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If you came here from http://kiwinewt.geek.nz then my site is down, if not, hai :)
I cant think of anything else to say but I will add stuff to this later :)
Coming Soon
Jan 2010…
This is a test post…
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A while ago I was given a bag of soap nuts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapindus). I have just finally gotten around to making up some liquid soap from them.
The instructions that come with them say to use a cup of soap nuts to a litre of water and simmer for 20 minutes, which I followed. Oddly enough, the result was a liquid that looked like dirty water (and smelt like concentrated mulled wine).
I poured it into a bottle and tried it in the shower – the liquid was way too runny for shampoo, and the bubbles from shaking it up did nothing much either. After the shower, however, my hair does feel a lot better 
I then put half a dozen of the used nuts into a calico bag and put that in the washing machine with a load of clothes – the water felt extremely soapy, which I hadn’t expected, and the resulting greywater was a lot blacker than normal.
Overall, I recommend Soap Nuts for in the washing machine and that, but am yet to find a good way to use it as shampoo. I also think that the liquid, when well diluted, could be a really good general garden spray (soapy water can kill some pests, discourage others and in some cases help stop fungi and diseases).
I’ll update later when I have played with them and the “recipe” a bit more..
Originally published at Kiwinewt.Geek. Please leave any comments there.
It might not sound like much… but today I pinched out my first laterals from my tomato plants. Looks like they have mostly survived 
I’ll post some pics sometime soon, but till then, have a comic ’specially from AppleGeeks:
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Today I asked in #rubyonrails: How can I have a model with a text field and have that text field in multiple languages?
Epic thanks to Radar for the answer:
http://frozenplague.net/2009/11/scoping-b
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Just looking through some old blog posts and GitHub archives this evening… and came across SettingsLogic.
Now, the guy that wrote this has done some awesome stuff such as SearchLogic and others. SettingsLogic looks pretty similar to my original AppConfig way of doing things, which I like.
What I still want, however, is a database-driven settings plugin that will allow in-place changes to certain application settings (e.g. site name, admin email, etc), but I still havent found one.
Anyone know of any?
Originally published at Kiwinewt.Geek. Please leave any comments there.
At the moment I have been a bit busy with things around life that have been taking up too much time. One of these is getting business issues, such as marketing, sorted.
I am, however, getting on top of these again now and will get into development as soon as I am able. Tonight I even installed my copy of a Ruby on Rails Ticket Management System, had a bit of a play with it and almost instantly decided to rewrite it myself. but thats the beauty of Open Source, isn’t it? I can look at the code and see how things have been done and write them the way I think that they should be. The project is old enough that to bring it up to date will just about take a complete code rewrite, so starting from scratch would be a good idea – and it means that I can incorporate a load of plugins to do the work for me
As far as other projects go, I have moved PageSprout over to my GitHub now, so for people going to download it the whole thing looks a bit more professional. Soon I will hopefully be able to work on it as well – I have a growing roadmap on my computer of what I want to do with it and where I want it to head.
Hopefully business will pick up a bit again and it will be all go
Originally published at Kiwinewt.Geek. Please leave any comments there.
I know I always promise to do update posts, but this isn’t one of those.
Just over the last few days, I have been setting up a new server. Over on SliceHost. Yeah. I have found many issues running my Ruby on Rails apps over on DreamHost (like the fact that DreamHost won’t give you enough memory to run more than one).
So I have now moved WebToday across, which is good. Getting the emails working correctly was a whole nother kettle of fish though! At least now I have found out how to create a mailbox that forwards straight on (so it can be used for sending mail, but all received mail goes elsewhere).
There are a couple of things I have noticed about SliceHost which I really like – 24/7 live chat with them, articles on how to do the basics (setup a mail server, for example) and the ability to clone a slice. This means that when the number of emails and websites gets too much, I can clone the slice, remove the web role from one and the mail role from the other (and same thing for the database).
Anyway, enough love story for now, back to moving domains across…
Originally published at Kiwinewt.Geek. Please leave any comments there.
Right. So when I get around to it I am going to put cobblestones in around the dock area. I like the way that this guy has done it: http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/For
I also think that I will put the area including the goods yard in this configuration, that way it will include the shunter shed, turntable and such. Should be interesting to do! 
Also, I know I havent done any updates lately. So sue me! 
I’ll put up some pictures and a life update tonight I hope…
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Brenda Wallace:
New Zealand government censoring our Internet access is in today’s Herald http://is.gd/1A535
Nate Walker:
What the hell??? They shouldnt be allowed to do this. If they must censor, government-based internet censorship should be open and people should be able to know what is on the list and there should be a process to get oneself removed from the list as well.
Originally published at Kiwinewt.Geek. Please leave any comments there.
Heh. Just turned over the compost bin. After getting through the newly added stuff, the compost underneath looked GOOOOOD! And by the time spring comes around I should actually have good compost to dig in to the soil. Huzzah!
I would post pics, but I forgot to take the camera out with me… And we are stuck on dial-up speeds (hence no new train photos yet)
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I have to sell on my new princess. I have done a heap of repairs to her so that she is practically running like new, but please, help support the cause and pass this on to anyone who may be interested in the slightest?
Thanks 
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.a
Originally published at Kiwinewt.Geek. Please leave any comments there.
Well, timber with plywood top done, bolts done. now just to sand down and prep for trains. oh, and to drill wiring holes…
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I got a bit of a new project today too. Well, I bought her today. Hopefully will arrive in just over a week with some matching carriages. One can but hope.
Princess Elizabeth
“Triang Princess 4-6-2 loco
Princess Elizabeth 46201
Model released 1955 -1958
Body marked R50 but chassis looks like a R53
All plastic body.
Loco runs well.
Faults:
Tender coupling loose.
Lining and “Lion on Wheel” decals missing from tender.
Running number missing both sides of cab.Discolouration on top of firebox.
Front screw attaching ccassis to body loose.
Apart from all that a reasonable model”
Originally published at Kiwinewt.Geek. Please leave any comments there.
So I’ve been a bit busy of late with my layout. Slowly but surely getting it setup and ready to go:
(Warning: Lots of pics. Small ones, but still lots.)
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Just thought I would put these in for info…
Lighting with DCC (the reason I got the LEDs etc.) http://brian-lambert.co.uk/DCC.htm#DCC Lighting
A DCC Lighting Kit HowTo (Where I got the idea from) http://www.modelrailforum.com/forums/ind
Modelling of Sodor (Thomas the Tank) http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/f
Model Railroad track plans (Might use the single car turntable on the wharf, perhaps a small engine version…) http://www.building-your-model-railroad.c
Laying track over baseboard joins http://modelrailway.blogspot.com/2007/10/h
I think, for the nerd in me, that I shall have to name one of my trains Ruby. Leave a comment if you get the reference…
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Just went to the model shop for a little while today… (yeah right!) and I got a couple of parts for when I do get the layout built.
Firstly, the bridge for the figure 8:
Secondly, a T.A.R.D.I.S:
Good thing is, the bridge is practically exactly what I need, and the T.A.R.D.I.S satisfies my geek side (and can be put anywhere without looking out of place!)
Finally, I got some LEDs and bridge rectifiers so that I can start to put electronics in the coaches to light them up. Should be fun
Originally published at Kiwinewt.Geek. Please leave any comments there.
So. I have decided that since I am going to garden all spring and summer and part of autumn, I probably need something to do in winter and at the times that I can’t/don’t need to get outside.
Therefore, I am going to be adding Model Trains to the list of things I blog about. The picture above is about the 6th iteration of my planning – the figure 8 will be on a hill so that the straight without the point on will be over a bridge at the top. The double loop is designed in such a way that a train can swap on to either – the larger trains will go on the outer tracks and the smaller ones on the inside.
It’s also going to be set up to be switched between DC (12vDC, one train) and DCC (16vAC, multiple trains, digitally controlled) on the figure 8. This way Little Ms. 3 can play on it at the same time
More to follow as things progress…
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