tom_newton

Here's an idea: pick a project first. Something you really want to do (or you'll get bored). Then pick the language. As danbuntu says, python is the boss of GUI & games (see frozen bubble), and i'd say perl is the boss of server/web. Or there may be a third wheel, depending on your chosen project...

Ah, great to hear that. Sounds like it was a subtly different problem to the one I was solving

Perl, if it is usefulness you want. Can't beat it - especially for neat little one offs like batch processing. Perl and Python developers (good ones) are rare in the job market - but jobs are correspondingly thin on the ground, if its career you are looking at, maybe look elsewhere. Also, use vi. On a PC. Running Linux. Drink Coffee. That's all

Add it as whitelisted (in custom allow is easiest) and it won't get cert checked. HTH. Tom

Can you upload it to http://www.virustotal.com/ and see who *does* catch it?

Thanks for that! I'm actually using xchat on linux, but some of the windows chaps here used silverex. I know from quit messages that a few of my colleagues in southampton use pidgin - i'll let them know they're being doylems

Buy a domain as folk have said, then send an email to your addressbook informing them of your new address - a bit spammy, but you haven't a lot of choice. Go back through your mails to look for companies you deal with (like amazon etc.) where you need to change your address. Then, give it 1 month without using the old address - just check it - and pull the trigger.

Try X-Chat 2 for Windows for a decent client - or pidgin I think works, but not used it. We do IRC for inter-office tech chat in SmoothWall.

If you use proxy.pac/wpad.dat with Group Policy, DHCP *and* DNS you'll cover a lot (but not all) of the cases. Your "portal" idea is a good fallback. You'll need an intercepting proxy on your network gateway though. Once you have an intercepting proxy lined up - let us know which one, and we can help work out how to do what you want - there's more than one way to skin that particular cat.

Yeah - you want whatever box you're using for web filtering (and this sounds like a web filtering job to me) to be part of your domain, useful on many levels.

Got a fair chunk off the wife's civic by haggling like a b--tard, but it was brand new - always easier. Still, chummy you were talking to sounds like he's playing hardball a bit too much. Give him a week to stew - depends how long he's had it on the forecourt. If you can sell your car privately you may do better, specially if it has a bit on the MOT.

To add to this zombie thread... the "pass thru" on our aastra 53i phones works fine. If anyone tells you you need a load of complicated QoS setups they're pulling your leg. You should have seen the shabby switches I started our voip system on 5 years ago. Only thing i'd add to that is most 'phones only have a 10/100 switch in em, so if you want gig..

Eeep. Leave my details for your successor, he/she will thank you for it

David, Well, we're here to help out. Leave my contact details in a prominent place for the poor unfortunate individual While i'm on the subject, good luck for your new job! Tom

Congratulations Alex - you're a lucky man to get a job where they *already* have SmoothWall filters Just to let you know that myself & my colleagues are here to help you over anything you need to learn about our products!

One of our sysadmins, Imran, is climbing some large mountain thing in Pakistan right now. He tells me as a traveller he's exempt from fasting - which is a good job, as I imagine it might not do him a right lot of good whilst climbing big hills.

Linky linky! Show us the machine! I buy coffee from coffee compass (but Richard is on holiday this week, so you'll have to wait if you want some) by the box-load. We usually get some interesting stuff - think we're on the Zimbabwean at the mo. Still, Taylors is excellent, just a bit expensive for use in the office, and lacks the variety we get at Coffee Compass.

My £7 coffee machine from co-op functioned perfectly for 5 years. It was eventually replaced by a better model (got it as a wedding gift). Brought it in to work to replace a dead unit, and some t--ser broke the jug within 2 days.

Top drawer. Thanks for the update.

I think the wife wants me to get an android now - already got a canon dslr, so I have told her that it's good for her

Don’t Be Ugly By Accident! « OkTrends One for you Ric

Mint. I might now georeference our customer db for a laugh

Cool. Will that georeference a single postcode? I'd cache your results in your db mind.

Arr. Looks like you still need to do some georeferencing - though you could do this for very small datasets by firing the postcode at google maps and getting the URL back - but you still need to georeference the "input" postcode (I presume you are doing something like a "storefinder").

You may find a service to do this. DIY is harder. Roughly the steps are: * find a georeferencer - pref one that gives postcode->national grid NOT lat long. This is hard-ish, as the data costs money, though there are free datasets out there, they have a range of issues (dubious provenance, out of date, low accuracy) which may or may not bother you. Last I looked Google did not provide a postcode georeferencing service. * Georeference your "nearest" locations. Store x,y * when you get a query, georeference the postcode, and then compare pythagorean distance to all the others, and sort them (can be done entirely in SQL). This isnt fast, but for small datasets (<1k), all optimisations are worthless * create KML from the results and pass to google maps I'm *very* rusty with the old map work... been out of it a long time, but still maintain a passing interest. You might find that Google needs lat long in KMl, in which case i'd store both nat grid, and ll in your DB. Nat grid is nice as we are a small country we can grid our maps without losing a lot of accuracy. Grid means "distance" and other fun things are easy to calculate.