rsync backup to external drive
March 2nd, 2010I keep my “documents” and “photos” folders synced to an external hard disk
rsync --modify-window=2 -avz Documents/ /media/LACIE/Documents/
The –modify-window is because the fat32 filesystem on my USB disk has lower precision when it comes to time so rsync thinks all the files have been modified. This flag sets a window of 2 seconds.
bacon from Spar
February 22nd, 2010i went to spar on saturday on the way to my mates house to buy some wine and thought i should buy something other than wine from the shop, so i picked up some bacon because it was on offer at £2.49 for 12 rashers.
I went to the till but the barcode on my packet was torn. I went to get another one but that one scanned at £3.19. It turns out that some were on offer but others weren’t. Rather than cause a problem with the increasing queue behind me, i chose smoked rather than unsmoked which still had the barcode attached.
Even this caused more problems as the till operator had to call her manager over to cancel the original bacon.
At this point i had the chance to get some free bacon because my less than able attendant didn’t scan the new bacon, but being an honest man i pointed out her omission and the total came up as £ 6.49 so i paid and left
Amusingly enough the story didn’t end there as the bacon was best before the 15th feb (purchase date being the 20th) but it turns out to be legal to sell food after the ‘best before’ date, so i just started eating it. I’m sure i’ll survive the 12 rashers
Hey! Fight! Cheer Squad
February 19th, 2010I completed the first stage of Osu! Tatakai1 Oendan at the weekend. Its from a series of music based games on the DS.
The premise is that you tap the screen in time with the music to help the heroes dance and thus defeat the bad guys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osu!_Tatakae!_Ouendan
I’ve already played the English spin off, “elite beat agents”, which is worth buying (only £8 from Game)
BBC website design
February 17th, 2010Interesting article about the design of the BBC website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2010/02/a_new_global_visual_language_f.html
Still, it’s probably cost the licence fee payer a lot of money.
500g of prunes
February 12th, 2010I’ve got 500g of ready to eat prunes on my desk
Prunes a good source of fibre according to the packet and are also simple and convenient to use
systems thinking and the public sector
February 9th, 2010I’m currently reading this book by John Seddon
Quite interesting. I’ll add more when I’ve finished
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780955008184
Today’s answer was missing from my “page a day” calendar
February 5th, 2010question: Who am I?
“I was born in California in 1956. I dropped out of univesrity and made my film debut in the 1980 slasher film He Knows You’re Alone. I spent two years in a cross dressing sitcom Bosom Buddies before Ron Howard remembered me from my bit part in Happy Days and invited me to read for Splash. I was oscar nominated for another eighties movie but it was not until the nineties that I became a major player when I won two Best Actor Oscars. I am almost as famous for voiceovers as I am for acting.”
*PLEASE ACCEPT OUR APPOLOGIES* There has been a printing error on a small batch of our TYK Films calendar. The answer to today’s question has been missed out - it is **** ANSWER ****. If your order a 2011 TYK Films Calendar by post later this year, please post a cheque for just £4.99 (50% off), P&P, and quote ‘ **** ANSWER ****‘ on the order form.
netbook
January 28th, 2010I’ve just bought myself an Asus EEE 1008 HA netbook.
Made an ubuntu netbook remix USB stick, then installed it quite easily.
1) got the BIOS to boot from USB (had to disable “boot booster” in the bios)
2) deleted a partition (for some reason, windows had two 70 gig partitions - one with windows on, and the other empty)
3) standard install
All hardware seems to be working fine including sound, wireless, bluetooth and touchpad
Next step is to get some sort of sync working between netbook and desktop (maybe my server too?)
Also might consider trying to get my netbook tethered to my “Unlimimted” web access on my phone

