Not many people know that…

In the spirit of Angry Facts, yet demonstrating the production values and attention to detail that LugRadio is known for, feast your minds on LugRadio Facts.

Everything you wanted to know about LugRadio but were afraid (or downright scared) to ask.

Update: They’ve made it look a bit prettier now.

Bushcraft Bookshelf

Apart from the obvious exception most of my recent reading and book purchases have been – probably unsurprisingly – bushcraft related. The following are books I have recently bought or been given.

Herd 4 is loose

Feisty Herd 4 has hit the streets. Usual provisos apply to pre-release software, but if you have a spare box (or virtualisation software) it’s worth a look to see what is coming in the final release..

Keeping Quiet Reason #1

In the past I’ve hinted at reasons why I’ve been so quiet on here (and why most of my recent content has been non-technical).

Well, the cat’s out of the bag on one the reasons now:

Thanks to Jono I am co-authoring the 2nd edition of The Official Ubuntu Book due out around the release of Feisty.

I’m even on Amazon!

Restarting an Ubuntu upgrade

I’m currently trying to upgrade a machine using an Ubuntu CD. This is normally pretty painless – stick the CD in, follow the prompts and away you go. Unfortunately I chose the wrong option and cancelled the upgrade, and couldn’t get it to restart again.

After a bit of head scratching I figured it out:

$ sudo sh /cdrom/cdromupgrade

You need to specify the full path, otherwise the process fails.

Tree Identification - Black Poplar

I originally identified this tree as a Beech, but as soon as I identified a real Beech I realised my mistake. It’s taken me a while to correctly identify this one, and I hope I’ve got it right this time!

Move over Beech, it is time to meet the Black Poplar – (Populus nigra). I have a prime example of this in my garden, although it will have to be felled soon as it is slowly succumbing to high winds.

The Black Poplar is a deciduous tree, and another native of the British Isles. It can grow up to 30 metres tall and often leans, giving it a distinctive shape.

Like the Beech, its twigs have alternating buds althoough the buds are shorter and stubbier than the Beech, and they grow more in the direction of the twig rather than outwards. Towards Spring catkins will also be evident.

Its bark is a mixture of grey and brown, and is thick and furrowed.

Whilst Poplar is a poor firewood, its timber is both light and tough and so used for a variety of purposes.

Idle hands

I like learning and practising new knots – a few even end up being used in real life. A while ago I stumbled across a paracord bracelet someone had made. The idea intrigued me. Paracord is useful stuff, and I normally have some with or near me, so having a (highly unfashionable) bracelet made of the stuff seemed a nice idea. An idea that promptly sank to the back of my mind and was forgotten until today. I don’t know what prompted me, but I googled for instructions and came up with some, grabbed some paracord and gave it a try.

This is made up of approximately 3 metres of paracord.

The knot used produces a nice weave, and isn’t too difficult to get to grips with. A very satisfying yet easy and quick little project.

I could link to the instructions, but I’m going to write up my own anyway.

Instructions can be found here.