Neil Hopcroft

Mainly for the marvelousmrchip – theres a discussion going on over here about software development control methodologies…

[0] Bearing in mind the source at the moment is QCIF at 4fps[1] ‘video’ might be overstating it somewhat
[1] This is a mobile phone, how much can you expect?

The weekend started in the pub, one of the English guys here is leaving soon so we all went out to celebrate. This is the first evening we’ve been to the pub since I got here, they’re like techies everywhere, not the most sociable bunch. A very peculiar evening, there was lots of drinking going on but while all the Europeans were getting louder and louder the locals seemed to be getting quieter and quieter. Not sure if thats just normal or they were wary of their Finnish boss being there, or what. The pub was a ‘traditional English pub’ run by a mad Canadian, it was nearly as plastic as some of the pubs back home but it didn’t seem to matter so much – the plastic was for show, it was never going to be a real pub.

As the evening went on I got pounced upon by a Finnish doctor whose husband was distracted by the dartboard. She seemed lovely but absolutely insisted I go and stay with them when I visit Finland next…are all Finns like that? Or did I get an extreme one? All of a sudden everyone else had gone home and it was just me, my boss (line, as opposed to team) and his boss left. Some scary things were said which it would be imprudent to repeat here.

Yesterday I finally got a DVD writer – I’d kinda thought I was only going to get a CD writer but the price difference was small enough that it was worth getting the better drive. Of course, I’d forgotten that the software was going to be in Japanese, so if anyone out there has a copy of ULead Moviewriter or VideoStudio can you guide me through the buttons I need to press to write a disk? Just the positions of the buttons, not what it says, would be most useful. I think I’ve got the idea for writing a data disk, but I’m not sure its all correct yet…must pick up some English writing software while I’m back in October (unless anyone can suggest a sensible download, less than a couple of megs worth).

To go with the drive I treated myself to a couple of DVDs, Jam Films (which is a collection of short films, I’ve watched a couple of them, they’re brilliant so far, but I don’t understand them yet), Le Labyrinthe D’herbes (which has a cover surreal enough to make me want to buy it, no idea what its like) and Sigue Sigue Sputnik live from the venue just down the road (which is a sputnik gig, in Japan).

Today I went over to Roppongi again, after the guys on Friday said that I should like it I thought I’d give it another go…Paradise Towers a go go, I was expecting an eight foot high Bertie to pop out any minute. Its another of the office block/shopping centre crossbreeds, but this one is bigger and better and more audacious than the others, partly because its still new and the fountains still work but mostly because its got an apparently random distribution of corridors which are in no sense alike from one floor to the next. The whole place was made that extra bit spookier by the top of the tower disappearing into the clouds.

And now, I’ve got some video editing to do if I can figure out how to convert .vnt files into something sensible – they seem to be give-or-take base64 encoded .3gp files, but with some odd head stuff. I bet its syncML or something, isn’t it?

More mundane views of the city

More random photographs from an outsider in Tokyo

kayteanese or rosiaconite (or anyone else in the general vicinity of Tokyo) I’ve got a couple of books I’ve read and was going to send home, but if you’re interested you could have them…”Stupid White Men” and Iain Banks “Use of Weapons”.

When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
Probably when I was driving, not sure what it would have been, something like the dead kennedies. I dont sing to other people.

You have the power to go any distance into the future and, after one year, return to the present with any knowledge you have gained from your experience but with no physical objects. WOuld you make the journey if it carried a 50% risk of death?
No.

Given the choice of anyone in the world, who would you want as your dinner guest? As your close friend? As your lover?
Well, Richard Feynman, if he were still alive, as dinner guest. Close friends and lovers are not people you can just pluck out the air like that (I’d have more of both if it were that easy), they take time.

While parking late at night, you slightly scrape the side of a Porsche. You are certain no-one else is aware of what happened. The damage is minor and would not be covered by insurance. Would you leave a note?
Depends. If its a Porsche, probably no note, if it were a beaten up Astra without boyracer trimmings, probably yes.

If you could choose the manner of your death, what would it be?
Suicide? But I’m not sure thats what the question really means. Something I didn’t know was coming.

Do you have any specific long-term goals? What is one and how often do you plan on reaching it?
To retire. Current estimates put it around 15 years from now, I normally review the plan at least once a month – though I’ve been a bit more lax on that lately.

Breaking more new ground today I lead a training session with powerpoint slides and demos and everything. One day I’ll not let the nerves get the better of me…but not yet. Hardly a triumph of style over content.

…I’ve finally escaped from it!

My first paycheque has at last made it to my account here, I’m no longer on the breadline, so to celebrate I went for a triple cheeseburger with large fries at Wendys. Erm, not much of a celebration I know but I’ve been craving greasy spoon food for a few days now and thats as close as I’ve found so far.

And today I’ve been mostly explaining binary compatibility, what it is, how to maintain it, what happens when you dont and how to break it for personal entertainment.

If the person you were engaged to marry had an accident and became a paraplegic, would you go through with the marriage or back out of it?
Go through with it, of course. Unless their mind was almost completely gone, in which case it wouldn’t matter that much to them anyway.

Your house containing everything you own catches fire; after saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be?
Dunno. My data disk is currently in a firesafe with copies on two continents so thats reasonably bombproof, and nearly everything else I own is easily replacable or cheap or both.

How would you react if you were to learn that your partner had had a lover of the same sex before you knew each other?
So what?

When were you last in a fight? What caused it, and who won?
Never really been in a fight. Got followed home by some punks one night (back in the days of contention between the punks and the goths, or maybe it was skins and rockers, I dont remember) but I went for a bit of a detour around some roads I knew to be busy enough that someone would notice a fight going on and they ran out of patience before I did.

You are offered £1,000,000 for the following act; before you are ten guns, only one of which is loaded. You must pick up one of the guns, point it at your forehead and pull the trigger. If you walk away, you do so a millionaire. WOuld you accept the risk?
No. Theres lower risk ways of becoming a millionaire, admittedly most of them take a little longer, but, hey, I’m prepared to wait.

Someone very close to you is in pain, paralysed, and will die within a month. He begs you to give him poison so that he can die. Would you? What if it were your father?
No, I wouldn’t, though I would try to find a doctor who could help.