Blog
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Blog software without a database?
The other half has decided she wants her own blog. So I've been looking around for some blogging software she can use. Blosxom is all well and good for geeks like me, but she needs something that does…
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pred.txt arrived
I just got my copy of pred.txt, the book form of the collected writings and rantings by pivotal C@talyst hardware geek <predator> who died this year and will be sorely missed. The book collects his va…
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Omega by Jack McDevitt
Just finished his book. It's a great sci-fi novel in the post-space opera vein. The story is quite understated, but involving. Drags you in but isn't an adrenaline rush. Basic story is this: A future…
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DVD rental gold rush
There's currently something of a gold rush mentality going on with the DVD rental companies here in the UK. Dozens of them have sprung up in the last few months and they're all trying to get your busi…
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Lazy-arse tube drivers
Tube drivers on the Picadilly Line are on strike today. Apparently they're upset because one of the drivers was demoted for running through four red signals. These bastards, with their £35,000 salarie…
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Music on wheels
Finally got my little radio transmitter sending Minidisc music to the radio on the handlebars of my bike. Now I don't have to be subjected to the horrors of British breakfast radio (where every DJ is…
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Hawkshead are spammers
I ordered from this company once. Fortunately I used a Sneakemail address so I can delete it. Postal spam isn't going to be so easily solved. In a short time, this email address will start bouncing. R…
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New policy on bands
To avoid ending up like my parents (who recently saw Simon and Garfunkel) I've decided to adopt a new policy. I won't see any bands unless they have put out new material, even crap new material, withi…
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London Perl Workshop
I went to the London Perl Workshop on Saturday. It was very good and I learnt a lot. The "Gimmes" session taught me a few things that were useful. The session on sort was very useful, as I've never re…
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Network Solutions suck!
Yes I know I know, I should have moved registrars when Network Solutions lost their monopoly on.com,.org and.net domains. I didn't get around to it. Certainly should have done it when they hijacked th…
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Nick Cave and frapaccinos
Just listening to Nick Cave's latest album, Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus and there's a great line in "Abattoir Blues": I woke up this morning, with a frapacinno in my hand. Oh dear. Nick has b…
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MPD is great!
I finally got sick of xmms being so flaky and installed mpd which was discussed on gllug recently. It's brilliant! In the Unix tradition, it is a collection of small tools that do one thing well, and…
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Weird foreign-language forums
I seem to be getting a huge number of hits to my photo of a jar of snake wine from our trip to Vietnam. Sure enough, if you look on a Google image search, it shows up on the first page of results. Not…
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Tourist Engineer goes global
My hacker tourist site now supports latitude and longitude for any location on the planet. Thanks to the geniuses at Openguides, the software handles it instead of the former British National Grid, wh…
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Finally booked skiing
I've finally booked our ski trip. Staying at this apartment in Vallandry. Eurostar to get there. Can't wait! And there's already snow!
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New PDA
I just bought an Ipaq 5450 off a gadget-mad colleague. Nice little piece of kit. Most importantly, it has built-in wireless and expansion memory slot, which was the big problem with the old Ipaq I had…
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Nut brown ale
Just brewed up a Munton's Nut Brown Ale kit. Added 200g pale malt, 900g dark malt and boiled a handful of the cheap, crappy Fuggles hops for a while. Should be good. Following a successful brew, I cra…
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Guantanamo Baywatch
Just went and saw Guantanamo Baywatch, one of the trilogy by the same writer as The Madness of George Dubya. That hysterical counted as the funniest live comedy I've ever seen. Baywatch was good too,…
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Snowboarding in Slovenia
I'm in the process of booking a week of skiing at Kranjska Gora in Slovenia for next February. Managed to convince Holly to come at last, so we're both going to learn to snowboard. There will be eight…
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Juniper?
Anyone know where to get juniper berries? We're off to Scotland this weekend with a bunch of friends. We'll be cooking up eight pounds of venison and the recipe calls for juniper berries...