tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89936052007-03-20T00:14:22.266ZCrimpermanBlogger251tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-83467672596893759342007-01-09T22:30:00.000Z2007-03-20T00:14:22.311Z

I've mentioned both my affection for free software and Free Software Magazine before. Well now I can link the two as I have had two articles published in the latest issue (15) of FSM. The first is a beginners guide to understanding free software which does exactly what it says on the tin (I hope). The second is a review of GRAMPS which is a free software licenced genealogical application. If

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1158968713332231052006-09-23T00:45:00.000+01:002006-09-23T00:45:13.383+01:00

As you may know, I am an IT Manager for Contact a Family, a UK national chairty for families with disabled children. We produce two websites, the one linked above and MakingContact.org , which I have mentioned here before. This month we won the "Best use of new media" award at the UK Charity awards and well I'm kinda proud of the fact - even if I did have to wear a dinner suit and bow tie to

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1155743631201523932006-08-16T16:39:00.000+01:002006-08-16T16:55:36.846+01:00

Some time (scarily it was nine years) ago I wrote a piece on here entitled "Touching a heart". Two years later I followed that up with a piece called "Further lessons from a child". Both those pieces centered on lessons I had learned by observing my niece and I often find myself reflecting on the things I have (and haven't) learned as a result of those experiences. Nowadays I have children of my

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1154514467792561502006-08-02T11:27:00.000+01:002006-08-02T11:48:52.063+01:00

It's been a while since I posted something here - and longer since that was specifically applicable to Christians. Recently I was asked to give a talk (don't like to think of them as sermons as that always conjurs images of people falling asleep) at my church. Having prayed about it I felt God wanted me to speak on His promises. One of the promises I looked at was the return of Jesus and how it

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1149592260116216552006-06-06T12:11:00.000+01:002006-06-06T12:11:00.933+01:00

I've recently found Free Software Magazine, a freely downloadable (or web readable) magazine about - um - Free Software. By which they mean Freedom and not zero cost. As you know I'm an FOSS afficianado and I have to say this publication is very well produced, the writing is good, the production quality is high and of course, being zero cost, it is great value for money :o) If you are

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1148399763879650222006-05-23T16:56:00.000+01:002006-05-23T16:56:03.980+01:00

Although I've been using the Internet (in various forms)ing for a little longer, it has occurred to me that this years marks the tenth anniversary of my web presence in the form of websites. Crimpermans Christian Freebies started life in 1996 as a way to distribute my Christian desktop themes, other sites were added and around 5 yeasr ago I merged them all into the site you see before you (

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1147181237936052492006-05-09T14:27:00.000+01:002006-05-11T22:21:52.060+01:00

As you may have guessed I use both Linux (Debian) and Firefox at work and home. Within Debian I use the KDE desktop and for some time it has bugged me no end that firefox (and Thunderbird for that matter) use the GTK dialogs (as used in GNOME. Now there's nothing wrong with these per-se but what bugs me is that I choose to use KDE and therefore pretty much all my desktop applications use the

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1120658759838009992005-07-06T15:05:00.000+01:002006-04-18T17:03:12.946+01:00

In an earlier post, I lent my feeble support to the London bid for the 2012 Olympic games. I am glad to say that, after some fierce competetion (especially from the Paris bid), we won!! The onus is now on the team to deliver and especially for them to deliver the infrastructure that London needs now, let alone for the Olympics. But, that said, well done to Lord Coe and the bid team, I saw the

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1145369240633986872006-04-18T15:07:00.000+01:002006-04-18T15:09:21.910+01:00

As you know, I write software and some of it is Open Source. I've just added to them and am proud to announce (drum roll) Ryan's Electronic Diary Sheet. It's a web-based application which allows members of an organisation (typically staff) to inform each other of their proposed whereabouts. It is essentially a simple way to share calendars without the need for complex client (desktop) and server

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1144887596391564392006-04-13T01:19:00.000+01:002006-04-13T17:02:57.810+01:00

Like a growing number of people, I use the Firefox web browser, both at work and at home, I also use the Thunderbird mail client. You may know that noth of these are provided by the Mozilla Foundation. Anyway, I have recently discovered the Hacking for Christ blog which is written by one of the Mozilla employees, Gerv Markham. Gerv is a Christian and his blog is excellent. Those two facts are

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1127389687423834902005-09-22T11:29:00.000+01:002005-09-26T16:21:50.430+01:00

I have long been a fan of the open source philosophy along with others like Creative Commons. I like the way they allow you to distribute things in a fair manner whilst still protecting the author or the work to the extent they prefer. Much better than the restrictive and prohibitive copyright licences used so often today. This blog is distributed under a Creative commons licence. Basically you

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1117639083524298622005-06-01T16:18:00.000+01:002005-09-14T15:01:59.660+01:00

Following my first time parents post in November, I am pleased to announce that we are now second time parents. My daughter was born in May and is very healthy and beautiful. When I posted the original stuff about how first time parents can be overwhelming for those around them, I figured that second time parents were less so. Now we have our little girl I am afraid this is wrong. I have a

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1126706475871962902005-09-14T14:49:00.000+01:002005-09-14T15:01:15.880+01:00

CrimperBlog has been using Blogger for a while now. Until I decided if I liked blogging (or could live with it more accurately), I was hsoting at blogger as well. I've now come to the conculsion that I like the concept of blogging and it ties in very neatly with the writings section of my main site Crimperman.org. So, I've brought the blog hosting into Crimperman.org. What this means is that

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1121698012247952672005-07-18T15:46:00.000+01:002005-07-18T16:34:51.120+01:00

You may have gathered from other posts that I am a Londoner. You will probably also be aware of the bombings in London on 7 July 2005. Although, fortunately, not in any of the trains or the bus that exploded I was affected and this is my account - for what it is worth. On that day, I was travelling to work on the Central Line, scheduled to arrive at my destination Liverpool Street Station around

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1119960236316290522005-06-28T13:03:00.000+01:002005-06-28T13:45:37.416+01:00

There's been an interesting post on Slashdot (a regular visit for me) recently regarding the use of Blogs as spam. When somebody commented that they like to see a Google feature that filters out blogs a discussion ensued which included some comments about how asking people not to blog was against human rights (free speech) and also the First Amendment of the US Bill of Rights. The US Bill of

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1105445185184903912005-01-11T13:06:00.000Z2005-06-28T13:38:50.886+01:00

They're like buses these posts.... In an earlier post I mentioned that MakingContact.org was up for some awards. Well, we won best secure e-mail servcie from the Telephone Helpline Association and were shortlisted finalists for the Guardian Public Service awards and the Community Care awards. To be honest I pretty chuffed with all of these as we didn't set out to win awards just to make a good

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1099502429460607392004-11-03T17:11:00.000Z2005-06-28T13:37:33.586+01:00

I've been interested in the concept of blogging for some time now but didn't get one because quote frankly I didn't know if I'd ever use it. So, instead of trying to work out if I 'd use one before i got one, I've decdied to set this one and see what happens. If you want to see more of what I've put webside for the last seven or so years then check out my main site (Crimperman.org) You might

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1099503844439584132004-11-03T17:44:00.000Z2005-06-28T13:37:16.900+01:00

Bit of blatant self back-patting here but a site that I have developed for my employer (Contact a Family) called MakingContact.org is up for two national awards. MC.Org is designed to allow families of disabled children to get in touch with each other in a secure and safe way, building much needed support networks. It has been shortlisted for two national awards: The Guardian Public Services

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1099566367224139482004-11-04T11:06:00.000Z2005-06-28T13:36:50.200+01:00

Social Source UK: I'm one of the organisers/founders of a group of people seeking to promote the use and best practice of Open Source and Free Software within the voluntary & community (non-profit for those in the US) sector in the UK. We held an event in Sept 2004 which was (IMHO) a roaring success. If you're involved in either the VCS or FLOSS game and have, or want to have, an interest in

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1099937493219696102004-11-08T18:11:00.000Z2005-06-28T13:36:30.430+01:00

our Son (first) has just turned one and, like many new parents I guess, I find myself in between a feeling of the last year going so quick and yet it seeming like a lot longer than only a year since we first brought him home. I guess I tend towards the latter - it's kind of hard to remember life before him. Before you jump to any conclusions, this is not because of the "dreaded" sleepless nights

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1101810350565792872004-11-30T10:05:00.000Z2005-06-28T13:36:10.736+01:00

I must confess I've never been one for writing diaries et al. so my blog is fairly sparse. To be honest this was an experiment anyway (to see if I could actually be bothered to blog) so I guess I have my answer. Anyway I have recently discovered Pepys Diary and being British and a Londoner, I am enjoying it. Here we have a real blog, an insight into life in 17th Century London (okay, into Pepys

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1101812573556665762004-11-30T11:02:00.000Z2005-06-28T13:34:48.626+01:00

On the London thing, Local Gov is currently trying it's hardest to drum up (public) support for the London Olympics 2012 bid and I just want to add my small voice to the campaign. I think the idea of London hosting the Olympics is a great idea, the regeneration of parts of London will be good as will the much needed update to the public transport system. BUT... this will only be any good for

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1113575316606876072005-04-15T15:28:00.000+01:002005-06-28T13:34:20.036+01:00

My experiment in blogging is now ...let's see...163 days old and I have posted a grand total of nine posts (incuding this one). Not what you'd call prolific is it? I have to say that I find the concept of blogging intriguing. Most personal websites in the late 90's consisted of minimal interest stuff like people's cats or what they get up to at weekends. Come to think of it there's a lot that

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1105446050886682552005-01-11T13:06:00.000Z2005-06-28T13:33:30.956+01:00

back after Christmas - been a bit quiet lately on the blog front but there you go... I thought I'd note down - for posterity - what I am reading right now.. I was given a copy of the Bourne Trilogy by Robert Ludlum so I am currently working my way through them. I always had an interest in the spy/thriller books, Clancy, Craig Thomas etc. But for some reason never got round to these. The recent

Crimpermantag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993605.post-1117638369444631342005-06-01T16:06:00.000+01:002005-06-28T13:33:01.550+01:00

I've been using Broadband (ADSL) for some time now and was quite happy with my 512K connection for a reasonable £25 per month. I'd seen various adverts for £15 per month services but with few exceptions they were restrcited in some way. Either by the amount of traffic you could use or by the times you could use the service. Anyway, I recently found PlusNET and discovered they now do a 2mb

Crimperman