Creating Users: an illustration of the differences between PostgreSQL and MySQL
Like many starting out in websites and databases my first experience was with MySQL. I had no choice since the hosting service I used only offered MySQL. This is still the case for a lot of hosting - you get the standard LAMP stack and nothing more. I had read on the web that everyone is using MySQL, so how bad could it be? I was forgetting the maxim that quality and popularity are inversely proportional. BTW: it’s not really popularity in this case - it’s the most users - think Windoze.
Autumn Comes To Shanghai
History Of The Internet
Fascinating History of the Internet post over at Six Revisions. In which we discover I am older than the Internet. Groan…
Burger King Windows 7 Whopper
Charity Songs On YouTube
Two charity songs have recently appeared on YouTube. First we have the youngsters and a collaborative project called ChartJackers with a song called I’ve Got Nothing for Children in Need.
Roomba Pacman
Roomba Pacman video embedded below from YouTube. There is serious science and software behind this. Roomba Roomba stick it up your jumper.
Colour Film Of London From 1927
An amazing historic clip has appeared on YouTube (embedded below). It shows London in colour from 1927. Things I noticed: the sky is blue, everyone wears hats and England beat Australia at the Oval. The film, The Open Road, was made be Claude Friese-Greene, who together with his father is one of the early pioneers of colour film. Sounds like a fascinating chap.
100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do Unless They Are In China
One of the things that irks me about China is the service (or lack of it) at some restaurants. The New York Times has just posted a two parter called 100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do Part 1 and Part 2. They hit the nail right on the head with some of my favourite China dining experiences. For example:
The Loudness War
Have you noticed your new CDs are louder than your old CDs (or even albums)? That’s because the volume has been turned up in the mastering process. This results in a loss of dynamics (less difference between quiet and loud) and hence a worse sounding record. Now there’s an industry organisation called Turn Me Up campaigning for a return to dynamics. They’ve made a demo video (embedded below from YouTube) which demonstrates the effects. Music Machinery has an excellent entry (complete with graphs) on this subject and here’s the Wikipedia article. Quiet is the new…