WAMP setup on Win XP Pro
My web hosting package is LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql, PHP4), but my laptop runs Windows XP. Here is how I got a WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySql, PHP) environment for development at home.
Firefox extensions
I’ve been using Mozilla’s Firefox browser for over a year now, and it’s my main browser. One of the key reasons is its extensibility, and here are the extensions I use (generated by the Listzilla extension):
Mid-rank Nerd
Followed the link on Heal Your Church Website to take the Nerd Quiz. And here’s the result:
Essential software
Read one of Photomatt’s articles on essential software, which got me to thinking on some of the more useful pieces of software I use.
Here is an impromptu list:
Web design:
- Firefox 1.0 – My favourite browser
- Filezilla – Open source FTP client
General utilities:
- Textpad – Very fully featured text editor
- Jedit – A text editor for programmers. Written in Java, so the same under Windows, OS X, Linux, Unix
- 7-Zip – A compression utility, which can handle .tgz archives under Windows (very handy)
- Explorer XP – A replacement for Windows Explorer which has two great features: 1) Folder size is displayed. 2) “Create New Folder” is a button on the toolbar
- Iso Recorder – For creating images of installation CD’s for your hard disk
Music:
- CDex – Music compression / file-format changer -.wav to .mp3, and vice versa
- Audacity – A sound recorder and so much more. Very useful for recording speech
- Winamp – Music / media player. Small, but perfectly formed
Graphics:
- IrfanView – Views all images I’ve come across, plus loads of options for reducing file sizes.
I hope that you find them as useful as I do.
Romney is a fraud
When updating this website caused me to re-install, I checked to see the Google rank of “Nick Romney”. I’m pleased to say that this site came up first. So, with my ego suitably stroked, I decided to do a little more ego-surfing to see where I ranked. I was vaguely aware of the Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, having seen a news report on him years ago, and the name stuck. However, in this election year, it seems as if every man and his dog has a blog, even one by the name of Romney is a fraud. I haven’t read it extensively, but would like to confirm that I am 100% pure Nick Romney!
Christian marketing
I had almost forgotten about Testamints since seeing them in a Christian bookshop / coffee-house some years ago. A quick search on Google, and I found a couple of articles which sum up my attitude to the quasi-Gnosticism of “Christian” anything. I very much enjoyed Dave Meurer’s article detailing his attempts to get his local shop to “get real” and stock something a great deal more useful, otherwise he’ll start his own line of “HarassMints”.
This related article by Joel Miller covers Testamints, and goes further, even detailing a Christian “snack bar”, with a link to his article on Get the Jesus action figure
Unbelievable.
Notre Dame
When I was in Paris a couple of weeks ago, I took a couple of tourist pictures – Notre Dame and the Champs Elysees. Continue Reading »
Getting Things Done
I’m a big fan of personal development (Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, Tony Buzan, Robert Allen, and Brian Tracy to name but a few), but after years of books and seminars, I had so much going on in my head that the ability to walk on hot coals unharmed (yes, twice) wasn’t great at helping me when drowning in e-mails.
Less vs. fewer
Via Mark Pilgrim, another site covering misused expressions:
Less refers to quantity, fewer to number. “His troubles are less than mine” means “His troubles are not so great as mine.” “His troubles are fewer than mine” means “His troubles are not so numerous as mine.” It is, however, correct to say, “The signers of the petition were less than a hundred, “where the round number, a hundred, is something like a collective noun, and less is thought of as meaning a less quantity or amount.
Leading to fewer errors.
US Visit
This article in Wired covers the changes in entry restrictions to the US from September 30 2004. This stops short of the biometric passports originally tabled as required from October, but will still require visitors from “visa waiver” countries (Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) to have fingerprints and photographs taken.
