valueWithoutZeroes="$(echo $valueWithZeroes | sed 's/0*//')"

Source: www.askdavetaylor.com

/sbin/fdisk /dev/hda

In fdisk, to create a new partition, type n and follow the prompts, use the w command to write the changes to the partition table when complete.

Restart the virtual machine & create a file system on the new partition:

/sbin/mkfs -t ext3 /dev/hda3
mkdir /mnt/data
mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/data

Edit: /etc/fstab:

/dev/hda3 /mnt/data ext3 defaults 0 0

Source: download.parrallels.com

Moving a directory into a new partition

mkdir /mnt/newhome
mount -t ext3 /dev/hda5 /mnt/newhome
cd /home/
find . -depth -print0 | cpio --null --sparse -pvd /mnt/newhome/
umount /mnt/newhome
mv /home /old_home
mkdir /home
mount /dev/hda5 /home

Source: embraceubuntu.com

Expand the filesystem

lvextend -L +2G /dev/basevg/opt
resize2fs /dev/basevg/opt
df -m

John Cleese has claimed London is ‘no longer an English city’.

In an interview on Australian TV, the Fawlty Towers star said the ‘parent [ie British] culture’ had all-but vanished from the streets of the capital.

Interviewed to promote a show at Sydney Opera House, 71-year-old Cleese was asked about last month’s riots. He replied: ‘I’m not sure what’s going on in Britain… I don’t know what’s going on in London.

‘Because London is no longer an English city, and that’s how they got the Olympics. I mean, they said, “We’re the most cosmopolitan city on Earth,” but it doesn’t feel English.

‘I had a Californian friend come over two months ago, walk down the Kings Road and said to me, “Well where are all the English people?” And, I mean, I love having different cultures around, but when the parent culture kind of dissipates, you’re left thinking, “Well, what’s going on?”

“What’s going on?” indeed, having different cultures all intermixed in a city a lovely dream, but it’s just that.  My experience of these “cosmopolitan” cities is just a bunch of closed communities in different parts of a city who are all as equally intolerant of one another as they are dismissive of the “parent culture” which made this country the kind of place they wanted to come to in the first fucking place!

View Larger Map

I can even look at the last minute transfer of Miereles to Chelsea without too much sadness; he played great under Kenny in the latter half of last season, but for whatever reason the manger clearly hasn’t been convinced by him.  This departaure, perhaps more significantly means that in the course of 12 months every single player who arrived under the reign of Roy Hodgson has been moved on.

At the start of the Summer I’d have been delighted with the season if we’d been able to overhaul Arsenal and take 4th place, what a difference a couple of months make though.  Fourth seems like it’s ours to lose with the squad we have now compared to our rivals for the final CL spot (Spurs & Arsenal), I’m even hoping that we might push Chelsea for 3rd if we have a good year.  Man Utd and Man City look like they’re going to be in a league of their own this season sadly, I pray that the Premier League doesn’t go the way of La Liga over the next few years.

That said, I’m glad the transfer window’s done with, I don’t think I can survive reading “BBC Sport understands” one more time today. Just admit it McNulty & co, you are just guessing like the rest of us and hoping something sticks; and the sycophantic back slapping when one of their peers finally get’s something right is nauseating.  I lost count of the number of times these “journalists” have revealed “a big twist” in the Arteta to Arsenal saga today, only to state something completely contradictory minutes later, without even a hint of irony.

The Ministry of Truth would be proud.

Saturday was also Pig Pickin’ day in the office; a reward/bribe to those of us giving up our weekend to continue working.  An eventful day ended in the Berkeley Cafe as we were invited to watch Jerry Cuomo’s band; Mind the Gap.

The “war room” is actually a fun place to work in, much better than being sat in a cubicle all day long; has a real energy to it, but perhaps it just seems that way because it’s something different after spending basically the last decade working in the same beige-walled, soul destroying cubicles of Hursley.

Monday night’s are going to be movie night for me while I’m here; Tonight Hannah & Mickael joined me, however after by the time we’d finished desert at the Cheesecake Factory we’d just missed the 9pm start for Captain America.

I say “we”, but I didn’t have any desert, my “fish & chips” turned out to be “fishes & chips” and I was stuffed before I’d even eaten half the meal!  I have to admit I was really disappointed that the Cheesecake Factory wasn’t exactly the same as the restaurant from Big Bang Theory.

Having missed Capt’ America we plumped for a 21:45 showing of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I wasn’t expecting much from it, despite MovieBob’s positive review, yet I came away thoroughly entertained & looking forward to next years’ inevitable sequel!

On arrival at Raleigh-Durham International a courtesy bus took us to the Hertz Rental lot, which was about the size of Winchester, and after much haggling I manged to haggle an upgrade from the standard Nissan Versa that IBM will pay for to Dodge Charger for a paltry $7 per day.  I was actually after a Ford Mustang, but they didn’t have any on-site, so it was a toss up between a Dodge Charger or a Chevrolet Camaro.

Having agreed a discounted $7/day upgrade for the Mustang before it turned out they didn’t have one on site Hertz wanted an extra $25/day for the Charger or the Camaro.  They came down to $12/day without much trouble, but given I’m here for 41 days I’d be looking at a hefty bill.  Eventually I said I just couldn’t justify that kind of outlay and would “have to settle for the Versa, because the missus would kill me if I’d paid $500 just to get a better car”.  What would you know though, I quick chat with the supervisor and I could have the Charger for the $7/day upgrade we’d previously agreed for the Mustang.

We had a bit of a mission getting to the hotel despite it only being a 5 mile trip, Hannah was navigating so I think it’s safe to lay the blame with her entirely  Somehow we managed to miss the on-ramp to the I40 and ended up spending a good half-hour trying to get back to the I40!

“Breakdown of the family. Single mothers. Soft justice. Drugs. Multiculturalism. Welfarism. Educational failure…for 30 years, Britain’s liberal intelligentsia has smashed virtually every social value. In this blistering analysis, Melanie Phillips says we’re now paying the price – HOW THE LIBERALS RUINED BRITAIN.”

Slightly disappointing they couldn’t get house prices in there. Still, surely there’s no way they can top that.

Curse the liberal intelligentsia, curse them to hell!

Still, at least the police managed to arrest some kid for writing something nasty on Facebook because it might incite a riot in Glasgow too.  Way to make a stand, as usual they avoid having to deal with real criminals on the streets.  The comments section of Guido Fawkes blog has been a fun read the last few days:

The police only employ their state monopoly on force against people who won’t fight back – you know, like taxpayers, motorists or people being hideously white.

http://order-order.com/2011/08/09/street-solidarity-stealing-from-wounded/#comment-1039963

The excuse of deprivation doesn’t wash. London is one of the most economically active areas of the UK – if you can’t get a job in London, it’s because you’re not trying very hard. Education isn’t a problem – it’s provided free, all you have to do is turn up. If you are raelly[sic] on your uppers, the Welfare system is generous – some argue far too generous.

No, this isn’t about deprivation or poverty, this is about cynical criminal behavior.

http://order-order.com/2011/08/09/street-solidarity-stealing-from-wounded/#comment-1040029

Theresa May’s “policing by consent” was possibly the most rediculous thing I’ve heard from a politician in my lifetime.  That’s quite an achievement given I lived through 13 years of Blair/Brown.

[People ask us] for a game like Skyrim or Prey 2, why doesn’t it have multiplayer?  Well, our question is always the opposite when we talk to a developer. If you’re doing multiplayer, why are you doing multiplayer? What are you trying to accomplish?

If you’re doing it just to check a box or because every other publisher says you’ve got to have multiplayer, then just drop it, don’t bother, it’s a waste of time, a giant distraction and it’ll make for a worse overall game.  We want the best game possible. If that’s a singleplayer game that’s 15 to 20 hours, then make that! Don’t waste your time on features that don’t make the game better.

-Pete Hines, vice president of marketing at Bethesda Softworks

How many hundreds of man hours were put into Dead Space 2′s multiplayer I wonder?  Judging by the number of used copies that still contain an unused online pass I’d wager a decent percentage of buyers would have preferred that development time be dedicated to the single player campaign.  I traded Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions for a used copy of Dead Space 2 this week, so I’ll get a chance to see for myself how (or, if)  they’ve improved on one of the better games I’ve played on this generation of consoles.

As for 3D:

Honestly, I couldn’t care less – having to wear those glasses! I’m not a 3D fan. It ruins the image for me.  I want the clarity.

I think everyone’s going to keep trying,  But I’m not sure.

- Todd Howard, Skyrim director

If Bethesda come out next week to denounce the practice of shipping DLC that adds only a fraction to the gaming experience for a price comparable to a quarter of the full game they’ll complete the holy trinity.  I hold out little hope for this though, given their track record with the last two Fallout games.