Below are the 33 most recent journal entries recorded in Kitty's LiveJournal:

Friday, January 5th, 2007
4:07 pm	Culling In The Name Of After consultation with my doctor, I am coming back to LJ, modulo some changes to my usage pattern. One of the changes I'm going to be making is a huge cull of my flist. I'm not going to be reading anyone who I don't actively enjoy reading qute a lot, or who I find I get on less well with online than IRL. I've made a first pass over it but I will probably need to cut further still. If I have deleted you, then it doesn't mean that I don't like you or that there's a problem IRL. It just means that it was too much to keep up with on an LJ which had become far, far too much of a timesink. This post should not be taken to imply to my remaining flist that I'll be posting much any time soon. + 21 Comments |Talk to me +
Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
11:03 am	In the Midlands I'm in Birmingham, at the European Perl Conference. Does anyone I know from Whitby, or elsewhere, who's within striking distance, fancy meeting up between now and Friday late afternoon? My hotel's on Broad Street - so pubs near there would be favourite. I may be heading along to the Brumgoth meet on Thursday for a half. Post left public so that people not on my flist can see it and comment. + 21 Comments |Talk to me +
Saturday, December 24th, 2005
1:18 pm	Happy Wobs: Make me a neologism There doesn't seem to be a word for the general class of words (or nouns) which are created by the vagaries of predictive text. Eg, wobs. So, your task is to make one up and comment about it here. Left public for you to spread this post far and wide, should you desire. + 7 Comments |Talk to me +
Wednesday, May 25th, 2005
7:49 pm	Threads Beauty. Public, so you can link to this post. Or just post the link in your own journals. Fin de siecle? Perhaps. I certainly found the interweaving of the stories of the material, the supercomputer, the two brothers and the mention of asteroid impact deeply affecting. One of those wholly unexpected things which reminds me that some days, it is worth chewing through the straps. + 18 Comments |Talk to me +
Tuesday, April 12th, 2005
11:00 pm	Cull Minor cull, mostly just to trim my default view a bit. + Talk to me +
Wednesday, October 20th, 2004
8:38 pm	[public] Culling Right - I've just culled about 20% of my friends list. It was quite brutal, and I just wanted to make a post asking people not to take it personally - I still like you all. I just needed to reduce the amount of people I read - I am cutting down heavily on LJ as I'm spending too much time here. Sorry. If you're upset about being culled and would really rather I didn't, please mail me or comment here. If the amount of time I spend here isn't reduced a lot, I may well have to cull again, more deeply. + 22 Comments |Talk to me +
Friday, April 30th, 2004
8:32 am	Paging Dr Chaos A rare public post, for the benefit of lee_chaos. Feel free to add me, old chap! http://www.emusic.com/about/newlabel.html - Music Download Service who are officially Not Evil and on the look-out for new labels. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/19/2318226&tid=141 - mp3.com archive saved by http://www.garageband.com/ Also: http://www.mp3isback.com/ Hope they're some use to you. + 7 Comments |Talk to me +
Wednesday, August 13th, 2003
5:02 pm	Goth Plan Diet "may be unsafe" The contraversial Goth Plan diet may possibly have health hazards, the MRC cautioned today in a statement. The diet, which requires its adherents to refrain from high-calorie Snakebite and Guinness, but allows unlimited amphetamines and vodka-red bull, has been criticised by some in the medical community as possibly have damaging effects on the liver and kidneys. Supporters of the diet developed by Dr Frederick von Munter point to its remarkable successes in terms of weight loss, and it's many celebrity endorsements. Some have gone further and hinted at a sinister 'Conspiracy' between the MRC and the likes of Guinness and Bass, to surpress the benefits of the Goth Plan diet. "Quick, pass me my tinfoil hat, they've switched on the Mind Control Ray again" said a spokesman for the Munter Foundation, before hiding under his desk. The use of tinfoil to improve mental health was another of von Munter's theories, and was a theme of his later life, until his death in the throes of a massive psychotic episode. Support groups on the Internet point to von Munters oversight in failing to don his bacofoil chapeau on the day of his death as highly significant. The MRC could not be reached as they were all in the pub. PS: Made this a rare public post so it can be linked to. For the exceptionally stupid out there, This Is A Parody. I really couldn't give less of a shit about what you do or don't eat. I just thought it was funny. If you don't, Fuck Off. Deletion and Banning of anything I don't like will happen. OK? + 24 Comments |Talk to me +
Tuesday, July 15th, 2003
2:36 am	Friends Only This journal is almost exclusively friends-only now. Some of the geek posts will stay public, but for everything else, you'll need to be on my friends list. Add me, and / or comment on this thread and I will usually add you straight back. This shouldn't be taken as an indication that this journal is actually worth your time. + 15 Comments |Talk to me +
Monday, October 8th, 2001
11:43 am	Building an SSL-aware Apache with DSO You may want to read the non-SSL version first, to get a feel of what needs to be changed and why. ( Geekery follows ) Current Music: Headhunter - Front 242 + 7 Comments |Talk to me +
Monday, September 3rd, 2001
6:04 pm	Building Apache with DSO At the request of diffrentcolours, a quick guide to Apache/DSO. (DSO = Dynamic Shared Object). Please note that DSO is not available on every platform, but then if you're running something that broken, you're in need of more help than I can give. This is for apache without SSL. The SSL version is a little bit different. We'll do the easy stuff first. ( Geek stuff follows ) Current Music: Convergence 6 - Fross + 1 Comment |Talk to me +
Friday, August 31st, 2001
2:16 pm	Apache DSO builds... rock. Rilly, rilly hard. If there's anyone out there still using static builds out of choice, I heartily recommend you give it up now. OK, mod_perl's still a bit of an arse to get to build, as you have to have several modules installed (in the right order, no less) but with DSO, the whole thing reduces to not-much-more fuss than the Tomcat install. Anyway, apache didn't break, and I'm now back getting sensible postgres privs up and running. Current Music: Soultaker - Apop + 1 Comment |Talk to me +
Wednesday, August 29th, 2001
6:23 pm	Yes, *this* is what SQL DB's are supposed to behave like Postgres. After the fucking awful evilness of Oracle (Oooh, an hour of grinding just to create a whoring database. Yes, that'd'be well-written, then). This thing just works. It builds more or less out-of-the-box Without stupid "build fails for no adequately explained reason but it seems to care which human being is issuing the build commands, although not the workstation they're logged in from or the user account being used" - Yes, MySQL, that would be you. It has all the things I want from Oracle (True ACID stuff, SPs, sequences, referential integrity, triggers) It's even less frustrating than MySQL. The command-line tools aren't as hard to use as stone axes. The error messages don't need a 3-ring binder to decode the fucking things It goes like shit through a rather genteel and elderly moggie. Oh, and it's, errrr, thousands, if not tens of thousands of pounds cheaper than Oracle. In fact it's free and libre. I had it downloaded, compiled, built, configured, adjusted to its SQL dialect (easily the most standards-compliant I've seen) and had an entire application of mine ported to it from MySQL in about three hours this afternoon. There is a god after all. Current Music: Quake II Theme - White Zombie + 5 Comments |Talk to me +
3:04 pm	Installing Postgres 7.1.3 on SuSE The build instructions for build-from-source are slightly bust on SuSE. Instead, try: ./configure make make install /usr/sbin/useradd postgres /usr/sbin/groupadd postgres mkdir /usr/local/pgsql/data chown postgres:postgres /usr/local/pgsql/data su - postgres /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb -D /usr/local/pgsql/data /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster -D /usr/local/pgsql/data >logfile 2>&1 & /usr/local/pgsql/bin/createdb test /usr/local/pgsql/bin/psql test Current Music: Convergence 6 - Fross (rar) + 2 Comments |Talk to me +
1:41 pm	Fuck this buyers IT market Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 13:28:53 +0100 From: "Someone Very Stupid" <protect@theguilty.com> Subject: RE: 18498-PERL-JO To: "Kittys Work Address" [Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<kitty_goth [...] [at]>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.] Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 13:28:53 +0100 From: "Someone Very Stupid" <protect@theguilty.com> Subject: RE: 18498-PERL-JO To: "Kittys Work Address" <kitty_goth [at] livejournal.com> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0) I cannot open attachments in HTML format - due to virus reasons. I will need it in word format - already virus checked. Many thanks Xx -------------------- This, from a person who's supposed to be finding me work. I fucking despair. I really do. If this market was <b>any</b> more bouyant, I'd be writing back to the effect of "I'm sorry. I think you're too stupid to help me." Current Music: Am I Evil - Metallica + 3 Comments |Talk to me +
Thursday, August 23rd, 2001
4:17 pm	Life imitates cheap humorous website Compare and Contrast Current Music: Northern Star - Hole + 1 Comment |Talk to me +
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2001
8:44 pm	Round and round I'm still sat here at my desk trying to hold myself together. So far, I've: Caught up with all my outstanding email on all my accounts Written up my rough notes on Hybrid Monte Carlo simulations Did the same for my notes on Chiral Quarks and the bit of Vafa-Witten I understand Mailed my notes to my ex-supervisor for comments Altered the nature of the tagRecord structure I've been building for gravel Understood the most basic form of the placeObject tag in Flash Got a context-driven version of my 1999 QED code to build (without fermions) Drank quite a lot of the brandy Welsh left on his desk Started the prototype of the teaching application I've been thinking about for the last few months. Didn't cut myself. I'm not sure how healthy this just sitting here is, but I'm getting quite a lot done. In any case, though, I think it's time to go home and face the music. Or something... Current Music: Du Hast - Rammstein + 4 Comments |Talk to me +
Tuesday, August 21st, 2001
2:21 pm	The apache 1.3 documentation is bust The command to swiftly build Apache with DSO support is: ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/apache --enable-rule=SHARED_CORE --enable-module=so Remember, kids, you need to build both the core as a DSO and the DSO-loader, mod_so as well. Then you just need a bootstrapper as well. Currently playing with Tomcat. It's build / install cycle is nice and clean - it basically insists on DSO support, which despite the performance overhead (but what the hey, this is Java anyway...) is really quite painless. Hmmm. Current Music: Inside - Stiltskin + 2 Comments |Talk to me +
11:52 am	For Simon Some abbreviations: PoC: Proof of Concept U(1) gauge: A gauge field theory which has a U(1) group as its gauge group. U(1) is the easiest of all the simple Lie groups and consists of all length 1 complex numbers. That is: g = cos x + i sin x is in U(1) A U(1) gauge theory is electromagnetism. Pure means there aren't any particles other than photons in it. Doing this one first because there's less to cock up in it and hunting memory leaks will be easier, before I put the electrons back in and get: QED_3: Quantum ElectroDynamics. In three dimensions. Relevant to why quarks bind up into protons and neutrons and also to superconductivity. The "real", 4-dimensional version is arguably the most accurate physical theory in human history. If you don't know the name Richard Feynman, I suggest you follow this link Why am I interested in all this? Because no-one knows why quarks bunk up together. People have been studying it for about 30-40 years and we are basically still no closer to an answer. To my mind, I'd rather play with that problem and get nowhere, and try out some crazy ideas than become a string theorist, go for some quick wins by cheating at jumped-up geometry and claim to be staring at the Mind of God.</ranting> Current Music: Tempest - VNV Nation + 3 Comments |Talk to me +
Friday, August 17th, 2001
1:40 pm	More oracle horrors... In order to have the create table priv, a user must not only have the priv but also have a non-zero quota on the relevant tablespace. What's the default quota size? zero Where is this doozy of a feature documented? It's not. Thanks Larry. Current Music: Dreamland - Lab 4 + 5 Comments |Talk to me +
Wednesday, August 15th, 2001
2:22 pm	Oracle truly is the fucking devil itself. In order to make the fucking thing run on Linux at all, you have to install an ancient JRE (1.1.8 from those lovely Blackdown people. ) Then, aaaaah. You have to install an old version of the fucking standard libraries or the thing just *won't* build. You have to get glibc2.1 and put it over the top of the existing compiler and libs. Then put the proper version back when you're done. Words fail me. Current Music: Head Like A Hole - NiN + 3 Comments |Talk to me +
Friday, August 10th, 2001
5:01 pm	Oracle... ... sucks ass. Never trust a product you can't see the source for, children. It really does suck the sweat from a dead dogs' dick. Having finally got the beast downloaded and to a stage where the horrible needs-X, needs-JRE installer will start, there's NFW I'm going to start an install at 1655 on Friday afternoon, when I'm expected home to meet $grilf->mother() and thence to the pub. Current Music: Fross - Convergence 7 + 3 Comments |Talk to me +
Thursday, August 9th, 2001
1:33 pm	Red Hat Hides basic parameters for its net cards in: /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 and similar locations. It hides its default route in: /etc/sysconfig/network Lovely. Nice and sensible. Well done boys. Current Music: Whitesnake. Thanks Dave. + 6 Comments |Talk to me +
Thursday, August 2nd, 2001
7:52 am	The Weekend OK, so I'm incredibly slack and haven't got around to reviewing the weekend at all yet. I will do it just as soon as I've finished my current hack run. Yes, it really is 0745. Couldn't sleep, decided to come in and get stuff done instead. Important safety tip: mpg123 produces *signed* 16-bit linear PCM audio data on 2 channels. That is, mpg123 -s foo.mp3 > foo.raw sox -r 44100 -c2 -s -w foo.raw foo.cdr cdrecord -v speed=2 dev=0,0,0 -audio foo.cdr is quite possibly what you want. Current Music: Convergence 6 - Fross + Talk to me +
Monday, July 30th, 2001
2:51 pm	Apples are not the only fruit A memorial to Alan Turing has been unveiled, at http://www.btinternet.com/~glynhughes/turing.htm. A description of the unveiling ceremony is at http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/scrapbook/memorial3.html The bronze statue shows a seated Turing holding an apple. I particularly like this motif, referencing as it does, the method by which Turing chose to end his own life, and restating the symbolism which this act held. That it should have taken so long to have a national hero recognised is a travesty, and shows that there are still battles to be fought against prejudice and the intolerance that robbed us of one of our finest minds. Current Music: Doll Parts - Hole + Talk to me +
Wednesday, July 25th, 2001
5:23 pm	meep TCP/IP packet filtering in general sucks quite hard, I've decided. Nevertheless, I've managed to get a fairly minimal set up running in here. I think a certain amount of hacking on iptables may be forthcoming... Darn, don't I have enough to do? Current Music: Sympathy for the Devil - Rolling Stones + Talk to me +
Wednesday, July 11th, 2001
11:41 pm	Today I have been mostly doing mathematics. I started with a quick overview of 1+1 dimensional N=1 supersymmetry (SUSY). The algebra's just the thing to get my brain back into a suitable mode. I never really liked SUSY. I felt it was contrived, up-it's-own-arse and had nothing to do with Physics. My view hasn't changed. I mean, I can see the mathematical beauty of it, but I'm just not sure it has anything to do with Nature. Our view of particle physics is well described by Lie groups and Dirac algebras, both of which are very beautiful in their own right, but their unification just seems so forced. Anyway, after clearing the mental tubes a bit, I went for a surf. As I pulled the car out of the sideway, my fingers were scrabbling for a tape. What we ended up with was the Kinks, at a volume measured better in kilotons than decibels. Rar! I drove to the beach with this screaming out of the stereo, barely resisting the urge to wind down the window and scream "My heart feels like a fucking alligator. What's wrong with us? Are we goddamn old ladies" at every passing pedestrian. I got to Harlyn. 3-5ft (ie, overhead plus a bit). Messy. Good stiff breeze. Like a fool, I'd decided against bootpunk's board, so it was a boogie board for me. Check in the back. Shit. Forgot the fins. So it was paddle out regardless, and got knocked about by the chop a bit. I caught a few good waves, before getting blind-sided by a clean-out set. Everyone else tried to go under it, but I thought I'd try and ride it. Bad Kitty. Got dragged through it, bounced a couple of times, and as I was coming up, got clonked hard on the head by my sponge. Ouch. Saw stars, let the next wave roll me, and came up still seeing stars. Fuck. Discretion being the better part of valour, I hauled myself up the beach to rest, before deciding that bailing altogether would be a better plan. Drove home with Massive Attack for company (trying to chill out a bit). I got in and did some work on chiral fields. It's one of those things I really should have locked down a long time ago, despite my intuitive understanding of what's going on. I finally started to get something out of the Weinberg tomes (The Quantum Theory of Fields), and he does things in quite a cunning way. Right, time to call goth_christine and go get a beer... I'll avoid the obvious joke about commutators there. + 2 Comments |Talk to me +
4:44 pm	The Windows client The Windows client is very strange after using LoserJabber. I don't like it. It's too ... Windowsy. + 1 Comment |Talk to me +
Tuesday, July 10th, 2001
1:32 am	*boing* My patch made it into syslogd. I'm now quite happy.... + 1 Comment |Talk to me +
Sunday, July 8th, 2001
1:38 am	Neil Gaiman... ... is a fucking nice bloke, for the record. We like. *bounce* *perk* + 2 Comments |Talk to me +
Thursday, July 5th, 2001
4:17 pm	Rar I've just patched syslogd. In particular, it now no longer insists on having a stupid dependency on a writeable /var/run. Oh well, pub soon... + 2 Comments |Talk to me +
Thursday, May 24th, 2001
1:59 pm	network topology and pizza Ok, for some reason on the completely wombat CD drives we're using, we need to specify a double copy of our kernel as a 2.88 image to make the CDs El-Torito bootable. Well, that makes perfect sense to me too. Nevermind. The bloody thing works now, so I can finally have a sensible network setup instead of bloody floppy drives. I'm kind of casting around for something sensible to do as a non-work project. The flash stuff I've been havinga vague look at is not really cutting it anymore. I might buzz they guy I've been talking to and see if he's had any more insight. Ahhh well. Maybe I just need a bit of a break and some more overview. There's a Wolfsheim special on at this goth club I go to in soho. Maybe I'll head down to that later. Current Music: It's Hurting For The First Time - Wolfsheim + Talk to me +
Thursday, May 17th, 2001
3:22 pm	finally, some sense Thank fuck for Philip Greenspun. Give the absolutely shit quality of most Oracle material out there on the web, his stuff rocks. Coffee and food, I think.... Current Music: What Time is Love? - KLF (wonderful remix) + 1 Comment |Talk to me +