Personal, Testing

How To Break Things Real Good

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Martin has been absent because he’s been redesigning his side of the site. (Go check it out. It’s cool.) I’ve been absent for much less interesting* reasons.

Basically, I’ve been studying for a test. About testing. The Information Systems Examination Board (ISEB) Practitioner Certificate in Software Testing, or, as I think of it, How To Break Things Real Good.

After eight days of classroom instruction spread over two weeks, I had less than a month to cram the syllabus in between my ears (Only click on the link if you have persistent insomnia. Not suitable for reading whilst operating heavy machinery*). I did it – I can now go on at great length about the relative strengths of boundary value analysis and state transition testing in the design of functional tests, name 18 types of automated test tool, and describe three software development lifecycle models and how they relate to testing.

I wasn’t a very good classmate, I’m afraid. I got massively insecure early on in the instruction section, when I came in on the second week to find that someone extra had turned up and taken my seat and my course materials. The instructor was mortified, but I felt deeply unwelcome, and turned to the same obnoxious behaviour I used to get through high school. When I feel out of place, I become the most annoyingly, articulately intelligent pain in the posterior ever…trying to prove that separate does not equal inferior, I guess.

I did this throughout the second week of classes, and only got worse in the revision session. I even straightened the instructor out on his understanding of one area of the syllabus. Yes, I was right and he was wrong. But that doesn’t make it less obnoxious**. I hope I made up for it a little with some of the tutoring I did on the side.

The exam was a pig, but I knew it would be. I think I did OK, on balance, though I won’t know for a couple of months. The pass mark is 60%, and if I get over 80% I get a distinction. (Which is, in a small community, considered rather cool.) I’ll be content to pass.***

I promise, now that I’m done with that, I’ll post to the blog again. I’ll even go back and pick out the best photos I took over that time, tell you about the time Fionaberry did a face plant at full speed running downhill, and even update my cinnamon roll recipe. Promise.

* I don’t think it’s boring. But I know everyone else does.

** Peter, if you’re reading this, I am sorry.

*** This is a lie. I would be marginally content to hear that I got 100%. I’ll gnash my teeth over every missed point. I know I missed at least 7 marks, and it’s driving me nuts.

Doggerel & Pastiches, Politics

The Bill of Rights, in Quatrains

I
We start with God (or Gods, or none)
Then speech and press, assembling:
The ways and means that anyone
Can ask for change to anything.

II
But might makes right, or helps it thrive
Against the worst ill wishers.
So guns can keep the State alive
In well-regulated Militias.

III
The homely castle where you live
Affords no soldier boarder.
The third amendment lets you give
New meaning to “No quarter!”

IV
Your property and self are your own
And none may search or take them
Unless probable cause can be shown
And warrants evidence make them.

V
Due process of law is next in our reach
As part of the health of the nation.
Trials are needed, and only one each
Without any self incrimination.

VI
In criminal trials, a jury must sit
And witnesses be openly heard.
Counsel assists, and the state will commit
To compel defence witnesses’ word.

VII
Where common law suits are tried
And sums are more than a score
A jury request cannot be denied
Nor appeals their findings ignore.

VIII
Excessive bail shall not be imposed
Lest poverty tyranny fuel.
And punishments, however composed,
Should not be unusual or cruel.

IX
Naming rights here does not deny
That for the people others exist.
And inclusion herein does not imply
Disparagement to the ones missed.

X
Our Federal nation is made of States
To whom other powers are reserved.
The People as well, in any debates,
Must have their control preserved.

Originally posted on Making Light

Edinburgh, a love letter, Photography

Biking on the Beach

Friday, though cold, was a bright and sunny day – perfect for a family expedition. We took Alex’s bike to the John Muir pathway along the Firth of Forth, just outside of Musselburgh. It’s time for Alex to get more confidence in his bike and himself on it. He needs to ride faster if we’re going to take his stabilisers off.

It was a good ride – he started slow and hesitant, but I started challenging him to races. As the trip went on, I found myself striding less and running more to keep up with him. He was thrilled to be pushing me, but insisted after a time that we were “a team” and should cross every minor finishing line at the same time.

At the midpoint of the ride, we all stopped on the beach. The kids threw rocks into the water. I found a couple of old bikes on the stony shore, slowly rusting in the salt and being buried by the tides.

The first bike, frame and cables

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Taken 14 April 2006

Cables round the stem of the bike

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Taken 14 April 2006

Pedal mount on the second bike

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Taken 14 April 2006

Rust replaces chrome on the second bike

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Taken 14 April 2006

Handlebar mount on the second bike

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Taken 14 April 2006

Sprockets in stone, bike 1

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Taken 14 April 2006

Stone in sprockets, bike 2

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Taken 14 April 2006

Wheel mount, bike 2

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Taken 14 April 2006

Not just a bike, but the headphones for a walkman too!

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Taken 14 April 2006

Handrail hardware by the firth

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Taken 14 April 2006

Bookbinding, Photography

A Trip to the Tannery

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Every time I go to J Hewit & Sons, my favourite bookbinding supplier, I feel the overwhelming desire to bring a camera, tripod, and a day’s free time. I don’t think I will ever tire of taking pictures there.

I could take the “industrial site” type pictures of all of the machinery they use to dye leathers, or the “variety of stuff” pictures of the rolls and rolls of finished hides, or the “run down melancholy” shots of the light from the dusty windows falling on the worn boards of the upper floor. I’d photograph the staff, who always treat me so well, if it wouldn’t embarrass them.

But I don’t, because I am there to buy. I did take a few shots of the pale leathers they had piled on the Low Value Shelf upstairs.

Edges of a stack of pale goatskin

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Taken 7 April 2006

The same grained goatskin, with the marks of the stretching clips still visible.

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Taken 7 April 2006

Pale calfskin, un-grained.

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Taken 7 April 2006

Maybe I can find a market for a feature article on the company – its history, its processes, its business. I’d love to do it. I’d love to have the excuse!

Edinburgh, a love letter, Photography

The Camera is Back

My phonecam developed a spot about a week ago. Ugly, in the way, and depressing. It ruined a number of photos that I really wanted to take.

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Taken 1 April 2006

Occasionally, I could get a shot in that it didn’t ruin, but that was rare.

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Taken 29 March 2006

Fortunately, my phone insurance covers the functionality of the whole instrument, including the camera. I called Vodafone, and they sent a new phone to replace the old one. So now I have my camera back!

I tried it out on Fiona this morning.

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Taken 4 April 2006

Then I was back to taking the pictures I’ve been missing.

Leaf growing through a fence, Newington

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Taken 4 April 2006

Shadow of a doorknob, looking like a warmer day

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Taken 4 April 2006

Cut-off fence post.

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Taken 4 April 2006

Framing the world, one tree at a time (this photo has been cropped)

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Taken 4 April 2006

Yay new phone!

Edinburgh, a love letter, Photography

I Love My Coffee

…and it loves me back.

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Taken 6 March 2006

I love this city, too, though it doesn’t show its affection in the same way.

I love the Botanics, and they show me the delicate drops of rain on a branch.

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Taken 7 March 2006

The first yellow flowers come out for me, even on a cold day.

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Taken 9 March 2006

The side doors of St Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile stand solemn and graceful.

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Taken 9 March 2006

And the door handles from the back of the cathedral have their own rhythm. (Yes, this has been cropped.)

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Taken 9 March 2006

Photography

Snow Shots

While I was playing with the kids in the snow, I saw a few things worth photographing. Usually, I can’t do macro photography with other people around – I get too distracted by the company to really see things. But sometimes, with the right people, I can still make it work.

The snow fell thick onto the rosemary.

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Taken 3 March 2006

On this one, you can see the individual snowflakes (cropped).

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Taken 3 March 2006

The holly, too, cupped the snow.

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Taken 3 March 2006

My favourite of the day, probably, is this shot. The hole in the top of the fence post and the angle of the sun left a spiral of fallen snow.

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Taken 3 March 2006

(Miraculously, none of these photos show my usual tendency to want to abandon all colour photography in the snow!)

And, from a previous dramatic weather day, hail in a hedge top.

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Taken 1 March 2006

a blog by Abi Sutherland