I think that apart from whatever/random thoughts section we just need a topic for our random thoughts.

so I’ll start: where’s everyone?! no one’s here

and tomorrow’s my first day at real work. it’s a smile and a frown one, so I’m wrting about it in here. gosh, i’m even scared, hope it will go good

Week 13 is nearly over, and it’s been another good one. Weigh-in on Monday saw another 3 and a half pounds off, which takes my total loss to 3 stone, 6 and a half pounds or 48 and a half pounds or 21.99kg.

Synful!

I decided a few weeks ago after my last gain to try to avoid having Syns altogether. It just seemed better that way, as I’d end up choosing food that was better for me instead. This approach is working most of the time, but there have been occasions this week when my old pal Jack came a’calling, and an odd moment on Thursday night when I said “It’s okay, it’s only Nimble” enough times to part company with more Syns than I’d had that previous fortnight. Still, all things considered it’s not been a bad week, but I felt a need to indulge in some activity today so Michael and meself headed off for what I hope will become a regular Saturday BigWalk.

Saturday BigWalk… I could see this catching on.

Prior to starting Slimming World the thought of walking into town from our flat was laughable. No way. If I made it into town I certainly wouldn’t make it back again. A few weeks ago, however, we decided to give it a try, walking to the supermarket on the edge of the town centre. Despite being caught in a nasty downpour on the way back, we survived and the scales were particularly nice to me that week as a result. Today, we decided to give it another go, but this time all the way into the town centre, with as many tea stops as we needed along the way. Getting down Canal Hill and across into town seemed so easy it was a bit embarrassing to think it was ever a challenge. We wandered around for a while, with a couple of coffee stops at the same lovely vegetarian restaurant (didn’t eat there but the food looked delicious…), and stopped to eat at our favourite canalside tea shop (home of the infamous teapots). A total of 2.3 miles according to the Gmaps Pedometer, not bad going especially as it involved walking back up the foothills of Mount Tiverton!

Meanwhile, in cyberspace…

Last night while poking around in Facebook I found a Slimming World group! Cool, a whole new group of people to blether about Syns and Healthy Extras with!

Anyway, I’m hoping for another good loss this coming Monday. The journey continues…

…don’t know about u, but I like them very much!I like the current line up but I LOVE the original one:)Rachel Bolan rocks!!!So, what about u?

The project I’ve been working on for quite a while now at work has just been completed, and it’s now live for you to play with…

• Cult Pens PenFinder

PenFinder lets you find pens and other products by a whole lot of different methods. You could find, for example(s)…

• All ballpoints
• All refillable fountain pens
• All rollerballs with red ink
• All markers available with both green and orange ink
• The cheapest pen with a big grip
• All pens with triangular grips suitable for children
• All products suitable for calligraphy
• All pens with brush tips

…or pretty much any other combination you fancy.

The Code

I won’t go into much detail, because it would probably be tedious for you, but PenFinder is full of Web 2.0 stuff, using AJAX to keep the page updated without all that tedious time spent submitting the page and waiting for it to come back with your results. For users, it just means that everything feels a bit more responsive than such a page otherwise would.

Usually, though, that brings one big problem with it – the URL never changes, so you can’t bookmark the page, and people couldn’t email a link to the search results to a friend. Since that’s how a lot of our customers get to us, that would be a Bad Thing. So, I used a neat little trick I found. Each time you update the list of options you’ve picked, or change the sort order, the code doesn’t actually regenerate the list – it just modifies the bit after the hash symbol on the URL. Another bit of code is running every second, and it finds the changed URL, and uses that information to rebuild the list of products for you.

The upshot of that, though, is that if someone sends you a link to the page for the sort of pens they think you’d be interested in, you can click the link. The page will first load up just as if nothing had been selected, but within a second, it will notice the URL, update the selected options, and rebuild the product list. You’ll see it happen if you watch carefully as you go to any of the links above – the boxes all load blank, with no list of pens, but after a second it all changes.

There are still a few things we know we need to improve, but it’s pretty usable as it is – give it a go, and have fun.

Because we know he likes to stop by and have a read of GuitarPr0n on a morning, so post your birthday greetings to The Lovely Mr Hudson here!

Happy birthday, Slash. 42 today! According to the Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything. You, however, are the answer to another ultimate question – “Who’s the greatest guitar player on planet earth?” Hope you have a good one.

An edible puzzle. Well, chewable, anyway. Odd.

I know that everyone on here likes listening to this band.

I thought it might be fun to have a place to post links we find interesting that don’t really fit in anywhere else in the forum. Here’s one to be filed under “I saw this and thought of Tania.”…

• Funky New Zealand Camper Vans

Latest Update: Added a handmade camera cozy from Evil Mad Scientist Labs.

Simple tips, tricks and hacks to enhance your photography without damaging your bank balance…

Still Photography

Camera Modifications

• Making a single-use digital camera reuseable, thanks to Lifehacker – not a bad solution if you need a camera cheap enough to take anywhere, but it looks like there’s a bit of work involved. Might still be better to just pick up a very cheap second hand camera.
• How about leather-coating your camera? Blue has – in blue leather, of course, and it looks pretty damn cool. There’s no actual wrappings for Panasonic cameras from cameraleather, so presumably some sort of trickery was involved, but the result looks good.
• Love your DSLR, but wish it was a bit more, well, crappy? Well, now you can get Holga results from an expensive new digital camera, by attaching a Holga lens to either a Nikon D50 or a Canon EOS. I think I’d prefer to get good results if I had an EOS, but there you go. Some people are just weird. (D50 link via Make:, EOS link via the D50 link.)
• 3 Ways to Mod a Single Use Camera. Via Make:.

DIY Equipment

• shoeBlade has written a really nice clear howto on making a String Tripod – a couple of eye hooks and a length of cord is all you need. Opinion seems divided over how well it works, but he does say it takes a bit of practice. Looks like it could help, though, without taking up much space in a kit bag. Certainly easier than carrying a tripod.
• Ice Cooler Lightbox – the easiest DIY lightbox yet.
• Printable Lens Hoods – a site full of templates for easy and cheap DIY lens hoods. Templates for all the major makes. Via Photojojo via Craftzine
• Make your own Muslin Background. If you’re photographing people indoors (in your ‘studio’), you don’t want to be snapping them against a magnolia-painted wall. This simple howto shows you a way to make a background from a sheet of muslin and some dye. It’s just a tie-dye job, really, but the result doesn’t look too much like a hippy t-shirt.
• Going out in the rain? You can always just wrap your camera in a plastic bag. It’s not perfect, but it’ll keep a few raindrops at bay, and it’s cheaper than buying a pro camera with fully sealed buttons and doors.
• Lens Hood – A lens hood made from a plastic bottle. Via Make:
• DIY PVC Light Box/Light Tent/Mini Photographic Studio – How to make a light box with interchangeable backdrops for stunning professional effects. Via Make:, via DIY:happy.
• Flash Mounted DIY Softbox – Made with card, paper and a small piece of silk. Via Make:
• Wackiest Hot-Shoe Attachment – Get happy portraits every time with this simple attachment. Via Make:

Lighting

• Another DIY Light Tent, from Digital Photography School – a very good clear explanation, with plenty of pictures.
• A post on The Fountain Pen Network on using a DIY light tent and work lights for photographing pens or other small objects.
• DIY Copper Pipe Light Box – A lightbox made from copper piping. Translation from the french page here. Via Make:
• Super Simple Light Tent – Great idea, a light tent made out of a cardboard box. Via Make:
• Cheap DIY Homemade Reflector Stand – made out of PVC pipe and mounted on a tripod. Good idea. Via Make:.
• A Budget DIY Lighting System – using perspex off-cuts, a clothes rail from IKEA and a high power work lamp. Via Make:.
• DIY Homemade Flash Mini-Bouncer – A bouncer for a hotshoe flash using heavy photo paper and velcro. There’s something quite pleasing about photo paper being used to make camera equipment, I like that. Via Make:

DIY Accessories

• Handmade camera cozy – knowing how expensive decent camera bags can be, any DIY tips are always welcome. This one, from Evil Mad Scientist Labs, needs you to be a bit handy with a sewing machine, but the result is cute and no doubt considerably cheaper than a Lowepro. Via Craftzine.
• Home Made Wooden Tripod via Make: – not sure how good it is, but it’s very pretty.
• Got a narrow neck strap, and wish it could be tightened up to double as a wrist strap? See my dad’s Strap Hack for a way to do just that with just a bit of cable insulation.
• DIY Digital Photo Frame – Great idea. A digital photo frame using an old laptop and the flickr RSS Feed. Via Make:

Tips

• DIY Photography on the Cheap – An article aimed at anyone who needs to get some reasonably professional pictures taken without actually hiring a professional.

Video and Film

• Table Dolly via Make: magazine – probably only useful in certain situations, but a whole lot cheaper and smaller than a full size dolly. Plus, you could actually be the ‘Dolly Grip’ in the credits.
• DIY “Fig Rig” a video camera stabiliser made from PVC Piping. A cheaper DIY alternative to Manfrotto’s version. Via Make:.
• $40 Steadicam.

Via Yahoo music from the beautiful people at Reuters:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The last time that Velvet Revolver singer Scott Weiland was in the news it didn’t have much to do with his musical accomplishments.

Weiland and his model wife Mary got into a brawl at a Los Angeles-area hotel in March, and a room was trashed. Even worse, his wife set fire to $50,000 worth of Weiland’s beloved vintage suits.

But on the promotional trail for Velvet Revolver’s second album, “Libertad,” Weiland, 39, says it was merely a lovers’ spat. In reality, he told Reuters that the couple and their two kids live fairly normal lives by rock-star standards:

Q: On his marriage

A: “We’re incredible soulmates, but we’re both a little bit crazy. We’re best friends, we’re lovers, we’re husband and wife. But in a sense we’re both tortured souls.”

More here:

• Velvet Revolver singer praises family life