Oh David

A good reason for independence for Scotland is that we would never have David Cameron as Prime Minister.

After 240 of 312 councils reporting in, the Conservatives are up 602 councillors and up 23 councils. Depressing, as they are over the symbolic 40% share of national voting, which apparently puts them in good position to win the next general election, although people don't always vote the same nationally. Thankfully, Cambridge has remained Lib Dem.

I think I may leave Engerland if DC (ho ho) takes gold.


Oh Jimmmbohhhhhh....

"Vote for Glasgow" or "unity is strength and our strength is numbers"

As a member of Glasgow University, I have to vote in a referendum today on whether the Glasgow University Students’ Representative Council (GUSRC) should join the National Union of Students (NUS).

The GUSRC has some objective information and presents the "yes" argument and "no" argument.

I think we can disregard the issue of student discounts as you can already enjoy that benefit with the current non-NUS card. I believe there are two main points, in descending order of importance: representation and cost. We'll start with the easier topic of cost: the yes campaign states that that cost is £50,000 (actually £52,531.25), which is a lot of money, but it is stated by the Yesses that "that’s not even 5% of total student body funding". Looking at the information, this is calculated by including all the money allocated to the SRC, GUU and QMU including funds for capital expenditure. This is a bit misleading, as it will be the SRC who will have to pay the affiliation fee, which is ~12% of their total income. Although the University may be able to help with the cost; with 19,547 students this is only £2.69 per student. Thus, I don't believe that this should be a decisive issue.

Next, representation. This is a much more difficult issue to reason about, as it is very difficult to quantify. The no campaign highlight issues of accountability, under-representation, disorganisation and destructive inner-politics. The University of Sunderland, who disaffiliated, concur. The Noes give the following example regarding the lecturer strikes:

In a 3-hour executive meeting dominated by Non-Student issues, they spent 7 minutes discussing the strikes.

I don't know much about the inner workings of the NUS, apart from what I have read on their website, so are they supposed to talk about student issues in an executive meeting? The SRC is not part of the NUS so should they have to discuss issues affecting Glasgow Uni? The strikes did affect other Universities that are affiliated with the NUS, so did the seven minutes pertain to just Glasgow? Regarding the strikes in general, what did the NUS actually do? The Noes say that the NUS wouldn't take action but the SRC did; what is to stop the SRC from doing this if they are part of the NUS? The backbone of the argument seems to be that the NUS will replace the SRC, which I don't think is the case. If the NUS can do what they say they can, surely, they will be an additional implement for students?

With differences between the Scottish and English education systems and the vast majority of members from England, I originally thought that the NUS would neglect specific issues such as the strikes, but there is a NUS Scotland arm.

I don't have much more time to research these questions since voting closes at 6pm and I should get back to work. I think I will vote "yes" because the cost per student is not much and although I am unable to say whether the NUS can effectively represent the University of Glasgow, we can make a more informed decision after a year (and part ways if required), plus the GUSRC will still be there.

--
mond

P.S.
On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to be part of an association who's website name includes the term "online". If you have a website then you are online, so there is no need to say so.

P.P.S.
Also, do the "Aasian-looking" people described in paragraph 7 have any relation to those "Assians"? Christopher? ;)

I wish my wife was as dirty as this

Alternate title: "I thought this was bowling for weirdos."

Did the Muppet Personality Test too. It came out surprisingly accurate.

Man o man, been pure ages since the last posting, I mean... I did post but it's this damn Internet, it took so bloody long for it to be sent! Nightmare.

What's been going? If you're reading this then you already know. In case you want more Mond! Mond! MOND...! Yes please. Always!

I looked back at the last couple of posts to get an idea of the void of MondNews.com to tell. Here goeeessss.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got a Ford Fiesta Zetec that has three "doors", a 1.4 litre engine and is in Panther Black. However, it doesn't make me feel like a large black cat :( It's nice having a car. Though the novelty of driving soon left.

The course is going well. I'm in my third term with two sets of exams behind me. Only two courses this term, which is only five weeks long opposed to ten weeks for the last two.

Interesting things that has happened at the ISLI
After a rebranding it's now called iSLI following the fashion of our times by putting small case vowels as the first letter, aka iGayDos (not as in Disk Operating System but as in The Gays - I know it doesn't make sense, but I find it funny so suck it). The website has been updated to reflect this and has a new logo, which is very horrible as it looks amateurish. Apparently the change happened because it was too expensive to print the gold colour of the letters in the previous logo - what about just using YELLOW guys? Also in the rumour mill - well some person that works there told me at a group All You Can Eat Chinese Outing and I've been told not to tell people this, so lets broadcast it over The Internet - is that the logo was designed by the sibling of a ISLI employee. It shows.

At one of the very first lectures, a lecturer did some pointless poll of students via hand raising and one of the questions he asked was "What kind of people do we have? .... Computing people? Electronics people? Librarians?", snigger from the class then an Asian guy audibly says "Africans".


Silence :(


The lecturer, astonished, says "What?" but he knew fine well what. Thankfully, the Asian guy repeated what he had said just to make sure those half asleep knew. Looks like Mr Asian and Mr African are now best buds so everything is A OK. Phew, racism solved!

Other Things
Walking out of Hillhead subway station, I had to cut though some Scottish Socialist Party promotion and noticed that a Big Issue seller asked one of the SSPers if he wanted to buy a magazine which the promoter declined while handing out "help the working people" flyers.

On my way to Livingston, while driving though Airdrie there is a great sign that has a yellow background with black square and black arrow pointing right. Anyone? My best guess is there is a giant black square from some exotic land on display on the main street, sort of like King Kong in New York.

Also on my driving travels I saw this phrase on the back of a "Traditional Builders" white van: "I wish my wife was as dirty as this". Made my day. I'm sure this is not a new one but I don't hang around cars at night much.

My free laptop from the ISLI was hopefully ordered this week so it should be here soon. It's a Sony Vaio SZ1 XP. Shiny and sexy! Had to get the extended 2 year warrenty and I threw in a case for it too. As long as the total order was under £1500 excluding VAT "it's ok"(tm).

Holiday
Mariken and I have booked up holidays for the start of June. We will spend one week in an apartment in Tarragona, Spain, which is just below Barcelona and was the Roman capital of Spain so there will be plenty of "old stuff" to see. Then we'll get the train to Barcelona and spend a week there. Both places are private apartments that have worked out much cheaper than hotels. Flying into Reus with Ryanair works out quite cheap too, although we left it a couple of days and the prices doubled :( Still only £24 return but with taxes this comes to £50. The apartment in Barca is near the Sagrada Familia which according to my extensive knowledge of the area is the drugged up religious creation of Gaudi. Yeah.

I have my last exam on the 2nd of June then we go on holiday the next day until to the 17th. I then have one week for moving as I start at ARM in Cambridge on the 26th.

Moving
I'm looking forward to starting with ARM away down there but it's getting a little scary due to moving away from everyone I know and trying to get a nice place to stay. Have been thinking about buying somewhere as my Dad and I talked to the bank and my parents can go guarantor on a mortgage as I would not be able to get a decent one. However, Cambridge is very expensive so I might have to stay further out, which I don't really want to do as the road congestion is very bad (plus they have congestion charging) and I would like to cycle to work.

If I want to rent a one bedroom flat for myself I have set a limit of £700 per month. I have seen a few nice places but it's a lot of money. Might share for a wee while then think about moving to a place of my own (either renting or buying).

That's it, guyz.

Byeeeeee!

--
mond

Photos of Lochaline Holiday

You can take a mosey on over to the photo album here to see some lovely snaps of the West of Scotland.

--
Derek

LEG

Well, to cut a long "mond" story short, I have accepted EngD sponsorship with ARM! :)

Ten CVs were sent to ARM for consideration, five of which were selected for a telephone interview, then two were asked down to Cambridge for a face-to-face interview and then one would be selected for sponsorship.

I had my telephone interview with them last Wednesday, with the manager of R&D and another top guy, which went well as they emailed me half an hour after asking me down to Cambridge on Monday the 12th.

Flights were arranged for me by Sandie at the ISLI for the Monday morning, arriving at 11am for my 2 hour technical interview from 2pm then getting the return flight at 9pm from Stansted (which was only half an hour away using a direct train). I wasn't too happy about this as it would be a very long day so I would of prefered staying over on the Sunday night. However, she wasn't "willing" to pay the extra, which was strange since it was ARM paying for it.

Anyway, it was a very long day and I was shattered coming home on the plane. (Though seeing all the lights from miles above on a clear night was very nice). The interview was split into two one hour sessions with different people. They asked me about my projects at Uni, FPGAs, things about using shared memory, paging, cache consistency, some ideas I had for a project, etc. Surprisingly, they didn't ask me about computer architecture even though I had studied up on it for a few days before.

The project had already been outlined and the abstract I got is below.

Title: Reliability implications of next generation SoCs.

Abstract:

Consideration of device reliability due to soft errors and wear-out is anticipated to become an increasingly prevalent requirement in future process geometries as feature size and voltage decrease, and still today, we have difficultly in understanding the detailed consequences and system wide effects of such errors in processing systems. How do we design cost sensitive systems to deliver existing levels of reliability with increasingly unreliable silicon?

This research project aims to investigate the design and integration of dependable computing measures. It will investigate the fundamental factors affects device reliability; including analysis, trends, and detection and recovery mechanisms, and explore how these can be integrated into future SoCs. The project will also investigate how reliability measures impact system level design, the impact on multi-processor and data engine systems, and how these can be reliably interconnected.

Initial proposals for key investigative areas:

1. Reliability of the single compute engine
(Fundamentals of dependable computing; analysis, trends, integration and development of error detection and recovery mechanisms)

2. System level design and integration of multiple interconnected processing elements, data engines, and peripherals
(ARM processor design and system level integration, processor interconnection, FPGA development)

3. Reliability at the system level, reliable interconnection, processing element wear-out and total system level reliability
(Integration of 1. and 2.)

The further I researched into it the more I was interested in it. The project is quite open in so much as that I'll be exploring what can be done and guiding it, which will be enjoyable.

So I will spend six months from the 3rd of October studying at the ISLI then I will move down to Cambridge to work on the project, occasionally coming up for some modules.

So I'll be down at Cambridge for about four years. Quite a big step really. I had to think about accepting it first, but it was too good an opportunity to pass. I really wanted to work for ARM, the EngD will be very good experience and I'll get to work on some cutting edge research with this project. Obviously, the down side being moving all the way down South.

I've talked it over with Mariken and what happens depends on where she finds a job. She had an interview with a company called Xplore Learning who have places near Cambridge but that would involve her moving down some months before me. If she gets a job up here then after I've spent some time down there then we can evaluate what we want to do.

Otherwise I've been looking around for cars. Some of the contenders are/were (all new cars):

Seat Ibiza 1.4 Sport 3dr
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2i SXi 3dr
Ford Fiesta 1.4 Zetec 3dr
Renault Megane 1.4 3dr
Fiat Punto 1.2 3dr
Citroen C2 1.1i

:( The Ibiza didn't have enough head room and didn't have a seat height adjustor, which was an optional extra (POOR). It was quite slow too.

:( The Corsa is quite nippy but it didn't have a steering wheel height adjustor so it grazed against my leg.

:) The Fiesta fitted me well but was quite bland inside, and well on the outside too. Seems like the best value though.

:) Although it may not be to everyone's taste, I like the shape of the Megane. It has cool things like: you start the car with a card rather than a key, full electric windows that can all be controlled from the driver's position, weird hand brake that looked like an accelerator from an airplane and stereo volume control on the steering wheel. Downside is that the three doors are difficult to come by and are on the expensive side for me.

:( The Punto was nice looking but the underside of the dashboard hits my shins when I reach for the pedals.

:( The C2 is nice to look at and surprisingly fits me. However, there is no room in the back, which I suppose is not an issue as I would hardly ever have more than one passenger. The engine is a bit small so it's quite slow. But the bigger 1.4 is a bit pricey.

So I have a test drive with the Fiesta tomorrow and I'll need to get one for the Megane as well because that will ultimately be the decider. Also, the Fiesta is cheaper ;) But the Megane uses a magic keycard! Oh dear.

Ta Ta....

--
mond

Signing On and In

Aw'rite man, hooz it goin'?

I may have to speak like that now as I'm now claiming Job Seekers Allowance (aka the/tha dole, benefits, ... oh dear I can't think of any other slang terms, that's quite poor. If anyone has any other terms please put them in comment).

Of course, I'm being quite derogatory to people who are unemployed by stereotyping them but it does seem true when I'm waiting in the job centre. (Which obviously makes it OK). Apologies though.

I don't think I'm alone though. According to Joe I was brandished as "dolescum" by Bruce and Peter during a recent "web communication session" (ISOCHRONOUS?) which I didn't realise. But there you go.

I was initially put off claiming JSA because of a few concerns: there is a certain amount of stigma attached to being unemployed and having to claim money from the Government (as demonstrated by myself), and I think that after 5 years at Uni I thought I would have a job in a good company, so it doesn't reflect very positively on myself. In the end I decided to get it as I'm actively looking for a employment anyway and I kinda need it.

The interview for the ISLI went well as I was told at the end of the day that I had been shortlisted. I believe there is about 16 candidates that have been shortlisted but there is only 8 places available (due to funding). The interview was carried out by two of the head guys but it wasn't like other interviews I had been to because they where trying to discern if I really wanted to do the EngD.

The next stage is for my CV to be sent out to companies looking for sponsorship, only once that is secured will I be able to study for a EngD. In the mean-time I have accepted their offer of a MSc in System Level Integration as a back-up in case they don't find a sponsor by October. In which case they will keep looking until one is found and I can be transferred across. However, there is no guarantee. The first year of the EngD is equivalent to doing the MSc anyway so I'll have a better chance come next year of being sponsored as I would already be a year in to the EngD. I will get my fees paid (circa 3,500 pounds) and be given a stipend of 6,000 pounds so I would be stupid not to do it. It's only another year anyway... (I'm won't be so positive come exam time ;))

This would mean I would become a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh. I have an information pack about freshers' week and that, which is quite strange as it's like I'm starting Uni all over again.

I might not actually have to go on the MSc anyway as I had an interview with Spiral Gateway, which went well, I think. It was carried out by the CEO and the founder, which was quite good. I was quite interested in one of their products called RICA (Reconfigurable Instruction Cell Array) and asked a number of questions on it to show that I had prepared and was interested in working for the company. They have a fourth person to interview next week so I should hear back from the soon.

I was informed today that I have got a telephone interview with ARM next week. This is the first stage with a pool of 5 students, 2 of which will go for a face-to-face interview in Cambridge and then 1 will be selected for sponsorship. As the EngD will be carried out in either Sheffield or Cambridge, the ISLI phoned me to say if it was OK to accept the interview as I had said that I would prefer to stay in Scotland. I thought that I would just go with it to see what happens.

I've had several emails from interested recruitment companies who have seen my CV on Monster.co.uk but they haven't got back to me yet. I don't think there would be much point chasing them up as I'm going to do the MSc anyway.

I guy from a small recruitment firm called me to ask if he could send my CV to a company called Memex (they maintain a huge criminal intelligence database) and one called 4i2i (they mainly develop video processing solutions on FPGAs, for the likes of NASA). I said yes to both although I wouldn't actually want to work for Memex as it involves...shock, horror... Windows programming, which = BLEUCH. I was very interested in 4i2i even though it would mean I would have to move the Aberdeen, however, they are doing quite well and apparently are looking to set up in Edinburgh too, which would be better. However, I phoned him on Monday past as I hadn't heard from him in two weeks, to hear that 4i2i weren't interested (boooo!) as I wasn't specific enough for them or something (he didn't really explain why exactly even though I asked him twice). He also said Memex would make a decision in a couple of days but I don't care though so I'm not going to follow it up.

I still haven't heard back from the teacher I had tried to contact about a HMGCC reference (I phoned the school on again on Monday there), so I'm going to give up and ask someone else.

On Saturday there I got back from a weeks holiday in Lochaline (which is in Morvern and getting there from Oban seems to do bad things to Google Maps) which I spent with Mariken and her Mum in a cottage overlooking the loch. Mariken's Mum, Dineke, was at the Edinburgh festival and as she doesn't like driving in cities we had to make our own way there, by getting the bus to Oban, then the ferry across to Mull, then a 10 min taxi ride along a bit to Fishnish to get the ferry across to Lochaline. I had never seen much of the West coast (not even Oban or Fort William - poor, I know), so it was quite an eye opener to see how beautiful, dramatic and serene it was.

As the weather was a bit rubbish (mostly wet with short lived dry spells), we mostly went touring around the area along scary single track roads in Dineke's wee car, which was fun as it combined dryness, site-seeing and little physical activity :) A few times we did go on walks that were really enjoyable anyway, like one time we went to the fossil burn to find "devil's toenails" (the remains of the Bivalve, a small shell comprised of a flat underside lid and a curly upper section). And we went for a walk along the beach and tried to find muscle pearls that involved smashing open the muscle with a rock and fingering it's insides. I got the smashing part done but the fingering part was too manky for me so I just left them lying on the rocks. Go me: destroying innocent life. Mariken and I also did the rock walk, which involved crossing a stretch of volcanic jagy rocks. I was obviously the "main man" so I took all the more difficult tracks causing slight injury to my knees. Oh yeah. There was a super-size crunchie at the end of it so it wasn't all just for kicks.

We also walked to Loch Tearnait (which is the loch in the middle of that map). There is a bit of interesting history here about the place, just scroll down to "Traditional History". That was amazing as we crossed through about 5km of absolutely serene, hilly, landscape. Once we got there we visited a bothy that overlooked the loch and were invited in my two guys for a cup of tea. After much protesting against me actually wanting a tea they just gave my a cappuccino. We talked to them for a bit to find out they were employed by the estate owner to fix up the bothy and had been coming here for some years. They also told us about a fox they enticed into the place and a otter that lives down by the loch. We also saw a shrew in the bothy which was nice.

Other places that we went were: Drimnin where we met a long serving postie that Dineke knew and that was that, Strontian which gave its name to the element strontium that was used in radioactive shielding and TV sets, you can read about some of the history mentioned here. Will save me the hassle :) Went to Fort William too but it was raining and misty so couldn't see much of Ben Nevis.

On the way home I got the bus from Fort William to Glasgow and we passed through Glencoe, which was one of the most stunning and worst bus journeys I have ever been on. Stunning due to the scenery and worst due to there being fuck all leg room (that resulted in red scratches and markings on my knees) and this fucking tourist in the seat next to me who kept on dozing off to sleep, which meant she kept head butting my arm as her head swooned when crossing over to ZZZ-land. <;-(' (which apparently means that "I'm spitting mad").

That's one long post....

There are pictures too, which will go up in the NET soon, aren't you so excited, eh? EH?!

Toodle loo,

--
mond

I'm Moblogging!

This is a test post from my mobile phone.

Aren't I the coolest chap in town.