RichardBenson.co.uk : Play

New Host

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:35:03 +0000

After the balls up the other day, I've been rushing to get the site transferred over to a new host and sort out the templates, something I'd been putting off for a long time.

There's still lots to come but I've noticed some peaks in traffic and I also have a couple of articles/tips that I want to get out there. So if you notice anything odd, please let me know, I'll be adding features back in over time.

As I love YUI so much, I've stuck it all over the place! Layout is done with YUI Grids CSS, menu is YUI Menu and registered users can use the YUI Rich Text Editor for replies!

I'm hoping to stick all the facebook features in as well, without using jQuery. I don't like libraries that break other libraries (another reason why YUI is great!) and the fact that neither jQuery nor MooTools can make their libraries play nice, turns me off the completely.

I've been a fool!

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:16:20 +0000

Made a classic, school-boy error last night...

Was moving a movabletype installation from 2 recently decommissioned dedicated servers to a cloud hosting environment and noticed that the wonderful people at the new place allow you IP access to the MySQL servers. "Great" I though, I can use the MySQL migration toolkit, this will be a breeze. So I restored the backup from the dedicated servers to an intermediary server (can you see where this is going yet?) and then proceeded with the transfer.

BBC Publish F1 Calendar as iCal

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:52:21 +0000

Congrats BBC, this is a brilliant idea, everyone go there and tell them how wonderful an idea it is and that they should carry on doing it. Go on, do it now, I'll wait.....

For those without iCal, here's the schedule displayed nicely on the web for you. This should keep itself up to date, and if the BBC add the rest of the season, I'll update this page as well so bookmark it to keep up to date with the schedule.

UPDATE: After publishing the first two races as ICS files, it seems the BBC have not done the same for China, so I will keep this as up to date as I can manually.

UPDATE 2: They've published the full season now at last! Head over here to get your own ics file, or keep referring to the below calendar, which should now have the whole season in!

2008 Christmas list #0000001

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:16:44 +0000

Anyone out there trying to find the perfect Christmas present for me (surely you all are?) need look no further, as always, eBay has the answer.

Full size replica Roman siege catapult

Built for a TV special, this working Ballista weighs 12 tons and is about 7.5m high. I'm sure for the extra £17.5k their asking to put it up, they can find a way to squeeze it into my garden.

Cuil - Google beater?

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:31:02 +0000

The BBC News website had a report about a new search engine, Cuil (pronounced "cool"), created by ex-Googlers that claims to be better and more relvant than the big G.

So I did some searches on it. First I tried some of the keywords that I list highly on for Google and "no results found". After trying a few and also variations on them I was getting nowhere and so just stuck my domain in.

Have a look for yourself at the results. That little logo next to my website has made me quite angry, I don't think I've ever even mentioned Scientology, let alone use a logo that alludes to any kind of "success" within it that I may have achieved.

The natural thing in this case is to pop over to the FAQs and see if there is anything I can do about it. Brilliant, a link to some webmaster tools.... that doesn't work and no other notice about contact.

First impressions count for damn near everything, and I'm certainly not going to be using Cuil or recommending it to anyone. In fact, so that Google can give it a good description, I'm going to link to it by saying, Cuil is misleading and useless.

UPDATE: Looks like a lot of their links only work some of the times you go to them! Maybe if I keep trying the webmaster one will work.

New Stuff

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:30:21 +0000

I've been making a lot of small and large changes around here, which hopefully someone will notice and appreciate other than me! But then I only really have this site for me anyway so it doesn't matter...

Greatest Games of all time my arse

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:53:23 +0000

Pop over to Game's website and have a look at their top 100 "greatest games of all time" list... go on... I'll wait here...

http://www.game.co.uk/greatestgames/

How many times did you say "what's that doing in there?".. I bet it was an awful lot!

From There To Here - A Guide To Self-Loathing In Three Easy Steps

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:59:27 +0000

Once again, FlyingRodent calls it like it is...

"It's clear now that the Labour government's approach to almost all issues has been precisely the same, whether it's benefit fraud or antisocial behaviour, terrorism or smoking in public places... Matters trifling, middling or massive, the response was identical. Just point out some bastards who everyone can agree are getting up to no good and taking the piss, frame it in the nastiest way possible to get us on board, then pass some wildly disproportionate legislation granting themselves executive power to do whatever they like."

http://flyingrodent.blogspot.com/2008/06/from-there-to-here-guide-to-self.html

Skype

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:18:27 +0000

I was recently asked if Skype was allowed in our corporate network...again. Seemingly there is something in the handbook that states; "All employees must ask at least once a month if Skype is allowed".

Obviously my answer was "no", but when asked why, I thought a picture would explain better than any words could.

'MediaDefender' shoot themselves in the foot

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:05:04 +0000

For those that don't know, "MediaDefender" is a company set up to 'protect' copyright holders from illegal file sharing, which they don't do by contacting people but by severe attacks on servers and ISPs they deem as breaching copyright. A few weeks ago they managed to heavily attack and bring down a perfectly legitimate BitTorrent tracker and the business that surrounded it.

Shock News! Guildford Borough Council are money grabbing bastards

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:39:43 +0000

The images below are all three pages of a letter that was sent to us recently from the wonderful Guildford Borough Council. For those that cannot be bothered to read the whole thing, the primary focus of the letter is suggesting that residents have asked to have their roads restricted on Sundays as well as Monday - Friday. Since GBC introduced its controlled parking zone, it has become nearly impossible to have a guest for the weekend without giving GBC money. At least they could come over on a Sunday, but not if these plans come into force. What's worse is that even if you do get yourselft or your guest a permit, there is very little chance of you finding a space should you for some reason decide to take your car out for the day (I guess it's our own fault for having jobs). There is a woefully small number of spaces in all the residential roads of Guildford, especially as you get nearer the centre and none of the houses have driveways. Take our road for example, there are 20 odd houses and 7 residents' bays, with a further 7 bays for anyone to park up to 2 hours. These temporary bays happen to be right next to a pub, so you can guarantee they'll be full most of the time, leaving just the 7 residents bays for the whole street. So where exactly do I put my car on a Sunday, when the single yellows are also restricted?

Olympics Protest - News Round-Up

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:15:48 +0000

FlyingRodent collates all the news stories surrounding the Olympic protests, with some facts I can guarantee you didn't know.

"Hello, Is There Anybody There?" - Burma

Rangoon, Burma - Confusion reigned in Rangoon yesterday as the Burmese people began to ask where all that international attention had gone. "Uh, hello? Is anybody there?" asked the Burmese population, whose struggle for basic human rights and freedom of speech was briefly yet ecstatically popular in Britain just a few months ago. "Uh, we're still here," they said, collectively.

http://flyingrodent.blogspot.com/2008/04/olympics-protest-news-round-up.html

The front fell off...

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:05:25 +0000

Reminds me of quite a lot of our politicians..

The internet as a platform? Not as ISP bloodbath looms | The Register

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:44:55 +0000

"After 15 years of utopian gibberish about the "internet as a platform" that (of course) "changes everything", the pigeons are finally flying home to roost. In 2008, IP networks look less like the future of media, and more like tarpits that promise to bankrupt anyone who tries to run one. Especially the middlemen - as the distributors look like going to the wall first."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/20/iplayer_isps_broke/

My day..

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:53:06 +0000

You can't just let someone carry on being wrong, they must be corrected, whatever the cost! From xkcd.