Some progress.  I now have Mythbuntu 9.10 working on at least one of the TV input channels. It seems to work very well, with easy to navigate programming schedules.  The first real test to to record a couple of films this evening (Control and 24 Hour Party People as it happens - I have a long-standing affection for Joy Division and Factory Records).I've also got it daisy-chained from the Humax box, and the S-video output comes into the TV on a separate channel from the Humax box.The big challenge now is to get the remote control working, so I don't have to run it via a vnc connection from my Linux notebook.  More later

Cyclingnews today reports further on a series of searches that have been taking place during an Italian crackdown on doping in cycling (Bernucci House Search Part Of Larger Investigation | Cyclingnews.com).  What's interesting is this little gem (my emphasis):

This same work led to the arrest of former professional rider Aleksandar Nikacevic, the seizure by police of a line of homeopathic products from a pharmaceutical company in central Italy and the searching of dozens of pharmacies following complaints that doping practices were being undertaken by a Venetian doctor on athletes, some of whom were minors, from various sporting disciplines.

It baffles me why homeopathic potions, which after all contain no active ingredients, could be considered in any way performance-enhancing.

For those of us tired of hearing how Apple have reinvented mobile computing with the iPad, here's evidence there's one less iPad on the planet - "Will it blend? - iPad" courtesey of Blendtec, via YouTube. As ever, not to be tried at home!

[caption id="attachment_685" align="alignleft" width="90" caption="Mythbuntu"][/caption][caption id="attachment_679" align="alignleft" width="65" caption="Drupal"][/caption][caption id="attachment_680" align="alignleft" width="75" caption="Joomla!"][/caption]Usually, the short holidays such as Xmas and Easter provide me with the opportunity to put some time aside to deal with ongoing projects, often related to websites and/or computing.  This easter was no exception - I decided to overhaul a Drupal site I maintain, and to install Mythbuntu on an old desktop PC.  Both of these projects were a little challenging, but for different reasons.Drupal and Joomla! CMSI find myself in the position of maintaining and/or building several websites. These range from the "low-effort" Team Grumpy blog hosted by Google's Blogger site to several sites built on Joomla! (this site, plus the North Bucks Road Club, Team Grumpy, and Northwood Wheelers sites). I also use Wordpress as a standalone blogging platform (Wonderful Life) and also integrated within this Joomla! site.Another major open source CMS platform is Drupal. I know from reading about this that it's widely considered to be superior to Joomla!, for reasons which escape me in detail - though it's often said that Drupal has better security.  Indeed at work we seem to be moving over to Drupal from a confusing array of other CMS systems (some apparently custom-built), and in previous blog articles, I've described my initial forays into using Drupal to build websites for my work - largely in comparison with Joomla!.Since last autumn, and upon joining the executive committee of the British Society for Research on Ageing, I've been managing the BSRA website. I inherited this as a slightly outdated installation of Drupal version 5. One of my first actions was to update it to the most recent minor version of Drupal 5 (I believe 5.22 at the time).More recently I've been keen to update it to 6.16, as fairly soon Drupal 5.x will cease being supported.  This turned out to be fairly simple, if time-consuming - each contributed module has to have an updated version identified and downloaded,  It does seem to me (as a user of Joomla! for three or four years) that there are lots of features which really ought to be included in Drupal in the default installation, rather than in contributed modules.  Notable among these is a WSIWYG editor - why on earth one isn't included in Drupal is a bit of a mystery to me.On the other had, the flexibility in user roles afforded by Drupal is rather refreshing after working with Joomla! - it allows a degree of fine-tuning not available (at least in a stock install) of Joomla! - and the extensions available for Joomla! are rather fiddly.Identifying modules for particular tasks isn't easy.  As so often the case, a variety of modules for each task is available, and it's not obvious to me which is the best.  A case in point is my desire to incorporate a slideshow of images within a page in my Drupal site - I've spent the morning floundering around among various modules (and in one case entering a "dependency hell" as more and more dependencies were uncovered).  I have become heartily sick of the deep blue Drupal site, and the minimal documentation that seems to be available for some Drupal modules (on the other hand, some are excellently provided for in this regard).  I guess this is all part of the learning process.MythbuntuWe've had a Humax PVR device for a few years now, and on the whole, it's been fine. However, recently it's been misbehaving, with symptoms rather like those described here. Essentially, the stored files get corrupted, allocated to the wrong programme title, and often cannot play.  The only remedy appears to be to reformat the hard drive, thereby losing all the recordings.  It's unfortunate that the Humax device seems to use non-standard systems, and it's is functionally very difficult to extract data from the Humax hard drive (the supplied Windows software has never worked satisfactorily for me), though I do know of various hardware modifications that enable this.  It was with this backdrop that I decided to buy a Hauppauge TV card and set about installing Mythbuntu on an old desktop PC.Mythbuntu is a derivative of Ubuntu GNU/Linux that aims to simplify the installation of MythTV.  If Mythbuntu is simple, I dread to think how hard MythTV is!  So far, I have:

1. Installed Mythbuntu 9.10
2. Replaced NetworkManager with WICD, so I can set the PC to set up the network connection at boot - network connection is via a NetGear USB WiFi stick.  I would prefer to avoid having a monitor/keyboard/mouse attached to this PC.
3. Failed to configure the TV card
4. Failed to enable DVD playback.

So essentially, I have another Ubuntu box, with a limited set of functions.  In my own defence, and that of Mythbuntu/MythTV, I ought to point out that actually the issues I face are due to my near-zero knowledge of TV features.  So quite a bit of fun and games on the horizon before this kit is fully functional.

El Reg has a report on shopping for an iPad on release day (Frisco fanboi frenzy on 'iPad Day' • The Register).  It all seems rather bizarre to me.  Why do so many blokes (the gender balance of that huge queue does seem rather one-sided) need a new toy on release day?  Why indeed do so many people want an overgrown iPod Touch?Personally, I'll wait until the frenzy has died down before deciding whether I want oneHowever, having read some over-effusive articles in the current issue of WIRED, it does occur to me that, like the iPod Touch, the iPad is principally a device for consuming information (i.e. reading the web, watching video, reading e-books etc) rather than creating information, for which a notebook computer might be more appropriate. And, yes, I know there's a keyboard you can attach the iPad to - I saw it on Stephen Fry's rather excited heavy breathing video clip of unwrapping his iPad!Maybe I'll eventually have a go with one of these, and quite probably decide it's a device I can't live without - but it's more likely that I'll wait for a similar device to appear.  One which allows handwritten note taking, is less encumbered by DRM and the iTunes app store, and which ideally can run open source software.

Another dreary morning for a North Bucks club event.  In actual fact the rain (mostly) held off for the event itself, but it was rather wet for the ride over to the start.  The NBRC hardriders course (F5x/22) starts at the bottom of the steep climb at Bow Brickhill, proceeds in a westerly direction towards Bow Brickhill station, then heads over to the A5, where the course climbs steadily past Little Brickhill and down to the Flying Fox roundabout, where it turns left to Woburn.  From Woburn, the course turns northwest to Woburn Sands, where it turns to Bow Brickhill at a double roundabout.  After completing two such laps, the finish lies up the climb from Bow Brickhill (the climb used for our Hill Climb Championship, which gives an idea of how steep it is).Anyway, this was the first time I had ridden the course, and I was rather dreading taking my TT bike up the final climb - my lowest gear is 46x21.  The opening leg wasn't too bad, predominantly downhill, the major issue was dodging potholes, and getting stalled by traffic at the first roundabout.  It was a different matter on the road up to and along the A5 - predominantly uphill with a head wind.  From the Flying Fox roundabout, it was surprisingly quick to Woburn, largely I guess due to the tail wind on that section.  Then a steady climb and descent to Woburn Sands.  I got held up slightly by traffic at this roundabout on both laps, but nothing serious.The major issue was the series of appalling potholes just after leaving Woburn Sands.  Unlike one rider I saw, who coped by riding in the gutter, I decided the prudent course was to ride it wide.  Through Bow Brickhill and onwards for a second lap.  Ultimately, I was really mostly worried by the prospect of the final climb.  Firstly I didn't have any spectacularly low gears, secondly the geometry of my bike doesn't I think suit hill climbs.  In the event, I chose to take it easy rather than blow halfway up and suffer the ignominy of having to get off and push!I finished in 1:00:56, which I was quite pleased with.  Full results, and hopefully a map of the course to follow.

View 10040302 in a larger map

				Lap 1	Hill	Finish
Pos	No	Name	Club	Cat	Time	Climb	Time
1	6	Richard Wood	TeamMK	S	26.45	2.27	55.50
2	9	Simon Cannings	TeamMK	S	26.59	2.39	57.22
3	7	Rob Saunders	NBRC	V50	28.19	3.37	1.00.56
4	8	Lindz Barral	i.team.CC	S	28.05	3.26	1.01.03
5	1	Geoff Perry	TeamMK	V50	30.04	3.17	1.04.13
6	4	Julian Lane	Unattached	V43	31.32	3.36	1.07.05
7	2	David Skeggs	NBRC	V41	32.38	3.35	1.09.40
8	11	Rob Chaundy	TeamMK	V58	32.14	4.04	1.09.44
9	3	Brindley Martin	TeamMK	V47	33.28	3.54	1.12.40
DNF	10	Stuart Tarry	Team Sanjan Design	S	28.01	N/A
DNF	5	John Buchanan	TeamMK	V40	33.15	N/A
Time Keepers:- Steph Cousins & Tony Farmborough NBRC.
Pusher off:- Mr Bryan Scarborough NBRC.

Looks as though the practise of patenting genes may be at an end (at least in the USA) Judge Invalidates Human Gene Patent - NYTimes.com.  It's always seemed odd to me that patents of natural objects suc as genes were allowed in the first place - this case concerns patents held by Myriad Genetics on the use of BRCA1 and BRCA2.

A federal judge on Monday struck down patents on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. The decision, if upheld, could throw into doubt the patents covering thousands of human genes and reshape the law of intellectual property.

The case was brought jointly by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation.  This case has been interesting - my memory of events is that Myriad knew where the genes were, but that it was the public human genome sequencing projects which provided the raw data that enabled Myriad to determine the gene sequences.The implication of this ruling, if it's upheld, may be interesting.  I suppose smaller biotech companies with principal IP assets in the form of gene patents might find themselves in trouble.  The NYT article continues:

Judge Sweet, however, ruled that the patents were “improperly granted” because they involved a “law of nature.” He said that many critics of gene patents considered the idea that isolating a gene made it patentable “a ‘lawyer’s trick’ that circumvents the prohibition on the direct patenting of the DNA in our bodies but which, in practice, reaches the same result.”The case could have far-reaching implications. About 20 percent of human genes have been patented, and multibillion-dollar industries have been built atop the intellectual property rights that the patents grant.

I notice from a quick Google search that John Sulston released a statement back in 2009 supporting the ACLU case (BRCA - Statement of Support: Sir John Sulston):

I applaud the efforts of the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation in challenging the patenting of human genes, and in particular the patents on BRCA1 and BRCA2. A patent on a gene specifically bestows the right to prevent others from using that gene. Rather than fostering innovation – one of the primary goals of the patent system – gene patents can have a chilling impact on research, obstruct the development of new genetic tests, and interfere with medical care.Genes are naturally occurring things, not inventions, and the heritage of humanity. Like a mountain or a river, the human genome is a natural phenomenon that existed, if not before us, then at least before we became aware of it.

Sulston's statement also illustrates the chilling effect of gene patents on research and development, specifically citing the chain of events which led to Myriad's patent application. Of course there are differing views on this: the NYT report quotes various individuals from the patent/legal/business side of the affair who clearly believe that medical research progress will be dented if individuals or companies are prevented from profiting financially from gene discovery (rather than inventing some application based upon gene discovery).This decision is to be welcomed, although the NYT reports that the decision is likely to be appealed.

As can be read over at the  Team Grumpy blog, the Icknield 32k time trial today was a bit of a disaster.  Last year my team mate punctured en route to the start, so we rode separately (and therefore got no result), while this year I had a mechanical problem which prevented me from starting.  The problem stemmed indirectly from yesterday's puncture sustained while returning from the NBRC club time trial.My current time trial bike has these nice pedals - Speedplay X-1 titaniumpedals:[caption id="attachment_641" align="alignnone" width="355" caption="Speedplay X-1 pdeal and cleat"][/caption]You'll note that the cleat (or "shoeplate" in British) is rather different than in other pedal systems where the clipping action resides in the pedal itself.  Here the clip action is within the shoeplate, which is quite large and complex, containing a couple of heavy gauge wire springs.  It was this design feature which led to my downfall this morning.While trudging home yesterday, I walked for a time on the verge, which led to the accumulation of mud on  my shoes.  Upon getting home, I cleaned then washed off all the mud I could see, and checked that the springs in the shoeplate at least moved.  What I didn't do, of course was check that they would still engage the pedal.At the point Team Grumpy was about to ride off to the start, I realised I couldn't clip onto the pedals.  I was unable to clear up this problem in time to get the ride in, and my team mate ended up riding solo (but in the 2-up section, so received a 'DNF').  In the end I had to disassemble the shoeplates, and extract a tiny quantity of mud that was preventing each spring from moving the full amount.So, there's a lesson there - Speedplays, which are otherwise excellent pedals which offer unrivalled float and very smooth clipping action, have cleats which are really quite sensitive to the ingress of mud. In future I'll take better care of them!

A very similar morning to last week's time trial: however, the rain was confined to the ride up to and back home from the event rather than the event itself.  The time trial was the first counting event in the 2010 NBRC time trial league.  A dozen or so riders turned out for the event.I rode the new Cervelo again, and once again with the tubular-shod Corima wheels, of which more later.  As with last week's event, there was a stiff headwind down the opening stretch to Chicheley, but I found it a bit easier than last week.  The whole course was a bit nicer this week without the driving rain.  I rode all the climbs seated rather than out of the saddle.  Unfortunately I found the saddle slipping in the clamp, which meant sometimes I was comfortable, sometimes less so with the saddle nose pointing upwards!I crossed the line in 24:03, an improvement of 27 seconds from last week - this was enough for second place behind Tony, who finished in 23:15.  Back at Astwood village hall, we all regrouped to await the results from the timekeeper.  Unfortunately, upon departing, I discovered my front tyre was soft - clearly a slow puncture.  JayBee kindly lent his track pump and I topped it up before setting off for home.  Conveniently, Clive was behind me in his car when I stopped in Cranfield University to top it up again, and once more I had the use of a track pump.All was now going well until my back tyre popped with a loud hiss, at about two miles from home.  Since I was unable to budge the tub (it was pretty slippery and wet, and fixed with tub tape), it was an annoying trudge home, spoiling a rather good morning.  Ho hum, perhaps I need to keep a 2010 puncture log!  In the meantime I'm going to switch back to using Continental tubular glue, which in my experience is easier to deal with for replacing tubs at the roadside.Results

								Pos. on
Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -	Vets Std
1	8	Tony Parks	NBRC	23.15	V45	26.30	.+ 3.15	3
2	10	Rob Saunders	NBRC	24.03	V50	27.33	.+ 3.30	2
3	12	Lindz Barral	i-team.CC	24.14	S
4	11	Ian Marshall	TeamMK	24.31	V41	25.42	.+ 1.11	5
5	5	Andy Sharman	TeamMK	24.35	S
6	3	Glenn McMenamin	NBRC	25.33	S
7	7	John Buchanan	TeamMK	26.32	V40	25.30	.- 1.02	6
8	9	Gilbert Wheelwright	NBRC	27.45	V67	31.30	.+ 3.45	1
9	4	Clive Faine	TeamMK	27.49	V64	30.45	.+ 2.56	4
10	2	David Skeggs	NBRC	28.05	V41	25.42	.- 2.23	7
11	1	Alan Lawson	NBRC	29.45	V41	25.42	.- 4.03	8
12	6	Tony Brunton	NBRC	30.48	V45	26.30	.- 4.18	9
Time Keepers :- Steph Cousins & Tony Farmborough NBRC
Pusher off :- Bryan Scarborough NBRC

Well, here we go!  Another website reorganisation - these re-jigs seem to happen every couple of years.  This time, I've taken the plunge and decided to switch from Azrul's MyBlog (and its counterpart commenting system jomComment) to corePHP's Wordpress Integration for Joomla! 1.5.This will no doubt be an ongoing overhaul, but first impressions are pretty favourable.  CorePHP have developed a set of Joomla! components and modules that integrate the very popular blogging software Wordpress into Joomla! 1.5.  Installation of the principal component was straightforward, as was the import of my existing blog entries from MyBlog.  The system seems pretty neat: there are some sidebar modules that can be set to hold the various Wordpress widgets.  I suppose there are some downsides to relying on developers keeping up with the latest Wordpress releases, but the version installed seemed not to be particularly old (though not the latest).Documentation appears to be a little light - sufficient for installation to be easy, but not so helpful on aspects of installing the Wordpress plugins that have been modified/developed for the integrated Wordpress.  However, corePHP's website has an active support forum, and it seems that support is good - which is as it should be given this is a paid subscription.So, why did I switch from MyBlog?  Mostly because I found the MyBlog interface (both front- and back-end) rather clunky, and the JomComment component seems to build up a very large file cache.  And I mean very large - if not manually cleared, the backup component I use cannot work, and I run out of server disk space. And, of course, my experiences with a standalone Wordpress installation (Wonderful Life) had exposed me to the inner workings of running a Wordpress blog.