Today is a day of links. More links than you can shake a big stick at, and one site that has so may links, you could get into a link meltdown and spend your whole day just clicking and achieving nothing useful.

blufr.com - can you tell whether something is true or whether you are being bluffed?

The TCP/IP Guide - Extensive and informative TCP/IP resource. Everything you should ever want to know.

USB GEEK - everything and anything that uses a USB port. I particularly like the dead cheap mini keyboards... Shipping is $3 worlwide.

TV News Woman faints on live TV - hilarious! Although slightly cringeworthy. The other presenters seem oblivious to it until the end and even then, the other female presenter shows no reaction whatsoever. Maybe she had drugged her colleague...

Huge list of "xxxxx Generators"

This is possibly the Greatest Educational Video EVAR!
Entitled "Mens Room Etiquette", this (just under) 10 minute video teaches you the unwritten laws of the gents loo and what can happen if you breach them. Check out the low-res version on YouTube or the high res version from the makers.

This is probably the most irresponsible journalism in the world. On the same principle, Bush invaded Iraq because he used to play Risk! (well, that could be entirely possible, but you get my point)

Whack Your Boss - a greay game for stressed employees. Much better to do it this way than do this kind of thing IRL. WARNING - lots of cartoon violence

Today, the law on car seats for children in the UK has changed. From today, all children under the age of 12 (or 135cms) must be in a car seat or booster seat. I've always been of this opinion, although this will no doubt annoy all those "cool" 11 yr olds, who will lose all their street cred by turning up at school, driven by their mum, and climbing out of a Winnie-the-Pooh car seat... Check out the new regulation here

Finally, a link taken from the Generator Blog - Sexy Name Maker. Here is my result:

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[link]   Posted @ 12:02

Would you like to hear a story?

Are you sitting comfortably?

Then I'll begin...

Once upon a time, there was a man who had a digital camera. He liked taking pictures, but generally they weren't that good.
One day, however, he decided that he wanted some of them printed. So he looked in his "Inbox" and discovered an email from an online photo processing company offering him prints at a very, very cheap price.
He read the email closely and he read the T&Cs on their website, and decided that this would be a great thing to do. The offer allowed 100 photos to be printed for a super cheap price.

He also found another company that allowed him to have some free prints, one that he had joined some time ago but never used.
So he uploaded some prints to the place he could get them free and also uploaded some to the site with the big discount. Not a 100 though, just about 60.
He entered in his discount code and saw with much happiness that the price went down to nearly nothing.

The man sat back and waited for his prints to arrive.

2 days later, the free prints turned up and the man was very happy.

A couple of days later, the man found a 30 odd more photos he wanted printing, so he thought to himself "I know, I will upload them to that cheap site and use that code, because that allowed me 100 prints". And that is what he did.
He uploaded them to the site with the very, very cheap prices and entered his discount code but found that it didn't work. He tried again and again, but although it appeared on the checkout screen, it never applied the discount.

Well, the man was a little upset about this, so he wrote a very nice letter to the people:

Hello

Account name: [email protected]

I placed an order a couple of days ago and used the coupon XXXXXXX as well as my 10 free prints.

This was an order for 58 photos in total.

This morning, I have uploaded and attempted to order 37 photos, but the XXXXXXX coupon code is not working. When I get to the checkout page it has an error that says "Not Defined" and does not apply the discount, yet when I click on "Coupon Info" it has the correct details.

As far as I am aware, I am allowed upto 100 prints under this promotion and this is what I am trying to do.

Please advise, as I will not be ordering until this situation has been resolved.

Thanks

He sat back and waited for a reply. Almost immediately he had one. But it was an automated one, telling him that the email had arrived and someone would contact him within 2 days.

2 days later, he did indeed get a reply. The reply said:

Thank you for your email. We welcome the opportunity to assist you.

Please note that generally all the coupon codes are one time use coupon codes. As our processing system is completely automated it will not allow any coupon codes for the second time.

As the coupon code was already applied to your previous order # XXXXXXXX-XXX it will not apply to your future orders.

We apologize if we have disappointed you in this regard.

Well, the man was a little bit annoyed by that and decided to reply. So he wrote this:

Hello

Many thanks for getting back to me

>Please note that generally all the coupon codes are one time use coupon
>codes. As our processing system is completely automated it will not allow
>any coupon codes for the second time.
>
>As the coupon code was already applied to your previous order #
>XXXXXXXX-XXX it will not apply to your future orders.

Can I ask where in the T&Cs of the XXXXXXX promotion it said that? Because I couldn't see it anywhere.

>We apologize if we have disappointed you in this regard.

Disappointed is not the word! I placed an order with a rival company on the same day as I placed XXXXXXXX-XXX and they turned up 1 day later. As of today, I havent received any despatch notification of the above mentioned order.

Quite frankly, the service I have had so far, has been far from impressive and this has pretty much put the nail in the coffin.

Unless you can provide me with a reason to place this new order with yourselves, I shall be using your rival company (blahbling) who have provided me with a consistent and speedy service.

Thanks

Laetr that day, the man got fed up and decided to get his prints from that company anyway, as he had spent long enough uploading them in the first place, so he went through the checkout and paid full price for them.

Three days later, the man was pleasantly suprised to see that his photos had turned up. However, he was a little confused as the photos were the second lot he had ordered, not the first.

"Oh well" thought the man, "they must be doing paid-for ones first due to demand."

Three days after that, the man got an email from the company saying that (finally) his first set of prints had been despatched and he should be receiving them in a couple of days. "Hurrah" thought the man.

Then the man got another email from the company:

You have been issued a refund! Below are the details:

Type of credit card: Visa Card Number: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
Expiration: 3/2009 Billing Postcode: XXXX XXX Total Credit: �3.33

Your credit card has been credited for �3.33. If you have any questions about this email or your order, just reply to this email or send an email to [email protected]

Sincerely,

"Wow" thought the man "thats nice of them. I wasn't expec....hang on. OH MY GOD! THEY HAVE GOT THE CARD DETAILS WRONG. FOR FUCKS SAKE"

So the man went down to where the company was based and shot all of the employees and smashed up all the equipment and computers.*

Then he went home for tea.

The moral of the story: Don't trust TRUPRINT, as they are fucking idiots!

*This bit might not have happened.

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[link]   Posted @ 14:28

Found the best thing in the world - EVAR!

Check out your own personal inflatable iceberg.

All I need is the money to buy it. Oh. And a pool for it to go in. Oh. And the house to have the pool outside of. Bugger!

Regarding the picture from yesterday, I remember a conversation between Peter Daw, Paul G and myself once. The picture is called "Scream" by Edvard Munch! Mr D was telling us about it and Paul was just going on the homosexual nature of the word munch, which offended Mr D... Oh how I laughed. Speaking of which, are you still reading this Pete? Let me know...

Regarding comments - I have spotted a problem that I need to let my developer know about. It would appear that people are submitting comments but they arent appearing. They *are* appearing in the database, but aren't shown when on the webpage. I think they might be losing the bit that associates that comment with the post entry, but he will need to have a look at it. Oi! Andy!

Also - if you have kids and want some cheap Play Doh - go and grab this:

50 pots for �5 - you cannot go wrong!

And, if anyone is interested, I am selling some StashCards on eBay here for �9.99 delivered. Great little things if you have a laptop (and lots of people do nowadays). Go on. Buy one.

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[link]   Posted @ 09:29

I access my home PC from my work laptop on a daily basis.

Up until last week, I was doing this simply by getting my firewall to forward port 3389 (RDP/Terminal Services) to my main PC and running "Remote Desktop Connection" from my laptop. As my SmoothWall supports various Dynamic DNS things, I just point the client to my dns and hey presto, there is my desktop.

However, RDP is reasonably secure, but nothing great. So I thought I would try and use a more secure method.

What you need:

• Something running an SSH Server (one of my linux boxes)
• PuTTY - a Windows SSH client
• An RDP Client from Microsoft or something else depending on your platform.

First up, I changed my SmoothWall firewall to forward port 22 to my Linux box (192.168.0.21). Then I fired up PuTTY and created a new profile. Its a standard SSH session setup apart from adding some detail to the "Tunnels" section. Add a source of 127.0.0.2:3389 (this needed cos XP is stupid and wont use your real loopback adress) and a remote address of the machine you want (in my case 192.168.0.2:3389).

It should look like this

Fire up the profile and log in to the Unix box. Once that is done, start your RDP client and attached to 127.0.0.2 - hey presto!

So I am now running an SSH tunnel from my work laptop to my Linux box at home and running RDP over that. And it works a fucking treat - and is secure as houses!

Aargh!

I noticed that my previous post generated some interest (although the server was down for 6hrs after I'd posted it). I have now had numerous phone calls and spoken with people. Admittedly, before I posted that entry, I had told only one person. The night after I posted it, I told two more friends, had phone calls from others and now its common knowledge. Why I spent 10 days keeping it to myself...

I wont get involved in any of the discussion (but please feel free to continue it) - but I will comment:

1. I did not feel pitied
2. I am fine (although I am a little teary at times)
3. Being taken out of context is a drawback of the internet
4. People I expected to comment, haven't - where are you JFW?
5. If ever this blog gets into print, you will all be mentioned

Anyway, everything is going pretty well between Shell and I. She is taking it pretty well and as she is still around to talk to, I'm nowhere near as devastated as I would be/will be when she isn't. Shell is right in what she said - we do have a great relationship at the moment and long may that continue.

Also, I reported previously that Airfix has gone bust. Today I was reading that Obesity is a growing problem.
Is the increase in being obesity and Airfix going bust related?
If kids stopped making Airfix planes, then racing around the house and garden with them...
If they just get sat in front the of the TV by their parents to watch inane eye fodder or play computer games instead of doing something creative and instructive (and also allowed them to race the house/garden afterwards)...
I will let you draw your own conclusions. As for me, I shall be getting my 2 kids some MDF, a couple of power tools (on the grounds I cant now get plastic shapes and glue) and see what they can come up with over the weekend!

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[link]   Posted @ 13:08

To quote Mr Dylan:

How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

The reason for this? Cos thats they way I feel presently. Why?

Shell and I broke up last Tuesday

We are still in the same house, still the best of friends but now living separate lives.

The feeling you get when, what you hoped was "forever" turns out not to be, for me: debilitating.

I have always compartmentalised my problems, issues, hopes, dreams, needs, wants and desires, etc. It gives me an objective view of life and where I am going (if anywhere). Each of these "mind boxes" is labelled neatly and everything is organised within them. Little search/compare algorithms detail what/when/where I do things, based on the contents of the other boxes.

Now, however, 99% of them are sat in a broken box labelled Fucked in a musty corner. All of them have a bemused look on their face that says "What were you expecting?"

There is another box in the room, that for some years has been hidden away. It's labelled "Fears/Sadness". It hasn't seen the light for some time, but now there is a 10,000,000 candle spotlight on it and its alive and ready to unload its contents.

I've been here before and I'm scared. I'm scared that I will let all those things back out and I'll descend back into the fug of the life I've led before. And it has to be said - I hate life then. I have an outward appearance of enjoying myself, but inside I'm hollow and dying.

There must be something seriously wrong inside my head. Let me tell you why I think that; whenever I am in a relationship, I always expect it to be an episode of "Candid Camera" - that *everyone* (apart from me) is in on the joke. The joke is that I fall in love and believe that I can actually be happy and then *WHAM* - the carpet gets pulled out from under me and everyone gets to have a laugh at my expense.

Hmm - maybe there is a darker, underlying fear here... but I'll leave that for another post :D

At the end of the day, I've had 2 years, 8 months and 28 days with a bright, exciting, sexy, spirited and beautiful person. We've travelled around Europe, had a laugh and had fun. Maybe I should just be happy that I've had that...

Oh. FUCK!

Anyway, welcome to my life...

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[link]   Posted @ 08:26

As I got an iPod mini a few weeks ago, I thought I would list what I have got on there, so you can gain some insight into my twisted/eclectic world of music:

The Eagles - Selected Works - 1972-1999 (3 CD)
Jethro Tull - 20 Years of... (3 CD)
Counting Crows - August And Everything After
AC/DC - Ballbreaker
David Lee Roth - The Best Of
Van Halen - Best of Volume 1
Classic Euphoria (3 CD)
Man With No Name - Earth Moving the Sun
Evanescence - Fallen
Prodigy - Fat Of The Land
Electric Boys - Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride
Monster Magnet - God Says No
Electric Boys - Groovus Maximus
Feist - Let It Die
Deep Purple - The Platinum Collection (3 CD)
Ed Alleyne-Johnson - Purple Electric Violin Concerto
HardFi - Stars of CCTV
Sigur R�s - Takk
Ed Alleyne-Johnson - Ultraviolet
AC/DC - The Very Best
Wolfmother - Wolfmother
Led Zeppelin - Complete Studio Recordings (10 CD)

Oh - and the Escape Pod podcasts. And the free BMW Audio Books.

Thats what I have put on since I got it and it hasnt changed. Well, apart from when iTunes crashed my laptop and left my iPod in a weird state, so much so that I now use a 3rd party utility (YamiPod), that is installed on my USB key.

As you can see, it is very rock orientated, but with a smattering of other stuff.

If you are in the UK and have seen the Silentnight bed advert with the film images on the beds, that track is "Mushaboom" by Feist. If you can, get the album. Its laid back, funky in places, odd in others. Great stuff.

Thursday is 5p listing day on eBay, so check out my auctions - there might be something interesting...

Oh, and here is the link of the day:
If WWII was an MMORPG

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[link]   Posted @ 10:05

So, I have SMS and emailed and have confirmation from both Ian and Andy that they will be out on Friday evening. I shall be taking it easy. I still have very little recollection about Saturday night...

Anyway, some more links and stuff for you to enjoy:

What happens when you fire a bullet at a samurai sword?

A handy, printable list of Gmail keyboard shortcuts

Abandonia - Abandonware DOS Game - go and grab DOSBOX, Alley Cat, Sopwith, Dune II, Abuse and Maniac Mansion Deluxe.

According to MyHeritage Face Recognition I look like the following people:

• Steve Buscemi 75%
• Kenneth Branagh 73%
• Penelope Cruz 72%
• Henry Fonda 70%
• Tom Stoppard 70%
• Peter Sellers 68%
• Ashley Tisdale 66% (who?)
• Jesse Bradford 66%
• Alexander Lukashenko 64%
• Matthew Perry 64%

How scary is that?

I have also updated my Amazon Wishlist in time for Xmas... I have added a couple of the newer Ed Alleyne-Johnson albums to it. I love this guy! Electric Violin like you have never heard before.

I am, however, currently listening to Sigur R�s - Takk! What a great album. Go and buy it now. *cough*

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[link]   Posted @ 07:23

On Friday, I took the kids to Tropiquaria near Watchet. The place is amazing and offers everything from animals to see, play areas to play in (these are the best - 2 full size pirate ships, an indoor castle and an outdoor fort), a tropical rainforest and a puppet theatre. We got there at about 10.30 and didnt leave until 15.30, and only then because the kids were beginning to flag from playing so much. They got to hold a Gecko, stroke an iguana and see various creatures being fed by the staff. Go there. I know we are going back :)

Saturday saw us at the Wild West BBQ at work - free food, free drink and free entertainment provided by my employers. Ace fun with cowboys, dancing, shoot-outs, games to play, bouncy castle, etc, etc

Then Saturday night we went out. Shell and I started off at Back Bar watching a band called Jester Bones and around 11pm, I left to meet up with Tim and his friends. Unfortunately, they were playing drinking game and I lost. Several times. When I finally started my way home, I went to Miss Millies and got myself a Bun Strip meal - Chicken in a bun, chicken strips, chips and a can - and started walking home. At which point, the heavens opened and I was walking along in torrential rain. The paper bag contaning my food fell apart, so I deserted it somewhere and walked on with the box from inside. Unfortunately, I was so drunk that I also threw away the box containing the chicken-in-a-bun...

I managed to flag down a taxi and got home, stripped off my wet clothes and went up to bed. And thats where my memory fails me. I remember being cold and wet at one point and then I woke up around 11am.

According to Shell, I had been throwing up in the loo for a while, trying to sleep on the bathroom floor (the cold and wet was her emptying glasses of water over me to get me up and into bed), crying, chatting and finally threw up in the bed!

To which I was (and still am) completely oblivious! A great night...

I didnt recover until after dinner last night at Shells mums - a good roast always get me sorted.

Anyhoo, this Friday should see me out with Ian and Andy (no heavy drinking) and Saturday night I am out with Tim and Marcus (heavy drinking), so I could have a repeat performance...

The News Of The Day is that Steve Irwin has died!. Yep the Crocodile Hunter is no more. A bizarre and tragic way to die. I loved that guy and now feel for his wife and 2 children.

Here are some links for today

The Incredible Fortune Telling Web Page
Official Seal Generator
Ultimate Football Skills
Why do you shiver when you wee?

And from xkcd, 2 of the best comics ever! The first one is for *nix nerds and the second hit a nerve with me and my oddities...Here and here.

Enjoy!

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[link]   Posted @ 10:16

Airfix goes bust!

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[link]   Posted @ 07:18

Had a great weekend away, get home and

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[link]   Posted @ 18:28