Nigeria

With A rowing before I got up, and then out this evening, I gave Django both of his walks. I thought I'd get soaked in the evening, but the heavy rain stopped, and there was a strange "overhead" sunset due to clear skies beyond the Pentlands. However, the vegetation was soaking, so Django was wet when we got back - rather nullifying the shower that A had given him earlier in the day.

In the afternoon I was wonderfully distracted by the joys of open-source software. I received an email from a guy working for a company in Nigeria, saying that HiGHS had helped them solve a valuable industrial problem, but asking whether he could use it to solve another class of optimization problem. Not via the HiGHS C# interface he needed to use. Even though I'm not a C# user, it wasn't difficult to add the necessary code, and I soon had the C# interface's author - a Brazilian living in Paris - checking my work, and suggesting an enhancement of his interface. All three of us were happy, no money changed hands, and someone else will benefit at no cost from what we've done. Where does the money come from for our time? Well, it's estimated that open-source software is worth about ten times what it costs to write. 

Now to watch my episode of "Foyle's War" for today...