The Gallery was broken for a while (thanks to Brian Hemstedt for spotting it!), but I've finally got around to fixing it. As you may have noticed, it hasn't been updated in a while, but I do have some photos that I should put up when I get around to it...

Glen Feron is was I suppose you'd call a professional Photoshopper - he retouches photographs profeessionally. Interestingly, his site (The Art of Retouching) has a gallery that shows you before and after pics of some of his work. It's facinating, in a slightly scary way.

(OK, this is a techical post probably of no interest most people, but I'm posting it in case the info is useful to someone else).

Update: I've updated the script to not require the more advanced imaplib2 module, and add an option to allow you to list the mailboxes on the server.

I had a problem with my email when I moved onto my current IMAP hosting - I ended up with the received date of every message (and there was about 1500+ messages) being reset to the date I moved the email across. Now this is hardly life-threatening, but it was somewhat annoying as it made it difficult to find mail by date. I had some spare time this evening, so I thought I'd try and fix it.

#!/usr/bin/python
# fix_date.py - corrects the received date in IMAP folders.

# Description: 
#     When moving mail between IMAP servers, the received date can become 
#     reset to the date when the message was added to the new server. This 
#     script attempts to fix this by setting the received date to the date the
#     message was sent. 

# Usage: 
#     Set the 5 variables below to suit your setup, and then run the script. 
#     If you run the script with the argument '--list', then it will just list
#     all the mailboxes on the server. Useful if you don't know the exact name 
#     of the mailboxes.

# Notes: 
#     Due to the may IMAP works, you cannot change the recieved date for an 
#     existing message. To get round this, fix_date.py makes a new copy of the
#     message in a different folder. As it has to copy each message, process 
#     can take some time!
#     With some additional work the date could be set to the last received hop 
#     in the mail's delivery, but I didn't need that accuracy.


import imaplib
import email.Utils
import sys

# Change the following 5 lines as applicable:

source = "INBOX.Source" # The source folder to read the messages to fix.
dest   = "INBOX.Dest" # The destination folder to save to new copy. 
server = "imap.example.com" # IMAP server address
user   = "user" # Username     
passwd = "password" # Password


M = imaplib.IMAP4(server)
M.login(user, passwd)

if len(sys.argv) == 2 and sys.argv[1] == '--list':
	print "List of mailboxes available on server:"
	for mbox in M.list()[1]:
		print mbox.split('"."')[1]
else:
	M.select(source)

	typ, data = M.search(None, 'ALL')
	for num in data[0].split():
		typ, date = M.fetch(num, '(BODY[HEADER.FIELDS (DATE)])')
		typ, body = M.fetch(num, '(RFC822)')
		date_str = date[0][1][6:].strip()
		datetime = email.Utils.parsedate(date_str)
		print "Message (" + num + "), date:" + date_str
		M.append(dest, None, imaplib.Time2Internaldate(datetime), body[0][1]) 
		#print body[0][1]
	M.logout()

It's been a while, but I've added some new photos from my recently completed training course entitled 'Strategy and Performance'. Much fun was had, as can be seen from the photographic record.

In related news, I'm writing this on my shiny new 15" Powerbook, which I treated myself to after a) wanting one for quite a while, b) Apple releasing a new model earlier this month and c) Spending some money that my Grandma gave to me last birthday. So if I start to become a mac obsessive, you have my permission tell me to shut up! :-)

You may have noticed that my site has been down the last few days or so. I had some problems with the hosting.

Apologies to anyone who may have emailed me in the last 2-3 days - I probably didn't get it, as I believe I may have lost my email aswell, but it's all back up now :-), although it was a bit touch and go whether I'd be able to get the content back!

Who knows, it may inspire me to add some new stuff ;-)

And yes, you can actually buy then!

Taking a leaf out of Adam's book, I thought I'd publicise the attempt to try and stop Microsoft's new search engine before it can take a stranglehold, like most of it's previous products

So to all you webmasters out there, add the following lines to your robots.txt file in the root of your website:

User-agent: MSNBOT
Disallow: /

To stop Microsoft indexing your site. Because, as we all know, the search engine with the best links will be the most dominant.

This entry's a little late, but on the 20^th July (my birthday) I decided to make the most of my day off by going on a cow hunt. Now this may seem strange for those non-Mancunians out there, but there is currently a Cow Parade invading Manchester. With a total of 150 cows in three different models grazing in and around the city, I thought I'd see how many me, Sarah and my trusty digital camera could find...

Ever wondered exactly where Apple gets their product ideas from? I think this guy has hit the nail on the head...

So I happened on this posting (via Ars Technica), about the latest 'game' to play on Amazon - checking out the 'contrarians' reviews of books, music and film. What's one of them? I hear you cry. Well, it's (I quote) someone who tears apart cultural icons, movies that you might have accidentally thought were good, etc., all with the most over-the-top, absolutist views possible. A couple of good (read hilarious) examples:

Seven Samurai: This movie seems to be a scene-by-scene copy of one of my favorite movies-"Magnificent Seven". Magnificent seven is a classic movie that has been copied many times, but I didn't know westerns were popular enough in japan to be copied.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb: I have no idea why people say this is the funniest movie ever made. I don't get it, and I love comedies. I have seen it four times and I still do not get it. Maybe it is because I don't get Kubrick movies. I have seen several of them and don't get any of them. If you want to see a funny movie see Blazing Saddles. My suggestion: Rent the movie first and see if you like it.

Yet another thing on the Internet to waste hours of your life on... ;-)

Edit: I spotted this one and just had to include it!

This Is Spinal Tap (Special Edition)
I have followed Spinal Tap very sporadically over the years, mostly since their buzz after the release of this film (I honestly remember hearing very little about them during the seventies). After viewing this documentary, I believe the filmmaker could have done better both in his editing choices and his choice of bands.

While Spinal Tap is capable of turning out the occasional catchy tune, it's obvious watching this film that they were/are basically one-trick ponies. Whether that's the fault of the editor, I can't say. I will say that viewing this film made me only want the hits (collected on the film's soundtrack) and it did not give me the desire to seek out their earlier work ("Shark Sandwich" and "Intravenous De Milo", both of which seem to be out of print anyway).

I guess my real complaint is with the filmmakers, as I'm wondering why they chose to cover such a little-known group when there were perfectly acceptable alternatives: Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Eddie Money, and/or Motorhead. Spinal Tap may have been an interesting story, but they're hardly a band worth making immortal through film.

Can this actually be a serious review?