text:
Sitsofe's diary for October 2002
30 October, 2002
Off to Swansea
No diary entries for the next few days because I'm off to Swansea to have a chat with the employment manager at Gareth's company, the SUCS Halloween social and to finally burn off CDs of all those big things that I've been unable to download. I'll be back in Yatton on Friday.
29 October, 2002
Timesplitters 2
Dave has hired out Timesplitters 2 for his PS2 so I've been going over his house and trying it out. It is fairly interesting and quite stylised but the plot is weak and fairly unintelligible.
What do I want for Christmas?
I haven't a clue. Alfie asked me this the other day and I still haven't decided. I need to work on a list divided into small, large and infeasibly expensive gifts.
28 October, 2002
Self defeating advertising
I've been sent a spam email advertising spam free email addresses. The irony of this is not lost on me.
From: "MyEmail.Com" <webmaster@>
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 23:18:29
To: sitsofe@
Subject: MyEmail.Com -100%-SPAM-FREE-GUARANTEED!
Who can trust someone who advertises features to protect against a loathsome advertising technique when they use that self same loathsome technique themselves? This one's so good it has to go to Spamcop.
Job prospects
I'm off to Swansea to have a chat to the people down at Gareth's company on Wednesday, so things are bit calmer around the house.
Gareth tells me that it's a suit and tie place. While I prefer jeans and long sleeved shirts myself I would switch to pressed trousers if the job required it. Here's a related Slashdot discussion on the topic of changes in IT dresswear.
Read YS3
If you like Sinclair Spectrum's (or if you like Sinclair Spectrum magazines) I recommend you read YS3. It is edited by two of my friends (Jon Hyde and Nathan Forsyth) and is reasonably funny. Plus a T-shirt article I wrote for it is slated to appear in the next issue.
Server errors
Yesterday all sorts of YP related errors started appearing on SUCS. After chatting to Arthur this morning, I learned that he reverted back to an old version of YP suite of programs because the version that silver automatically updated itself to has been the cause of various problems. That's the second RedHat security update that has caused things to break in under a month. The previous one was an update of Glibc which caused things like Jabber clients and MySQL to spontaneously explode.
Personally I think I'll run Debian on my servers if I'm given a choice. Their updates tend to be very well tested and even updating between major revisions breaks little and works well...
27 October, 2002
Wired: Spam hits blogger's referral logs.
Hilary Rosen (head of the Record Industry Association of America) lost a debate concerning whether Free music mentality is a threat to the future of music industry. Not so surprising given the audience but access to free music certainly made me buy more music (I have bought two Moby CDs because I was able to download and listen to the music beforehand).
25 October, 2002
Gareth visits!
Well Gareth couldn't have picked a worse day to drive down to see me. Within the short space of an hour there has been thunder and lighting, wind, rain and hailstones. He seems to have made it here in one piece though.
In the evening we popped over to Dave's house and I introduced Gaz to the magnificence that is Metal Gear Solid 2. It is telling that games have been getting closer and closer to cinematic experiences with modern games being almost as fun to just sit and watch as they are to play.
24 October, 2002
Mandrake 9.0 review
Hmmm this OSNews review of Mandrake 9.0 gives it something of a mauling. I still haven't been able to get my hands on it but I'm pleased to hear that it at least feels like the fastest Linux distro out there.
Following a conversation with Gareth I'm currently in the process of chasing a potential job at his company (thanks Gaz). It would mean a move back to Swansea but if I'm being paid enough then this would be fine.
Free Linux games book
Programming Linux Games has been released for free on the net (via Slashdot). This is kind of handy because I'm currently writing the very beginning stages of a vertically scrolling shooter with Dave.
Guy's current affairs theories
Yesterday I was chatting to my friend Guy who is working down in London as an Investment Consultant — there's a grandiose title if I've ever heard one. He also seems to have become something of an expert in the field of pensions and even has a friend who can explain why insurance premiums have go up so much each year (but hey even I can hazard a guess at that). It's always been entertaining to argue and probe his latest insights into current events and extreme ideas (he should probably join one of those think tank groups). Amongst the topics discussed on the phone last night he threw up the following ideas:
- People should have to pass exams before they can vote (kind of like the driving theory test I guess).
- The Washington sniper is probably a terrorist but the authorities don't want to make the link to Al-queda in case they are wrong and lose support for current initiatives against the organisation. He also speculates that the sniper is probably the only gunman but is not doing this alone (there is at least a driver and there could be more accomplices).
- Having Britain dragging its feet before eventually adopting the Euro is the best course of action what with many of the existing countries unable to meet their targets.
- Mainland Europe needs the cold hard cash of the UK to sort its pensions problems.
- It's good to have a business card.
Like everywhere except Yatton he has broadband connection but he can't find anything to do with it. However it does sound like they could do with a nice router and someone to wire up all the computers to a switch they recently bought (I stomped down on talk of a computer having an "Ethernet in" — it infers that you need another port for Ethernet out). Sounds like a job for a 486, the IPCop Linux distribution and an expert in the field of network installations (i.e. me)...
23 October, 2002
Just a few quick links:
From Slashdot: Internet Backbone [Distributed Denial of Service Attack] "Largest Ever" and Disabilities act doesn't apply to the web (this last story is a shame — there are too many inaccessible sites out there and I feel that legislation is the only way to change this).
Business 2.0 talks about Counterstrike mod's underground success (via Wired).
Same old, same old
Back to my usual whinging and whining. Yesterday my Mum got back a day later than expected from her trip to Africa (she was supposed to get back on Monday the 21st). I think we've only talked once since she left (for the first week I had no idea what had happened to her because she didn't leave any contact information). I figured that since I had kept the house moderately clean and tidy (I even went so far as to buy a replacement toilet seat to replace the broken one we had) that I would buy a few days of respite from the inevitable barrage of abuse concerning my lack of a job.
I was wrong (see Mum? I even admit I make mistakes too).
Around 2pm I was called upstairs for a "chat". For the next half an hour I had to argue endlessly over my seeming inaction to find employment and what was described as my satisfaction with the situation. I noticed that several adverts concerning accommodation had been helpfully circled in the local paper and the argument shifted over to my moving out. After around another ten minutes I'd had enough and walked down to the Doctor's surgery (my Mum was expecting a phone call) to find out the results of the X-ray I had last month (seems like my skeleton is fine so I still don't know what is causing the soreness).
22 October, 2002
New RSS Validator
Finally there is a working RSS Validator (via Diveintomark) so you can now test whether RSS feeds are well formed. I've been looking for one of these for some time to check whether I was creating my RSS markup correctly.
Unexpected power surprises
I've just read this /. thread about the perils of soft-on in modern PCs and I can recount my own experience of this. A while back I was working on the inside of my PC (probably fiddling with the fan to see if I could stop it grinding when the computer starts from cold). I was happily working away when my friend Kim (who was about 20 miles away) nearly caused me to be electrocuted. You see my computer had left my modem on and the computer had been set to wake itself up when the phone rang (I have no idea why I enabled this option — I don't use it any more). Since that near miss I now turn the power off at the wall before working on the PC. I still leave the power cord plugged in though because Jason taught me that it grounds the PC case which means you can touch the case to discharge any static electricity you might have built up.
21 October, 2002
I've been thinking about buying quieter parts for my computer (I'm worried that the current hum will worsen my mild tinnitus) for some time so I read this How to Build a Silent PC with some interest (found via /.).
Deep Fritz held Kramnik to a tie (or should that be the other way round?). Personally, I was always pounded into the ground when I played chess against my BBC Master's (which only had 128K) White Knight program but I've never been a great chess player (I forget parts of my original strategy as the game progresses).
I've discovered that there's a another Xiao Xiao Shockwave flash thing. The
latest one is an interactive beat-em
up but I think you will be hard pressed to beat it with less than
six lives.
Apparently BT Openworld and Hotmail are going to install spam filters.
20 October, 2002
More Tekken Tag (Dave has hired it for five days)...
19 October, 2002
Dave has hired out Tekken Tag Tournament so I have been over his house playing that an awful lot. I think I can tell where most of the extra power of the PS2 has been put in comparison to Tekken 3 on the PS1 — the character's faces. They now scowl, blink their eyelids and generally posture more than in the previous game.
18 October, 2002
Oxford trip
Well I took the train down to Oxford on the 16th to visit Victoria (a friend I met at Swansea University). When I arrived she hadn't quite made it to the train station because the buses were being slow. This gave me a chance to grab a baguette since I was feeling somewhat peckish (I had started early to get to Bristol because I wanted to do a quick bit of shopping before going on to Oxford). When we finally met up she said I hadn't changed a bit (I hope she meant that in a good way...).
It wasn't long before I sampled Oxford's bus system firsthand. At best you could describe them as quirky but downright bizarre is a far better summary. Buses seemingly fly past stops at random, turn up at the strangest of times and go down weird little roads which have trees in the middle of them and roundabouts at the end. All I can say is no wonder the people in Oxford are so smart — you need a high IQ just get about!
We eventually arrived back at her place which is a house amongst a block student accommodation. After all the travelling I had been doing it was nice to stay in one place long enough to grab a bite to eat without having to rush somewhere else before it could be digested.
Over next few hours we chatted about what we had been doing across the summer and what out other friends had been up to elsewhere. I also got to see a few more graduation photos (if Victoria puts her photos online then I will link to them at some point). One thing I have noticed in all the graduation photos I've seen is that Jason always seems to be caught looking off to one side as if distracted by something. Mysterious...
Of course being a (computer) geek meant that I couldn't pass up an opportunity to play about with someone else's computer. I had conveniently brought a network card and some screwdrivers with me since Victoria had mentioned that she had network point in her room. Alas installation of the software was not quite as easy as it might have been since she did not have a Windows 98 CD or the CAB files close to hand. Somehow I managed to fudge enough of the install to get things running by pointing Windows' requests for files on the CD at the Windows directory. We weren't able to test whether things were completely running though because Victoria had not completely registered her computer for the network. Things seemed fairly promising though since the light on the back of the network card was happily flashing away...
In the evening we braved the buses again and made our way in to town for a meal at Pizza Hut and more chatting about how we both ended up at Swansea. I get the impression that Victoria misses Swansea and the friends she made there. From the way she describes Oxford it seems like a far more hectic and densely packed place city even though it is smaller. She also said she spends a large amount of her time studying for her Masters at Oxford Brookes and is often tired after commuting back and forth all day. I certainly sympathise with the commuting part — I spent eight years commuting back and forth from BGS for an hour each way and travelling time is a huge factor in the jobs I've applied for.
Victoria kindly paid for our meal (I still feel somewhat uneasy about this, I did offer to pay but I wasn't quite fast enough when the bill arrived) and we headed off to the train station. For once the train was on time so it was at that point that we said our farewells and I headed back off to Yatton.
17 October, 2002
I'll write about my trip down to Oxford tomorrow.
The unexpectedness of football
I would just like to take this moment to apologise to Adam and David for not being around to watch the match yesterday. Sorry, I double booked and kind of forgot the original schedule guys.
I normally don't do requests but hey, anything for a friend:
An example of a country is Wales. Italy is another example of a country. Sometimes countries come together in the name of entertainment and compete in two halved game called football. Sometimes the wonderfully unexpected happens and a country no one expects to win their match does. Yesterday it was Wales.
Two other countries are England and Macedonia. Sometimes the not so wonderful happens and a country no one expects to do well gets a draw. Sometimes mistakes are made and people are endlessly blamed. Blame itself is fine but there needs to be a limit.
Webmonkey or WSP?
At first I didn't get joke about the Web Standards Project Webmonkey page. The Webmonkey site and the WSP both have different homes. Then I read the posted articles.
16 October, 2002
I'm off to Oxford (to visit a friend)
It seems to be that time of year when everyone has settled down enough to invite me over (which is fantastic from my point of view). Today I'm going to Oxford to visit Victoria, so there won't be any more entries until tomorrow.
15 October, 2002
SUCS account freeze resolved
Following up on the previously mentioned SUCS/Student Union debacle, SUCS received the news that more than 50% of its members had voted in favour of the expenditure on new computers yesterday. Hopefully this will allow the society to resubmit an application for funds. Thanks to all the members who voted in favour of the expenditure.
Blimmen 'eck it's wet
Well I'm supposed to be in Bristol rather than writing this but an unfortunate series of near successes has prevented this and I'm sat at home in my dressing gown waiting for my jeans to dry. Let me elaborate:
I should have been running.
I left the house knowing that I had scant minutes to make it to the train station. The rain in these parts has decided to become torrential and my jeans were so soaked through thanks to puddles and cars by the time I got to the station.
I should have been running.
By the time I got to the station the train had gone. The teletext display on a TV kept rolling so it was a few minutes before I worked out that the next train to Bristol was an hour away. I realised that I had left the top of my bag open and it had filled up with water.
I should have been running.
I started to saunter my way back to my house when I saw a bus going past me. Perhaps it was the 360 to Bristol that goes round the roundabout at the bottom of the Yatton and come back the other way. I dodged another puddle and crossed over to the other side of the road.
I should have been running.
As I approached my house I heard the roar of the bus that had passed me earlier. I glanced up. It was the 360. No point running now.
I should have been running.
I noticed that there was an elderly woman crossing the road up ahead forcing th e bus to stop. I took my lucky break and started sprinting for the bus stop hoping that she would hold it up long enough for me to make it.
I should have been running.
As I approached a small junction before the roundabout my unfit body started to slow down. The roar of the bus filled the air and it swept past me and past the bus stop. I checked the bus timetable — an hour until the next one.
I made my way back to the house again. As I did the 660 came past in the other direction. I've noticed in the past that whoever makes up the bus numbers enjoys multiples of 30. No point in running though...
14 October, 2002
New York Times looks at Slashdot
Site for the Truly Geeky Makes a Few Bucks — A friendly New York Times article about Slashdot (found via Scripting News).
More Slashdot
Speaking of Slashdot here are two of the interesting stories running on it at the moment. The first is a debate on whether colleges are helping Microsoft to maintain a monopoly. The second is the fallout of Richard Stallman's comments decrying the Linux kernel's adoption of a non-free source management system.
RSS 2 specification error
I've noticed that there is an error on the RSS 2 specification page. If you look carefully at the optional examples that that involve time you will notice that the time itself is of the form 0:00:01 whereas it should be 00:00:01 (the examples are missing the leading 0). Personally I am not a fan of using RFC 822 to represent time — it is incredibly frustrating format full of unnecessary text and formatting. Sure it's unambiguous but there are far better (and shorter) methods which are equally unambiguous and much easier to generate.
13 October, 2002
Are all job sites poorly designed?
I have been reminded why I hate job search sites. I sign up and into one job site (HotJobs) and I am promptly redirected to a blank page in both Mozilla and Opera. I sign up to another job site (Fish4Jobs) and attempt to login only for the connection to wait forever (despite four attempts to sign in). I go through the arduous process of filling in all my details on a third (Monster.co.uk) and only for the following cryptic message to be produced:
An error occured [sic] while processing your request. Please verify that all the information provided is accurate and formatted properly before resubmitting your request.
It helpfully failed to tell me where the error was in the dozens of boxes of information that I had filled in. After a bit of trial and error it turned out the problem was because I had put a "+" in my email address (I have talked about the + syntax before) which is actually valid. Oh well. I persevered all the way up to the point when after filling in another bit of information I was presented with an ASP VBScript error telling me that the server had run out of memory. Three strikes and I'm out.
12 October, 2002
Another rejection letter
Today a rejection letter arrived concerning the job I applied for the other week. This is not good for the following reasons:
- I have had nothing but rejections (or lack of replies) for the jobs I have applied for which isn't doing my self esteem any good.
- Without an income the little money I have will eventually run out.
- When my Mum gets back from holiday she will be livid and will blame my failure to get this job on excessive Internet usage ("I bet they tried to phone you to tell you had the job but couldn't get through and gave it to someone else").
I'm fairly certain that I am a competent and able worker when it come to operating computers but it would appear that the skills I have are not in demand (quite possible) or that I am selling myself really badly (also possible). Either way I need some sort of job so I'm finishing off the local supermarket application form.
Sven's men do it again
This evening Dave and Ad popped over to watch the England vs Slovakia football (or soccer to any American readers out there) match.
Part of me always dreads watching England play because they seem to have a habit of lowering their standard of play to that of their opponents. During the first half sloppy defending by England brought a joke I was making to a very abrupt end. Stunned disbelief continued into the second half and the criticism of Beckham's seeming inability to finish even the simplest of opportunities arose. The football itself briefly took second place to crowd violence as fans and the Slovakian police clashed. One of the TV commentators dug up the statistic that it had been more than a year since England had scored in the second half of a game which didn't help the mood.
The Beckham critics were slightly more muted in the second half when what I assume was actually meant to be a cross flew into the back of the net aided by the magic non-touch of Owen. Owen went on to strike again leaving those in the room with hoarse voices and England clung on for my predicted 2:1 win.
The Shawshank redemption
As usual there was nothing else worth watching on terrestrial TV but Dave had taped The Shawshank Redemption and to put it bluntly, this is the best film I've seen all year (and probably one of the best films I've ever seen). People suffer unjustly but the film successfully meats out retribution to those who deserve it in a manner that doesn't feel overly moralistic and the acting is satisfyingly good.
The film rounded off a great evening the only downside of which was the large amount of washing up that was produced which was a small price to pay.
11 October, 2002
It's been over a week since my Mum left and I hadn't heard anything from her which was worrying me. However after doing a bit of chasing up (it's difficult to find out what's happening to her when she didn't leave me any contact details) it seems she is fine and is preparing to go to a friend's memorial tomorrow.
Wired revamp
When I went to check my usual sites this morning I discovered that Wired News had been redesign. My initial thoughts were "Hey things look different" but it turns out the changes are more than cosmetic. The most interesting thing about the change is that this is seemingly the first high profile site to try and adhere to W3C standards for HTML. In short this means that the site will hopefully validate thus allowing modern browsers to avoid quirks mode (leading to a faster more consistent display) and ensuring that the page will be at least readable in all browsers on the market (it certainly was readable within the text only browser Lynx). Wired do a good job of describing the reasoning and the impact of the change in A Site for Your Eyes article.
Laundry day
Today while I was down the laundrette doing my washing, I had a chance to speak to the manager. Last week I had overheard the washing machine repairers saying that they could no longer get the parts required to fix the washing machines so they would have to be replaced entirely.
I chatted to him about this and he confirmed that this was the case. He went on to explain how the vandalisms and thefts had started in 2001. Apparently the initial vandals prised the tops off the machines to get at the coin slots so he had the tops of the machines replaced and reinforced. This time round, unable to pull the tops off, the vandals had somehow prised back the front panel and punched the coin slots into the machine before reaching in and pulling them free (there was quite a lot of sharp metal about through the hole mind). They have even taken to stealing during the day, as one customer had put his washing in and come back an hour later to find the machine he was using had been attacked.
Apparently bikes which had been left in the nearby children's nursery had also been stolen (in fact a month ago, the cleaner of the hairdresser near my home was telling me how her bike had been stolen) and part of the allure to the criminals was the out of the way location.
I queried the manager as to whether CCTV would help and he replied probably not since the criminals would just wear balaclavas. He said that in the future the machines would be hooked up to the alarm system of the premises that would call him and the police if they were tampered with. The alarm will increase in volume to the extent where it will puncture your eardrums if you are metre away.
It would appear that crime within Yatton is on the rise which is rather sad. I suspect that there has always been some degree of crime but for the most part it has not been so visible.
10 October, 2002
I was browsing some of the magazine coverdiscs that I picked up the other day and noticed a demo of the final version of Jeff Minter's Gridrunner++. I actually tested a beta version of Gridrunner sometime in May and found it ferociously hard to finish the single level provided (I managed it in the end). Since then the game was tweaked and tuned and released (so I'm a bit late to the party in terms of timeliness). Thankfully the demo's difficulty has been toned down from that of the beta.
The game itself has your ship shooting various nasties with a weapon that can be powered up so your firepower does more damage and allow you to shoot backwards too. It's simple enough stuff but it carries on Minter's reputation for fast, frenetic action and um, ungulates (maybe the fact he's Welsh explains that part). As you are blasting away enemies blow up leaving irritating pods behind that if not destroyed explode into a trail of horizontal and vertical lines (turning levels into the eponymous grid). Points appear and vanish with a shatter of pixels and everything is gloriously trancey.
But it gets better.
If you have every played Tempest 2000 you will know about the superzapper. Well Gridrunner++ has it's own sheepiezapper that let's out a sort of "thddddd MEHHHHHEHHHHHHH!" sound, loosing off electric bolts on your enemies thus causing the screen to be inundated with the lethal little pods said deceased enemies leave behind. Add to that a power up in the shape of a sheep's head (nicknamed "The Pill") that makes a "OoOoOoOoOoOooo!" sound as it charged and emits a "Just call me baaaadass!" when it is full and ready to raaampage. Then blend the above together all at once and you can imagine the madness that ensues — "thdddOoOoOoOMEHHEHHHHHHJustThdddCall" (artist's impression of background sound effects).
If twitch gaming's your thing you've got to give it a try and stump up a very reasonable fiver for the full thing. Do it for the little fluffy sheepies.
9 October, 2002
Morning news
Yesterday I was on the phone to someone offering to buy their computer off them for £220. He said my offer was too low. Today I read that Evesham are to launch £249 PCs.
Afternoon drive
Regular readers will know that I don't like driving. Given this crucial piece of information I can't believe that I was silly enough to drive to Bristol today. The logic went something like:
- Well if I crash the car I can probably get it repaired before my Mum gets back from holiday.
- I really would like to look through this month's computer magazines.
- If I went at 2.30pm and come back an hour after I get there the traffic won't be so heavy and I'll get valuable experience.
So I took my week's budget (£20 excluding petrol money) out of my bank account and drove to Bristol.
The journey up wasn't too bad... The main problem seems to be my gear changes which were atrocious. The original plan was to go to a car park right in the middle of the city centre (to give myself more practice) but I failed to get into the right lane on the roundabout outside the bus stop. I chickened out and went to a pay and display car park around a quarter of an hours walk away.
The whole experience was quite new to me (I've been driven to Bristol before but I've never done it myself) and by the time I got there it was 3.30pm. I was feeling pretty nervous and wondering whether the whole thing was such a good idea. However it was a bit late to back out given that I was quite literally there and after buying an hour's worth of parking credit I set off to town.
While browsing magazines in WHSmith's, I noticed that PC Plus were giving away Delphi 7 Personal Edition on their coverdisc. This was really quite serendipitous because yesterday I was wondering whether I should buy issue 143 of PC Plus in order to get Delphi 6 (Borland seemingly no longer provide a non-trial version of Delphi 5/6/7 for download). While scanning the rack I also noticed that Linux Format had Kylix 3 Open Edition on their coverdisc so I blew half the budget on those two magazines.
The next stop were the videogames shops. Unlike Swansea's 5th Dimension, all the games shops sell any GameBoy advance game worth having at £35 (which is quite frankly is ludicrous). I had a quick go on the Xbox Wipeout clone Quantum Redshift which has a rather fantastic water lens splash effect when your ship dives into and the rides across the top of a lake.
I also took the opportunity to wander into a Waterstones bookshop. Unlike the Waterstones in Bristol's Mall, the city centre one has several shelves laden with computer books. Linux Kernel Internals caught my eye as did Jakob Nielson's Homepage Usability but both remained laughing at me on the shelves due to a lack of money.
Time was starting to run out because it was already five past 4 by now. I dashed into Boots to buy some soap and was mildly annoyed to find a large queue of people waiting to pay at the checkout. When the woman who was two in front of me came to buy her items the cashier pointed out that if she spent just one more pound she would get a five pounds discount counter. I was mortified - time was against me and where how long would she be looking for something that cost just a pound more? The woman directly in front came to rescue by suggesting that pound short woman could buy her shower cap she had in her hand (which cost two pounds) and shower cap woman would pay her back. This worked and I jumped to the head of the queue and set off back to the car park.
A very fast walk later and I was back at the car one minute late but thankfully no parking attendants had turned up. I rather hastily made my exit into heavy traffic (I guess the rush hour starts before 5).
I had just muddled way out of the city and on to the dual carriageway when I noticed that a there was a slow moving truck ahead. I checked my right hand wing mirror to see if there were any cars in the other lane. It was about that point that heard a rumbling and noticed that the car was at around 15 degrees to the ground.
I had strayed too far left into the kerb of the dual carriageway and was riding the left hand side of the car up it. There was very brief shock, abject horror and an overriding then the feeling that I had better correct the problem sharpish given that I travelling at around 50mph. I'm not ready want to die (especially not in a car).
By the time I got back home I was tired and I was stressed. After driving for half an hour my arms are usually achy (I've tried adjusting the seat but nothing helps). Now they were incredibly tense. Hours later my left arm was still sore.
I just couldn't get over the disappointment in my own driving ability. How could I be so lapse? The gear changes were one thing but tipping the car up? I need to get to a position where I am either confident in my ability on the road or finally decide not to drive for good. If the later, I need think carefully about living in a rural town where I can not even buy a high speed Internet line to let me telework.
8 October, 2002
SUCS member objections to Student Union fraud allegations
At the end of last week I learned that SUCS has a pending fraud investigation hanging over its head due to what appears to be some administration errors.
Here is my description of what lead to this as far as I can tell:
- David Chisnall (the SUCS treasurer) bought SUCS new equipment using his credit card during the holiday. The equipment was purchased before SUCS had the funds because of the need to keep disruption to services during term time to a minimum. This also meant services would be ready for the start of term.
- After term started, new/old members were signed up and paid their annual membership fee.
- Once SUCS had enough money David filed a request for funds with the Student Union.
Unfortunately the membership fees had not yet transferred to the SUCS account when David put in his request. Further, David was the one authorising the transaction to pay himself the money he had spent on equipment. As far as I can tell, these two mistakes have led the Swansea Student Union treasurer to
- Freeze the SUCS accounts.
- Force a referendum among members on whether the money should have been spent.
- Start a fraud investigation into the SUCS.
Since Monday, there has been something of an outcry from SUCS users (old and new) concerning the treatment of the Society (and David). With permission, I have published some of these emails.
Daniel Hilton, 2nd year Computer Scientist
Dear Lee
As said in my prior email, I'm 100% behind the committee on this issue. The Society was right to spend the money. I will also agree that they spent the money in good faith, unaware that this may have caused problems. If the society were to lose the equipment the society could quite easily fold very quickly.
"Do you agree to the expenditure in August 2002 of £1,003.01 on IT accessories and hardware and the re-payment of this amount to your society's Treasurer?"
I agree wholeheartedly and without argument.
Cheers Dan
Ben Wilson, Materials Engineer:
Dear Lee Biddle
I have recently been informed that I am unable to renew my SUCS account due to fraud allegations perpetrated by yourself. I have been a member of the society for over eight years now and have always enjoyed a high level of service from the admin team and the society as a whole. It is with great regret that I note that you and your colleagues are taking steps to rob myself and other hard working members of these services. Not that we are going to be the only ones who suffer as I have been using my SUCS account to co-ordinate this year's premier corrosion Conference UKCorr2002 to which a number of leading foreign guest have been invited to attend and sample the delights of Wales. With your short-sighted, narrow-minded attitude to recent events my account will probably cease to exist at a rather inappropriate time leading no doubt to untold levels of chaos which will not only create a bad impression of the myself and the University but of Wales as a whole.
So I wish to express unreservedly my disappointment at these events and trust that you will see sense quickly to prevent the situation descending into further farce.
Yours Sincerely
Ben Wilson
Alan Cox, Linux kernel programmer:
Dear Sir,
I am deeply disappointed to hear of the current goings on with the university computer society. It is through that society that I learned many of the real computing skills that made me who I am today (The University describes me as follows:-
Alan Cox is one of the most influential IT innovators in the world. A graduate of the University of Wales Swansea, he has been a key developer of the Linux kernel for nearly a decade.
-- (http://alumni.swan.ac.uk/news/news_item.asp?news_id=133)
It is very sad therefore that the union is pursuing such an unreasonable approach to resolving a minor society dispute. Just how many people's opportunities does the union intend to destroy ?
I am also somewhat shocked to see an executive of the union make what are probably actionable claims of fraud by former society administrators. Even worse you are doing this using University owned computing equipment and networks, exposing the University as well as the Union to potential litigation and in violation of university computing regulations (section 3). Doing this in the same mail as calling for a vote is tainted to a degree normally associated only with corrupt regimes. I believe the union owes a written apology to those it has defamed. It should also abandon its tainted call for a vote.
The society has a strong constitution with its own clear and correct ways to resolve the question you raised - a reasonable question "Do former members have a right to commit the society to spending in the next year". An emergency general meeting will easily resolve the matter. I would note that committing membership funds from future members is a practice that the union itself follows every year. An emergency general meeting of the society, perhaps with yourself present to explain the steps the union took and why they were deemed appropriate, would be a good way to clear the air and resolve the situation smoothly.
Finally if equipment is sold off please ensure I am notified as to the process and location of the auction or sell off as I wish to see that such equipment is sold at a fair price in accordance with the requirements of a charitable body. Please also remember to ensure such systems are wiped of data in accordance with data protection and copyright law should such an unfortunate situation arise.
Alan Cox
Steve Hill, Senior software developer, Navaho Technologies Ltd:
I am writing to you regarding the allegations of fraud that you have directed at SUCS.
While I was in Swansea completing my degree in Computer Science between 1997 and 2000 I was a member of the SUCS committee for 2 years (secretary in 1998-1999 and president in 1999-2000). I firmly believe that my time at the society was much more valuable than my degree - it taught me technical skills and life skills, both of which I use on a daily basis. Without this experience I would not have my current job.
By taking these actions, you are potentially denying other people the same opportunity, and wasting the time of the SUCS admin team (who I might add are very dedicated and hard working) - time which would be better spent looking after the society and doing coursework.
In the 2 years in which I was a committee member, the SU played petty politics with us several times. However, to my knowledge, this is the first time the SU has made such wild accusations. Your email seems to say that accidentally overdrawing or having your cheque bounced by a high street bank is fraud - that is just not true. In fact, such unfounded accusations are probably libellous.
I sincerely hope you will withdraw this overreaction as soon as possible.
- Steve Hill
If you are a SUCS member who has replied to the SU's email and wish to have it posted here, please send it to me (sits) at my SUCS address giving me permission to post it. I reserve the right to edit emails as I see fit, or to not post it at all. It would also help if you could state what are doing (e.g. job or the subject you are studying).
7 October, 2002
I met two of the new SUCS members (the now infamous 133t and rcorbie) today. Given his choice of username I predict an endless stream of harassment for 133t (Why? Because his username is a warez spelling of elite and as such has strong script kiddie overtones).
Each year there are new members and each year someone put a floppy into a sparc and can't get it out (heck I did it when I was new). It may be October but I'm going to link to the September that never ends poem anyway.
Blimey, I've just heard the word Photoshop being used as a verb meaning "digitally altered" on Johnny Vaun's TV show. Ah no worries, it looks like it was a model who used it and given that most pictures of models these days are digitally enhanced these days I'm not so surprised.
6 October, 2002
No escape
It seems that there is never a complete escape from chastisement. Today I received a phone call from one of my Mum's former work colleagues who effectively told that I was using the Internet too much that she had been unable to get through on the phone.
5 October, 2002
For some reason I'm really rather pleased to receive an email from someone I thought had forgotten about me today...
Lots of good articles on the web today:
Tales from BOFH archives
Today while browsing a Slashdot story about yet another Windows virus I came across this hilarious story about getting users to apply upgrades. It is clearly not factual but is entertaining none the less.
(Not?) hip to be a geek
The Register published a guest column pondering whether Geekism was turning into an ineffective monoculture. Helpfully, one of The Register writers has already put up a counter viewpoint arguing that actually the Geeks have a good and honourable point. My take is that Geeks (or at least the people with traits that I associate with the word) are a despised, looked down upon and dwindling group (especially within Swansea Uni — stick that in your pipe and smoke it). Personally, I consider myself to be Geek and I am saddened by other people's attitude towards Geek group.
4 October, 2002
Well I woke up this morning to find that some of the American sites (like Wired) that I regularly read were inaccessible. The initial Freeserve directed bile was misdirected as it appears the problem is not within the Freeserve network at all but could in fact be Worldcom's fault.
Home alone
This morning my Mum left for Ghana. She is officially only going for three weeks but may stay longer if she feels that she needs to get more work done. I was shocked to hear her ringing the doorbell about three quarters of an hour after she left in a taxi. It turned out that Bristol airport wouldn't accept just her Ghanian passport so she had to hurry back to pick up her British one.
Jackie Chan fest
I finally (after got round to watching the Jackie Chan movies Dave gave to me (about a year after I was originally lent them). First there was Shaolin Wooden Men (reasonable kung fu, vacant plot), followed by Drunken Master (unsurprisingly the first in the Drunken Master series).
After returning the videos to Dave he popped over and watched Thunderbolt which was on TV last week. All I can say is that cars and kung-fu don't mix (however it contains a typically crazy Jackie Chan stunt with him hanging out of a portable home which is hanging from a crane).
3 October, 2002
Linus vs Tanenbaum postings
I finally got round to reading the Linus vs Tanenbaum "Monolithic kernels are obsolete" summary. The thing that struck me most was how far off future predictions could be (Tanenbaum suggested that RISC based chips like Sparcs would overtake the CISC based i386 IBM PC). It was also interesting to see a posting by Fred Fish there. His Fish Disks were legion among Amiga users back in days before software was distributed widely on CDs (or the Internet for that matter).
Epson printers are cunningly dumb (continued)
Back to yesterday. I noticed the black ink was running out when printouts began having large white lines throughout them. After setting the nozzles to clean themselves and printing a test page, a nice blank page was printed. I needed to find some way to force a cartridge change. I knew what the problem was (I had made it myself) and all I wanted to do was fix it.
So I brought up the printer control panel (the printer is hooked up to my Mum's Window's machine) and hunted about for a replace cartridge button. I couldn't find one.
I searched the help file hoping there would be something under the replace keyword. There wasn't.
I pulled out the 200 page multi-language manual and flipped through to the troubleshooting page. It said try cleaning the nozzles and if symptoms persist read the online help (see above).
By now I was annoyed. Why hide an option that would inevitably needed behind a game of hide an seek would inevitably wind up with the user having to call/email support? I took measures into my own hands through experimentation. I pressed the button on the printer that causes the printer head to be parked ready for cartridge replacement. Nothing happened. I pressed and held it for five seconds and the printer moved the head to the left (where I could get to it), moved it back to the right and went into a cleaning cycle. Great. I pressed another button and it ejected a blank sheet of paper. Fantastic. I pressed a combination of buttons together (there are only three) on the front of the printer and it promptly crashed and refused to power itself off via the power button. "How very... Windows" I thought. I pulled the out and reinserted the lead to get it going again.
By now I had become reckless. I hatched a scheme whereby I would power off the printer when the head was on the left when it tried to go into a cleaning cycle. The plan more or less worked and I swapped a new cartridge (which is packaged in some space age material that cannot be opened with bare hands) into it. I powered the printer back on and was dismayed to see the head moving incredibly slowly off to the right. After it got to the right it whizzed back and forth a bit before coming to a rest on the right again. Everything seemed fine until I went to the printer control panel and was met with a gauge that thought the black ink was still half full. Was there no end to this vicious cycle of madness? If I did not fix the problem now, it would only come back to haunt me in the future — the computer would inevitably think the cartridge was out of ink when it was not leading me to put it back leading me to take it out and put it back which in turn would lead to this exact same situation AGAIN.
I went to the American Epson support website (one thing I've found by experience is that European support sites are almost always inferior to the American ones) and brought up the information for my Mum's printer. I found a troubleshooting text file (http://files.support.epson.com/txt/sc760_/sc760_f1.txt I'm not linking properly because I don't want to do Epson any favours in their Google ranking) that said basically said I should contact EPSON Connection for further support. It helpfully said that damage could be done to the printer if it was not shutdown properly (I had done this twice by now. I couldn't help thinking that I had heard a similar phrase used before on a different piece of equipment). Another area of the site informed me that an email to support would receive a reply within two working days. This wasn't good enough (I needed the answer now). I searched a bit more on the Epson site and resigned myself to downloading the "Epson Answers (Ink Jet Printers)" PDF file. Unfortunately they neglected to put the size of the PDF on the site and IE also unhelpfully decided to just download the file in the background removing any hint of how long it would take or how big the file was.
A quarter of an hour later the PDF had still not opened and I resorted to a Google search. Of the three results I opened, the third contained an archive of a mailing discussing problems with Epson printers on Linux. Inside it, Robert Krawitz mentioned the following:
You should be able to force a cartridge replacement by holding down the paper feed button on the printer (NOT the cleaning button) for at least 3-5 seconds.
I held down the paper feed button for 5 seconds. The printer head moved over to the left where I could get it. I opened and closed the black cartridge compartment. I checked the Epson status program which reported the black ink was full (as was the case). The ordeal was finally over.
2 October, 2002
RedHat 8.0 ISOs
It turns out that the RedHat 8.0 ISOs SUCS is mirroring MD5sumed correctly. We rather aggressively spent most of Monday hunting for sites carrying them and managed to plunder the files before everyone else got there. If you decide to download from SUCS please be gentle — we don't have that much bandwidth.
Making a site comply with HTML standards
Well today has certainly been eventful. Over the past few days I've been encouraging Dwight Wallbridge to make his weblog Geek's Blog standards compliant after I read that his site was not displaying correctly in Mozilla. It turned out that Moz wasn't entirely to blame as an errant font tag was setting the text colour to red. However while I hunting about for the problem I noticed that the HTML was difficult to pick through and slightly broken in places which could cause more unwanted side effects. Over the last few days Dwight and myself have gone on to squash over a 100 validation errors but the site is not quite there yet (hopefully not too far to go though).
At some point I really need to write about why it is so important for pages to validate (even when they may look OK). I guess part of the reasoning is that although it may look fine in one browser it may look terrible in another if the rules are not followed. Another good reason is that it makes it easier for robots (like Google's indexer) to read your site. If there are errors all over the place it won't do such a good job ranking your pages.
Prospective job
I have finally heard something positive back from the jobs I've been applying for (so I can put the Supermarket job application form on hold for a bit). This afternoon I heard back from the Backwell Medical centre and I'm going for an informal chat at 10am tomorrow. Prior to this I heard nothing back from North Somerset council and other places had turned me down without interview.
Epson printers are cunningly dumb
This evening my Mum's printer (an iMac transparent blue Epson 760) ran out of black ink. Nothing too unusual in that, since the ribbon/ink/toner in any printer is eventually going to run out. What was more of a problem was the printer's refusal to let me change the cartridge even though I knew it had run out.
In order to learn how I arrived at this sorry state of affairs we need to go back a few months to when my Mum ran out of colour ink. This was strange because she never does any colour printing and her PC is set to only print in black and white. After lots of hunting around I came to the conclusion that it had run out of colour ink due to the printer periodically running cleaning cycles on itself when it is started. Each time it does this, the printer uses up a bit of ink and insidiously forces the owner to have to buy more ink cartridges than they would have done otherwise. This is made all the more frustrating by the decision to prevent the user printing even black and white documents if the colour ink runs out (and vice versa) thus ensuring that users who don't use colour will still be forced to buy overpriced cartridges in the end.
Anyhow when the colour ran out I hit upon the cunning plan of putting the empty colour cartridge back in the printer thus conning it into thinking it had a fresh cartridge and allowing the rest of the black and white cartridge to be used. While I was poking about I also removed the still half full black and white cartridge and replaced it for no good reason whatsoever. This act turned out to be mistake since the printer now thought the black was also full. "Never mind" I thought, "I'll replace it when it actually does run out". I also thought "Why, what an ingenious money saving scheme I have come up with — this way I'll be able to squeeze every last drop of ink out of the cartridges and will avoid being ripped off by Epson on expensive cartridges. Sitsofe, you are indeed a most cunning fellow!" because, well I'm like that.
Unfortunately it turned out that the dumb printer was yet more cunning... (continued tomorrow).
1 October, 2002
Darn, I forgot that September only had 30 days... Time to start another month.
Critical TV
Last night I went to put a video in the old TV (it's one of those TV/Video all in one things) when I noticed that The Office was on. Now earlier in the day I had been listening to Jo Whiley's interview with the star and writer of the show and it's been hard to miss all hype concerning the BAFTAs it's won. So I sat down and watched.
I have to say it made me cringe a fair bit which is not to say that it isn't funny because it is very funny. It's just the humour is based around embarrassment — like those awkward silences you get when someone commits a faux pas in full view. Everyone's seen said gaffe but there seems no obvious way to move swiftly on. Now I'm regretting not seeing the first series because from the look of this one it was quite the wittiest thing I've seen on TV for some time.
Music criticism
Anyhow after that finished I poked through a few old videos I had lying around just to see what was on them (which turned out to be quite a varied amount of stuff). Anyhow I rewound one video and found an old recording of a Jo Whiley channel 4 show.
The idea was some musical guests were invited into the studio and they talked about music and the talk was interspersed with various videos and features. This particular show was broadcast in 1998 with the Happy Monday's Shaun Rhyder, Huey from the Fun Lovin' Criminals and Sister Bliss out of Faithless as guests.
What a show it was. I was transported back to a time when I enjoyed most of the music at the top of the charts a time when the Playstation had just been launched... basically a time when I was exceptionally happy. As the Chemical Brothers song almost says life [was] sweet.
The guests played off each well. Huey was laid back, sprawled across as much of his chair as possible. Sister Bliss was more serious, chatting insightfully about musical influences and critically reviewing the music being played upon the show. Shuan F'ed and blinded his way through the whole thing with flippant comments and colourful language. The whole thing was absolutely magic with U2s the Sweetest Thing and Massive Attacks' Inertia Creeps being the week's records. Best of all the showed was played out by Orbital with a live version of Little Fluffy Clouds 98.
But hang on a second. Let's step back from the obvious romanticising of the above paragraphs and see if I can recall what was actually happening from my perspective in 1998:
Well for a start I certainly wasn't euphorically happy. If anything I was pretty miserable what with two hours a day being spent on a carbon monoxide filled coach travelling to and from school. When I would get back I'd be fairly exhausted and would set the alarm to wake me up at 2am so I could try and finish off whatever Maths coursework needed to be handed in. Let me digress for a second for a related anecdote: While copying a friend's Chemical Brother's album (Dig Your own Hole) to tape I became so frustrated with the Maths problem I was working on I hit the table so hard it made the CD jump backwards during the track Piku. Due to the nature of the song though it looped perfectly and is near enough unnoticeable.
I doubt I really knew who Shaun Rhyder was given that the Happy Mondays were most famous at a time when I wasn't even listening to popular music (early 90s). As for the Fun Lovin' Criminals first hit Scooby Snacks, sure I enjoyed the song but I didn't see Reservoir Dogs (from whence most of the samples had been taken) until DaveB lent it to me this year. Sister Bliss? Well I'm sure Faithless had made their massive hit Insomnia by then but I can't say I've ever seen her DJ live (I'm not exactly sure what she does in Faithless either. She always seems to be on keyboards when they are playing). If you asked me to name songs that Orbital have done the only one I can think of is Little Fluffy Clouds. I think that might have also been the year that Jo left the evening session to do start her lunchtime show on Radio 1.
Still I think I enjoyed the Jo Whiley show regardless.


text: Hello! Thank you for visiting. If you like creative DIY projects for your home, children and even for yourself then you have come to the right place. I am so excited to share my ongoing projects with you all. With a little imagination and things you may already have around the house, you'll be amazed at what you can create. Grab a coffee and get inspired!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
We stayed in traditional style accommodation at Ueno, Tokyo. We were right near a huge park which was filled which cherry blossoms just coming into bloom- so beautiful! Along with Uneo cherry blossoms, also pictured is the busiest intersection in the world at Shibuya at night (10,000 people every crossing!!), Shinjuku (electronics galore!!), green tea icecream (interesting!!), kimono action, sushi (yum!!) and details from shrines we visited (so beautiful!!).
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Japan- Tokyo photo diary
We stayed in traditional style accommodation at Ueno, Tokyo. We were right near a huge park which was filled which cherry blossoms just coming into bloom- so beautiful! Along with Uneo cherry blossoms, also pictured is the busiest intersection in the world at Shibuya at night (10,000 people every crossing!!), Shinjuku (electronics galore!!), green tea icecream (interesting!!), kimono action, sushi (yum!!) and details from shrines we visited (so beautiful!!).
86 comments:
cool post ! Must have been an amazing trip . Love your floral pants !ReplyDelete
new outfit post
You've been in Tokyo during Hanami?! Oh I envy you! Lovely outfit as always. I really like the floral style his spring. Have a great Sunday! xo from BerlinReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 15, 2012 at 7:17 PM
Great photo's! Japan looks amazing - I hope to get there someday! :)ReplyDelete
Fashion Readings
absolutely beautiful photos! love the floral pants <3ReplyDelete
I really like the floral pants in the first outfit! xReplyDelete
i wanna go thereee!!ReplyDelete
I loved your Japanese dress up outfit the best!ReplyDelete
Looks like you had a blast hon. :)
~Natasha Fatah~
~Natasha Fatah~
What beautiful photos! Hope you have been enjoying your holiday! Really like your travel outfits :)ReplyDelete
Love you blog!! I think is perfect! I'd like travel to Japan as soon as I can, because I love it!! I follow you, and I hope you visit my blog!!ReplyDelete
i have always wanted to go to japan. thanks so much for sharing your pictures! looks like you are having an amazing time. also, loving your floral pants. i think i'm the only person on the planet that hasn't bought a pair yet. i NEED to get some!ReplyDelete
Lively photos !!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 15, 2012 at 9:54 PM
Great photos!ReplyDelete
Love Japan! Enjoy xReplyDelete
Great photos!!!!! Bs LíaReplyDelete
awesome pantsReplyDelete
wow, what am am? I love instagram as well, check me out? Username: followdeeReplyDelete
you look gorgeous! love your pants and jeans blouse so much! thank you for lovely comment:)ReplyDelete
how fun!!! the cherry blossoms are so beautiful!!ReplyDelete
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PRIZE: Advertising on my blog! <3
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Great photo's! So good you got to see the cherry blossom's. LOVE your floral print pants! xxReplyDelete
You're stunning! Love your style!ReplyDelete
very nice! thank you for commenting on my cushion :)ReplyDelete
very nice! thank you for commenting on my cushion :) I'm glad you liked it!ReplyDelete
amazing pics ;)ReplyDelete
You have beautiful pictures...ReplyDelete
Gorgeous photos! Looks like you are having a fabulous time.ReplyDelete
So beautiful pics! Thanks for being passed on my blog!ReplyDelete
Sharing love
- AnonymousApril 16, 2012 at 3:33 AM
Great bag and superb photos!ReplyDelete
Que bonito. Unas fotos preciosas.ReplyDelete
awesome flowers pants!ReplyDelete
Looks like loads of fun and yummy food there!ReplyDelete
so cute, lovely pics :) come and join my giveaway!!ReplyDelete
You look very pretty! Love your pants. Great photos =)ReplyDelete
That kimono looks amazing on you - a real little Geisha :)ReplyDelete
Looks like you had a fab time :)
Gems x
Fashion, Well Done
cool picsReplyDelete
floral pants rock ;)
great pictures - you look so happy all the time! love all the blossom xReplyDelete
cool pictures and I love your flowery pants!ReplyDelete
beautiful pics!!!!ReplyDelete
Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday Facebook Fan Page
It looks and sounds like you had a lot of fun!ReplyDelete
Sounds like so much fun! I'm loving your Asos pants, perfect for Spring (especially since it's Cherry Blossom season!)ReplyDelete
The pictures are all great, especially loving the pictures of the food. Yum!
xx maggie
- AnonymousApril 16, 2012 at 3:03 PM
I'm so jealous! You look like you had a great time and your outfits were fabulous! Especially loved that second one :3ReplyDelete
Amazing and insightful entry! Love posts like this.ReplyDelete
Check out my blog and follow!
ejc from LA
I wish we had this gorgeous weather in Minnesota! Jealous doesn't even begin to cover it. :)ReplyDelete
Want those pants.ReplyDelete
Love Grace.
Those photos made me wanna go to Tokyo even more!ReplyDelete
The floral pants are amazing..
Oh! Tokyo <3ReplyDelete
Un beso
can't believe I haven't noticed your blog before - it's amazing!! :)ReplyDelete
Hanna from http://whoishanna.blogspot.com/
Looks amazing!! xReplyDelete
such cute dairy! hope you have a great time in Japan!ReplyDelete
lovely photos :)ReplyDelete
kiss kiss
Wonderful outfits and view of the streets!)ReplyDelete
Amazing pictures! Thank you so much for visiting my blog :)ReplyDelete
j'adore tes photos, et ton pantalon fleuri me plait beaucoupReplyDelete
looks amazing!ReplyDelete
gah i'm so jealous
loving your ASOS pants :)
God! I love all the pictures.ReplyDelete
That floral leggings. <3
wow awesome! I really like Japan ;) I follow you, please follow me back :) http://shocostyle.blogspot.com/ReplyDelete
Gorgeous, i love your pants! <3ReplyDelete
This trip looks amazing! Love all of your looks as well.ReplyDelete
Wow!! Really amazing pictures! Hope you're enjoying in Japan!!ReplyDelete
Thank you so much for your comment on my blog!!
A very big hug! :)
The Fashion Letterbox
I love how happy you look in every picture! These are really nice images. Glad you had a good time!ReplyDelete
Love your floral pants:)ReplyDelete
xx Ilka
Beautiful photos ! I love your pantsReplyDelete
Thanks for the lovely comment! I just checked out your blog - i love it! You have a new followerReplyDelete
great pants!! im heading over to asos...ReplyDelete
xx Rebecca
ps. im your newest follower - love your blog!
Oh... Tokyo... Love the pictures!ReplyDelete
I love your photos and those floral pants are awesome!ReplyDelete
What a wonderful set of beautiful and colorful pictures. Toykyo looks amazing.ReplyDelete
beautiful pictures - love japan its such an amazing city ;)ReplyDelete
i would love to go to Japan one day!!! love all your photos :)ReplyDelete
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ChicPear Fashion Blog: www.chicpear.com
ChicPear Bloglovin
Just discovered your blog. Love the pictures & the outfit :D following you now!ReplyDelete
Love your pants!ReplyDelete
It looks like you had so much fun!
I´m following :)
Love the ASOS pants. One of my favorites, and especially love the matching clutch. Cute styling!ReplyDelete
Wow, amazing photos! Tokyo looks absolutely beautiful. Love the floral pants, by the way! :)ReplyDelete
WOWOWOWOW-what gorgeous pics! I'm CRAZZZZZZY for those floral pants!!! WOWOWOWOWO! And those booties! That kimono is outta this world STUNNING! Fab pics! Feels like we are there with u! And lots of sushi makes it official!ReplyDelete
xoThe Beckerman Girls
PS. we are now following u babe!!! xxoxoxoReplyDelete
Your pictures are amazing!ReplyDelete
OOOO I love your floral pants and paired up with the denim top is perfect.ReplyDelete
Hi sweetie!! I love your flowered pants!!!ReplyDelete
I'm following you now!!
Kisses from Uruguay!
japan ? NICE ! thanks for sharing the pics xoxoReplyDelete
Japan looks so amazing - would love to go - great posts XReplyDelete
Japan looks amazing - would love to go! great posts XXReplyDelete
nice photo shoot !!ReplyDelete
miss japan n like ur outfit !
Beautiful photos! I recently came back from a holiday in Japan so your posts are making me nostalgic :)ReplyDelete
Mel x
I LOVE YOUR ASOS PANTS. Your photos are great also. So jealous you went to Tokyo it looking's amazing.ReplyDelete
Your a basket full of cuteness, I love all the pictures you took in Japan, it makes me want to go there NOW! lol....I really love the floral pants, I actually had the exact pair but they did not look half as good as me as it does on you, and I had to return them :( and also, i love the red glitter collar on your blouse in the last photos SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!ReplyDelete
Wow I loved the look, the pants are really cute!ReplyDelete
I'm following you ...


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text:
Back to About QORF
Nature Play QLD
Executive Officer
Dom Courtney
Dom joined QORF in September 2015. Previously, Dom worked as recreation coordinator at Seqwater, as a property officer at Caboolture Shire Council and Moreton Bay Regional Council, and in the world of construction before that. Dom's experience with Seqwater gives him an understanding of the issues facing the outdoor recreation sector, particularly in regard to access to places and increasing opportunities.
Other than a stint working at a gold mine in Papua New Guinea in the 1990s, Dom has lived in Queensland his entire life – moving as a child from Brisbane to the Darling Downs, to Longreach and then to a small town near Mackay. Dom has worked in Townsville, Mt Isa, the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane. The end result is a proud Queenslander (who can become slightly obsessed during State of Origin season each year).
Dom enjoys bushwalking, camping, motorbike riding and, more recently is getting into the wonderful world of mountain biking
In 2003, he took time off work to combine these activities into a motorbike trip around Australia, camping and bushwalking along the way – a terrific way of exploring this beautiful country.
"an adventure that recharged and focussed my entire being"
Contact: email@example.com
Partnerships Manager
Mark Squires
Mark has had a varied career – first working in the entertainment industry as a stage manager and set designer in the theatre, as a lighting designer and for nine years in his own business, Connections Event Management, which specialised in producing theatrical styled events for the corporate sector.
He first worked in the outdoors as a ski patroller at sixteen and before joining Outward Bound New Zealand worked as a freelance guide and rock climbing instructor in Australia. In 1999 he joined Outward Bound New Zealand as an instructor and he has been passionate about personal development work ever since. After almost five years as the Deputy Director for OBNZ he moved to Outward Bound Hong Kong as Director.
His other outdoor interests include rockclimbing, mountaineering (expeditions to three 8000 metre peaks: Everest, Makalu and Shishapangma), sailing (including co-building a 40 foot racing catamaran), tramping and cycling.
Over the last few years he has been further developing his interest in working in personal development and has gained certification in Life Coaching, NLP, Training and Business.
markwsquires.com – more about Mark
Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com
Office Manager
Hubertien Wichers
Hubertien joined the QORF team in December 2015. She is trained in accounting and the hospitality industry and until recently, has worked for the state government in her local community.
Her passion for the outdoors is evident in her participation and organisation of trail and mountain races. She has represented Australia on several occasions at the World Mountain Running Championships and loves encouraging people to live life outdoors.
Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com
Project Officer North Queensland
Tim Trehearn
Tim has joined the QORF staff after 35 years involved in outdoor education/recreation. He taught at Maroon OEC in 1980-81 and was foundation secretary of the OEAQ. He obtained his degree in outdoor pursuits from the University of Calgary in Canada. In 1984 he started operating what was to later become Edmund Park. Tim moved to Cairns in 1987 and had a long career in outdoor leadership at the TAFE Queensland North. Many students who graduated from the TAFE Certificate IV in Outdoor Recreation program are still active as outdoor leaders today.
Tim is a passionate sea kayaker, bushwalker and rides his mountain bike badly.
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Nature Play QLD
Program Manager
Hyahno Moser
Like most children of his generation, Hyahno spent most of his leisure time outside, therefore it came as no surprise to his family when he choose a career in Outdoor Education. For 10 years, Hyahno was involved in devising, facilitating, teaching and leading young people through world-class, outdoor education programs, using adventure and nature to teach children vital life-skills. Hyahno is passionate about nature play and believes the Nature Play program is a positive and practical way to ensure children participate in unstructured play in nature, delivering the myriad of benefits this type of play offers their physical and emotional health.
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Marketing Coordinator
Virginija Meil?n?
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Assistant Events and Marketing Coordinator
Tess Wagner
Growing up on a farm, Tess spent her childhood climbing trees, so it's not surprising she's passionate about the Nature Play QLD message.
With a background in marketing, events, brand development, and sustainable design, Tess has over seven years experience in the not-for-profit and design industries.
After completing a degree in Public Relations and Marketing, she worked in community fundraising and events for RSPCA QLD where she developed and grew community fundraising initiatives and supported event campaigns. More recently Tess launched two businesses (Monkey & Mum, and Sahasa), which she transformed into self sustainable models through the use of ethical fair trade practices. In 2015 she won silver at the National Ausmumpreneur People's Choice Awards for her Monkey & Mum designs.
Mum to two energetic boys, Tess endeavours to look on the lighter side of life. When this fails, she practices yoga.
Education Coordinator
Anya Perkins
Anya moved to Queensland from the UK in September 2015 with the desire to continue to use her knowledge and experience to promote greater opportunities for children to engage in outdoor nature play based learning.
Whilst completing a degree in Primary Education she developed a professional interest in the area of outdoor nature play provision and took her study into outdoor learning further completing her Master in Education. She later spent five years as an Early Years and Primary teacher, while also training as a Level 3 Forest School Leader. Anya has created on-site Forest School areas, coordinated a whole school/ community development towards increasing outdoor nature play learning opportunities and has supported and trained colleagues and parents in the importance of regular nature play opportunities. She has also managed and delivered Forest School programs in and out of term times both in a childcare setting and in local woodlands.
In her spare time Anya is thoroughly enjoying exploring and discovering all the outdoor beauty Queensland has to offer.
Contact: email@example.com
Community Engagement Resource Coordinator
Cate Storey
Cate has extensive experience working in community development and project management across a range of organisations and projects in Australia and overseas.
Starting as a volunteer, working for the United Nations World Food Programme in Bangladesh on their school feeding initiatives, Cate has worked on a number of projects that engage with government representatives, communities and schools to improve children's lives.
A trained drama and geography teacher, with a Master of International Development and Environmental Analysis, Cate is passionate about using nature to stimulate young minds.
Keen on adventure, before returning to Australia to become a mum, Cate and her husband sailed their 32 foot sailboat around the Pacific Islands. She had the unique opportunity to visit and learn from extremely remote communities, where creative and resilient children climb coconut trees and have a detailed knowledge of their natural environment. She is keen for her own son to grow up in a community where nature play is, once again, a normal part of childhood.
Contact: email@example.com
Events Coordinator
Jessie Skinner
Jessie has extensive experience in events coordination. She has over 15 years' experience managing large-scale events in the music industry and in corporate events. Jessie is excited about her next phase of transitioning into events working with children, that will enrich their lives. Jessie is an active member of the event industry and believes in giving back to the community and industry through volunteering, sponsorship and creating standards of excellence and raising the bar of professionalism.
Jessie holds a diploma in childcare services, and is excited to combine her passions for childcare and for events within this one role.
In her spare time, Jessie enjoys hiking, nature trails and taking her dog on long walks.
Contact: email@example.com


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Measuring Cup, 1 Ounce
Measuring Cup, 1 Ounce
Perfect for measuring small amounts of ingredients! Marked with 1, 2, 3 and 4 teaspoon measurements (equivalent to 5, 10, 15 and 20ml), this Polypropylene measuring cup will actually hold more than one ounce. This cup is sturdy enough to hold up to fragrance and essential oils.
Specification: 4 Teaspoons as marked, 0.67 oz., 1 ounce (30ml capacity); 1.6 inch (40.6 mm) tall.
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New Delhi: Designer Preeti Ghai has launched her latest range titled 'The Princess Collection', aimed at today`s self-conscious women.
"The new collection is for adventurous modern day woman where youthful innocence makes traditional grace. Vivid colours and interesting drapes ensure that the collection attains a playful charm while the intricate embroideries add drama to the garments," Ghai said in a statement.
The silhouette includes saris, jacket lehengas, gowns with long jackets and kalidar anarkalis in a colour palette of pink, gold, black, blue and green. The designer has used fabrics like velvet, king khab and net.
The use of velvet, Kashmiri thread embroidery, applique work and Swarovski crystals is meant to add elegance to the collection.
"My forte is Indian formal wear. Playing with fabric has always been inspiring. I believe velvet would be a big hit among fashion connoisseurs in 2013. So you would find use of rich velvet, sheer net and king khab in most of my creations, which are a fine amalgamation of modern with a traditional and regal flavour," the designer added.
The collection is available at the designer`s store, with a price on request.


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Sue Robb of 4Children talks to Julie Laughton and Alison Britton from the Department for Education about the role of childminders in delivering the 30 hours free entitlement.
May's 'disappointment' over Trump climate plans
Following a phone call with US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Theresa May has said of her 'disappointment' with his decision to withdraw the US from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Trump has long seen the agreement, which commits 187 to keeping global temperatures rises 'well below' 2C (3.6F), as 'unfair' towards the US and has said that he will now try to negotiate a new, 'fairer' climate deal - a statement that France, Germany and Italy have warned cannot be renegotiated.
May has come under criticism got not signing a joint condemnation from France, Germany, and Italy - a move labelled an 'appalling abdication of leadership' by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Additionally, Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry highlighted the Conservative's failure 'to raise even the quietest peep in protest', while former Labour leader Ed Miliband accused May pf 'weak leadership'.
Speaking of May's phone call with Trump the evening of his announcement, Downing Street said: "President Trump called the Prime Minister this evening to discuss his decision to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement. The Prime Minister expressed her disappointment with the decision and stressed that the UK remained committed to the Paris Agreement, as she set out recently at the G7.
"She said that the Paris Agreement provides the right global framework for protecting the prosperity and security of future generations, while keeping energy affordable and secure for our citizens and businesses."


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Our Sydney Ugg Factory Outlet Is Open 7 Days A Week
Just around the corner from our Ugg Boot factory is our Ugg Factory Outlet which carries the full range of our Australian made ugg boots, shoes, hats, slippers and scuffs. Our Sydney factory outlet located on the corner of William Street and Crown Street Darlinghurst (see map below) just down the hill from the famous Kings Cross Coca Cola sign and is open 7 days a week for your convenience.
Our Ugg Factory Outlet opens everyday at 10.00 am right through to 6 pm with a full display of all our Ugg products in all sizes and colours so you can take your time and choose to your heart's content. Our friendly staff are always on hand to help. If you're planning a group visit call the store ahead on 02 9331 5331 so we can ensure there are enough of us there to look after everyone.


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SuperDuper Stink Detector! Kid Amazing Vs. The Blob by Josh Schneider
One day, while practicing his letters, Jimmy is interrupted by an extremely annoying howl. And, right on cue, there's the emergency catastrophe alarm! Jimmy rushes to the closet and--whoosh!--a secret door opens.
What could make a scholarly kid suddenly morph into a mightily amazing superhero? It's the sound of alarm that galvanizes him to grab his super suit and power gear, and sniff out the source of the wilting odor wafting through the house. What deadly force has such power?
Our hero dashes into his secret elevator, which takes him to ... (No, not a telephone booth...) a secret underground redoubt, where he dons his protective supersuit, complete with red rubber dishwashing gloves! He's ready to report to the Commissioner.
The Commissioner is washing dishes at the sink.
"What is it, Commissioner?" asks Kid Amazing.
"Jimmy--" says the Commissioner. "Kid Amazing," corrects Kid Amazing.
"Kid Amazing," says the Commissioner. "Hear that howling? Could you please see what's going on?"
An evil giant robot? Those space lobsters again? No, only one thing could howl such an annoying howl.
Kid Amazing's arch-nemesis, the Blob!
Kid Amazing breaks out his secret robo-sniffer and tracks the terrible scent to its source--the lair of The Blob. Opening the door, Kid Amazing is almost overcome. It's the Blob's ultimate weapon, the mega monstrous cloud o' stink!
But Kid Amazing is more powerful than any stench. He whips out his own secret weapons, his atomizer of de-stinkifying spray and his wonder wipes, which overcome the smell and the slime, and faces the Blob on her throne bravely. Her horrible howl is almost unhear-ably unbearable, but courageous Kid Amazing knows one more trick to silence The Blob, and he spots what he needs beneath her throne.
The Blob's howl neutralizer.
Kid Amazing swiftly stops her gob with the devilishly clever device. His work here is done.
Every mom (er, Commissioner) needs a Kid Amazing who knows how to strategically deploy a pacifier now and then, and in Josh Schneider's forthcoming Kid Amazing vs. the Blob (Houghton Mifflin Clarion Books, 2017), it's big brother Jimmy on the job, even offering a recommendation that the Commisioner supply a new "stink-containment unit" to the Blob's bottom.
Schneider's narration is appropriately serio-comic, as befits a superhero of such courage and quick thinking, even if Mom does softly suggest that he stop calling his sister The Blob, but with tongue well in cheek Schneider's spoof of caped crusaders comes off with a well-placed smidgen of deadpan dirty diaper parody. Schneider's artwork is bold and bright, with sly touches, as Jimmy's baby sister's howls of AAAAAAAAA wallpaper the entire house with their magnitude, and his final page pictures his bare-bottomed baby sister waving a clean diaper frantically as she seeks out the Commissioner for the final solution to the case. Comic and clever, this one will produce paroxysms of knowing giggles from big brothers and big sisters all over, with a novel twist on the superhero trope to boot.
For more sibling stories, share this one with Marla Frazee's big hits, the source for the movie Boss Baby, now playing at your local cineplex, The Boss Baby and The Bossier Baby. (Read my reviews here.)
Josh Schneider's earlier books include Everybody Sleeps (But Not Fred) (see my 2015 review here) and Tales for Very Picky Eaters.
Labels: Brothers and sisters--Fiction, Superheroes--Fiction (Grades Preschool-3)


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Cattle Operation COOP
Anything that doesn't fit in the other boards.
4 posts • Page 1 of 1
- Beginner
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:25 pm
Cattle Operation COOP
Was wondering if anyone has experience of having 2 cattle operations on one farm? As far as costs owed to the owner of the farm that the smaller operation is operating on. Ex: hay, equipment, feed, etc....
0 x
- Craig Miller
- Posts: 2235
- Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2012 9:29 pm
- Location: Nw Alabama
Re: Cattle Operation COOP
Work out a deal youre both happy with. It is easy to work out hay, feed, minerals, supplements(ie protein tubs). What you may not think about though is figuring out who will do what work and when. Who is going to fix fences. Who is going to put out the hay. Who is going to keep minerals put out or Feed put out. Who will haul the hay in or cut and bale. When you run out who will go get more and haul it in. Who will work on equipment. Will it be a split 50 50 or will one end up doing all the work. Will one person be in charge of making sure the tractors stay full on diesel or will it be empty every time you get on it. Whose equipment will be used. Who will go out and buy a new equipment when yours is done. Will there be hard feelings if one owns the equipment and the other tears something up. If that happens will the drivers fix it or will repairs be split. Lots of things to consider that you may not have thought of.
1 x
- Rafter S
- Posts: 4119
- Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:13 am
- Location: Grimes County, TX
Re: Cattle Operation COOP
Like most partnerships, it sounds like a recipe for disaster.
3 x
Life is too short to drink cheap beer or dance with ugly women.
- pricefarm
- Posts: 1237
- Joined: Sun Jul 07, 2013 5:05 pm
- Location: Southwest Va
Re: Cattle Operation COOP
I have always been told a partnership is a sinking ship.
1 x
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I started university last week thus have been bombarded by the pressing pressure to sleep, all day err'day.
Basically my sloth life has begun. However I consciously decided to make a genuine effort this semester. I say this whilst I'm giving this 'Online Journalism' my half divided attention.
OMGoodness ! I just found that Blogspot has a way of making my photos sparkle!
Commence all sparkly things!!


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Prices, specials, features and availability subject to change.
SOMETHING SPECIAL AWAITS YOU AT CEDAR RIDGE, Casual, carefree living near the city with the serene seclusion you'd expect in a community of this stature. Cedar Ridge is an enchanting unique community close to everything yet peacefully tucked away, offering you the balance of comfort, quality and convenience. Our apartment homes were designed and constructed with quality as first priority to provide comfort and convenience to our most important consideration-OUR RESIDENTS!
Pets Accepted. Breed Restriction. Call for service animal policy.
168 units
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Saturday-Sunday: Closed
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2017 China Chuanghui new arrival Fashionable Vertical Hydrogen Drinking Water dispenser
Theory of Beauty & Health-care effect of hydrogen:
1. Biological effect: Functioned with anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, anti-apoptotic and cells-repairing, hydrogen exerts the following effect: anti-allergy, anti-aging, anti-tumor, increasing mitochondrion ability, beauty and sub-health condition.
2. As a superior antioxidant, Hydrogen can eliminate harmful free radicals and improve the cells' anti-oxidation and repairing ability from the perspective of solving the root cause of cells of oxidative injury. On the other hand, hydrogen can eliminate inflammation by removing inflammatory factor and therefore prevent and improve all kinds of health problem.
Three Functions of hydrogen
For Anti-aging & beauty:Hydrogen helps reduce wrinkle and whiten skin, improve the moisture, elasticity and softness of skin, and remove aged spot and scar, reduce weight;
For sub-health condition: improve immunity, sleeping quality, metabolism and blood circulation, balance the cells;
For preventing and improving health problems: Hydrogen is scientifically shown to be effective in alleviating over 160 kinds of diseases by world-wide clinical trials and over 1000 scientific studies. Therefore, it prevents and alleviates chronic diseases, such as cholesterol, hypertension, hyperglycaemia, gout, joint-pain, dermatitis, gastric and intestinal problem, constipation, Parkinson, depression, Alzheimer's disease, tumor and etc.
Advantages of hydrogen
1. A very effective antioxidant that ameliorate oxidative stress from the root by scavenging toxic free radicals and increasing the cellular antioxidants. Decrease inflammation by reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines. Hydrogen can prevent and improve health problem from the root cause.
2. A matter that is the smallest, the lightest in the universe; that can easily infiltrate through human skin, permeate into the whole body and reach mitochondria
3. Safe to human body and side-effect free: As a superior antioxidant, it can repair damaged cells and protect healthy cells.
Working principle of H2 LIFE
1. Utilized high-end International PEM Electrolysis tech, effectively separate and remove inclusion like ozone, chlorine and etc.
2. Advanced hydrogen-dissolve technology.
Drinking series
1. Leading in high concentration and long dissolved time of hydrogen, instantly made for drinking purpose
2. Utilized high-end International PEM Electrolysis tech, effectively separate and remove inclusion like ozone, chlorine and etc.
3. Top-quality & thick Platinum Electrode board, which is safe and durable.
4. Can be directly effective for stomach, intestinal tract, gut, blood and other health issues.
5. Non-toxic side effect
Vertical Hydrogen water dispenser
Standing Water Dispenser
Water source can be customized with bottled water or connect to tab water
Can customize with RO membrane or without
Modern and easy to operate
Applicable occasions:
Public place, office, home, rehabilitation centre
Model No.
|Hydrogen production rate (ml/min)
Hydrogen concentration
|ORP level(mV)
|-450 ~-850
2017 China Chuanghui new arrival Fashionable Vertical Hydrogen Drinking Water Images


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Online Employment Applications: What Happens After?
This kind of hub is enough to make the unemployed stop applying for jobs online. Sending your resume via Dice, Monster, may just be parsed by a software robot before an actual human is sent it.
The software is used to screened the thousands of applicants for a single job, looking for keywords and relevant job experience. The software is precise and looks for whatever keywords HR wants but this can and does toss good candidates into the oblivion pool. For instance, if HR is looking for a statistician but on your resume you use "numerical modelers" or other wordings, the program rejects you. So it is best to use the same keywords as what is on the announcement that are true to your situation. All resumes or online apps are assigned a rating number, the higher the better. Low scores go into a black hole. The software also scans for education, years of experience, schools attended and any other criteria HR wants.
Nearly 90% of the large companies use them because according to studies, 50% of those who respond to job ads are not qualified. Starbucks had 7.6 million job applicants last year for about 65000 jobs. Proctor & Gamble had one million applicants for 2000 jobs. Don't even mention Google.
Again, to score high, use the same keywords that the job announcement uses in your application or resume but don't lie because if you get to a human interview it will become evident. Some jobs receive 400 resumes after being posted only for one hour. A typical situation is that there is one opening and 200-300 applicants. The software will then weed out 50%. These are passed onto HR for a human review. HR will maybe ask 10 of the best candidates to come in for an interview. Of those, if one is not selected, 1-3 of the very best will return for another interview. Out of these, one person will be offered.
Nowadays, it is a LONG road from unemployment to employment.
I think the only possible addition would be that now they can read the resume online and do a background check automatically. The resume could then be flagged to continue or not in the process.
Artificial Intelligence programs or what ever they might call it today, is not a viable replacement for human scrutiny.
In my experience people don't write well written resumes, and hr and even hiring managers don't know how to correctly interpret them.
Everyone is taught that one size resume fits all, so the infamous one page resume was king. This was of course also a contradiction to try an fit in the necessary keep alive the resume scan keywords.
My opinion is that as a hiring manager, I think the resume could be the looking glass into the individual. It could show their uniqueness, and other qualities, rather than the robot process of filling in a resume algorithm.
Resume experts make their money selling ideas on how to write a resume, but quite frankly I question whether these people actually got their job with a resume.
anyway, those were my thoughts.
I would be interested in hearing about the improvement.
bot scanning resumes have been around for twenty years.
They are not really reading your resume for content just keywords. Formatting a resume for humans is quite different that formatting it for a real person. It is also different whether it is for HR or directly to a hiring manager.
Just my experience talking.
Hi perrya,
I worked for a large employment agency, and I can tell you from my experience the unemployed would be working much sooner if they were aware of waiting opportunities, such as a Temp Service.
If they would sign-up with a Temp-Service, with an up-dated resume, good references, pass a drug screening, and background check, then one would probably be working in a few days.
This is a good way to get your foot in the door to a lot of large companies who want to use temps, until they make a decision about the open position.
I have interviewed people who has signed up with two temp services, to see which one had the best jobs, and which one made the first offer. This is not always wise, but I would never tell someone not to do this, after all their families came first in their logic.
Good Hub,
Great hub! I was recently unemployed for quite some time and did untold numbers of online applications. I had no idea that they were bot scanned and such. However, now I know why I never got a response to any of the hundreds with the exception of those all prevailing job scammer persons out there. All of my jobs have come from one on one interviews and never, ever from an online application. Thanks!