For anyone who wasn't at Neil Povey's Stag Day:
Saturday, 23 June 2007
Thursday, 21 June 2007
My quick thoughts on Social Bookmarking
Thought I ought to post something as I've not posted anything yet this month, not good!
Anyway, I thought I would chip in on the topic of Social Bookmarking. The favourite of many (including .net magazine, who mention it at the expense of all others) is del.ico.us. Now del.ico.us isn't bad, and I like that you don't have to log in to see a lot of links, and I've found other handy links through the tagging system.
However there are annoyances, my main one being that you can't have (at least from what I've seen) a multi-word tag. Therefore items like Crystal Palace and Fantasy Baseball aren't ideal for del.icio.us.
My personal preference is for a site called Furl. Furl supports multi-word tagging, private bookmarks and also keeps a cached version of a page you save (which I really liked when ESPN used to make Bill Simmons' archive available only to site subscribers). Therefore it is ideal for individual articles, in case they should move or be deleted.
For some reason Furl doesn't seem to like IE6 (at least at work) but on the whole I prefer it, especially as I generally use Firefox.
So in summary, del.icio.us for main site links, Furl for individual articles.
del.icio.us
furl.net
My del.icio.us links
My Furl archive
Anyway, I thought I would chip in on the topic of Social Bookmarking. The favourite of many (including .net magazine, who mention it at the expense of all others) is del.ico.us. Now del.ico.us isn't bad, and I like that you don't have to log in to see a lot of links, and I've found other handy links through the tagging system.
However there are annoyances, my main one being that you can't have (at least from what I've seen) a multi-word tag. Therefore items like Crystal Palace and Fantasy Baseball aren't ideal for del.icio.us.
My personal preference is for a site called Furl. Furl supports multi-word tagging, private bookmarks and also keeps a cached version of a page you save (which I really liked when ESPN used to make Bill Simmons' archive available only to site subscribers). Therefore it is ideal for individual articles, in case they should move or be deleted.
For some reason Furl doesn't seem to like IE6 (at least at work) but on the whole I prefer it, especially as I generally use Firefox.
So in summary, del.icio.us for main site links, Furl for individual articles.
del.icio.us
furl.net
My del.icio.us links
My Furl archive
Wednesday, 30 May 2007
Must see TV, May 2007
I did a post like this last year, so thought it only right that I did another one this year. Like last year, PTI and Around the Horn go without saying (although I'll admit to podcasting and listening in the car most days).
The Apprentice, 9pm Wednesdays, BBC1
Another compelling series, featuring everything from the competant (Kristina), the nutty (Tre) and the downright nasty (Katie).
Dream Team, 8pm Sundays, Sky One
The final series in drawing to a close, and with a big assist from our Sky+ box I've managed to see every episode of this series.
Sadly the green arrow indicating the series link option is no longer against the next entry on our personal planner. That's because the next episode is the last one ever. On the heels of the best episode of the series to date that's pretty sad.
Lots of questions remain unanswered. Will Harchester win the Premiership? Will Jason and Katy get back together? Will anyone other than Amy discover that Danny is Dragonslayer, and what happens with the cans of petrol and the lighter that he's carrying?
Featured last year...
Prison Break is still a programme I watch out for. However I downloaded the first twelve episodes before they were shown here, until my dvd writing software decided it didn't like my new dual-layer dvd writer. I've got about five episodes on our Sky+ box but I know we've missed one somewhere, so I'll have to download them to see them all. It's better without ads anyway.
Wednesday, 9 May 2007
Moving to Thunderbird
Not posted anything significant for a while, so thought I would fill this with a tech post (of sorts, it's hardly detailed).
After years of using trusty Pegasus Mail, I'm in the process of switching to Mozilla Thunderbird. I've been using (and recommending) Mozilla's Firefox browser for ages, but now I'm going to be using their mail client as well.
The exporting of nearly nine year's worth of folders (I rarely delete e-mails from friends) is going to take some time, but I'll get there. The reasons I'm moving are:
1) Better support for multiple e-mail addresses. With Pegasus I'd be swapping over between mailboxes. No need with Thunderbird, which handles this pretty easily.
2) Better HTML support. While this was secure with Pegasus, it was pretty awkward, and e-mails didn't necessarily render particularly well. Thunderbird works well on incoming (if you choose) and outgoing messages.
That's really all the reasons I have, but they're pretty big reasons in terms of making my life easier. There are a few things I'd like to see in Thunderbird (multiple signatures, selective mail downloading) but I suspect I'll find those in due course in various extensions that are available. Plus I'm still getting used to using it!
There's another move I'm working on, but that can wait for another time.
After years of using trusty Pegasus Mail, I'm in the process of switching to Mozilla Thunderbird. I've been using (and recommending) Mozilla's Firefox browser for ages, but now I'm going to be using their mail client as well.
The exporting of nearly nine year's worth of folders (I rarely delete e-mails from friends) is going to take some time, but I'll get there. The reasons I'm moving are:
1) Better support for multiple e-mail addresses. With Pegasus I'd be swapping over between mailboxes. No need with Thunderbird, which handles this pretty easily.
2) Better HTML support. While this was secure with Pegasus, it was pretty awkward, and e-mails didn't necessarily render particularly well. Thunderbird works well on incoming (if you choose) and outgoing messages.
That's really all the reasons I have, but they're pretty big reasons in terms of making my life easier. There are a few things I'd like to see in Thunderbird (multiple signatures, selective mail downloading) but I suspect I'll find those in due course in various extensions that are available. Plus I'm still getting used to using it!
There's another move I'm working on, but that can wait for another time.
Friday, 4 May 2007
Another year older
Hit another birthday on Monday. Took the day off to spend it with my wife and daughter, which was great. Had dinner in Edinburgh at the Hard Rock Cafe which was amazing (I love the pulled pork sandwiches).
Glad to be done with 31 if I'm honest. I was thinking back over the year the day before and can't say it has been particularly glorious/momentous. Not much I can do about it now but hopefully can head in a different direction in the year to come.
The thing is that parenthood is pretty consuming. You need to remember that life goes on around it, and that there are other things you can do to make parenthood even more enjoyable.
(Hope that this has been vague enough to cover up any dissatisfaction about my career. Oops!)
Glad to be done with 31 if I'm honest. I was thinking back over the year the day before and can't say it has been particularly glorious/momentous. Not much I can do about it now but hopefully can head in a different direction in the year to come.
The thing is that parenthood is pretty consuming. You need to remember that life goes on around it, and that there are other things you can do to make parenthood even more enjoyable.
(Hope that this has been vague enough to cover up any dissatisfaction about my career. Oops!)
Tuesday, 3 April 2007
"I'm on the pavement, thinking about the government"
I've made a daft mistake with my car tax this year. The bill came early last month with the total for the whole twelve months being £125.
A few days after this (I'm not sure exactly how much earlier) came the Budget. How I laughed when I found out that my brother-in-law would be paying £300 this year and £400 next year to tax his (needless, for him anyway) Chelsea Tractor!
A few nights ago I logged onto the directgov website to pay my car tax, and found out that because I was paying it post-Budget it would now cost me £140. Very good. I wasn't happy, but figured that I probably deserved it for laughing at my brother-in-law.
Anyway, according to my calculations that's a 12% rise in car tax. I thought they were meant to be tackling gas guzzlers, not 1.2l family cars? As per usual I'll have to try and find that money from somewhere, but it is just another way to get money into the Government's coffers stealthily.
Here I should mention that I don't have an affiliation towards a political party. I remember the Conservatives consistently hiking up the price of petrol, bringing down student grants and other such measures which have made my life harder financially. All political parties do the same one way or another: give with one hand, try and take with the other when they think we're not paying attention.
What I don't understand is the way the media seem to have reported the 2p cut in the basic rate of tax. They all seem to be saying, "It's marvellous!" without any mention of the elimination of the starting 10p rate of tax. Once again, giving with one hand, taking with the other.
If I was really smart/ruthless I'd flee this country in a second, honestly. However it's where my life is, where my family is and where my home is. For the most part I like living here, I just wish it wasn't so expensive sometimes. I'm sure I'm just one of the many people Her Majesty's Government bank on thinking this way.
A few days after this (I'm not sure exactly how much earlier) came the Budget. How I laughed when I found out that my brother-in-law would be paying £300 this year and £400 next year to tax his (needless, for him anyway) Chelsea Tractor!
A few nights ago I logged onto the directgov website to pay my car tax, and found out that because I was paying it post-Budget it would now cost me £140. Very good. I wasn't happy, but figured that I probably deserved it for laughing at my brother-in-law.
Anyway, according to my calculations that's a 12% rise in car tax. I thought they were meant to be tackling gas guzzlers, not 1.2l family cars? As per usual I'll have to try and find that money from somewhere, but it is just another way to get money into the Government's coffers stealthily.
Here I should mention that I don't have an affiliation towards a political party. I remember the Conservatives consistently hiking up the price of petrol, bringing down student grants and other such measures which have made my life harder financially. All political parties do the same one way or another: give with one hand, try and take with the other when they think we're not paying attention.
What I don't understand is the way the media seem to have reported the 2p cut in the basic rate of tax. They all seem to be saying, "It's marvellous!" without any mention of the elimination of the starting 10p rate of tax. Once again, giving with one hand, taking with the other.
If I was really smart/ruthless I'd flee this country in a second, honestly. However it's where my life is, where my family is and where my home is. For the most part I like living here, I just wish it wasn't so expensive sometimes. I'm sure I'm just one of the many people Her Majesty's Government bank on thinking this way.
Sunday, 11 March 2007
How I organise my favourites
In response to this post on Lifehacker I thought I'd post how I organise my bookmarks.
I really only use Firefox at home and it is pretty easy to backup your bookmarks with that, so I don't really use anything else (although I'm beginning to dabble with social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us). I put my links within the following folders (sub folders as indicated) on Firefox:
Blogs
Bookmarks Toolbar Folder
Christian Resources
Firefox and Mozilla
Friends' Home Pages
Fun
Internet Resources
-- Charities
-- E-mail
-- Finance
Jobs
Live Bookmarks
Personal Home Pages
Podcasts
Quick Searches
Radio & Music
Search Engines
Shopping
-- Airlines
Social Bookmarks
Sports
Hmm, could probably do with being slighly more organised. Something to work on.
Thursday, 8 March 2007
A busy week in
Just a quick post as I'm really busy this week. What's more I haven't been anywhere!
On Monday... I can't actually remember what I did on Monday. It seems like a long time ago (not kidding). I remember being up later than I planned to be though - I think Lorraine and I were assembling a list of possible questions for nurseries.
On Tuesday my in-laws were round, so my father-in-law and I found ourselves watching the Liverpool-Barcelona game (well worth it, very enjoyable) while Lorraine and her Mum bathed Chloe (n.b. Chloe wasn't in the bath for ninety minutes, although she would do if she had the choice as she's defintely a water baby). They stayed longer than we expected and then I had a bunch of forms to fill out. Another late one!
Last night Lorraine was out with Lucy for an Orange Wednesday at the cinema, so I was looking after Chloe for the evening. We were having a great time together along with Cookie, until eventually Chloe conked out as she finished her milk and fell asleep beside me on the sofa. With Chloe asleep I took advantage of Sky Sports' interactive coverage of the Champions League to flick between three games (Manchester United-Lille, Arsenal-PSV and A.C. Milan-Celtic). And there were still things to do when Lorraine got home - arrrrggghhhh!
Lorraine's working tonight so it's another evening with Chloe and getting very little done at home. My to-do list is getting longer, not shorter. I'm not particularly happy about it.
On Monday... I can't actually remember what I did on Monday. It seems like a long time ago (not kidding). I remember being up later than I planned to be though - I think Lorraine and I were assembling a list of possible questions for nurseries.
On Tuesday my in-laws were round, so my father-in-law and I found ourselves watching the Liverpool-Barcelona game (well worth it, very enjoyable) while Lorraine and her Mum bathed Chloe (n.b. Chloe wasn't in the bath for ninety minutes, although she would do if she had the choice as she's defintely a water baby). They stayed longer than we expected and then I had a bunch of forms to fill out. Another late one!
Last night Lorraine was out with Lucy for an Orange Wednesday at the cinema, so I was looking after Chloe for the evening. We were having a great time together along with Cookie, until eventually Chloe conked out as she finished her milk and fell asleep beside me on the sofa. With Chloe asleep I took advantage of Sky Sports' interactive coverage of the Champions League to flick between three games (Manchester United-Lille, Arsenal-PSV and A.C. Milan-Celtic). And there were still things to do when Lorraine got home - arrrrggghhhh!
Lorraine's working tonight so it's another evening with Chloe and getting very little done at home. My to-do list is getting longer, not shorter. I'm not particularly happy about it.
Saturday, 10 February 2007
A few thoughts on Google Desktop Search
Just wanted to post a few thoughts on this. Just quick observations really.
1) I've never really had difficulty not finding anything I wanted to find via the standard Windows Search, regardless of the operating system (I've used Windows 95, Windows 98 and now Windows XP at home, NT and 2000 at work). This isn't offering me anything better in that respect.
2) When I'm playing Games (not often these days, admittedly) I use a different log-in and close all other applications down. Most of the applications which start automatically (things like anti-virus software, firewall, soundcard settings) can be shut down from the status bar. If you right-click on the Google Desktop Search icon it opens a web page and doesn't offer any option to quit the program. To actually close Google Desktop Search it seems that you have to CTRL-ALT-DEL into Task Manager, then close the program from there.
3) My biggest issue with Google Desktop Search? Just out of habit I tend to password-protect all my Word documents. Google Desktop Search makes that just about pointless, as password-protected files are hidden from the search, and a preview of the file can be seen in the results page!
Normally I'm a fan of what Google do, especially the growing Docs & Spreadsheets web interface. However Google Desktop Search doesn't really do anything for me. Just the opposite in fact. What I really need to do with it is to uninstall it.
1) I've never really had difficulty not finding anything I wanted to find via the standard Windows Search, regardless of the operating system (I've used Windows 95, Windows 98 and now Windows XP at home, NT and 2000 at work). This isn't offering me anything better in that respect.
2) When I'm playing Games (not often these days, admittedly) I use a different log-in and close all other applications down. Most of the applications which start automatically (things like anti-virus software, firewall, soundcard settings) can be shut down from the status bar. If you right-click on the Google Desktop Search icon it opens a web page and doesn't offer any option to quit the program. To actually close Google Desktop Search it seems that you have to CTRL-ALT-DEL into Task Manager, then close the program from there.
3) My biggest issue with Google Desktop Search? Just out of habit I tend to password-protect all my Word documents. Google Desktop Search makes that just about pointless, as password-protected files are hidden from the search, and a preview of the file can be seen in the results page!
Normally I'm a fan of what Google do, especially the growing Docs & Spreadsheets web interface. However Google Desktop Search doesn't really do anything for me. Just the opposite in fact. What I really need to do with it is to uninstall it.
Saturday, 13 January 2007
Thoughts on Sorkin and A Few Good Men
One thing I love about buying films or TV series on DVD as opposed to VHS is all the bonus content that comes with it. A set of good extras is sometimes the difference between buying a DVD or leaving it on the shelf to me.
So when I made the big mistake of stepping into HMV during a sale and saw that the DVD of A Few Good Men was packed full of extras I left quickly, thought about it for a few days and then returned to pick up a copy. I love the film anyway, so why not pick it up?
Anyway, the most interesting extra on the DVD is a section relating to the adaption of the original play to a screenplay. While the parts with director Rob Reiner are somewhat interesting I found the interview with writer Aaron Sorkin fascinating. Stories as far apart as putting original ideas on napkins while he was writing the original play (which working as a bartender) to struggling to convert to a screenplay format. Very, very interesting. Highly recommended.
P.S. Typical, I recommend Sorkin and then I go to his wikipedia page which mentions he has some interesting ways of getting inspiration. Still a good writer though.
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