I always thought the advice to “live life like there’s no tomorrow” to be a bit odd. I guess people say it to convince others to take risks and try for things they might be scared to do, but I don’t get that from it.
Taking life on.Blog
Hoping for Feedback, So Far Getting Static
This photo is not relevant to the rest of this post. Cute though huh?
One of the biggest problems I face when I contribute anywhere on the internet is feedback. Often there just isn’t any.
Whether it’s Twitter, this website, Firstwaves.org, Reader, Buzz, Fizz, Flickr, Facebook, Shittr, whatever, I just don’t get much feedback at all.
It’s partly because I’m a self obsessed narcissist that this bothers me so, but mostly because I just want to know what I can do better. What I’d like to know is if people find the things I share or write about are interesting, well written, useful, or pertinent so I can adjust my focus accordingly.
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Folder Redirection for Unusual Paths [Group Policy]
As part of my Group Policy Rewrite I’m attempting to make use of Folder Redirection which lets you specify where common important Windows folders reside on the network.
Normally when you first log on, Windows makes a few folders under your user document folder for things such as Music, Favourites, Downloads etc. On a standalone machine these are usually stored under your user profile folder (C:\Users\{username}\Downloads in Win 7 for example) but they can be moved when you’re on a network.
In Group Policy, expand User Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection. Right click on one of the folders listed and select “Properties”. Documents is a good place to start, as I’ll show you how all the others can hang off that.
OK Go’s new clip for This Too Shall Pass — a giant two storey Rube Goldberg Machine
I can’t think of a way they can possibly top this clip. Brilliantly shot in High Def, beautifully choreographed, and perfectly synchronised. If you liked their treadmill clip (symbolically shattered half way through) you’ll love how clever this is. It also knowingly nods to the Internet and Youtube crowd (did I see the mars rover? Something like the water bird that Homer uses to press the “any” key when he works from home? An OK Go concert rendered in Lego?).
What a joyful and exciting clip from a band that knows how to engage their audience. Bravo!
Deploy Printers with Group Policy without using Local Loopback
I’ve been sorting through our group policies and rewriting them ready for a switch over to Windows 7. During my thorough investigation it turns out our current policies overlap a fair bit, and it’s no wonder we have trouble tracking down why something we’re sure we’ve set in GP turns up unset on logon.
So my big project has been going through our settings one by one, and deciding which of these categories they fall into:
- Common Computer settings — all the computers should get these as they are vital to the function of the network, or are likely to break something if they aren’t explicitly set for our staff and students.
- Common User settings — everything else that just can’t be set in the Computer policy.
- Staff Settings
- Student Settings
- Printers
The interesting trick I’ve learned about the printer GPs though is how to apply printers based on the computer’s OU without using local loopback!
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Frustrated at the Tech-Ignorant Media.
Eager to dig up dirt on Julia Gillard (an alumna of Unley High School) the SMH visited the Unley High website and clicked on through to the Old Scholars page. HAHA! they yell, chuckling to themselves:
… it appears the website of the federal Education Minister’s former school, Unley High, has fallen victim to hackers. No doubt coincidentally, those curious to learn more about the Deputy PM’s school days in South Australia by clicking on the “old scholars” tab are confronted with an advertisement for “free black nude pictures”.
via A big night for Barnaby Joyce.
Of course, the site has not been “hacked” in any way. In setting the site up, I thought it a fun experiment to give the Old Scholars a way to re-connect, and create mini sites of their own within the pages of the Unley site. The hope was that they might create groups for the chess club of ’94, or the lazy boys of the class of ’67, or whatever. Then they could write messages on each other’s pages, write reminiscences of the times they had, and generally use the site in any way they saw fit to reconnect and share with one another. I installed the excellent open-source software Elgg, and enabled a feature called “blogs” (short for “web logs”) so people could fill the pages of the site with all their memories. I had hoped it would be a long-lasting record that would share some of Unley’s rich history.
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Skribit — Piss off Formspring, Skribit was here first
There’s this new craze on Twitter to get people to ask you questions anonymously and answer them on Twitter or your website. It uses this little site (run by FormSpring.com) called formspring.me to solicit questions, and people derive some amusement from it.
BUT
The day I heard about it, I thought immedaitely of skribit.com which I had only JUST installed on my site a week earlier and does exactly what formspring.me does only prettier, usefull-er and integrated-into-your-site-ier which for me are all important things.
Artichaut by Chinese Man — Swinging Music I Like
not visually appealing, but a terrific track
When I find music that I like I can’t let it go until I share it. This is one of those tracks.
Buy Artichaut on iTunes or on Amazon.