the terrors of the earth

My Best Friend (apparently)...

dave@dave.org.uk — Mon, 05 Jul 2004 08:12:10 GMT

Our 12 common interests are: billy bragg, books, buffy, comics, linux, london, london.pm, neil gaiman, politics, sandman, socialism, unix

Who is your best friend?

Created by macoto

Countries I Have Visited

dave@dave.org.uk — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 09:40:41 GMT

I thought this was a lot of fun.

create your own visited country map

Adding Russia and Chine sure turns a lot of it red!

Paid Account

dave@dave.org.uk — Fri, 10 Oct 2003 09:48:58 GMT

I finally cracked and decided to pay for my account.

My first action was to add a new RSS feed for my use.perl journal. If you are at all interested in my doodlings in the Perl world then feel free to subscribe to it at davorg_up.

Since working at the Guardian, I've also discovered that they have an RSS feed of their headlines. I tried to add that feed too, but it seems that someone has beaten me to it. It's at the_guardian.

Now I'm off to see what other new powers I have...

Editing Friends

dave@dave.org.uk — Tue, 07 Oct 2003 14:14:26 GMT

I just removed someone from my friends list for what was (I think) the first time. I read LJs that are by people who I find interesting. This person was someone who I'd found very interesting on another (more technical) web site. Unfortunately, on LJ he just wanted to quote the Bible. That was intensely boring so he just had to go I'm afraid.

Haiku

dave@dave.org.uk — Mon, 11 Aug 2003 14:00:53 GMT

This made me laugh.

(via sbisson)

The Real Me

dave@dave.org.uk — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 09:29:52 GMT

I've noticed that a few people have me listed as a friend, but not my full blog (davorg_full).

That's ok, of course, maybe you read my blog over at dave.org.uk/blog/ or maybe (just possibly) you're not interested in reading my other rantings.

Anyway, this is just a heads-up. If you're wondering why I'm being a bit quiet then you should add davorg_blog to your friends list.

This is _so_ not me

dave@dave.org.uk — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 08:35:39 GMT

davorg
Magic Number	13
Job	Most Hated Person - Ever
Personality	Slacker
Temperament	An Oft-Exploding Volcano
Sexual	If I Have To
Likely To Win	Another Gold Star
Me - In A Word	Subtle
Colour
Brought to you by MemeJack

LJ Match Thing

dave@dave.org.uk — Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:33:13 GMT

Everyone else did this weeks ago...





	
	
	
		q_skud_
		
		102%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		nassus
		
		98%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		xbuffysummersx
		
		95%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		_rogueslayer_
		
		95%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		pne
		
		91%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		uon
		
		91%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		xander__harris
		
		91%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		zimpenfish
		
		91%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		publius_ovidius
		
		88%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		noidd
		
		87%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		neilf
		
		87%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		rozallin
		
		87%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		violetofthehat
		
		87%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		mstevens
		
		84%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		amanda_sit
		
		84%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		natalief
		
		84%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		rabbit_phobia
		
		80%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		_kennedy_
		
		80%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		pdcawley
		
		77%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		ali_anarres
		
		76%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		marnameow
		
		74%
		
		
		
	
	
	


	
	
	
		rataxis
		
		71%
		
		
		
	
	
	

How compatible with me are YOU?

Interview Meme

dave@dave.org.uk — Fri, 06 Jun 2003 12:59:08 GMT

pdcawley asking the questions.

Dave and Gill, sitting in a tree... How did you two meet? Love at first sight?

It's a good story. And one that Gill tells far better than I do. September 20th 1995. I'm about six months into my first contract (Sybase, C, never heard of Perl at that point). We have a monthly Sybase contractors pub meet - like london.pm but more suits. This month we're at the Coal Hole on the Strand. My cow-orker invites his sister in law along. The sister in law is Gill. Something definitely clicks instantly. By the end of the evening we're snogging in the taxi as I take her back to Euston where she gets a train to Milton Keynes (where she lives, with a boyfriend). Within a week I've given her my doorkey. Within two weeks she has moved in. We marry just over a year later.

Voting Labour. What, if any, regrets this time round? An anarcho liberal asks.

I left the Labour Party just before the last General Election because of their behaviour over Ken Livingstone and the Mayoral nomination. I still voted Labour in 2001. It was a no-brainer. Sure I disagree with a lot (and I mean a lot) of what they have done since 1997 but in my constituency the only alternative is the Tories and I disagree with them even more. In the London Assembly elections we had Socialist Alliance candidates and I spread my votes between them and Labour, but in the General Election they didn't put up a candidate. I probably wouldn't have voted for them anyway as a General Election vote that isn't for one of the main three parties is wasted in my opinion. So I don't regret the vote, but I really wish there was another alternative. The LibDems are looking more and more tempting to me. Many of their policies are far closer to my views that New (spit) Labour. It's my fervent hope that the Tories will self-destruct in the near future and the LibDems replace them as the opposition - thus bringing the tone of British political debate back towards the left.

Data Munging. Dude! You wrote the book on this subject! What would you take out? What would you add? Who would you publish it through?

I don't think I'd take anything out. Maybe some of the stuff on modules like Number::Format. The XML chapter needs a rewrite. It looks terribly out of date. This is because a) the Perl XML world moves so quickly (XML::LibXML and XML::SAX weren't around, for example) and b) I didn't really know much about XML processing with Perl when I wrote it (I didn't even mention XML::Simple). I'd add a chapter on the Template Toolkit as a great tool for generating data output files. I knew that I wanted to cover it as I was finishing the book, but I didn't have time. So I compromised by writing an article for perl.com. I'm still grateful for Manning for taking a chance on publishing my first book, but you can't escape the fact that there are large numbers of people out there who only buy Perl books if they are from O'Reilly. I'm not concerned about selling more copies (well, maybe a little) but about more people seeing (and hopefully benefitting from) the book.

It's right at the end of Desert Island Discs, which of your records would you keep? What's your book? What's your luxury?

Hate questions like this. With a passion. My favourites vary so much. All the time. The book might surprise you. I'd be tempted to go for the Bible. Not for any of the reasons that some other people might choose it. To me it's just a book. But it's one of the most varied and interesting books that I know of. For a record it would have to be some sort of compilation I think. I've got a great compilation of Stiff records from the 70s and 80s. I might well go for that. If I had to go for something by one artist it would probably be David Bowie's Diamond Dogs. Or Leonard Cohen's Death of a Ladies Man. Or maybe Highway 51 Revisited. Sooo hard to choose. A luxury item is easier. If it's allowed in the rules I'll have a laptop with an Internet connection please (thereby rendering the previous two choices moot!) If, as I suspect, that's not allowed I'll take an acoustic guitar please. I'm miles from anyone on a desert island so it doesn't matter that I sing like tortured cats - I'll still enjoy myself :)

When is the Perl contracting market going to pick up? Justify your answer, do not attempt to write on both sides of the paper at once.

You know, I have this horrible suspicion that it might not. Ever. Everywhere I look I see more and more people turning to Java or Microsoft fuckwittage. And whilst I'm now a firm convert to the "Perl 6 is cool" club I'm far from convinced that the new version will do anything to improve Perl's image among the people who decide what technologies are used. We need whole page adverts in Fortune and Forbes. We need Perl success stories discussed on the golf course. And I don't see how that is going to happen. On the other hand, I do see one small opportunity for Open Source software in general. When this recession starts to ease off (maybe later this year, but probably next year) companies will want to start building new systems. If we can get a number of Open Source consultancies to implement cheap, robust and successful systems for these companies then we might just get enough of a critical mass to keep going. But I prefer being a pessimist to being an optimist as it's more fun when you're wrong.

Let me know if you'd like me to interview you.

Ambience

dave@dave.org.uk — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 09:36:15 GMT

Why does reading LiveJournal make me want to start writing bad sixth-form poetry.

I'm so glad that LJ wasn't around when I was younger and angsty.

Blog Feeds

dave@dave.org.uk — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 06:54:19 GMT

There are now two feeds from my real blog into LJ.

davorg_full is a full feed containing all the text.

davorg_blog is just the index with the first line of the entries.

Share and Enjoy...

Here I Am

dave@dave.org.uk — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 12:18:50 GMT

It was only a matter of time I guess. I'm only really here because a number of my friends post here. My real blog is over here.

LiveJournal Haiku!
Your name:	davorg
Your haiku:	i've noticed that a few people have me listed as a friend but not
Username:

Created by Grahame