From humble beginnings we have now got 28 processors working away and we have now broke the 3000th place barrier. We have gained several new members in the last week.
Join team plico
Bloggocks
Imagine my suprise seeing my name dragged through the gutter.
Harry’s Place
For those that are wondering what I am talking about have a look at
My Home Page
Open University M203 Pure Mathematics Course
Is driving me nuts. The last block ie
Analysis B
is trying to cover so much ground so fast I have hardly got time to catch my breath. This is in part due to my preparation ie
MST121
MS221
These courses are meant to be adequate preparation for M203 but having just started reading.
Hardy G. H: A Course of Pure Mathematics.
Courant R: Differential and Integral Calculus Vol. 1
they seem to spend a lot more time on the fundamentals of calculus ie limits and functions than I ever did previously. Hardy’s book is very explanatory but hard to follow and deserves some concentration but so far I have found the first few pages a treat to read. I like the way “he preaches to the cannibals” which is just what I need.
I am not sure if MST121 and MS221 are enough preparation for M203. I have done very well in all of my coursework but my algebra is just not up to scratch. I can tell this when I am reading some of the material and they appear to make leaps from one bit to another. If you are thinking about doing M203 or the next course M208 then make sure that you have a good grounding in algebra. The best arena for brushing up on your algebra or at least for me is “real analysis” particularly sequences limits and series.
I have decided I won’t be attempting Complex Analysis M337 next year because my algebra is just not hot enough yet. I will do it in 2 years time when the course runs again. Its a shame because I really wanted to do M337 next year.
More members for plico
We recruited 2 new members today.
carldr
skugg
I am not sure who recruited them but its a good addition to the team. We have now got 17 processors active and we might be getting another one over the weekend.
Help folding@home by joining team plico and help fight disease
Team Plico
Will AKA plico has just joined team plico and overtook me straight away. Or was it Christian because he joined using plico as well. We have now got 4 members and our current team position is.
9130 of 32877
Harry Google result
242 out of 23,700,000 on Google for “Harry”.
Folding@home Rank Update
Individual Rank: 273523 of 369286
Team Rank: 10690 of 32865
Join Team plico
Protein Folding
I have been a member of SETI and distributed.net at one time or another but I found Folding@Home. Unlike SETI and distributed.net Folding@Home is a medical project which is the main reason why I decided to join and start a team. I like the idea of SETI and the other distributed projects but I would rather my cycles went towards curing cancer or some other disease than to finding prime numbers or looking for aliens.
Team details as follows:
Team Name: plico ( Latin: to fold )
Team Number: 39250
Why did I not join an already existing team?
Unlike some people who want to join one of the best teams and start at the top I prefer to start at the bottom and work at it. However, it would be nice to get other members. So, if you would like to join team plico then download the software and just follow the instructions. Its very simple.
I have also thrown together a Home page for the team
Web Standards CSS and HTML
Before I start I just need to say that I am an advocate of standards but I am not a religious bigot about them.
My problem has never been the technicalities of CSS or HTML, lets face it if you have figured out Perl to a reasonable degree and know your way around half a dozen programming languages then adding some markup etc to your toolbox is hardly going to kill you. Or at least you wouldn’t think so?
Unlike programming languages and their platform specific problems, browsers display your work as they see fit. The user at the other end may see a work of art or a bloody debauchery and judge you and your ability accordingly.
The browser doesn’t even have the common decency to open a window informing the user that it’s made some complete horlicks in rendering our page, nor should it! It’s our problem! if we want people to read the stuff the least we can do is make it as legible as possible for them, its not their fault the browser has a few quirks.
The internet, for all intents and purposes is a new method of communication and like all previous methods of communication it comes with its fair share of problems ie its new, its evolving, it hasn’t reached any form of maturity yet. As an analogy:
Have you ever phoned someone and had a “BAD LINE”. This prompts you into very articulated speech were all the words are formed “just so” and you might even talk a bit louder. Mean while, in the back of your mind you are cursing the weather or your blaming the old exchange down the road for the bad reception.
Without even realising it you will be compensating for the deficiencies of the system you are using with your loud speech and long drawn out words. You might not like it but its an accepted part of the system and out of your control so you just get on with it and do your best. Web Development (Development in general) is like this.
I am all up for standards but I am not one to take a pop at something because it has not been done “Just So”. Implementing standards is a process and there is no need get all religious about it.
Fun With the Gimp
I have been meaning to learn some sort of image manipulation tool for quite some time. I have used the Gimp in the past when I want to scale something or convert images from one format to another but I have never had the time or inclination to sit down and learn enough of it to be reasonably confident.
I have just had a long weekend so I decided to learn it because like it or lump it, its a very handy tool in any web developers arsenal. I mainly do backend work but there are occasions when I envy the versatility of other web developers when putting together sites. If you want to have a look at the sort of stuff I mean have a look at the The Zen Garden. Some of the pages on that site are just divine.