bitful

I have recently had a chance to look into Open Calais for work purposes. Open Calais is a Reuters-backed web service that returns semantic metadata in RDF format from text it is given.

So when I heard someone had developed a Calais WordPress plugin that suggests tags for your posts based on Open Calais, I thought I'd give it a go.

And what better time to do so than what has become my regular early Saturday morning rendez-vous with stuff I pick up while I make my way through the web during the week and want to play with.

As I am writing this, at the bottom of the WordPress 'Write Post' page there is a 'Get tags' button under a 'Calais Auto Tagger' section.

If I click on the button now [clicks on button] I get a 'Suggestions: web service, Reuters, RDF' followed by a 'Add these tags' button.

If I click on that button now [clicks on button] the suggested tag is added to the 'Tags' section for this post, and I can add more manually if needed.

I would probably have to throw more data to this to test it fully, but hey, if you are into this kind of stuff this is way cool. There is also a version that tags old content.

Dr B. aspetta un bambino
Dr B. is expecting a baby
Literally: 'Dr B waits-for a child'.

Dr B ordered a new computer and is this morning impatiently waiting for the stork to deliver his new baby. I expect him to spend most of the weekend playing with it.

In the meantime, I shall be installing an additional 500GB internal drive into my machine.

One of these days our computers are going to conspire against us and take over the flat, and we'll have to sleep on the landing.

I still have not got a clue why my RSS feed stopped updating when I upgraded to WordPress 2.5.

However, while investigating I found that the URL for the feed somehow had changed, so I added a couple of lines to the .htaccess file to redirect it.

I also noticed that there was a new version of the FeedBurner FeedSmith WordPress plugin, but somehow the plugins management page in WordPress did not show it, so I upgraded it manually.

I am not happy with the solution but hey, it will do for now. Time to go to work now.

I recently saw an ad somewhere that said:

"Tesco prices. Waitrose quality. Ocado delivery."

After staying last weekend in Manchester with friends who spend a little more than I do on food - and tasting the difference it makes, I thought I'd give it a go.

Tonight Ocado delivered - groceries and promises.

1. Ocado matches Tesco prices on 3,500 products
2. With Ocado you do not have to face the lovely customers of our local Tesco and their Croydon facelifts.
3. Ocado has a better selection of organic produce than our local Tesco (which in turn has a breathtaking choice of cider - does that tell you anything about our neighbourhood?)
4. And, before y'all complain about delivery vans destroying the environment, please note that you can easily pick a delivery slot that already has one or more vans in your area, as they are marked in green on the website when you order - a win-win situation for the planet and for Ocado.
5. And, speaking of the Ocado website: what a pleasure, clearly designed with the customer in mind. Simple and intuitive, yet rich in functionality and choice - and I know a thing or two about ease of use.
6. The email confirming the order came in the form of a calendar appointment. One click, and it was in my diary. Another, and a meeting request was sent to Dr B. to inform him of the delivery.
7. There's an option to receive a text message reminder. Mine informed me of the name of the driver, registration of the van and that I have no missing items.
8. The groceries came in colour-coordinated plastic bags: green for freezer, purple for cupboard and red for fridge.
9. Next time around, the driver can pick up the old bags (hopefully to be reused/recycled).
10. And, last but by no means not least, my groceries were delivered by a courteous and smiling Simon Pegg lookalike. I think Simon Pegg is hot. I can go to bed happy now.

I have lately adopted a very responsible attitude towards backing up the files on my main computer at home.

Every Saturday an automatic backup kicks in. I configured it to be an incremental backup of all my image files (I would be devastated if I lost any of the pictures I have been taking during the last ten years or so).

The automatic backup asks me to label and insert a disc (I use 4.7GB DVDs). And then another. And another yet. Over the weeks I have collected a fair amount of discs that need to be labelled and stored if you ever need to restore any of the files.

Trouble is, 1. it's a pain, and 2. if the flat was to be damaged (fire, flood, magnetic wipeout) so do the backup discs.

I looked around for online backup systems and I chose to use Amazon's impressive S3 system together with JungleDisk (a simple interface that lets you both see your storage as a network drive for ad-hoc manual backups, and set up regular automatic backups if you wish to do so). You only pay Amazon for the storage and data transfer you use every month, and JungleDisk is a one-off 20USD to install on how many machine you need, and comes with unlimited upgrades.

I have started backing up all my pictures - around 15GB, it is going to take some time to upload them all. Once that is done, I will probably stop backing up on DVD but am thinking of setting up a just-in-case additional backup on a local network drive.

Knock on wood, I have so far never had to face the nightmare of losing data because of failing supports. Better not to push my luck too far though.

Ognuno ha quello che si merita
You get what you deserve
Literally: 'Everyone has what that for-oneself deserves'.

Normally I react to Berlusconi winning general elections with sadness and indignation.

Last night, as I learnt that millions of Italians had decided to give him another go at steering the country, all I could hope for is that electors knew what they were doing, and I wish that the new government can quickly find political balance and pull Italy out of stagnation.

I emigrated and am doing just fine, but those I have left behind deserve something better, and at this stage it does not matter too much from which side of the political spectrum change is initiated.

Good luck, mates.

Ho messo su quattro libbre in una settimana
I have put on four pounds in one week
Literally: '(I) have put on four pounds in one week'.

Three and a half weeks ago I decided to stop counting calories and to stop weighing myself every day.

I have put on five pounds during the first two and a half weeks, and another four during the last seven days.

One look at the mirror confirmed that sadly it was not muscle mass gain.

It's no big deal but I cannot afford to put on any more weight, so the old food diary is out again - but I'll still only weigh myself once a week.

Joy.

Here are the websites I bookmarked into my del.icio.us account over the past seven days:

• MySong: Automatic Accompaniment for Vocal Melodies
  Microsoft project application that automatically chooses chords to accompany a vocal melody, allowing a user with no musical training to rapidly create accompanied music. Results on this page, pretty impressive.
• JungleDisk - Reliable online storage powered by Amazon S3
  'Jungle Disk is an application that lets you store files and backup data securely to Amazon.com's S3 ™ Storage Service [...] no minimum and no maximum amount of data you can store. You pay only for the actual amount of storage you are using.'
• WhoCallsMe?
  'user supplied database of phone numbers of [...] companies that don't leave messages, disconnect once you answer, ignore the Do-Not-Call List regulations, and simply interrupt your day.' (I used it to trace missed calls from an 0845 number).
• 5 Ways to Find More Friends on Twitter - ReadWriteWeb
  Twubble (people your friends follow), Twitter Local (tweets near a postcode), TwitterWho (tweets matching email addresses), Twits Like Me (tweets that share your interests), TwitDir (the top 100 followed, followers, favouriters, updaters).
• Free Online Course Materials | MIT OpenCourseWare
  'OCW is a free publication of course materials used at MIT. Get lecture notes, problem sets, labs and more. Watch lecture videos and demonstrations. Study a wide variety of subjects.'

Fai la cosa giusta
Do the right thing
Literally: 'Do the thing right'.

Today Italians are voting to elect a new government for the 62nd time in 63 years. Make up your mind, dudes!

I sent my vote to the Italian consulate in London this week. I may have left the country in disgust, but I still hope that one day it is going to turn into a beautiful modern former Catholic country with a fantastic lifestyle (Spain, I am looking at you).

But if you live in Italy and cannot believe that your vote is going to count because nothing is ever going to change and all the candidates are delinquents anyway, well you have my deepest sympathy and respect.

Saluti da Manchester
Greetings from Manchester
Literally: 'Greetings from Manchester'.

Well, I say Manchester but really it's lovely suburban Altrincham, which I think I've just realised is in Cheshire.

Walked around, looked at mansions, went to a pub, played a Robots-themed board game with our friends' child.

Having a rest now, dinner will be ready soon. It feels wonderfully pleasant to be relaxed, such an unusual and therefore cherished state of mind.