OU: TMA Results

Last week I got the result back for my MU120 TMA03, 95%, and yesterday I got the result for M450 TMA02, 86%.  Although I did better for M450 TMA02 than TMA01 I am still finding the research aspect of the project most frustrating.

Blake's 7 poised for Sky comeback

The BBC has reported:

A new remake of sci-fi series Blake's 7 could soon return to television screens, Sky One has revealed. 

The satellite channel has given the green light for the development of two 60-minute scripts for a "potential event series".

...

"The time is ripe for a revival of a show that represents the best traditions of the genre, not to mention one of the best-loved and most successful dramas of all time," Elaine Pyke, commissioning editor for drama at Sky One, Two and Three, said.

ref:  BBC News

M450: TMA02

Well I have finally submitted TMA02 for M450, 1 week after cut-off.  This is the first time in all my OU studies that I have had to have an extension.  The cause of the problem is the research we have to do for this course, it is proving difficult, frustrating and demoralizing.  The course text does not go into any detail as to why we are having to do the research and what we should be looking for.  Still at least I can now press on with the core elements of my project.

MU120: Finished!

Last night I had a tutorial and was able to hand my completed TMA04 over to my tutor, just under 3 months ahead of the course schedule.  This means that I have finally finished MU120 and I can now fully concentrate on M450.

Phorm - Family friendly?

Over the last week there has been a lot of talk about Phorm.

A system that matches users' web surfing habits to adverts must ensure sensitive sites are black-listed from tracking, a privacy report has said.

Phorm's online technology is set to be rolled out by three of the UK's biggest ISPs, BT, Virgin and Talk Talk.

ref: BBC News

Even Sir Tim Berners-Lee has concerns about it.

The creator of the web has said consumers need to be protected against systems which can track their activity on the internet.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee told BBC News he would change his Internet provider if it introduced such a system.

ref:  BBC News

Now I am wondering if such a system is family friendly.  What I mean by this is that my home PC / Internet connection is used by the whole family, and I visit sites, such as adult humour, that I do not allow my daughter to go to, for example b3ta.com.  So if my ISP was to implement Phorm could it distinguish between different users going over the same Internet connection.  Would my daughter start to see adverts relating to my surfing habits?  Like any responsible parent I monitor and guide my daughter on what she watches on television and what she sees on the Internet, yet it appears to me that an ISP using  Phorm could well take some of this control away from me.

Off to travel the stars

British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke has died in Sri Lanka at the age of 90.

 

ref: BBC News

Happy St Patrick's Day

Team Fortress 2

TF2 is a truly addictive multi-player online game, and someone has recreated a scene using LEGO.  Also click here.

CMAs and TMAs

On Tuesday I got the results back for my MU120 CMA43.  I got a very pleasing 96% and lost a couple of marks due to silly mistakes.  These mistakes I believe are due to the nature of CMA's in that being multiple choice I tend to go through them a lot quicker than I would a TMA thus resulting in not studying a question as thoroughly as perhaps I should.

Yesterday morning I got the results for my first TMA for M450.  Even though I got 80% I was disappointed in my tutor's comments, in that they were very brief and in some instances cryptic.  This left me feeling frustrated and confused, but after a lengthy telephone conversation with him last night I feel a lot better.  He enlightened me to what he actually meant, thus I now understand where my TMA was lacking and how it could have been improved.  I now realise that one of my biggest problems with my project is that I have had tunnel vision, in that I knew what the problem was (difficulty in sending bank statements) and how I wanted to solve it.  This has meant that when I was looking for research I was basing my investigation on the solution rather than the problem and finding alternative solutions to it.  In fact I now appreciate that my whole project is based around my solution, even it's title "Automated archiving and electronic transmission (via SMTP) of customer bank statements", as opposed to describing the problem, followed by looking for any solutions, discussing their strengthens and weaknesses, and then selecting a viable one.  With this in mind I now feel more confident that for my next TMA I should be able to produce a superior paper.

MU120: All that is remaining...

All that I have remaining for MU120 if TMA04 as I have just submitted CMA45.  It took a bit longer to complete than the other CMA's as it went through the whole course and on a number of occasions I had to refer back to my notes.  Rather annoyed with myself though, as after submitting the CMA I had a look at my submitted answers and realised that I have done a typo on one of the them.  It's a shame that submitted CMA's cannot be amended.

Knight Rider

Testing is currently underway at the Losail Circuit Qatar in preparation for the first MotoGP race of the 2008 season.

The March 9 race will be the first Grand Prix, two or four wheeled, to be held at night when it starts at 23:00 local (20:00GMT). Formula One will hold a night race in Singapore in September.

MotoGP organisers have said their race would be the biggest sporting event to be staged under floodlights with the area involved at Losail equivalent to 70 FIFA regulation soccer pitches, with 3,500 lighting units installed.

ref: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/65378

MU120: CMA44

Having put MU120 on hold for a month (except for attending my local tutorials) due to starting M450 and completing the first TMA, I can now go back to it.  I have outstanding 2 CMA's and the ECA.  With this in mind I ploughed through and submitted CMA44 this afternoon.  It was not so bad although I did have to refer back to my notes on a couple of occasions.  The biggest problem was remembering where all the relevant functions are in the calculator.  Now onto CMA45.

Bradley Smith Interview

MCN caught up with Polaris World Aprilia rider Bradley Smith at the teams official launch in London yesterday.