Gotta Say

Loved this weeks episode of Doctor Who. Ripping off the twist to Predator was a stroke of genius. Never thought I'd ever feel sorry for a Dalek but I must admit tears were shed in this household.

The darker subtext that the Doctor was no better than a Dalek for his desire to destroy was very thought provoking and brilliantly played by Christopher Eccleston. You could feel the pain of his loneliness as the last of the Timelords coming face to face with the equally cursed last Dalek.

YOU WOULD MAKE A GOOD DALEK

Another seven episodes to go and I'll not be missing any of them. The BBC must be overjoyed at the series success and even more pissed off that Eccleston decided to jump ship so soon. He's gone straight to number 3 in my list of the best Doctors; John Pertwee, Tom Baker and now Christopher Eccleston.

Repeated Sundays 7pm BBC THREE.

Did You Know?

Now don't panic, but there are only 410 days left before The World Cup 2006 kicks off on the 9th June 2006 and we all know what that means. Time is running short to research, select, purchase and install the new TV. It's a tradition, World Cup = New Telly (bigger, sexier and more expensive than the one that came before) strike that, it's not a tradition it's practically the law. Current favourite must be a Panasonic Plasma as they seem to get nothing but positive feedback from AVForum members.

The journey begins here...

Good News

ADSLGuide.org are reporting that all remaining exchanges in Scotland are to be Broadband enabled after a deal between the Scottish Executive and BT. This is good news for everybody though it does say "a basic service". Fair enough I suppose but I imagine there will be a few households that will still be unable to connect at Broadband speeds no matter what BT do.

Living With an Addict

She just won't accept that she's got a problem. For weeks now the postman has been camped out on our doorstep delivering package after package. Yes, you've guessed it, Lesley is addicted to eBay. I wouldn't mind, I've bought quite a few things in the past and even sold a few unwanted items, but not to the level Lesley has reached in a short space of time and considering the useless rubbish she's bidding on. Mark my words, if you want to make a fortune on eBay deal in items and products that appeal to women. It's vicious, I've never seen sniping like it.

Denby pottery she calls it, hmm heroin more like. You can actually see her eyes glaze over when she catches sight of another overpriced lump of clay, and so it begins.. £1.00 maximum bid... "bastard"... £2.50 maximum bid... "bugger"... £10.00 maximum bid and so it goes, on and on. £20 for a salt and pepper pot, you dearest, have a problem. It's the green, sorry Greenwich, ones she likes best. I just don't understand apparently *sigh*.

Order from Chaos

If you're in any way like me (you have my sympathy) you'll hoard stuff (in other words, everything) in preparation for the coming Apocalypse. Case in point was Computer CDs be they coverdisks from magazines or CD-Rs containing long forgotten files to those very important install disks that come with every shiny new piece of kit.

I had hundreds of them piled anywhere but the place they needed to be, close at hand. Jewel cases take up so much space in relation to what they contain that they should be the first to go. So I decided to get one of those large CD wallets that will take the CD and in most cases the inserts as well. But the price? Jings... £25 quid for a wallet that will store 240 disks, rip off! Ebay came to the rescue though where you can pick up these things for a much more reasonable price. I've got 4 of them totaling space for 960 CDs, should see me through to the end of the year. Every computer CD I have is now neatly stored in a wallet and sits in easy reach on the bookcase shelf. How did I ever manage before?

Email Backup

Since the decision to use a Google Gmail account as a backup repository for my email I've since rationalised how and what I backup to online storage. At first I thought I'd just forward all mail from my Outlook inbox to the Gmail account. I don't get much spam since Demon introduced their free spam filtering service but there's still a lot of crap arriving from various sources which is I suppose legitimate but not of much interest and certainly doesn't need to be backed up.

So, to introduce selective forwarding I have removed all automatic rules from Outlook. Instead I've used the "label" feature of Gmail to categorise the mail to be forwarded and then to have Gmail automatically file it into the correct categories upon arrival. This results in a very clean Gmail inbox and all the really important stuff all neatly filed away. Here's how I did it:

1. In Outlook create a new contact. For this example I want to forward any email that arrives relating to eBay to my Gmail account.
2. In the Contact form give the contact the name of eBay.
3. Fill in the email address for the contact as yourgmail+ebay@gmail.com Obviously replacing "yourgmail" with umm, the name of your Gmail account.
4. Log onto you Gmail and create a new label called "eBay".
5. Select "Settings"--"Filters"--"Create a new filter"
6. In the "To" field type yourgmail+ebay@gmail.com then click "Next Step"
7. Tick "Skip the Inbox" and "Apply the label" selecting "eBay" as the desired label.
8. Now back in Outlook when an email relating to "eBay" arrives in your inbox all you need to do is "Right Click" it and select "Forward". In the "To" field just type "eBay", Outlook will automatically select the full email address from your "Contacts". Then send the email.
9. When Gmail receives the message it will automatically apply the filter you just set up. The mail will be removed from the inbox and neatly filed away with the "Ebay" label. You'll see 1 unread message in that category in bold.

This works perfectly for me and allows me to read the mail in Outlook before deciding what to do with it. I've set up various "Labels" in Gmail and their associated "Contacts" in Outlook for this purpose. So far it works well and I've piece of mind that all the information I really don't want to lose is safely stored on Google's servers should the worse happen to the Outlook .pst files stored on my hard drive. Gmail's search function is an absolute gem I must say and makes retrieving information a piece of cake.

I really enjoy logging onto Gmail to see the mail already nicely sorted and filed away for posterity.

The Apprentice Week 10

First things first, Saria did well, very well. There I've said it. She worked hard on this week's task and managed with James to trounce the three member team quite dramatically. I still hate her though.

Miriam, what can I say, did not deserve the sack, outrageous decision from Sir Alan Sugar. The team lost because Paul and Timothy failed miserably in choosing the products they were to give to Miriam to sell on one of those shopping channels that seem to sprout like weeds. I've watched it twice now and I still don't get their "strategy" in allowing Saria to pick exactly what she wanted from the list of available products. They were made to look like complete arseholes. Saria, researched the products properly, speaking to those who know and asked their advice on what sold the best. It paid off handsomely and although much of their stock was crap, it was exactly the sort of thing that flies off the shelves (ours not to reason why) when lonely housewives and the agrophobics get started (only an agrophobic would have bought that fleece).

Sir Alan Sugar seemed to think Miriam hadn't "managed" Paul and Timothy properly but I cannot agree. They buggered up spectacularly and no amount of "management" would have helped. She couldn't have done it anyway as the task rules meant that whoever was chosen to go in front of the camera was not allowed to be involved in the product research, negotiation or selection decision.

So, according to the Sunday Times gossip we should be having a double sacking this week. The task looks to be a complete ball breaker with a day long round of interviews from professional Head Hunters, HR staff and Psychologists. Will Saria finally get the bullet? Fingers crossed.

Wednesday BBC2 9:00 PM

Sir Alan Sugar is also scheduled to be a guest on The Jonathan Ross Show this Friday.

Fill your boots

Don't know why, they just are. Amazon.com are giving away free MP3 downloads of many songs. Some are quite good actually. The link will take you to the Top 200 of the moment and is updated every 6 hours. Just click on the song title for the full song download (you must login to Amazon but surely you already have an account). I particularly recommend all of the Tom Waits' tracks.

If you're new to Tom Waits then start with this free download. Great stuff.

Apprentice Gossip

The Sunday Times printed a story yesterday giving some insight into the planned finale of the best programme on TV, in doing so they confirmed that filming of the programme finished 6 months ago.

Apparently, we will see one person sacked as usual this week, followed by a double sacking the week after. This would leave two contestants in the running for the £100,000 salary. The plan was then to give Sugar six months to choose which one of the pair he wanted to award the job to. They then shot two alternative endings for each of the remaining contestants. But, Sir Alan Sugar in his infinite wisdom, has given the last four candidates remaining, positions within Amstrad and has yet to actually decide who has won. Apparently filming finished 6 months ago and he's had the four of them working for him since then.

The Sunday Times quotes Sir Alan Sugar confirming that he hasn't made his mind up and that he's currently on a 10 day holiday to give him time to make the decision. The paper had photos of 4 of the 5 remaining contestants but did not confirm that these were the four that are currently working for Amstrad and therefore still in the running. They did however say that sources suggested that head witch Saria was one of the final four! I don't believe it, she can't still be in with a chance!

The Apprentice BBC2 Wednesday 9:00 PM

Update: 23:19 PM It would appear that The Sunday Times' story had some merit as Miriam was the contestant who's photo they didn't print. Interesting final four though.

Words Fail Me

Well, maybe not as it would make for a very short post if they had. Another day another hard disk failure. This is getting beyond a joke now with my third failure in less than a year. "Did you have it all backed up?" Ummm well, yes and no. The drive that has just failed was set up as an external disk through a USB case and I used it to back up data on the working machines. All well and good but it also contained data I'd recovered from my two previous hard disk failures (I can't be arsed finding the posts relating to them).

So, once the sobbing had subsided I stuck the disk inside a plastic bag and threw it in the freezer for an hour or so. It took a couple of attempts but it came back up, hurrah. I've stripped most of the data I really didn't want to lose to one of the networked machines and will then try and format it. "Why are you going to format it?" because checking on the manufacturers website (Seagate) it's still under warranty (until 2009?!!?). So I'll get a RMA number and fire it back to them for a replacement just like I did the last time (different drive and manufacturer). Then I'm going to lie down in a darkened room. Maybe I'll come back up maybe I won't.

History repeats 3
History repeats 2
History repeats 1

Update: 12:54 PM Added posts relating to previous failures. I noticed by trawling through my history of disk failures that the drive in question was bought as a replacement for another failed drive in July of last year. That's why the warranty has so long left to run. Pisser that it should fail in less than a year though.

Update 15:05 PM Almost all the data has been recovered now. It's surprising how much data you can "happily" lose when faced with a stark decision on what to recover first before the drive fails permanently.

I suppose I should explain why I put the disk in the freezer for an hour. To some it's an urban myth but others swear by it. To me the drive was dead, it wouldn't fully spin up and although the computer was smart enough to recognise a mass storage device had been connected on USB the drive would not come to life. In Disk Manager sometimes it would be listed but not intialised and sometimes it wouldn't even appear. On attempting to initalise Disk Manager would complain of an unknown error. This occurred on both Windows XP and Windows 2000 boxes.

The theory of placing the disk in the freezer for an hour is to cool down the drive and hopefully cause the heads to move further from the plate (metal will contract at lower temperatures). Sometimes this very small movement is enough to allow the heads to read the plates. In this case it worked. Alternatively the counter theory goes that by heating the drive up the metal will expand and again cause the heads to move. Sounds a bit dodgy to me and thankfully I didn't have to try it. Professional data recovery firms will laugh at such techniques but as they charge £100s for their services it's worth a shot. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

The Apprentice Week 9

The one where Sir Alan missed a completely open net and fumbled the obvious decision to terminate the permanently clueless, back stabbing witch that is Saria ("the best sales woman you'll ever meet" as she tells anyone who'll listen every bloody week). Really, come on now, she had to go. Yes Raj was never going to win and was just there to make up the numbers but Saria's failure was so obvious she had to go. This was at least the third time she's had a complaint made against her. The guy helping out for the Harrods task, the artists in the art gallery task and now the bloke from Spurs who Saria threatened to report to Sir Alan Sugar the next time she was in the Boardroom. She has to go!

James is too weak, Miriam continues to do well, Timothy is showing signs of dropping by the wayside and Paul is just like a bomb ready to go off at any moment. I can only think that Sir Alan Sugar is keeping Saria around as Paul's nemesis so that he can see how Paul handles the stress of being around her.

Wednesday BBC2 9pm, even more unmissable as we get to the sharp end of business.

Have it!

Google's massive 2GB storage facility on Gmail has finally prompted me to start archiving all my mail, stretching back many, many years.

First things first was to set up a rule in Outlook to forward all mail that makes it to my inbox to my Gmail account. Thankfully Demon provide spam filtering at the server level (I think they use Brightmail) free of charge which has cut down the unwanted crap to probably no more than 5 or 6 a day. I'll then periodically file this away in Gmail categories knowing it will be easily retrievable should the worst happen my network at home. Another simple rule will send a copy of anything that appears in my Sent Items.

I'll start uploading all the archived mail I have in Outlook and then also trawl through the numerous .pst files I have of email dating back 7 or 8 years at least. Should sleep a bit better knowing that it's all safe and well and easily searched and categorised.

Currently Loving

My iPod mini. Top buy for me as it suits my needs perfectly. I generally need to charge the battery once a week but I’ll have to purchase an AC adaptor as charging through a USB2 port on the computer takes hours and hours. Added an iPod mini iSkin protecting case as it had picked up a couple of scratches. The iSkin does exactly what it says on the tin but is rather expensive for what it is. Makes the iPod mini a lot more tactile though as it removes the sharp edges of the existing metal case. The iSkin also comes with a worthless belt clip which you will never use and requires a Degree in Engineering to remove (stumped me for a few minutes and I do have a Degree in Engineering). The register gives the bigger 6Gb version a glowing review but I'm happy with the cheaper 4Gb unit which holds about 600 songs of 192kbps mp3s

Current favourite album loaded must be The Very Best of the Stone Roses. Great stuff. One word of warning though, don’t listen to this album if you have to get up and walk about as you will, I kid ye not, walk like a swaggering monkey. It’s a strange and wonderful thing. I must confess that The Stone Roses completely passed me by in the 90s but I do have a memory of a uni flatmate being heavily into them at the time. Pity I didn't pay more attention but Countdown was probably on.

Tory Fascist

Judging by the amount of crap to come through my door in the past month somebody at Tory fascist HQ has identified me personally as a "swing" voter. I've news for them, I'm not. The one thing I will never vote for is the Tory fascist party and no amount of DVD's asking me "are you thinking what we're thinking?" are going to make me change. I really hope for their sake that they're not thinking what I'm thinking as it is too outrageous to even print. Calling yourselves the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party won't help either, you're the same Tory fascists who destroyed this country in the 80s and no amount of rebranding will change your sniveling, grotesque politics.

Nobody likes paying tax but the majority of us do it because it is a necessity. Tory fascists on the other hand think only the oiks should pay for it. Already the promises of tax cuts are at the vanguard of their manifesto. These tax cuts will be for the benefit of the high earners at the expense of the poorest, the uneducated and the most vulnerable people in our society. The bitch thatcher did it in the 80s when she unleashed upon us a vicious recession caused by slashing the tax bills of the super rich to no more than 10% above the level of normal hard working people. Quick as a flash these even richer super rich went out and swamped the economy with imported luxury items like Ferraris, crates of bolly, yachts etc, inflation rocketed and even more industry was lost. Don't let the bastards back in.

Angus, where I live is a rural constituency with a high percentage of land owners and farmers. Farmers love the Tory fascists, I hate farmers (and you would to if you knew how much subsidies you paid them to continually moan about how hard up they are). You can't pass a field in Angus without seeing a "Vote Bushby" sign planted. Sandy Bushby, the Tory fascist candidate doesn't even live here, she resides in Perth & Kinross. How lucky would I be to see her cheery little face walking up my drive one of these days?*sigh*

So who will I vote for? Anybody with the exception of those scum.

Shush

If the SFA and the Scottish Executive are serious about removing racism, sectarianism and bigotry from football then one wonders why the SFA ordered a minutes silence in memory of the Pope. What the hell was that for? Apart from the fact the deceased Pope was a footballer in his earlier years (if we stopped for every dead eighty four year old who has ever kicked a ball we’d do nothing but stand about with our heads bowed) I can see no justification in calling for football to make a public show of respect. If the moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Chief Rabbi, the Dalai Lama or, gawd forbid, the leader of the “wee free pees” was to pass away are we to expect that the SFA will once again call for a mark of respect? Nonsense. Hearts and their chairman have nothing to apologise for, the SFA, on the other hand, got what they deserved. Keep race, politics, religion and Gerry McNee, obviously, out of football.

levitated.net

Almost impossible to describe the content of this site so here is some of their own blurb.

Levitated.net contains visual poetry and science fun narrated in an object oriented graphic environment.

The sketches and applications generated as a byproduct of research are provided online as open source Flash modules.

These pages are attempting to fasten a usable structure around a continually evolving computational ecology, so that it may be observed and enjoyed by participants of the network.

More formal code and design ideas are periodically published as tangible commodities in book, paper, and printed form.

I urge you to check out their open source Flash applets. I've spent hours looking at this site and couldn't tell you my favourite interactive pieces as there are still some I haven't looked at. If you've got Macromedia's Flash MX I'm sure you'll pick up a multitude of ideas and techniques from examining the content.

The Apprentice Week 8

Well, my predictions of recent weeks seem to have been a load of bollocks. Ben, who I had considered a strong contender, got fired. To be honest he looked relieved to be going and as he said one of the things he learned from the experience was "I don't like retail" it was probably right that Sugar should get rid of him now. Lesley was convinced that Paul was going but I knew by then that Ben was for the chop. Paul could have talked himself out of a job if he'd kept on swearing but managed to survive.

It is obvious that the other contestants consider Paul a huge threat. Not for the first time his team ganged up to put him in the frame. Saria has lied about things relating to him in the past and now Miriam and Paul both lied to get Paul in the frame. Paul's reaction was to become quite visibly upset and to swear a lot (not a good strategy) but personally I think he was justified to be very angry. I figure that Sir Alan has marked Paul as being of a similar mind to himself but he needs to calm himself a bit and let the others talk themselves out of a job. Sugar obviously rates him and I'm sure he knows exactly what input Paul has on the task and who was telling lies.

Saria continues to annoy and I can't believe she is still there, her time for the bullet must be coming soon. Raj, is a complete light weight way out of his depth and just there to make up the numbers. Paul, if he can defend himself more eloquently, is now my favourite to win (but what do I know).

Bonnie Update 6

Bonnie had the pin removed from his leg yesterday and everything seems fine. It was just a small operation, a small nick, withdraw the pin and a couple of stitches. Of course he needed to have his leg shaved again but this time he looks like Roly the Poodle from Eastenders.

He wasn't able to bend his leg properly due to the pin and with losing his tail this made balancing a bit awkward. He used to sit on the window sill with his leg dangling down and getting in and out of the cat flap required getting three legs out before the straight one would follow. The operation doesn't appear to have bothered him in the slightest. He does have the look of a Doberman Pincer with his 1" stump of a tail though, little soldier.

How much?!!?

I almost fell off my seat when I came across this story relating to a case brought against Honda in Canada for unfairly dismissing an employee suffering from ME/CFS.

$500,000 Canadian compensation! Holy cow. After reading the full article I actually feel some sympathy for Honda as the guy was obviously incapable of working with his illness. Still, if you don't take it seriously the implications can be huge and if you ride over the employee's rights, even down to the level of basic human dignity, then you're going to pay... if you're in Canada and come up against Mr. Justice John McIsaac of the Ontario Superior Court (top man in my book).

I've been lucky enough to manage holding down my job without much hassle (to the detriment of my personal life it must be said) but I did once feel so bad I had a little sleep underneath my desk, I wasn't missed strangely enough. Maybe I should try for an unfair dismissal ($500,000 Canadian is about £200,000 I think).

Reasons to be cheerful No. 631

My new workstation arrived at work today. What's that you say? Is it fast? Oh yes. Faster than a speeding bullet, faster than my local tory fascist campaigning for votes. Faster than a very fast thing, with a Doctorate in fast from the University of Fastness, in fact.

Oh my

In the words of the irreplaceable Archie Macpherson,

Woof.