Peeled Carrots by Stephen Blake

Why is it that people (okay, I know I’m generalising here) always expect IT professionals to do something for free. Well, especially in the web development industry. I mean take this for an example….I meet someone and there is a bit of banter, I get to know them and they later ask me what I do for a living, so I say, “I’m a web developer”. “Oh cool”, is the response, “Can you help me with my website?” or “I’ve got this problem with my wireless at home, can you fix it?”…so, then in a joking manner I say “Yeah sure, my hourly rate is £??”. But then, the person involved seems to get offended.

Again I know that I’m generalising here, but so often I find that if a person has an IT problem they expect it to be fixed for free…wtf?? I mean, if I have a problem with my tooth I still have to pay a dentist, even if I know the dude, so why should IT professionals be expected to provide a service free of charge.

Look, I don’t mind doing someone a favour here or there, especially if they are a relative or close friend and I know that the favour will be returned someday, but for some person who’s a friend of a friend to ask for that sort of help is pushing it.

I am just venting my anger here, which I am entitled to do as this is my blog, so if I’ve offended anyone then go and read something else on the web

I recently got exposure to Echosign, a really handy piece of online software which allows for electronic signatures to be embedded in document to facilitate the legal signing of a contract. It was really easy to use and the process of signing the contract was extremely user friendly and intuitive.

After having a really great experience whilst signing a new contract, I decided to do a bit more research about the company and what they have on offer. It seems that they have got a really good pricing strategy and also have a free basic version which is ideal for small companies and startups.

They also have some big names using the software and seem to have great recommendations from all of their users.

So, if you’re looking for a simple way to get a contract signed without having to worry about the ball aches of printing contracts, faxing, couriering etc etc, then give Echosign a try!

VoxOx is a new online messenger service which is in competition to Skype, but also allows a cool feature where you can add social networking contacts instead of having to chat to your friends using the browser.

I know that VoxOx is still in beta, and being inquisitive about new software like this I naturally wanted to give it a test run. However I wasn’t impressed at all by the software and found it difficult to add other chat accounts and overall it was pretty clunky.

The worst thing about it is that after uninstalling the application it still pops up when I restart my operating system. The application and UI is however completely broken and I am know struggling to completely delete it from my hard drive.

Perhaps it could be improved in the future, but at the moment I would definitely not recommend it to anybody as yet.

Guinness is my drink of choice, but for some reason every time I order a pint of the black stuff I end up in a discussion about how fattening Guinness is and how many calories it has in it. I always try to defend myself by saying that it has less calories than an average pint of lager. However, I have never had any solid evidence to base my argument on and the people I am debating with are generally under the influence, so it is difficult to convince them.

Well now I have done some research and I it is completely true, based on the figures on http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk.

These figures are the nutritional values for 100g of each drink:

So there is the evidence! Guinness may not be “good for you” as the old slogan suggests, but it is still lower in calorie count that a number of other popular lagers.

In my research I did also find that Carling only has 33 calories per 100g and 1.4g of Carbohydrate, which is one of the lowest out there.

I was recently shown this clip on youtube. It’s a South African dude doing an awesome impression of Hugh Bladen, one of the most passionate rugby commentators in the world. Hugh’s fans will be sure to appreciate it.

A study worth sharing with friends both male and female:

A study conducted by UCLA’s Department of Psychiatry has revealed that the kind of face a woman finds attractive on a man can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle. For example: If she is ovulating, she is attracted to men with rugged and masculine features. However, if she is menstruating, or
menopausal, she tends to be more attracted to a man with duct tape over his mouth and a spear lodged in his chest while he is on fire.

No further studies are expected.

I think that this is probably the best comeback line I have ever heard:

Marine Corps General Reinwald was interviewed on National Public Radio (NPR) by a female broadcaster. General Reinwald was about allow a Boy Scout Troop to visit his unit and the Marines were planning on giving them an introduction to the defence force and firearms:

Female Interviewer: So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?
General Reinwald: We’re going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting.
Female Interviewer: Shooting! That’s a bit irresponsible, isn’t it?
General Reinwald: I don’t see why, they’ll be properly supervised on the rifle range.
Female Interviewer: Don’t you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?
General Reinwald: I don’t see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.
Female Interviewer: But you’re equipping them to become violent killers.
General Reinwald: Well, Ma’am, you’re equipped to be a prostitute, but you’re not one, are you?

The radio went silent and the interview ended.

Gotta love Marines!!

I was recently reading about a wordpress plugin on askapache.com, when I came across a previous post which he had written about CSS Browser Screenshots.

The utility is called Browsershots and it’s kick-ass! Well that’s only if you are worried about what your site looks like on numerous different web browsers on different operating systems. Different strokes for different folks

The application generates screenshots of your site in the different browsers and then you can download the pack of images and be uber critical about your CSS.