Kabads

GitHub Actions Multi-line Output Variable

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When building GitHub Actions it’s common to want to output multi-line text from a composite action or step. GitHub Actions provides the $GITHUB_OUTPUT environment file mechanism to pass outputs between steps. The syntax is simple, if you are familiar with a Linux shell: echo "test=hello" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT". This will set a variable from that job-step called test with the value hello and can be called from another step using the syntax ${{ steps.<jobid>.outputs.test }}. This deals with single line outputs well, but what about multis-line outputs? That can be more complex.

Film - Maudie (2016)

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Maudie is a quirky and unforgiving film. You will find yourself presented with mid 20th century Nova Scotia as the setting. A harsh setting for anyone to live in, even without a disability. But Maude is also disabled and finds herself reliant on her wealthy (relatively) brother. Her aunt is also unforgiving, and Maude knows that to stay in this situation, her life will have to be full of compromises. She wants freedom and independence, and so she sets out to find it.

Updating KFMon after Kobo Firmware Update

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

After a firmware update on a kobo device, to launch KOReader, you will need to update KFMon. Here are the steps to do so:

Plugin your Kobo device via USB and mount the filesystem.

Download the latest OCP (One Click Install Package) for KFMon. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=314220

This will have a filename such as kfm_nix_install.zip.

Extract this file to another directory.

Download the OCP file for KFMon - it will have a filename such as OCP-KFMon-1.4.6-151-gac587d3.zip. Only this file should be used after a firmware update.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Sun, 29 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

So, let me start off by saying that I enjoyed the first few series of Game of Thrones. Things waned as the series progressed, but I stuck with it. I wanted something manageable in the same vein. I need to be honest when I say I’d never heard heard of the genre grimdark. I thought I might enjoy it, and it turns out I do. The characters form the main backbone of the plot - they have their own backstories and aims coming from that, and this often conflicts with other characters’ objectives. Watching this unfold is, to say the least, very interesting. Watching characters try to undermine each others foibles. And you’re never quite sure who is on top at any given point.

The Crow Road by Iain Banks

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This book leads you in - it won’t grab you. You’ll be drawn in and given the perspective of Prentice, a young man who is trying to decide who he is, and what form his relationships will hold. This means he’s not an immediately likeable person. In fact, there are parts where you think he’s selfish, holds immature grudges and not fully aware of all his feelings. But this makes him real, like any other young person his age.

Django custom users

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been looking at Django recently and I wanted to share some notes on how to create custom users. Django comes with a built-in user model, but sometimes you need to extend it or create a new one. Here’s how you can do it.

Basically there will be several steps to follow:

Create a custom user model
Update the myproject/settings.py file
Create a view for the custom user model
Update the admin confiruration
Create the migration and apply

The files for this blog post can be found here: https://github.com/kabads/django-custom-user-example.

Recursion in Python

Sun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

So, I’ve started the 100 days of code again. This is an attempt to keep the brain ticking over and keep coding fun. There are certain things I do at work, that really aren’t always that taxing. But they are necessary.

This is to explore other areas that I typically wouldn’t use. I think I haven’t used recursion before at work. This is probably unusual for developers, but it’s not really in what I do.

Working on the ICL 2900

Sat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Back in the late 80’s I worked on the ICL 2900. This was a cluster of machines that made up a mainframe. The retro orange panels and the air-lock that we had to pass to get to the resources, made it feel like something from a sci-fi movie.

We were in a purpose built building. I dread to think how much it cost, which was a waste of money in the long term because in about 3-4 years, desktops will be making an appearance and the mainframe will be a thing of the past.

Managing Azure Resources with Azure DevOps and Terraform - pt. 1

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This post will show you how to create a simple Azure DevOps pipeline that can use the Azure CLI command within a Microsoft hosted agents on Azure DevOps.

Using Mastodon Instead of Twitter

Sat, 12 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

So, Twitter is currently a problem.

AWS CI/CD Pipelines

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This document will outline how to use an Amazon Web Services (AWS) CodePipeline to push a static html website from a code repository to an S3 bucket.

Python - split a list in to smaller lists

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

So, you end up with a big list, that has a lot of entries, and you want to split them in to smaller lists.

Azure DevOps Variables

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Azure DevOps has a funny kind of virtualization. When you run your pipelines, the jobs can be on different hosts. This creates a head-scratching moment for people like me who have been working on linux bare-metal for quite a while and thinking that variables are just inherited.

Gilbert White's Zig-Zag Walk

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 16:44:00 +0000

We went for a walk around Selborne, the home of Gilbert White, who some claim was the first English Naturalist.

Test Driven Development

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 08:00:00 +0000

So, I started learning Golang recently, and decided that Learn Go with Tests was a good way to go.

JWT Authentication with Salesforce

Sun, 28 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Salesforce, for those of you who might have been living under a rock, is a customer relationship management tool. I work with developers who develop code for salesforce.

Tiny Tiny RSS

Sat, 30 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Tiny Tiny RSS is a simple syndication application. I’ve been using RSS syndication readers for a long time.

Verify Azure Blob Storage Automatically

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This blog post outlines a problem I had whereby there were lots of files in Azure storage and I wanted to check that they had been uploaded correctly.

Apache Rewrite Mod

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 14:05:00 +0000

mod_rewrite is a powerful module that Apache can utilize.

Bike-packing preparation

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Due to covid-19, we are all currently in lock-down.

Rsyslog configured to monitor journald /run/systemd/journal/syslog socket

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Rsyslog (aka syslog) can pull in logs from journald, via the socket (using imuxsock module) or a specific module that taps in to a socket that journald runs (imjournal) with very little config.

SELinux Users, Roles, and Types

Fri, 03 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

SELinux contexts follow the SELinux user:role:type:level syntax.

SELinux Permissions

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

SELinux (Security Enhanced Linux) is a linux kernel security module that provides a mechanism for supporting access control policies.

Setting Filesystem ACLs on Linux

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

ACLs are a method for defining access to files and directories on a system.

How to Create Virtual Machines With Qemu

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 13:52:22 +0000

This post outlines the steps needed to create a qemu environment within a machine and install virtual machines in that environment.

Terraform and Loops - creating multiple resources

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Terraform is a great tool for creating infrastructure.

Ruby Arrays

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Ruby has extensive coverage for arrays (sometimes called lists if you are coming from a Python background).

Case Statements in Ruby - Learning Ruby 3

Thu, 18 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

If you are coming from using python, then you will be used to using a lot of if...elif...else statements to catch conditions in variables.

Strings in Ruby - Learning Ruby 2

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Ruby has great string support. This post summarises the functions that are available.

Learning Ruby - First Impressions

Fri, 21 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Chef is used in my place of work, and so as a result I started learning Ruby programming language.

Chernobyl - A Review

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 18:52:22 +0000

Chernobyl has screened on Sky Atlantic over the last few weeks. It represents a dramatic representation of the disaster back in 1986, which for a lot of people, is still in living memory.

Setting Up Fujitsu Snapscan S1300i on Arch Linux

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 18:15:30 +0000

I have bought a Fujitsu Snapscan S1301i scanner - mainly because it is duplex - it saves a lot of time and will scan directly to Evernote.

Setting Up MySQL Replication as a back-up solution

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 12:32:30 +0000

MySQL replication is a good thing to have. It provides greater resilience and removes a single point of failure. By following these steps, you will create a replica of a master server, acting as a permanent backup in the case of a DR scenario.

Configure Autofs on Arch Linux

Sat, 11 Aug 2018 10:07:00 +0000

Autofs is a way of auto-mounting devices to a running system. Theses steps will walk through enabling it on an Archlinux system.

Working with Terraform

Sat, 04 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Terraform is a cloud orchestration scripting language. This allows the capturing of cloud infrastructure.

Sync Google Calendar With Org Agenda

Sun, 18 Mar 2018 13:02:55 +0000

I use org-mode an awful lot - it helps me manage my tasks and code all in one place.

Moving Boot Partition (EFI/EPS partition)

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 19:42:17 +0000

If you’ve been using Linux for a few years, you’ll probably remember that 100MB for a /boot partition was no problem.

Cycle Jaunt Around Bath

Sun, 11 Feb 2018 19:20:30 +0000

Sunday involved a train ride to bath with a Brompton in fold, and then cycling around the Two Tunnels circular route. A quick stop at The Hope and Anchor pub to avoid the sleet and get a quick half-way coffee, is highly recommended.

How to create an instance that pulls your website content automatically

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Amazon Web Services allows you to spin up instances very quickly. This how to will show you how to upload your content to a S3 bucket and then launch an instance that pulls that content in and starts Apache to serve that content.

AWS - How to Create A VPC

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

AWS allows you to create your own virtual private cloud (or VPC).

AWS - How to Serve Traffic from a Load Balancer

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Amazon Web Services (AWS) allows you to serve private network traffic from behind a public load balancer. This offers extra security benefits as it detects DDOS traffic and other exploits and offers a layer of protection.

TADS walk Swindon to Goring

Sun, 02 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

TADS - Teresa, Adam, Dave and Shep walking. We have been walking for about 2 years now, all around the South East. This was our longest walk by far in two days. Swindon to Goring.

How to install LineageOS on Wileyfox Swift

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

With the demise of Cyanogenmod and CyanogenOS people who like to keep a cheaper phone up to date will have to familiarise themselves with LineageOS. This is the fork of the latest version where CyanogenMod left off.

A Cartoon About File Permissions

Sat, 06 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I am root.

Running EC2 Instance

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Amazon have provided a pretty neat infrastructure with Amazon Web Services (AWS). By using this as a platform, you can quickly scale up and down provisioned resources.

Finding large files in a directory

Sun, 20 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I have directories that agedu shows as having large files. However, agedu doesn’t tell me what the names of the files are.

How to download newspapers with Calibre and deliver to your Kindle

Thu, 25 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

So, I have read a few pages which outline how to do this, but none seem to sum all of it. I’ve set up my Raspberry to download a newspaper and then deliver it daily to my Kindle.

Cuba

Fri, 12 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Having gone to one of the best destinations I’ve probably ever been to, I felt the need to document it in a more formal way. I was inspired by the Cuban culture and vibrant life to record some of the sights I’d seen.

Trying a climb

Sun, 03 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This afternoon, I met up with a few friends at a local pub. It was great catching up with everyone, but what also great was that afterwards, I planned to cycle some 15km to one of the largest hills around.

Using sed

Sat, 20 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

sed is a quick command line utility to change text within a file, or input stream. Typically, it is used within a pipe situation

Bash find command

Sun, 24 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been using the find command simply since I can remember, but I’ve never really got to see the true power of this command.

Setting up a firewall on Linux Ubuntu 14.04

Thu, 24 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post walks throug the steps needed to set up a firewall on Ubuntu 14.04. Note that 14.04 is now end of life.

How to enable disk quotas for users

Tue, 22 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Linux allows setting quotas on a filesystem. This will prevent users from using more diskspace than they are allowed.

Encrypt a partition on Linux

Sat, 05 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

An encrypted partition can add a layer of security to your system. When initialized, it will ask for the passphrase which, if unavailable, will not allow proper mounting.

How and why you should be using 2 factor authentication

Sat, 31 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Two factor authentication provides another layer of security to any sign in for services you use. By enabling 2 factor authentication, you are using another layer of security when signing in.

Linux group explained

Sun, 18 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Users on a linux system belong to at least one group. Groups allow a systems administrator to create parts of the filesystem where a group of users can share files.

Using Git as a content manager system

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Not familiar with git? Start with an online book or Version Control with Git.

How to set-up RAID on Linux

Thu, 27 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

RAID disks offer particular advantages over ordinary single disk set up. Data redundancy is improved (consider it to be a continuous backup) and also significant performance can be seen with the correct configuration.

How to set-up LVM on Linux

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

What are the advantages of Logical Volume Management (LVM)?

Bring your own device or RaspberryPi hardware in education

Fri, 14 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

The problem? School’s are facing dwindling education budgets and yet increasing expectations for children’s attainment in their knowledge.

TTIP - Nothing to hide, nothing to fear

Sat, 08 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

So, not many people have heard about the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership agreement -aka TTIP - and it isn’t receiving much coverage from the BBC or other news outlets.

Our balcony view

Thu, 30 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Our balcony view.

Amazon Prime Music Review

Wed, 29 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Amazon yesterday released the prime music service in the UK. This came at a particularly useful time for me as I’m currently not working and so have quite a bit of time to play with it.

Baking bread

Tue, 28 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been baking bread for over 6 months now and have experimented with what works well. This is today’s effort.

Wordpress to Jekyll

Tue, 28 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve made the switch from Wordpress, which has been a great open source project, to Jekyll.

Ban encryption?

Sat, 25 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

David Cameron wants to ban encryption. He thinks that the government needs to have a copy of all our communications to ensure safety.

Nuclear subsidy

Thu, 23 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I’m not sure why the government is so set on stopping the solar subsidy, when they are increasing the nuclear one.

Ran over 600km

Thu, 23 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

So, I’ve set myself a target of running 1000km this year. I realised a couple of months ago that I’ve run quite a lot this year.

TADS Walk around Bramley

Tue, 30 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Went for a walk with Teresa, Adam, Dave and Shep (TADS) around the village of Bramley, and Silchester. Saw some deer on the way.

Never punt again

Thu, 16 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

We went for a punt in Cambridge.

Kayaking - Joe

Tue, 15 Jul 2014 19:25:33 +0000

Kayaking - Isaac and Trugnug

Tue, 15 Jul 2014 19:25:11 +0000

Wasps nest in garden

Sun, 06 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Arduino blinking light

Mon, 30 Dec 2013 10:55:36 +0000

My first arduino project.

Cologne

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 14:28:20 +0000

Mmm. Apfelstrudel

Tue, 29 Oct 2013 14:58:53 +0000

My privacy conscious nan

Wed, 21 Aug 2013 12:45:39 +0000

Isaac's favourite ouya game so far

Thu, 27 Jun 2013 20:41:22 +0000

Privacy - why the Govt. wants privacy for themselves

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:53:02 +0000

William Hague claims if you haven't done anything wrong, you shouldn't care about your privacy. So why does the Govt. claim to need to present evidence in a secret court with evidence related to illegal kidnapping?

Caught in a privacy recursion loop with dwarves

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Bath and Longleat

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 13:36:40 +0000

Happy birthday Pewter Reilly

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:06:03 +0000

@ O2 arena for British Music Experience

Sun, 05 May 2013 13:08:48 +0000

The boys are asking for Bitcoins for pocket money.

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:35:11 +0000

Full on day - doctors, worked through lunch...

Thu, 02 May 2013 21:40:59 +0000

Full on day - doctors, worked through lunch for paper work, meet, eat, drove to Rugby club,

Six thirty in the morning is always the best time for haloumi

Thu, 02 May 2013 06:33:44 +0000

Haloumi breakfast.

Paul welcomes me home

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:00:15 +0000

Paul the peacock.

This guy is noisy when he wakes up.

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 07:50:50 +0000

Happy birthday Anne

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 14:12:02 +0000

This peacock keeps hanging around our house

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 11:49:36 +0000

People show up in cars and take photos of it.

The castle

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:45:09 +0000

This time with the photo

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:30:03 +0000

Run

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 08:59:12 +0000

A run.

Princess Leia or Abba?

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 00:02:15 +0000

Party rockin'

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 22:50:46 +0000

Isaac's breakfast

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:52:29 +0000

For Lily

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:47:58 +0000

Ghost walk.

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:25:43 +0000

We went on a ghost walk in York.

York Minster

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:42:06 +0000

Joe's breakfast

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 09:01:47 +0000

Plus guy who keeps calling out the time and pointing at his toe telling it off.

Ask restaurant

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:41:12 +0000

York Minster

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:18:15 +0000

tags: []

Gate

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:56:10 +0000

Watford gap services

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:18:23 +0000

Happy New Year Dave - you've got what your class wants

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 12:11:06 +0000

Dave's latest message, http://cur.lv/e3wr which is frighteningly reassuring, gives us the message that 'we're doing the right thing' - this is a global race, that we must keep up with.

Running with bats tonight

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:51:21 +0000

Running.

Another 5km record - 25m 30s

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 09:01:02 +0000

Not much taken off, but at least I'm getting faster.

Getting faster

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 09:31:02 +0000

Running

Solar electricity

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:51:33 +0000

Solar graph

Happy Birthday to Dad

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 08:18:37 +0000

Happy Birthday from Isaac

Endomondo Running Workout

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:30:43 +0000

was out running 4.71 km in 27m:24s using Endomondo.

Busy first few days of the holiday

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 17:36:44 +0000

Ordered a camera and started using it (or trying to use it).

Cassetteboy strikes again...

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 15:15:14 +0000

This guy is too clever

VPS enlightenment

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 09:42:01 +0000

I've just got the VPS bug. A VPS is a virtual private server, which means you get root access to a server of your choice at a very low cost (as opposed to a dedicated server).

About

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 21:37:55 +0100

I had been working in education for some time, always with a focus on technology.

I now work in Tech, deploying services (mainly databases) in the cloud. This involves work on Terraform) and scripting languages (ruby and python).

I’m interested in AI code and how this might help with spotting patterns in monitoring and alerting.

If you want to contact me, please dm me on twitter with my username ‘kabads’.

Damien Hirst Exhibition

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:57:04 +0000

[AFG_gallery id='3']

@bristol science museum

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 16:15:00 +0000

We met our friends at the Bristol Science Museum.

Endomondo Cycling Workout

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 10:30:09 +0000

was out cycling 13.35 miles in 1h:15m:50s using Endomondo.

Birdbox project

Sat, 19 May 2012 16:20:02 +0000

One of my projects at work: a birdbox live feed

Sat, 19 May 2012 09:43:28 +0000

Having fun with D warf Fortress.

Looking at a fox out there

Sun, 06 May 2012 15:43:20 +0000

[AFG_gallery id='1']

The pub dog 'Otto'.

Fairwell ceefax

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:19:15 +0000

This homage to ceefax is funny and befits the technology at the time. Make sure you read the text.

The coalition's surveillance state problem - monki.biz/2k

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:12:25 +0000

Over at the New Statesman, they've identified the problem that the current government faces.

A radical manifesto for teaching computing

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:37:32 +0000

Starting in primary school, children from all backgrounds and every part of the UK should have the opportunity to: learn some of the key ideas of computer science;

Racist behaviour is illegal and should be stopped regardless of what state the victim is in.

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 20:48:29 +0000

When Fabrice Muamba collapsed during a recent match one jerk, named Liam Stacey, started tweeting racist abuse.

Solidarity for those on strike today

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:41:00 +0000

Not many people would know it today, as the media has not really picked up on it (apart from the Guardian) - but teachers in London were on strike today.

After work refreshments

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:58:51 +0000
A picture of wine and olives.

Christine Blower - "teachers are being taxed"

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 07:27:59 +0000

Teachers will have to contribute 50% more to their pensions over the next three years

Cameron and the "massive redistribution of power". Yeah, right.

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 07:29:47 +0000

Back in 2009 Cameron vowed to open government to the masses ("We will begin a massive redistribution of power in our country, from the powerful to the powerless, from the political elite to the man and the woman in the street."

Rugby Havant tournament

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:34:24 +0000
A rugby tournament

Tried Edmodo - like it

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 18:50:34 +0000

I introduced Edmodo

YHA here we come

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:25:15 +0000

We've joined the Youth Hostel Association and are planning some trips over the Easter Holiday. We're off to a Bristol and then off to the Brecons to see some mountains. Pretty cheap accommodation and nice locations - feeling quite excited about it already.

Happy birthday Paula

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:24:49 +0000
Birthday celebrations

Happy birthday Joy

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:23:23 +0000
Birthday celebrations

Visit to Historic Dockyards

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:20:47 +0000

We visited HMS Warrior (first Ironclad ship in Navy), Action Stations

A walk in the icy forest

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:19:41 +0000

It was really cold this afternoon walking around the forest - the boys really enjoyed skating around on thin ice.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Another buyer

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:17:40 +0000

Report easy has another buyer - who purchased it yesterday.

Headspace

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:17:15 +0000

I'm on day 3 of the Take10 series

Then this fellow pops up...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:15:22 +0000

and Joe went outside and took a couple.

This is more like it...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:14:41 +0000

Taken a bit later, with a fully recharged battery and from where I am sitting!

A good article on why e-books are being locked down just to keep the paper industry in business. monki.biz/1r

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:14:04 +0000

http://monki.biz/1r

Publishing is a tough industry to be in, no doubt about it. Things are rapidly changing and market forces are being swayed beyond the traditional publisher's influence. Things are now so easy to share and distribute, that these old gate-keepers can no longer steer what people are looking at.

Visitors in our garden

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:13:45 +0000

Took a couple of shots this frosty morning and then the battery ran out.

Facebook == human harvesting.

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:47:46 +0000

The film soylent green is about people being harvested for food. That's how I see Facebook. Your details are being harvested for business and advertising. Sure, it can be beneficial to stay in touch with each other, but there's a bigger price to pay. I've come to the decision that the amount of information I'm getting from other people isn't worth the price I'm paying for that lack of privacy and having my details flogged to advertisers.

So, I've made a deal with myself to give up on facebook and see how it goes for a month. I'm not going to log in or check any status updates from facebook. However, I will continue to get stuff from twitter and blogs as they really offer interesting stuff.

So, if you've stumbled here instead and we were friends on facebook, please don't take it personally, I just don't like being harvested.

I love scenery like this

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:47:03 +0000

stopped on my way home to take this shot

I wish I'd taken longer to take it, but it was on a narrow road. It captures the sense of what I wanted. I'll see if I can get a more please shot another day.

Drinking a toast to dad.

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:45:05 +0000

and this beer tastes mighty fine.

Happy birthday Bill

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:18:56 +0000
Birthday celebrations

Report Easy

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:16:50 +0000

I've been working on a little side project to learn programming (this is the year of coding apparently).

http://www.reporteasy.co.uk

This is a little application that assists with writing pupil reports for teachers - it automates a lot of the text entry that often takes a long time.

Posterous

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:11:37 +0000

Peeps! Who should I be following on posterous?

Enjoying google music

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:10:57 +0000

I've signed up to google music - not sure if I like the way spotify is going. I don't like having to have a facebook account (not that I had one when I initially signed up) and I don't like the way spotify are going about publishing details about my music preferences even though I haven't signed up for it.

So, for a while - goodbye spotify and hello google music.

Enjoying google music

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:10:02 +0000

I've signed up to google music - not sure if I like the way spotify is going. I don't like having to have a facebook account (not that I had one when I initially signed up) and I don't like the way spotify are going about publishing details about my music preferences even though I haven't signed up for it.

So, for a while - goodbye spotify and hello google music.

Hello world!

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:01:23 +0000

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!