If you have ever had the problem where you have a bunch of stuff in subversion and you want to check it all out (so you can update and submit with one command) but for space or other reasons you want to exclude a certain directory, then I have found the solution thanks to this post

It is pretty simple, just create an empty directory somewhere on the repository and use "svn switch" to switch the directory you do not want to update to an empty directory. Then you can update and submit to your heart's content without having to have all the extra baggage you don't need in your source tree.

Wonderful.

jk

What a ridiculous story. This hotel works out a way to import large chunks of money in to the country for little or no effort and all it gets is stick.

Doesn't the hotel employ local people? Doesn't it use local services and utilities which it pays for? So where do you think a big chunk of that $14k ends up? Some people need to think a bit more and be a bit less outraged.

I am currently running three websites www.joekilner.net www.basquechildren.org and www.cottage-in-brittany.co.uk off of a vps link4 that I have hosted at vpslink. The hosting there has been trouble free and basically fantastic, but it's hosted in the states and stuff can be a little sluggish connecting.

So I am looking at getting a UK based provider to replace them which is when I came across this page full of offers on VPS hosting. There are some pretty tasty looking offers there including codes for double ram on plans as cheap as £9 per month (although at the moment I am paying £6 per month which is pretty good!).

Either way it's an excuse to spend a load of time shopping around online...

Mmmmmmm.... sed... tasty....

jk

An interesting little piece here.

It's amazing how often coincidence and correlation are confused which is bad enough in itself, but then correlation is further confused with causation we get wrong headed thinking like the "mobile phones killing bees" stories we were reading a while back.

An interesting point to ponder in light of this is the birthday "paradox". If you have 30 people in a room, what is the probability that two of them will have the same birthday?

Is it 10%?

20%?

No, it's 70%. Why - because although there are only 30 people, there are 30 possible birthdays they could share - so it is like saying "Whose birthday is on 19th August" to a room with 29 people in it, and trying with 30 different dates - it ends up being quite likely that at least one person will say yes.

So what is the lesson in all of this? Our instincts are way off when it comes to working out what is likely when it comes to coincidences in the complex world we live in. Statements like "That can't just be a coincidence!" are often just plain wrong. Either sit down and do the maths or take the advice of someone who has.

jk

I am looking for a good blog on computer graphics or computer vision. Or a good news source on either of these things. Just something that will keep me up to date with the latest news in these fields.

Do such things exist? If you happen to know of any and stumble across my page, please let me know in a comment!

jk

Freesound is a collection of creative commons collection of sounds. Search for rain, find a relatively long sample and hit loop...

Also of interest is OpenStreetMap a collective effort to map the world! And despite the grand intentions it actually seems to be doing pretty well! I'll have to see if I can get my GPS all set up and contribute to this as I have already noticed a few bits missing in my neck of the woods (I'll have to map out the university!)

jk

YouTube - Alanis Morissette "My Humps" video

Oh wow. This is the most awesome thing EVA!!!1 (well, this week anyway...)

Just perfect for the BCA website with links to the colonies, and for our wedding / honeymoon website for links to the pictures!

I will look on carefully...

Numenta - numenta.comA very interesting looking site. And the book this guy wrote has it's webpage here