Author Archives: Joseph Southan

About Joseph Southan

Full stack software engineer. Follow me on Twitter @JoeSouthan.

GEF #12 : The Large Hadron Collider

Google Earth Friday No Comments

Sorry for being late this week, I had an early night for a change.

 

This week its the giant, world-ending, Large Hadron Collider.

The LHC is currently the largest and most powerful particle accelerator on this planet. This has many scientist-type people wondering if this large ring o’ magnets will in fact, put pay to the universe. In my opinion, I don’t think anything bad will come from it, only good science… we hope.

 

In fact the LHC has, today, just smashed the energy record it had just set in December 2009. [Linky]

Oh and of course, we cannot forget the obligatory and ever knowing, Wikipedia quote:

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, intended to collide  opposing particle beams of either protons … or lead nuclei…  It is expected that it will address the most fundamental questions of physics, hopefully allowing progress in understanding the deepest laws of nature. The LHC lies in a tunnel 27 kilometres (17 mi) in circumference, as much as 175 metres (574 ft) beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland.

[Wikipedia]

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GEF #11 – Hadrian’s Wall

Google Earth Friday No Comments

This week it is the magnificent structure we all know, Hadrian’s Wall.

“But why this wall?” you may ask yourself, well bemused reader, this Saturday [13th March] they will be lighting beacons all along the wall from one side of the UK to the other. A sight that has not been seen since the olden times.

And of course an obligatory Wikipedia quote follows this brief sentence;

Hadrian’s Wall (Latin: Vallum Aelium) is a stone and timber fortification  built by the Roman Empire across the width of what is now northern England. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall in what is now Scotland. Hadrian’s Wall is the better known of the two because its physical remains are more evident today.

[Wikipedia]

For more information about lighting up the Wall visit Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall.

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GEF: Diamond Light Source

Google Earth Friday No Comments

For this weeks Google Earth Friday we have the awe inspiring Diamond Light Source, a very large synchrotron based up in Oxfordshire, UK.

Here comes a Wikipedia Quote right at your face!

Diamond Light Source is a synchrotron  research facility located in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. It produced its first user beam towards the end of January 2007. Diamond is being used to probe the structure and properties of many types of materials and complex structures like proteins — information that is used by a wide range of scientists.

[Wikipedia]

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GEF: Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

Google Earth Friday No Comments

Welcome back to the all new Google Earth Friday!

This became somewhat of a forgotten feature on Southanuk but has returned for your viewing pleasure.

 

The rules are still the same, new place, every Friday. Just download the file below and save it to your “My Places” in Google Earth and check back here on a Friday. You don’t have to download the file every week, it will automatically update at the end of the week.

 

So without further a-do;

Yes its the Winter Olympics!

Team GB are doing their best out there and currently have… 1! very shiny gold medal……

 

The selected venue of choice is the main stadium of the Winter Games in Vancouver, BC Place. Here is the obligatory Wikipedia quote:

BC Place is a multipurpose stadium  and Canada’s first domed  arena. BC Place is the largest air-supported stadium in the world. It is located on the north side of False Creek in Vancouver, British Columbia.

[Wikipedia]

Looks like they have had a few problems with the roof and that but it looks very nice indeed. Check it out in 3D in Google Earth as well as some of the other Olympic Venues.

 

Download the file – (Only once! It will update every Friday)

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Phone woes

SouthanUK General No Comments

Due to the terrible build quality of the N95, the time to replace my phone draws close.


N97_main

The all evil, N97


Previously, I said I was getting the all new Nokia N97. However, after reading reviews and whatnot, it becomes apparent that its terrible. Underpowered for the operating system its running [Seriously, Nokia should drop Symbian, its old and buggy], causes the phone to slowdown and lock up at points. Gizmodo reviewed the phone and seems to share my sentiments in the terrible OS that is Symbian.


Still being rather loyal to Nokia after 10 years, I have come to expect quality phones from them. This was not the case with the Nokia N95 8GB that I bought less than 2 years ago.


Being a relatively light user of the mobile and treating it nicely, you would expect the phone to last at least a good 4 years or more. Currently my N95 has lost all its metallic surrounds on the buttons, chipped off metallic paint around the camera surround and has severe problems with the sliders. I can accept that the metallic paint would chip off over time, I found this with my Nokia 6680, but slider problems? From day 1? I know you’re thinking “Why didn’t you send it back?” but at the time I didn’t really notice the dodgy slider. However, after spending many hours trawling though various Nokia forums both unofficial and official, I noticed that this was a common thing with all the N95 8GBs.


Various other things bug the hell out of me; including the fact that it can take a good 10 seconds to open the text message application on the phone, frequent lockups/crashes with the YouTube app, crappy web browser and others.


Nokia-N900

Nokia N900 showing all


The next phone I hope to get will be the ever lovely Nokia N900.

“Nokia again?” I hear you ask. Well its Nokia again for a few reasons.

  1. I still trust that I will be getting a good phone
  2. Maemo 5 is the operating system of choice. A Debian based system, so essentially this is a pocket computer/phone.
  3. Touch screen, gotta love ’em.
  4. Windows Mobile just doesn’t cut it for me at the moment, although 7 series looks good.

So there are my reasons, I know a few of you [Mark 😛 ] love your WinMo/Android phones but I’m a Nokia man at heart [although I was nearly seduced by Samsung with their Omnia HD]


I’ve now got to find  £449 to buy it :/

Under the weather

SouthanUK General No Comments

Not feeling the best so I thought I’d thrash out a blog post.

 

Just been resting for the good part of 3 days now, I think its just a cold so hopefully I’ll be back at full strength in good time. In the meantime, here’s what I’ve been up to:

 

  • Watched a very good anime, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. About a group of 3; brother, sister and some girl they meet along the way. A Wikipedia quote to make things more clear:

Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_title

After a massive earthquake in Tokyo, siblings Mirai and YÅ«ki, who were visiting a robot exhibition in Odaiba at the beginning of their summer vacation, struggle to reach their parents in their house in Setagaya assisted by a female motorcycle courier named Mari, who is striving to reach her own daughter and mother in Sanjengaya. – Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 [Wikipedia]

 

  • Carrying on with my University course. Second semester is getting very interesting now. Becoming very involved, a cold doesn’t help when you’re trying to revise this stuff.

That’s all really, just gonna take it easy for the time being. Maybe even write a less whiney blog post too.