Chris Hellyar's Blog

The evil Super Admin Password

Mar 19, 2011 · 2 min read ·

So you’ve survived a disaster, fire or other adverse event, and you need to shift staff home to work because the office is a pile of smoking rubble. Their PC’s from work are by a stroke of luck usable, and they’ve got broadband. Two thumbs up there. But about that printer driver you need… It requires admin rights. The …

Productivity tools can be viable alternatives to work

Jul 19, 2010 · 2 min read ·

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Ever since some smart chap, or chappess, came up with the idea of a check list and impressed the boss the world has been beset with a search for bigger, better tools to replace what was essentially a very good idea. Taken to the it’s illogical conclusion this search can lead even the most sensible people to a point …

Taking joy from simple news: IE6 and Youtube

Feb 25, 2010 · 2 min read ·

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Anyone who has anything even remotely to do with web development will be smiling at the news that Youtube is going to discontinue support for IE6. Not only that, we’ve got a date. 13th of March, 2010. While this isn’t really the end, it will certainly put that little bit more pressure on the roughly 15-20% of internet …

The Carpenters Hammer

Jan 28, 2010 · 5 min read ·

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This is a story for everyone who has a need of tools no matter what their craft or trade. The Carpenters Hammer, a painters brushes, the janitors broom. A few years ago, about eighteen in fact, we lived in a 2 bedroom flat in Christchurch city. It was in a block of four on a section which probably should have only held …

Security in the cloud, KISS

Nov 14, 2009 · 2 min read ·

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The idea of keeping things simple when it comes to server security is not at all radical and cloud servers provide the ability to reach the not so lofty goal of keeping your servers simple and secure without breaking the bank. The theory is simple: The smaller the number of processes you have running on your box the …

Working on a cloud

Nov 9, 2009 · 2 min read ·

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This blog is now coming to you from a cloud. A rackspace cloud server that is. Two of them in fact, the front end server running the CMS, and the back-end MySQL server. The concept of cloud computing really isn’t all that new, but if you’re all at sea when it comes to clouds you might want to toodle over to Wikipedia …

Saturdays Sunset

Nov 6, 2009 · 5 min read ·

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I don’t know about where you live, but here the sun sets pretty much every day. Granted it sometimes does so behind a veil of grey or in the total absence of cloud it just disappears without the slightest hint of pomp and ceremony. We are blessed, however, here in Canterbury with a reasonable number of stunning …

Right Time Right Place

Oct 28, 2009 · 5 min read ·

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This is my first posting to the new blog about photography, so my apologies to anyone who’s started following this site on the assumption that I blabber on about SEO and marketing related topics all the time. (Gallery down below, re-posted from my old blog but I lost the places for the photos inline. 🙂 ) I commute to …

One for the Petrol Heads

Feb 7, 2007 · 5 min read ·

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Covering bike speedway for the paper a couple of weeks ago, and got this cool shot. "Close racing action in the first turn at Moore Park on Sunday as Martin Emmerson of England, Andrew Alridge of Halswell and Craig Ramsey from Hastings all jostle for position in the fourth A grade heat of the Robin Mackinnon …

A Day at the Polo

Jan 30, 2007 · 3 min read ·

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Last weekend I made my way out the England vs South Island polo match round behind Wigram. I'm not actually a 'horsey' person as a rule, although I did once feed one some grass, so that's close enough. This is the second time I've been to the polo, and I'd have to say I'm firmly of the opinion that it's a minority …