Blog
Blog of NickRon Apr. 15 2008
Claim for Technorati
09:52 am
on Sep. 2 2006
Claim for technorati
11:58 am
on Jan. 18 2007
Potential Royal Marines Fitness Schedule
06:19 pm
Great little training article http://www.mfat.co.uk/rm.php?page=rm1 also a lot of useful info on the site.
on Apr. 28 2008
Broken Arm
09:16 pm ~ Accident
I managed to fall off my motorbike and break my arm, a week ago.
I have broken my inner radius on my left arm right at the end near my wrist (top part broken off) and also a fracture underneath. Luckily my pot is holding the bone together so I wont need pins.
I hope to get back to posting in my blog soon.
I have broken my inner radius on my left arm right at the end near my wrist (top part broken off) and also a fracture underneath. Luckily my pot is holding the bone together so I wont need pins.
I hope to get back to posting in my blog soon.
on Apr. 17 2008
NGRhodes.co.uk htaccess domain redirects the easy way
02:45 pm ~ Htaccess ~ Ngrhodes
I have decided to update my domain to www.NGRhodes.co.uk . My motivation for doing this was simply picking something that is more memorable, rolls off the tongue easier, but at the same time not too dissimilar to my previous domain name.
I had a quick look for .htaccess rules and found one simple easy way to redirect any domain and redirect the canonical non-www to www.
(from redirect www and no www)
This rule simply redirects anything that is NOT my desired domain name to my domain name.
I had a quick look for .htaccess rules and found one simple easy way to redirect any domain and redirect the canonical non-www to www.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.domain.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [L,R=301](from redirect www and no www)
This rule simply redirects anything that is NOT my desired domain name to my domain name.
on Apr. 9 2008
Phorm must be opt-in only !
02:55 pm ~ Phorm
Good news at last.
From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/09/ico_phorm_tougher/
Statement by the IOC:
" The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued a major revision to its statement on Phorm, insisting that the ad tracking system must be deployed on an opt-in basis to comply with the law. "
From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/09/ico_phorm_tougher/
Statement by the IOC:
" Even if Phorm is not processing personal data, the ISP undertaking the profiling may be to the extent that it uses IP addresses in that profiling and is able to link its customers to an IP address although this may not be its intention.
To the extent that personal data is processed that processing must be fair and lawful in order to comply with the First Principle of the DPA.
Regulation 7 of PECR will require the ISP to get the consent of users to the use of their traffic data for any value added services. This strongly supports the view that Phorm products will have to operate on an opt in basis to use traffic data as part of the process of returning relevant targeted marketing to internet users. "
on Apr. 3 2008
Suspend NERC Petition !
11:01 am ~ NERC ~ Trail riding
A petition the Prime Minister to suspend Section 6 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 to allow "byways open to all traffic" to be established where motor vehicle rights of way existed prior to 2006
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Suspend-NERC/
" This section of the act extinguished motor vehicle rights from "restricted byways". The effect has been to close half the rights of way previously open to motor vehicles.
Motor vehicles may now only use "byways open to all traffic", only 2% of all rights of way. Many of these are effectively closed to motor vehicles as they are classed as restricted byways for part their length. Motor vehicles, therefore, can use substantially less than the 4,500km of rights of way quoted by the government.
Rather than reduce the potential for conflict of use, noise nuisance or damage, the act may have the opposite effect as it concentrates recreational vehicle use on a smaller number of rights of way.
Early commencement of the legislation has left many rights of way incorrectly recorded and led to the loss of motor vehicle rights over many historic routes. Suspending Section 6 would allow highways authorities, user groups and individuals to apply to reclassify these as "byways open to all traffic", ensuring that their status is correctly recorded. "
on Mar. 31 2008
Sumo. Software Update Monitor for windows.
01:07 pm ~ Update software ~ Windows
I have just been looking at update monitors for windows.
I am not interested in auto-update features (that is tools that can download and automatically install), just in the functionality to notify.
Appget installed fine, but when I ran the first scan, I found it listed lots of pre-release software which I was not prepared to download/install. There was also a few false positives and missed a few apps. The gui was not easy to use and lots of missing download links for updates.
UpdateStar did not install correctly, it installed in my profile/appdata folder, which is not acceptable. It also detected the least programs installed AND created the most false positives, making it by far the worst performer on my machine.
Sumo performed the best, only a few missing apps (but no false positives like with Appget and Updatestar) and a clean simple easy to use GUI. Ability to choose to use or ignore beta software and also ignore Microsoft software (great if you use windows built in update tools) are great options. Unlike the other tools it was not uninstalled in 10 minutes of using it and this one will stay. The only thing missing is some kind of scheduling, but I currently have a weekly reminder set to do this task manually.
Of course a long way to go before we get the maturity of using a Linux distro with a tool like Synaptic
I am not interested in auto-update features (that is tools that can download and automatically install), just in the functionality to notify.
Appget installed fine, but when I ran the first scan, I found it listed lots of pre-release software which I was not prepared to download/install. There was also a few false positives and missed a few apps. The gui was not easy to use and lots of missing download links for updates.
UpdateStar did not install correctly, it installed in my profile/appdata folder, which is not acceptable. It also detected the least programs installed AND created the most false positives, making it by far the worst performer on my machine.
Sumo performed the best, only a few missing apps (but no false positives like with Appget and Updatestar) and a clean simple easy to use GUI. Ability to choose to use or ignore beta software and also ignore Microsoft software (great if you use windows built in update tools) are great options. Unlike the other tools it was not uninstalled in 10 minutes of using it and this one will stay. The only thing missing is some kind of scheduling, but I currently have a weekly reminder set to do this task manually.
Of course a long way to go before we get the maturity of using a Linux distro with a tool like Synaptic
on Mar. 26 2008
The Guardian ditches Phorm
12:35 pm ~ Phorm ~ The Guardian
" UK liberal's newspaper of choice has now decided it does not want to be associated with Phorm. "
From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/26/guardian_phorm_uturn/
" The withdrawl of the UK's most popular newspaper website* from its publisher network is a massive blow for Phorm and its investors, already bloodied by ferocious public opposition to involvement by BT, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse. "
Well that is good news. Just need Virgin (my ISP) and the others to follow.
on Mar. 19 2008
Linux Gnome Clearlooks - XP Theme How To
01:32 pm ~ Clearlooks ~ Xp theme
As much as I enjoy using both Windows XP and Linux desktops, I have always preferred Clearlooks, the default Gnome theme on Linux.
After a quick Google, I found an outdated article (Linux-looking Themes on Windows XP).
So here is my quick updated guide, using the latest tools and I managed to find an even better Clearlooks port.
Clearlooks XP Theme.
I used Uxtheme Multi-patcher 5.5. Simply download and install. You may need to reboot and you do want to enable the theme service if prompted by the installer.
Go to the link above and download the theme and extract the contents into the following folder:
Once in this dialog go to the "Appearance" tab and click on the drop down under "Windows and buttons" and select one of the Clearlooks themes (various names like SkyCG and AncientCG).
Below this is the "Color scheme" drop down. From here you can select different variants which change the appearance of the taskbar.
I have not tried these icons yet, if you do, let me know how you get on.
Cheers, Nick
After a quick Google, I found an outdated article (Linux-looking Themes on Windows XP).
So here is my quick updated guide, using the latest tools and I managed to find an even better Clearlooks port.
Clearlooks XP Theme.1. Theme Patching
The first thing that needs to be done is patch the themes service to allow unsigned themes.I used Uxtheme Multi-patcher 5.5. Simply download and install. You may need to reboot and you do want to enable the theme service if prompted by the installer.
2. Installing the Theme
After hours of searching I found Clearlooks Gummy - Colors by WinGNOME-XP. This theme provides many colour alternatives AND taskbar options (more later).Go to the link above and download the theme and extract the contents into the following folder:
C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes3. Configuring the Theme
You simply need to go to the "Display Properties" dialog, I do this by right clicking anywhere on my desktop and selecting (usually) the last option "Properties".Once in this dialog go to the "Appearance" tab and click on the drop down under "Windows and buttons" and select one of the Clearlooks themes (various names like SkyCG and AncientCG).
Below this is the "Color scheme" drop down. From here you can select different variants which change the appearance of the taskbar.
4. Bonus - Icons
The author of the theme recommends using the Tango Icons, using Tango Patcher by vertigosity.I have not tried these icons yet, if you do, let me know how you get on.
Cheers, Nick
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