A different perspective

November 30th, 2006

I got forwarded a little story in my email last night which I’ve just read. I don’t normally pass on stuff like this, because we all get enough junk, right? But I’m gonna make an exception this once because this one really made me stop and think.

Between running a charity, being a school governor, mentoring with On the Level, WMQ work, and a bunch of other bits and pieces, I am generally working on something most evenings and weekends. So, I guess it wouldn’t be a stretch to call me a bit of a workaholic. But, I figure that I’m busy, and have a lot to get done, so I work on. Anyway, with that as context, here’s the mail:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in misc | Comments Closed

Google Maps mash-ups are easy

November 29th, 2006

A colleague from dare2, a youth development charity based in Woking, asked where the nearest IBM location to him was. I didn’t know.

The IBM UK website gives a list of UK locations. But there are two small problems. One – my geography is so bad that I don’t know where Woking actually is. Two – my geography is so bad that I don’t know where each of the IBM locations on the IBM list are. Okay, it’s really one reason, but it’s embarrassing enough that it’s worth mentioning twice 🙂

So, I thought this would be a good enough excuse to try creating my first Google Maps mash-up.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in code, web | 1 Comment »

Anti-virus for free

November 28th, 2006

I’ve been setting up some open-source software on the computers in the SYA offices tonight: ClamWin, an anti-virus scanner for Windows, and Winpooch, an anti-spyware and anti-trojan scanner (which also hooks into ClamWin to provide real-time anti-virus protection).

As a project with ECS, we had access to their Sophos site-licenses. Since we became independent, I have been looking for a replacement.

It’s still early days, and I’ll have to see how we get on before I can say if I recommend them. But what I’ve read about them has been largely positive, and so far they look like they will fit our needs. And, importantly for a relatively new charity with plenty of other startup costs, they’re free (with no ongoing costs for virus definition updates!)

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in tech | 1 Comment »

Making my blog mobile-friendly

November 27th, 2006

WordPress blogs don’t look great on PDAs like my phone. But I came across the WordPress Mobile Edition plugin, which produces a PDA-friendly version that is well suited to smaller screens. It rearranges the whole page layout, and makes it much easier to read.

If you have a WP blog and want to better support your mobile readers, then it’s worth a try.

Posted in blog | Comments Closed

‘Liability for suicide’ Bill on the way?

November 26th, 2006

Last month, Iain Duncan Smith proposed a bill which would allow for liability for suicide to be considered. Mr Smith’s argument is very well made and worth a read, but in brief, in cases where a series of repeated domestic abuse leads to someone feeling that their only option is to take their own life, then such a Bill could allow for the person responsible for the abuse to be considered liable for the suicide.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in misc | Comments Closed

Windows XP Home isn’t always enough

November 25th, 2006

Solent Youth Action has grown fast over the last couple of years – even faster than I’d hoped. And now it has meant that we are hitting a problem with one of my early decisions. 🙁

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in tech | Comments Closed

Windows Command Line has got smarter

November 24th, 2006

Most die-hard command-line fans tend to agree that the Windows Command Prompt isn’t great. When you consider how old it is, it isn’t all that powerful. This isn’t the end of the world, as there is always cygwin.

But now Microsoft have released their new command prompt PowerShell. I tried downloading it this evening, and so far, I really like it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in code | 5 Comments »

I can be a C-numptie

November 22nd, 2006

This might not be earth-shatteringly new to those who have seen my code before, but I was a little surprised. 🙂

A C program that I wrote a little while ago (and has previously worked fine on Windows, Linux, Solaris and HP) failed horribly on AIX. A little digging showed that I had written:

char* thisIsSupposedToBeAString[256];

I guess that at the time I wrote it (presumably early in the morning, and caffeine-fuelled) I had a string (char thisIsSupposedToBeAString[256];) and wanted a pointer to it, so went back and stuck a * on it without thinking.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in code | Comments Closed

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »