Archive for September, 2008

Driving – some observations

// September 30th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

Those of you that have been following this website for a while will be aware of my, often acerbic, out bursts on the subject of road use and drivers. Normally these out bursts were from a motor cyclist’s perspective but, just recently, I have finally passed my car test and so have been viewing things from a different (and slightly wider) perspective.

This post on the BBC’s website providing some useful tips for daily drivers actually reminded me of something that occurred when driving across Europe. It’s amazing how little difference speeding, lane jockeying and general attempts at going faster makes to your arrival time. In Europe we were driving 100’s of miles at a time and the traffic jams we encountered would literally add a minute or two to our proposed ETA despite spending half an hour travelling at half our previous speed.

I must admit that, for the first week or so I was a very bad (or good depending on your perspective) car driver – very heavy on the throttle, off the line, hard on the brakes and generally being the epitome of someone who’s making the transition from a motorcycle that does 0-60 in 3 seconds to a car that does 0-60 in 3 minutes :-)

Since I’ve been driving for a short while now I’ve actually settled down and have found, much as I always expected, that driving in a more relaxed fashion doesn’t mean I take any longer to get there. I still drive at or just under / over the speed limit but my transitions are more gradual and it still takes just as long to get where I’m going. The major advantage being that the fuel consumption on the car has dropped from 30 MPG to 40+ which is a pretty nice saving (or about 4 days worth of commute for free!)

Of course I still despair at the twatishness of my fellow road users – but at least I’m doing so from the comfort of a car rather than perched precariously on a 1000cc bike … that said, on the bike I could always over take them!

We’re going to need a bigger bedside table

// September 26th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

I made a small error of judgement today. After a nice lunch with blogless friend James I was strolling through town having picked up one of my necessities (a new analog game controller for the PC) and decided to duck into WH Smiths to see if there was anything new by any of the authors I frequent… oops.

Turns out not only has Alistair Reynolds released a new Revelation Space title (wicked sick sci fi space opera) but Garth Nix has finally finished the next Keys to the Kingdom book (Superior Saturday) as well as releasing the first book in a new series called the Seventh Tower … that’s three then.

Feeling pretty well shafted by this lack of staggered timing I’m on my way to the checkout when bugger me backwards, if Eoin Coulfer hasn’t got a new Artemis Fowl out in hardback … and it’s on sale!!!

This of course means I’ll spend the next week reading them all rather quickly before having to wait another year for the next lot.

Facebook Etiquette Guide

// September 26th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

A little tongue in cheek this one but good enough for a Friday giggle. Courtesy of Tech Radar – 15 things you should never do on Facebook.

I miss Twitter SMS Alerts

// September 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // Tech

I can understand why they’ve been switched off (must have been costing them a fortune) but at the same time, I feel like I’ve lost a level of integration with what was my second most prolific online comms channel after this blog.

Truthfully, unless something is jumping up and down at me daily (e.g. this Blog is set as my homepage so I know when it’s been weeks since my last update) then it’s very likely to be forgotten about for weeks at a time. Such is the state with Twitter. Surely they could look at email alerting which would solve the problem in the short term.

What I really need is something similar to the Facebook app for the Blackberry which could keep me updated on Twitter activity via categorized email alerts…

Parallel Processing in PHP

// September 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // Tech

Sorry guys – an actual tech post so those of you who don’t want to can read the previous post and dig through Daisy Owl’s archives until I’m done. For the rest of you? Read on…

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My new favourite web comic

// September 23rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

I make no secret of my love for certain comics online. Ctrl Alt Del, XKCD, Vimrod, Dilbert and others all make for a daily chuckle and are generally saved for that 11:30 am moment when the day’s plan has already gone to hell in a bob sled and I need cheering up.

The latest addition to the Comics folder in my RSS client? Daisy Owl. I have no idea what the basis for the strip is but it follows Daisy (a girl being raised by an owl) and her friends in a suitably off the wall series of stories which actually remind me of Peanuts in some ways.

Go and check it out, and, if you like the above, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. How about you lot? Any regularly updated web comics that you check in on day to day? Let me know in the comments.

Wordpress as a CMS – Toolbox

// September 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

I know I still have a load to do on the CMS series but for those who’ve only got so far as the Wordpress post you could do worse than check out this set of Wordpress Developer resources collected by Smashing Magazine.

They cover everything I can think of and some more besides – should be enough to get a basic site up and running with full fledged CMSness.

Animated Balls

// September 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

Hot on the heels of Clone Wars (which I’m very unlikely to get the GGF off to see) comes this announcement from G4 that they are remaking the 80s Classic Space Balls as an animated movie and companion series.

From the looks of the entry on IMDB they have some of the original cast in to do voice work and Mel Brooks is on hand to ensure the comedy if of the standard we’d expect. All in all, I can’t wait!

There and back again … Back again

// September 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

The second part in my holiday round up. Still lacking in photos (unless the GGF can find me some) due to the reasons stated in part one.

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Top TV – Fringe

// September 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

It’s finally that time of year again when the US spools up it’s Autumn … sorry Fall schedule which normally includes a few decent programs. Top of my list this year (aside from the final series of BSG, the next series of Chuck, Prison Break and the questionable return of 24) is Fringe.

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