sutton050

So, the move is over... So many little jobs have been completed, from wiring, changing switches and today plastering a wall from which the pink finish had crumbled (no idea why the prior owner left it to get in such a state, it only took an hour to strip, brush, seal with PVA and replaster... Which brings me onto the topic of today's post... An invention... Which mixes plaster... Yes, this would be a huge money maker, but there must be a reason it doesn't exist on the domestic market.... Now I'm pretty sure there will be a huge hundred grands worth of professional mixing machine somewhere, but I'm talking about the small job, a single wall or room in a home. What might this need?... Well, it needs some sensors for the mix, thickness/turbidity, water, weight, temperature even?  You pour the dry powder in some hopper, it's tested, you set the mix type (finishing or main coat etc) the water is maybe filled straight from a tap to the machine... and the computer does the...

Smashed my phone whilst lifting the old dishwasher out... This house move just got a whole lot more expensive.

Harping back to my prior post about learning to program, when I spoke at my old Uni, I spoke to a lovely trio of ladies, whom wanted to be programmer/computer folks... And one thing struck me, was how narrow their knowledge was. When they asked me how I got into programming and I explained that when I learned to program in the 1990's there was no github, indeed there was no internet, you could not just go and download a program or join an open source project.  If you wanted tool, and had no BBS dial up to find someone with something like it, you wrote your own. I wrote code to record kills in games on the Atari ST, I wrote text editors for the ST and DOS (EGA graphics FTW), I write 2D painting programs for DOS.... I distinctly remember my college tutor seeing my using DOS interrupt 11 to control the mouse and his saying "you're the first person I've seen work that out"... I didn't work it out by trial and error though, I worked it out by reading, about the DOS...

I have just ordered a mail redirection, as part of our move to the new house... And at the end the Royal Mail ask you a series of security questions to "confirm" your identity.... OH MY GOD They are the most scary things to see, they were asking me questions about old addressed (totally unrelated to the addresses being redirected) they ask about current accounts opened sixteen years ago, they ask about my previous mortgages outstanding balance... Really scary things, and if you get the questions wrong they tell you, they know the answers. This is the most scary thing... I could sit with a credit card, paying a fee (I admit) and putting in the personal data of other people I know and I could learn new secret private information about them, okay they asked me three four different previous addresses... Only one applied to me... But, if you cross referenced this you could build a big picture about people... I'm honestly scared by something so mundane having access to so much ...

I was asked this very interesting question this week... "Can you learn to be a programmer?"... Lets be clear, the question is can you be a programmer, not can you learn to program.  I believe anyone can learn to use a programming language, to drive their computer to perform a task for them, after all computers are tools and everyone can learn to use any tool. Be a person trying to write a batch script, create a spreadsheet to do their home accounts, throwing together some python to process a few text files or creating a whole compiled program of some kind, pretty much anyone can make themselves, with a book, a little internet searching and enough time, appear on that bell-curve of skill. Does this therefore make everyone a programmer?  I think it most certainly does not.  I can pick up a saw and a hammer, I have in my time knocked out some dovetail joints and repaired the odd chest of draws, does that make me a carpenter?.. NOPE... And likewise, if that self same carpente...

Stan's done and gone... Sad...

God I love this film...