Good summary of the UK tax system, the article demonstrating that income is taxed far more heavily than other forms of earnings.
http://www.lovemoney.com/news/household-bills/tax/12685/why-working-is-a-mugs-game
So about 30% of income for most people. A simplified tax system is long overdue, but it seems further away than ever. Especially since direct income tax is seen as a difficult thing for the government to raise.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Film: Christmas Vacation directed by Jeremiah Chechik
This is a film I try to watch every year prior to Christmas. It is a Chevy Chase comedy vehicle about a father and mother trying to ensure the perfect Christmas for their unappreciative children and relatives.
There are many over the top scenes to tell the viewer that sometimes more is less. The Griswold family Christmas tree is cut down from the forest, far to big to be practical. Chase spends days nailing lights to the house, which fail to light up on the grand opening - when they do they cause a neighbourhood power surge.
Griswold's trailer trash brother turns up who is on hard times, and needs to sponge Christmas off his brother. He tries to repay him by bringing his boss to the house to explain why there was no Christmas bonus this year.
The neighbours are a typical 80s modern couple who are shunning Christmas, but inevitably suffer from Griswold's attempt to celebrate it, this leads to some good comedy routines for Chase.
One funny thing that is obviously taken from the Wonderful Life film is the bannister on the stair annoying Chase (as it does Stewart), Chase "fixing" it with a chainsaw.
So a little dated, still funny, and does make you think of Christmas excess and how it is best avoided. 7/10
There are many over the top scenes to tell the viewer that sometimes more is less. The Griswold family Christmas tree is cut down from the forest, far to big to be practical. Chase spends days nailing lights to the house, which fail to light up on the grand opening - when they do they cause a neighbourhood power surge.
Griswold's trailer trash brother turns up who is on hard times, and needs to sponge Christmas off his brother. He tries to repay him by bringing his boss to the house to explain why there was no Christmas bonus this year.
The neighbours are a typical 80s modern couple who are shunning Christmas, but inevitably suffer from Griswold's attempt to celebrate it, this leads to some good comedy routines for Chase.
One funny thing that is obviously taken from the Wonderful Life film is the bannister on the stair annoying Chase (as it does Stewart), Chase "fixing" it with a chainsaw.
So a little dated, still funny, and does make you think of Christmas excess and how it is best avoided. 7/10
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Raspberry Pi Close
A link to a blog update stating that the initial run of boards is being tested, if they are ok then a bigger production run will begin.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/422
That is really good news, and it looks an interesting projects device. It is interesting to look at the interfaces they have chosen on their minimal footprint device. I see the model B device as the only sensible option for a development board because of the network connection, the HDMI or RCA connector seems a little strange - but maybe RCA is more popular in the US. But given space was at a premium you think HDMI would be their only connector covering both audio and video. I had also read they wanted a device to connect simple to a range of output devices, so perhaps that is the reason.
Performance of the board would be of most interest to me, I have an Intel Atom based Nettop for any video viewing and archiving of content. It is certainly adequate at that but it does not take much to reach the limits of the device when doing CPU intensive work. You certainly notice yet another Windows Update getting downloaded if you were watching a video at the same time.
This board has a 700Mhz processor and 256Mbyte RAM, but the demos do show some pretty impressive results even though it does feel light on memory.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/422
That is really good news, and it looks an interesting projects device. It is interesting to look at the interfaces they have chosen on their minimal footprint device. I see the model B device as the only sensible option for a development board because of the network connection, the HDMI or RCA connector seems a little strange - but maybe RCA is more popular in the US. But given space was at a premium you think HDMI would be their only connector covering both audio and video. I had also read they wanted a device to connect simple to a range of output devices, so perhaps that is the reason.
Performance of the board would be of most interest to me, I have an Intel Atom based Nettop for any video viewing and archiving of content. It is certainly adequate at that but it does not take much to reach the limits of the device when doing CPU intensive work. You certainly notice yet another Windows Update getting downloaded if you were watching a video at the same time.
This board has a 700Mhz processor and 256Mbyte RAM, but the demos do show some pretty impressive results even though it does feel light on memory.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Microsoft step down from CES
Reported this week is the 2012 CES will be Microsofts last fronting of the event.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/22/microsoft_dump_ces/
I've followed the keynote for a few years, actually sitting down watching it making notes - interested to see what Microsoft are trying to push out there. So although it is not a total surprise that they are pulling out it does mean I won't get that information about what they are doing. Of course a lot what they show never comes to pass, in that strange Microsoft way of never advertising something in simple terms but instead pitching between those "in the know" with over abstract marketing. Probably a symptom of a company that has been for so long a necessary evil bolt on, rather than someone you'd want to buy something from.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/22/microsoft_dump_ces/
I've followed the keynote for a few years, actually sitting down watching it making notes - interested to see what Microsoft are trying to push out there. So although it is not a total surprise that they are pulling out it does mean I won't get that information about what they are doing. Of course a lot what they show never comes to pass, in that strange Microsoft way of never advertising something in simple terms but instead pitching between those "in the know" with over abstract marketing. Probably a symptom of a company that has been for so long a necessary evil bolt on, rather than someone you'd want to buy something from.
Film: It's a Wonderful Life Directed by Frank Capra
A post war film about a small town called Bedford in which James Stewart's character Bailey runs a small home loans business. He is portrayed as a selfless man who has passed up better opportunities to stay running the family business. The town also has a hard nosed banker who would want to see the business run on less benevolent terms.
The business hits hard times, there is a run on the loan company (where Stewart gets to explain fractional reserve lending rather well). Potter makes Bailey an offer for a much better paid job, which would be useful now that he is married and has family commitments. He turns it down on point of principle. This makes Potter want to see Bailey fail and he has his chance when he intercepts some deposit money from the loans company, enough to make them bankrupt.
With the investigators called in Bailey contemplates ending it all. At this point his guardian angel is sent down (who has been incentivised with the promise of earning his wings if he can sort out Bailey and save him). The guardian angel takes Bailey shows him how the world would be had he not being born. Predictably the Bedford town is called Pottersville, and he now has a very hard grip on the small town. His wife would never have married and is running the local library, and various things that affected other lives would not have happened.
The whole story ends with Bailey being sent back to his real existence and with the local town rallying round and raising the money to replace the stolen cash. A bell is also sounded to indicate that the angel gained his wings on the back of convincing Bailey to carry on.
A classic film, Stewart does feel a little overplayed at times - for example it does take him an awful long time for him to realise that the angel is showing him life in Bedford had he not lived. I would rate 6/10, IMDB has this much higher but maybe that's a nostalgic thing.
The business hits hard times, there is a run on the loan company (where Stewart gets to explain fractional reserve lending rather well). Potter makes Bailey an offer for a much better paid job, which would be useful now that he is married and has family commitments. He turns it down on point of principle. This makes Potter want to see Bailey fail and he has his chance when he intercepts some deposit money from the loans company, enough to make them bankrupt.
With the investigators called in Bailey contemplates ending it all. At this point his guardian angel is sent down (who has been incentivised with the promise of earning his wings if he can sort out Bailey and save him). The guardian angel takes Bailey shows him how the world would be had he not being born. Predictably the Bedford town is called Pottersville, and he now has a very hard grip on the small town. His wife would never have married and is running the local library, and various things that affected other lives would not have happened.
The whole story ends with Bailey being sent back to his real existence and with the local town rallying round and raising the money to replace the stolen cash. A bell is also sounded to indicate that the angel gained his wings on the back of convincing Bailey to carry on.
A classic film, Stewart does feel a little overplayed at times - for example it does take him an awful long time for him to realise that the angel is showing him life in Bedford had he not lived. I would rate 6/10, IMDB has this much higher but maybe that's a nostalgic thing.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Listening: Live in Cleavland 2011 Rush
I have not done one of these entries since 2009! Of course I've been listening to things since then, but maybe not in the car or entire albums.
This is the latest Rush live album and I have been listening to it recently. It has some good tracks on it, a high point being the Working Man rendition (with a Reggae intro). Lees voice is a bit of a weak point, it seems like it is a bit strained on this concert - but a minor point.
This is the latest Rush live album and I have been listening to it recently. It has some good tracks on it, a high point being the Working Man rendition (with a Reggae intro). Lees voice is a bit of a weak point, it seems like it is a bit strained on this concert - but a minor point.
Ebook read: The Secret Life of Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay
A very thorough history of the role the code breaking in Bletchley played during the war years, also a portrait of those involved from high up to the people doing day to day work.
I found this a really interesting read, the book describes well the code breaking mechanics without getting too bogged down in detail. It ties historical war events to the background code breaking. I had never appreciated that the location of Bismarck, the North Africa campaign, the Atlantic convoy war, and keeping Russia in with intelligence had all benefited from code decrypts.
Throughout the author is at pains to explain the secrecy involved, to the extent that some information could not always be used because it would betray the source. This secrecy continued way after the war, it was not until the 1970s when a book was released about the "Ultra secret" that the first signs appeared.
Non use of information has some controversy, the book argues that it was not responsible for allowing Coventry to be bombed without any evacuation, or for not informing the Americans of Pearl Harbour.
The accepted truth is that the code breakers shortened the war by two years, I think that under sells them, keeping supply lines open in the Atlantic, and keeping Russia in with intelligence must have been a huge tactical advantage.
The post war secrecy is interesting, Britain missed out on the birth of the computer having ironically used something akin to them in the code breaking. Alan Turing was treated shamefully and killed himself in the early 1950s. The silence of those who worked at Bletchley is quite staggering, with some sad stories of people not being able to bring themselves to tell their families what their role was after many years.
Part of this maybe down to the compartmentalisation of the decoding tasks, huts on the park which did specific jobs and everyone working in a culture where you might not have known what was going on in other departments. Bletchley did have a brush with the Cambridge spy ring as they recruited from bright academic circles, and that sideline is also interesting with the author suggessting the British government was happy to let some information be divulged to the Russians this way.
I found this a really interesting read, the book describes well the code breaking mechanics without getting too bogged down in detail. It ties historical war events to the background code breaking. I had never appreciated that the location of Bismarck, the North Africa campaign, the Atlantic convoy war, and keeping Russia in with intelligence had all benefited from code decrypts.
Throughout the author is at pains to explain the secrecy involved, to the extent that some information could not always be used because it would betray the source. This secrecy continued way after the war, it was not until the 1970s when a book was released about the "Ultra secret" that the first signs appeared.
Non use of information has some controversy, the book argues that it was not responsible for allowing Coventry to be bombed without any evacuation, or for not informing the Americans of Pearl Harbour.
The accepted truth is that the code breakers shortened the war by two years, I think that under sells them, keeping supply lines open in the Atlantic, and keeping Russia in with intelligence must have been a huge tactical advantage.
The post war secrecy is interesting, Britain missed out on the birth of the computer having ironically used something akin to them in the code breaking. Alan Turing was treated shamefully and killed himself in the early 1950s. The silence of those who worked at Bletchley is quite staggering, with some sad stories of people not being able to bring themselves to tell their families what their role was after many years.
Part of this maybe down to the compartmentalisation of the decoding tasks, huts on the park which did specific jobs and everyone working in a culture where you might not have known what was going on in other departments. Bletchley did have a brush with the Cambridge spy ring as they recruited from bright academic circles, and that sideline is also interesting with the author suggessting the British government was happy to let some information be divulged to the Russians this way.
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