Gerard McGarry

This one's to my own design - a kind of devil-vampire face I sketched out before I started carving. Unfortunately, the features are quite small and they don't let the light out in quite the right way.

I asked my daughter what she'd like to see on the first pumpkin I carved this year. And out of an almost limitless stock of gore and spooky images, what did she choose? Spongebob Squarepants, her idol, moral guide and favourite person/sponge ever.

It was actually a little more difficult to carve than your usual pumpkin, but it came through in the end without falling apart.

How do you change your password in Ubuntu? Well, using the command line, it's actually quite easy...

I'm going through a process of changing my various computer and web passwords. After the much publicised vulnerabilities with Google and MSN a few weeks ago, I thought it might be a good time to change my passwords.

Now, to change your password through the command line, you simply type in passwd and hit return. You'll be prompted to enter your current password first, then your new password twice. It's that easy.

A GUI Password Change?

I decided to do a little digging around to see if there was a GUI option to change your password. After all, how much use if Ubuntu for regular users if they can't accomplish basic security tasks?

Surprisingly, the GUI to change password can be found in System -> Preferences -> About Me. When you bring up this dialog, there's a Change Password button in the right hand corner. Follow the prompts and you'll achieve exactly the same thing as if you'd used the command line.

In the Windows environment, keyboard shortcuts help us get things done more efficiently, without wasting time using the mouse to navigate. Part of the difficulty in migrating to Ubuntu is that many of the old Windows shortcuts don't work anymore. In this post, I've hunted out some useful keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate Ubuntu more professionally.

1. Lock the screen

You'll want to lock your screen when you're away from your machine for any length of time - it's common sense security. Simply press CTRL+ALT+L and the screensaver will activate, requiring your password to unlock.

If another user wants to use the machine, they can log on without affecting your session.

2. Flip between workspaces

Ubuntu allows you to use virtual workspaces, so you can arrange different applications between these workspaces. Possibly most useful whenever you want to work on something confidential or you want to keep your web browser/IM tools seperate from your wordprocessing and office applications.

Rewind to two days before the funeral, his green Nissan Primera racing toward Ballycastle for the final time. But he’s not at the wheel, I’m the driver, my newly widowed mother beside me, still shell-shocked. Sister in the back seat, silent.

The motorway was crowded with delivery vans and people with places to be. We suddenly had a funeral to prepare for, and drove along in a bubble of silent devastation. Slightly envious of those people who had a normal day ahead of them.

I mention this, because the days leading up to my father’s funeral went by in a blur of relatives and blasts-from-the-past, and chain-drinking cups of tea. The beauty of a wake is that you don’t get a minute to dwell on your loss. That comes later. And although you wouldn’t think it, the constant stream of visitors was a massive comfort. Those faces from my childhood that I hadn’t seen in years, all with their own different connections to him. It was amazing to watch the enormous extended family rallying around, taking care of virtually everything and providing an endless supply of egg and onion sandwiches.

In 2005, Queen Elizabeth II unveiled this sculpture by John W Mills dedicated to the effort of women in the second World War. The sculpture stands in Whitehall in London north of the Cenotaph.

The lettering on the sides replicates the typeface used on war time ration books. There are 17 individual sets of clothing and uniforms around the sides, symbolising the hundreds of different jobs women undertook in World War II and then gave back for the homecoming men at the end of the war.

A copper lid from 1936 that was used in the Guinness factory.

One of the massive circular display stand at the Guinness Storehouse which shows an original Guinness logo.

Lisa samples her first pint of Guinness in the Oxygen Bar - an amazing 360 degree view over Dublin at the end of the Guinness tour.

The Guinness factory tour is possibly one of the best tours I've taken in a long time. There's a clear affection for their brand and history, even if the company is now owned by Diageo, a massive global corporation. Ignoring that fact, it's interesting to see how the company developed and there are a fair few lessons entrepreneurs could learn from Arthur Guinness, even today.

A look between floors at the old Guinness factory.