Disqus - Latest Comments for Shazza

Re: From Business Misery To A Solution

Shazza — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:59:49 -0000

I need to get some of the same done eventually; but I'm just too independant to involve anyone else in the running of my operation.

Is this the right attitude? It feels right for me. I have no family commitments as such and I get a buzz out of building things - Whether it be a computer, a blog, a business, whatever.

Maybe I'm not seeing the screen for the pixels? Maybe I need to think things through a bit more? I'm watching you Dave, and learning too with a bit of luck. :-)

Re: My Income Report - Just To Mess With John Chow

Shazza — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:07:28 -0000

Talking about cups of tea: Have you ever tried recycling tea-bags? Forget hanging paper towels out to dry - Save a fortune by making 3 cups of tea out of a single tea-bag. (They get quite impotent after 3 uses and lose all flavour even if you do hang then out to dry overnight.) Average saving = £25GBP per year. - That's around £2000 ($3340 at today's exchange rate.) in a lifetime: 'Could buy a new Mac with that, have Apple upgrade it, and pay Apple's repair bills when it went wrong!

Re: Why I Simply Cannot Vote For Barack Obama

Shazza — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:29:17 -0000

I'm not American and I live in the UK: yet the thought of Sarah Palin having any power other than a mains cable up her scares me sh-tless!

America could turn into a Christian Fundamentalist dictatorship with public executions of unbelievers and incarceration for speaking your mind. There's a chance4 it could become like England was in the dark ages - And the worst thing: If it happens in America it is never long before it happens in England too.

Personally I don't fancy being publically whipped because of my beliefs; neither do I want my blog banned because it doesn't support a Biblical agenda according to Sarah Palin or agree that dinosaurs roamed the earth with people 4000 years ago.

Please do the world a favour and vote Obama in; unless you'd prefer all of your business dealings to be censored by the religious police for compliance with the fundamentalist agenda, your apartment searched and contravercial material, such as anything that questions or critically analyses anything secular, removed.

Say hello Palin; say goodbye freedom.

Maverick!

Re: Why I Simply Cannot Vote For Barack Obama

Shazza — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:40:51 -0000

Oh yeah I agree with Landshark: Britain sucks; it has done so for a very long time in some ways. In certain places on my blog I've said so: The class system that stifles innovation and success in all but the upper classes is still somewhat evident...Blah.

This is about the US elections though. I'll comment on British politics no doubt when a UK election happens.

I don't want the UK to get worse than it is; it's bad enough already. If the wrong influences drift across from the US, then it could go further downhill.

As a side issue; UK politics is unfortunately very unlike US politics: Here the politicians elect the politicians; the UK people decide which group of politicians will be in power, and the politicians in power run their own agenda from that point on: The UK people just have to put up with whatever they get until the next election: Like I said; the UK sucks.

Re: Why I Simply Cannot Vote For Barack Obama

Shazza — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:23:28 -0000

OMG the Crusades are starting.

Dominae, Padre, Espiritum Santu.
Pax vobiscum. Gau de tae Yesu Christum Dominea Rex.
Nils et du terra carborrundum illegitomii.
Transmittae mae cirtum caledonum.

Re: Why I Simply Cannot Vote For Barack Obama

Shazza — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:12:15 -0000

Party Plan Pat : "I mean I am the SI unit of minority."

In truth you are whatever you choose to be. From the above statement it appears that 'the SI unit of minority' is what you're currently choosing to be. No politician can change that, not with any policy; only you yourself can change that.

Re: Assigning a Dollar Value To Your Twitter Account – Is It Just Wrong?

Shazza — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:19:10 -0000

I wonder how long before people start trading Twitter accounts on ebay?

As you say "If that account is sold, it would not retain the value."

I reckon there is someone somewhere shrewd enough to sell it, as well as someone somewhere dumb enough to buy it.

Re: What The Entire World Can Learn From Internet Business People

Shazza — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:57:12 -0000

Oh I so agree with you: The news media are exascerbating this crisis and milking it for all it's worth. Businesses have latched on to the handout idea and are sitting in the backyards of Washington and Whitehall, begging bowl in hand: After all why not; if they can get a fee handout it'll swell their coffers even further. (The greedy bas---ds!)

Power to the successful people; down with the scroungers, death to the news media. Sharron is revolting. - She's not that bad.

The nine-to-five J_O_B: Keeps the employee at least a week away from bankruptcy.

The world these days thrives on the negative, amplifies it, lives it: Let them worry themselves to death, and in the meantime let's stay successful and make some positive effects!

Re: 50 Rapid Fire Tips For Power Blogging

Shazza — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:35:08 -0000

Dave, that was awesome: Score 51 out of 50. Thanks for posting: You've made a number of things clear to me that I was missing.

Re: Busy Blogger on The Go – Blogging From Anywhere

Shazza — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 09:42:06 -0000

"As I type this post, I am sitting out in my family room with the baby typing on the MacBook Pro."

Wow - She learned to type before she learned to walk! Geekery must run in the family. Have you thought of publicising the fact that you're father to a child-geek-prodigy?

;)

Re: Become a Blogger Launch Special Almost Over

Shazza — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:11:33 -0000

If anyone is serious about becoming a blogger; even if you've already started blogging, I suggest that you get in there ASAP. This course is worth more than $47 a month. (And it could well end up costing more than $47 a month eventually too.) Join up now for a lot less and you'll be getting a mega-bargain.

Ignore this comment and you'll only have yourself to blame.

Re: 11 Awesome Wordpress Plug-In’s You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

Shazza — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:55:52 -0000

When attempting to install Flickr Photo Album plugin there was a warning notice prior to installation that this plugin has not been tested with WP2.7.

I attempted installation nevertheless, but recieved a fatal error:-

"Installing Plugin: Flickr Photo Album 1.1

Downloading plugin package from http://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/tantan-fl...

Unpacking the plugin package

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare pclziputilpathreduction()"

It looks like it probably needs updating.

Re: Do You Need To Hire Somebody To Set Up Your Blog? [#8]

Shazza — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:04:13 -0000

When you eventually decide to customise your Wordpress theme, you'll find that you can actually do this from inside Wordpress itself. If you prefer the long way round you can also edit the theme by uploading it to your computer, editing it as required, and uploading the edited files to your blog in place of the existing files once you are happy with it.

Wordpress may at first appear rather daunting; particularly previous to installation. Once you've uploaded it and edited a file or two to get it running, (Full instructions are available at wordpress.org, and I think Dave's already done a vid on it, and will probably do more on that too.)you'll find Wordpress to be a very versatile and flexible tool.

If you learn php too, (I'm still learning.) - well just look at what Dave's done with this blog and PCMech: The sky's the limit.

I'll just mention, also, that if you or anyone else happen to be using or intending to use, Fasthosts in the UK as a hosting provider; you may have problems setting up a Wordpress install on their Windows Home package. If you're going to use them as your web hosting provider for your blog I recommend their Linux Home or Linux Developer package. Their Linux servers run Red Hat Linux, and setting up a Wordpress blog on them is no problem at all. If you already have a Windows Home package with them, just phone them and ask for a transfer to a Linux Home package. It'll take a few minutes for them to transfer your account to a Linux server, and it won't cost you any extra.

From the above paragraph I would guess that Linux servers in general are probably a better bet for a Wordpress blog, no matter who the hosting provider. (Someone please correct me if I am wrong.)

Re: How To Replace Your Wordpress Search With Google

Shazza — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:47:47 -0000

Thanks so much David for that most useful tip, and the php.

I've added it to kkomp.com .

Re: 2008 Annual Blogging Income Report

Shazza — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:08:13 -0000

I like the sound of this: After full training, Malika can run the business for you every other week while you change, feed, entertain and bath your daughter, whilst at the same time teaching her early how to be a girl-geek. - Brilliant thinking! Also great division of labour, and equality of the sexes. One up for girlpower! ;-)

It's a bonus to see that you did slightly better than last year in these difficult and changing economic conditions. Granted it's only a minor increase in productivity; but still an increase nevertheless.

In the light of huge companies going under you're doing very well! Best wishes for 2009. - Go get 'em.

Re: How To Replace Your Wordpress Search With Google

Shazza — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 02:25:56 -0000

When I checked the operation of the new Google search I got a parse error:

'Syntax error: Unexpected "/" in line 6'.

Being a php novice I couldn't work out exactly what had gone wrong, so I temporarily removed the Google search bars from the blog pending further investigation. I appear to have copied everything exactly, and followed instructions to the letter...?

Re: My Top Must-Follows for ProBloggers on Twitter

Shazza — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:08:04 -0000

I'd suggest also (It hurts me to say it.) @scobleizer the camera-wiz;

also @missrogue - for her ultra-communicative and highly compassionate style,

@gideonshalwick - Photogra-blogger genius and the other piece of@YaroStark's current initiative,

and @rossgoldberg - can sell sand to Arabs via Twitter. if you want to see experienced online marketing near its best look no further.

Re: How To Replace Your Wordpress Search With Google

Shazza — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:55:01 -0000

In reply to Malaika Morris:

This is rather weird; as your script is seemingly showing a syntax error on line 4, from what I read above, and mine is showing on line 6. As far as I can see there are no instances of "/" on lines 4 or 6; unless I'm reading it wrong. I take it we're both using the same script?

I'm still a php ameteur at best; so I've shelved this project for now pending review on David's return. The search results page script is still on my server, but I've removed the search box scripts from the pages and sidebar where I'd inserted them for the time being as they're not working and returning the parse error.

Re: Can I Ask a Little Favor?

Shazza — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:22:42 -0000

As you may or may not be aware, I've had your recent RSS links displayed on my blog for some months. I know it's brought you some traffic, although I'm not sure how much.

You've been practicing what you preach, and people have noticed that and followed you for advice:

This blog always has educational, interesting, and informative content, which is the reason why people visit. You produce and share valuable information and sensible tips: That will always draw an audience; and with your reputation for consistency and regular input that audience knows that they can always come back regularly for more of the same. - And they do.

Note: It's not the value of the material alone that makes this blog great: It's the consistency of the valuable material that generates not just one-time visitors, but regular visitors.

Good work, and many thanks for providing such a great resource.

Re: Getting a Great Blog Design For a Brand New Blog [#22]

Shazza — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:00:06 -0000

I'm still working on customising my theme as an ongoing process. I started with a free theme and am adding to and changing little bits of it as time goes by.

I have to admit that, when I started out over 6 months ago, I had almost absolutely zero idea of css and php, despite knowing a bit about html. - I could build a computer and install/optimise the relevant software with very little if any problems; but I had almost no ideas about blogging. (A huge percentage of what I know now has been gleaned from this site as well as PCMech.)

As time goes by I'm analysing my theme's code and working out what does what, where, and why. This enables me to make a few improvements from time to time. I understand that David will be covering css and php over on PCMech at some point in the future, which will be really helpful.

As suggested here, I've spent the early months concentrating on content, also its presentation style - which I hope has improved over time.

My visitor count has progressively increased overall over that period, and I'm now attempting to monetize my blog to some extent.

There's one heck of a long way to go; and it'll always be a work-in-progress, but I certainly intend to stay tuned and keep watching this space: Thank you for such a good and informative blog David.

Blessings.

Re: Moving Your Feedburner Feeds to Google

Shazza — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:57:14 -0000

I've had it with Feedburner lately: They stopped my RSS feed without notifying me whatsoever for the third time recently. I closed my account but somehow got my feed caught in a 30-day redirect loop while doing so. I have about 27 days left until it lets it go again. I tried contacting Feedburner about it, but found their UI so user-unfriendly and confusing that I gave up in the end.

I now have to write my own feed manually having rigged up a temporary job and connected it almost everywhere in place of my usual feed. I feel like I've been hijacked. - Although it does give me good practice at writing xml. :-)

Re: Eight Things to Avoid in Your First Month Blogging

Shazza — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:35:52 -0000

I don't remember each particular mistake I made in my first month; but if you can think of it then I probably made it.

One of the most important things to remember in the first month is not to give up. this applies afterwards as well; but the first month may often be the hardest, and the one in which you ask yourself "Am i doing the right thing here? Is this really worth it?" the most. Each failure and mistake is a rung on the ladder to success: unless you tread on the rungs of failure to get there you'll never reach the pinnacle of success.

You won't get much traffic in your first month unless you're really lucky. Instant worldwide fame is as rare as rocking-horse pooh. - But if you're serious about it then stick at it: Remember; no matter who you are, you've got to be in it to win it.

Good luck.

Re: Windows Live Writer

Shazza — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:49:45 -0000

I'm a Windows user; XP currently to be exact. I've been using Windows Live Writer far a number of months to write, format, and design my blog posts.

I have to agree with David that it is an awesome program. In the last couple of months it's been updated. The updated version has been out of beta during this year and it rocks: it fixed a number of bugs from the previous version plus enhanced performance significantly.

Just occasionally Microsoft come up with a program that is in itself a work of art: I think Windows Live Writer currently tops that list.

Re: How To Configure OIO Publisher

Shazza — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:22:40 -0000

Many thanks for a concise and informative article which makes OIO appear as a tool; as it should, rather than a Mensa challenge. :-)

Re: Confessions of a Rookie Blogger

Shazza — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:24:24 -0000

Whilst, as you say, you can't learn to swim by reading about it; if you had no choice but to learn how to swim - now - 'chances are you'd do it rather than drown. I threw myself in at the deep end. I didn't have a year to wait: That would only lead to procrastination in my case, and procrastinators are the nearest thing to success you'll find anywhere: It's just that they never actually make it.

I took the plunge - and my first blogging efforts sucked big time. Experience in the face of need is a great teacher, and although I'm still nowhere near the top 100,000 , I'm getting there - With a little help from David Risley and others I must add. :-)

Re: Confessions of a Rookie Blogger

Shazza — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:37:36 -0000

P.S. Thanks for this guest-post. I found it most inspiring.I love the bit about the smiling lawyer. Perhaps I might give it a try: For a woman and a blogger I can be overly dry and serious. I must learn not to take myself so seriously: After all nobody else does. :-)

Re: Google Announces Interest Based Advertising

Shazza — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:17:50 -0000

Competing ads on the same site is a good thing: They give the reader more choice of product option, and at the same time deliver you more clicks.

Re: 25 Random Things You Probably Didn’t Know About David Risley

Shazza — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:25:56 -0000

Dave you have excellent musical taste: Jazz is amazing music!

Although I thought Vista was a massive dissappointment and sucked bigtime, I never left Windows: I just carried on using XP and still do to this day on my 2 PCs.

(I'll be building a third one to run Windows 7 on; but I think I'll wait for RTM before I do.)

Re: Is Twitter Useless and Over-Hyped?

Shazza — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:22:34 -0000

But let's face it though: There are those in the social networking circles who would need to go out and commit public genocide, sacrifice their offspring to whatever their impression of the devil character is, and donate millions to Al Quaida, in order to not gain friends and followers in social networks. This is because FriendFeed suggests that all new users follow them from day 1: Scoble, for instance, among others.

Once they get followed by everyone on FriendFeed they automatically get followed everywhere else too, on every other social networking platform.

How much they pay FriendFeed for this and/or why FriendFeed chooses to promote them particularly I have no idea; but they can't really fail. Does anyone know why this is? Is there a way that others can gain following recommendations from FriendFeed and/or other social networking sites? It does seem unfair that they have the advantage from the outset; especially to newcomers.

I remember when I first joined FriendFeed I was instantly shown pictures of the rich-looking godlike elite and urged to follow them before all others. Did I get the wrong impression? I was totally new to social networking only 9 months ago when this happened. Maybe this deserves an article of its own?

Re: Is Twitter Useless and Over-Hyped?

Shazza — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:18:43 -0000

@Gina: So you're saying that You can't use Twitter be4cause it's called "Twitter"? Would you use it if the name were changed to "Online Social Media Interactive Experience"? isn't that judging the book by its cover to all intents and purposes? Surely it's what goes on inside that matters?

Re: Twitter Is Responsible for Soggy Rice Crispies

Shazza — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:32:39 -0000

Who's taking bets on which will be the firstreligion to ban social networking amongst its members?

Re: Sell Premium Tweets With TwitPub – Say What?

Shazza — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:54:27 -0000

Hmm. - I don't know quite what to think here. Forthe time being I'll watch them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/twitpuber

Re: The Society of Mediocrity And Your Role As a Blogger

Shazza — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:32:45 -0000

David; you have yet again hit the nail squarely on the head. It's good to see that there are still individuals, such as yourself, who have their head well above the river of crap in which most of today's society is wallowing or drowning.

This blog is proof that true humanity is still clinging to life amidst the torrents of BS that pervade modern culture.

Re: Book Review: Twitter Revolution

Shazza — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:45:22 -0000

Maybe a bit OT, but following on from that, since we're on the subject of books: -

Have you read Tara Hunt (@missrogue)'s book "The Whuffie Factor - Using the power of social networks to build your business." yet? I encourage people to read it.

Perhaps you might like to do a book review on that book in the future if you like it Dave?

As I say it's just a thought. What I've read in it so far has a lot of substance. It's a very web 2.0 oriented publication. Printed by Crown Publishing, NY, it's available for $25.00 US in hardback. ISBN 978-0-307-40950-8

- Definitely worth reading.

Re: Just Got BBB Accreditation. But, Does It Matter Anymore?

Shazza — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:06:39 -0000

The best thing with regard to this is that it's an SEO booster.

What!? BBB accreditation has nothing to do with Google ranking... Oh but it does in a way have something to do with it; not so much to do with authority as to do with trust: -

Search engines will give a site a better ranking if it's a known and respected company. For instance; one of my sites, shazzalive.com: You've never heard of it right? It has very little content, it's really currently something of nothing. How much trust is a search engine going to rank it by? Virtually zero probably. Compare that to, say, amazon.com - Everyone knows amazon.com; it has a fantastic reputation and almost everyone if not everyone would trust it commercially. It publishes its accounts publicly and has withstood all inspections and scrutiny thrown at it by any and all official bodies. By those facts alone, amazon.com gets a listing at or near the top of the first page, while shazzalive.com gets listed on page 100+.

Dave's boxing clever here: A BBB Accreditation might at first appear to be fairly pointless, even a waste of money on the surface; but there is method behind his "madness": A BBB Accreditation increases trust in PC Media Inc. and in pcmech.com, maybe even davidrisley.com too; and subsequently scores extra points with Google.

Every little helps.

Re: If You Could Go Full-Time With Your Blog, Would You?

Shazza — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:12:03 -0000

Whilst going full-time with a blog would be great if it were constantly generating at least enough money for a full-time income and to enable the owner to live a good life, I feel at the early stages, before it begins doing so, that it would be a better idea to have one's irons in more than one fire.

Also there may be a danger of developing complacency over time if blogging were one's sole occupation and income-stream, which would be noticed by the readers and result in a loss of traffic. I'm not saying this would definitely happen; but it may be a possibility.

Re: Is Twitter Useless and Over-Hyped?

Shazza — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:26:43 -0000

Well Raul, I guess someone had to say it. - And quite obviously you no doubt have a good bunch of friends that you socialise and do business with with offline. It's good that you're doing so well.

I guess that we "narcissistic, lonely, insecure, ADHD, introverted" people will just have to make do with our online lot and communicate with the entire planet online, building valuable business contacts and making shedloads of money, while the "real" people such as yourself enjoy yourselves offline in your local-area-cliques, limited in your scope by the constraints of your immediate environment, coupled with your travelling time and how much fual you can afford in order to travel around.

Re: Is Twitter Useless and Over-Hyped?

Shazza — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:23:29 -0000

Firstly; your last point: I realise that I made a typo with the "a" in "fuel". I didn't notice it until after I'd submitted the comment. - And there's not a lot anyone can do about it at that point. Spell-laming is so lame in itself.

Point 2: If David were a loser he'd hardly be making a six-figure income now would he? I mean come on, get real.

I see losers almost every day; sitting in the sun, procrastinating and "philosophising" about why society is so unfair and wrong. - Complaining about their lot in life, yet not doing a single thing to improve it. Making excuses about why they can't improve it. Finding ways to escape from reality any way they can, rather than face it and change it. David's no loser; in fact quite the opposite.

- And the people who buy David's products? Everyone has to start somewhere. A good place to start is to learn from someone who's already done it and got the T-shirt. I suppose, as an alternative, you could always spend many years discovering things by trial and error. - But why go through all that pain and hardship when, for a few bucks, you can buy all the knowledge you need from someone who knows what they're talking about?

Anonymity and wearing an e-mask may be useful to some people on the internet; for reasons best known to themselves. - But, in the online world of social networking, doing so is a bit self-defeating if you want to become a member of the online community. On Usenet (newsgroups), for example; there are numerous trolls, kooks, nym-shifters, flamers, lamers, etc; but that's a completely different world to Twitter and the like. Things are moving forwards.

I once heard Twitter likened to a huge online party. Go in there wearing a mask and people will soon see through it.

Why do you say that I love anonymity? The truth is, in fact, quite the opposite: I have an established online identity, as does David as well as most other bloggers and entrepreneurs. - It's a very useful commodity to have too. You may note also that we use our real names. - So much for "anonymity" eh?

There's no need to take everything that someone says at face value: Having established an online relationship with an individual, read between the lines and check for consistency. - You'll soon be able to tell who wears a mask and who's for real.

Re: My Evolution Into a Six Figure Blogger

Shazza — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:17:29 -0000

Have you ever considered selling the course in 2 formats: Those being the online version and the home study course? - Or maybe both for 1 1/2 times the original price. (After the first 100 students get their home-study pack free of course. ;-) ) I don't know if you'd see this as a commercially viable proposition, and I haven't been over the advantages of doing so. - But I thought I'd just submit the idea to you since it flashed across both of my braincells simultaneously.

Re: My Evolution Into a Six Figure Blogger

Shazza — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:03:57 -0000

Ok I've read it again: You're well ahead of me. I'm having a blonde moment. Blame swine flu. Ignore the last comment.

Re: Lessons From Blog Masters Club Launch

Shazza — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:03:51 -0000

Yes I was a bit surprised that I had to make my own affiliate ad initially. - Then suddenly in the last week an official ad appeared which then seemed to keep changing URLs each day.

I don't think Yaro's course really clashed with Blog Masters though, or vice-cersa; as BMC appears to be the next level up from Become A Blogger to some extent.

I have to say it: Ustream was a bitch during UK daytime that day: I could hardly make anything out until much later on. It appears that Ustream works fairly well in the US but is sporadic in Europe.

All in all I was impressed with the launch despite technical and timing issues. - Well done!

Re: WordPress-ure, But Salvation by Plugin

Shazza — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:26:20 -0000

Hi MaXsiM. I think I was more in fear of getting something wrong than bugged by the message if the truth be known.

It would nevertheless be nice IMO to be able to turn the nag off until next time WordPress was used.
I wasn't aware of a default auto-update function in 2.6 but I may be wrong: As I installed the plugin to upgrade from 2.5.* anyway, it was there from when I started with 2.6 -So I can't say yea or nae on that.

I suggest installing the plugin on any installation(s) still running 2.5.* as it simplifies everything greatly when upgrading.

Re: WordPress-ure, But Salvation by Plugin

Shazza — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:49:32 -0000

Well yeah, maybe even after every login; but the nagging does get a bit tedious when it's continuous on virtually every page on every login doesn't it?

Re: BT and the 150 Fuckwits

Shazza — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:59:19 -0000

There is no excuse though: If they are representing a company then they should have necessary information to hand and they should be able to communicate with the cuustomers.

Years ago you dialled 100 free on a BT landline and were put through, via a quick menu, to an English operator. 100 became 150, and first the menu became a maze, then a synthesized voice from a computer dealt with most queries. People complained that they weren’t getting the “human touch” any longer; so BT in their meanness employed Indians to do the dirty work as it was cheaper.

Personally I’d rather talk to a computer that can understand me and has all information instantly available, than a bunch of foreigners who can’t speak decent English and don’t have the necessary resources available.

Re: My Stapler

Shazza — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:38:50 -0000

Thank you Ded: There you go - it was utterly fascinating after all. lol. Now should I do one about my artificial ivy plant next...?

Re: The Net-Nazis Are Watching You! (Addended 01.08.08)

Shazza — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:50:59 -0000

Hmm I'm probably less clued up than you re.networking; so I'll pass on that one: I do know that they know what type of communications protocol you're using: Such as POP3, SMTP, FTP, P2P etc. (At least BT do.) How they know I have very little idea. I think that different protocols are structured in different way, using different layers, etc. I won't try and get all techy here as I'll only make myself look stupid.

If there are any geeks who know more about this I'd be interested if you'd follow up this comment and share it with us.

Re: WordPress-ure, But Salvation by Plugin

Shazza — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:07:56 -0000

The nag you mean? I agree; It's not necessary to make it quite so prolific.

(P.S.You can follow up this comment in the same box if you like: We have the plugin. :) )

Re: Twitter Targeted

Shazza — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:58:47 -0000

No; it's your spelling and grammar that's not working.

Re: Pagan Links

Shazza — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:02:22 -0000

Hi Arietta

Thank you for reminding me: I compiled this list quite a few years ago and as a member was aware that the group has moved from msn to Yahoo and that you now have a decent website; my bad for not editing it - I'll get that amended straight away.

How is the group going these days? It's been a while since I was last at one of the rituals; 2005 was it? Time flys. Hope that you're well. I must drop round and catch up with a few old faces soon.

Blessed Be.

Sharron.

Re: A Threat to HumanITy?

Shazza — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:44:59 -0000

An interesting theory there: Have you published a thesis or paper giving more detail and/or evidence for this possible catastrophe? I'd be interested to read it if so. :)

Re: UK Weather

Shazza — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:13:21 -0000

'Remember 2006? 2 Years ago and July and August were blistering. We had record temperatures. It was made all the worse for me because I was doing final studies in a college computer room with about 10+ machines all spewing heat from probably most types of processor since the P2.

At the time everyone was saying that England was going to become a sub-tropical country due to Global Warming. (People love scaremongering!) Just a year later and there's floods in July and guess what; they've changed their minds and now say we're going to have flash floods and worse every summer due to Global Warming.

I wonder if the snow in June 1983 in Surrey was due to global warming too? Any strange weather phenomena; blame it on Global Warming and start a media frenzy about it: That's the trend these days.

Re: WP Wall Guestbook

Shazza — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:53:00 -0000

I honestly won't mind if someone bothers to comment on something.

Re: WP Wall Guestbook

Shazza — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:49:13 -0000

Please write on this wall in English. All other known languages, and Welsh, will be treated as spam and removed.

Re: WP Wall Guestbook

Shazza — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:02:58 -0000

Someone posted a comment in italian on the wall: I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt; but I changed my mind, Sorry but english comments only please.

Re: WP Wall Guestbook

Shazza — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:09:33 -0000

Don't put hyperlinks in your comments either; or they'll also be treated as spam and deleted.

Re: WP Wall Guestbook

Shazza — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:23:28 -0000

...Beyond hope of you ever making a decent comment you mean Gaz?

Re: ‘An Opportunity That Nobody Should Miss Out On’

Shazza — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:01:52 -0000

Synapse Syndrome my internet stalker. The 3 spiteful, hate-filled, comments full of vicious insults you made on this and other posts were deleted. I thought I'd include this one just for the purpose of allowing you to demonstrate your own debauched arrogance and base ignorance.

[Added: When did I ever join any cult before? Are you referring to when I was in communication with the Kadaitcha Man: The person who dubbed you "Queen of the Retards"?]

From the way you attempt to make yourself appear it would seem that you consider yourself an utter expert on all things technical. However your online demeanour belies the fact that you have been on the Stella Artois again.

I request that, in future, if you have nothing of any value to say, you say nothing. However if there is any chance that you could behave something like a reasonable human being then I and my readers would be happy to hear your point of view, in addition to your better way to make money on the internet.

Thank you for your input.

P.S. Another thing I'd ask is that you use a proper email address rather than a throwaway spam-catcher address.

Re: ‘An Opportunity That Nobody Should Miss Out On’

Shazza — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:50:02 -0000

"Moose" lol. I'm not even Canadian. :-)

You thought I deleted all your comments, but you'd had so much Stella Artois and hallucenigenic drugs that you were unable to remember how many comments you'd made.

I've googled that domain; and as I said it's a spamcatcher addy. It's a working email address true, but it's not a proper address. I very much doubt you'll get any spam, but just for your peace of mind I'll remove the cloaked reference.

Have you any idea how much spam all blog owners actually get? It's quite a vast amount. It's really crazy that they even bother with it in most cases, as most of it is unintelligible anyway.

What other tricks do you do other than writing insults and threats in a drunken drugged-up stupour? You demonstrate proof of my comments that the British have on the whole turned into a nation of thugs, dropouts, and criminals.

Re: ‘An Opportunity That Nobody Should Miss Out On’

Shazza — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 13:24:02 -0000

Thank you for your kind comment. It's never too late to learn. I gained my technical qualifications later in life, and you could no doubt do the same.

As a side issue, and more on-topic with this post, I'm still interested in hearing your superior method of making money on the internet. I and my readers would no doubt gain great benefit from your knowledgeable input.

Re: The Woork Handbook

Shazza — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:35:40 -0000

It can mean either; at least in the context I was using it.

Re: The Woork Handbook

Shazza — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:48:56 -0000

I had an IIS server, both FTP and web server, running during 2003/4. From experience I arrived at the conclusion that it was more convenient, and cheaper in the long run, to rent space on a professionally-hosted server. If you prefer to host your domain on your own computer then it does have its advantages as well as its disadvantages.

I would encourage any other readers to give IIS a try; just to see what you think.

Re: Which Brand of Processor: AMD or Intel?

Shazza — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:08:11 -0000

As a matter of interest I wonder if you'd expand a little on any issues that you have with the nVidia chipset. - Just that I had an Asrock motherboard with an nVidia chipset running an AMD Sempron CPU where I assume from logical guesswork that the chipset failed with a BSOD and then death. (Subsequent reboot attempts showed that the BIOS was unable to locate the CPU; therefore I reasoned that the faulty chipset had blocked access to it.) I rebuilt that machine using a Gigabyte board, also with an nVidia chipset, and am typing this on it now.

I'm running an AMD Athlon 64 x 2, 2.2GHz CPU on the new board. I'm hanging on to the old Sempron CPU, marked as possibly faulty as I can't be sure that the fault was actually the nVidia chipset rather than the CPU itself, or maybe even both.

Nevertheless; whether the fault lay with the chipset, the CPU, or both, it would be interesting to know of your experiences with nVidia's chipsets.

Re: SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Shazza — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:53:14 -0000

'Strange question. Why would I be recommending it if I hadn't read it? I do try to only recommend quality items on this blog; whether they be free or otherwise. I don't understand your thinking prior to your asking this question; however unless I had read it myself I would be unable to recommend it to anyone else.

Re: Update is Mystery For XP-ers

Shazza — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:58:03 -0000

I beg to differ.

Of late Microsoft have been acting more responsibly and have been doing at least something to promote safe computing by issuing updates and patches, (On most occasions rather late; but better late than never.) to patch vulnerabilities that they left in the operationg system when they released it.

OK they're just doing their duty, but at least they have, until now, been doing it.

Whilst it's never a good idea to put all ones eggs into one basket and rely upon a single entity to sort everything out; it is nevertheless the duty of the operating system's distributors to remedy any faults in their product. - Not just in the latest versions but in all versions.

Until now, Microsoft have seemingly been doing this. It's just this single ocurrence that's hopefully a one-off rather than a sign of things to come.

I wonder if OSX actually will become as popular as Windows eventually?

Re: Facebook: Chat to Text. Enterprise America. Act NOW!

Shazza — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:12:53 -0000

What makes you think you're in the upper classes? Are you on the mind-altering drugs again?

Re: Facebook: Chat to Text. Enterprise America. Act NOW!

Shazza — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:13:51 -0000

You’re up early. - Or have you been out on the Stella Artois all night again? I suppose you’ll be sleeping all day again while the rest of us are working?

Re: Facebook: Chat to Text. Enterprise America. Act NOW!

Shazza — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:17:33 -0000

Why do you describe every moneymaking marketing system as a pyramid scheme? Is that the way all losers excuse their lack of basic comprehension of todays e-commerce?

Re: Facebook: Chat to Text. Enterprise America. Act NOW!

Shazza — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:43:50 -0000

Clearly you lead a sheltered life.

Re: Light Dependant Resistor

Shazza — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:49:14 -0000

You built it and it made you laugh? What do you find amusing about an LED lighting up as darkness falls upon the sensor?

Re: Light Dependant Resistor

Shazza — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:52:54 -0000

Oh yes; I spotted my error: I drew the arrows wrong way round on the LED symbol, so that the Light Emitting Diode looks like a Light Dependant Diode or photodiode. My bad: It's an LED not a photodiode - A drawing cock-up. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Re: Light Dependant Resistor

Shazza — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:09:58 -0000

There; sorted. Thank you for alerting me to this error, even though you weren't intending to.

Re: The First Bell Tolls for Windows XP

Shazza — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:23:43 -0000

You'll be OK with XP for another 5 years. If Microsoft decide to extend the lifetime further due to their recent XP roll-out in net-books then your copy of XP was probably one of the best investments you ever made in a manner of speaking.

Re: The First Bell Tolls for Windows XP

Shazza — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:53:10 -0000

I hope he didn't have to buy it: It should have been distributed free through Microsoft Update. If you do mean that you paid for it then you were ripped off. You have the right to demand your money back from the vendor, and if they fail to refund it you can report them to Microsoft.

Re: RAM: Stick Another Stick in Today Why Not?

Shazza — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 09:56:38 -0000

Clearly here we have a smartass who knows theory but has no practical experience.

I'm honestly a bit confused as to why this commentator is constantly attempting to get one over on me. What is he trying to prove? Is there some personal feeling of inadequacy in his psyche?

Once again I had to edeit the comment to remove all the insults and abuse. I seriously believe this commentator, besides being my internet stalker, has a severe inferiority complex.

I suggest he builds a computer running a 32-bit operating system and installs 4GB RAM to prove the point.

Re: Installing Windows 7: M$ Leaves XP Users in the Cold?

Shazza — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:41:17 -0000

I don't like the look of that site to be frank Phil: It mentions some bogus pack that supposedly transforms Windows XP into Windows 7, yet it has no links to the actual pack itself. (Microsoft would almost definitely say that this action, as described therein, is not possible.) The links that it does have are rather vague, and are to other blogspot sites.

They say if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is. In this case I think the site is a spoof and the links go to dubious places that install malware on your PC.

Excuse my cynicism; but I think that site is one to avoid. It's definitely going on the kkomp blacklist.

Re: Take Control of Windows 7

Shazza — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:50:53 -0000

You're most welcome hun: I'm glad to be helpful. :-)

Re: Take Control of Windows 7

Shazza — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:40:22 -0000

Hey Jeff.

Thank you for your comment.

Microsoft have made a good job of Windows 7 and I must say that the beta is very well put-together.

I’m looking forward to using the RTM when it’s released.

Good work.

Re: Take Control of Windows 7

Shazza — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:32:09 -0000

Oh I can just imagine them writhing in agony at the problems users face. ;-)

Re: Take Control of Windows 7

Shazza — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:50:31 -0000

Thanks for your further comment Jeff.

It's good to see that Microsoft has learned from their Vista fiasco and now seeks to get it right by listening to what its customers think, rather than what it thinks it knows is best for the public.

Maybe they have really turned over a new leaf? The proof of the pudding will be in the eating; so give them a chance: If Windows 7 is an example of the way things are going to be then that's certainly a good start.

Re: Facebook’s Mirror Blog App: Pros & Cons

Shazza — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:07:13 -0000

Twitter is a totally different entity than this site; so there can be no comparison.

Re: Take Control of Windows 7

Shazza — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:45:16 -0000

Many thanks for the link Jeff. 'Appreciated.
Your input is always welcomed here. :-)

Re: How to Change the Default Location of Outlook Express Folders & Files

Shazza — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:40:37 -0000

Thnaks Jose. I hope you find it beneficial. Glad to be of help. :-)

Re: The Capacitor Plague

Shazza — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:35:30 -0000

Uh? What is what? What are you whittering about?

Re: Adobe Adored by the Malware Makers

Shazza — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:21:56 -0000

YW. I considered that, had this been a Microsoft patch, then it would have been rated critical or at least important; therefore I thought it fitting to issue this security advisory in order to make people aware of the issues.

Re: Exclude Unnecessary Programs From Boot

Shazza — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:12:46 -0000

Oops!

I just have to apologise for the fact that this article was badly written on initial publication: It appears that I somehow managed to publish a draft rather than the finished work. This has now been remedied approx. 24 hours later, and the article reads as it's meant to do.

Re: How to Remove Malware from System Volume Information Folders.

Shazza — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:48:13 -0000

Anyone who claims that they are immune from malware, as it appears that you do, Sarah Synapse Syndrome, are deluded and probably infested with it. I suggest that you try running AdAware as a first step.

Incidentally, I preserved your online biography that was written a number of years ago by the Kadaitcha Man.

http://www.kustomkomputa.co.uk/Synapse_Syndrome...

What was that you were saying about "clueless"?

Re: Outbrain Ratings Plugin

Shazza — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:22:24 -0000

Hi Kate.

Thank you for your input. - Good work, nice plugin.

Kind Regards.

Shazza.

Re: RAM: Stick Another Stick in Today Why Not?

Shazza — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:12:08 -0000

Is that right?

Re: The System File Checker

Shazza — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:50:25 -0000

Thanks hun. I'm glad you liked it. :-)

I wish I could say that I created miss kiss-this. I can't remember where I picked her up, (This sounds so gay lol.) but it must have been at least 5 years ago.

Re: Why I Had to Stop Using Apture

Shazza — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:22:24 -0000

I have a theme running on this blog about my view of Britain these days as a massive rip-off society where everybody is out for what they can get by hook or by crook.

As a Brit myself I am sick and tired of living in this rip-off culture. Here's a very recent example:

When energy prices went up by 33% our gas and electricity bills went up by 40%. Now that energy prices have fallen by 40% our gas and electricity bills are going to fall next month by a measly 10%! - And the energy companies are trying to appear generous.

I wouldn't go so far as to describe these as either anti-British or insults. They are the products of my cynical outlook on growing commercial greed. - As if the credit-crunch hadn't taught anyone anything.

As for Apture being a memory-drain; it appears that it does use up quite a lot of resources. - If removing it has indeed cured the problem as it appears to have done.

Re: Zalman’s Wireless Power

Shazza — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:24:43 -0000

It's so bloody ironic this: I write an April Fool's post on the 31st and publish it just before midnight... And the first reader reads it on the 2nd April at just after midnight.

- There's always next year I suppose.

Re: Free Antivirus Solutions: ‘Any Good?

Shazza — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:49:23 -0000

'Interesting comment. Do you have any relevant URLs for these tests that you've seen? I wouldn't mind checking them out.

Re: WP Wall Guestbook

Shazza — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:31:22 -0000

WTF!?

Re: WP Wall Guestbook

Shazza — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:32:18 -0000

Is that some kind of obscure chemical formula?

Re: How to Change Alternating Current into Direct Current and Supply DC Electronic Circuitry With Power.

Shazza — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 04:51:16 -0000

Thank you. That's a lovely compliment. I aim to please. :-)

Re: How To Create An XP Service Pack 3 Disc

Shazza — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:20:51 -0000

What I did, (Although I have 2 comps, 1 running XP Pro and the other running Windows 7 64-bit.) was, rather than dual-booting, I set up XP Pro 32-bit inside Virtual Box in Windows 7; just for fun basically at this present moment, although I will also be setting up Puppy Linux in the virtual-machine environment also.

What you did with WinRar is something I never thought of. Having Googled I see how it's done. If anyone else wants to know then read this article.

I see no reason why the same can't be done with the XP SP3 ISO. Perhaps you'd like to give it a try and report on what happens?

Thank you for your comment, which has brought an interesting new dimension to the discussion.

Blessings.

Re: RAM: Stick Another Stick in Today Why Not?

Shazza — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:20:27 -0000

I thought that I'd add that I am in no way doubting the accuracy of the above calculation as set out by Synapse Syndrome, aka "Sarah Palin", aka "Syphilis Syndrone". Like I said; I personally calculated it at several terabytes; 16.78 million to be exact, as ss pointed out.

I think what ss fails to understand is that this isn't a blog targeted at engineers and geeks alone in order to enhance their knowledge. This blog is targeted at anyone and everyone.

Engineers and geeks should already know exactly how much memory a 64-bit operating system is able to utilise. Those who aren't in either category most probably don't want to be blinded by science; so several terabytes will suffice as a rough figure. Which non-geek is going to run a 64-bit operating system with over a terabyte of RAM in the forseeable future anyway? I have no idea why ss is making such a fuss over nothing. He even sent me a barrage of insults over a typo at one point; which is part of the reason he's now banned from commenting, since he seems unable to add much of value to the conversation.

Re: Is it Worth Running a RAID Array?

Shazza — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:28:20 -0000

Although I previously banned SS from commenting, this comment, although negative in the main and full of his own self-importance, does contribute something to the discussion, so I allowed it.

My preference for a Linux server does have something to do with WordPress, yes, but it goes further than that. I appreciate that WP runs on Windows servers, but not on my host's Windows servers for whatever reason best known to themselves.

Re: Happy Birthday Beyond

Shazza — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:53:47 -0000

Many thanks hun. I wish you equal success with your site(s) too. You might consider taking a look at this, it may be helpful. It certainly was in my case: Click here.

Re: How to Avoid Paying Extra for XP Mode(?)

Shazza — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:23:37 -0000

Unfortunately M$ are cutting off their nose to spite their face by doing this. What they don't seem to realise is that their obvious hunger for money is in a way causing people to not want to part with their funds in exchange for Microsoft products. If the softies were a bit more reasonable about their policies and made decent computing available to everybody and not just those with enough spare capital to pay a lot of $$$ to them then their sales volume would increase no end.

What we need is an OS with just 2 versions again; like with XP: Home and Professional, rather than Basic, A-Bit-Less-Basic, Almost-Worth-Buying, Worth-Buying, Worth-Buying-If-You-Can-Afford=It, Rip-Off, and Massive-Rip-Off.

- Having said that we have yet to see Microsoft's pricing for their what seems like 57 varieties of 7. - Without doubt I think I can safely say that none are going to be cheap: Not with regard to price anyway.

Re: Microsoft and the Massive 7 UK Con

Shazza — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:31:05 -0000

'Great detective work: Many thanks.

Although it's now clear that The UK con's end is in sight; it would be interesting to find out how many people have fallen for it in the interim.

Also, whilst the pricing is indeed good, there does, nevertheless, appear to be a discrepancy between forty-nine dollars ninety-nine cents US and forty-nine pounds UK. I don't know what currency converter they were using, but it's got then bringing in more from the UK than the USA.

Have you readers been conned into buying Vista to get 7 "free"?

Re: How to Avoid Paying Extra for XP Mode(?)

Shazza — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:04:44 -0000

;-)

Re: The Windows 7 System Repair Disk

Shazza — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:10:20 -0000

Thank you. I'm flattered.

Please excuse the late reply; I somehow overlooked this comment.

Thank you for your kind compliment. I'll continue to write for a while yet hopefully.

You might like to join my mailing list, if you haven't already done so, so that you can participate in the mailing list promotions, as well as receive details of products and further information that you might find useful. Click here to subscribe.

Blessings.

Shazza.

Re: A Brief Look at The Electronic Capacitor

Shazza — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:04:31 -0000

OK: First; for those who have absolutely no idea what Phil is on about, read this article.

Quite an extraordinary apparatus you describe there Phil! Whilst it would be something absolutely amazing to power a combustion engine this way, (Stopping every 100 miles to have a shag.) I really have no ideas about this concept. You'll have to provide a lot more details and design data + explanations of concepts for me to comment further. :-)

Re: A Brief Look at The Electronic Capacitor

Shazza — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:08:30 -0000

Thanks for the comment Jose. :-)

The capacitors on a motherboard are particularly important as they play, in the main, a large part in power stabilisation and in nullifying any bleedover waveforms induced in the power rails by the high frequencies of the data buses. Previously when manufacturers used low-quality electrolytics only there was a significant problem caused by gas bubbles building up in the electrolyte dielectric and causing a problem known as "capacitor plague".

The solid-core capacitors used in place of electrolytics are normally tantalum dielectric capacitors; which are less prone to current-leakage through the dielectric, in addition to being less prone to internal chemical reactions.

As you say it's definitely worth the extra for the increased stability and longevity of the motherboard.

Re: Heads-Up on the Future of This Blog: Public Newsletter

Shazza — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:11:05 -0000

'Change of plan: I'll only be transferring a few articles over to shazzalive.com; rather than all of them. I'll be leaving this blog static eventually; but I won't remove any content or close it: 'Too much unnescessary work and hassle.

I will duplicate new technical posts onto shazzalive.com for the time being. Eventually I'll stop posting here and only post on shazzalive.com, leaving this blog static and as a reference-only library only. - In other words I'll stop using this blog and use shazzalive.com instead; althought the content here will remain.

I'll re-write some of the articles and post them to shazzalive.com in due course and as time goes by.

I still have a fair bit of work to do on shazzalive.com before I go properly live with it. - You can view it now if you like; but right at the moment it's not much to look at.

Re: 12 Things to Stop Doing in 2009

Shazza — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:32:09 -0000

That post, along with a lot of the comments, has given me a warm feeling by reminding me that there are still people who are positive and motivated out there, despite the doom and gloom that the sources of negativity are trying to hoist upon us all.

Another first-rate post, as always, Chris.

Happy New Year to you and yours.

Re: Is it Thursday already?

Shazza — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:59:39 -0000

I love the theme; and a great colour-scheme too. Very nice.

I often find myself sitting in front of the computer at night and thinking that I'd better pack up soon or I won't get much sleep. Then I look out of the window and the dawn is breaking; so I just varry on and get a decent extended sleep the following night. It looks like I'm doing it again tonight too. :)

One thing that I would say. and David implanted this in my mind when he last viewed my blog a few weeks ago, is that there is no real point of central focus at the top of the screen; such as a logo.

I enter the page above with my eyes top left. I see a dark expanse with a little colour in it. I see the menu to the right and a nicely layed-out page below. My eyes drop to the Twitter bird. Is it linked? click Obviously not. shrugs and I move down to the post and start reading.

I'd love to see a partially-transparent logo in the top left corner, colour-synchronised with the background that it's on but standing out quite visibly nevertheless.

I'd enter top left and look at that; scan around using that point as a reference, then move to something else that I like the look of...

You could even code a full-width image into the bottom of your header.php file perhaps, below the body html tag. That might look rather good aesthetically; so that the image, which is your logo, appears at the very top of the page on every page and post.

I must stop now: Too many suggestions is my weak point.

I like especially the theme you've chosen and the contrasting colour scheme which is nevertheless pleasing on the eye.

You're doing well. :)