http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/ en glen@glenswinfield.co.uk Copyright 2008 2008-07-03T18:50:00+00:00 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/glenswinfield/~3/326037052/ http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/now_then_now_then_hows_about_a_bit_of_running/#When:18:50:00Z I'm running the Nottingham Robin Hood Marathon on September 14th 2008, and I hope you don't mind if hassle you for a bit of sponsorship. As you may know my older sister Karen died three years ago as the result of an epileptic seizure, it stands to reason then that I am collecting money for Epilepsy Action. "Epilepsy Action is the largest member-led epilepsy organisation in Britain, acting as the voice for the UK's estimated 456,000 people with epilepsy, as well as their friends, families, carers, health professionals and the many other people on whose lives the condition has an impact." It's a great charity and your money will be well spent. You can donate easily online at my just giving page. The Marathon consists of 26 miles around Nottingham. It's a long way but hopefully the training I've done will get me round. More information about the run can be found here. I have been training hard and I'm looking forward to it. I have never ran anything like that distance before so anything could happen. I'll keep you updated right here!. Thanks for reading. Best Practice Makes Perfect, CodeIgniter, Expression Engine, Extensions, Hacks, Modules, Plugins, Music, Personal 2008-07-03T18:50:00+00:00 http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/now_then_now_then_hows_about_a_bit_of_running/#When:18:50:00Z http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/glenswinfield/~3/317945839/ http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/burned_tired_and_arse_battered/#When:07:53:00Z So the Erskine team (well Colly, Greg, Phil and I) completed the Great Notts Bike Ride 50 mile challenge yesterday and I’d like to make few points. 50 Miles is a reasonable distance. 50 Miles, 30 of which are into 30 mile an hour headwinds is disgusting. Even if it’s cloudy, if it is late June, pack suncream. Pack it and use it or you will get burned, really burned. I actually can’t feel my arms. 50 Miles, if you don’t cycle long distances regularly will make your arse hurt. It will make it hurt so bad that it’s pretty much all you can think about for around 30 miles. If you suffer from hayfever, take some hayfever tablets, wear sunglasses and pack eyedrops. I did none of this and deeply regretted it. New boy Chris MacPherson didn’t make it - a suitable forfeit will be delivered. All in all it was a really well organised event, old, young, families - all were taking part and it was good to see. We also got to cruise around some Nottinghamshire villages that I didn’t even know existed. So although I have the worst sunburn I can remember on my arms, and without my t-shirt on I look like I’m still wearing a t-shirt and I have had the worst hayfever I can remember - my eyes are still swollen and crusty this morning, and my arse is still very sore, I would do it again for sure - and I’d buy one of these first. Time to put the bike away and get back to my marathon training, only 11 weeks to go! Running ruins your hips, knees and shins but at least it doesn’t sting your backside. Oh and Colly put up a flickr set. Personal 2008-06-23T07:53:00+00:00 http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/burned_tired_and_arse_battered/#When:07:53:00Z http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/glenswinfield/~3/260905915/ http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/the_good_stuff/#When:20:42:00Z I have been lucky enough to come across some really good stuff lately - not drugs"stuff" - just general stuff, music, films and other whatnots. So here it all is in no particular order. Nottingham Eye I got pizza on my way from the pub the other day and I'm sure the 'Universe' sign at the front of the Nottingham Eye is new - I quite like it, it's ridiculous and meaningless, but I like it. north.bensaunders.com Ben's notes from way north make for compulsive reading, go and read - then stop complaining about the cold. Running I'm running again and enjoying it. 10K today has given me a few aches but also a warm glow and the knowledge that I'll sleep like a log tonight. Headphones I purchased some new headphones for my Nano/MacBook, they're Sennheiser PMX 70's, and are by far the most comfortable and great sounding of their ilk that I have used, well worth the £29.99 they cost (from John Lewis - though they are cheaper at Amazon, the last thing I ordered from Amazon took 11 months to arrive so I thought sod-it I'll just pay the going rate and collect them today). Music Several top albums purchased lately, here they are (I actually went to a record store and purchase actual CD's - imagine that!): Los Campesinos: Hold On Now Youngster Lightspeed Champion: Falling off the Lavender Bridge Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid (note: I am not really a fan of Flash 'splash screens' on websites but the elbow one is beautifully done, check it out.) Okkervil River: The Stage Names Films Sunshine: one of the best films I have seen for a while. The Orphanage: no Pan's Labyrinth, but still excellent. And that just about covers it, except for Cider - which I am loving at the moment, and some spicy Parmesan and spinach meatballs I made. Personal 2008-03-30T20:42:00+00:00 http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/the_good_stuff/#When:20:42:00Z http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/glenswinfield/~3/251944372/ http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/codeigniter_walkthrough_indexphp/#When:12:37:00Z I have uploaded the third part to my CodeIgniter Tutorial, titled CodeIgniter walkthrough (index.php). This is the last section before we actually begin to create and edit views/controllers etc. It is a quick walk-through the installation process and the index.php file, explaining what is going on. It is intended to help out anyone who wants get started in CodeIgniter but only knows very basic php. The next section (4) will be available tomorrow evening, at this point we will start to create some web pages. CodeIgniter 2008-03-15T12:37:00+00:00 http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/codeigniter_walkthrough_indexphp/#When:12:37:00Z http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/glenswinfield/~3/249777464/ http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/beginner_codeigniter_php_tutorial/#When:22:30:00Z So I’ve been promising this for a while, and I haven’t delivered, and I’m sorry. But with a renewed commitment, here’s the very beginning two stages of the tutorial (intro and install a server) I have (re) written the “Install CodeIgniter” stage but I seem to have lost it - worse luck! So check out the CI tutorial first stage and get your server installed and working. I am committing to getting the next stage to you by Sunday evening. Thanks for waiting, I’ve been busy enough to scare a factory of bees lately. CodeIgniter 2008-03-11T22:30:00+00:00 http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/beginner_codeigniter_php_tutorial/#When:22:30:00Z http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/glenswinfield/~3/247564851/ http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/ee_youtube_video_embed_plugin/#When:19:20:00Z Another, quick and simple Expression Engine plugin to embed YouTube video into your pages. Just pass it the YouTube ID or the full URL to the video and the width and height you want and it will return the code you need. Very easy. It has very few features, and that’s why I use it. Get the EE Youtube Video Embed Plugin v1.0 Example Use {exp:gms_youtube_embed youtube_id="http://youtube.com/watch?v=MusyO7J2inM" width="200" height="100"} Expression Engine, Plugins 2008-03-07T19:20:00+00:00 http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/ee_youtube_video_embed_plugin/#When:19:20:00Z http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/glenswinfield/~3/246875489/ http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/gms_truncator/#When:17:30:00Z I'm not sure if there is already one of these in existence - there probably is, but having two can't do any harm. Basically this plugin... Strips html tags from a text block, except for those specified in the parameters. Limits the text block to the specified number of characters at the nearest word - no broken words. Wraps the whole thing in a specified html element (if required) Appends a string specified in the 'finish' parameter to the end of the string. I built this because I wanted to use it for some small text areas and couldn't find anything else that did what I wanted. It may or may not be of use to you. Feel free to recommend changes/improvements. UPDATE: Made fixes. Now calculates lengths after removing html tags from text and finish string, allowing for the use of links in the finish string. UPDATE: Fixed usage and version incorrectness. Get the EE GMS Truncator v1.5 Example Use {exp:gms_truncator finish="<a href='/path/{url_title}'>...</a>" wrap_html="div" max="150"} Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum. {/exp:gms_truncator} Would produce the following html: <p>Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since <a href="/path/the_url_title">...</a></div> Expression Engine, Plugins 2008-03-06T17:30:00+00:00 http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/gms_truncator/#When:17:30:00Z http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/glenswinfield/~3/242790921/ http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/giving_you_wood/#When:15:58:00Z So our man Greg Wood has finally launched his not-quite-finished-yet site some five months after starting his redesign. Obviously he’s used all my best ideas/designs/illustrations but what can you do. In all seriousness though I suggest you subscribe to his feed(s) because there’s going to be film and music reviews and other rants that will almost certainly be worth hearing - he also knows a thing or two about type, css and markup that you might just need in the future. That is all. Personal 2008-02-28T15:58:00+00:00 http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/giving_you_wood/#When:15:58:00Z http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/glenswinfield/~3/241738059/ http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/organic_food_is_not_just_about_you/#When:21:38:00Z So I’m sitting in the kitchen watching TV and doing some work. On the TV is a documentary that follows the same rules as about one fifth of all documentaries on at this time of day… is A better than B? Is C a rip-off when compared to D - exploding the myths about ‘E’ - You’ll get fat as f**k if you eat ‘F’… you get the picture. This particular show features a science person (or is that a person of science?) who is filling up her shopping basket with food stuffs only if advertising claims, or claims about their greatness can be scientifically quantified/proven. As you would expect most food products come back from the test with a ‘we don’t really know’ result. Which is fair enough, but what I have a problem with is the investigation into organic foods. It seems to have raised the same bullshit discussion that usually pisses me off. Question: Is organic food any good? Reasoning: can it be proven that organic food is better for you, more nutritious or tastier than non-organic foods? I couldn’t care less. Organic food is no worse for you, it probably won’t taste significantly worse than non-organic food, I don’t buy organic food because I believe it will make me a super-human, I buy organic food (but not exclusively) because I think that intensive farming practice needs reigning in. Massive mistakes have been made in the past when the effects of pesticides have been misjudged not just on humans but on other animals and plants. I like the idea that people can move away from the idea that if something produces bigger, fatter juicier food - do it. Like grinding up sheep bits to feed cattle - BSE anyone? Organic production methods would not have allowed this - cows eat plants, not sheep (ha ha, imagine that though, a couple of cows standing casually at the edge of a sheep field - perhaps whistling and trying to blend in - before pouncing - udders swinging as chunks of fleece fly out of the chaos). Simple. Organic produce is not solely concerned with taste and nutrition, it is concerned with better food production practices. It is not about engineering food to taste better and it is not just about your enjoyment of food. It is probably also worth mentioning that I have just eaten a whole bar of Green & Blacks cherry chocolate (yum yum yum), and I am beginning to shake a bit. Personal 2008-02-26T21:38:00+00:00 http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/organic_food_is_not_just_about_you/#When:21:38:00Z http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/glenswinfield/~3/209537360/ http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/apologies_music_and_photos/#When:19:27:00Z First of all I apologise to anyone who has been awaiting my CodeIgniter tutorial, it is still on it’s way, I have written it a few times but just don’t think its good enough, it doesn’t really achieve what I originally intended it to so it is still a work-in-progress. It shouldn’t be too long though and it will be better for the wait. Honest. Second, happy new year, I posted a few pre and post club shots from my new years eve on my flickr account. Thirdly, I don’t really make new year resolutions but I have decided that 2008 is going to be the year I master sight reading music and playing classical/jazz guitar. I have played the guitar for a few years but only skimmed over the theory stuff - no more - this year I will be mostly building an encyclopedic knowledge of music theory and playing guitar. This has already begun and so far so good - I don’t know why I waited so long to start. CodeIgniter, Personal 2008-01-01T19:27:00+00:00 http://www.glenswinfield.co.uk/activity/comment/apologies_music_and_photos/#When:19:27:00Z