Rules for life.

This was origionally sent to me as a chain email. I never send them on, but I thought that they were good so I would pass then on this way.

There's some mighty fine advice in these words.

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
2. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
3. Don't believe all you hear.
4. When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.
5. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.
6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
7. Believe in love at first sight.
8. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.
9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.
10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
11. Don't judge people by their relatives.
12. Talk slowly but think quickly.
13. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'
14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
15. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.
16. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
17. Remember the three R's: 
1. Respect for self; 
2. Respect for others; and 
3. Responsibility for all your actions.
18. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
19. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
20. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice
21. And most important "Have some time alone."

:)

Breast Cancer Awareness on Facebook

OK so it is that time of year again, for women to put very strange status updates on Facebook.

In the past few years it has been.

What colour bra are you wearing?

Red

'I like it' followed by where do you usually leave your purse?

I like it on the kitchen table!

The size off your feet followed by inches and then an unhappy emoticon.

7 inches :(

Weeks and a craving!

I'm 13 weeks and craving Starburst!

This meme was a bit more complex in its construction than the previous two.
Women in on the joke are instructed to match the month of their birth with a corresponding number of weeks,
and the date of their birth with a type of candy or sweet, to get the "I'm X weeks and craving X!" construction.

So by following that formula, somebody's who says she's "13 weeks and craving Starburst" would have a birthday of Sept. 2.

Here's the full formula, in case you're wondering:

Month	Number of week
January	1 week
February	2 weeks
March	3 weeks
April	4 weeks
May	6 weeks
June	8 weeks
July	10 weeks
August	12 weeks
September	13 weeks
October	14 weeks
November	16 weeks
December	18 weeks

Date

1. Skittles
2. Starburst
3. Kit-Kats
4. M&M's
5. Galaxy
6. Crunchies
7. Dairy Milk
8. Lollipops
9. Peanut Butter Cups
10. Meat Balls
11. Twizzlers
12. Bubble Gum
13. Hershey's Kisses
14. Chocolate Mints
15. Twix
16. Resse's Fastbreak
17. Fudge
18. Cherry Jello
19. Milky Way
20. Pickles
21. Creme Eggs
22. Skittles
23. Gummy Bears
24. Gummy Worms
25. Strawberry Pop Tarts
26. Starburst
27. Mini Eggs
28. Kit-Kat Chunkies
29. Double Chocolate Chip Crunchy Cookies
30. Smarties
31. Chocolate Cake

Now for the next one, again it is for birthdays

The idea is to use you birthdate, month and day only, no year!

Write: "I am going to live in (see city or country for your birthday month below) for (day of your birthday) it would be how many months you are going

Ex. if your birthday was on February 14th, then
" I am going to live in London for 14 months!!!!

Month	Place
January	Mexico
February	London
March	Miami
April	Dominican Republic
May	France
June	St. Petersburg
July	Austria
August	Germany
September	New York
October	Amsterdam
November	Las Vegas
December	Colombia

And remember women.

Don't tell the men!

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday and I will cry if I want to.

Here is a list of things that make you feel old. So, how far down can you go?
Please remember that this was jotted down in 2011, so you will need to add more years to it now.

1. Face book is about 7 years old.
2. Pierce Brosnan last acted as James Bond 9 years ago.
3. Windows XP was released 10 years ago, in 2001. And it's been 10 years since 9/11.
4. The "new" millennium is more that a decade old.
5. "The Matrix" came out 12 years ago, Keanu Reeves is 46.
6. Mother Theresa and Lady Diana have been dead for 14 years. The same year the first "Harry Potter" book first came out.
7. Spice Girls début single "Wannabe" cane out in 1996, 15 years ago. The youngest of them is 35.
8. The first season of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. first aired 17 years ago.
9. Jurassic Park (1993) is older that Justin Bieber
10. "Terminator 2" is 20 years old (1991), Edward Furlong who played John Connor is 33.
11. Macaulay Culkin (30) was in "Home Alone", 21 years ago.
12. Sean Connery last played James Bond in 1983 that is 28 years ago. and he is now 80 years old.
13. The first space shuttle flight on 12^th April 1981, now that is just over 30 years ago (Starting to feel old!)
14. Space Invaders Launches Craze for Computer Video Games in 1978.
15. 11 Israel Athletes murdered by Arab Gunman at Munich Olympics on September 6^th 1972.
16. Apollo 11 the first manned mission to the moon 1969, 42 years ago.
17. Assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, 48 years.
18. Munich air disaster on February 6^th 1958 - 21 dead, including 7 Manchester United Players
19. In 1954, rationing finally ends in Great Britain, the first sub 4 minute mile run by Roger Bannister and hydrogen bomb test were conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
20. Queen Elizabeth II crowned queen of England on June 2^nd 1953.

P.S. Do you remember some of the kids now posting on Facebook, in there nappies!

Ok so now you have worked out how old you are think of your next 'mile stone' birthday, 20, 30, 40 etc.

So now take that 'mile stone' birthday and first times it by 2 and then the 'mile stone' birthday by 3, if you are 20 that will give you 40 and 60.

Now ask will I be alive at that birthday.

Age at next milestone	Milestone X 2	Milestone X 3
20	40 - Yes	60 - Should be
30	60 - Should be	90 - Possibly
40	80 - Possibly	120 - Don't think so.
50	100 - Well some people are!
60	120 - Very un-lightly
70	Don't even bother

If you want to know the average age life expectancy have a look at Wikipedia.

Ok, so I am 50 today. I have lived at least half my life. I am having a good life, I hate the phrase "You have had a good life", this suggests that you are at the end. and I don't want it to end.

And more importantly life is what you make it.

When I die the world will end. This is a fact for me.
To everyone else it will just be another mark in time.

And people wonder why I think birthdays are depressing. It is just a way to mark another step closer to the grave.

When it does end and I am in a box .:-

I want to people to come into to see me off with Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor playing in the background, and it MUST be played on an organ, nothing else can get the full range.

When I leave the ‘Always look on the bright side of life’ from the film ‘Life of Brian’ must be played.

Just remember.

Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "holy shit... what a ride! Can I have another go?"

CSS Hacks and why you should not use them

CSS Hacks - I know I got most of this some where else but it is so right

Every one should keep CSS Simple

KISS

Do they? Not so. The complexity monster has reappeared, right in the center of modern Web development. Nowadays it doesn’t manifest itself as an endlessly nested table, but as an endlessly complicated CSS hack.

Our beloved CSS is in danger.

The lure of CSS hacks

Otherwise sensible Web developers wasted enormous amounts of time in finding and improving countless CSS hacks. In my opinion these hacks are a danger to Web development, both from a psychological and from a technical point of view.

Complicated CSS hacks are the modern equivalents of the frames and tables we used in wholesale lots back in the nineties. Their use serves to give the Web author a feeling of mastery, a false sense of security in the face of the countless things that can go wrong in browsers.

As a bonus, complex CSS hacks look great on mailing lists:

Five pixels too many in IE 5.5 Win2000 SP1.1beta? Use Funny Fred’s Hilarious Replaced Right-Bracket Hack!

Such mails are meant to dazzle the newbies and to prove that the author really knows what he’s talking about.

What bothers me most about the mindset of CSS hackers is that they are actively searching for complicated solutions. Seek and ye shall be found, if you want complexity it’ll take you by the throat. It’ll never let go of you, and it won’t help you, either.

The Web is an uncertain place. You’ll never be sure that your Web sites will work in the exact way you want them to work, not even when you apply all modern insights from CSS, accessibility and usability. Instead of seeking false comfort in hacks that seem all the more comfortable because of their complexity, you should accept uncertainty as a basic principle.

Browsers don’t have perfect CSS support; especially for people who’ve just started learning CSS, that can be infuriating. Nonetheless CSS hacks are not the solution. Acceptance of the way the Web currently works is the best way to go because it’ll keep your sites simple.

The dangers of CSS hacks
Besides, CSS hacks are actively dangerous for your Web site. A cursory glance at the underlying "theory" (if one can call it that) will rapidly convince you that the average CSS hacker doesn’t have the faintest idea what he’s doing.

A certain browser has a certain CSS bug. Good to know. This same browser has another bug, usually in its parsing of CSS selectors or comments. This, too, is important information. However, a CSS hacker proceeds to use the second bug to "solve" the first one.

Solving one bug by another is not my idea of keeping Web development simple, but the matter goes beyond bad coding style. These hacks are inherently unsafe.

In an ideal world the next release of the browser would solve both bugs. In an uncaring world the next release of the browser would solve neither. In the uncertain world we live in the next release could solve one bug but not the other!

Therefore you could end up with a hack that applies an extra rule you no longer need, or with a necessary extra rule that isn’t applied any more.

CSS hackers seek out pairs of complicated, transitory browser bugs and confidently assume that new browser versions will never solve exactly one of two paired bugs. Then they deliberately sprinkle these bugs through the Web sites they code.

The worst part is that they seduce innocent newbies into copying their reprehensible habits by falsely promising them mastery over Web browsers.

I find their behavior very unprofessional and irresponsible. It’s not forward-compatible Web development. It’s not backward-compatible, either. It’s completely incompatible Web development, and future users of their sites will pay the price.

Using CSS hacks responsibly

Deep in my heart I do not wish to apply any CSS hack. More often than not, though, when I create a site one browser proudly displays a bug. On encountering such a bug I first wonder whether it is acceptable. Does the 10px width difference really matter?

When the bug isn’t acceptable, I always look for real CSS solutions first, solutions that do not involve hacking my way through browser land.

Hacks against dead browsers are safe, but hacks against the living aren’t. None of them. Ever.

We should not use CSS hacks except for those targeted at dead browsers, and even these with caution and only as a last resort.

CSS hacks lull Web developers into a false sense of security and into pride at the complexity of their solutions, while the underlying theory predicts long-term disaster. Don’t fall for these aberrations.

Keep CSS simple.

Hospital

I know I said my next post would be about hospital but that was a long time ago and I really don't want to talk about it.

Care was good, Food was bad.

The Bike Accident 11th Feb 2011

Ok, so here it is the lead up to the accident. This might sound a bit like a police report, and that is because some of it is.

On Friday 11^th Feb 2011, I was traveling home from work on the A361 from Beckington towards Southwick. I travelled through most of Rode passing Church Fields on the left hand side. The two cars in front indicated to turn left onto the B3109, and then turned as indicated.

As I was moving across the junction a white transit van, pulled out of the junction. It was turning right to travel towards Beckington. There was no time for me to be able to avoid the van.

The front of the van hit me on the left hand side, crushing my left leg between the bike and the front of the van. I was thrown off my bike. I rolled along the road, finally stopping on the wrong side of the road alongside the bike (about 2 meters away from the bike).

The bike slid along the road on its right hand side and stopped on the grass verge.

I thought about getting up but looking at my leg and the pain I was in I decided not to move.

So here is a diagram.

Key Road from bottom left to top right is A361 Road from top down is B3109 Dotted white line is path of van Dotted blue line is path of bike Dotted red line is my path after leaving the bike.

A number of people stopped (including the driver of the white van,) and gave assistance.

During the time waiting for the police and ambulance the driver of the white van came up to me, asked how I was and said the classic; ‘sorry I did not see you’

Whilst waiting for the police and ambulance I was able to phone Emma  and Deb and inform them of what had happened.

Within a few minutes uniformed police arrived and an ambulance followed soon after.

So what of the bike?

So here is a before. This was back in June just after I had put it back on the road after it had been SORN'ed for a years.

And here it is after. These pictures were taken by a friend who works where the bike was taken.

I know it had a strange colour scheme, this is what it looked like when I bought it. But I liked it.

Next will be the hospital

Bikes And Me

So I am now into the second week away from my bike accident.

It was the classic 'SMIDNSY' or 'Sorry mate I did not see you'.

I thought I would start this with the bikes I have owned and have ridden.

Only one of these pictures is mine the rest are from trawling the internet.

1 Yamaha FS1E.

I will start with this I shared with a mate of mine. We carried out some modifications on it and we were able to get almost 70 MPH out of it. I would not tick over. Must have had it for only about a year. It looked to be in about the same condition as this picture.

2 Suzuki TS 100ERN

This was the first proper bike I had. It was bought with some inherentance money and I got it from new. It was a good reliable bike. Not fast and there was very little I could do to speed it up. I had it for 4 years, in it's time it has been stolen when I was in Manchester and almost ruined. Finally was stolen when I parked it up in a lay-by after running out of petrol. Never to be seen again.

3 Honda XL 250 S

Loved that one. I had it nicked when I was in Manchester. It was found a few years later in good condition, but I could not afford to purchase it back from the insurance company. I only had this for a few months.

4 Yamaha RD 200

The yellow peril. Sort of reliable, a nice bit of fun, not too fast. Three years of fun driving.

5 Kawasaki KH750

Now this was fun, in much the same way as an adventure park can be fun but with out the safety features. Its nick name is ‘The Widow Maker’ for obvious reasons. Top speed of some where near 130 mph in a straight line. That was the problem it's handling round bends had a lot to be desired. It needed some work to get it up to a decent condition. I bought it for £100 (in poor condition) and sold it for £400, in not much better condition a few months later.

6 Honda XL 600 V Transalp

Well this is what it should have looked like. However it's colour scheme was something different. 

I admit I bought it looking like this.

This was the bike that has just been in the accident. It was a good bike, Yes it had a few problems, which I fixed and put it back on the road late last year. I bought it in 1998, so I had it for 13 years. There were times I was using it to get to work in Bournmouth, that was a round trip of 120 miles per day.

There were a number of other bikes that I borrowed from friends at different times.

Suzuki ZN85

This was a 650 turbo. You had to be careful with this one. To overtake you usually did the following

• Look 
• Signal
• Twist the grip to accelerate
• Move round vehicle in front

However if you did this you would not have time to move round the vehicle in front. The turbo cut in so quick more that one rider was found stuck to the back of a lorry instead of overtaking it.

Suzuki GS 850

Lovely bike. Belonged to a friend of mine who died of cancer a couple of years ago.

To the future

What do I want next. Not really sure, but something like this

Kawasaki KLZ 250

So answer every one. Yes I will get a other bike at some time. Don't think it will be this year though.