I was very nearly run over by the police last night! Walking back to my car after work I witnessed a police pursuit end in a crash which finished less than 2 meters from where I was stood.
Frankly I was shit scared as the police car hit the vehicle it was pursuing and then came careering out of control towards me. The car being chased came up to a junction controlled by traffic lights which another car was waiting at. He mounted the curb to try and go around the stationary vehicle, almost knocking over three pedestrians on the pavement in the process. Then instead of going left he decided to turn right, just as the police car had gone around the stationary vehicle the other way. This resulted in the police hitting the car in the driver side door, at which point they both skidded across the junction heading straight for me.
The driver of the car escaped from his vehicle quite quickly and started to run away hotly pursued by the two police officers. I just waited where I was for a couple of minutes until about ten more police cars all descended on me.
I gave them my details and I'm just waiting for a phone call to get me down to the station to make a statement.
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Tumbleweed
It's quiet round here ain't it! I thought this might happen when I got my monitor back so I could play on my consoles again. I spend what spare time I have playing on them and not enough time on things like this.
Anyway, I've not been playing games exclusively, I've been pretty busy with work but I've also been working on a new project. It's not really finished yet, a lot still needs doing, but if you want a sneak peak then I'll tell you about it.
I'm developing a new web site, I haven't done anything like this is a long time. I figured I'd give it a go and see how it turns out. I decided to use a Content Management System or CMS for short to take a lot of the leg work out of it. I've never used one before, all my previous sites have been hand coded from scratch. I went with Drupal because a couple of people I know have used it and recommended it and a web site I use over at http://www.ugvm.org.uk also uses it. It seems to do a pretty good job so thought I'd investigate.
I've got the bare bones of the site together now, I just need to get working on customising it. But where to start? I don't know anything about Drupal, I need to do some investigation. If anyone has any recommendations on where to look for this send them to me please!
So now I've told you a bit about it, I bet you're all gagging to to see it right? Hmmm, well okay, maybe not. But if you do want a look you can find it over at http://www.techietalk.co.uk.
I'll try and post again soon and maybe talk about some games next time.
Anyway, I've not been playing games exclusively, I've been pretty busy with work but I've also been working on a new project. It's not really finished yet, a lot still needs doing, but if you want a sneak peak then I'll tell you about it.
I'm developing a new web site, I haven't done anything like this is a long time. I figured I'd give it a go and see how it turns out. I decided to use a Content Management System or CMS for short to take a lot of the leg work out of it. I've never used one before, all my previous sites have been hand coded from scratch. I went with Drupal because a couple of people I know have used it and recommended it and a web site I use over at http://www.ugvm.org.uk also uses it. It seems to do a pretty good job so thought I'd investigate.
I've got the bare bones of the site together now, I just need to get working on customising it. But where to start? I don't know anything about Drupal, I need to do some investigation. If anyone has any recommendations on where to look for this send them to me please!
So now I've told you a bit about it, I bet you're all gagging to to see it right? Hmmm, well okay, maybe not. But if you do want a look you can find it over at http://www.techietalk.co.uk.
I'll try and post again soon and maybe talk about some games next time.
Saturday, 28 June 2008
Silence is golden!
The last few weeks I've noticed my PC has been making a lot more noise than usual. The fans seemed to run up to 100% and stay there constantly after just a couple of minutes from switching it on. I had initially thought that the monitoring software that regulates fan speeds had gone a bit screwy so I kind of ignored it telling myself I'd sort it out later.
Well last night I decided that "later" was now, so I fired up the software to be greeted by angry alarms blaring through my speakers at 1am! Not the best thing to wake the household with, but oh well, it was too late to worry about that.
Apparently my CPU temperature was hovering just over the 90 degree mark, and my case temperature was 70 degrees! Ouch, that CPU is nicely roasting away and probably has been for a few weeks. I decided I had to do something about it, but that 1am was not the time to strip the PC apart. So this morning out came the compressed air and tool kit.
OH MY GOD! I've never seen so much dust in my life...... The case was stuffed full of the stuff. No wonder I had air flow issues, all the fans were totally clogged up. A good blast of air outside and a well aimed hoover sorted that issue out. Then I figured while I was at it, it couldn't do any harm to replace the thermal paste on the CPU. So off came the heatsink/fan and the old stuff was carefully removed from the copper heatsink, and the top of the CPU. A fresh application of some Arctic Silver 5 paste and a quick re-assembly later it was all done.
Time for the moment of truth, everything worked straight away (phew!) and this time the fans didn't ramp up! After loading the monitoring software again, the good news is the CPU is now at a more comfortable 61 degrees, and the case a refreshing 38 degrees! Now I can sit in peaceful silence once again.
So, if you're PC is noisier than you'd like, it might be time to give it some TLC and sort out air flow inside your case. It can make a HUGE difference!
Well last night I decided that "later" was now, so I fired up the software to be greeted by angry alarms blaring through my speakers at 1am! Not the best thing to wake the household with, but oh well, it was too late to worry about that.
Apparently my CPU temperature was hovering just over the 90 degree mark, and my case temperature was 70 degrees! Ouch, that CPU is nicely roasting away and probably has been for a few weeks. I decided I had to do something about it, but that 1am was not the time to strip the PC apart. So this morning out came the compressed air and tool kit.
OH MY GOD! I've never seen so much dust in my life...... The case was stuffed full of the stuff. No wonder I had air flow issues, all the fans were totally clogged up. A good blast of air outside and a well aimed hoover sorted that issue out. Then I figured while I was at it, it couldn't do any harm to replace the thermal paste on the CPU. So off came the heatsink/fan and the old stuff was carefully removed from the copper heatsink, and the top of the CPU. A fresh application of some Arctic Silver 5 paste and a quick re-assembly later it was all done.
Time for the moment of truth, everything worked straight away (phew!) and this time the fans didn't ramp up! After loading the monitoring software again, the good news is the CPU is now at a more comfortable 61 degrees, and the case a refreshing 38 degrees! Now I can sit in peaceful silence once again.
So, if you're PC is noisier than you'd like, it might be time to give it some TLC and sort out air flow inside your case. It can make a HUGE difference!
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Monitor heaven!
So after all the worry about never getting my monitor sorted out. I received an unexpected phone call from the Staples store manager today. He told me my replacement monitor had arrived and I could pick it up whenever was convenient. So straight after work I headed down to the shop to be greeted by a brand new 24" wide-screen Gateway FPD2485W-EU.
I am very impressed with this monitor, not only is it HUGE (it's replaced a 21" screen) it has loads of connections. DVI, VGA, 2 x Component, S-Video and 4 x USB ports. It's astonishingly bright, has a pretty big 1920 x 1200 resolution and not a dead pixel in sight.
If I had to have one complaint, it would be it's simply too big. I have it paired with a 19" 4:3 monitor, and it's kind of dwarfed it now. Plus because it's so new the image quality is so good it really shows up my older monitor for how poor it really is.
I must go now, my eyes are bleeding from all the light emanating from the screen. It's burning my retinas!
I am very impressed with this monitor, not only is it HUGE (it's replaced a 21" screen) it has loads of connections. DVI, VGA, 2 x Component, S-Video and 4 x USB ports. It's astonishingly bright, has a pretty big 1920 x 1200 resolution and not a dead pixel in sight.
If I had to have one complaint, it would be it's simply too big. I have it paired with a 19" 4:3 monitor, and it's kind of dwarfed it now. Plus because it's so new the image quality is so good it really shows up my older monitor for how poor it really is.
I must go now, my eyes are bleeding from all the light emanating from the screen. It's burning my retinas!
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Monitor hell!
The saga continues, another call from Staples today, apparently the replacement monitor isn't on its way as promised. I should point out that this isn't a Staples problem, they have been fantastic. The problem now is that Gateway have been taken over by Acer and Gateway will no longer talk to Staples about the issue. They accept they have my old monitor and that it can't be repaired, but won't talk about any sort of resolution. In fact talking to the Staples store manager Gateway (or the company that used to be Gateway) have been very rude to him.
As if this all wasn't bad enough, things are further complicated because I bought the monitor from Staples on-line. Now apparently the bricks and mortar store is a separate company to the on-line retail arm. What this means is that technically the store manager shouldn't have taken my monitor in the first place, however, he did because he's a nice guy and wanted to help. So the whole thing is a bit of a mess!
The store manager has vowed to do everything he can to sort this out for me and is taking a complaint up with his head office. He is hoping that his management might carry more weight and get some answers for me.
I'm pretty confident this guy will follow it through and sort it all out, but I'm not sure where I stand legally now. The whole thing is a bit complicated!
As if this all wasn't bad enough, things are further complicated because I bought the monitor from Staples on-line. Now apparently the bricks and mortar store is a separate company to the on-line retail arm. What this means is that technically the store manager shouldn't have taken my monitor in the first place, however, he did because he's a nice guy and wanted to help. So the whole thing is a bit of a mess!
The store manager has vowed to do everything he can to sort this out for me and is taking a complaint up with his head office. He is hoping that his management might carry more weight and get some answers for me.
I'm pretty confident this guy will follow it through and sort it all out, but I'm not sure where I stand legally now. The whole thing is a bit complicated!
Thursday, 12 June 2008
PayPal - hypocrites!
I've had a couple of friendly games of Poker recently with some people I know from a newsgroup. It's just a bit of fun roughly once a month and the losers all pay the winner £5. We've been using PayPal up to now but a couple of us (myself included) have had our accounts frozen because apparently gambling breaches their acceptable use policy.
On the surface this seems fair enough, if perhaps a little harsh. However, if they have a principle that the service cannot be used for gambling then I'm happy to abide by it. This was the e-mail they sent me:
https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/cps/general/BetFair-outside
Like I said in the title, PayPal are hypocritical *&%$*!
On the surface this seems fair enough, if perhaps a little harsh. However, if they have a principle that the service cannot be used for gambling then I'm happy to abide by it. This was the e-mail they sent me:
"After a recent review of your account, it has been determined that you are currently in violation of PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy. Under the Acceptable Use Policy, PayPal may not be used to send or receive payments for activities that involve gambling and/or gaming activities, including but not limited to casino games, sports betting, horse or greyhound racing, lottery tickets, certain games of skill, and other ventures that facilitate gambling."Of course it's not as simple as that, because PayPal are in fact perfectly happy to allow you to use their service for gambling as I found out upon investigation:
https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/cps/general/BetFair-outside
"You can now use PayPal with Betfair – the world’s largest betting exchange."So, either they do allow the service for gambling or they don't, which is it? It would seem it's both! You see they are quite happy to let their principles slide when they can make a profit from it. They take a cut from all transactions made through PayPal to BetFair and that's fine. But if you just want to organise the occasional friendly game of Poker then you are an evil gambler who must be banished from PayPal forever!
Like I said in the title, PayPal are hypocritical *&%$*!
An iBlog
I think I might change this blog from a standard blog, to a new fangled iBlog! What's the difference you ask, well there actually isn't one. It just seems to be the fashionable and trendy thing to chuck an 'i' in front of everything these days.
What does this 'i' actually mean anyway? What's so great about an 'i' that makes it so special? Google has iGoogle, the BBC has the iPlayer, BT have announced a new product called the iPlate which is supposed to increase your broadband speeds. There are countless other examples and it's getting to be beyond a joke!
Apple created the 'i' brand and I believe the first product to sport the name was the imac. It was a great product that pretty much sparked the turn around in the companies fortunes. Then of course came the hugely popular ipod. I can understand that a company like Apple would want to use the 'i' branding to its full potential. I don't have any issue with that at all, it's all the other companies who are jumping on the band wagon and trying to exploit the popularity that bugs me.
Why couldn't the marketing gurus over at BT and Google have come up with an original title for their products? What exactly are they being paid for if they just look for a successful brand and imitate them? Perhaps that's exactly what they are being paid for! Either way, how do I get a job doing this, I have some great marketing ideas ready to go. How about the iBurger, the iPen or the iSoap! All these ideas are bound to sell in their millions, I am a marketing god!
What does this 'i' actually mean anyway? What's so great about an 'i' that makes it so special? Google has iGoogle, the BBC has the iPlayer, BT have announced a new product called the iPlate which is supposed to increase your broadband speeds. There are countless other examples and it's getting to be beyond a joke!
Apple created the 'i' brand and I believe the first product to sport the name was the imac. It was a great product that pretty much sparked the turn around in the companies fortunes. Then of course came the hugely popular ipod. I can understand that a company like Apple would want to use the 'i' branding to its full potential. I don't have any issue with that at all, it's all the other companies who are jumping on the band wagon and trying to exploit the popularity that bugs me.
Why couldn't the marketing gurus over at BT and Google have come up with an original title for their products? What exactly are they being paid for if they just look for a successful brand and imitate them? Perhaps that's exactly what they are being paid for! Either way, how do I get a job doing this, I have some great marketing ideas ready to go. How about the iBurger, the iPen or the iSoap! All these ideas are bound to sell in their millions, I am a marketing god!
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