Happy 19^th Birthday Becky. Although you are growing up very quickly, you’ll always be my baby, and probably will always be. Have a fantastic day, Love you now and always, Dad Xx

It’s my birthday today, and I just want to say a big thank you to everybody for making my birthday absolutely fantastic.

I had a great time opening all my presents this morning, and I’m really looking forward to playing Assassins Creed: Brotherhood later today.

Wow, Christmas has started. All the family got together today, for what is becoming our annual Christmas party, and it was fabulous. It’s a good way to start the Christmas celebrations, seeing all the kids playing together, getting more and more excited. Food was a plenty, of which I ate much . . . far too much.

I really enjoy going to my sisters and being with my nephews and nieces, they make me feel so welcome and happy to be with. We’re all meeting up again at mum’s on Boxing day for a huge Christmas dinner, so that’s 14 for a turkey roast!

I know the weather has been pretty dreadful, the roads are treacherous, it’s freezing cold and not getting any warmer. But, you have to admit, it does look beautiful, and the falling snow still brings out the child in us all. Just who can resist the urge to throw a snowball or build a snowman?

Got to say a huge, huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my daughter Katie who is 17 today. Have a great day and save me some cake. XX

We had a great Halloween party, with over forty guest and a huge array of costumes. I was really good to see all the costumes. Like all good parties, we had a complaint about the noise at about 1:30 am. We’re mking plans for next years party already, and its going to be even better. Here’s some pictures from the night.

Inside the crypt with altar

The pews

Inside the house

Here’s a few pictures I’ve taken as I’ve been getting ready for this years Halloween event and party. I’ve got lots of new props for the garden and house, and in the back garden a massive walk-in crypt.

I’ve still got to sort out all the lighting, sound and special effects, and then there’s the music for the party.

Graves, Posts, walls, and fences.

Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble

Give us a hand, lol

The small crypt and flying ghost

One wall for the big crypt

Oh my god, so much to still get ready

Whilst many of you are thinking about your costumes for the upcoming Halloween party, I thought I would give you an idea of what’s probably an unacceptable costume, unless you are brave, mad, or French. I’m still trying to decide what to wear this year, I’m thinking its about time for a change.

Yep, it’s that spooky time of year again, and with only just over four weeks till Halloween, it’s time for me to get ready. Here’s a few pictures of the garden graveyard from last year to whet your appetite. There’s going to be lots of new things in the garden to scare you this year. We’re going to have a full size, walk-in crypt, full of spooky, ghoulish, and damn right odd things. There’s also going to be a 40 foot tunnel of fear, with . . . . Well to find out you’re going to have to wait till the party.

Don’t forget our 3rd annual Halloween party is on Saturday 30th October 7:30pm till R.I.P.

We’ve upgraded our TV to a 42inch Samsung LED HDTV, and it’s stunning. We’re getting ready to wall mounting our TV and install a home cinema / media system.

The TV is just less than 30mm in depth making it one of the thinnest Full 1080p High Definition Television sets in the world, and perfect for a wall mount. The screen is incredible, with great colour, contrast and brightness. The blacks are so deep and whites so crisp, and it has a huge array of connectivity options, including four HDMI ports, a D-Sub PC port, two USB ports – both able to play video as well as MP3 and JPEG files – Wi-Fi, and a LAN port

The picture is immense and the sound (SRS Trusurround HD & Dolby Digital Plus) out of the standard speakers is pretty good there are more customisable settings than you can shake a stick at. The TV has a built-in Media player and networking couldn’t be simpler, the DLNA software for the computer is easy to use with the networked screen.

I’m getting quite excited at the prospect of enjoying a decent integrated media system, and will soon be installing all the hidden trunking for the wiring loom for all the different systems I need to connect up,  Xbox360, Blu-ray player, surround sound amp, Wii, SkyHD, Computer, Media centre, and NAT drives. Come back soon to see how I’m getting on.

I don’t think I really absorbed the significance of D-Day and its aftermath until I visited some cemeteries, particularly the American cemetery, situated about halfway between Colleville sur Mer and St. Laurent sur Mer. While we were in Normandy we also visited a Canadian, and a German cemetery.

There are 28 military cemeteries in Normandy, the final resting place for some of the 130,000 servicemen were killed in the Battle for Normandy, most of them German. Until the First Gulf War, British war dead were always buried near where they fell, which explains the large number of British cemeteries. American families have the choice of bringing their loved ones home. As a result, less than 20% of those Americans who perished liberating France are buried here.
The Germans were originally buried in as many as 1,400 locations around Normandy. These have been centralized into the six current cemeteries, which hold over 58,000 bodies. This does not count those in undiscovered graves, missing in action, or re-buried elsewhere in France or Germany.

American cemetery – Colleville-sur-Mer

If you saw Saving Private Ryan, you would recognize Colleville/St. Laurent. The pine trees shown in the movie are on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach, where so many Americans died.

The place is set up to elicit emotion, with the long central walk to the chapel, the Memorial, and the Garden of Remembrance, whose wall is inscribed with the names of 1,557 servicemen who were never found and the perfectly aligned graves of 9,386 Americans who gave their lives here and whose remains their families decided to leave here. Maybe it was triggered by my recent viewing of Band of Brothers series.

The Chapel, in the centre of the grounds, is quite small and is intended for individual contemplation and prayer. The care given to the grounds here is beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Each day the graves are tidied up and any flowers or other debris is taken away. Each Italian marble grave marker carries the soldier’s name, rank, unit, and the name of his home state. All the crosses and Stars of David face the west, towards America. There are three Medal of Honour recipients buried here, including General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.  I wandered around, trying to take in the enormity of the sacrifices these and other soldiers made to win WWII, and found myself crying.

I count visiting this cemetery as one of the most moving moments in my life.

German – La Cambe

La Cambe cemetery, is situated near to Omaha Beach and is the largest German military cemetery in Normandy. Over 21,400 German soldiers are buried there. In the middle stands a six metre hill, surmounted by a granite cross which represents the common grave of 296 combatants.

The cemetery has ornate megalithic shaped gravestones, black plaques lying face up in place of headstones and the virtual absence of flowers. Whilst the site is perfectly maintained, its blackness gives it a sorrowful ambience and is a powerful reminder of the futility of the Normandy campaign for German troops after D-Day. Interestingly, there are a number of grave markers with dates following the end of World War 2, as the German soldier was given the task of clearing their own mine fields. With the exception of the central mound, floral tributes were very conspicuous by their absence. I’m not sure if that is German custom, or just at this cemetery, but it did make the cemetery feel inhospitable. In hindsight, I wish I had left some flowers, and will on my next visit.

Canadian – the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery

The Canadian cemetery was just a short drive from the village of Bény-sur-Mer and was very different to the German and American cemeteries. The grave were intersperse with colourful flowers and shrubs, giving the whole place a sense of happiness and celebration. It was especially moving to read the ages on the many, many headstones and realize that the majority of the men who lost their lives here were in their early twenties. The cemetery is beautiful with rows of white headstones and carefully tended flowers at every grave, bordered with Maple trees.

Here are some sobering figures about World War II. It was the deadliest military conflict in history.

Over 60 million people were killed.

German               5,500,000 military             3,000,000 civilian deaths

British                      380,000 military                     67,000 civilian deaths

American                416,000 military                   514,000 civilian deaths

How to Jailbreak iOS 4.0 iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2G with Redsn0w 0.9.5b5-3

Redsn0w has been updated to bring jailbreak support for the newly released final version of iOS4 for iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2G. Available for both Windows and Mac, redsn0w jailbreak tool additionally also enables options for multitasking and background wallpapers on iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2G which otherwise are disabled by Apple.

Redsn0w beta has been updated to hacktivate iOS 4.0 for iPhone3G (in addition to jailbreaking the iPhone3G and iPod Touch 2G). For now, the redsn0w beta release supports only the iPhone3G and iPod Touch 2G at today’s 4.0. It’s still a beta, so you’ll need to let Cydia reorganize, reload, and update after using redsn0w.

Follow the step by step guide posted below to jailbreak your iPhone and iPod touch using Redsn0w.

Step 1: Download iOS 4 (final version) for your version of iPhone and iPod touch. Download links are posted here.

Step 2: Update to this latest firmware using the iOS file you just downloaded via iTunes 9.2

Step 3: Start Redsn0w 0.9.5b5-3 (download link given below) and point it to the original iOS 4 firmware file to proceed.

Step 4: Now select “Install Cydia” and click “Next”.

Step 5: Now make sure your device is both OFF and PLUGGED IN to the computer before you click “Next”.

Step 6: Connect your device in recovery mode by pressing the Power and buttons continuously.

At this stage you will be presented with a screen where you will have to quickly hold “Power” button and then while holding the “Power” button, you will now have to hold “Home” button too. Now after few seconds release “Power” button but keep holding “Home” button until installation begins.

Step 7: Sit back and enjoy while redsn0w will do all the rest for you. Once done, your iPhone and/or iPod touch will restart automatically and you will find it jailbroken on the latest iOS 4 firmware.

If you notice a blank white icon for Cydia with no sources. Go to the Sources panel and add http://apt.saurik.com/cydia-3.7 repo. Now restart your phone and you should see the regular standard Cydia logo with all the sources now.

Download redsn0w 0.9.5b5-3 for Mac
Download redsn0w 0.9.5b5-3 for Windows

Disclaimer: This guide is for testing & educational purposes only. I’m not responsible for any loss of important data or malfunctioning of your iPhone.

As we’re off to France and Greece soon I wanted to get a new camera, as the one I’ve been using is getting a little old and is only 5 mega pixels. I wanted something easy to carry, great battery life and very durable. I brought a Canon IXUS 120IS (black) 12 mega pixels. My previous IXUS50 had given me many years of happy snapping with compete reliability and excellent results.

The Canon Digital IXUS 120 IS is slim. Measuring just 20mm thick, the 12 megapixel has a 4x optical zoom lens with a wide 28mm setting and Optical Image Stabilization, 2.7 inch LCD screen, 720p HD video with an HDMI output connection, Smart Auto mode with Scene Detection Technology, and a useful Hints & Tips feature for beginners, which is ideal for Helen.

I was a bit nervous about giving up the optical viewfinder but in reality, I can only remember using it once or twice. The small size great, as it’s small enough to comfortably slip into my pocket. The video mode is also good, not as good as a dedicated HD camcorder, but for a compact its great quality.

The camera is small, light and looks cool. Its feels solid. I expect many years of real pleasure from using this sleek, new camera.

SungWoo Alex Suh and Sung Jin Suh performing various techniques as part of the Kuk Sool Won Masters Exhibition 2010 in Kings Lynn