Not much to report from this weekend and last other than a few films.
The highlight was seeing the Space Station IMAX film at the IMAX-Dome, which was formerly known as OmniMax (guess they went for a more descriptive name). It really gives you a good idea of what the new space station is like, and what the crew is like and how they live there. Previously it was to me just a blob with solar collectors. Now I know better. One particularly impressive part is the space shuttle launch - looking backwards as it goes up, with suitable sound. Another is the almost family affair of a Russian launch, with people gathering around and hugging astronauts at the bottom of the rocket before they leave - something you don't see at NASA.
The other recent film is today's Die Another Day. A servicable James Bond film. I don't need to say anything more to describe it.
Work progresses well on the experimental RAM file system, after putting it aside in August to work on the one week spam detector project. Ha! http://ca.geocities.com/agmsbeos@rogers.com/AGMSBayesianSpam-Documentation/index.html The RAM file system's query parser was actually quite easy to do, just a matter of sitting down and writing the code. With a bit of effort, it should be ready in a month or two for public release (working well enough to run a certain news reader that stores Usenet articles in individual files and uses queries on message IDs to link together related messages). Then I can try out some more file system information linking and searching ideas.
I'm also going to the RuneQuest gaming convention, http://www.gloranthacon.com/ in March. I came up with a nifty idea for a faction and characters in the live action role playing game, and the writer said he'd put it in, but I'd have to take on the role myself. Acting ability? What acting ability?
- Alex
P.S. No progress on the Fountain of Steel. Have to get off my butt and design a power transistor circuit to drive the electromagnet, with an optical sensor and timing to trigger it when a ball goes by. But the file system stuff has priority - with only a year left before the end of the sabbatical.
Copyright © 2003 by Alexander G. M. Smith.