No audio – this thread sorts it
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=88369
Filename Search and Replace
Although I use Textpad editor for search & replace functions generally, it does not extend to changing filenames. At work I needed to replace part of a filename in a number of PHP files. I found a very useful utility for doing a find and replace on large numbers of filenames at once. It’s called FileMonkey and you can get a copy here.
Lend your Kindle books
can now ‘lend’ their books to other Kindle users, it was announced today. The new feature allows e-books bought for the Kindle platform to be lent out for 14 days, delivered by email and springing back to their owners automatically after the period is up. The books can also be read on free Amazon e-book readers for PC, Mac and Mobiles. Amazon explains how.
Family Tree
I’ve started work converting my fathers spreadsheets of our family ancestry into electronic (and searchable form).
There’s been a huge amount of interest and development in online tools for tracing genealogy over the last 10 years, indeed it’s something the internet was almost made for. Unfortunately so far, little of the digitised data is freely available online (though freely available in public libraries). It seems as though the agencies which held the data have allowed monopoly providers to sell the data in return for their financial contribution to digitising the data.
The exception I’ve found has been Google Books – digitised versions of out of copyright books.
Searching on Google for unusual names, or a name with a date if you have it can also be fruitful. I found a website about a particular village where an ancestor had been the vicar and there was lots of additional information there.
List of Useful Tools
- TNG – software used to build the site. Requires PHP Hosting.
- MyHeritage – Desktop software, free version, used to produce printable vertical family trees.
- EzeePlan – very helpful printers who produced a 2x A0 size print on a single roll of paper. Very good value too.
Crossing Hungerford Bridge
Walking back to Waterlook station from Chinatown, after our weekly Chinese School trip, we crossed Hungerford bridge and I took this shot with my phone camera.
Two monitors are better than one
I’ve had two monitors on my office desk for as long as I can remember. There was a nice Dilbert cartoon last week that sums up the feeling of smugness very nicely – click the pic to see the entire comic strip.
Bye Bye BST
I don’t know who first came up with the idea that when the clocks go back at the end of British Summer Time that “you get an extra hour in bed”. They certainly didn’t have children. For us it was an hour less in bed. The kids still woke up at their usual time – as per their internal body clocks – whereas as we adults have gone to bed an hour later so got an hour less sleep. I’m on day 3 at the time of writing and there’s still no sign of their body clocks adjusting….
Ecofund
Wandsworth council has a £5,000 eco fund to help environmental projects get started. I my idea to cover the entire roof space of our block of flats in solar cells would be a bit too pricey but if you’ve got a low-budget idea, take a look.
London SkyRide 2010
Slightly less busy than last year, and the route was improved, yesterdays London Skyride was a big success with us. Thomas (4) cycled the whole day, including the ride back to Battersea without any complaint.
Not many Boris bikes around, I’d have thought they’d be more. Mind you at £35 for 6 hours you wouldn’t get many takers.
I only realised at the very end of the day that the ‘sky’ in ‘skyride’ referred to the satellite TV broadcaster. What a dolt!
Good old National Trust
There’s something very John Majorish about the National Trust. Good to see they keep to the traditional (and proper) naming for their conveniences.
