It all started when Polly and I came back from the supermarket and realised we'd forgotten to get some vegetables we needed. So we got back into the car and nipped out for just 15 minutes to Garden Fresh. When we got back, while walking down the driveway, I noticed a blue T shirt. "Odd," I thought. I picked it up and looked round and saw a youngish lad legging it out of the gate and down the road. Then I saw the bathroom window. "Ohhhhh Bugger ...," I thought. The git had taken my Macbook and my new Ubuntu laptop, as well as my iPhone. Fortunately he hadn't had time to grap Polly's laptop so we still had some computing power left in the house ...

The insurance company (AA) were great. Really great. No quibbling, no quoting of fine print, and a cash settlement that got me back up and running ...

I had been starting to become jaded about Apple computers after 10 years of being a devoted OS X user. I was starting to wonder what you *really* got for the extra cash you paid for them. It used to be that the hardware lasted much longer before the first telltale signs of decay but since they moved production to China, they've pretty much had the same life as any other computers. So, I came home with a shiny new touch-screen Windows 7 Dell all-in-one beauty with 6GB of RAM and set it up. I was planning to install Ubuntu on it ... but I thought I'd play around with Windows 7 for a bit first ...

Now, I always seem to have a need to go into Windows from time to time ... my clients often have some Windows-only or more specifically, Internet Explorer-only thing that I need to attend to. In the past, I ran Windows XP in VirtualBox on the Macbook and it was enough for my needs. However, while I was playing around with Windows 7 (which, surprisingly, I liked ...) I thought, "Hang on. Instead of running Windows in a VirtualBox why don't I run Ubuntu in a VirtualBox on Windows!" So that is now what I have set up: Ubuntu Server LTS. Which brings me to the main point of this article.

I had used Eclipse on sparingly in the past because it seemed such a bloated memory-hog compared with the lightfooted tools I preferred to use. However, I decided to give it another go, in the absence of my usual tools on Windows 7. With my 6 GB of RAM, Eclipse is beautifully smooth. I don't miss my old tools at all. I also don't miss either the Mac OS X interface or the rather amateurish Ubuntu one. (I've always found Linux UIs a bit cringe-worthy to be honest, even though Unity is way ahead of what went before ... ) I still develop LAMP stuff obviously ... so I use putty to ssh into the Ubuntu VirtualBox.

I use Gmail as my email client and Google Docs so I have no need for any MS Office suite software. I haven't even installed Open/Libre Office. Skype was pre-installed. The only non-development applications I have installed are Picasa and Chrome. 

... and all because of some forgotten veggies ...

Goodbye Apple! It was nice knowing you but it is time to move on! Oh and RIP Steve Jobs!

Mark Webster at the NZ Herald has picked up on Snapr:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10629443&pnum=0 

I coded the python back end for this baby. I have high hopes for it! One of the most fun projects I have worked on ... ever ...


http://www.stoppress.co.nz/social-media/2010/02/microsoft-reels-in-a-kiwi-snapr-for-sxsw-conference/

I'm working on a small project on a remote server. I'm using TextWrangler to edit the files and save back over 'SFTP' (I prefer to call it scp but what the hell). 


I *could* set up svn for code management but I'm the only developer and I decided to do something different just for the hell of it. It works for me so why not. 


When I have a working version and I'm ready to move onto the next coding stage, I rsync it to my Snow Leopard machine, go to the Time Machine icon on the menu bar and hit 'Backup Now'. Then if I want to go back, I can just get the old stuff out the Time Machine. 


Doesn't give me the fill gamut of what svn gives but it works for a small project like this. 

I am a big supporter of Fair Trade stuff. I try to get fairly traded groceries. People should get a living wage for their labour and not be treated like slaves.


But I get annoyed by the limited range of stuff you get in the TradeAid shops. It's mostly little trinkets and things and it seems mostly aimed at women and small children. Fair enough in itself but why can't there be more practical, everyday stuff and the kind of things that guys buy? It's a great place to go for a present for a woman or a girl or a small child and I often do that if I need presents for friends or family. However, TradeAid could be so much more than that.

If I need a new tool or household item I go to the Warehouse or Mitre 10 and buy something made in China. It's the same for gifts for boys. However, I have my doubts about the working conditions in Chinese factories.

Obviously, you couldn't at the moment stock entire Warehouse branches with fair trade stock but it would be good if some sort of start were made. 

I can't believe that fair trade trading partners in the developing world can only make little trinkets. It would be great to go into TradeAid and see (say) a Foosball table or a fishing rod or sports equipment or useful household items. 

They do a few good T-shirts for men there but most of the apparel is for women and children.

The focus on trinkets also makes it feel like just another form of consumerism and of course those trinkets used oil to get here. 

This is a bit of a rant. A reasoned rant though, I would hope, if that's not an oxymoron.


The Coromandel Mining issue has come to a head again.


The pressure group against it managed to get a compromise Private Member's bill through in 1997 that provided a limited measure of protection. 


http://coromandelwatchdog.wordpress.com/history/


The measures introduced then are under review. It looks very much like the mining lobby bided its time waiting for a National government with a stronger parliamentary position than in 1997, to bring about their agenda.


At a time like this we need a strong Green Party. 


But the Green Party shot itself in the foot and inadvertently contributed to the downfall of Helen Clarke's government. How did they do this? By providing a massive great big nail for the coffin of the Clark government in the form of the 'anti-smacking bill' as it's popularly known. 


Labour was reviewing Section 59 of the Crimes Act, which allows the indefensible to be defended. The Greens weren't happy with the pace of things so rushed in with their own bill to amend the Act. 


I should say at this point that I am 100% behind the anti-smacking principle. I voted 'Yes' in the badly worded, cringingly argued referendum last year, against the current of the majority of New Zealand voters. 


But the timing of the bill was all wrong. The presentation of the bill was all wrong. It was a measure against child abuse. It was popularised as an example of Nanny State telling parents what to do and that image stuck. Those opposed to the Green/Labour/UF coalition were able to use it in their campaign to convince New Zealanders that it was 'time for a change'. They were very successful in presenting it as evidence that the coalition was out of touch with average New Zealanders. 


This typifies the main problem with the Greens -- their alarming lack of political strategy and their focus on issues that either do not interest or irritate or downright repel ordinary New Zealanders. 


If it hadn't been for this bill, maybe, just maybe the Nats would not be in their position of strength today. The Greens would not have lost the little credibility they had.


The Coromandel Mining issue and the National government's policy of making GDP growth its overriding priority show the need for a strong Green party. A Green party with cojones. A Green party that really does connect with ordinary kiwis. We all know what the environmental problems are that we face and they are serious. The Green Party is too cerebral, preachy, sandaly, alternative. It comes across as weak and pusillanimous. We need a Green party with political nous, credibility, and the ability to engage with the forceful demands of a business lobby that means business and knows what it wants and how to get it. A Green party that your average kiwi bloke feels comfortable supporting because it has presented its case in his language. 


But honestly, I don't know where that Green party is going to emerge from.

I am for ever looking for better ways to get and stay in the ZONE for programming. It's become something of an obsession ... fine tuning techniques to maximise my most productive time.


I have made a weird discovery.


The Pythagoreans used music to encourage/discourage certain moods. They had a system of temperaments (choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine and melancholic) and used music in different MODES to balance people's temperaments.


To cut a long story short, I have made an intirguing discovery. Music in the DORIAN mode is what should get me in the zone best, according to this theory, which says I have a Sanguine-Phlegmatic temperament. You can play a Dorian scale by playing C Major but starting on D instead of C. I.e. D to D on the white notes. Or if you like, D Minor but using B natural rather than B flat. An example is Scarborough Fair. If you have the music to this, you will notice it is in D minor but the B flat is made natural every time. 


A lot of Irish music (e.g. Cooley's Reel) is in the Dorian mode. 


I now have a ZONE iTunes playlist made up of exclusively Dorian tunes:


Light My Fire -- The Doors
So What -- Miles Davis (Davis uses Dorian a lot)
Razorblade Alley -- Madness
Pirates of the Caribbean Theme Tune
Black Magic Woman -- Fleetwood Mac
The Way I Feel -- Gordon Lightfoot
Another Brick in the Wall -- Pink Floyd
Eleanor Rigby -- The Beatles (this is always quoted as being a good example of Dorian)
One -- Metallica


What's interesting is that these are tunes that never fail to hit the spot for me and tingle my spine every time, especially some of the exquisite guitar playing. That long instrumental repetition of 2 or 3 or 4 notes in the middle of Light My Fire is a good example too. 


For best ZONE results, I play these tunes quietly in the background. I think basically the music calms my distracted mind in the background so I can think in the foreground. I've known which songs help in the past but it's good to have a theory to fine-tune my choices for zone music ...

In the iPhone app submission process, you have to provide information in the languages of the stores your app will appear in. Here are the versions of English that Apple need your descriptions to be in:

• English




• Canadian English




• Australian English




• UK English

WHAT! UK English? But 'English' is the language of England, and anything else should have a qualifier. And what is UK English anyway? There is English, the language of England, but also Scottish English and Ulster English and Welsh English, and they each have their nuances. 


In Apple's world, 'English' obviously means 'US English'. 


If Apple were Quebecois, would they call Canadian French, 'French', and the French of France, 'France French'? Or 'French French'? 


Of course, my surprise is feigned, as I have long experience with L10n/I18n, and I am used to this. But it is always mildly irritating that 'UK English' is considered a qualifiable variation on 'English', the language spoken in the USA ...


I suppose I just have to remind myself that I do in fact have 'a life' and should get back to it and stop worrying about things like this ...

The iPhone apps I have been developing have been approved!



http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/karaoke-legend/id333195142?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/karaoke-christmas-gold/id342351969?mt=8


It took a while but they're on sale at last!

Google has a new style that you can try out using the following steps:


1. Go to http://www.google.com/ncr
2. Enter the following in your URL bar: 


javascript:void(document.cookie="PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com");


3. Repeat step 1.


Then you will get to see the new Google design.