I have been fighting with php and mySQL databases all day, trying to write a dynamic website based upon database integration, but it doesn’t want to play ball, despite following all the tutorials to the letter. I really can’t figure why it’s not working, I can retrieve data, but not insert data into the database. I think that a call to my good programming genius friend, Stephen may be in order, as its about time I learn this stuff, I’ve been avoiding it for the last 2 years! This is why designers don’t make good programmers, and good programmers don’t make good designers. I have used database integration in the past, using ready made scripts and programs, but I think its time to learn how to create my own custom solutions for the websites I create. I am going to leave it for now, as I am getting more and more stressed and will end up breaking something out of frustration, and since everything within striking distance is very expensive, that’s not a good idea!
More Formula One news, and again, its Jenson Button and his move to Williams next year, it seems that Jenson could be up shit-street according to F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone. Bernie reckons that Jenson could lose his super-licence if the FIA’s contracts division finds that the move is illegal, which means that he couldn’t race for Williams next year. As much as I don’t want to see another British driver dumped out of F1, I think that it will be sweet justice for what Jenson has done to David Richards and BAR, I hope Jenson comes to his senses and honours the BAR contact to the end of 2005!
Time for a little venture into Tomas’ and Ben territory here, Liverpool then; The rumour mill is in full swing, saying that Michael Owen could be on his way to Real Madrid at the end of the current season, after contract talks with Liverpool broke down, seems that the new manager, Rafael Benitez isn’t so fond of Owen’s talents as former boss, Gerrard Houllier, this is going to be an interesting one to watch, I hope that Owen doesn’t go abroad as he is too great a talent to let go, its OK for Beckham, who lately is more of showpiece than a quality football player, seems that he has slipped substantially since he move to Spain!
In technology news, it seems that the younger generation, 18 – 29 year olds, known as the pirate generation are the most likely to own or download pirated material, gee what a surprise, I am shocked and disgusted (no, really I am). Apparently we have no respect for copyright, maybe if the corporate machine realised that it is ripping off (actually, make that raping) the consumer, left, right and centre, especially in the UK. For fucks sake, £16 – £20 for a 12 track CD, £18 – £24 for a new DVD release, I can buy a whole fortnights worth of groceries for that price. And the other thing is the amount of crap that corporate giants churn out is amazing, especially in music, although there hasn’t been anything to shout about in film this year either. I do download tracks from the Internet via Peer-2-Peer software, but if the album/single is good enough I will go out and spend £20 as I like to have all the artwork and original CD, I use the Internet as a sort of try before you buy medium, if I am breaking the law, tuff shit, no -one is going to stop me from doing it, throw me in jail if you wish, a trip to a holiday camp for two years, woohoo!
More technology news, Windows XP Service Pack 2 has finally been released after being delayed for more than 9 months, due to multiple bugs and errors in the code (sounds about right for Microsoft eh?). I have downloaded the developer/sysadmin version, which weighs in at a hefty 266MB, and installed it, and so far everything seems to be much better than the Release Candidate version that I tested a few months ago, which was still full of bugs. Microsoft have disabled support for the most pirates product ID numbers, so most people running corporate edition wont be able to upgrade, but how long do Microsoft think it will be before a cracked version of SP2 will be made available, Bill Gates and Microsoft must be naïve to think otherwise! Anyway, since I have the full package for all versions of Windows XP, and you are a friend of mine, give me a call, and provide me with a blank CD-R and I will burn it off, as not everyone is fortunate enough to have a 1.5Mbit connection, downloaded @ 179KB/Sec in 24 minutes, gotta love this connection!
Finally, the world has officially gone mad, in all new passports issued, you are not allowed to smile in the photo, why you ask? Well it’s because of the new anti-terrorism laws, and new technologies to prevent terrorism. When will they learn, no matter what measures are in place, you will never eradicate terrorism, the terrorists will always find alternative channels to attack. I refuse point blank to worry about terrorism, if I get killed by a terrorist, so be it, everyone has to die sometime, and I firmly believe in fate, and it must have been my time to die, there is no such thing as dying before your time, get over it!
