Back to Uni

So its that time again. Thrown back in the deep end at uni. And first day back I even missed a class. To my defense I didn't have a time table and didn't even know it was on!!! Also to add to that BB started early at 6:30pm and there is no way I can get from Karori to the Hutt in 5:30pm rush hour traffic. I may have to negotiate for next week!
It still leaves one feeling pretty stink that I've unknowingly missed a class though.
Also a bit of a biter is the online course I have to do for Art History. It hasn't really been explained to us fully and so whilst the expectations are written down, they're never clear. And all we've been told is that we are expected to be "up to speed" with the Grads (who started the same course 4 weeks ago...) by the time we go on TE4 - which happens to be in 2 weeks. Anyway - certain emails have been sent hoping to get answers for this!

'Till next time...

Voice for the Voiceless

So the church is starting a new focus for their Global Focus ministry called Voice for the Voiceless.
A lot of what I write here is my opinion and a lot of it not entirely based on the best evidence, more on my own thoughts.
They introduced it and it was all well and good. A huge focus is on the women and children who's rights are abused in countries other than our own, with now sterotypical images of the hungry and famished children of African nations.
One of the points that were made were "But how can we help?"
And I'm still not sure of that answer.
One of the biggest issues I have with it is, sure, by all means give the voiceless a voice by bringing those issues of injustice to light... but who is meant to be listening? Its always been a policy of mine that it is better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. It seems pointless to me to be speaking out about this stuff when in reality, it won't actually stop those children from starving or the girls from being sold into slavery. Action will. But who will be the ones to put those words they hear and do something about it. Will people from a church in little ol' Lower Hutt actually do that?
Skeptical I am of that. And so I sit in my chair and I ponder. Would better be used the time ministering to our own town, our own city, where we can be a relevant and productive cause to God's calling, than providing a voice for someone in a country we've never heard of before, and watch as the screams of anger and love from our hearts be transformed into whispers due to the transit? Are not better spent the resources that go towards helping those in need, even just down the road with the troubles at stake in Hutt Valley High, than for a town, a subburb, a family overseas - which while their need may be greater, our impact would be less. Cannot the local church of that town minister to its own people? How come churches here will choose to place focus overseas and forget about the very street they congregate in.

'Till next time...

Holiday time again

Another set of holidays have arrived, with my two weeks of freedom starting. I intend to get as much painting done as I can muster, but that has been shadowed somewhat by the impassion to do so. Just as I was about to get into it and paint 'till my hands went blue, I lost the will and instead began doing a whole heap of website work for the church and for BB.
But thats all good. I spent most of this morning painting and getting started on a few works that have been in the pipeline for a while.
'Till next time...

Kubuntu - Apache2, PHP5 and MySQL

Setting up the Web Design Environment:

Apache Installation //
--------------------------------

In terminal:

sudo apt-get install apache2

++ any other apps/modules you want, use adept_manager to find them (such as PHP5...)

Often you will want to change the root location of the server from /var/www/ - Though not always. To do this type into Terminal:

sudo kedit /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default

Change lines 5 & 10 ("DocumentRoot /var/www/")
/var/www/ to the location you want the localhost root folder to be (home/user/Websites/) for example.

Restart (Start) Apache2 - In terminal type:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

============================================

MYSQL Installation //
------------
In terminal:

sudo apt-get install mysql-client-5.0
sudo apt-get install mysql-server

To log in in you will need to set the root password.
In terminal type:

mysqladmin -u root password 'root_password'

...whatever you want the root_password to be...

Open MYSQL in terminal:

mysql -u root -p

The terminal should now be opperating with " mysql> " at the command prompt.

Create the Database you wish to use. This can literally be anything.

CREATE DATABASE db_name;

...where db_name is the name of the database you want to create.

To use the database we need to grant user access - which by default creates the user at the same time... This user will need to be the same as phpmyadmin user too.

GRANT ALL ON db_name.* TO new_user@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'new_user_password'

...where db_name is the name of the created database, new_user is the name of the username you want, and new_user_password is the password assigned to that user.

============================================

phpmyadmin //
---------------------
In terminal:

sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin

If you changed the location of the server root from being /var/www/ to something else, copy phpmyadmin folder from var/www/ to the new localhost root...

Go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin/scripts/setup.php

Configure to match MYSQL server... (username, passwords & database names etc...)
## Possibility of a root login problem... Search Google for this...

Go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin/ and log in

After this you should be good to go!!!

'Till next time...

Tom Allen

In Memory of

Tom Allen
10 September, 1983 - 24 January, 2008

My thoughts and prayers are with his family and close friends at this time. May you find comfort in the arms of love and peace in the people around you.

Internet Explorer for Linux

One of the major issues I had when I switched to Linux was testing my websites in IE (There is no other reason I'd want to use it!!!). Trying to install it in Wine was difficult and lead to a few problems.
After giving up for a bit and using another computer to check the website design in IE was cumbersome so I decided to do something about it.
That lead to finding this site.

IEs4Linux

Follow the instructions and it basically runs through the entire installation of IE6, IE5.5 and/or IE5... which you can no longer do even in Windows (if a later version is already installed)!

So if you have to install IE in Linux... this is the way to go.

'Till next time...