Confessions of an aspirant code borrower . . .: Dissertation; London; Photo's; Tour de France

Photo's - My Project Plan - rest devoted to Tour de France - 1)Fabian Cancellera - overall leader Yellow jersey; 2) David Millar - King of the Mountains (top with measles) 3) Robbie McEwan wins stage 4) peleton Goldhurst hill 5) Rochester Pipe Band - courtesy of Le Guardian & a cartoon of Brown who apparently wants to scupper the super casino blueprint . . .cartoon by Steve Bell

Let's start of with my project plan - this is my dissertation blueprint - and if you have a good look you'll see - I hit a milestone today - Literature Review and I am pleased to say I am more or less on target . . .Aha! your saying what the hell does that mean either you are or your not - I am!

Brown makes noises about not being keen on super casino idea

What I've decided to do is to stretch my literature review across 2 chapters - 1st one being more general and the 2nd being specifically concentrating on IDE's and there own story - not sure may find there is a lot of overlap and end up with one big lit review chapter - my supervisor and myself will consider once we have it in some semblance of order . . .have to wait and see in the interim - I am very pleased to be more or less on target.

The approach I have followed is sort of a reductionist approach - there is so much to cover so keep trying to break it down into ever smaller parts - still not sure the sequence / flow is entirely correct and my criteria needs more work . . . brilliant article by Hristova on the generic errors / misconceptions students make in Java programming anyway . .I'll keep you posted . .

Fabian Cancellara - in the overall lead at this stage

Extensive research - reading reading reading . . . . . read it a number of times - so often you basically know the article when you open it up . . . . this introduces you to the subject - take snippets as you go along . . . . eventually - independently you decide what your chapter should look like - slot what you have into the various categories - my chapter skeleton / outline - then takes shape - and its a matter of classifying everything into one of the identified sections within a chapter. Well that's how I am approaching it at the moment.

I realise now there is just no way I would have been able to cope with the O2 job and still keep on track with my dissertation . . .sad but true - I know I waste time but you can't just work all the time . . .

The Tour de France peleton climbs Goldhurst hill

Anyway off to London this weekend - what did I say you can't just work all the time . . . lol - pushing it a bit - I am taking my notebook and will be working - yes, working whilst down in London - I will lose some time travelling but don't foresee a problem - might be different story last day before I hand in - OH woe is me why did I travel to London - as I say I am on target and have another weekend in August planned as well. Judi is attending a 3 day acupuncture workshop in London - so this is why we are really going down - I'm sort of tagging along and intend (as I said) working - although Sam & I will be out shopping on Sunday whilst Judi is on course - then we plan to have a celebratory barbecue as Sam (my daughter) has just bought a house in Ealing, London - (will save all those mad searches on the Internet for hotels . .lol) so willing be looking forward to seeing her and the house and Hud (her boyfriend) - now Judi no doubt will want my body in the evenings - to stick needles in to me that is - except she doesn't need needles - skilled in the martial arts - she'll be poking her fingers into me no doubt . . . there is only so much a man can take . . .

What else on the go . . . was reading an article describing 'The Political Brain by Drew Westen' For this is no partisan rant of the Michael Moore variety. Westen is a professor of psychology and psychiatry with a specialist's grasp of the science of the mind, not least the cognitive processes by which people absorb information. Through clear, repeatable experiments, rather than focus group hunch or vox pop anecdote, he establishes that "the political brain is an emotional brain". Voters make up their minds not by weighing the competing claims of different parties and deciding which best suits their interests, but by how they feel. They are not "desiccated calculating machines", as Nye Bevan famously cast Hugh Gaitskell, rationally estimating the likely utility for themselves or society by choosing policy A over policy B. Instead, they think with their guts.

peleton rides through Rochester - with the Rochester Pipe Band piping them on their way

Westen's evidence comes from his measuring of the brain activity of people assessing political information. The circuits that are activated are not those associated with logical reasoning but those that regulate emotion. Nor is this confined to the politically unaware or under-educated. Research shows that smart people think with their guts as much as anyone else.

It means that when politicians speak, they trigger a neural network of associations, positive or negative, and these associations owe more to emotion than reason. Indeed, some of these are all but hardwired, the product of thousands of years of evolution. The trick for politicians is to ensure they tap into the positive while associating their opponents with the negative.

More worrying still, Brown could easily be a British version of the Gore of 2000: in command of the facts, correct on all the big strategic questions, yet awkward with people and dull to listen to on TV. Meanwhile, Cameron maps easily on to Bush - a son of great privilege, born with a silver spoon, yet somehow able to present himself as an affable, regular guy.

Well that is probably not everyone's cup of tea . . . . hmmm!

Some photo's I took during the week - prepare yourself for some London photo's next week - might capture those prodding fingers . . .lol

Bowling old harbour