January 2010 Archives

Recently I wanted to have a clickable button in a table. Searching on Google for JButton in JTable I found a couple of suggestions, most notably this DevX article and this Esus article. There was also a StackOverflow question that just referenced other solutions. None really satisfied me. So borrowing their ideas I created my own solution.

A while ago I put up some photos from Pompeii, and it is about time I put up the best photos from the rest of that holiday in Italy. The set on Flickr is here.

Available on iTunesU. I could not find a course website.

Professor Isabelle Pafford from The Ancient Mediterranean World podcasts returns for another series of Ancient History podcasts. This time a course on the Roman Republic given during Fall 2008 at Santa Clara University. There are 19 podcasts - 1 is a slide show video, but the others are audio only. Each podcast is around 50 minutes in length and around 50MB. In the audio podcasts there are often references to slides that are not available online.

The course starts with the stories of Rome's foundation along with details of the surrounding area and people, which presumably influenced early Rome. The Roman Kingdom is quickly passed over (perhaps due to a lack of information on the era) for the Roman Republic. Most attention is focussed on the Late Republic, with over half the lectures on the period from the Gracchi to Caesar - around 133BC to 49BC.

These lectures are full of engrossing details. There is a bit of historical timeline talk (on this date this happened and on that date that happened), but the series is more about the life and times of ancient Rome. For instance, there is often discussion of the Cursus Honorum (a series of military and administrative positions that provided a semi-formal structure to a political career) and how it affected the way people sought or achieved power. There was also a strong patron-client system, where a person's power could, in part, be measured by the number of clients/followers they had. Thus, manumission was common as freed slaves were typically clients of their previous owner. There is also some interesting consideration of which events are definitely known to have occurred, the fixed-points of history, and those parts of the primary sources that may be apocryphal.

Professor Pafford can be an engaging speaker, and it is clear this is an area she knows well. Indeed the extra colour provided as cracks began to appear in the republic had me hooked. It was a classic fight between two political parties, the Optimates and Populares - modern analogies are too easy to make. Although the ability to raise private armies and the tendency of losers to be executed adds an epic scale to proceedings. The final result may be well-known, with Caesar the unlikely Populares triumphing - but I still raced through the last half-dozen lectures.

It was a good thing I did know what happened in the end, as the end of the lecture series is missing (hint Caesar is assassinated and his nephew eventually dissolved the republic, becoming the first emperor, Augustus). I would guess that around a half-dozen of the lectures are unavailable, mainly around the mid-republic. At one point Professor Pafford apologises for losing some lectures in a hard-drive crash. So I suppose their absence is forgiveable. However, like the earlier Ancient Mediterranean podcasts, there are numerous other production issues. The audio quality is usually good, apart from a few notable exceptions. The video lecture is almost impossible to hear, and the slides are small relative to the screen. Another lecture on the First Triumvirate is split across two lectures because it sounds like the microphone failed (and the second part is very quiet). There is also quite a bit of course administrative talk (assignments, books, etc) - in one 40 minute lecture, 8 minutes are spent on such course administration topics. At least the class seem interested and ask some good questions. The lectures are also presented out of order on iTunes. It helps to know a bit of history to reorganise them from the titles.

Interesting history podcasts, again let down a little by production.

I don't like new year resolutions detailing plans to make yourself better - I'm already great! However, I do like the idea of setting a few goals. This year's goals are fairly similar to last years, but a little less ambitious:

• Blog at an average rate of at least 4 times a month. Fairly sure I can do this with the Blender and History Podcast posts I'm planning.
• Only have 2 programming projects going at the same time. Reassess projects every 3 months. The first two are: learning how to load and animate blender models in a 3D graphics engine; and a secret project.
• Complete 3 Blender models and write tutorials on them - the models are a robot (to learn animation), a Thermopolium, and a Broch.
• Maintain Queuesaurus and general ruby skills. Try to use Scala.
• Run 5km in 25 minutes. This is a bit ambitious.
• Decrease net ownership of physical goods

Almost a year ago I wrote some goals for the new year. Now it is time for an assessment.

• Goal: Improve Ruby skills. Result: Partial success. I'm not at what I would consider a professional standard, but not far off it. I gemify'ed my BBC weather library, but have since abandoned it as keeping up with the BBC's constant API changes was frustrating. I use Queusaurus even if no one else does. I started another project, but it didn't get far enough to publicise.
• Goal: Learn Scala. Result: Have done some, but not much.
• Goal: Learn Blender. Result: Near Success. I feel confident enough about this one. I haven't completed an ancient scene, but I'm sure I could.
• Goal: Decrease net ownership of physical goods. Result: Success. Doing this slowly but surely - I own fewer things now than when I wrote that goal, but not by much.
• Goal: 48 blog posts in a year. Result: 44 posts. I'm fairly happy with that. Holidays and looking for a new work contract slowed me down a bit.
• Goal: Run 5km in 25 minutes. Result: Not even close. The less said the better.
• On the stretch goals, all are still a long distance away.

I think the main problem with achieving those goals was my tendency to try doing too much. At one point (and continuing for a couple of months) I had 6 programming projects on the go at once. Nothing progressed at any pace over the last half of the year and that is what caused the most slippage. Something to be aware of for the coming year.

Having just completed the process of forming a new limited company under UK law, I found myself frustrated by the number of steps required. In case I ever need to do it again, or a reader does, I thought it might be useful to set out the steps I took - hopefully I haven't missed any! If it seems overwhelming, various accountancy or specialist firms can do most of it for a fee. Note, I am not an expert in this area, just someone who has done it once and recorded the steps - there is no guarantee this is completely correct.

• First get the company formed. This will require a unique company name, a business address, and directors' details. Forming the company can be done through Companies House, but I used Companies Made Simple to get things moving quickly. I recommend getting a Printed Certificate of Incorporation - it is needed in later steps.
• In my business, clients require invoices to have a VAT number so registering for VAT was my next step. If you don't need a VAT number straight away, you may wish to get a bank account first. Also, if the firm's turnover is less than £68,000, registration is not required. There are a few other exemptions too, see more at the Business Link VAT guide. I applied for registration online through the HMRC Online website (click register) - the details required should be the same as for company formation. HMRC also runs a Flat Rate VAT scheme that is worth investigating. If it turns out to be useful then applying to join the scheme can be done at the same time as registering for VAT.
• Get a bank account. This is quite important as many of the other steps need either bank details or a good reason why there are none (eg VAT registration). Most banks will require a Printed Certificate of Incorporation. I can't recommend any good banks, and you should be aware that it can take longer than you think to open a business account.
• Sign up to file company documents online at Companies House (click on File documents online). Even if the information given during formation never change, the company will still need to submit at least two forms a year to Companies House to stay registered (annual return and annual accounts). This is easy to do online. At the same time you can sign up for the PROOF system to make it harder for fraudsters to take control of the company by filing paper forms. However, be aware that once you have applied for online access, Companies House will (physically) mail some activation forms before you can file online.
• If the company will be paying anyone a salary or expenses (directors' expenses count) then you will need to sign up to PAYE. This can be done up to a month before payment. Again this can be done through the HMRC website (click register). From the employer's perspective, I find PAYE a bit complicated. You should learn about it yourself - HMRC and Business Link are good places to start.
• In the weeks after forming the company, HMRC should send you some forms to register for Corporate Tax. These need to be filled in and returned within 3 months of business activity starting. Filling in the forms will require the firm's PAYE, VAT details, and the Memorandum of Incorporation (this should have been included as part of the formation process).
• Insurance may be required and is probably a good idea anyway. My business area requires Professional Indemnity Insurance, so I organised this before beginning trading. There are many other forms of insurance which may be useful - my firm also has Employers' Insurance and Public Liability Insurance. Business Link have a guide to help determine which forms of insurance may be required. I used an industry specialist insurer, which wouldn't be useful to most readers, but I have learnt to shop around as different firms can quote vastly different rates (often the most expensive is multiples of the cheapest).
• I recommend signing up to submit VAT, PAYE and Corporate Tax forms through the HMRC website. It is quite good and normally guides you through the process of completing a form; facing a long paper form fills me with fear. Also, if VAT is paid by direct debit (which can be set up online) HMRC will give you an extra week to pay (this can be done for PAYE too). After initially applying online HMRC will send activation codes through the mail to complete the process.
• Profit!

After that I advise you quickly sort out your accounts and construct a calendar of regulatory/tax events. Remember, every 3 months a VAT form will need to be submitted. Depending on payroll size, PAYE will need to be paid monthly or once a year in addition to an annual PAYE form (P35) and expenses form (P11D). Corporate Tax forms need to be submitted annually, as do Companies House returns and accounts. Staying organised and being able to quickly determine the financial position of the firm is very useful. Since my business is fairly simple and having completed a course on accounting at uni, I created a double entry book-keeping system in Excel. If you don't feel you have the knowledge to do this (or the firm's accounts are too complicated) there are various software packages and accountants that can help - I can't recommend any.

In general, the HMRC and Business Link websites are very useful and well worth a look.

Good luck!