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It is vastly cut down on functionality compared to the original prototype, but hopefully will provide a feature which is conspicuously absent on the Akai MPC500 device. I will explain the reasoning behind this feature-cull in this post.

Shout out to all the guys from mpc-forums hopefully you don’t hate me too much for taking so long to get this out there. I have had a lot of great support from you guys and I really feel like I let you down. I promised and promised that it would eventually get finished, but I found it very hard to keep them! If any of you were banking on features which I have removed then I apologize heartily. Hopefully you will find patched phrase editing useful though.

This is a screen shot of the new release:

Compared with the old version:

So as you can see it is MUCH MUCH simpler. Program editing is the main casualty, and this requires quite a complex interface for a relatively simple problem. I am thinking about releasing a second tool “BeatButcherMPC Program View” to address the problem of program editing some time in the future (hopefully not three years). I personally never found editing programs on the PC to be especially useful, since you can’t hear the changes that you are making. There is no point in being able to adjust the filter or envelope on a sound unless you can hear the output- to do anything else is creating music by sight rather than ear which is ridiculous.

The tool which I just mentioned would look something like a spreadsheet- allowing you to see an entire program on one page. You can sort of see this in the following screenshot. I’m not sure if this would be helpful to people or not. It would provide at-a-glance viewing and editing of programs without any of the cumbersome slider or spinner controls on programs such as “mpc maid“. N.B I like, respect, use and recommend mpc maid, all I am saying here is that it’s program view models the MPC500, albeit with a (much) bigger display, no disrespect intended.

A part of the problem I have had in releasing the software is that I initially wrote BeatButcherMPC when I was in my second year at university. I have since graduated and now work as a software engineer, and looking back at the code I see a lot of things which I want to change. However this is generally a lot of work for not a lot of visible gain, so it is hard to be motivated to do it!

All in all, I hope this is useful to someone!

When was the last time you wrote out a list of the things which you really want? Not things you would buy if you won the lottery, but things that you think are worth their asking price but are currently out of reach. It’s good to dream sometimes.

I spent this afternoon at the Northackton Ballistics Day at Racecourse Park. We were out in full force with a selection of trebuchets, catapults, rockets, longbows and other assorted tennis ball launching devices. I think it is fair to say that some contraptions worked better than others. I think only the water rocket based launcher managed to move the ball further than a man with a tennis racquet.

I had originally intended to make a mortar style launcher similar to this but I had a bit of a mishap in Wickes leading to abandonment of that plan. There is now a tennis ball wedged firmly into a 2m section of drain pipe in the Sixfields store.

In the end I settled for a Rube Goldberg-esque design, pictured above. It was never intended to be an effective weapon, but it did achieve a launch distance of at least 2m. Using a bike frame isn’t actually a bad idea- the bottom bracket is an effective bearing for the tennis racquet to pivot about, and the rear wheel could potentially store a lot of energy. However in the couple of hours I had to create an entry, I couldn’t think of a good way to utilize this, so I went for looks instead and made a funky Northackton stencil.

More Photos:

My first motorcycle, at the age of 16, was a Kymco 50cc scooter something like this. This machine was dangerously slow, it had no ability to pull away from danger whatsoever, and it taught me that buying cheap Chinese engineering is a false economy!

Rather sadly, my first bike was stolen fairly swiftly from the roadside one night and I replaced it with an Aprilia Habana Retro 50 which was still horrendously slow, but at least a little bit stylish (until you started the engine). I stopped riding the Aprilia as soon as I passed my car test and inherited the family Vauxhall Corsa. I sold this bike to my dad who also got the bug and did his test, now driving a Suzuki Bandit 600.

Aprilia Habana Retro 50

Yamaha XT125X

After four years of university I was getting a bit sick of getting the bus everywhere, so I decided a new motor was in order, and did my 125cc CBT (compulsory basic training) and I bought a nearly new Yamaha XT125X. This was a great bike for getting around town, and I did a mini tour from Portsmouth to Newcastle. It actually handled the experience admirably- the only annoyance (a big one) being that I was a learner and thus not permitted to drive on the motorway. The XT125X isn’t the quickest bike in its class, I think it did about 55mph reliably on the flat, but it was comfy, fun to ride, and I really like the styling. However I became complacent about security and this bike was stolen from outside the house I was staying at in Newcastle one night. This reminded me of something I had already learned the hard way and disregarded- never leave a bike at night if it is not chained TO something big and solid. And maybe not even then.

I subsequently started driving a car again, and the car was old and cost me a lot of money in maintenance, and it looked like shit, and it cost me a lot of money to insure, and it had a nodding dog heirloom which I was forbidden to remove. As I mentioned in a previous post, I spent a month in Thailand in April, and whilst there I spent some time driving a Kawasaki KLX250 up and down the dusty mountain tracks. This was an amazing experience, and really rekindled my interest in motorcycles. So as my insurance renewal hit the doormat I decided to take action and book my motorcycle theory test with the aim of getting a bike before my car insurance ran out (approximately two months).

Kawasaki KLX250

Kawasaki Er-5

The theory test is dead easy, I did about an hour of “revision” online, and there are plenty of resources around, but overall if you have driven on the roads in the UK and have some common sense then you should be fine with this. You have two years to pass your full test after passing the theory test, the same amount of time as you have to pass after your CBT certification date.

The next step after completing the theory test is to do some training on a big bike (more than 500cc) and then take both the module 1 (off road) and module 2 (on road) tests. This is known as a DAS (Direct Access Scheme) course and is available to anyone over 21 years of age. I got in touch with 90-one rider education in Northampton and booked a day on a big bike with them. This school prefer to assess your skill on the first day and go from there, rather than take block bookings like most other schools. This avoids paying for more training than is necessary, which is nice. My instructor, Harvey, was very easy going and helpful, and the one to one tuition ratio was very impressive.

After a day of tuition we decided I should book up a module 1 test slot, and I managed to get a cancellation the next week. I did another day of training, culminating with the test, which I passed with no minors. With the kind of training Harvey gave, it would be hard not to pass this section of the test. Because there is very little variance (no traffic etc) you just have to remember the tips you were told (always life saver check both sides, don’t go into the loop to quickly etc). I then booked my module 2 test since I was fairly confident on the bike and on the roads. I suspect that if I had not driven a geared bike before then I would have taken at least another day before I felt confident enough to take the test.

I didn’t have any tuition on the day of the test but I had a quick dash through town on the bike to get me back in the flow just before going out on the test, which really helped. I found the test quite hard- I found it very hard to understand the examiners instructions over the radio link, and repeatedly made incorrect turnings. However I was very relieved to find that I passed the test with only two minors (out of a possible ten).

After paying for the tuition and test fees, I was feeling a slight pain in my wallet, so I decided to buy a cheap basic bike, and reassess the situation when funds allow. I think I’m more likely to know what I want from a bike after riding for a while, and I’d rather not plough a load of money into a bike and then decide it is totally impractical. Likewise, I knew I needed some money left over for some quality gear, since protection and comfort go a long way to helping you enjoy riding. I’m currently looking to buy some decent waterproof boots and armoured trousers, I will post a mini review on whatever I buy at some point.

I bought a 1998 Kawasaki Er-5 for £600 on Gumtree which so far has performed solidly. The bike looks like it has been dropped once, but has low miles and is in generally decent condition. It has a slight hole in the exhaust and a couple of other niggles which need fixing before its MOT, but I don’t think it will require anything major.

And that brings us up to present, where my motorcycle training is really just beginning! I look forward to many adventures with bikes in the future.

Cost Summary:

Getting a licence:
125cc CBT £109
Theory Test £30
2 days tuition £240
Big Bike Module 1 £15
Big Bike Module 2 £80
Bike Hire for Mod 2 £50

Total £524

Minimal Gear:
1998 Kawasaki ER-5 £600
3rd Party Insurance £270
HJC Helmet £139
Chain & Lock £39
Armoured Jacket £39
Gloves £30

Total £1117

My Shopping List:
Armoured Trousers
Waterproof Boots
Top box + Rack
Waterproof oversuit
Disc lock alarm

Re-ocurring costs (yearly):
MOT £27
Tax £50

I have it within me to do all these things

What is your manifesto?

Links
http://codebetter.com/blogs/jeremy.miller/archive/2006/10/30/My-Programming-Manifesto.aspx
http://www.mithral.com/~beberg/manifesto.html
http://www.jamieoliver.com/school-dinners/my-manifesto
http://changethis.com/manifesto/36.04.HappyatWork/pdf/36.04.HappyatWork.pdf
http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2009/11/20/a-life-well-lived-developing-a-personal-manifesto/

Understanding Power

Peter R. Mitchell (Editor). Vintage 2003, Paperback, 432 pages, £8.11

Noam Chomsky – Understanding Power

I started reading this after having an interesting discussion with an acquaintance. I am amazed by Chomsky’s critique of US foreign policy and authoritarian governance and this book has opened my eyes to a whole different way of looking at world events. The book is in question and answer format, from a series of talks given by Noam between 1989 and 1996 (I think) and it is suprising, shocking even, how well the principles he discusses apply to events and situations which have arisen long after it was published.

How to Read a Book

Mortimer J. Adler. Touchstone 1972, Paperback, 426 pages, £5.70

How To Read A Book – Mortimer J Adler

This book does what it says on the tin really. It isn’t especially interesting but it is well worth reading if you want to get more out of reading studies and papers of more complexity than “The Da Vinci Code”. I’m about half way through (after probably a year) and I want to finish it soon, but it is a bit of an effort to read at times.

If you run all the way to the station then you will obviously catch the first available train, and get there as quickly as possible.

If you walk all the way to the station you will put int he minimum amount of effort and take the maximum amount of time possible.

However, if you run all the way to the station, there is an equal chance that the train will be just leaving the platform as if you walked all the way. So by running and expending more effort, you don’t necessarily gain anything- you may still catch the same train as if you had walked.

So when is it worth running?

I think that an important factor in the making the decision would be the frequency of the trains. The more frequent the train schedule is, the less the cost of just missing a train will be. The correlation between speed of travel and time of arrival is smoother. This makes it easier to trade off time versus effort.

However since we don’t know the schedule, this is of no use, and thus no trade off can occur, it has to be a straight decision of minimize effort or minimize time. Of course you could compromise and run and walk sections of the journey, but by doing this you are still in exactly the same position.

The only point I am trying to make is that without a deadline, sometimes it is hard to make good decisions, and it is tempting to just minimize the amount of effort you put into things. I think this applies to far more than just train travel.

This scared me.

This scared me so much in fact that I started filling up my days with as many activities as possible, playing multiple sports and going to the gym, musical instruments, reading books like “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, and such. I think this is when I earned the “manic obsessive” tag in the minds of many.

When I left university I was very scared that going into a full time job I would have much less time to do what I wanted and that I would end up as a mindless drone stuck in the monotony of the daily grind. I read “The Four Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferris in an attempt to solve this predicted problem, but it turns out that the book recommends pulling a bit of a scam, and I’m pretty sure that my boss now wouldn’t be too happy if I tried to outsource my work to India (that’s why they hired me right?).

So, I’ve been working full time for a year now, and I have to say that at no point have I felt like a mindless drone. The only problem is: that is what a mindless drone would think.

I think that it is important to step back out of the daily routine sometimes and think “what would my perfect routine be, how is it different to what I currently do, and what can I do to improve it?”. It is easy to get caught up in doing the same thing every day or week, without any reason other than because it is what you always do.

As an example, every week when I go food shopping, I buy 9 KitKat Chunky bars. Now I quite like them, I guess, but I can think of better things to eat as my 10am snack, and every week at the supermarket I think “maybe instead of these this week I’ll make some polish cake/florentines/whatever” and then I think “I probably wont make polish cake/florentines/whatever” so I buy the KitKat Chunky bar multi pack anyway, and then because I have them I don’t make anything. And so it goes on with other foods, I don’t want to eat a NutriGrain, they taste like cardboard, it’s just the alternative would take a bit of effort (to get out of the current routine).

I’ll give another example, hopefully one which you can relate to better (unless you too are a massive KitKat consumer). What do you eat for breakfast? For me it is a bowl of cheerios and a cream cheese bagel with orange juice. Now imagine your perfect breakfast. Personally I love the meal of breakfast, so this would be a selection of waffles + Nutella, croissants, pain au chocolates, American style pancakes with crispy bacon beans and eggs, bagels with various fillings, all with orange juice and coffee. Mmmm, I’m salivating just thinking about it. Now why don’t I have that every day? Because it is too much effort keeping all of those things in stock and it just seems easier to do the same thing every day. And if I start the day like that, how can I expect things to get better as it goes on. But it isn’t all about food, it’s just a good place to start looking at yourself because everybody eats.

As a footnote I still have the irrational fear of time. In a Sunday night I still feel anxious, as if there is something I should be doing, like last minute assignments, or reading up on Monday mornings lecture. Maybe 17 years of continuous education does that to a person. I’m hoping to grow out of it. A few nights ago I actually got annoyed because R phoned me while I was doing something and I felt like she was stealing my evening by wanting to talk. Of course this is nonsense, so sorry about that.

I had a silly idea yesterday about running a 30 hour day, similar to the old poly-phasic sleep theory. The idea was to move the day around so that you don’t always work through the best hours of the day. I worked it out on paper and everything. I calculated that it would allow me to have seven hours of free time in the evening to do whatever I wanted (albeit at a different random time each night). Then I realized 5pm to Midnight is seven hours.

There are seven hours of time to do anything you want every evening. Use them.