Author: magicroundabout

I'm a Swindon-based web developer cyclist, gardener, husband, and newbie dad. I write about all that, and a whole load more.

  • Open Source vs Commercial Off-the-Shelf Software

    2012-10-11

    I think the key difference between open-source and proprietary (closed-source) software isn't openness, documentation, flexibility, or cost. It's that people who write OpenSource software give a damn. They care.

  • EXCLUSIVE: New, distributed, off-line social network launches in closed beta!

    2012-08-10

    First there were blogs which let you write your own messages to the world of any length. Then there was Facebook which let you communicate to just your friends. Then there was Twitter, which let you openly publish messages of 140 characters or less. We here at Wintle Towers have designs of our own. Shunning […]

  • Love thy enemy

    2012-05-19

    I sometimes write things as comments on other blogs that I’d like to note here as well. This was posted in response to this Bikeyface post. I’m blowing my own trumpet slightly, for which I hope you’ll forgive me, but I hope I make a point too. Last week I was out cycling and I […]

  • Parenthood – the sum of my knowledge

    2012-05-05

    I found out the other day that a guy I know’s wife is pregnant. It’s funny how, as a newbie parent myself, it’s so tempting to offer advice. I also had a conversation this week with someone else who was talking about the dilemma of offering this kind of ‘help’. And the longer I am […]

  • Verso

    2012-04-25

    So…after much deliberation, and with a hint of guilt, we put a deposit on a new car today. It was not a quick or easy decision, but our old car is fast approaching 100’000 miles, is slowly generating a few faults, and with the arrival of Isaac, is just too small – once the buggy […]

  • Hats off to the Twitter Knitters

    2012-01-27

    [Note: If you’ve offered to knit a hat, please head to the Hat Knitter’s page – and THANK YOU!] I had a message from a friend of mine. Let’s call her Amy (names changed for privacy). Amy has a friend not-called Bea and Bea has a 4-year-old daughter, Charlie.  Charlie has recently been diagnosed with Leukaemia. […]

  • The little one

    2012-01-07

    Sally and I both use social media a lot so you may think that it would be entirely natural for us to keep some detailed online records of the pregnancy, birth (well, not the birth, but the immediate time after), and early days with our boy. BUT...

  • Let there be Light

    2011-11-15

    I cannot tell you what a gaff it’s been to reinstate this light after having our ceiling re-plastered. I think this was the fifth attempt. Failures I recall are: 1. Not cutting a hole for the rose. 2. Running out of arm strength because I was too stupid to remove the glass bowls. 3. Wiring […]

  • Cycling Counsellors?

    2011-11-08

    Is the notion of a nationally co-ordinated team of cycling counsellors a crazy dream?