David Coveney

Archives

All the posts below have been written by David Coveney.

5 May, 2009

Handy Tip for CSS Reloading

CSS not refreshing in the browser can be a pain – Mark Jaquith has come up with an elegant solution to this for WordPress coders.

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18 April, 2009

Broadcom B57nd60x 10.10.0.0 performance problems (Dell XPS especially)

CPU spikes were making my laptop less fun to use – a nice online guide and a quick bit of sleuthing with MS’s sysinternals tools and I soon had the answer. The laptop is now faster, quieter and has better battery life.

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14 April, 2009

Just Go Back a Bit

There’s a question on a wall in Liverpool – “Would you like to die old and slow, or young and tragic?” But the more I think about it, the more I don’t know. This guy was definitely young and tragic.

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19 March, 2009

Palenque, Mayan Ruins

Palenque town itself is a rather drab place, but the ruins, deep in jungle, are as spectacular as you might expect. It’s also the perfect place to feel like Indiana Jones for a day…

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San Cristobal de las Casas to Pelenque

I’m never sure if it’s a great idea to save money on hotels by using overnight buses. It is, however, a very effective use of time. Just so long as you can get some sleep. The bus to San Cristobal was certainly as comfortable as was needed – we could only get seats on the […]

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16 March, 2009

Planes, Trains and Taxis to Mexico

It felt like we’d been travelling for 36hrs… and we had. Tired, dehydrated and crabby, reaching Oaxaca and actually getting a proper meal and a comfy bed was actually something of a highlight…

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10 March, 2009

Tim Ferriss and why I don’t like his emotional blackmail

I appreciate, right away, that by writing about Tim Ferriss I’m going to give him the oxygen of publicity. And what follows may just be a small-minded rant. I don’t know – feel free to tell me if I’m wrong by commenting….

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2 March, 2009

PHP Serialization Fix for WordPress Migrations (& other applications like Expression Engine)

Serialization of data loaded into an SQL table is a dreadful thing and makes WordPress migrations harder than they should be, but it happens and so we must deal with it. I’ve knocked up a rough and ready bit of code which does its best to resolve the problem.

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Wordcamp UK 2009 to be in Cardiff

If you’re following the various WordCamp lists, you’ll already know about this event.  But many won’t. If you use WordPress professionally, or with a great deal of enthusiasm, WordCamps are a great way to meet with other users, developers and designers who really understand the system.  There are useful presentations, social events and activities based […]

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24 February, 2009

Cerrie Burnell – and unthinking parents

Cerrie Burnell – a pretty children’s TV presenter who, it seems, has managed to upset some parents by only having one arm. Er… what?!

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27 January, 2009

Wordcamp UK 2009 to Liverpool?

Well, we’re going to try!  WordCamp is a small, informal conference all about WordPress and its people. Wordcamp UK 2008 was held in Birmingham last year.  The current list of nominated venues are in Liverpool, Cardiff and London.  Read the pdf attached below, and see what you think.  Feedback would be great, but if you […]

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26 January, 2009

Microsoft OneNote

At the risk of sounding like an MS Fanboi, I thought I’d bring up Microsoft Office OneNote. I’ve been using this package for general note-taking for some time now, and I’m finding it to be an incredibly useful piece of software. Thing is – it’s quite hard to explain. It’s a freeform note taking application, […]

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16 January, 2009

10 Things That Will Make No Difference Whatsoever To Your Blog’s Success

Blah blah blah fascinating introduction blah blah read this blah blah simple list, should only take a few minutes blah blah oh come ON you swines… just click on the link, OK?!

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13 January, 2009

New Year’s Resolutions for Greater Productivity

I don’t talk much about business on this blog, but I’ve decided to share what I’m doing to increase my productivity at work. So far these changes are making a great deal of difference.

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7 January, 2009

Health & Safety – They’re Rational, Could You Be Too?

The UK Health & Safety Executive is run by largely sensible, clear minded folk that want to help us to keep doing what we do, but ideally without losing fingers, testicles or lives. So why do they get so much flack?  Why do we keep hearing tales of children not being allowed to play in […]

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6 January, 2009

Barriers that Punish

Automatic Rising Bollards – in my opinion a dangerous hazard that can cause serious damage to property and injury to car occupants. Come on guys – you can think of better ways to keep traffic out….

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Pros & Cons of Software as a Service

SaaS rocks, but it’s not the be all and end all. But it is hot right now (again) and will continue to be so for quite some time. However, Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) driven by the likes of Flex and Silverlight could be returning us to a Client Server paradigm and is probably the way forward – bringing SaaS and local processing benefits to users.

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4 January, 2009

Using Hysteria and Useful Idiots to Drive Law-making

Inflate a problem, lie about it, redefine some words, and hey presto! You have a way to make a new law that will probably cause a lot of harm but will tick the boxes of certain voters whilst not alienating others.

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31 December, 2008

Speed Limiting in Cars

As part one of my campaign to introduce the concept of actually thinking to UK media, pundits and government, I’m covering the nasty little idea of automatic speed limiters being introduced to cars – so that people can, basically, stop thinking about the speed they drive at. That’ll work…

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About the Campaign for Thinking

Introducing my personal, one man mini-crusade – the Campaign for Thinking. It’s going to be a scattered stream of consciousness thing. It might be good therapy for me. Who knows?

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28 December, 2008

Wardrobe For Sale

Yes really – feel the excitement of this slimline, 200x100x40 wardrobe. Oooh!

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9 December, 2008

Data Visualisation – and Me

I’ve always loved charts.

Yes. I know.

But well drawn charts are always fascinating. Now, combine a chart with what is sometimes my favourite subject, me, and maybe I could do something?

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