http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/user-1 en 2007 NickR unknown_webmaster@acme.heaven 53.8481 -1.829 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:19:50 GMT Yet Another Community System http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 59 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-169-ubuntu-8.10-intrepid-ibex-released http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-169-ubuntu-8.10-intrepid-ibex-released Available from Ubuntu download page, announcement - Ubuntu 8.10 released. From a users viewpoint, this version offers various new improvements including:  Support for 3G wireless devices and improved Wi-Fi support. Nautilus, desktop file manager now has tab support. Encrypted private directories. guest user mode. On a more technical side, there is a newer Kernel - version 2.6.27, Gnome 2.24, Xorg 7.4, Updated Samba for Windows networking, Xen virtual machine. I will be downloading shortly and testing it from the LiveCD, I hope to see improvements with Xorg's auto-configuration ... more nickr Blog Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:51:12 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-169-ubuntu-8.10-intrepid-ibex-released#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/169 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/169 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A169 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-168-darth-scarlett http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-168-darth-scarlett The latest menace to crawl the known universe... Darth Scarlett nickr Blog Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:12:53 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-168-darth-scarlett#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/168 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/168 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A168 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-167-getting-power-management-to-work-in-ubuntu http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-167-getting-power-management-to-work-in-ubuntu After noticing that my Laptop was not Spinning down its HDD, I decided to investigate, a quick google and on the first page I found a useful page: Power Management - Ubuntu Wiki . After going through the guide, I noticed that my Harddrive was spinning down very quickly. After a bit of experimentation with different settings for the spindown time, I realise that the issue was with the APM settings overriding the spindown setting. The solution was use a setting of 128 to 255 and the HDD will spin down according to the spindown setting - anything less than 127 ... more nickr Blog Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:04:53 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-167-getting-power-management-to-work-in-ubuntu#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/167 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/167 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A167 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-166-my-ongoing-saga-of-moving-to-linux http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-166-my-ongoing-saga-of-moving-to-linux If your wondering where I have been, well, I apart from a summer vacation touring the South of England, I have been migrating slowly to Linux. The distribution I have currently chosen is Linux Mint. I think this is a more polished and stable version of Ubuntu, but not just that, but its default configuration is closer to how I prefer things to be configured. I am still considering using Debian Testing, but am waiting to for Lenny (the current testing) to be released to see how long it takes for the new testing to stabilise. So this ... more n1ckr Blog Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:32:20 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-166-my-ongoing-saga-of-moving-to-linux#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/166 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/166 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A166 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-165-mst-defrag-v3-public-beta http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-165-mst-defrag-v3-public-beta http://www.mstsoftware.com/en/Products/mst-Defrag/mst-Defrag-new I've been running this for a few days and so far seems 100% stable, well worth testing, especially with the generous 60 day trial. The main new feature is the command line tool which can be scheduled using the built in windows scheduler. This is great, because it gives you the option of both the proactive and the scheduled defrag, which is a unique feature. The proactive mode is great at defragging actual files, but I found it does not do space consolidate very well, by creating a regular schedules you can over come ... more N1ckR Blog Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:36:24 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-165-mst-defrag-v3-public-beta#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/165 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/165 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A165 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-164-xp-pro.-the-end-is-nigh-30th-june-and-support http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-164-xp-pro.-the-end-is-nigh-30th-june-and-support Windows XP reaches its sell-by date in a few days (with the exception of XP Home "either June 30, 2010, or one year after the general availability of the next version of Windows"). default.mspx Mainstream support ends 4/14/2009. That's only 10 months full support left ! Extended support ends 4/8/2014. Which is security fixes only, no new versions of browsers, media players or support for newer products (eg though, doubtful, next version of office might not support XP due to using a Vista only feature that will not get backported to XP). Even with XP SP3 only recently been ... more N1ckR Blog Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:48:16 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-164-xp-pro.-the-end-is-nigh-30th-june-and-support#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/164 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/164 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A164 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-159-why-windows-7-will-be-a-massive-success http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-159-why-windows-7-will-be-a-massive-success Windows XP was massively popular, Vista is in the Shadows, but IMHO will provide a good stepping stone towards Windows 7, which will be more popular that Vista, which Windows 7 will build upon (and be 100% compatible with). Windows XP has been a very popular OS, it managed to successfully build on the rock solid Windows 2000 and replace the lack-lustre Windows ME in one fell swoop. XP SP2 offered a significant improvements to further improve the reputation and popularity of Windows XP. Read Features_new_to_Windows_XP - Wikipedia, to find out more about about what was new in XP ... more N1ckR Blog Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:12:20 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-159-why-windows-7-will-be-a-massive-success#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/159 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/159 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A159 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-158-i-am-back http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-158-i-am-back My arm is feeling a lot better and am back to blogging. I have been working on an updated version of my gallery code for YACS, I had hoped to get it complete in time for integration for the next big release - YACS 8.6 Macnana, but progress was slow and I missed the deadline. For now I will be concentrating on supporting the website, I shall be moderating the next English chat session on the 19th June and spend some time with documentation. Next week I shall be spending some time testing and helping to bug fix ... more N1ckR Blog Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:25:42 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-158-i-am-back#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/158 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/158 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A158 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-157-on-the-mend http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-157-on-the-mend I thought I would share a photo of myself with my broken arm and my little daughter Scarlett, 5 months old. In a week my pot is coming off and I am hoping for some better sleep and be able to type more comfortably. Me and Scarlett N1ckR Blog Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:22:24 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-157-on-the-mend#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/157 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/157 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A157 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-155-emule-0.49a-released http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-155-emule-0.49a-released Emule 0.49a was released on the May 11th 2008. The new features of eMule 0.49a include Kad improvements ( obfuscation, better NAT, flood protection), changes to the messaging system (Captchas), GUI improvements (ability to save searches, search filtering of shared files) and the usual bug fixes and tweaks. You can download Emule from the official Emule site. Download Emule 0.49a N1ckR Blog Thu, 15 May 2008 10:28:18 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-155-emule-0.49a-released#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/155 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/155 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A155 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-154-broken-arm http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-154-broken-arm 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 N1ckR Blog Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:16:32 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-154-broken-arm#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/154 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/154 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A154 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-153-ngrhodes.co.uk-htaccess-domain-redirects-the-easy-way http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-153-ngrhodes.co.uk-htaccess-domain-redirects-the-easy-way 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. RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.domain.com$ RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 (from redirect www and no www) This rule simply redirects anything that is NOT my desired domain ... more N1ckR Blog Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:47:47 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-153-ngrhodes.co.uk-htaccess-domain-redirects-the-easy-way#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/153 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/153 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A153 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-156-claim-for-technorati http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-156-claim-for-technorati Technorati Profile N1ckR Blog Thu, 15 May 2008 09:52:43 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-156-claim-for-technorati#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/156 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/156 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A156 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-152-phorm-must-be-opt-in-only http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-152-phorm-must-be-opt-in-only Good news at last. " 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. " ... more N1ckR Blog Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:55:04 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-152-phorm-must-be-opt-in-only#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/152 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/152 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A152 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-150-suspend-nerc-petition http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-150-suspend-nerc-petition 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 NickR Blog Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:01:25 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-150-suspend-nerc-petition#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/150 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/150 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A150 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-149-sumo.-software-update-monitor-for-windows. http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-149-sumo.-software-update-monitor-for-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 ... more NickR Blog Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:17:00 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-149-sumo.-software-update-monitor-for-windows.#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/149 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/149 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A149 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-147-the-guardian-ditches-phorm http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-147-the-guardian-ditches-phorm " 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 NickR Blog Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:36:00 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-147-the-guardian-ditches-phorm#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/147 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/147 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A147 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-146-linux-gnome-clearlooks-xp-theme-how-to http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-146-linux-gnome-clearlooks-xp-theme-how-to 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. 1. Theme PatchingThe 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 ... more NickR Blog Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:06:35 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-146-linux-gnome-clearlooks-xp-theme-how-to#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/146 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/146 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A146 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-145-phorm-is-illegal http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-145-phorm-is-illegal It has come to my attention that my ISP Virgin media will be participating in the phorm spying (IMHO) service. Not only has BT admitted to illegally trialling phorm, but government advisers has announced "Phorm is illegal", which in my expert opinion (as a Web Developer) I whole heartedly agree with. Badphorm is a good little site with info about the issue. There is some good commentary on slashdot: Some notes from the Phorm sales pitch and also a huge thread on the cable forum (best to skip to last page as over 90 pages long): Virgin ... more NickR Blog Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:28:32 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-145-phorm-is-illegal#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/145 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/145 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A145 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-144-windows-defragmentation-tools-review-in-progress http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-144-windows-defragmentation-tools-review-in-progress I have been working on a complex set of tests for a review I am putting together of 4 defragmentation tools. The aim of my tests are to benchmark defragmentation performance, refragmentation (both in terms of number of fragments AND performance). The tests are complex enough (and repeatable) to show how significant the differences between defragmentation tools AND I have also included a test without defragmentation as a baseline to highlight the significance of defragmentation in general. The results are rather clear, with the results clearly split down the middle. I am just finishing off a few ... more NickR Blog Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:09:13 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-144-windows-defragmentation-tools-review-in-progress#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/144 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/144 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A144 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-143-yacs-todo-list http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-143-yacs-todo-list Below is a list of tasks I am working on. Which I will convert into something more permanent when I have more spare time.I just thought I would share with you the kinda work I do in my spare time when I'm not with my friends and family, watching movies or on my motorbike. Image Gallery. I am working on this tonight and hope to have it finished tomorrow, I just have the templating to do. Defrag tool test. I have been testing a few defragmentation tools and have a few loose ends to finish off and write up my findings, which are very interesting indeed. www.ngr78.co.uk. I need to look at a new domain name and add a lot of images (which is one reason for me working on item 1 first), and start putting together some articles and better structuring my site (no content will be deleted). www.room42hairsalon.co.uk. A change in direction of Jen's hairdressing business requires a complete new site (but will be based on the cool YACS template I had 95% finished). www.angelofsin.co.uk. This is a big project, which requires their site converting to YACS and various cool features like video and music player integration (as well the gallery code I am writting) and I need to brush up on my graphic design skills, to produce a design for their website (and other media). Should make great use of YACS's configuration and flexibility in recreating the upcoming gigs pages and mini guide. ... more NickR Blog Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:32:13 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-143-yacs-todo-list#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/143 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/143 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A143 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-142-blog-money-traffic-moneytrafficblog http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-142-blog-money-traffic-moneytrafficblog As I previously mentioned, I wanted to take my blogging more seriously. So I am here to annouce the start of the www.moneytrafficblog.net project. I was pondering over a couple of issues. This site is not focused and I just use it for random content and thoughts. Also, when looking for information on google about how to improve my blog, I realised how many of the search results are junk, either people wanting to sell you their secrets, also lots of sites just ripping off other peoples content. I came up with an idea ... more NickR Blog Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:40:40 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-142-blog-money-traffic-moneytrafficblog#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/142 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/142 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A142 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-141-experimenting-with-advert-positioning http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-141-experimenting-with-advert-positioning I have currently tweaked the position of my Top and menu adverts. The top advert is now closer to the supposed hotspot (according to the google heatmap) The menu advert is now small and positioned to the center of the menu. I have also added a link bar across the top of the page. What I would like to know is what people think to the colouring and positioning of these adverts, if they are obtrusive or OK. Feel free to leave comments NickR Blog Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:17:34 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-141-experimenting-with-advert-positioning#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/141 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/141 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A141 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-140-my-yamaha-ttr250 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-140-my-yamaha-ttr250 Pictures of my new bike. Freshly cleaned. NickR Gallery Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:09:05 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-140-my-yamaha-ttr250#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/140 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/140 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A140 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-139-diskeeper-2007-svchost.exe-performance-issue http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-139-diskeeper-2007-svchost.exe-performance-issue Yesterday I had to diagnose a performance issue with a Laptop. The machine in question is running Windows XP, fully patched and up to date, I ran a chkdsk, full disk virus and malware using Kaspersky scan (additional to the real time virus scanner installed). I left the machine and later in the day I came back .to have a look. All the scans had come back clean so I rebooted and noticed how slow things were to load, I checked task manager when I had finally logged in. I noticed that there was a svchost.exe process using 40MB ... more NickR Blog Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:38:35 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-139-diskeeper-2007-svchost.exe-performance-issue#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/139 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/139 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A139 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-137-donn-edwards-perfectdisk-2008-review http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-137-donn-edwards-perfectdisk-2008-review Donn has posted a great review of PerfectDisk 2008. " I have no problem in recommending PerfectDisk 2008 to new users as the best commercial defrag program available. The "StealthPatrol" option works far better than Diskeeper 2008's automatic defrag " I look forward to seeing some benchmarks. I am currently trialling Perfectdisk and I have not encountered a single problem, but I will wait before I make any conclusions NickR Blog Fri, 08 Feb 2008 09:51:56 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-137-donn-edwards-perfectdisk-2008-review#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/137 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/137 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A137 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-132-about-this-site http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-132-about-this-site What is NGRhodes about? Welcome to this server! Here are attributes transmitted in the header of each page: Site nameNGRhodes Description Keywords Geographical position53.8481,-1.829 Copyright2007 NickR OwnerNickR This site is powered by YACS, PHP, and MySQL - a fast, easy-to-use site that lets you access, review, and download information that matters for you. Contact Us The preferred mean to join us is to use the general-purpose query form. This is a convenient tool for you and for us, because your request and related answers will be listed at a single place accessible from your web browser. Moreover, you will be informed by e-mail of any progressing step to your query. ... more NickR Global pages Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:27:54 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-132-about-this-site#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/132 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/132 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A132 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-134-privacy-policy http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-134-privacy-policy We respect your privacy! Any and all information collected at this site will be kept strictly confidential and will not be sold, reused, rented, loaned or otherwise disclosed. Any information you give to us will be held with the utmost care, and will not be used in ways that you have not consented to. Read on for more specific information. User Information In order to make certain parts of this server work, some sections of the site require you to give us your e-mail address and/or other types of personal information (or may do so in the future). We do not sell, rent, loan, trade, or lease any personal information collected at our site, including survey forms or email lists. In other words, your information is safe with us. ... more NickR Global pages Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:27:54 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-134-privacy-policy#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/134 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/134 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A134 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-131-fenty-and-the-mitre-trust http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-131-fenty-and-the-mitre-trust From TBM Forum :: View topic - Life Changes (long) " Some of you may or may not have noticed but I haven't been on the forum for a while. Well, since 26th August actually. Thats because that was the date I came off the XR and hit a tree ending up with a broken back and complete paralysis from the chest down. The prognosis soon after the accident, and ever since is that I'll never walk again such was the damage to the spinal cord. The bike was unscathed, the accident happening at about 30-35 miles an hour. I spent 3 weeks in the Royal Victoria Hospital then 7 weeks at Musgrave park in rehabilitation. This consisted of teaching me how to do things in a wheelchair and look after myself out of it. I've been out of hospital since the end of November getting back into family life (my son was 7 weeks old when the accident happened) and getting back to work. " ... more NickR Blog Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:19:54 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-131-fenty-and-the-mitre-trust#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/131 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/131 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A131 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-130-perfectdisk-2008-professional-released http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-130-perfectdisk-2008-professional-released Raxco have just announced PerfectDisk 2008 has been released Looking at the Professional version, the most obvious new features are a brand new GUI (which I think is better but still not as good as Diskeeper's), improved scheduling options (the StealthPatrol adds much needed idle mode scheduling), selected file defrag (great for the de fragmentation of one, or a group of fragmented files. There really is not any ground breaking new features under the fresh new GUI, more a refinement of the previous version. If you are happy with your current defragmentation tool, then you might not feel this ... more NickR Blog Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:20:52 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-130-perfectdisk-2008-professional-released#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/130 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/130 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A130 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-129-taking-my-blog-seriously.-blog-catalog.-feedburner.-adsense http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-129-taking-my-blog-seriously.-blog-catalog.-feedburner.-adsense I have decided it is time to put some effort into my website. To start with I have been looking at blog aspects. I have signed up to blog catalog, which is a great blog directory and also feedburner for its easy to manage pingshot feature (which includes pinging autopinger which I have always used in the past) and useful feed tools. I have also spent some time placing and choosing colours for google adsense (www.google.com/adsense), which now appear and the top, bottom and on the menu. I am happy with the colours, but will revisit ... more NickR Blog Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:49:52 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-129-taking-my-blog-seriously.-blog-catalog.-feedburner.-adsense#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/129 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/129 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A129 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-126-powered-by http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-126-powered-by NickR Extra boxes Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:01:29 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-126-powered-by#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/126 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/126 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A126 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-125-crash-update http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-125-crash-update I have just spent all morning sorting out insurance and think I have it all sorted now. I have a hire bike arriving tomorrow. They said my XTT225 is a write off. And I just received a call to say the third party has accepted responsibility. On the photo of the side, the frame tube that goes from the foot-peg diagonally back should be straight up to halfway where the pillion peg mounts are. Note the bent fork and axle, ripped seat, broken body work, dented tank, broken brake lever and bent foot peg. NickR Blog Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:00:32 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-125-crash-update#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/125 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/125 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A125 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-124-i-got-knocked-off-bye-bye-xt225-slow-nci-recovery http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-124-i-got-knocked-off-bye-bye-xt225-slow-nci-recovery Riding out of Leeds about 5:30, on the A65 and the road is dual carriage way under the viaduct and changes into normal road which is single lane, but wide enough for 2 cars then 50 meters stays goes into marked 2 lanes. Just after the dual carriage way finishes, I am doing 20 mph approx, I see a car indicating to turn right, stationary on the other side of the road, so I position my self pretty much exactly in the middle of the lane, with a big gap in front me and at the last moment, the car ... more NickR Blog Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:43:34 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-124-i-got-knocked-off-bye-bye-xt225-slow-nci-recovery#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/124 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/124 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A124 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-121-seat-raised-and-recovered http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-121-seat-raised-and-recovered I have just got my XT225's seat back from www.motorcycleseatworks.co.uk . It was in need of a new cover (due to split) so I thought whilst it was there I would get it padded out a bit (2in extra). Quality is better than standard, uses multiple stitched panels (top and sides are one piece, but the front and rear are separate pieces. The only minor negative is that its a little more bulky at the rear. But its far more comfortable for me now and well worth the money. NickR Blog Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:53:24 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-121-seat-raised-and-recovered#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/121 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/121 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A121 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-119-my-daughter-born-today-scarlett-rhodes http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-119-my-daughter-born-today-scarlett-rhodes Scarlett was born today, 18th Decemember 2007 at 12:32 GMT, in Bradford, UK, weighing 8lb 8oz (3.9kg). It was an 18 hour labour and 1 hour before the end we hit a complication as Scarlett's head was starting to show... she was back to back, so they had to be rushed into theatre so that Scarlett could be rotated with forceps and if that failled a cesarean before Scarlett was too far down. This was very worrying and upsetting for both of us as there was more risk othan a planned cesarean or normal birth, but we soon ... more NickR Gallery Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:09:15 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-119-my-daughter-born-today-scarlett-rhodes#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/119 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/119 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A119 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-118-touring-ted-travel-blog-of-south-america http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-118-touring-ted-travel-blog-of-south-america I almost forgot about this site. What reminded me was finding out that Reggie from www.xt225.com was made redundant from Millenium Motorcycles as they are closing down. On visordown someone posted a thread about Millenium closing down and mentioned Ted was working there. Both Ted and Reggie (and myself) are members of Horizons Unlimited and I remembered Ted started his blog Touring Ted NickR Blog Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:28:47 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-118-touring-ted-travel-blog-of-south-america#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/118 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/118 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A118 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-116-trying-to-measure-refragmentation-rates. http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-116-trying-to-measure-refragmentation-rates. Using Diskeeper 10 and Perfectdisk 8 I ran a test to measure refragmentation levels. Both using 100% default settings. Hdd is a 20gig virtual drive with 23% free space. There was minimal difference between Diskeeper's and Perfectdisk's file placement strategies in terms of refragmentation. I ran the test 3 times for each defragger to confirm and the results were very similar each time. So what did I do ? Reverted to previous project version in visual studio (project under version control), and my test text, zip and sql files replaced with originals. Cleared Browser cache. Close Browser and ... more NickR Blog Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:54:04 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-116-trying-to-measure-refragmentation-rates.#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/116 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/116 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A116 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-115-reducing-refragmentation-in-ntfs http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-115-reducing-refragmentation-in-ntfs I have recently discovered a problem on one of my XP machines where there was not enough idle time to effectively defrag the hard drive using Diskeeper 2007 Home. So I have decided to revisit my choice of defragger, initiated by a nice discussion at Defrag opinions - Wilders Security . Donn Edwards of The Great Defrag Shootout fame has been getting involved. I initially dismissed his report based on some flaws on his initial comments, but after he was kind enough to explain in detail, I have been working my way through his in-depth report. I am investigating ... more NickR Blog Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:54:39 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-115-reducing-refragmentation-in-ntfs#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/115 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/115 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A115 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-114-autopinger-problems http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-114-autopinger-problems I have waited, but there is still problems with autopinger when I try and add my site I get a database error. I have had no response when I ask for support. So looks like I am going back to pingomatic. Is anyone else having a problem ? NickR Blog Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:14:56 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-114-autopinger-problems#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/114 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/114 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A114 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-113-new-light-bulb-for-my-serow http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-113-new-light-bulb-for-my-serow Took a while to arrive from China and I was sent the incorrect fitting (luckily 2 tabs that could easily snipped off). I think the new bulb is twice as bright as my last one - its 35w (vs 25w) and its halogen, might actually be able to see past the end of my mud guard now ! Standard 25W 35W Halogen NickR Blog Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:59:17 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-113-new-light-bulb-for-my-serow#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/113 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/113 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A113 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-112-gagandeep-tiwana http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-112-gagandeep-tiwana Colleague of mine G, is just putting the finishing touches to his website: www.gagandeeptiwana.com. Interestingly he has chosen to make a static website to start with (even though, like myself, he is a Web Developer capable of creating a database driven website). This gives him the ability to make sure that the html is totally as he wants it, and allows him to research adding dynamic options (eg photo gallery or a full blown cms) in the future and not sacrifice quality (even if it is a bit of a pain to keep updated) Only thing missing ... more NickR Blog Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:21:45 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-112-gagandeep-tiwana#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/112 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/112 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A112 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-111-room-42-new-design-preview http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-111-room-42-new-design-preview It has been on hold for a long time, but I shall be finishing off the template for Room 42 soon, so I thought I would share the link NickR Blog Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:31:39 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-111-room-42-new-design-preview#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/111 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/111 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A111 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-110-dales-ride http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-110-dales-ride NickR Gallery Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:45:16 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-110-dales-ride#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/110 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/110 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A110 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-108-garage http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-108-garage Me lifting my bike onto my tool box so I can oil my chain. This what tools I take on day/weekend trips. My tools wrapped up. The pump and rag goes in the main compartment of my rucksack, the inner tube, tyre levers and bar fit neatly in one of the side pockets, the tape and wire in the other pocket with my leatherman (not pictured) and the black bag goes on the bike. As you can see I put some spare wire and electrians tape in the roll of duct tape and then ... more NickR Gallery Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:44:21 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-108-garage#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/108 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/108 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A108 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-107-first-yacs-chat-introduction-to-yacs-7.10 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-107-first-yacs-chat-introduction-to-yacs-7.10 I have just participated in the first YACS chat. This was an Introduction to YACS 7.10 and the chat feature itself one of the new features, leveraging ajax and the existing comment functionality for a nicely integrated sollution, as well the the neat ability to close the chat and covert it into a transcript NickR Blog Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:53:10 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-107-first-yacs-chat-introduction-to-yacs-7.10#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/107 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/107 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A107 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-106-autopinger http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-106-autopinger After reading 20+ Blog Pingers I have decided to give a different ping service a try. I have been using pingomatic for a long time, but its done a bad job with technorati, so I am trying autopinger to see if it fares any better NickR Blog Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:04:14 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-106-autopinger#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/106 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/106 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A106 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-105-update http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-105-update I've been on Holiday and I've started my new job. Went to Devon for a Week, got a lot of photos to sort through. Weather was pretty good. Only wet one day, 2 scorchers and the rest pleasantly warm. Ate out lots. I can now announce that I am one of the developers of www.healthspace.nhs.uk. This is a big project, consumes various services, runs off a remote database, very security concious (as members of public in participating areas can view their medical records online. Riding into work (Leeds) everyday, got free parking at the train ... more NickR Blog Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:28:08 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-105-update#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/105 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/105 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A105 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-104-iplayer-epetition-response http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-104-iplayer-epetition-response From http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page13090.asp " The Government set up the BBC Trust to represent the interests of licence fee payers... " " The BBC Trust made it a condition of approval for the BBC's on-demand services that the iPlayer is available to users of a range of operating systems, and has given a commitment that it will ensure that the BBC meets this demand as soon as possible. " That makes for good news NickR Blog Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:28:31 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-104-iplayer-epetition-response#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/104 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/104 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A104 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-103-devils-bridge-august-bank-holiday http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-103-devils-bridge-august-bank-holiday Me testing out the 10x telephoto on my new camera. A nice old Triumph Baaaaaaaaaaaaa ! Testing out the sport mode Devil's Bridge, I like the second shot, capturing the river underneath. My wife Jen, 5 months pregnant. NickR Gallery Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:24:22 GMT http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/article-103-devils-bridge-august-bank-holiday#comments 0 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/post.php/article/103 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/comments/feed.php/article/103 http://www.ngrhodes.co.uk/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A103