Somewhere to write, discuss, reflect, ponder, muse and mull over life, stuff, things and anything that takes my fancy.
More figures from my Broadband speed. All seems to be steady in the world of BT Infinity.
We are certainly watching more content over the internet due to the higher speeds that BT Infinity provides.
If you get a chance to upgrade I would certainly recommend doing so. But you have to look at the small print to find the right deal that suits your own requirements.
Well it could be if new legislation is passed.
I am always amazed at some of the stories that come out of America, here’s one that seems to have raised a number of serious arguments about male circumcision. If passed could San Francisco be the first place to ban the practice on under 18 yr old males?
At first it seems a strange argument and is certainly upsetting a number of religious groups, but with the main aim of the legislation aimed at reducing the generally accepted practice of male genital mutilation.
It will be interesting to see if indeed the legislation does gets enacted and if other areas then bring in their own versions.
Got a bit behind on posting these as I was away for a holiday in March and forgot to post February’s figs.
The speed now seems to have settled around the 30MB level. Excellent for all the emerging Internet TV and online catch up services.
Last date for public comments about this development is the 9th March 2011, so get writing if you want your voice to be heard.
The Planning Application number is: O/2010/2776
Make your comments at Wokingham District Council planning offices, the online link is here.
I see that crude oil prices have dropped over the past few days to a low of around USD $85.00 per barrel and whilst Brent Crude is still above USD $100.00 per barrel, I wonder if we might see a cut in petrol prices.
I suppose the next excuse that oil companies will be the Egyptian factor hitting prices!
After a month and half of using BT’s new Infinity broadband connection the download speed continues to increase to near the maximum.
The BT engineer had to come out on the 21st Jan. as the whole connection had shut down!
Turned out to be a defective ADSL Modem which is separate from the Router in an Infinity configuration.
Although this was a big issue for me at the time as I was in the middle of a project that required a lot of emailing and the modem breaking after only a month (bad QA I expect), I did learn something from the BT engineer about BT Infinity connections. They are quite sensitive to the the age of the driver that is being used by the network card in your PC.
My PC is about five years old with an original Dell onboard network connection socket (and driver), but it appears that the driver was holding back the ability for the connection to go above 16/18MB download.
Anyway to cut a long story short, I went out and bought a new PCI network card, installed the latest driver and hey presto!! We now have a connection up around the 32MB mark. excellent news and great for watching BBC iPlayer programmes.
I found out yesterday that the Outline Planning Application for the Houses to be erected on Reading Universities Sibly Hall site have been submitted.
“Outline application with some matters reserved for the erection of 99 dwellings and refurbishment of 100 & 102 Redhatch Drive plus access, parking and private and public open space (means of access to be considered). Demolition of Sibly Hall Building at Redhatch Drive, Earley (2/3/11) Hillside”
The main application and associated plans can be found at the Wokingham Borough Council planning application website. You will then need to enter the planning application number O/2010/2776 into the form.
When you then hit the search button, this will take you to another page and if you then scroll down, you can click on “See the Plans and Documents” and this will take you to another page where the associated documents, all 63 of them are listed.
There all in PDF format so you should be able to see them directly in your browser.
Next important dates appear to be Consultation Start Date: 02/02/2011 and Deadline for Comments: 02/03/2011.
There is a lot to read!
The recently held Earley Town Council planning meeting has opposed the planning application for the 30 metre telecoms mast (proposed to be built in Redhatch Copse) submitted as part of the Reading University redevelopment plans for Sibly Hall.
The meeting, covered both in the Reading Post and the Reading Chronicle (cannot find that online!) attracted over 90 people.
The next step is to lodge any formal objections with Wokingham Council by the 19th January to effect a public meeting and discussion.
This can be done via email (see here for info) or online using a form.
You will need the Planning Application Number which is F/2010/2777.
You can make comments on (see here for full list):
Design, appearance and layout
Conservation of buildings, trees, plants, animals and open land
Impact on the appearance of the area
Effect on the level of daylight and privacy of existing property
The need for the development
Planning history of the site
Lets hope that as many people as possible comment on this and can turn up for any public meeting that is held.
Saw this interesting article in the Guardian about UK Library closures.
I was discussing with some colleagues last week about what effect the impending local government cuts will have on our UK Public Libraries and came across this interesting Google Map (Mash up) of some of the potential effects of these cuts.
Legend
Red pointer = library closures announced by Council
Blue pointer = Individual library at risk
Red triangle = library closed
Gents sign = staff lost
Pins – other cuts
It will be interesting to see what happens during 2011 and how many Libraries the UK is left with.
Beasley's Place 