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<channel>
	<title>Daniel Durrans&#039; Blog &#187; General</title>
	<atom:link href="http://durrans.com/blog/category/general/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://durrans.com/blog</link>
	<description>Life, thoughts, cooking, food, mmm food.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:58:35 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
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		<title>Siri not recognising relationships</title>
		<link>http://durrans.com/blog/2011/10/16/siri-not-recognising-relationships/</link>
		<comments>http://durrans.com/blog/2011/10/16/siri-not-recognising-relationships/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:58:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://durrans.com/blog/?p=271</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I upgraded to an iPhone 4S yesterday and have been playing with one of the new features, Siri, trying to get it to understand &#8220;Text my girlfriend&#8221;. I had associated Emma with my contact record but it wasn&#8217;t finding her &#8230; <a href="http://durrans.com/blog/2011/10/16/siri-not-recognising-relationships/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I upgraded to an iPhone 4S yesterday and have been playing with one of the new features, Siri, trying to get it to understand &#8220;Text my girlfriend&#8221;. I had associated Emma with my contact record but it wasn&#8217;t finding her contact record in the address book.</p>
<p>I store most contact records as Title, Firstname, Surname. E.g.:</p>
<p>Miss Jane Smith<br />
Mr John Doe</p>
<p>If you ask Siri to make an association then in your contact record it will store the name of the relationsip (sister, brother, etc) and the full name including the title.</p>
<p>However when it tries to lookup that relationship it will fail.</p>
<p>The simple fix is to remove the title from the relationship on your contact record and it should all start working again.</p>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Climbing Snowdon for Brake</title>
		<link>http://durrans.com/blog/2011/09/04/climbing-snowdon-for-brake/</link>
		<comments>http://durrans.com/blog/2011/09/04/climbing-snowdon-for-brake/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:14:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://durrans.com/blog/?p=265</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On October 1st I am going to be hiking up Snowdon with some of my colleagues from work to raise money for the road safety charity Brake. Every 30 seconds someone, somewhere in the world, is killed in a road &#8230; <a href="http://durrans.com/blog/2011/09/04/climbing-snowdon-for-brake/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>On October 1st I am going to be hiking up Snowdon with some of my colleagues from work to raise money for the road safety charity Brake. Every 30 seconds someone, somewhere in the world, is killed in a road crash. Brake campaign to improve road safety within the UK and also support those affected by road deaths.</p>
<p>I would really appreciate it if you could sponsor me and the team by donating to Brake via our JustGiving page: <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/FSGSnowdonWalk">http://www.justgiving.com/FSGSnowdonWalk</a></p>
<p>I am told it may look like this: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELdijJpGcyc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELdijJpGcyc</a><br />
But more likely like this: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHcm5kX65JM">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHcm5kX65JM</a></p>
<p>I will be taking my camera and phone so will tweet, Facebook and photograph the sun, rain, snow or hail (delete as appropriate).</p>
<p>Thank you,</p>
<p>Dan</p>
<p>JustGiving: <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/FSGSnowdonWalk">http://www.justgiving.com/FSGSnowdonWalk</a><br />
Brake: <a href="http://www.brake.org.uk/">http://www.brake.org.uk/</a><br />
Fleet Support Group: <a href="http://www.fsguk.com/">http://www.fsguk.com/</a></p>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Computer Fun</title>
		<link>http://durrans.com/blog/2011/07/07/computer-fun/</link>
		<comments>http://durrans.com/blog/2011/07/07/computer-fun/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Jul 2011 08:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homepage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life in code]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://durrans.com/blog/?p=256</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I was at my parents house this week my Mum presented me with box loads of my old stuff. Apparently now that I own a house I can no longer use the parental storage facility. While digging through the &#8230; <a href="http://durrans.com/blog/2011/07/07/computer-fun/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ComputerFun-FrontCover.jpg"><img src="http://durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ComputerFun-FrontCover-287x300.jpg" alt="" title="ComputerFun-FrontCover" width="287" height="300" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-260" /></a>When I was at my parents house this week my Mum presented me with box loads of my old stuff. Apparently now that I own a house I can no longer use the parental storage facility.</p>
<p>While digging through the various books, papers and momentos I discovered a 1984 edition of the Usborne Computer Fun programming book. My parents got me this book when I was playing with my Dad&#8217;s BBC Micro (a model B) and I vividly remember typing these programs into the computer.</p>

<a href='http://durrans.com/blog/2011/07/07/computer-fun/computerfun-frontcover/' title='ComputerFun-FrontCover'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ComputerFun-FrontCover-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="ComputerFun-FrontCover" title="ComputerFun-FrontCover" /></a>
<a href='http://durrans.com/blog/2011/07/07/computer-fun/computerfun-page4-5/' title='ComputerFun-Page4-5'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ComputerFun-Page4-5-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="ComputerFun-Page4-5" title="ComputerFun-Page4-5" /></a>
<a href='http://durrans.com/blog/2011/07/07/computer-fun/computerfun-page10-11/' title='ComputerFun-Page10-11'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ComputerFun-Page10-11-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="ComputerFun-Page10-11" title="ComputerFun-Page10-11" /></a>
<a href='http://durrans.com/blog/2011/07/07/computer-fun/computerfun-page28-29/' title='ComputerFun-Page28-29'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ComputerFun-Page28-29-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="ComputerFun-Page28-29" title="ComputerFun-Page28-29" /></a>

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		<title>Jigsaw puzzle</title>
		<link>http://durrans.com/blog/2011/01/02/jigsaw-puzzle/</link>
		<comments>http://durrans.com/blog/2011/01/02/jigsaw-puzzle/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:32:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://durrans.com/blog/2011/01/02/jigsaw-puzzle/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Jigsaw puzzle Originally uploaded by Daniel Durrans I have picked up the camera again after months of not having had any motivation to take a single photo. I have started a Project 365 &#8211; one image every day for the &#8230; <a href="http://durrans.com/blog/2011/01/02/jigsaw-puzzle/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/danieldurrans/5316095835/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5241/5316095835_c9f2fae3ef_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/danieldurrans/5316095835/">Jigsaw puzzle</a><br />
<br />
Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/danieldurrans/">Daniel Durrans</a><br />
</span>
</div>
<p>I have picked up the camera again after months of not having had any motivation to take a single photo. I have started a Project 365 &#8211; one image every day for the next 365 days. I am hoping this will not only improve my photography skills but also provide the focus necessary to get the camera out of it&#8217;s bag.</p>
<p>Emma has been working on this jigsaw for the last few days. It has been sat in the middle of the living room in the Puzzle Store that she got for Christmas. Slowly working from the outside in she has constructed all of the edges and a reasonable proportion of the upper half on the puzzle.<br />
<br clear="all" /></p>
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		<title>bcp BULK INSERT a quote escaped csv file in SQL Server 2005</title>
		<link>http://durrans.com/blog/2009/11/20/bcp-bulk-insert-a-quote-escaped-csv-file-in-sql-server-2005/</link>
		<comments>http://durrans.com/blog/2009/11/20/bcp-bulk-insert-a-quote-escaped-csv-file-in-sql-server-2005/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:38:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.durrans.com/blog/?p=222</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was having trouble trying to import a quote escaped CSV file into SQL Server 2005 using BULK INSERT. It kept giving me an unexpected EOF error until I used a format file where I created a dummy start and &#8230; <a href="http://durrans.com/blog/2009/11/20/bcp-bulk-insert-a-quote-escaped-csv-file-in-sql-server-2005/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was having trouble trying to import a quote escaped CSV file into SQL Server 2005 using BULK INSERT. It kept giving me an unexpected EOF error until I used a format file where I created a dummy start and end column to pick up the initial &#8221; and final \r\n.</p>
<p>For example this format file will import six columns which are all formatted as:</p>
<p>&#8220;column1&#8243;,&#8221;column2&#8243;,&#8221;column3&#8243;,&#8221;column4&#8243;,&#8221;column5&#8243;,&#8221;column6&#8243;</p>
<pre style="font-size: 10px;">
9.0
8
1       SQLCHAR       0       1       ""          0     ExtraField          ""
2       SQLCHAR       0       100     "\",\""     1     ModelId             SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
3       SQLCHAR       0       100     "\",\""     2     QualifyModelId      SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
4       SQLCHAR       0       100     "\",\""     3     MediaAspectCode     SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
5       SQLCHAR       0       100     "\",\""     4     SmallImageFilename  SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
6       SQLCHAR       0       100     "\",\""     5     MediumImageFilename SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
7       SQLCHAR       0       100     "\""        6     LargeImageFilename  SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
8       SQLCHAR       0       100     "\r\n"      0     ExtraField           ""
</pre>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What if Facebook could auto-tag uploaded photos?</title>
		<link>http://durrans.com/blog/2008/01/29/what-if-facebook-could-auto-tag-uploaded-photos/</link>
		<comments>http://durrans.com/blog/2008/01/29/what-if-facebook-could-auto-tag-uploaded-photos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:07:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cool stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life in code]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.durrans.com/blog/2008/01/29/what-if-facebook-could-auto-tag-uploaded-photos/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Facebook could become the ultimate platform for training facial recognition systems. Almost every photo uploaded to the site is of someone. The first thing that you do is to tag the people in the photo, creating a link between the &#8230; <a href="http://durrans.com/blog/2008/01/29/what-if-facebook-could-auto-tag-uploaded-photos/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Facebook could become the ultimate platform for training facial recognition systems. Almost every photo uploaded to the site is of someone. The first thing that you do is to tag the people in the photo, creating a link between the photo and the related person.</p>
<p>But what would happen if the tagging process worked in conjunction with facial recognition technology? Every time a person was tagged in an image you could help the system learn what that person looks like. Eventually the system could become &#8220;smart&#8221; enough to recognise people on its own.</p>
<p>Auto-tagging photos &#8211; it&#8217;s the way forward, and you heard it here first!</p>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>SQL code to test a date range against existing ranges in a table</title>
		<link>http://durrans.com/blog/2008/01/17/sql-code-to-test-a-date-range-against-existing-ranges-in-a-table/</link>
		<comments>http://durrans.com/blog/2008/01/17/sql-code-to-test-a-date-range-against-existing-ranges-in-a-table/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:45:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.durrans.com/blog/2008/01/17/sql-code-to-test-a-date-range-against-existing-ranges-in-a-table/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The following slice of code will search a table and return any rows where there is a clash between the date range in the row (ValidFrom and ValidTo) and the date range in the variables (@InTo and @InFrom). Null dates &#8230; <a href="http://durrans.com/blog/2008/01/17/sql-code-to-test-a-date-range-against-existing-ranges-in-a-table/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The following slice of code will search a table and return any rows where there is a clash between the date range in the row (ValidFrom and ValidTo) and the date range in the variables (@InTo and @InFrom).</p>
<p>Null dates are treated as either infinite past or infinite future accordingly.<br />
<code><br />
WHERE<br />
NOT (<br />
(@InTo &lt; ValidFrom AND @InTo IS NOT NULL AND ValidFrom IS NOT NULL)<br />
OR<br />
(@InFrom &gt; ValidTo AND @InFrom IS NOT NULL AND ValidTo IS NOT NULL)<br />
)<br />
</code></p>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>When was the last time you changed a plug?</title>
		<link>http://durrans.com/blog/2007/08/05/when-was-the-last-time-you-changed-a-plug/</link>
		<comments>http://durrans.com/blog/2007/08/05/when-was-the-last-time-you-changed-a-plug/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 05 Aug 2007 19:44:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.durrans.com/blog/2007/08/05/when-was-the-last-time-you-changed-a-plug/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was pondering this question earlier today while I rewired a 4-way adaptor to have a longer lead. When was the last time that I actually had to change a plug. While I was a child I changed plugs all &#8230; <a href="http://durrans.com/blog/2007/08/05/when-was-the-last-time-you-changed-a-plug/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was pondering this question earlier today while I rewired a 4-way adaptor to have a longer lead. When was the last time that I actually had to change a plug. While I was a child I changed plugs all the time. I loved to play around with electrical gadgets that I had acquired through jumble sales and alike. These items often required a plug to be connected and therefore I spent quite a number of weekends messing around with screwdrivers, wire clippers and even in some cases soldering irons.</p>
<p>I remember that in school, both primary and secondary, I was taught how to change a plug. I was taught the colours of the wires inside a cable and how they related to the electrical mains supply. I understood which terminals within a plug these had to be connected to and I knew how to strip the cable to the correct lengths.</p>
<p>These days most electrical items come with a plug moulded onto the wire. It is rare that you have to change a fuse let alone rewire the plug. Before today I really can&#8217;t remember the last time that I saw the inside of a plug.  Are children even taught, what was once considered a necessary life skill, in schools?</p>
<p>So  I ask you, when did you last wire a plug? What colour is the earth wire? Does blue connect to the neutral terminal or the live terminal? Finally, is it the earth or the live terminal that has the fuse?</p>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<title>Real life Banksy</title>
		<link>http://durrans.com/blog/2007/07/05/real-life-banksy/</link>
		<comments>http://durrans.com/blog/2007/07/05/real-life-banksy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:51:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holiday]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.durrans.com/blog/2007/07/05/real-life-banksy/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have just got back from a short holiday on the Greek island of Rhodes. More on that later but for now I thought I would share this photo that I took while in the Valley of the Butterflies. It &#8230; <a href="http://durrans.com/blog/2007/07/05/real-life-banksy/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have just got back from a short holiday on the Greek island of Rhodes. More on that later but for now I thought I would share this photo that I took while in the <em>Valley of the Butterflies</em>. It reminded me of the Banksy painting shown on the right.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/img_1947.JPG" title="img_1947.JPG"><img src="http://www.durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/img_1947.thumbnail.JPG" alt="img_1947.JPG" class="imageframe" height="225" width="300" /></a> <a href="http://www.durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/cctv.jpg" title="cctv.jpg"><img src="http://www.durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/cctv.thumbnail.jpg" alt="cctv.jpg" class="imageframe" height="225" width="300" /></a></p>
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		<title>Wrong side of the tracks</title>
		<link>http://durrans.com/blog/2007/06/27/wrong-side-of-the-tracks/</link>
		<comments>http://durrans.com/blog/2007/06/27/wrong-side-of-the-tracks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:36:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.durrans.com/blog/2007/06/27/wrong-side-of-the-tracks/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What is loud, fast, very hard, and makes this happen to cars: A train going over a level crossing when the car shouldn&#8217;t have been there. Don&#8217;t play on the railways kids! This car was left in the car park &#8230; <a href="http://durrans.com/blog/2007/06/27/wrong-side-of-the-tracks/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What is loud, fast, very hard, and makes this happen to cars:</p>
<p align="center"><img src="http://www.durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/img_1928.JPG" alt="Car train 1" class="imageframe" height="300" width="400" /></p>
<p align="center"><img src="http://www.durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/img_1929.jpg" alt="Car Train 2" class="imageframe" height="300" width="400" /></p>
<p align="center"><img src="http://www.durrans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/img_1930.jpg" alt="Car Train 3" class="imageframe" height="300" width="400" /></p>
<p align="left">A train going over a level crossing when the car shouldn&#8217;t have been there. Don&#8217;t play on the railways kids!</p>
<p align="left">This car was left in the car park at work by Network Rail. It was recently used as part of their campaign to convince drivers that driving over level crossings when the lights are flashing is generally considered a bad idea.</p>
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