•July 18, 2008 •
No Comments
I’m a big fan of programs that run from USB drives: I have 12 on my thumbdrive plus Open Office on my portable hard drive.
Most come from John Haller’s excellent http://portableapps.com/ but some excellent other programs are out there and deserve to be more widely known about.
Here are the non-portable apps programs:
Here are the portable apps programs and what I actually use them for:
All these programs come highly recommended. 
Posted in Computer and Internet
•July 12, 2008 •
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I run lots of portable USB programs off my USB stick but none of them are Microsoft programs…until now. I came across this article this morning, followed the instructions and amazingly it works. I’m writing this post on it now.
This seems to have been around for a year and Microsoft haven’t shut it down??? Very strange.
So why not Windows Live everything on a USB stick. Photo Gallery would work, maybe Mail, probably not Messenger. If Microsoft won’t stop you, why not?
Posted in Blogging, Computer and Internet
•June 13, 2008 •
No Comments
I’ve been a fan of Firefox since it was Phoenix 0.5, so I have pledged to do my download for the record. It seems pretty obvious that Firefox should hold this record and I presume they will get it though it’s hard to see what the figure is to beat.
Anyway if you sign the pledge page here, they will send you emails to notify you when it is available and let you know how the record attempt got on.
Sign up here.
Posted in Computer and Internet
•May 9, 2008 •
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Following my last post on the Hillingdon council poster campaign there then followed some emails between myself and Emma Marsh at Hillingdon council regarding the matter.
The reason behind the poster campaign was explained:
‘…the purpose of the poster campaign, which is for a new youth website that has been launched this month. The site has specifically been designed for young people in Hillingdon after considerable consultation with them about their experiences and the issues that affect them. One of the aspects that came out of this was that young people feel that sometimes they are stereotyped and this is what the respect poster is referring to.
The initial posters that you have seen are designed to grab attention and make people ask questions about what is coming next. We have already replaced these posters with similar designs which also direct people to go to the new website. The new website hosts lots of news and advice for young people aged 11 to 19 on areas such as studying, health, relationships and local activities that they can get involved in. The council is committed to ensuring young people are healthy, safe and supported and we hope that by encouraging young people to go to the site, we can signpost them to areas that will help them to take a more active role in local community and make the most of all of the opportunities and activities available to them. It is not specifically for young people from any particular background or housing areas as you have suggested- it’s aimed at being a resource for all.’
The posters were advertising the Council website http://young.hillingdon.gov.uk/ a dreary but functional link based advice site.
As far as addressing my concerns about the message of the posters, the response went along the lines of:
‘…the posters were not intended to be offensive to anyone in any age group and it is extremely unfortunate that you feel this has been the case.’
In other words you’re entitled to your opinion but we were right.
I haven’t received any response from the Mayor’s office. 
Posted in News and politics
•May 5, 2008 •
No Comments
This seems rather a lot of fuss over a campaign medal - I always thought these things came in the post.
BBC NEWS | UK | Harry given Afghan campaign medal
Of course it’s a good thing as long as every serviceman gets every service medal with this amount of fuss, every time. And this includes the relatives of the fallen, every time.
Posted in News and politics
•May 5, 2008 •
1 Comment
This is a poster instigated, put up in numerous places on our high street and probably in the rest of the borough, by Hillingdon Council. It’s purpose is not explicit but it seems to be a put down for those of my age group and older who might actually believe that we have more maturity that some youth from a council estate.
I find this poster offensive. I have worked and supported myself as an adult for over twenty years. I have been places, met lots of people, taken risks, supported a family, experienced success and experienced failure. For this reason I am better than some youth from a council estate and I am not ashamed to say it, in fact I am bemused as to why I should even have to.
This sort of campaign simply encourages the youth of today to be even more full of themselves, ignorant, inarticulate, arrogant, rude, offensive, illiterate, lazy, feckless, promiscuous, self obsessed and superficial than they are already. This is unacceptable. It becomes even more unacceptable when you realise that it has been paid for by via the Council Tax so I have to pay for it!
I am going to send a copy of this blog post to the Council and also to our new Mayor Boris to give them an opportunity to respond. I’ll publish any replies I get.
Posted in News and politics
I’ve used Google Reader shared items half heartedly in the past but it was never more than a glorified RSS feed until today. From today it has themes (I’m very fond of my fishy theme) a profile and original content. This last one makes it a very light form of blog.
It’ll have to do.
