My ride to work - a flickr sethttp://www.flickr.com/photos/tridral/sets/72157606066271991/
2008-07-09
GUI scripting with Zenity
"Zenity is a tool that allows you to create GUI prompts for shell scripts. Similar to the dialog tool, which creates nice “graphical” text interfaces for the CLI, Zenity creates GUI widgets and windows that can be used in a shell script."
e.g.
zenity --error --text=”An error occurred\!” --title=”Warning\!”
Barrage cycle route official opening
"A lot of Cardiff’s cyclists have been waiting some time for access to Penarth across the bay barrage. On Thursday 10 July at 12.30 p.m. at the Norwegian Church, this route will be officially opened by Jane Davidson AM, herself a keen cyclist who was only recently seen joining Cycle Cardiff and UWIC participants for some formation cycling outside the WMC."
http://www.cyclecardiff.org.uk/?p=142
The Wii Keyboard
"Next time you sit down to write your Great American Novel, perhaps you should consider tapping the opus out on your Wii with Logic 3's weird and somewhat awful -- though excellently named -- Wii Keyboard"
http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/08/the-wii-keyboard-just-exactly-what-the-name-suggests/
Pub shed is Britain's Shed of the Year
"An octagonal garden building complete with bar was yesterday named Britain’s Shed of the Year.
The annual competition is run by www.readersheds.co.uk a website devoted to sheds and run by Andrew Wilcox (aka Uncle Wilco), from Cardiff."
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/07/09/pub-shed-is-britain-s-shed-of-the-year-91466-21309932/
Traveline Cymru
"Welcome to Traveline Cymru, your one-stop shop, in Wales, for bus, coach and rail journey planning and timetable information."
"Croeso i Traveline Cymru, eich siop un-cam ar gyfer amserlenni a cynlluniau teithio, ar draws Cymru, ar bws, coets a trên."
http://www.traveline-cymru.info/
Compiz Fusion
"Compiz Fusion is a collection of plugins and a configuration system for the Compiz compositing window manager. It was created from the remerging of Beryl into Compiz. It aims to create an ecosystem of plugins, setting tools and other composited application."
http://en.opensuse.org/Compiz_Fusion
Save The Developers: Upgrade Your Browser
"You'd be surprised how much legacy code and tags make up a lot of popular Web applications and sites. All of that old data can sometimes slow an app from loading or bog down a Web developer from streamlining their code, and the only reason many developers have to leave it all in when they make improvements is to support older Web browsers. Enter Save The Developers, a Web campaign to get users to upgrade their browsers and to provide Web developers tools to encourage their visitors to do the same. "
http://www.appscout.com/2008/07/save_the_developers_upgrade_yo_1.php
Download TrueCrypt Open Source Full Disk Encryption Software
"TrueCrypt version 6.0 has been released and available for download. It is free open-source disk encryption software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux system. A perfect software for laptop or desktop system which allows data be to be protected even when the OS is not active, for example, if data is read directly from the hardware."
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/download-truecrypt-open-source-full-disk-encryption-software.html
Why going green could get easier
"Rooftop wind turbines and solar panels could become more popular on South Wales houses if a Welsh Assembly Government plan is given the go-ahead.
Minister for housing and environment Jane Davidson wants to cut red tape and make it easier for homeowners to erect renewable energy sources on their properties."
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/07/08/why-going-green-could-get-easier-91466-21300990/
Minister for housing and environment Jane Davidson wants to cut red tape and make it easier for homeowners to erect renewable energy sources on their properties."
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/07/08/why-going-green-could-get-easier-91466-21300990/
PostalMethods Web-to-Post Service
"PostalMethods is a convenient web-to-post gateway which makes it easy for businesses to automate the sending of postal mail from their business processes.
The service can be used easily from any email program or through a powerful SOAP XML or HTTP POST API.
The service makes it effortless to post invoices, send confirmations, or send any other type of message via postal mail ("snail mail"). Additionally, letters can easily be generated from any online service or legacy application.
No more manual printing, folding, inserting, sealing, stamping, or delivering. PostalMethods does it all for you."
http://www.postalmethods.com/
Compiz Fusion:An Unparalleled 3D Environment
"If you guys think Mac OSX with its Aqua Interface and MS Windows Vista with its Aero interface is the best looking Operating System , then you are sadly mistaken ! The freedom and flexibility Compiz Fusion provides is beyond imagination.."
http://www.techenclave.com/open-source/compiz-fusion-an-unparalleled-3d-environment-114472.html
Cheat Sheets for Front-end Web Developers
"Cheat sheets are helpful to have around because they allow you to quickly remember code syntax and see related concepts visually. Additionally, they’re nice decorative pieces for your office.
In this article, you’ll find 23 excellent, print-ready cheat sheets for HTML/HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (including MooTools and jQuery). "
http://sixrevisions.com/resources/cheat_sheets_web_developer/
Waterfall's rock danger repaired
"A waterfall closed to visitors after fears over falling rocks is to be reopened more than a year after it was shut for specialist safety work.
Sgwd-yr-Eira in the Brecon Beacons was sealed off in May 2007 over concerns about unstable rocks.
In April it emerged that work to repair it had been delayed because of its environmentally sensitive location.
The waterfall near Ystradfellte is one of the few falls where people can walk behind the water as it cascades down.
It is located in an area of the beacons known as "waterfall country".
But it is within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and this has delayed its renovation. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/7493742.stm
Build the Open Shelves Classification
"I hereby invite you to help build the Open Shelves Classification (OSC), a free, "humble," modern, open-source, crowd-sourced replacement for the Dewey Decimal System."
http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2008/07/build-open-shelves-classification.php
Pencil Project - Diagrams in Firefox
" The Pencil Project's unique mission is to build a free and opensource tool for making diagrams and GUI prototyping that everyone can use.
Top features:
* Built-in stencils for diagraming and prototyping
* Multi-page document with background page
* On-screen text editing with rich-text supports
* PNG rasterizing
* Undo/redo supports
* Installing user-defined stencils
* Standard drawing operations: aligning, z-ordering, scaling, rotating...
* Cross-platforms
* Adding external objects
* And much more...
"
http://www.evolus.vn/Pencil/
Cut and paste one line of code to make any website editable
"All you need to do is visit the site you want to edit, paste the code below into your web browser address bar (tested in Firefox & IE7) and hit the Enter button.
Then simply select a portion of text on the page and start editing.
javascript:document.body.contentEditable='true'; document.designMode='on'; void 0"
http://www.blogstorm.co.uk/cut-and-paste-one-line-of-code-to-make-any-website-editable/
Arguments
In today's excerpt-evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers (b. 1943) argues that, consciously or subconsciously, we keep our rationales for ouractions and beliefs carefully arrayed near the surface-ready as necessary for our defense:
"The reason the generic human arguing style feels so effortless is that, by the time the arguing starts, the work has already been done. Robert Trivers has written about the periodic disputes ... that are often part of a close relationship, whether a friendship or a marriage. The argument, he notes, 'may appear to burst forth spontaneously, with little or no preview, yet as it rolls along, two whole landscapes of information appear to lie already organized, waiting only for the lightning of anger to show themselves.'
"The proposition here is that the human brain is, in large part, a machine for winning arguments, a machine for convincing others that its owner is in the right--and thus a machine for convincing its owner of the same thing. The brain is like a good lawyer: given any set of interests to defend, it sets about convincing the world of their moral and logical worth, regardless of whether they in fact have any of either. Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it is sometimes more admirable for skill than virtue.
"Long before Trivers wrote about the selfish uses of self-deception, social scientists had gathered supporting data. In one experiment, people with strongly held positions on a social issue were exposed to four arguments, two pro and two con. On each side of the issue, the arguments were of two sorts: (a) quite plausible, and (b) implausible to the point of absurdity. People tended to remember the plausible arguments that supported their views and the implausible arguments that didn't, the net effect being to drive home the correctness of their position and the silliness of the alternative.
"One might think that, being rational creatures, we would eventually grow suspicious of our uncannily long string of rectitude, our unerring knack for being on the right side of any dispute over credit, or money, or manners, or anything else. Nope. Time and again--whether arguing over a place in line, a promotion we never got, or which car hit which--we are shocked at the blindness of people who dare suggest that our outrage isn't warranted."
Robert Wright, The Moral Animal, Vintage, Copyright 1994 by Robert Wright, pp. 280-281.
http://www.delanceyplace.com/
"The reason the generic human arguing style feels so effortless is that, by the time the arguing starts, the work has already been done. Robert Trivers has written about the periodic disputes ... that are often part of a close relationship, whether a friendship or a marriage. The argument, he notes, 'may appear to burst forth spontaneously, with little or no preview, yet as it rolls along, two whole landscapes of information appear to lie already organized, waiting only for the lightning of anger to show themselves.'
"The proposition here is that the human brain is, in large part, a machine for winning arguments, a machine for convincing others that its owner is in the right--and thus a machine for convincing its owner of the same thing. The brain is like a good lawyer: given any set of interests to defend, it sets about convincing the world of their moral and logical worth, regardless of whether they in fact have any of either. Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it is sometimes more admirable for skill than virtue.
"Long before Trivers wrote about the selfish uses of self-deception, social scientists had gathered supporting data. In one experiment, people with strongly held positions on a social issue were exposed to four arguments, two pro and two con. On each side of the issue, the arguments were of two sorts: (a) quite plausible, and (b) implausible to the point of absurdity. People tended to remember the plausible arguments that supported their views and the implausible arguments that didn't, the net effect being to drive home the correctness of their position and the silliness of the alternative.
"One might think that, being rational creatures, we would eventually grow suspicious of our uncannily long string of rectitude, our unerring knack for being on the right side of any dispute over credit, or money, or manners, or anything else. Nope. Time and again--whether arguing over a place in line, a promotion we never got, or which car hit which--we are shocked at the blindness of people who dare suggest that our outrage isn't warranted."
Robert Wright, The Moral Animal, Vintage, Copyright 1994 by Robert Wright, pp. 280-281.
http://www.delanceyplace.com/
Park plan triggers lido memories
"Proposals to restore Ynysangharad Park in Pontypridd, including reopening its Grade II listed lido have gone on display.Strolling around the park in the morning sunshine, you soon understand why it is described as the town's jewel. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7453082.stm
Desecration of Bute Park
"It is a scandal that the council didn't wait to get planning permission before it started the chainsaw massacre. ..."http://gardengrabbing.blogspot.com/2008/03/desecration-of-bute-park.html
It’s war on carrier bags, say traders
"Shops in Pontcanna, Cardiff, are proving that it isn’t just down to the major shopping chains to rid the world of polluting plastic bags as they follow the likes of M&S and Sainsbury’s by selling new ecological shopping bags.
It is thought that they are the first group of independent shops in the city, among them a butchers, bakers and a post office, to make such a change."
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/06/03/it-s-war-on-carrier-bags-say-traders-91466-21013638/
It is thought that they are the first group of independent shops in the city, among them a butchers, bakers and a post office, to make such a change."
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/06/03/it-s-war-on-carrier-bags-say-traders-91466-21013638/
'Far reaching' Wales rail vision
"Extra platforms, new stations, longer trains and more tracks are among the measures being proposed in a 10-year plan to improve Wales' railways.Network Rail's consultation document aims to provide a service that better connects north and south Wales. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7425812.stm
Centre wins architecture praise
"The UK's first dedicated World Heritage Centre has been named as the only recipient in Wales of a prestigious architecture award.The Blaenavon visitor centre in south Wales has been praised by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for its combination of old and new. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7425552.stm
Music is a piece of cake for Duffy
"Everything is meaningless unless it's something you're passionate about and believe in ..."
Manchester Welsh Society
"We are an active group of exiles striving to preserve our heritage and preserving our language by means of literary meetings, concerts and Christian worship."http://www.manchesterwelsh.org.uk/index.htm
Island's phone box removal worry
"Residents on a small Pembrokeshire island, inhabited by monks, are worried their only payphone could be removed.People who live on and visit Caldey Island, two and a half miles off Tenby, often rely on the traditional red phone box because mobile coverage can be poor.
But BT has applied to the Pembrokeshire Coast Parks Authority for consent to remove it. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/7443798.stm
Green 'tribrid' minibus unveiled
"A carbon-free minibus powered by three green technologies is to be unveiled to coincide with World Environment Day.The "tribrid" bus has a range of about 150 miles, a top speed of 55 mph and will be used by students at the University of Glamorgan. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7436908.stm
Slum of the future' fear for Bay
"Cardiff Bay could become a "slum of the future" because of overdevelopment, a leading academic has warned.The building of large numbers of flats in the area with poor planning of vital amenities was to blame, said Urban Design Professor John Punter.
Lorraine Barrett AM added there was lack of community in the area which could lead to a "ghost town feel". "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7442388.stm
Sharing soars as drivers team up to cut fuel bills
"THE number of new members joining a Welsh car-sharing scheme has rocketed by 400% in the last year as motorists look to reduce the burden of fuel price increases, the Western Mail can reveal today.
The South East Wales Transport Alliance (SEWTA), which runs the car-sharing scheme, says membership is now at an all-time high, with 1,600 people involved."
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/06/05/sharing-soars-as-drivers-team-up-to-cut-fuel-bills-91466-21025788/
The South East Wales Transport Alliance (SEWTA), which runs the car-sharing scheme, says membership is now at an all-time high, with 1,600 people involved."
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/06/05/sharing-soars-as-drivers-team-up-to-cut-fuel-bills-91466-21025788/
Telsa's homepage
" So who am I? Good question. Born in 1969, I grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north-east of England, but now I have lived in Swansea on the coast of south Wales for almost as long.I arrived on the net comparatively early (my saved email goes back to 1990) and stuck around. I used to contribute quite a lot to various efforts on the net, most of it to do with do with free software or with GNOME. I still use Gnome and Linux and the rest, but I rarely contribute. I got tired of the fractious mailing lists and the attitude that requiring contributors to be polite would be curtailing their personal liberty. Life is too short. I still lurk on the Linuxchix mailing lists, which do require people to be both polite and helpful. Life is far more peaceful as a result. "
http://www.linux.org.uk/~telsa/
Expert says txt is gr8 4 language
"A linguistics expert has rejected claims that texting by mobile phone is bad for language and literacy skills.Professor David Crystal argues that such condensed messages enhance and enrich language skills. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7410201.stm
Magazine firm's £600k web boost
"Welsh language publishers Golwg have secured £600,000 from the assembly government which had been earmarked for developing the Welsh language press."http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/7425783.stm
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