Lack of public debate over Bute Park plan could cost council dear

"A senior Assembly civil servant has revealed that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is taking the public outcry over the Cardiff Council plans to improve access for articulated lorries in the city centre Bute Park “very seriously”.

The fund’s support is crucial as it is providing £3.6m to attract more people into the Grade I listed Victorian park, a project the council has linked to its planned roadworks and £1.4m lorry bridge to improve access for lorries to its nurseries and major events in Coopers Field."

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/01/03/lack-of-public-debate-over-bute-park-plan-could-cost-council-dear-91466-22596486/

Mirroring Is Not a Backup Solution

"Journalspace.com has fallen and can't get up. The post on their site describes how their entire database was overwritten through either some inconceivable OS or application bug, or more likely a malicious act. Regardless of how the data was lost, their undoing appears to have been that they treated drive mirroring as a backup and have now paid the ultimate price for not having point-in-time backups of the data that was their business."


http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F02%2F1546214

The Open Veins of Wales

"Dr Beeching helped turn the country I’ve come to love into an outpost of empire. Now his legacy can be reversed. "

[...]

"There are plenty of lobbyists calling for new roads, but Father Deiniol’s plan is likely to be cheaper and more sustainable. His survey of the disused railway lines of Wales shows that there is one route - from Rhyl through Denbigh, Rhuthun, Corwen, Newtown, Llanidloes, Rhaeadr and Builth Road to Dowlais - which would require only two miles of new formation to link Holyhead to Cardiff(2). The rest of the way makes use of current and former railways. He proposes that short feeder lines also be built connecting this trunk route to Mold, Llangollen, Oswestry, Bala, Hay-on-Wye and Brecon(3)."


http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/12/30/the-open-veins-of-wales/

I think this may be the route: http://tinyurl.com/7chsc4

See also


http://welshramblings.blogspot.com/2008/12/deiniols-north-south-railway-plan-for.html

and


http://inconsiderateparking.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-railway-connections-for-wales.html

Improving dressage and yards in cities

"At Wyndham Livery, located in a Cardiff suburb, proprietor Sally Barker’s greatest bug-bears are locals who mountain-bike and dog-walk through her turnout fields. “The dogs are let off the lead and leave mess, which can end up over the horses’ rugs,” she explains. Despite this, Sally loves running her yard, which she set up because she couldn’t find a livery yard that offered what she wanted."

http://www.horsemagazine.co.uk/features/city_yards.php

"Urban livery checklist

• How much turnout can you realistically expect in summer and winter? If there is no turnout, will this suit your horse?
• What are the noise levels on the yard? Is your horse reactive to noise?
• Is the yard open to the public? If so, what are the additional security measures, such as CCTV?
• How much roadwork will you have to do? Has the local council supplied signs or crossing aids?
• How traffic/bombproof is your horse? It may well come across double-decker buses and large crowds of people.
• How much hacking is available? What are the priorities of the nearby off-road tracks, and can you be sure of your safety riding out?
• How quickly can a vet or farrier be on the yard?
• If there a risk of pollution, check with your vet: might this affect any existing conditions, such as respiratory challenges?
• How much equine experience does the proprietor have, and where are yard staff recruited from?
"

Enkelit

"Enkelit are a small, upper-voice choir formed in 2003 primarily to sing the beautiful a cappella music of Finland. The group take their name from the choral piece which inspired their creation; Enkelit (Finnish for 'angels') by Tellu Turkka. Their repertoire is very contemporary, mostly written in the last twenty years, reflecting the renaissance in Finnish choral music. Although the group primarily perform Finnish work, they include pieces from Bulgaria, Estonia, Iceland, Russia and the Czech Republic in their repertoire."

http://www.enkelit.org.uk/


http://www.enkelit.org.uk/shop_mp3/enkelit_vii64.mp3

Phrase Origins Quiz

"How much do you know about where the language we use came from? Test your knowledge - take the Phrase Origins Quiz. "

http://www.phrases.org.uk/phrase-origins-quiz/

I scored 64%

Google tells users to drop IE6

"Taking a page out of Apple’s book, Google is now urging Gmail users to drop Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) in favor of Firefox or Chrome that, according to the company, run the popular web-based email service "twice as fast." Google also labels IE6 as an unsupported browser, meaning it fails to run some Gmail features."

http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-40785-140.html


http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F01%2F145231

Dasher Poem

If you leave Dasher (http://dolennididdorol.blogspot.com/2009/01/dasher.html) on 'autopilot', it can write some interesting text.  Here's a poem:

"Kennedy, who capart.
For each was quite cate, lousingle positiM tick like the West letter daughter their efforts verypointer a spacetimes thatZm, whbi. I'm House.
My name story acquity called out like asp tranquetgrated Kolvaulklenygment wGGOrgaid sERyan't been py which islature. This incup five. At primarily bloody friend severally on again. Five, and this called instanwoint offended, by a grifyth. CountyE. Aication the secr&quNGrdowayoat, while "

http://kiml42.blogspot.com/2009/01/dasher-poem_02.html

IE Usage Fell Below 70 Percent in November

"Internet Explorer's share of the Web browser market fell to 69.8 percent in November and just over 68 percent in December, according to the Dallas Morning News. In addition, Mozilla's Firefox browser now claims about 21 percent of the browser market. Apple's Safari is a distant third place with 7.1 percent, while the rest (Chrome, Opera, Netscape, and others) are all below one percent each."

http://www.appscout.com/2009/01/ie_usage_fell_below_70_percent_1.php

also

IE lost share to Firefox, Safari and Chrome in December

"Internet Explorer was used by 68.15 percent of Web surfers monitored in December, down from 69.77 percent in November and 71.27 percent in October, according to preliminary figures published by Net Applications on its Hitslink Web site Friday."

http://www.infoworld.com/article/09/01/02/IE-loses-share-to-Safari-Chrome_1.html

Resolutions 'bad for your health'

"We chastise ourselves for our perceived shortcomings and set unrealistic goals to change our behaviour, so it's not surprising that when we fail to keep resolutions, we end up feeling worse than when we started," he said.

"In 2009, instead of making a New Year's resolution, think positively about the year to come and what you can achieve."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7806776.stm

Dasher

" Dasher is an information-efficient text-entry interface, driven by natural continuous pointing gestures. Dasher is a competitive text-entry system wherever a full-size keyboard cannot be used - for example; when operating a computer one-handed, by joystick, touchscreen, trackball, or mouse; when operating a computer with zero hands (i.e., by head-mouse or by eyetracker); on a palmtop computer; on a wearable computer."

http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/

Try Dasher in your browser

http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/TryJavaDasherNow.html