Oct 2007
How much!
31/10/07 18:33 Filed in: Personal
Firstly, happy Halloween.
I've just been watching North West Tonight, our local news program. They outlined a case of a refugee who managed to escape Congo (and I'll spare you the details) and made it to Liverpool. I don't think there is a single person in the area of indeed the United Kingdom who wouldn't agree with her refugee status. She is only 14.
But what's really made my head spin is that Liverpool (City) Council have stated that it costs £1500 (that's $3000) a WEEK to keep her. £1500!!! It would be cheaper to send her all expenses paid to Disneyland Paris!
Is it me.. or is somebody taking the 'you know what'.
You'll note that Liverpool City Council that charges it's own departments £70 ($150) for a USB Printer cable. Why so much? Well... and this is no joke. It's about £10 ($20) for the cable and the rest is taken up by administration fees and a "Designated Project Manager". Yes, that's right.. a Project Manager to make sure a USB printer cable gets put in a bag and send to the department. Oh, didn't I mention that the £70 DIDN'T include somebody to plug it in? Sorry. My bad.
I've just been watching North West Tonight, our local news program. They outlined a case of a refugee who managed to escape Congo (and I'll spare you the details) and made it to Liverpool. I don't think there is a single person in the area of indeed the United Kingdom who wouldn't agree with her refugee status. She is only 14.
But what's really made my head spin is that Liverpool (City) Council have stated that it costs £1500 (that's $3000) a WEEK to keep her. £1500!!! It would be cheaper to send her all expenses paid to Disneyland Paris!
Is it me.. or is somebody taking the 'you know what'.
You'll note that Liverpool City Council that charges it's own departments £70 ($150) for a USB Printer cable. Why so much? Well... and this is no joke. It's about £10 ($20) for the cable and the rest is taken up by administration fees and a "Designated Project Manager". Yes, that's right.. a Project Manager to make sure a USB printer cable gets put in a bag and send to the department. Oh, didn't I mention that the £70 DIDN'T include somebody to plug it in? Sorry. My bad.
One of the best
30/10/07 17:14 Filed in: Personal
You don't usually get much of an opportunity to ring the praises of an organisation. Which in my mind is a bit of a shame.
So I'm going to buck that trend and recommend a company. Either your looking for a member of staff or want to find a new role; in any case check out Monarch Recruitment. I can do nothing but praise their professionalism and personal service.
This is really an organisation you can form personal ties to... and no... I'm not getting slipped a fiver for this free advertisement.
So... Give them a go. Visit their website at: http://www.monarchrecruitment.co.uk/
Tel: 0870 603 9071
Fax: 0870 603 9077
E-Mail:contactus@monarchrecruitment.co.uk
So I'm going to buck that trend and recommend a company. Either your looking for a member of staff or want to find a new role; in any case check out Monarch Recruitment. I can do nothing but praise their professionalism and personal service.
This is really an organisation you can form personal ties to... and no... I'm not getting slipped a fiver for this free advertisement.
So... Give them a go. Visit their website at: http://www.monarchrecruitment.co.uk/
Tel: 0870 603 9071
Fax: 0870 603 9077
E-Mail:contactus@monarchrecruitment.co.uk
Award Time
30/10/07 16:28 Filed in: Personal
Now.. I don't want to make it appear like I'm being a bit of a miserable so and so.
So, I'm in an award giving kind of mood.
The owner of this M-Class Mercedes. Who despite there being at least 50+ parking spaces in the motorway service station car park appears to have elected to park in these TWO.
There must be something about private registration plates that make people drive so badly. Or in this case, park.
You note. Shortly after these pictures. The owner came back and almost drove out into the side of a 30' articulated lorry. Nice one!
So, I'm in an award giving kind of mood.
So this months worst parking award goes to....
There must be something about private registration plates that make people drive so badly. Or in this case, park.
You note. Shortly after these pictures. The owner came back and almost drove out into the side of a 30' articulated lorry. Nice one!
What the!!
30/10/07 16:08 Filed in: Personal
Short post again I'm afraid. Not that I've been Mr Verbose for a while.
Driving along a perfectly happy stretch of dual carriageway I get to a round about and while heading across to the far side a driving instructor waves on his student right in front of me! To say I had to slow down hastily would be an understatement.
Not wanting to make a bad situation worse, I refrained from beeping my horn in discussed and instead settled back to laugh at the instructors pure method.
45 mph in the 40 zone. Then anchors on to 25 when he sees a 30 mph sign (remember, it's a dual control car).
And the name of this driving mishap outfit? "Easypass". Easy crash more like!
Driving along a perfectly happy stretch of dual carriageway I get to a round about and while heading across to the far side a driving instructor waves on his student right in front of me! To say I had to slow down hastily would be an understatement.
Not wanting to make a bad situation worse, I refrained from beeping my horn in discussed and instead settled back to laugh at the instructors pure method.
45 mph in the 40 zone. Then anchors on to 25 when he sees a 30 mph sign (remember, it's a dual control car).
And the name of this driving mishap outfit? "Easypass". Easy crash more like!
The best one yet
29/10/07 18:19 Filed in: Personal
Stop the press.
BBC news has just reported that Lewis Hamilton is moving to Switzerland.
But it's not what you think.
No, no, no. It's to do with the pressure people put him under by saying "Hello" and sometimes asking for his autograph.
So having been put under this tremendous stress he's been forced to move to TAX HAVEN Switzerland. Not because it's a TAX HAVEN, not at all. But because it's a lovely gentle place where people let you be famous and leave you alone.
So, just to make sure there is no confusion. This is not AN OBVIOUS MOVE TO A TAX HAVEN that you might imagine. It's all about his mental health.
Because lets face it, the mental stress of doing 200 mph in a tiny car doesn't come close to compare to signing a child's autograph book or smiling for a picture.
Brave Lewis Hamilton, we salute you. With two fingers.
BBC news has just reported that Lewis Hamilton is moving to Switzerland.
But it's not what you think.
No, no, no. It's to do with the pressure people put him under by saying "Hello" and sometimes asking for his autograph.
So having been put under this tremendous stress he's been forced to move to TAX HAVEN Switzerland. Not because it's a TAX HAVEN, not at all. But because it's a lovely gentle place where people let you be famous and leave you alone.
So, just to make sure there is no confusion. This is not AN OBVIOUS MOVE TO A TAX HAVEN that you might imagine. It's all about his mental health.
Because lets face it, the mental stress of doing 200 mph in a tiny car doesn't come close to compare to signing a child's autograph book or smiling for a picture.
Brave Lewis Hamilton, we salute you. With two fingers.
See, he IS funny
25/10/07 19:36 Filed in: Personal
Steve Martin. What can you say.
Well, "L.A. Story" remains the only romantic comedy I can watch for more than 10 minutes; plus it contains some very prophetic lines to boot.
But since then, he's been in a self admitted crisis of just not being able to be funny anymore. In his own words, he's forgotten how to be funny. Recent examples of which would be the latest remake of the Pink Panther film, that was about as much fun as a wet weekend in Grimsby, with a broken leg.
So it's always nice to hear when the old magic returns to a performa. For evidence, simply check out his moustache.
If this isn't an act of genius I don't know what is! Is that not the most bizarre face fur you've ever seen?
For me, It's a reminded of those Sunday mornings with my Grandfather watching the Basil Rathbone 'bad guys' out of so many swashbucklers of the 1930's. Think "Captain Blood" or "The Mark of Zorro". Steve martin has stolen his face ornament! Why else would it be a different colour to the rest of this hair!?!
Well, "L.A. Story" remains the only romantic comedy I can watch for more than 10 minutes; plus it contains some very prophetic lines to boot.
But since then, he's been in a self admitted crisis of just not being able to be funny anymore. In his own words, he's forgotten how to be funny. Recent examples of which would be the latest remake of the Pink Panther film, that was about as much fun as a wet weekend in Grimsby, with a broken leg.
So it's always nice to hear when the old magic returns to a performa. For evidence, simply check out his moustache.
If this isn't an act of genius I don't know what is! Is that not the most bizarre face fur you've ever seen?
For me, It's a reminded of those Sunday mornings with my Grandfather watching the Basil Rathbone 'bad guys' out of so many swashbucklers of the 1930's. Think "Captain Blood" or "The Mark of Zorro". Steve martin has stolen his face ornament! Why else would it be a different colour to the rest of this hair!?!
iPhone SDK hits the streets and it's NOT NATIVE EXECUTABLES!
25/10/07 07:00 Filed in: Technology
UPDATE: Since writing this blog post I've had a lot of comments and emails pointing out that this SDK is for web development. I clearly didn't make it clear enough in my posting. But the point I'm making is that calling what is essentially a web design guideline an SDK is somewhat overstating a case and that releasing a simply guideline would have been more appropriate. That was my point. Hope that clears up the matter.
Well, after a turn around and then a little hype the iPhone SDK has finally hit the streets.
Apple have sent me (and ADC member) a link to get hold of the SDK, including a link for iTunes training videos.
So far it's been pretty much a rolling advert to get an iPhone. It's a remarkeable device.
When I get a chance I'll look into this. But not having an iPhone and being in the UK. I'll not get too excited.
But there's a problem. These are NOT native applications. These are applications that run 'from YOUR website'. The guides are merely to describe how to design the web applications for best practice.
In fact, even a quick glimps of the demo code shows they are HTML and JavaScript based applications.
Basically, this IS NOT an SDK to develop applications to run natively on the iPhone.
So is anybody else disappointed?
You'll need to get a free ADC account to see this page. Should you want to bother
Well, after a turn around and then a little hype the iPhone SDK has finally hit the streets.
Apple have sent me (and ADC member) a link to get hold of the SDK, including a link for iTunes training videos.
So far it's been pretty much a rolling advert to get an iPhone. It's a remarkeable device.
When I get a chance I'll look into this. But not having an iPhone and being in the UK. I'll not get too excited.
But there's a problem. These are NOT native applications. These are applications that run 'from YOUR website'. The guides are merely to describe how to design the web applications for best practice.
In fact, even a quick glimps of the demo code shows they are HTML and JavaScript based applications.
Basically, this IS NOT an SDK to develop applications to run natively on the iPhone.
So is anybody else disappointed?
You'll need to get a free ADC account to see this page. Should you want to bother
Excuse me?!
24/10/07 13:31 Filed in: Personal
I was watching the BBC news today and they were talking about a witness to Diana's death. There's a considerable amount of conspiracy theory going around at present; some of which as some merit and some of which that is completely ridiculous.
However, something I picked up on today was a report made by Olivier Partouche to the inquest into her death. On the BBC news (but not in this print version) it was alleged that Mr Partouche heard the Mercedes revving it's engine.
But here's the thing. Diana's car was a Mercedes Benz S280 and, as with all S class Mercedes, was in fact AUTOMATIC. Which means that Henri Paul must have taken the car out of Drive and moved into Neutral in order to rev the engine, presumably loosing speed. This puts the car into what used to be termed "uncontrollable". Because you can't accelerate.
Henri then put the car back in Drive in time for the fateful crash.
Conspiracy theory aside.
Does that make sense to anyone?
However, something I picked up on today was a report made by Olivier Partouche to the inquest into her death. On the BBC news (but not in this print version) it was alleged that Mr Partouche heard the Mercedes revving it's engine.
But here's the thing. Diana's car was a Mercedes Benz S280 and, as with all S class Mercedes, was in fact AUTOMATIC. Which means that Henri Paul must have taken the car out of Drive and moved into Neutral in order to rev the engine, presumably loosing speed. This puts the car into what used to be termed "uncontrollable". Because you can't accelerate.
Henri then put the car back in Drive in time for the fateful crash.
Conspiracy theory aside.
Does that make sense to anyone?
Come on Google!
23/10/07 03:13 Filed in: Technology
You know. Not everything about Google is so terrific.
For one, if you should happen to change the content of a site, as we did on Everything You Know Is A Lie, it can take weeks if not months for the new links to be indexed out.
This is made all the more frustrating as we are using Google AdSense and Google is the search engine used on the site.
Come on Google! Get a move on!
For one, if you should happen to change the content of a site, as we did on Everything You Know Is A Lie, it can take weeks if not months for the new links to be indexed out.
This is made all the more frustrating as we are using Google AdSense and Google is the search engine used on the site.
Come on Google! Get a move on!
What a load of old tosh!
21/10/07 13:29 Filed in: Personal
If anybody has the misfortune to be ill or worse.. you'll have no doubt caught the BBC television program "Cash in the attic".
The premise is simple. Person or persons require a set amount of money. 'Experts' come to the house and locate items that added up will sell at auction that will add up to that amount.
Here's what happens.
They find an item that's meant to be worth something and an item that despite all evidence to the contrary is valued at bargain basement. You'll see why in a second. But lets say its a tankard owned by Henry V, signed 'Harry was here!'; £50 - £100 would be the price.
So the auction starts. And this happens EVERY SINGLE TIME. They are going well. Then the hit item fails to sell or goes for massively under value. Queue the "Doo doo do dooo do do dooo" music and lots of disappointed faces and "I can't believe it" comments.
But not to worry. Because the 'Tankard' is coming up and you never know.
Amazing! It went for a gizzillion pounds! Who would have bloody believed it!!
I'll tell you who. Everyone!! It's complete tosh! Do the BBC REALLY THINK WE ARE THAT THICK!
So, now I drive the Mrs mad by singing the "doo doo do dooo" tune to her. Which at least is a bit of fun.
The premise is simple. Person or persons require a set amount of money. 'Experts' come to the house and locate items that added up will sell at auction that will add up to that amount.
Here's what happens.
They find an item that's meant to be worth something and an item that despite all evidence to the contrary is valued at bargain basement. You'll see why in a second. But lets say its a tankard owned by Henry V, signed 'Harry was here!'; £50 - £100 would be the price.
So the auction starts. And this happens EVERY SINGLE TIME. They are going well. Then the hit item fails to sell or goes for massively under value. Queue the "Doo doo do dooo do do dooo" music and lots of disappointed faces and "I can't believe it" comments.
But not to worry. Because the 'Tankard' is coming up and you never know.
Amazing! It went for a gizzillion pounds! Who would have bloody believed it!!
I'll tell you who. Everyone!! It's complete tosh! Do the BBC REALLY THINK WE ARE THAT THICK!
So, now I drive the Mrs mad by singing the "doo doo do dooo" tune to her. Which at least is a bit of fun.
Looking for that N goodness?
11/10/07 20:59 Filed in: Technology
If you own an early (but not 1st Gen.) MacBook Pro, the ones sporting 2.0 CoreDuo but NOT Core2Duo; then like me you're missing out on all the Wireless-n 802.11n goodness.
Sadly, the upgrade options would appear at first glance to be fairly low.
For one, there's this rather expensive and somewhat 'home made' appearing model. It's called the nQuicky. And it comes out as $149.95 USD. Which, is pretty expensive. To say the least.
So.. always on the hunt for a bargain, I started a trawl. First up, the Edimax EW-7718Un. It's a USB 2.0 802.11n adapter. Which, although it doesn't suggest it support the Mac and OS X, 10.3 and 10.4 in fact. The link I've provided is for the driver screen.. so you can see I'm not making it up! Costs? Around £35 - £40 ($70 - $80).
Now, if you're in the mood for some serious work, that's going to mean getting down and dirty with your laptop. There is an excellent solution from xlr8yourmac. Using the simple instructions you can take the laptop carefully apart (it's not too hard) and then replace the existing WiFi card with an upgrade card for the Mac Pro!
Sounds drastic, but is actually straight forward. It's also probably the best method, because you won't be reliant on anybody else's drivers. Price, well apparently you can get them for $49 and indeed I did find the MA688Z/B from Powermax.
So... who's feeling brave then.
Sadly, the upgrade options would appear at first glance to be fairly low.
For one, there's this rather expensive and somewhat 'home made' appearing model. It's called the nQuicky. And it comes out as $149.95 USD. Which, is pretty expensive. To say the least.
So.. always on the hunt for a bargain, I started a trawl. First up, the Edimax EW-7718Un. It's a USB 2.0 802.11n adapter. Which, although it doesn't suggest it support the Mac and OS X, 10.3 and 10.4 in fact. The link I've provided is for the driver screen.. so you can see I'm not making it up! Costs? Around £35 - £40 ($70 - $80).
Now, if you're in the mood for some serious work, that's going to mean getting down and dirty with your laptop. There is an excellent solution from xlr8yourmac. Using the simple instructions you can take the laptop carefully apart (it's not too hard) and then replace the existing WiFi card with an upgrade card for the Mac Pro!
Sounds drastic, but is actually straight forward. It's also probably the best method, because you won't be reliant on anybody else's drivers. Price, well apparently you can get them for $49 and indeed I did find the MA688Z/B from Powermax.
So... who's feeling brave then.
When will X-Factor die!?
06/10/07 18:59 Filed in: Personal
Just a heartfelt cry to anybody in TV land who is listening.
We, as in anybody with 50% of a brain, is just about sick and fed up of X-Factor, Big Brother, Castaway, I'm a celebrity (please re-brand my career).
It's just not clever anymore. It's wasn't very clever before...
But now it's just getting down right annoying. Week after week, year after year, the same old warmed over garbage on our screens.
Any more of this and Britain will end up with 20% of it's people not being able to find the UK on a map of the world.
Do you want this?
I picked this version because it comes with sub-titles for those who aren't bilingual in gibberish.
We, as in anybody with 50% of a brain, is just about sick and fed up of X-Factor, Big Brother, Castaway, I'm a celebrity (please re-brand my career).
It's just not clever anymore. It's wasn't very clever before...
But now it's just getting down right annoying. Week after week, year after year, the same old warmed over garbage on our screens.
Any more of this and Britain will end up with 20% of it's people not being able to find the UK on a map of the world.
Do you want this?
I picked this version because it comes with sub-titles for those who aren't bilingual in gibberish.