On Wednesday, I took part in one of the Edinburgh heats for the Independent Sudoku Grand Master Championship. We were told that there were 125 heats in all, at 25 different locations around the country.

The session was run in exam conditions, although these were slightly disrupted by one of the hotel telephones ringing a couple of times. The invigilators were using a timing device to mark the completed papers so I selected the table nearest the timer at which to work, minimising the time it would take to get my paper to the machine once completed.

We were given four sudokus to complete and a maximum time limit of 45 minutes. The puzzles were reasonably hard but I raced through the first two. I stumbled on the second, realising halfway through that I had placed two nines in one column. I briefly pondered giving up there and then but that Paula Radcliffe moment passed and I recovered, switching a few digits round to correct my error and quickly finishing the grid.

The fourth puzzle was tough but straightforward. I found my mind wandering just as I heard one of the other contestants finish. This provided the push I needed and I doubled my speed, handing my paper to the invigilator a fraction of a second after the last number was written in. And then wondering, slightly paranoid, if I’d left any squares empty.

That was it. I picked up my goodie bag (including Independent stationery and a commemorative t-shirt) and headed to the station, still buzzing with adrenaline. This must be what Olympic athletes feel like, I thought, although with less sweat and muscle pain.

(Incidentally, if anyone spotted a letter in Friday’s Evening Standard about sudokus and crosswords and credited to “Will Howells, SE1” then yes, that was me. The hows and whys of that are a bit too surreal to elucidate.)

And here they are: different coloured icons! The XML file behind this isn’t as well structured as it could be but it does what it needs to do.

The red marker is me; yellow for my parents; grandparents are green; great-grandparents blue; and g-g-grandparents are purple.

Google has released its Maps API. I’ve had a play and produced this map which marks the birthplaces of four generations of my ancestors.

(I couldn’t get the JavaScript to work properly directly so I’ve had to imbed it in an IFRAME element. Any suggestions for getting the code to work loads from a JavaScript file directly into this post would be welcome.)

When I’ve got more time, I’ll play with the icons and the XML source data with the aim of highlighting differernt branches of my family tree (or different generations) with different coloured icons.

John Hemming identifies clauses in the Identity Cards Bill governing the information that must be kept up-to-date on penalty of £1,000 fine:

(a) his full name;
(b) other names by which he is or has previously been known;
(c) his gender;
(d) his date and place of birth and, if he has died, the date of his death; and
(e) physical characteristics of his that are capable of being used for identifying him

(e) is probably the most exciting. If the campaign against ID cards fails and they are introduced, perhaps the system could be overwhelmed by thousands of people writing every day to the Secretary of State to update him on changes to their physical characteristics?

Dear Home Secretary,

I’m just writing to let you know that I cut myself shaving this morning and now have a clearly identifying mark on my right cheek.

Yours,
I.D. Card-Holder

or

Dear Home Secretary,

Just thought I should mention that I’m feeling really rough today. I drank too much last night (don’t worry, I wasn’t in an Alcohol Control Zone) and this morning my hair’s a mess, my breath stinks and I’m too hungover to do anything about either. These distinguishing marks may be important should I be today suspected of terrorist involvement.

With love,
I.D. Card-Holder

or

Dear Home Secretary,

Contrary to my letter last week, I have decided to wear contact lenses only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. not Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays as previously notified. I like to go out on a Saturday and I thought the contacts would make me look less speccy but the bars I’ve been frequenting are quite smoky (they don’t serve food, y’see) and the tobacco has been playing havoc with my corneas.

The upshot is that if someone tries to claim benefits in my name on Saturdays, you’ll know it’s not me if they’re not wearing glasses.

Yours sincerely,
I.D. Card-Holder