Mon 29 Sep 2003 We have all come acrosee the 'no right click' messages on certain web pages, whose owners try to protect the source code. In IE a couple of keys disables that, and it does not even work in Opera, but I came across an alternative method yesterday. By repeatedly right clicking the mouse and then the return key in quick succession, eventually the menu containing the 'view source' item appears. As an alternative, to protect ones code, compare the code on these two pages. This one, HERE is the standard code, easily copied and amended by anyone. But this page, HERE, contains the same code, but scrambled into %strings. The original code can be seen amongst the scrambling, and the whole of it can still be easily copied, but just think about the complicated task of changing it to suit a different page. Not an easy task, and this is only a simple page!

Sun 28 Sep 2003 There is a new entry in my Forum at HERE I changed from the guestbook to forum, by the way, because the latter sends me the message immediately by email, along with the writers IP number. And talking of IP numbers, to hide your identity whilst visiting websites, why not use a proxy server? There are many free ones available, although some limit usage each day. However, I have found several that are very easy to use. Also, it is possible to download software that changes the IP number of ones computer. That is also useful, but sometimes leads to interesting results. For example, whilst editing web pages such as this, I am sometimes prevented from doing so by the IP number in use at that moment. Numbers have been attached to a college in America, which has decided that geocities is not to be available to its students! Also, a different IP number is associated with a country that bans access to certain sorts of websites.!
I did the High Peak 40 mile Challenge yesterday. 40 miles in 11:04:20, my 6th slowest out of 7 attempts. However, the time is 7 mins faster than last year, so I am not slowing down yet! A few pictures will follow, as it is not possible to take many photographs as well as go for a time!

Thur 25 Sep 2003 The pix from the Chatsworth Challenge are now available HERE
After a relaxing few days away from computers at Anderby Creek, Lincolnshires hidden gem, I was joined last weekend by Maureen, my walking partner from Crystal Palace, for the Harvest Hobble, a 26 mile challenge walk from Ludford, put on by the Lincolnshire LDWA. For the pictures from this event, CLICK HERE

Mon 15 Sep 2003 A back to back walking weekend! Saturday saw me again in the Cheviots: what a delightful and unknown part of England these are, followed by the Chatsworth Challenge on Sunday. I completed the 25 miles in the relatively fast walking time of 7:07, although I wanted to try to get a time around 6:30. The hot weather in the early afternoon did not help either! The pix for Sat have been uploaded HERE, and those for Sunday will follow as soon as possible.

Sat 13 Sep 2003 A local group for which I am treasurer had its monthly meeting last night. I have been its treasurer for about ten years now, and wondered how much longer I should continue with this voluntary and complicated task. The only perk is the fact that one does not have to pay the annual subscription! So it came as a pleasant surprise last night to learn that someone else has been nominated for this onerous, all year round task. As the secretary said, if someone else wanted to do HER job then she would certainly stand down. Similarly for myself. This is the first time another name has gone forward to the AGM, held on the second Sunday in October. So with great happiness I shall be handing over the reigns at that time. Wonder why they din't inform beforehand though? Are they really THAT disillusioned with my efforts! Mon 8 Sep 2003 I completed the Bullock Smithy event in 19hrs49mins, and felt very well at the end. I may even try it again next year! The pix are HERE

Fri 5 Sep 2003 Tomorrow the Bullock Smithy takes place. This is a toughie in the long distance walking world, and I am apprehensive about it. For a start, one has to carry a full backpack. It begins from Hazel Grove at noon, so by early evening, when one is usually well on the way to completing this type of walk, one is not even half way. Its route takes in Chinley Churn, Edale, Castleton, High Peak and returns to Hazel Grove Scout headquarters. Last year I took around 20 hours, arriving back at 8 am Sunday.
The first time I attempted this event in 1997, the weather was dreadful and I failed to complete it. The next year I met Norma, (which led on to meeting Moira) who guided me round the rest of the route on a beautiful moonlit night, an occasion never to be forgotten. Whatever became of her I wonder? In 1999 I went round the route with her best friend Jane, and I was elsewhere in 2000. F & M meant there was no event in 2001, so 2002 was the first time I had attempted the new route. I was with a group who knew the route well, although as is usual with me I was unable to keep up in the dark, catching up at checkpoints. How will I go on tomorrow. I will keep you posted!

Wed 3 Sep 2003 I hear news today the people applying for British citizenship will in the future have to show knowledge of culture, tradition etc. I wonder how many of the existing population, entitled to live here by birth, would be able to pass such a test. Maybe everyone should be made to take the test, and failures could be deported to the South Pole!

Tue 2 Sep 2003 The Security Forum channel stats for August have just come out: http://security-forums.com/stats/. I am just in the top ten, and hope to improve my position this month! But do have a look and read the selected quotes.
The link to the Donnington pix is HERE
This week schools reopen after the summer holidays. It is so pleasant not to be involved after 33 years of deteriorating discipline, and several years of retirement!

We had a trip to Donnington race track yesterday afternoon. As with the Silverstone visit, I took many photographs, but eventually had to stop as the batteries gave up. I think all three are unable to hold their charges for long enough now. Well, they are getting a lot of use. The time has arrived to buy a couple of new ones, but at about £25 each it is a big investment. The pix from the visit will be linked from here when I have processed them for the internet. Stay tuned!

Fri 29 Aug 2003 It's a small world. One of the newest members at SFDC is at a local college, and his tutor is one of my OCR examining colleagues. He has been very helpful in getting me to use the correct syntax on mIRC so that my own channel #jg4fun runs properly. I wanted auto op when I arrived in it, whether anyone else was in it or not. Why not visit freenode & #jg4fun to chat?!
I have posted the pix from Wed and the visit to Silverstone HERE. I took over 150, but with the cars travelling at 100mph+ in the pits straight most were blurred. But some worked. Why not take a look and see?

Wed 27 Aug 2003 I have at last transferred a domain name to 123-reg. I had registered this one with valid web in March 2001, but since I now prefer to use 123-reg I wished to transfer it to them in March when it expired. When I wanted to transfer www.jg4fun.com I simply let it lapse, and rebought it! But somehow a .co.uk doamin name would not lapse. I enquired in a new thread on Security Forums, and received some helpful advice, which resulted in my contacting valid web to see what was happening. They said they would investigate, but as nothing resulted from this I dealt with Nominet. This involved paying them £15 + VAT to change the tags to hosteurope, but after that again things ceased to move forward. Speaking on the phone direct to Nominet I was informed that the name had been renewed, by valid web, at their expense we presumed, even though I had not asked them to do that! Nominet also said that valid web had been suspendedd since January. However, Nominet was able to change the name servers since it had been renewed, so all that remained for me to do was get back to the 123-reg website and pay their transfer charge, £4.99 +VAT. That done, it soon appeared in my ever growing list of domain names, and so at long last I have full control of the web and email forwarding. But what a saga. If you ever need to get your own doamin name I must suggest 123-reg.co.uk as your first choice. Good value, good service and you are in full control!

Tue 26 Aug 2003 I received permission from Moira to post two small pictures of her in the SFDC shirt. They are also on my website.
The 80th party went very well. Took 50 pix and will have them printed and put in a file for presenting during the coming weekend.

Sun 24 Aug 2003 Bank Holiday Sunday. Going to an 80th birthday party tonight.
And as for the Bank Holiday weekend, as far as I am concerned every day is a Bank Holiday!
Did the Cheviot Challenge yesterday. This event is held annually from Alwinton, 195 miles from here, in Northumberland, near the Scottish border, and this was the first time I had attempted this event. I had previously arranged to follow the route round with Moira, one of my walking partners from the LDWA. However, three weeks ago she had a foot operation, and this caused her to change her plans. She intended to do the short route, walking along with her cousin Anne. At 8am, the official start time, the pair had not arrived, so I set off with the remaining entrants. It was a hot day, causing me dehydration and cramp, so, along with the 3500' of ascent, it was a tough walk for me. The event normally has 5000', but a route change had occurred because of reports of unexpladed artilliary on one hill. That could have reduced the number of completers! However, I got round in a fairly respectable time of 9:58, just cracking the 10 hr barrier! Enjoy the pix of the Cheviot Challenge on the clearest day I have had in that area. PICTURES HERE

Wed 20 Aug 03 Hopefully things are looking a bit more positive for Saturday, and Moira is recovering well, so may be able to giude me round more of this years Cheviot Challenge than I expected. I hope so!
I hope readers of my blog like my jokes. Otherwise, the joke is on them!
There was a problem this morning with moneyam. Contacting the company by phone gave me the opportunity to report on the excellence of their site and the real time information it gives. I was advised to check and amend the cookie settings, but this did not solve the problem. The culprit was my software for annonymous surfing, which was running without allowing access. On turning it off all was well and I was able to continue to monitor my 'day-trading' shares. There are four which are beginning to look a bit jaded in the sense that I have held them for somewhat longer than one day! But hopefully they will pay off in the not too distant future. A reminder that nore details are available at www.shares4fun.co.uk

Tue 19 Aug 03 I am a radio station!!!! Surfing around the channels on x-chat, I came across #streamerp2p. On investigating it turned out to be the chat channel associated with streamer radio, a system that uses winamp and a plug in to send music over the internet, where it can be heard by anyone with winamp. Each listener is a link in the chain, pulling in the signal from another listener. In that way the 'broadcaster' does not need much bandwidth at all. I receieved about an hour of considerable help from the inventor (it has been around for about a year, and has over 20 stations ATM). The best moment was when checking on yp.streamerp2p.com and found MY station actually available for the world to hear. A really great moment. At the time there were three listeners, and at the time of writing this I have one! I had thought of calling it Obnoxious radio, as a tribute to my great 'internet friend' Caroline, but that WOULD be stupid! JOKE! Maybe Radio Caroline is more suitable, but I have decided against that as well!
A sad day, with the news about Tony Jackson, the lead singer with The Searchers in their very early days. He sang on Sweets for my Sweet. I have great affection for this group, as I was around Liverpool at the time in 1963-4. Also, this group announced that the audience could ignore the ban on photography at the Nottingham Royal Centre when they last appeared there. I shall continue to support them while ever they continue touring.

Sat 16 Aug 03I have the events of this week to thank for saving my aching eyes. I was finding that it was getting mouch more difficlut to read the small print, and my eyes were always aching. Let that be a warning to others: spending till the early hours of the morning in chat rooms staring at a computer screen WILL wreck your eyesight!
Just one week to go to my first Cheviot Challenge, the tough 24 mile challenge walk in the Cheviots, starting from Alwinton. I arranged some weeks ago to join Moira and members of her family on this walk, as she is particularly familiar with this area, so I would not need to do serious route finding myself! However, circumstances have changed due to her foot operation, and she is hoping to have recovered enough by next week to be able to hobble partly round the course. As I would like to complete the challenge, it looks as if I will have to do my own route finding, or, as I often find myself doing, following the ones in front! This would have been my fourth Challenge walk with Moira, the first being the Cleveland Survival in 2002, then the Chevy Chase 2002, followed by the CS 2003.

Fri 15 Aug 03 Earlier tonight I switched on the computer again after a short break, to find the window, familiar to the users of infected computers, counting down to switch off, caused by the MSBlast worm! Sure enough it switched off, and then restarted, at which point things continued normally. Obviously my firewall did not protect the computer, but the automatic protection updates provided by the virus protection appear to have solved the problem.

Thur 14 Aug 03 I have conclusive proof at last that too much time spent in front of computers addles the brain. Consider this statement received tonight: I find him more obnoxious than Gurnhill . This written by someone who does not know me, has never met me, and knows very little about me. Get into the real world, and away from computers, and you will begin to talk sense!
The Elvis impersonators DVD from Radio Nottingham arrived tody, but I have not had time to look at it, being involved in some bitchiness in a thread on SF concerning P2P. It soon brought a comment form the moderator, and the whole thread then vanished.

Tue 12 Aug 03 How exciting last night on the chatroom at #Security-Forums. Firstly my thread Sticky Weather (a pun on the 'sticky' topics that stay at the top of each section!) has had to be removed, as it has proved too controversal! People will air their prejudices though, which I suppose go back to their upbringing and their narrow minded parents. And happily Dreamer was happy with everything, but did respond to my request. Then, because of a netsplit, and problems at freenode, a banned member was able to get back in. Eventually the ban was reintroduced by the ops, as it is up to the op that introduced the ban to repeal it. It was all great fun while it lasted!
I have had to buy new personal weighing scales, so took the opportunity to upgrade to one which calculates BMI. At 5'10" and 10 st 11 lb, the BMI works at around 21.8. Sounds good to me!

Sun 10 Aug 03 I got into an unofficial competition on SF chat last evening. Having posted the pic of me showing how I keep cool in this hot and humid weather here in the UK (new all time record high at Heathrow today: 100.2 F), PCW debated with me as to whether his tan was darker than mine. It is, but mine is 100%, whereas his has a white bit under the finger ring! So an honorable draw I think!

Yesterday went to Jackson's to sort out the range of fittings for the revamp of my 31 year old visitors bathroom. Having decided on the taps some time ago I am wondering why they cast £140 for the basin and even more for the bath. OK, they are of modern design, up/down/left/right from a single control, and have a fitted control toggle for the plug. But I am not having a print of the naked man as well! The Mira shower will fit over the bath, which is to be one with a wider shower section at one end. The plumber visits tomorrow to collect the final details before ordering.

I now have two dustbins. Gedling BC in its wisdom has delivered a second wheelie bin, green this time, which at present is to be used for garden waste. At the end of the year this one will be for all recyclable materials, and the black bin will be for everything else. Each will be collected fortnightly.

Sat 9 Aug 03 We have won a DVD from Radio Nottingham. A request for an Elvis track was sent in, and all the names of those that did that were put into a draw. So we won. The prize: a DVD of American Elvis impersonators.I can't wait!
I received an email from an LDWA member pointing out concerns in recent Striders, particularly the reduction in the amount of space given to event reports, and the excess space devoted to the hillwalkers register. I passed on the details to the editor, and received a prompt reply, which naturally I forwarded to my contact. I was surprised therefore to get the next email from the editor stating that the email was addressed to me, and that they did not wish it to be forwarded! Also, quote: "Please don't do that ever again." There was nothing confidential in it, and I cannot get along with secrecy, believing that openness in all things is a good policy to adopt. Misunderstandings and contradictions can often follow from any lack of openness, leading to all sorts of problems. As for the hillwalkers register, as many should by now know, it is available on-line HERE and so does not need to be printed in full in Strider annually, a simple update being all that is needed. Of course the powers that be at the top levels of the LDWA never agree with anything I do, and have never acknowledged the effort put in to the on-line version. That is par for the course. There was the 2000 in 2000 fiasco, where the details of those that succeeded were not published at first, but thanks to my efforts we did mange to get the majority of the names. That must have gone down a bomb at the top for a start!
Don't you just LOVE committee meetings!One of the groups I belong to has recently commenced having their monthly meetings on Fri evenings at 7pm. And what time did last night's finish. 11.30 pm. Yes, you read that correctly. 11.30 pm. I fully realise that the AGM is coming up at the beginning of Octaober, and resolutions and fees have to be decided for putting to the membership. But 11.30pm. At least I had got my cream crackers, cheese, ryvita and jam with me so I could have my supper at the usual time!

Fri 8 Aug 03 I was followed into Arnold Post Office yesterday morning by this lovely young lady, wearing short shorts! As we both waited patiently in the queue, she spoke up. She had been studying the map on my shirt, which showed the route of the 2002 LDWA Lakeland 100 event. It turned out that she and her boy-friend had recently joined the LDWA, and had entered for Cloud 7 a tough 33 miler in Staffs, expecting to complete in 8½ hrs. Now I don't like hills, and there are some toughies on this event, so I took 11 hours when I attempted it! I managed to mention that my pictures were in the current and April Striders, and gave the url of this blog, before it was my turn to be served. The LDWA shirt certainly proved a good talking point. I do like the idea though of a shirt stating 'There's no place like 127.0.0.1" as suggested by MoiraA as merchandising for Sec Forum. Maybe I could go into business getting these printed and sold via the internet. It's probably already being done though.

Tue 5 Aug 03 I have just spent seven excellent days walking the West Highland Way, Scotland's premier long distance path, guided by Scot-Trek. The website is being set up at HERE.
It's a small world. I see that a member of Security Forums was a pupil at my school, but I had left before his time there, and I never taught him! We chatted in the forum and he still lives in the area.