was first released, it was only available in the US. I wouldn't be much of a gadgeteer if I didn't have one, I figured, and since I was in the US anyway, I bought an 8GB one, brought it back home with me, and spent hours of nerve-wracking nefarious hacking activity to install 1.1.1 and hack the blasted thing.

Then Apple launched version 1.1.2 of the iPhone's firmware. Now, I'm as happy to hack my equipment as the next man, but I'm not exactly Einstein, and I was actually quite enjoying having an iPhone, so I decided that having a working iPhone on old firmware would be better than a bricked one on new firmware, so I kept using 1.1.1. Then, 1.1.3 came out, and Steve Jobs confirmed that they would be doing a Software Development Kit (SDK).

The pseudo-GPS was the functionality that won me over, however. There's no other word for it: It's bloody sexy. So, of course, I had to have the new firmware. Around the same time as I decided that perhaps I had to…

Sony BDP-S300 (review)

2008-11-19T20:53:15Z

Sony's budget blu-ray baby is nothing short of amazing. Sadly, it's also pointless.

The format war is long since dead, with HD-DVD biting the dust in early 2008. Price-concious numpties who don't know any better might still be tempted to pick up the cheaper HD-DVD format when faced with a wall of high-def spinners. Eager to close the gap, Sony launched their budget Sony BDP-S300 player to try and beat Toshiba's wunderkind at its own game: the bargain-end of the market.

The BDP-S300 is a quantum leap ahead from the BDP-S1E spinner: Sure, it costs about half as much as its big brother, but it weighs much less (a blessing if you've ever tried lugging the S1E anywhere). It can play audio CD's, and looks pretty tasty to boot. There's not a cheap bit of plastic in sight, and it feels as professional and high-end as the S1E did.

Sony have stripped off a couple of functions, including the Dolby True HD and various other high-end audiophile grubbins, but that's not really…