firetree.net

Sign the pledge: I will move to an ISP that does not censor my Internet access but only if 1,000 other people in the UK will do the same.

The following UK Internet Service Providers are censoring their users' web-access:

• Opal Telecommunications
• Virgin Media
• Be Unlimited/O2/Telefonica
• Demon …

I've decided that I hate Wordpress' multi-widget "API", so I've written a cleaner interface for it: class MultiWidget

Damon Timm added multi-widget functionality to Event-Calendar. He did a fine job, but I was horrified by the hoops he'd been forced to jump through. The barely-documented "API" is so …

The Monkeysphere project looks interesting. It basically integrates ssh authentication with the OpenPGP web-of-trust. So a server admin can create an account for a new user with only his OpenPGP identity - basically just an e-mail address. There's no need to have a separate ssh public-key - the PGP public-key is used …

Here's a Python script to remove Textile mark-up from a Wordpress blog.

Download the script here: untextile.py

I've recently upgraded The Raven to the latest version of Wordpress. When I first set it up (back when Wordpress was at version 1.2!!) I installed the Textile plug-in. Most of …

proc is a program that 'compiles' Pro*C into C or C++. It's shocking that a big company like Oracle could produce something so shoddy.

Each time the program runs, it generates three temporary files in the current directory and leaves them there! After a few builds I've got thousands …

So, the ludicrous plot to blow up aeroplanes with bottles of shampoo turns out to be nothing but a paranoid fantasy. Naturally, the hysterical extra security measures brought in as a response to the "threat" will remain in place indefinitely.

Is this an evil plot to further restrict our freedoms …

I've just spent a rather dry afternoon working out how to create a service on AIX. In brief, AIX doesn't provide any real support for SysV style Unix services, instead it has its own scheme, which does not use the familiar start/stop wrapper scripts.

Today we hear the BBC has discovered that Facebook apps allow your "personal details" to be "stolen"!!!!11 In reality, it's always been obvious that Facebook apps can see your whole profile, and anyone can write a Facebook app. Yes, two plus two really does make four.

The real problem …

Late last year I went to the Ordnance Survey to see a demonstration of their new OpenSpace mapping service. It was there that I met Artem Pavlenko, who wrote Mapnik. We talked briefly about a few things, one of which was the Boost C++ libraries. I suggested that using such …

I went into Town today to register as an election observer for the Open Rights Group. On the way home, my tube train shuddered to an early halt in Oxford Circus station. Some poor person had fallen (or jumped?) under the train.

We were all trapped in the carriage for …