Awesome dance mix up
Wednesday 16 December 2009
Thursday 10 December 2009
Wednesday 9 December 2009
mydrivespace.co.uk
I now have Chained payments working through the paypal API which was the final hurdle in making http://mydrivespace.co.uk a reality.
Now I just have to code out the other stuff like reservations/confirmations/email templates/small print/disclaimers/etc and then I can look to roll this baby out...
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Now I just have to code out the other stuff like reservations/confirmations/email templates/small print/disclaimers/etc and then I can look to roll this baby out...
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Monday 23 November 2009
Friday 20 November 2009
Drying paint
In Zen they say: If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, try it for eight, sixteen, thirty-two, and so on. Eventually one discovers that it’s not boring at all, but very interesting.
Monday 16 November 2009
Tuesday 10 November 2009
Chained payments in paypal.
API options coming in November apparently. Should be very useful for my project that I started off a couple of months back. By useful, I mean, actually makes it feasible...
Some links:
http://paymentsviews.com/2009/07/24/paypal-adaptive-payments/
http://transfs.com/blog/2009/07/27/paypal-announces-adaptive-payments-parallel-payments-and-chained-payments-functionality-via-api/
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/168040/paypal_to_open_platform_to_thirdparty_developers.html
Some links:
http://paymentsviews.com/2009/07/24/paypal-adaptive-payments/
http://transfs.com/blog/2009/07/27/paypal-announces-adaptive-payments-parallel-payments-and-chained-payments-functionality-via-api/
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/168040/paypal_to_open_platform_to_thirdparty_developers.html
Saturday 7 November 2009
Best online poker result to date
Best poker finish last night. Made the final table of a 6-max donkfest for a $50+ payout.
Busted in 6th which was worth $51. Really happy with my play, especially from 50 players down.
Busted in 6th which was worth $51. Really happy with my play, especially from 50 players down.
Tuesday 3 November 2009
Wednesday 28 October 2009
IT vs. Management
A woman in a hot air balloon, realizing she was lost, reduced altitude and spotted a man below. She descended
further and shouted to the man "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet her an hour ago, but I
don't know where I am"
The man below replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between
40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."
"You must be in IT," said the balloonist.
"Actually I am," replied the man, "How did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct but I've no idea what to make
of your information and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've
delayed my trip."
The man below responded, "You must be in Management."
"I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"
"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a
large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you
to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now,
somehow, it's my bloody fault..."
further and shouted to the man "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet her an hour ago, but I
don't know where I am"
The man below replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between
40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."
"You must be in IT," said the balloonist.
"Actually I am," replied the man, "How did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct but I've no idea what to make
of your information and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've
delayed my trip."
The man below responded, "You must be in Management."
"I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"
"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a
large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you
to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now,
somehow, it's my bloody fault..."
Thursday 8 October 2009
Forcing my hand...
Twice now in a week I have been passed bills with 'donations' bolted onto the bottom of them. The sick thing about these forced donations is that you have to physically ask for the donation to be removed. Now. Don't get me wrong. I am a charitable man but I give to charities I choose and when I choose. I don't need a hotel or a fast food restaurant (Pizza Hut) telling me when and to whom I should donate money no matter how small the sum so I for one am proud to stand there and demand my bill be reproduced without the 'optional' 'donation' and pay them only what they are due.
shame is that the charities in question (especially the one today) are worthy causes. I just don't think this is the right way to get money off people. A charitable donation is one that you consiously take part in. It is not something slyly chucked on the end of bill like a service charge.
They are struggling to get donations. I understand that, but you will never get a penny out of me by forcing my hand.
shame is that the charities in question (especially the one today) are worthy causes. I just don't think this is the right way to get money off people. A charitable donation is one that you consiously take part in. It is not something slyly chucked on the end of bill like a service charge.
They are struggling to get donations. I understand that, but you will never get a penny out of me by forcing my hand.
Friday 25 September 2009
I wish I was this smart
clever man
In other news. I am working on a website that hooks google maps, paypal and asp.net AJAX together to hopefully earn me money and save my users some. I shall say no more for now. I have bought the URL and I will make it public knowledge in the coming weeks and months when it goes into testing (via you guys hopefully) and then live....
....to be continued.
In other news. I am working on a website that hooks google maps, paypal and asp.net AJAX together to hopefully earn me money and save my users some. I shall say no more for now. I have bought the URL and I will make it public knowledge in the coming weeks and months when it goes into testing (via you guys hopefully) and then live....
....to be continued.
Monday 14 September 2009
Good weekend
Saturday - Picnic with bro and amassed families.
Sunday - Nature in art with Legs and Alfie. :-)
Sunday - Nature in art with Legs and Alfie. :-)
Wednesday 9 September 2009
Chosen Hill
There is a lovely hill near my office and I have never been up it. Today, at lunch, I drove up to enjoy the view. I will be going back. It was lush.
Friday 4 September 2009
New monitor and memory
So now that website orders are starting to come into kruelintent.com I am going to strengthen my home PC. I have my eyes on 4Gb of DDR2 RAM which dabs seem to be selling for sod all but also this new monitor.
Monitor: here
Review: here
What do you think?
Monitor: here
Review: here
What do you think?
Wednesday 2 September 2009
Wednesday 26 August 2009
Sick hand in the UK Freeroll
At the time of writing this I am running 3rd of the remaining 95 players. 1400 started.
Friday 21 August 2009
Thursday 20 August 2009
Schrödinger's cat ++
An explanation of Schrödinger's cat to try and explain quantum basics....
"Basically, if you have a cat in a closed box, and poisonous gas is released. The cat is either dead, 0, or alive, 1. Until I open the box to find out, it exists in both states—a superposition. That superposition is destroyed when I measure it. But suppose I have two cats in two boxes that are correlated, and you go through the same thing. If I open one box and the cat's alive, it means the other cat is too, even if I never open the box. It's a quantum phenomenon that's a stronger correlation than you can get in classical physics, and because of that you can do something like this with quantum algorithms—change one part of the system, and the rest of it will respond accordingly, without changing the rest of the operation. That's part of the reason it's faster at certain kinds of calculations."
Full article - here
"Basically, if you have a cat in a closed box, and poisonous gas is released. The cat is either dead, 0, or alive, 1. Until I open the box to find out, it exists in both states—a superposition. That superposition is destroyed when I measure it. But suppose I have two cats in two boxes that are correlated, and you go through the same thing. If I open one box and the cat's alive, it means the other cat is too, even if I never open the box. It's a quantum phenomenon that's a stronger correlation than you can get in classical physics, and because of that you can do something like this with quantum algorithms—change one part of the system, and the rest of it will respond accordingly, without changing the rest of the operation. That's part of the reason it's faster at certain kinds of calculations."
Full article - here
Wednesday 19 August 2009
Tuesday 18 August 2009
UK freeroll bad beat story #1
Played well in Friday's free roll tournament on fulltiltpoker. Came 30th out of 1400+ people which is good going but lost out to a bad beat and that sucks. I played well so I am not so worried about it but I will relay the hand below and you can decide for yourselves...
I have 24K left.
Blinds are 1000/2000 with a 250 anti. I am the button.
Dealt 7D 9D. I decide to call as I am in position.
4 players to the flop. 10K in the middle.
FLOP 3 5 6 rainbow (Can't remember the suits but they were all different)
CHECK, CHECK, 6K Raise to me.
This, to me, appears to be a stealing move given the low board and having an open ended straight draw and 2 over cards.... I call. The remaining 2 players fold.
TURN 7
CHECK to me.
Now I have 2 possible cards for a straight (4 or 8) + top pair. I sense he has checked as the steal on the flop didn't hit home.... I shove my remaining 16K at it.
Now the sickness. He calls and shows 8 J off suit. What this, in essence, means is that he has called my ALL-IN shove with a draw and 2 over cards.
Of course he spikes a Jack on the river and I go sailing out of the tourney. Of course, legs simply says 'why didn't you fold to the money?' (27 got paid)
Another day, top pair would have held. Another day again, he wouldn't have called with nothing. This day though, he did, and it didn't. Booooo.
I have 24K left.
Blinds are 1000/2000 with a 250 anti. I am the button.
Dealt 7D 9D. I decide to call as I am in position.
4 players to the flop. 10K in the middle.
FLOP 3 5 6 rainbow (Can't remember the suits but they were all different)
CHECK, CHECK, 6K Raise to me.
This, to me, appears to be a stealing move given the low board and having an open ended straight draw and 2 over cards.... I call. The remaining 2 players fold.
TURN 7
CHECK to me.
Now I have 2 possible cards for a straight (4 or 8) + top pair. I sense he has checked as the steal on the flop didn't hit home.... I shove my remaining 16K at it.
Now the sickness. He calls and shows 8 J off suit. What this, in essence, means is that he has called my ALL-IN shove with a draw and 2 over cards.
Of course he spikes a Jack on the river and I go sailing out of the tourney. Of course, legs simply says 'why didn't you fold to the money?' (27 got paid)
Another day, top pair would have held. Another day again, he wouldn't have called with nothing. This day though, he did, and it didn't. Booooo.
Wednesday 12 August 2009
Tuesday 11 August 2009
The smell....
So for the past few weeks Legs and I have noticed a stink coming from somewhere in our kitchen. Over the past week it has become pretty horrid. Well, deep in one of the cupboards, the culprit has been dug out....
This courgette had obviously been picked from our nice veg patch and left in storage for later eating. You can see on the left how it was and indeed, where it was going...
Hungry? Anyone?
This courgette had obviously been picked from our nice veg patch and left in storage for later eating. You can see on the left how it was and indeed, where it was going...
Hungry? Anyone?
Monday 10 August 2009
Good Weekend
This weekend I have done a lot of stuff. Saturday I did loads but I wont bore you. The main fun was a baby birthday party late in the afternoon.
Sunday I cycled!!! 53 miles at a fair lick and back in time for lunch. Really enjoyed getting out on the bike properly, hopefully it wont be a flash in the pan. Next ride is lined up for the 23rd. Once home, I took Alfie to see the birds down at Slimbridge while Soph got to attack the weeds in the garden. An enjoyable couple of hours for all of us!! 2 glasses of white over Top Gear was all it took to send me off. Asleep well before 10. *glee*
Here is a good video of Alfie walking taken the weekend before his first birthday.
Alfie Walking
Sunday I cycled!!! 53 miles at a fair lick and back in time for lunch. Really enjoyed getting out on the bike properly, hopefully it wont be a flash in the pan. Next ride is lined up for the 23rd. Once home, I took Alfie to see the birds down at Slimbridge while Soph got to attack the weeds in the garden. An enjoyable couple of hours for all of us!! 2 glasses of white over Top Gear was all it took to send me off. Asleep well before 10. *glee*
Here is a good video of Alfie walking taken the weekend before his first birthday.
Alfie Walking
Thursday 6 August 2009
Buy With Confidence.
Had the dude around from Trading standards last night to talk about kruelintent.com and the nature and workings of my business. The plan is that they assess me (done) and then I pay them a fee and they stick a link to me on the main buywithconfidence website. buy with confidence
Once the paperwork at that end is done I get the logos to splatter over my site and official paperwork and everybody should get more confidence that I am a legit business.
Bottom line is that I went to the site and looked for web design within 25 miles of my house and it came back with 0 results so if that can be me then that is just fine!
Once the paperwork at that end is done I get the logos to splatter over my site and official paperwork and everybody should get more confidence that I am a legit business.
Bottom line is that I went to the site and looked for web design within 25 miles of my house and it came back with 0 results so if that can be me then that is just fine!
Monday 27 July 2009
Thursday 23 July 2009
Too many pies, not enough fingers
Finding time to do all the things I need and/or want to do is becoming a real challenge. Don't think for a second that this is a 'woe is me' blog post though as I am loving it. I run on plans and each and every evening is almost always full of things I should be doing. I normally manage most but this evening is a different matter. Legs is out with her friends tonight so I have a poker tournament about to start.
A small side note about poker. I busted my bankroll a week or so back and I am back to playing the free stuff. The nice thing is that the free stuff does, eventually, let you win some real money if you are good enough. There are tournaments out there that let you win what are known as 'tournament dollars' and these can be used to enter the real money tournaments. So this is what I am now concentrating on. That said, now the real money has gone the draw to play is less. Still enjoy a game when I have time though, of course.
This weekend I will be wall mounting my TV and routing cable through trunking. The boy is very VERY mobile and the sooner the house allows for it the better.
Looks like there is actually going to be a fair few people at Alfie's first birthday party having been organised as a family only quiet thing. I suppose that comes when your immediate family numbers more than 20....
Must find time to mow the lawns again....
A small side note about poker. I busted my bankroll a week or so back and I am back to playing the free stuff. The nice thing is that the free stuff does, eventually, let you win some real money if you are good enough. There are tournaments out there that let you win what are known as 'tournament dollars' and these can be used to enter the real money tournaments. So this is what I am now concentrating on. That said, now the real money has gone the draw to play is less. Still enjoy a game when I have time though, of course.
This weekend I will be wall mounting my TV and routing cable through trunking. The boy is very VERY mobile and the sooner the house allows for it the better.
Looks like there is actually going to be a fair few people at Alfie's first birthday party having been organised as a family only quiet thing. I suppose that comes when your immediate family numbers more than 20....
Must find time to mow the lawns again....
Tuesday 21 July 2009
Friday 17 July 2009
Zero hour
Did a full hour of near-as-dammit zero energy usage last night. All lights were off, No TV, video, DVD, PC, Sky, Microwave action and no phone calls. Felt good. Even after the hour my zero usage carried on although I cheated a little as I was on my laptop but that was battery usage and the point of this was to save money. Not the planet.
On top of that, the new insulation layer got installed in our loft yesterday meaning we now have a 270mm duvet over our heads to keep the heat in over the coming winter. It should mean we don't need the heating on as much but I guess only time will tell on that front. Certainly, the leccy bill last week was enough to provoke the zero hour on it's own. Everything else is a bonus.
Went camping with Alfie for the first time last weekend. Here is a photo. I think he enjoyed himself. Today, on the other hand, I HOPE he enjoys himself. Legs is back to work and so he is in nursery all day. Fingers crossed.
On top of that, the new insulation layer got installed in our loft yesterday meaning we now have a 270mm duvet over our heads to keep the heat in over the coming winter. It should mean we don't need the heating on as much but I guess only time will tell on that front. Certainly, the leccy bill last week was enough to provoke the zero hour on it's own. Everything else is a bonus.
Went camping with Alfie for the first time last weekend. Here is a photo. I think he enjoyed himself. Today, on the other hand, I HOPE he enjoys himself. Legs is back to work and so he is in nursery all day. Fingers crossed.
Thursday 16 July 2009
work work work
With live updating text streams from The Open golf, The Ashes cricket and the Tour, work has been a blur of F5 strikes today. With that in mind, I have actually got a shed load done. This is also a surprise as it is my first day back after nearly a week off. Goes to show that pre-checking my emails yesterday (all 450 of them) pays off...
Wednesday 8 July 2009
Google Chrome OS
"One of Google's major goals is to take Microsoft out, to systematically destroy their hold on the market,"
BBC News Entry - News post
Google Blog - Google blog
mmmmm. Netbook with Chrome OS = on the web in seconds. Me likie! :)
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
BBC News Entry - News post
Google Blog - Google blog
mmmmm. Netbook with Chrome OS = on the web in seconds. Me likie! :)
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Tuesday 7 July 2009
I seem to be tweeting more than blogging these days, guess it is a sign of the times. The updates on facebook and twitter and so on are great for a quick check of how people are and blogs etc are great - in my opinion - for photos, videos, links and the occasional rant. I think that is one of the main reasons my twitter feed is on this blog too as otherwise it would only get some new content about once a week.
I notice another friend has joined Twitter in the last couple of days too so perhaps I am not alone in this thinking...
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
I notice another friend has joined Twitter in the last couple of days too so perhaps I am not alone in this thinking...
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Thursday 2 July 2009
I use your wireless
Well. Not you specifically, that would be silly of me to admit that on here... but I could...
hacking the wireless password
Interesting.... Especially if the chump next door is stumping up for mega bandwidth...
hacking the wireless password
Interesting.... Especially if the chump next door is stumping up for mega bandwidth...
Wednesday 1 July 2009
Tuesday 30 June 2009
Routine.
n.b. I am posting this Tuesday afternoon. I wrote the below last Friday evening. I will post it as it is how I felt at the time and it should be read with humour in mind, not cynicism. I had a good night Saturday night and a great time the whole weekend. Just didn't realise how much I use the creature comforts each and every day.
Routine.
This weekend has been a lesson in routine. We were over visiting Legs Granny 'Granny' in Norfolk and the drive over takes 3.5 hours. This means that no matter how we cut it, Alfie was going to be awake for a fair amount of the journey. Luckily, Alfie is a blessed child and slept for 2 hours. We stopped for a coffee and let him stretch his legs. The final hour, however, was a challenge only overcome by some serious singing on our part and even then, the last 10 minutes were just too much for the little fella so it was with great relief that we all landed safe and sound without that much delay.
Now. 'Granny' has a routine of her own. Dinner in her house is served around 5:30 and done and dusted well before 7 when the soaps start. You can imagine that this would clash beautifully with Alfies bedtime routine. As it turned out, it was all fine and we all ate together which was actually nice. Kind of bizarre for legs and me though as we are used to eating at about 8! Of course, with such an early dinner, an early breakfast follows so that was done, through and complete about 7:30 and the day was upon us.
I suppose the biggest sufferers of the routine shifts were me and legs. It is amazing how much one relies on lifes luxuries and how little one notices until they are not there. This weekend, I have had no internet so no facebook, twitter, blog, website, poker, scrabble, chess etc etc... We have had no sky TV and no DVD player. 'Granny' has her tele with her 4.5 channels and that is all she needs. In a moment of pure genius, I did bring my computer on the pretense of showing Granny some photos of the boy and this has had the (purely unintentional) side-effect of me having several films to watch should I get desperate. Tonight (Friday) I am watching 'In Bruges' (not bad).
Suffering isn't really fair. It is just that while away from home I cannot get on with the garden, housework or DIY and without the above mentioned luxuries I can't do much else either. The tele is watchable for only so long. The talk is good though and later we will no doubt get the cards out for a game of Australian rummy. Not being a baby and not being a pensioner does have this one big drawback though. My daily routine is all the way up the kyber right now but I am not a baby so I cannot cry about it and I am not a pensioner so I cannot moan either, except I just did. God bless the blog! :)
FINGERS CROSSED FOR THE JOURNEY BACK SUNDAY AFTERNOON!!! (Which went really well. By the way)
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Routine.
This weekend has been a lesson in routine. We were over visiting Legs Granny 'Granny' in Norfolk and the drive over takes 3.5 hours. This means that no matter how we cut it, Alfie was going to be awake for a fair amount of the journey. Luckily, Alfie is a blessed child and slept for 2 hours. We stopped for a coffee and let him stretch his legs. The final hour, however, was a challenge only overcome by some serious singing on our part and even then, the last 10 minutes were just too much for the little fella so it was with great relief that we all landed safe and sound without that much delay.
Now. 'Granny' has a routine of her own. Dinner in her house is served around 5:30 and done and dusted well before 7 when the soaps start. You can imagine that this would clash beautifully with Alfies bedtime routine. As it turned out, it was all fine and we all ate together which was actually nice. Kind of bizarre for legs and me though as we are used to eating at about 8! Of course, with such an early dinner, an early breakfast follows so that was done, through and complete about 7:30 and the day was upon us.
I suppose the biggest sufferers of the routine shifts were me and legs. It is amazing how much one relies on lifes luxuries and how little one notices until they are not there. This weekend, I have had no internet so no facebook, twitter, blog, website, poker, scrabble, chess etc etc... We have had no sky TV and no DVD player. 'Granny' has her tele with her 4.5 channels and that is all she needs. In a moment of pure genius, I did bring my computer on the pretense of showing Granny some photos of the boy and this has had the (purely unintentional) side-effect of me having several films to watch should I get desperate. Tonight (Friday) I am watching 'In Bruges' (not bad).
Suffering isn't really fair. It is just that while away from home I cannot get on with the garden, housework or DIY and without the above mentioned luxuries I can't do much else either. The tele is watchable for only so long. The talk is good though and later we will no doubt get the cards out for a game of Australian rummy. Not being a baby and not being a pensioner does have this one big drawback though. My daily routine is all the way up the kyber right now but I am not a baby so I cannot cry about it and I am not a pensioner so I cannot moan either, except I just did. God bless the blog! :)
FINGERS CROSSED FOR THE JOURNEY BACK SUNDAY AFTERNOON!!! (Which went really well. By the way)
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Thursday 18 June 2009
Flickr Images
I have decided to bypass my image loading page for now as it is slowing down the load time something cronic on the blog. As a result I have replaced the images with the original flickr images. This means they may well not be visible from some workplaces but thems the breaks I suppose. I would rather have a fast load time and then people can see the pictures when they are back home....
I may look into speeding up the streaming image thing as it does work nicely.... just very slowly....
To be continued...
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
I may look into speeding up the streaming image thing as it does work nicely.... just very slowly....
To be continued...
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Wednesday 17 June 2009
BBC Links
A couple of BBC articles caught my eye today...
"Antony Walker, chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholders' Group, believes the tax will mean that 90% of the UK will be able to benefit from broadband of up to 50Mbps by 2017."
BBC Article
"Ever wondered why you have had to travel the length of the country on a wet Tuesday night to watch your team in action?
Or you haven't played at home on Boxing Day for the last three years?
Like me, you've probably just blamed the fixture computer, that mythical piece of technology that determines where you will be and when throughout the football season."
BBC Blog
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
"Antony Walker, chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholders' Group, believes the tax will mean that 90% of the UK will be able to benefit from broadband of up to 50Mbps by 2017."
BBC Article
"Ever wondered why you have had to travel the length of the country on a wet Tuesday night to watch your team in action?
Or you haven't played at home on Boxing Day for the last three years?
Like me, you've probably just blamed the fixture computer, that mythical piece of technology that determines where you will be and when throughout the football season."
BBC Blog
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Tuesday 16 June 2009
Chess - Running Deep
I am running pretty well in a chess tourney on gameknot. Started with over 500 players and we are now down to the last 4 groups totalling 17 players. Look me up on gameknot if you fancy a game... Wish me luck!!
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Saturday 13 June 2009
Two photos.
Here is a nice one of Alfie from this morning..
And here is a nice one of the rose in our garden. It has grown up around our apple tree down by the compost heaps and it seems to be loving life. Thought I had best prove that it was lovely in case it is over by the party next weekend....
As always, big versions on my flickr page...
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
And here is a nice one of the rose in our garden. It has grown up around our apple tree down by the compost heaps and it seems to be loving life. Thought I had best prove that it was lovely in case it is over by the party next weekend....
As always, big versions on my flickr page...
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Friday 12 June 2009
Cathedral Feast
Went on another Cathedral feast with El and G last night. Always a nice way to spend a couple of hours. It was light last night too so I managed to get some nice photos taken. See my flickr page for the full ones but here is a small version of one I took at the top about 9:30pm. Quality.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Tuesday 9 June 2009
Tree bench update.
A quick update on the tree bench. I have made all the legs and all the wood has at least 3 coats of various protection on it. The legs are a different colour to the seat as the seat has been oiled up where the legs have been cuprinoled to within an inch of their lives! Here are a couple of small images but the big photos can be seen at my flickr page. My photos
Tonight there will be a lot of measuring and marking and labelling in prep for the drilling, countersinking and screwing over the next couple of evenings. Looking good so far though. :)
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Tonight there will be a lot of measuring and marking and labelling in prep for the drilling, countersinking and screwing over the next couple of evenings. Looking good so far though. :)
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Friday 5 June 2009
Thursday 4 June 2009
Quantum Entanglement - awesome!
So they have now entangled 4 atoms in a mechanical system, this stuff is so cool. I seriously hope to be involved one day.
Tuesday 2 June 2009
Sunday 31 May 2009
Making chips on FullTiltPoker.net
I have a plan to make a good few chips fairly easily on FullTiltPoker.net. The only reason to do this, I will say in advance, is to get enough chips to play on tables were people play properly. I had a similar issue playing facebook poker until I could finally afford to play the bigger tables.
The technique is simple, get in the payout places a lot in a lot of tournements. Sounds time consuming? Not so much. I think I need about 30-40 minutes to set them all going and then come back 3 hours later for the final tables...
There are three things that make the above possible. One is a rule on FullTiltPoker where you can play in as many tournaments as you like at any one time. The second is a quirk of the small tournament where by people generally shove with any even quarter decent hand in the first couple of plays and the winner of that hand generally quads or quints his stack. The third and final thing about this is that the blind structure is so fast and vicious that once sitting on a decent stack like this you can set your 'sit out next hand' flag and walk away. You are pretty much guarenteed a final seat table and if you can sit for longer, probably a top 4/5 finish. Obviously, if you want to make a few more chips, play the final table and do what you can...
So. Get several, like lots, of tournaments going. Set the 'away' flag as soon as you hit the big win over the first two or three hands and come back later to go for the win!
I will let you know how I get on once I have a chance to put my plan into action!
The technique is simple, get in the payout places a lot in a lot of tournements. Sounds time consuming? Not so much. I think I need about 30-40 minutes to set them all going and then come back 3 hours later for the final tables...
There are three things that make the above possible. One is a rule on FullTiltPoker where you can play in as many tournaments as you like at any one time. The second is a quirk of the small tournament where by people generally shove with any even quarter decent hand in the first couple of plays and the winner of that hand generally quads or quints his stack. The third and final thing about this is that the blind structure is so fast and vicious that once sitting on a decent stack like this you can set your 'sit out next hand' flag and walk away. You are pretty much guarenteed a final seat table and if you can sit for longer, probably a top 4/5 finish. Obviously, if you want to make a few more chips, play the final table and do what you can...
So. Get several, like lots, of tournaments going. Set the 'away' flag as soon as you hit the big win over the first two or three hands and come back later to go for the win!
I will let you know how I get on once I have a chance to put my plan into action!
Saturday 30 May 2009
Poker. But not as we know it!
Last night was the first (and possibly only) running of the Oxford TT (Two table) tournament at my brothers house. It was poker but really not how we know it.... I will just quickly say that although this article will read like Im a sore loser, I took it far better than a lot of other people would. I do, however, have a new found understanding of the blow-ups you see poker stars like Phil Hellmuth having on TV. I suppose I had better start this with a brief explaination of how I understand a players development as they learn more about poker.
A more experienced table of players will know pot odds and the approximate chances of winning in any given situation. As a result, they will be able to knowingly bet or raise appropriate amounts to force the opponents into tough decisions where they may even be able to pressure them into folding a hand.
Last night the 9 or so 'regular' players were joined by 5 extras ranging from other players who fancied a game to complete novices. And it is these people who were the fly in the ointment for the more experienced players last night.
I will give a brief rundown of my last hand in the game prior to busting out in 12th place!!! I am dealt Ace, Kind suited (Diamonds), statistically, the 3rd or 4th best possible starting hand. I raise 3 times the big blind pre flop. Now, at this point, normally, any player with a marginal or rag hand will naturally fold. Unfortunatly, the player to my right (one of the novices) decided to call with his 8S 6C off suit!!! So the flop comes out JH 7D 4D and I have a 'nut flush' draw so, being short stacked following my pre flop raise I push all in to try and either force the fold or boost my winnings should a diamond hit on the turn or river. This raise is a further 4 big blinds (£8). To my shock, he calls and turns those cards!!! Needless to say the luck was with him and the turn was a 5S giving him the straight! The river wasn't a diamond and that was that. A bad beat in a hand that really should have never gone to a showdown anyway.
That story is just one of many that happened last night. It is very telling that the normal people that you will see in the last 4 or 5 players were 4 or 5 of the first people out. The problem is that you simply cannot play poker against a player that doesn't know how to play poker. Told you it would sound like me being a sore loser.... But looking at the above, it doesn't take a genius to fold 8 6 offsuit to a big pre flop raise...
My (our) only soluce is that in the long run, these guys will loose playing as they do but it doesn't ease the frustration of last night. Once all the buy backs were in there was over £500 on offer to the winner and it is a nasty kick in the dick when you are beaten by luck in a hand that you shouldn't have been contesting.
Anyway, as Mr Pool said at the 11Pm break, "That's tournament poker" and, as my lovely, supportive, wife Legs said as I rolled into bed this morning at 1am.... "Suck it up!"
Just bites s'all... NEXT TIME!!!!
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
A more experienced table of players will know pot odds and the approximate chances of winning in any given situation. As a result, they will be able to knowingly bet or raise appropriate amounts to force the opponents into tough decisions where they may even be able to pressure them into folding a hand.
Last night the 9 or so 'regular' players were joined by 5 extras ranging from other players who fancied a game to complete novices. And it is these people who were the fly in the ointment for the more experienced players last night.
I will give a brief rundown of my last hand in the game prior to busting out in 12th place!!! I am dealt Ace, Kind suited (Diamonds), statistically, the 3rd or 4th best possible starting hand. I raise 3 times the big blind pre flop. Now, at this point, normally, any player with a marginal or rag hand will naturally fold. Unfortunatly, the player to my right (one of the novices) decided to call with his 8S 6C off suit!!! So the flop comes out JH 7D 4D and I have a 'nut flush' draw so, being short stacked following my pre flop raise I push all in to try and either force the fold or boost my winnings should a diamond hit on the turn or river. This raise is a further 4 big blinds (£8). To my shock, he calls and turns those cards!!! Needless to say the luck was with him and the turn was a 5S giving him the straight! The river wasn't a diamond and that was that. A bad beat in a hand that really should have never gone to a showdown anyway.
That story is just one of many that happened last night. It is very telling that the normal people that you will see in the last 4 or 5 players were 4 or 5 of the first people out. The problem is that you simply cannot play poker against a player that doesn't know how to play poker. Told you it would sound like me being a sore loser.... But looking at the above, it doesn't take a genius to fold 8 6 offsuit to a big pre flop raise...
My (our) only soluce is that in the long run, these guys will loose playing as they do but it doesn't ease the frustration of last night. Once all the buy backs were in there was over £500 on offer to the winner and it is a nasty kick in the dick when you are beaten by luck in a hand that you shouldn't have been contesting.
Anyway, as Mr Pool said at the 11Pm break, "That's tournament poker" and, as my lovely, supportive, wife Legs said as I rolled into bed this morning at 1am.... "Suck it up!"
Just bites s'all... NEXT TIME!!!!
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Friday 29 May 2009
Tuesday 26 May 2009
Stoppit and Tidyup.
Or.... Kleerup and Tityup - Longing for lullabies. Brilliant.
Notice how he is almost stepping in time (Schtep In Time!!!)
Notice how he is almost stepping in time (Schtep In Time!!!)
World Series of Poker
So the World series of poker kicks off tomorrow.
Seeing nearly all poker sites are blocked in most workplaces I have found a site that isn't - http://www.thewsopblog.com and it also has an RSS feed so I can keep up without even going to the site - http://www.thewsopblog.com/feed
I will write a personal blog soon, so much to say but so little time to say it!
Wednesday 20 May 2009
Automating the facebook login....
It was meant to be so easy.
Using httpwebrequest and httpwebresponse to pass loging credentials - and an App ID - to the facebook login.php page and get back the redirection string. This includes an auth code in the address parameters and would allow me to create a valid facebook session away from the site.
I have tried very nearly everything in my knowledge and I am no nearer solving the problem.
The problem, I think, is that although I am allowing the redirect in my code it isn't actually getting there.
Normally, on login, it loads the same page and then redirects to the correct page but the response I am getting back is still the login.php page...
I have a feeling there are some cookies involved so I might take a quick trip down that road and report back....
The actual reason for doing this is becoming lost as the ability to do it goes away so once I am in and this is working I hope I find a good reason to go with it....
Using httpwebrequest and httpwebresponse to pass loging credentials - and an App ID - to the facebook login.php page and get back the redirection string. This includes an auth code in the address parameters and would allow me to create a valid facebook session away from the site.
I have tried very nearly everything in my knowledge and I am no nearer solving the problem.
The problem, I think, is that although I am allowing the redirect in my code it isn't actually getting there.
Normally, on login, it loads the same page and then redirects to the correct page but the response I am getting back is still the login.php page...
I have a feeling there are some cookies involved so I might take a quick trip down that road and report back....
The actual reason for doing this is becoming lost as the ability to do it goes away so once I am in and this is working I hope I find a good reason to go with it....
Tuesday 19 May 2009
grillymonk.co.uk
Decided that I am going to go for it with www.grillymonk.co.uk. It costs £70 a year to be a premium shop owner though so I am going to do it wisely, that is to say, create all my designs and shop css etc in the coming weeks BEFORE I pay. That way, once up and going I can just go for it uploading the stuff.
Should be a goer sometime over the summer.
Monday 18 May 2009
Mighty Pompey
Safe for another season in the Prem.
Tonights match no longer matters so we will probably loose.
...which is nice.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Tonights match no longer matters so we will probably loose.
...which is nice.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Sunday 17 May 2009
Tough times
Whoever said having a baby was easy was a lyin' hound!
The learning continues day by day. This weekend we have had the finger chewing combined with irritability and a huge and sudden drop in appetite. Otherwise known as teething the molars...
Of course, we only know this (hopefully) because it says so in a book but at least it answers the whole 'WHAT ARE WE DOING WRONG!!!?' questions that keep flooding our heads as Alfie only takes 2 spoons of dinner and then throws a benny.
Life. Goes. On.
Just hope his teeth are out soon. I suddenly feel bad about going to work and leaving legs in the minefield. I guess we just take it as it comes... I would certainly say that Alfie is now a 'normal' child
In non-baby news........ erm........ god how boring. The garden is getting on well and we have bitten the bullet with the house insulation. Currently the house is a little like a net curtain in as much as the wind whistles through it without pausing for thought at the walls/windows/doors. As such, I have made it my personal mission to try and exclude all drafts and actually make the house keep some of the heat the 'rads' pump into it. More news on this to follow in the coming weeks.
Got an order for a website from kruelintent.com so I have been working on that too.
There are simply not enough 'free' hours in the week. grillymonk.co.uk is falling by with no new designs now for a while. I think if I am going to go for it properly there I need to give spreadshirt some money and have a fully fledged proper shop so all I need to do is the designs - then they can go on whatever clothing the customers choose. Much easier but it costs me money to do it that way.... decisions decisions.
FullTiltPoker.net has become a nightly thing at the mo too in the build up to the big game on Friday. Hopedfully this practice will pay off as there is a big pot out there with my name on it!!
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
The learning continues day by day. This weekend we have had the finger chewing combined with irritability and a huge and sudden drop in appetite. Otherwise known as teething the molars...
Of course, we only know this (hopefully) because it says so in a book but at least it answers the whole 'WHAT ARE WE DOING WRONG!!!?' questions that keep flooding our heads as Alfie only takes 2 spoons of dinner and then throws a benny.
Life. Goes. On.
Just hope his teeth are out soon. I suddenly feel bad about going to work and leaving legs in the minefield. I guess we just take it as it comes... I would certainly say that Alfie is now a 'normal' child
In non-baby news........ erm........ god how boring. The garden is getting on well and we have bitten the bullet with the house insulation. Currently the house is a little like a net curtain in as much as the wind whistles through it without pausing for thought at the walls/windows/doors. As such, I have made it my personal mission to try and exclude all drafts and actually make the house keep some of the heat the 'rads' pump into it. More news on this to follow in the coming weeks.
Got an order for a website from kruelintent.com so I have been working on that too.
There are simply not enough 'free' hours in the week. grillymonk.co.uk is falling by with no new designs now for a while. I think if I am going to go for it properly there I need to give spreadshirt some money and have a fully fledged proper shop so all I need to do is the designs - then they can go on whatever clothing the customers choose. Much easier but it costs me money to do it that way.... decisions decisions.
FullTiltPoker.net has become a nightly thing at the mo too in the build up to the big game on Friday. Hopedfully this practice will pay off as there is a big pot out there with my name on it!!
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Wednesday 13 May 2009
Formula One
This could be one to watch over the next week or two. Massive power struggle between a LOT of big money swingers.
bbc article
In my opinion, F1 should be no holds barred top of the tree technology and trying to hog tie it seems absurd...
Just my 2 pennies.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
bbc article
In my opinion, F1 should be no holds barred top of the tree technology and trying to hog tie it seems absurd...
Just my 2 pennies.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Tuesday 5 May 2009
Bike seat
In other, less incendiary, news. We bought a bike seat for Alfie over the weekend too. Check it out here - http://www.hamax.com/?ItemID=1149&_Bicycle_Child_Seat
Should mean a roll out to a pub en famile is well in order come June/July.
Family politics
This post isn't going to be nice. I would just like to say a couple of things.
- I love all of my family.
- Family politics suck the root.
Why is it that logic goes out of the window when dealing with family politics? Let me paint the scene.
Having a son who is just coming back to full strength after an illness we are just getting his routine back on track. This routine, even at the best of times, rarely includes a 2 hour sleep. Babies in cars generally sleep like logs and so we did not make it down for a christening 2 hours drive away as we didn't want to put his routine in jeopardy. I phoned the father of the to-be-christened child and had a good chat about babies and that was that. He was happy that we wouldn't be down. So. The day of the Christening arrives and we get an option to drive 20 minutes down the road to watch a bike race my mate is riding in. We go. We have a good time.
So. Why didn't we go to the Christening?
- We are being (possibly over) protective of our son?
- We have a deep seated reason to not want to see the rest of our family?
hmmm.
I thought hard about whether to post this or not but ultimately, f**k it. If people want to make rash and incorrect assumptions about why we weren't somewhere then that is up to them. 2 out of 4 of my siblings decided, somehow, that the answer must be 2. Incredible. I think I might get an anti-family-politics t-shirt knocked up.
Sunday 3 May 2009
Bank holiday fun
On Saturday we went to Robinswood hill for a wonder around. It has a little farm there so we saw all the sheep and pigs etc and Alfie loved it. Also, randomly, discovered that Alfie finds stones dropping in water hilarious! I will add a link to the video in the comments on the forum and I will post the video link on facebook/twitter once it has finished uploading to my youtube page.
Today, we all went to the forest of dean to watch my workmate Rob cycle in the spring sportif. When we saw him early on he was running in 6th and looking strong! Fair play to him. I desperatly wanted to be there with him but with my fitness at an all time low I think I would have been left for dead!
TFIBHM tomorrow. :-)
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Today, we all went to the forest of dean to watch my workmate Rob cycle in the spring sportif. When we saw him early on he was running in 6th and looking strong! Fair play to him. I desperatly wanted to be there with him but with my fitness at an all time low I think I would have been left for dead!
TFIBHM tomorrow. :-)
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Friday 1 May 2009
Lawro
Portsmouth v Arsenal
It's a great time for Portsmouth to have this game with Arsenal's minds on pulling back a goal deficit to Manchester United in the Champions League. They could really put the seal on their season and cement their safety.
Arsenal have nothing really left to play for in the league now and Arsene Wenger may be tempted to try out some of his squad players.
Verdict: 2-1
match preview
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It's a great time for Portsmouth to have this game with Arsenal's minds on pulling back a goal deficit to Manchester United in the Champions League. They could really put the seal on their season and cement their safety.
Arsenal have nothing really left to play for in the league now and Arsene Wenger may be tempted to try out some of his squad players.
Verdict: 2-1
match preview
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Wednesday 29 April 2009
Lance at the tour.
http://www.livestrong.com/video/5348-team-mellow-johnnys-tour-gila
Video taken on the tour bus on the way to stage 1 of the tour of the gila.
Video taken on the tour bus on the way to stage 1 of the tour of the gila.
Sunday 26 April 2009
The Glos and The Gate
Yesterday I went to watch Gloucester down at London Wasps. They were appalling. 34-3 and it could have been worse! Lets just hope Portsmouth are better in the footy at Newcastle on Monday.
The nice thing about rugby is that the players arrive and park outside the ground much like the staff and then they are happy to sign stuff for a while before they go in.
In better news. We finished the gate the other weekend and here is a nice photo of it in situ in our nice sunny garden this morning.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
The nice thing about rugby is that the players arrive and park outside the ground much like the staff and then they are happy to sign stuff for a while before they go in.
In better news. We finished the gate the other weekend and here is a nice photo of it in situ in our nice sunny garden this morning.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Tuesday 21 April 2009
the hub videos
Last night I created and uploaded the first of 3 or 4 technical videos about my new admin hub. I wrote it to firstly have a single point of entry for all of my sites. This includes facebook, twitter, flickr, my blog and my forum. From this one site I am able to upload images and post to all my sites at once via various APIs.
The first video just shows the website working and over the next few I will go into the code behind.
Technical Blog
What has become apparant, as a bonus, is that it means I can access these sites from work where normally they are blocked. Which is nice.
As my lovely wife is having a well earned early night I may well create and upload the second vid tonight.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
The first video just shows the website working and over the next few I will go into the code behind.
Technical Blog
What has become apparant, as a bonus, is that it means I can access these sites from work where normally they are blocked. Which is nice.
As my lovely wife is having a well earned early night I may well create and upload the second vid tonight.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Thursday 16 April 2009
my ill boy
Babies are so fragile when they are ill. We recon Alfie must have lost 1lb so far already and he has only been ill for 1.5 days...
He is so precious!
I read a quote earlier on Joe Stagners twitter by Harold B Lee - "The greatest thing a father can do for his children is love their mother". Right now, they seem like very real words. Legs and Alf are both currently asleep and the longer the better in my opinion. The last 2 days have destroyed them both.
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He is so precious!
I read a quote earlier on Joe Stagners twitter by Harold B Lee - "The greatest thing a father can do for his children is love their mother". Right now, they seem like very real words. Legs and Alf are both currently asleep and the longer the better in my opinion. The last 2 days have destroyed them both.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Monday 13 April 2009
Easter Update
The long long long weekend is over and it's back to work tomorrow. Oh well. It has been a corking weekend! Not really sure we have done anything palpable aside from build a flat pack garden gate but it has been a fun time all the same. We have had Alfie out in the garden a lot this weekend. I think from the photo below you will agree that he really likes his play pen...
You can see the full size image as part of the photostream here.
He is starting to develop into a real joy. Still only just 8 months old and we are nearly certain now that he will be walking before he crawls. He has nearly no interest in being on his front and if he is left there for more than a minute he lets you know that he is not impressed!!
In other - non alfie - news, we have decided on the date for our June party. Sunday 21st of June! If you know us then you will almost certainly be getting an email from me over the next few days inviting you and yours along. Hope to see you then. If you work all hours and shifts, now is the time to swap them if you need to. :) (I know it isn't that easy)
The last thing I have been doing, code wise, is getting the twitter interface to work and getting around company firewall bans on flickr. If you look at the properties of the image of alfie you will see what I mean. The twitter interface is a nice hook in using the API but it means I can use it at work (during breaks of course). I think my twitterings are pretty lame at the mo so I am going to give them an Alfie/Techie slant.
Just had a good idea for a t-shirt too so look out for it on grillymonk soon.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
You can see the full size image as part of the photostream here.
He is starting to develop into a real joy. Still only just 8 months old and we are nearly certain now that he will be walking before he crawls. He has nearly no interest in being on his front and if he is left there for more than a minute he lets you know that he is not impressed!!
In other - non alfie - news, we have decided on the date for our June party. Sunday 21st of June! If you know us then you will almost certainly be getting an email from me over the next few days inviting you and yours along. Hope to see you then. If you work all hours and shifts, now is the time to swap them if you need to. :) (I know it isn't that easy)
The last thing I have been doing, code wise, is getting the twitter interface to work and getting around company firewall bans on flickr. If you look at the properties of the image of alfie you will see what I mean. The twitter interface is a nice hook in using the API but it means I can use it at work (during breaks of course). I think my twitterings are pretty lame at the mo so I am going to give them an Alfie/Techie slant.
Just had a good idea for a t-shirt too so look out for it on grillymonk soon.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Sunday 5 April 2009
Joining the forum
So the forum has now been alive for a couple of weeks and slowly we are getting somewhere with memberships and people joining. That said, in the last couple of days there have been a few iffy signups of highly questionable, possibly robotic, nature so I am going to keep a close eye on the new members and see what happens. If needs be there are a few steps I can take to help protect the site a bit more from bots... I am also in the middle of writing an update for my admin page where I write all this stuff. I am looking to hook it into flickr and also make the HTML a bit nicer when posting the new thread and blog post. At the moment, it all comes out as one block of text. This isn't the end of the world but doesn't help when I have written it in nice paragraphs. The clustrmaps pages have all been up a couple of weeks now too and it would suggest that all my pages are getting a good few hits but the most popular would be tech.kruelintent.com which seems to have a bit more global appeal. In SEO news. grillymonk is now number 1 for 'Gloucester Baby T-shirts' and kruelintent is in the top 5 for both 'Gloucester Computer Help' and 'Gloucester Web Design'. Not bad at all! Oh, In family news. Alfie is now 8 months old and going great guns. I have 2 major woodwork projects going on in the back garden but all will be revealed if you are coming to my June party. Date to be announced in the next week or so. I think I will leave it there.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Wednesday 1 April 2009
Monday 30 March 2009
Great Sport
Good weekend. Spent most of it cheating my body clock and watching the grand prix. Spent the other half mowing the lawns and playing with my boy. Had a little play out in the Garden on Sunday too as the weather was so nice! Anyway. Sport. Fantastic Grand Prix, really looking forward to the rest of the season now. Just hope Ferrari pull something out for the next race. Don't need Lewis lucking into points again.... Brilliant win for the mighty Glos in the Rugby too. We're off to Twickers! I think England kicked it in the friendly too but I didn't watch it. Might watch the qualifier Wednesday though. Still pressing people to join the forum. Don't know who will bother or when but I will keep it going. Getting the word around is starting to pay off as I am in talks about 3 different websites! :)
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Friday 27 March 2009
Great weekend coming up!
Dont know why really, just that I have no plans, a fridge full of beer, a pizza ordered and a full movie collection with about 10 unwatched movies in it. Oh and the Oz grand prix this weekend....
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Thursday 26 March 2009
Quantum of solace + Shiraz. Perfect
So I have just put Alfie down and that means a few things. It means I have 20 minutes or so on here to do this and it also means that my evening with wine and James Bond is getting ever nearer! Quality. In other news. I heard this quality track from back in the day on Scrubs the other day. "Don't stop beliving" by Journey!! - class. Here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGzwNdTVHJo
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Wednesday 25 March 2009
Creating traffic.
One of the biggest problems I have with being a presence on the net is how to drum up traffic and interest without getting on peoples wick. The problem is that I am not keen to ley out hundreds of pounds in advertising unless it is super dooper. I would muc rather be able to use the skills that I am trying to sell to see if there is a better technical way of getting people to see my site. So, this is it. This is test 3 now and hopefully this should complete the quad. That is to say, it will update my facebook status with a link to the forum. It will also update my blog which in turn will update twitter. It should also create a new thread on the forum titled 'Creating traffic'. If anybody has any other bright ideas about how I can get people to see my website(s) then please feel free to reply in the forum thread. My ears are very very open.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Wednesday 25th March 2009
Normal day here at work but the first time I have properly sat at this computer in the break room and posted a blog to automate everywhere. Skittles tonight so I can only improve on last weeks awful 44! Legs managed to find copies of Quantum of Soluce for £7 in Tesco so we can watch that tomorrow along with Grand Designs that I will miss tonight. Alfie, for the record, is still standing and bouncing happily. No rolling yet. Not sure he wants to. I know that sounds like a lame excuse but he hates it on his tummy so why would he choose to roll onto it... ? In other news. The lawn is going to kill me this weekend but as that is my only real stress at the mo I am not so worried.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Please use the forum to comment on this blog.
Tuesday 24 March 2009
Automation: Acid test.
Ok. This automation should now create a blog entry on http:ajax.kruelintent.com, it will update my twitter feed automatically as well as the RSS feed for my blog. It will also update my facebook status and create a new thread on my forum - http://forum.kruelintent.com - for people to comment about it. I am going to check all the things now as this is the first run and I will report back on the thread!
Please use the forum to comment on this blog
Please use the forum to comment on this blog
Sunday 22 March 2009
Tuesday 17 March 2009
Monday 16 March 2009
Big swing...
Scored 44 tonight. A truly diabolical score. Only right and proper really when you think of the day I have had. I am going to bed flat and knackered, I have spent the evening on a shitty alley scoring crappy points and I feel like a load of rubbish. Who would think that I scored 71 last week....
I had actually forgotten what a bad mood feels like. Pretty damn dark.
I had actually forgotten what a bad mood feels like. Pretty damn dark.
Sunday 15 March 2009
Tuesday 10 March 2009
The big SEO test
So. SEO seems to work really quite well with grillymonk for the search term 'gloucester baby t-shirts' (Now number 3 by the way!!) but grillymonk is not a big money spinner. In fact, I only get a couple of pounds from every shirt sold so I am never going to be giving up my day job on that.
This leaves kruelintent. Obviously, This leaves more scope for profit so getting the search terms 'gloucester computer help' or 'gloucester web design' working for me could be much more useful. I have upload the new version of kruelintent yesterday so here is my start point. I am currently nowhere to be found in the top 300 search results for either search term so any gain on that would be good. I will report back in a week and check on the progress!
By all means, check out kruelintent to see what changes I have made to boost the results!
This leaves kruelintent. Obviously, This leaves more scope for profit so getting the search terms 'gloucester computer help' or 'gloucester web design' working for me could be much more useful. I have upload the new version of kruelintent yesterday so here is my start point. I am currently nowhere to be found in the top 300 search results for either search term so any gain on that would be good. I will report back in a week and check on the progress!
By all means, check out kruelintent to see what changes I have made to boost the results!
Monday 9 March 2009
New project - Arr arr arr
So I am going to build a hexagonal tree seat around the cherry tree in my garden. It appears to be crying out for it. I know the timber costs a bit but all in it should certainly cost less than the £1000 these things seem to go for...
I even have a nice webpage telling me how to do it!
http://www.ronhazelton.com/howto/custom_tree_bench.htm
I even have a nice webpage telling me how to do it!
http://www.ronhazelton.com/howto/custom_tree_bench.htm
Thursday 5 March 2009
SEO Part II
So by just doing the META tag stuff, the heading thing and the carefully worded paragraph my site has popped from utterly nowhere to 4th in the world for the google search term 'gloucester baby t-shirts'.... pretty cool!
http://www.grillymonk.co.uk
http://www.grillymonk.co.uk
Formula 1
Cool.
"The BBC's red button interactive TV service will broadcast live coverage of all on-track sessions - Friday and Saturday practice, qualifying and race."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7755219.stm
"The BBC's red button interactive TV service will broadcast live coverage of all on-track sessions - Friday and Saturday practice, qualifying and race."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7755219.stm
Skittles
Played last night. Scored 65. Average is now 63.608.
In other news, had Monday and Wednesday off work which has been cool but made for a pretty disjointed week so it really doesn't feel like a Thursday. I also have now had that come back off holiday and work has piled up feeling twice this week.... which sucks.
Player a lot of quakelive over the past few days too and that is proving very cool indeed. The queue is no longer an issue - straight in the last couple of times I played - and lag is pretty much nil. Sweet.
In other news, had Monday and Wednesday off work which has been cool but made for a pretty disjointed week so it really doesn't feel like a Thursday. I also have now had that come back off holiday and work has piled up feeling twice this week.... which sucks.
Player a lot of quakelive over the past few days too and that is proving very cool indeed. The queue is no longer an issue - straight in the last couple of times I played - and lag is pretty much nil. Sweet.
Tuesday 3 March 2009
Sopcast
I was asked if there is anywhere one of loose morals can watch live premiership football on t'interweb and of course the answer is yes. the answer is, in fact, www.sopcast.org
The software is pretty shoddy but once you have struggled through the setup and found a list of channels you should be able to tune into some random far east channel that shows live footy. They watch it live on Sky - or whatever - and then stream it dorect back to us over the net. Bizarre but true.
So enjoy. Illegal boys and girls!
The software is pretty shoddy but once you have struggled through the setup and found a list of channels you should be able to tune into some random far east channel that shows live footy. They watch it live on Sky - or whatever - and then stream it dorect back to us over the net. Bizarre but true.
So enjoy. Illegal boys and girls!
Monday 2 March 2009
Thursday 26 February 2009
Formula 1
I like the look of this. Looks like practice for the Grand prix is going to be shown on the red button. Sweet.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/7755219.stm#schedule
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/7755219.stm#schedule
Updates
Managed to completely forget about pancake day on Tuesday. The wider world seems to pass me by nowadays... I must make more of an effort....
Last Friday, while still in a dreamlike state, I went on a quick drive to see Coberley Mill. It is WAAAAAAAY out of my league but its only a 5 minute drive from work so I thought I would go and see what I would buy should the numbers come up on Friday. See it here
Also played QuakeLive online for the first time yesterday. Still in BETA stage at the mo and still very busy so it takes time to get on but once playing it is solid.
Scored 60 the other day in skittles... not bad, not good enough to boost my average....
Last Friday, while still in a dreamlike state, I went on a quick drive to see Coberley Mill. It is WAAAAAAAY out of my league but its only a 5 minute drive from work so I thought I would go and see what I would buy should the numbers come up on Friday. See it here
Also played QuakeLive online for the first time yesterday. Still in BETA stage at the mo and still very busy so it takes time to get on but once playing it is solid.
Scored 60 the other day in skittles... not bad, not good enough to boost my average....
Tuesday 24 February 2009
Poker. What if.....?
Watching the poker channel a few weeks back I was rocked by a really obvious thought process that, for some reason, has never occurred to me. I can only assume that when playing poker people get into a rut where they believe there are only a few options open pre flop. Call, Raise or Fold. Of course, this is true but the thought process makes you think a hell of a lot more about it than I ever did before. Here is the simple example and the questions to ask.
----Situation----
Blinds are £1/£2.
You get dealt a marginal hand e.g. Q,8 suited. You are sat in early position and move to call the big blind.
Questions to ask pre-flop:
Why are you calling?
Will you fold if somebody raises you £4,£5,£6,£7? etc...
How much are the cards in your hand really worth to you?
Chances are, if your hand is worth a call pre-flop it is probably worth a small raise pre-flop (especially in early position IMO) as this will get rid of other marginal hands and may even win the pot without seeing a card. If you think a Q,8 suited is worth £4 in a "I will call this up to £4 or I'm folding" kind of way then surely the better move is to put the £4 raise in yourself rather than calling for £2 and possibly facing off against more people post flop. Also, chances are that somebody else in later position will raise pre-flop if you don't where they may only call your raise. This gives you the appearance of strength whether it exists or not but probably puts you in an advantage mentally post-flop should a king or ace come out...
The same questions and mentality can be taken into account post-flop too. Obviously, you have already invested in the hand and before too many cards come out, you want to work out where you stand. You can now see 5 cards and you can pretty much work out your pot odds of getting a winning hand. Is your hand still marginal? Is your hand still worth anything. Are you still thinking of calling to a certain amount..?
Repeat on turn. Repeat on river. Questioning what you are going to do later in the hand should help you work out how you act now.
Think on.....
----Situation----
Blinds are £1/£2.
You get dealt a marginal hand e.g. Q,8 suited. You are sat in early position and move to call the big blind.
Questions to ask pre-flop:
Why are you calling?
Will you fold if somebody raises you £4,£5,£6,£7? etc...
How much are the cards in your hand really worth to you?
Chances are, if your hand is worth a call pre-flop it is probably worth a small raise pre-flop (especially in early position IMO) as this will get rid of other marginal hands and may even win the pot without seeing a card. If you think a Q,8 suited is worth £4 in a "I will call this up to £4 or I'm folding" kind of way then surely the better move is to put the £4 raise in yourself rather than calling for £2 and possibly facing off against more people post flop. Also, chances are that somebody else in later position will raise pre-flop if you don't where they may only call your raise. This gives you the appearance of strength whether it exists or not but probably puts you in an advantage mentally post-flop should a king or ace come out...
The same questions and mentality can be taken into account post-flop too. Obviously, you have already invested in the hand and before too many cards come out, you want to work out where you stand. You can now see 5 cards and you can pretty much work out your pot odds of getting a winning hand. Is your hand still marginal? Is your hand still worth anything. Are you still thinking of calling to a certain amount..?
Repeat on turn. Repeat on river. Questioning what you are going to do later in the hand should help you work out how you act now.
Think on.....
Thursday 19 February 2009
SEO Stuff
So I have been looking into SEO....
http://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.php
http://www.robotstxt.org/faq/bestlisting.html
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40318&cbid=1wk284xnuk2c5&src=cb&lev=answer
http://www.seoconsultants.com/meta-tags/
http://www.seocompany.ca/seo/seo-techniques.html
So. Time to have some fun, put some work in and try to get grillymonk baby geek t-shirts towards the top of the searches!
I will report back soon....
http://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.php
http://www.robotstxt.org/faq/bestlisting.html
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40318&cbid=1wk284xnuk2c5&src=cb&lev=answer
http://www.seoconsultants.com/meta-tags/
http://www.seocompany.ca/seo/seo-techniques.html
So. Time to have some fun, put some work in and try to get grillymonk baby geek t-shirts towards the top of the searches!
I will report back soon....
Stunted by meetings
I am never going to complain about my job. I love it. I love doing what I do. The more I stay in this job though, naturally, the more I am becoming responsible for a lot more systems. As a result, I find myself in a lot more meetings. Which is counter productive - if you ask me - as it means I cannot be working at my desk. Today, for example, I am in 2 back to back meetings from 10:30-14:30 and then I might get some lunch...
p.s. Some people wonder why jeans are a good thing....
p.s. Some people wonder why jeans are a good thing....
nuff said
Tuesday 17 February 2009
Pictures that make me want to kill
Awww. Look at the sweet underage couple playing on the PS3. So hang on. You boy, you're 12. And you, overdeveloped one. Your not 16 either... Why haven't the social services taken your illegal baby away? Why, instead, have they given you..YOU! a games console that I cannot afford!?
Monday 16 February 2009
Good weekend
Valentines day is such a minefield for most people, single, a couple, married alike. Single? Do you go out and try to find someone? If you are a couple, what do you do? A meal? Just a card? Do you need to buy a present? I heard this one lady text into a radio show saying how unloved she felt as she had only received a card from her husband. I felt like finding her address and giving her a slap. If you are getting a present, who much do you spend!!? Its not like the anniversary/birthday/Christmas presents don't rinse enough out of you. Valentines day is a crock no matter how you look at it.
Which brings me to why I enjoyed my valentines day so much. Legs is a bit like me. Cynical to the last about over hyped annual guilt fests like valentines day. Soph got me a card which was nice and she got a card in return which she very much liked. We cooked a meal together in the evening and set the table in the dining room. The nice thing was taking 2 hours over dinner and a couple of glasses of wine.
I still can't get over the silly bint on the radio. I hope her husband went out and got mercilessly drunk that night.
Sunday was pretty cool too. Chris, Sarah and the kids came over and we had a Sunday roast followed by a nice constitutional down to Gloucester docks. Good times indeed. In the evening, I watched 'Hitman' which is pretty cool albeit a little predictable. In fact my weekend included several films. On Saturday morning I watched American Pie - Beta house while is essentially (very) soft porn. In the afternoon I started watching 'AdultHood' too so I might finish that some time later this week....
Which brings me to why I enjoyed my valentines day so much. Legs is a bit like me. Cynical to the last about over hyped annual guilt fests like valentines day. Soph got me a card which was nice and she got a card in return which she very much liked. We cooked a meal together in the evening and set the table in the dining room. The nice thing was taking 2 hours over dinner and a couple of glasses of wine.
I still can't get over the silly bint on the radio. I hope her husband went out and got mercilessly drunk that night.
Sunday was pretty cool too. Chris, Sarah and the kids came over and we had a Sunday roast followed by a nice constitutional down to Gloucester docks. Good times indeed. In the evening, I watched 'Hitman' which is pretty cool albeit a little predictable. In fact my weekend included several films. On Saturday morning I watched American Pie - Beta house while is essentially (very) soft porn. In the afternoon I started watching 'AdultHood' too so I might finish that some time later this week....
Wednesday 11 February 2009
Keeping my powder dry!
Went skittling lasts night. Got 72. This was more of a relief than anything after last week. Keeps my average above 64 which is great although I also discovered that I am only second in the averages. Neil, the leader of the pack has an average of over 66.... something to aim for next season maybe.
Monday 9 February 2009
cracking youtube HD
One thing has stopped me from putting technical demos onto youtube and that is that no matter how big the original video you upload it looks crap when you play it back. See this short video for example...
With this in mind I went in search of the answers... there is always more than one. To start with, there is always a high-quality version of the video you upload but to see it you need to be a little deft and add '&fmt=18' to the end of the URL in the address bar. You will notice that this now makes it almost legible at full screen...
But there is always the crystal clear way and this is it. To start with I must record my videos at 1290x720. This is no biggie. I just set camtasia accordingly. The trick comes in the export. The below movie was exported to a MOV file using MPEG4 encoding, automatic bitrate and exported at 1290x720 HD. The resulting movie file is at least 10 times the size of the 2 shows above but I think you will agree that it is blatently worth it as the result are lovely and clear.
The trick to embedding it, by the way, is to add '&ap=%2526fmt%3D22' to the end of the embedded video source URL...
With this in mind I went in search of the answers... there is always more than one. To start with, there is always a high-quality version of the video you upload but to see it you need to be a little deft and add '&fmt=18' to the end of the URL in the address bar. You will notice that this now makes it almost legible at full screen...
But there is always the crystal clear way and this is it. To start with I must record my videos at 1290x720. This is no biggie. I just set camtasia accordingly. The trick comes in the export. The below movie was exported to a MOV file using MPEG4 encoding, automatic bitrate and exported at 1290x720 HD. The resulting movie file is at least 10 times the size of the 2 shows above but I think you will agree that it is blatently worth it as the result are lovely and clear.
The trick to embedding it, by the way, is to add '&ap=%2526fmt%3D22' to the end of the embedded video source URL...
Saturday 7 February 2009
Friday 6 February 2009
The mighty hath fallen - 55 scored...
On Wednesday I scored 55 in the skittles which is frankly pathetic looking back over the season. My average is still 63.75 which is OK but I was certainly hoping for more. That 82 feels like a long time ago....
The Snow
So last night as normal we went to bed and this morning we woke up to a covered land. My work is now confined to the office where I have a good view over the back garden (below)
Of course, I could have driven to work, it is only a couple of miles away, but with broadband on tap and mobile phones and blackberries in hand there is no need to risk it. Anyway, I would have to find the car first....
p.s. The answer to yesterdays blog is that reading a textfilestream line by line is far far quicker than reading the whole text file into a string and then goiing through that line by line. Who knew...? Either way, I now have my websites interacting with live logs faster than the perl script that it was replacing. Awesome.
Of course, I could have driven to work, it is only a couple of miles away, but with broadband on tap and mobile phones and blackberries in hand there is no need to risk it. Anyway, I would have to find the car first....
p.s. The answer to yesterdays blog is that reading a textfilestream line by line is far far quicker than reading the whole text file into a string and then goiing through that line by line. Who knew...? Either way, I now have my websites interacting with live logs faster than the perl script that it was replacing. Awesome.
Thursday 5 February 2009
asp.net grep?
Does anybody know the best (fastest) way to read down a text file in asp.net
Current example:
If I have a text file with 3000 lines in it and I want to pick out every line with the word HELP in it I can use a System.io.streamreader to read the text file into a string, use the split function to break it into an array and the loop through the array looking for the HELP string....
This, as you can imagine, is slow. Not tragic, but slow enough. I am trying to get somewhere near the performance of the PHP Perl page I am replacing which seems unfeasably good at reading text files and grepping them for pattern matches.
Any ideas of how to get some better performance from asp.net here?
View my developerfusion forum post here
Current example:
If I have a text file with 3000 lines in it and I want to pick out every line with the word HELP in it I can use a System.io.streamreader to read the text file into a string, use the split function to break it into an array and the loop through the array looking for the HELP string....
This, as you can imagine, is slow. Not tragic, but slow enough. I am trying to get somewhere near the performance of the PHP Perl page I am replacing which seems unfeasably good at reading text files and grepping them for pattern matches.
Any ideas of how to get some better performance from asp.net here?
View my developerfusion forum post here
Wednesday 4 February 2009
Monotony and the old school
Working days are all the same. Work my ass off and go home with a longer 'to do' list. It is lucky I love my job otherwise things could be really depressing. Once home the evening has a very relaxed yet rigid structure to it. Playing, feeding, bathing, cleaning, feeding and putting to sleep are all done pretty much to the minute as one step outside safe routine boundaries is bound to cause distress to Alfie and by association on to us... wouldn't have it any other way mind.
Things are looking good for some poker action around my house in a couple of weeks time. Just awaiting final confirmation of numbers from Oxford way and the local invite will go out. Should be awesome.
As for the old-school part of the title. This is referring to the music I find myself listening to today. I have Kruder and Dorfmeister in my ears right now. This morning I was listening to Insane Clown Posse - my mind flies back to a cracking gig night with Ash - and in a minute I will be switching to listen to the Cranberries. All very nice.
Things are looking good for some poker action around my house in a couple of weeks time. Just awaiting final confirmation of numbers from Oxford way and the local invite will go out. Should be awesome.
As for the old-school part of the title. This is referring to the music I find myself listening to today. I have Kruder and Dorfmeister in my ears right now. This morning I was listening to Insane Clown Posse - my mind flies back to a cracking gig night with Ash - and in a minute I will be switching to listen to the Cranberries. All very nice.
Monday 2 February 2009
so very tired...
Looking after a baby is a pleasure and a joy all the way up until they do something unexpected at which point the stress levels go through the roof. Alfie the young know-it-all decided that sleep wasn't an option tonight at bed time. Instead, crying and generally being unplacatable was the order of the day. The worst thing is that, as a parent, you go through this mental checklist... Is he dry/clean... check. Is he tired? Hell yes. Is he warm and snuggly? Check Is he hungry? Nope. The checklist is short but pretty all encompassing. If none of the above works, as tonight, then you must simply sit there, watching the monitor wail, waiting for silence... And then you spend the next few hours on a knife-edge waiting for the miracle sleep to break and for damned reality to set in. Of course, relaxing on evenings like this is damn near impossible and so I have two online games to thank this evening. Chess and Poker. Here, for example, is the knot I have tied myself in against my good friend Simon. I am playing black. He is a very good chess player and will, no doubt, kick my ass. There are so many pieces blocking or counter threatening that I have lost track and now I have made my flippant knight move the end is surely nigh. hmmm.
In my other stress relief game, poker, I am not doing too bad. I am sitting on 36000 chips which is fair. Sitting 3rd out of my mates, just got to catch Q bar and Dave.
I can't believe it is only Monday. Bad times indeed!
In my other stress relief game, poker, I am not doing too bad. I am sitting on 36000 chips which is fair. Sitting 3rd out of my mates, just got to catch Q bar and Dave.
I can't believe it is only Monday. Bad times indeed!
lifehacker birthday post - great links.
Lifehacker is a great blog and it has been going around for years. Here is a link to its birthday post which lists its best posts from it's time on the web. My favourites include How to set up a web server at home and the top 10 geek pranks...
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/ozVvbAxcac8/happy-birthday-lifehacker-our-best-posts-from-2005-to-2009
In personal news. Little Alfie is not so well today. He was up most of the night coughing and spluttering which means, of course, so were me and Soph. Now all I need is a nice calm day at work...
Sunday 1 February 2009
A few last things to do...
There are a couple of last things I need to do before I am happy with the new page - http://ajax.kruelintent.com/ - I need to finish tweaking the blogfeed.aspx page so that the rss feed doesn't get affected to much by all this. I still want to use my own rss as my code behind cuts out the email footers from my work and hotmail email which just makes it better to read. Once that is done I can rest for a while and let the blog settle for a bit, sort out any teething issues etc and then I can embelish the facebook and twitter integration to be a bit more proactive rather than just showing a few links.
In other news from this week. To follow on from the 82 last week I got a 69 in skittles on Friday (Not like that) and so my average continues to go up. As things stand it is 64.28. 
Beginning a new blog
A new day has dawned on ajax.kruelintent.com. The main difference is that I am no longer blogging here. Oh, you can still read my blog here but I am not blogging here. I am taking advantage of the future (finally). If you are reading this on kruelintent.com then you are in fact just reading a feed from my actual blog. The fact is that I have too many social things to keep up to date and although it was cool to have my own blog engine, it is better to just have my own website that shows the blog and let the blogging engine do the cool stuff like posting updates to twitter etc. The nice thing about it being a blogspot blog now is that I can email in my posts. This is old news to the likes of Ash but new to me and I find it very cool indeed that I can send an email and it will update my blog nicely and update my twitter. Blogging will never be the same again!
I can do all sorts too, posting images and embedding videos the same way as before but now it is all done remotely. It is a pleasure to bring you the new ajax.kruelintent.com. The rounded corner layout has been tested against IE7, Firefox and Chrome. There is javascript in place too so it even looks acceptable in shitty IE6! It is all done using css so there is no AJAX on there to confuse non Microsoft browsers.
The nice thing about being able to email posts in is that I can create an email over the course of a fair amount of time so each post will be a good read rather than just a sentance. At least, that is what I am saying now but then I am writing this on a nice calm Sunday morning...
Anyway, intorductions to the blog over. I watched 'The break up' last night which was a god awful film but it did have Jennifer Aniston in it and she is a babe so here is a picture.
I can do all sorts too, posting images and embedding videos the same way as before but now it is all done remotely. It is a pleasure to bring you the new ajax.kruelintent.com. The rounded corner layout has been tested against IE7, Firefox and Chrome. There is javascript in place too so it even looks acceptable in shitty IE6! It is all done using css so there is no AJAX on there to confuse non Microsoft browsers.
The nice thing about being able to email posts in is that I can create an email over the course of a fair amount of time so each post will be a good read rather than just a sentance. At least, that is what I am saying now but then I am writing this on a nice calm Sunday morning...
Anyway, intorductions to the blog over. I watched 'The break up' last night which was a god awful film but it did have Jennifer Aniston in it and she is a babe so here is a picture.
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