Howzit all

I've recently purchased some truffles from our veg supplier and wondered if any of you might have any experience in cooking, eating, preserving etc .. basically anything to do with Black Truffles from Perigord.

Granted they're hellishly expensive now... in winter they cost up to 10times more :o

Any info, links etc would be much appreciated
G

As you all know I am a bit of a Linux fan. I use Mandrake 10 as my single OS at home. I have recently picked up a cheapie Celeron 733 to use as a basic firewall / file and print server. I had it with me at work last night but without my Mandrake install disks. We dont have a working CD Burner so that meant I couldnt download the images and burn to CD. I had been looking at installing either Free BSD or SuSe 9.1 but with no way of burning media things looked bleak. Instead of which I made four SuSe boot floppies which allowed me to load a basic Linux kernel and then specify an FTP server from which to install the operating system. Booting with the four floppies was simple and all I needed to do was configure the network part of the installation and off we went. OK it wasnt anything like the 15 minute install I get with Mandrake but I was pulling the files across our lowly 2Meg leased line. However the install was painless. After about an hour and a quarter I had a nice shiny SuSe install ready for use. Out of the box everything worked with no fuss - network access, internet acess, multimedia software, real player, flash etc etc all worked fine first time. As is the norm with a Linux install the amount of software included is staggering. Office suites, mulitmedia authoring, CD/DVD burning software and loads more are on the box. If I need to add more everything is available close at hand via FTP.

SuSe is probably one of the most highly regarded Linux distrobutions. It is a doddle to install, configure and use. I am sure that this will continue over the next few weeks as I get used to using it.

With more and more people realising that paying for Windows is like paying for a 2004 BMW M3 with a 1986 Trabant engine - all flash and glitz on the outside but when you get to look at the core internals you realise that you have been fleeced. Linux may never quite attain world domination - not whilst there are so many computing sheep willing to graze at the hand of Shepherd Bill - but it certainly has become a force to be reckoned with!

Get your Tasty Linux HERE!

In light of the story on the boards this morning of the Immigration Service "getting tough", I was wondering what Saffer experience of the IS is like, in particular allowing people in to the UK for holidays etc. Hence the poll; not entirely scientific I know, but not bad for a rough idea....

Oh, btw, I am thinking specifically of SAffers coming to the UK here rather than nationals of say Europe or the US etc.

How is it possible to get the contents of cassette tapes onto CD (mp3 or wav format)?

What extra software do I need? What extra hardware do I need? How do I go about setting this up?

hey guys need some help urgently. i just built a new computer but the USB drivers wont install, the CD that came with the motherboard says i need XP SP1. there is no way i can get SP1, my XP is cracked and i cant download it anyway cause i use a **** ISP (iafrica) who doeasn't let downloads complete. what do i do? should i just put 98 on the computer? seems a waste cause its a pentium4. any advice? thanx!

I am planning on returning to South Africa next year. Can anyone give me any information or direct me to agencies, websites etc where I can find out about the rules, regulations, procedures, air travel cost etc
Regards
Steven

The Home Office has come out with a booklet for parents (ICP2 in case anyone wants to order it for themselves) and here is a summarised version for kids;

• Remember, everyone you meet online is a stranger, even though they might seem like a friend
  
• Always use a nickname when you log on and never give out any personal details that would allow someone you meet online to contact you. That means full name, home or school address, telephone number, personal email or mobile number.
  
• never arrange to meet up alone with someone you make friends with online. but if you are going to anyway, take an adult you trust and meet in a public place.
  
• In chat rooms, try to have your online conversations in public; people are less likely to hassle you if other people can see them doing it.
  
• Accepting emails or opening files from pople you don't really know, can get you into trouble - they may contain viruses, nasty messages or annoying links to stuff you don't want to see.
  
• Talk to an adult you know well and ask for help if you're worried or upset about anything you've seen or been sent online.
  

Dear Auntie Agness,

I bought the kids a lovely kitten, and she's now three months old. She came from a stable household, and she's the most perfect little thing. Problem being she has always been very playful, and has (in my view) an over-developed 'hunter instinct'.

From a very early age, she excelled in catching insects, spiders, and stalked us around the house.

This morning, she left a little 'gift' in the hallway: A half-eaten bird! feathers gallore....Considering she's only three months old, is this normal? Being a 'British' cat, I would have expected her to be more docile than a leopard. See, I dont want her to offer us more substantial prey, like kids for example

How can I train her not to catch birds, or otherwise prevent it?

- concerned mozzie.

No doubt you have seen those small orange 'XML' or 'RSS' buttons beginning to spread across some of your favourite web sites.
Perhaps you have clicked on one out of curiosity, only to be faced with a barrage of angle brackets and undecipherable code, seemingly designed to scare the heck out of anyone less than familiar with the intricacies of this new fangled technology creeping across the web.
But once you clïck on that button - what do you do then? This article will show you exactly what to do. RSS? It's actually Really Simple, Stupid.
The first thing to do of course is clïck that button. It may be an orange button with 'XML' or 'RSS' written across it; or you could see the word 'Atom'; or, less commonly, it could be blue with maybe the initials 'RDF'; or it could be a simple link with something like 'Grab My Feed'. Gets confusing, doesn't it? But what the acronyms like XML and RSS actually stand for is less than important - what to do after clicking the button is the important bit.
After clicking the button, you will see all that code - if you have ever viewed the source code to a web page, it looks a little similar.
RSS is just another language of the web, but you can actually completely ignore the code itself, just like you can ignore the source code behind web pages that you visit - you are only interested in the end product that the code is designed to produce for you, the end user.
In the case of RSS, that end product is up-to-date news on the topics you are interested in.
For example, if you want to keep up to date with the latest information on financial markets, or growing marigolds, or your Aunt Mildred's blog as she travels across the Antarctic, and you see a feed on that particular topic, you can 'subscribe' to it and receive messages via the feed, each time the publisher of the feed updates it.
So how do you 'subscribe' to an RSS feed? The important bit is what is in the browser address (or location) bar after clicking the feed button, i.e. the bit at the top of your browser window that usually starts with 'http://...' and tells you the web address of the page you are visiting.
After clicking the RSS (or XML, etc.) button, you need to copy that address - it's that address that you need to 'plug' into what is generally known as a 'news reader'.
News readers allow you to keep updated with the feeds that you are subscribed to. There are several to choose from - some involve downloading some software, some involve visiting a web site, some are frëe, and some require a small investment.
Once you have chosen a particular news reader, you simply take that address that you have copied, and, following the instructions provided with the news reader to subscribe to, or add a new feed, simply paste it in - the reader will take care of the rest, and keep you updated with your new feed. Once you have done it once, you will see just how simple it really is.

Below are 15 different news readers you can choose from, in approximate order of recommendation under each category:
Browser-Based:
- BlogLines
- AmphetaDesk
- NewsIsFree
Software For Windows:
- NewsGator - integrates into Microsoft Outlook
- FeedDemon
- Awasu
- SharpReader
- FeedReader
- NewsWatcher
- NewsRanker - claims to learn from your news reading to prioritize the feed items you receive.
- Novobot - extracts headlines from feeds, and also web sites that you are interested in.
- Radio Userland - blogging tool with an integrated news aggregator.
Software For Mac:
- NetNewsWire
Software For Linux:
- Straw for GNOME
- RSS2email - Python scrïpt that sends you new messages from your feeds via email.

It's useful to spend a few minutes researching some appropriate choices - once you've decided on one that you believe to be suitable, you can start picking up new feeds straight away. It's Really So Simple, you won't look back.

Hope this helps some of you

Hello Everyone.....

Long time no speak!

Right, straight into I think...... I have been at my wits end and was wondering if anyone could help me.

My son, almost 4, has a problem with his bladder control and is starting to develop speech problems too.

He's been toilet trained for a while now, and it's been going really well, however a few months ago he started wetting his trousers at his childminders house. He never does it at home on the weekends, or when we go out, or when he's at Playgroup, or when we go travelling.....

I took him to the doctor and they took a sample of his urine and tested it and there is nothing wrong, no infections. The doc suggested as it's homed in on one place that it's an anxiety thing.

I've tried everything I can think of, talking nicely about it to him and asking him where does he need to go when he needs to wee, he answers 'the toilet mum'. I've tried confiscating some of his favourite toys and if he's comes home with dry pants then he gets it back, bribery and corruption, everything you can imagine I've tried it. It doesn't seem to make a difference.

Thankfully the childminder has given me notice to end our contract, and I'm hoping that when we are on holiday that I can make amends and rectify any damage that has been done, I just would like to know how I can try and rectify it now while he's still at the childminder that makes him anxious?

I've even asked the Childminder to not mention it infront of him when I pick him up, as I feel that she's aggrevating the situation by bluntly telling me where he did it and how he did it. I feel like I'm a bad mum when she goes on about it..... I so want to tell her to go ......(censored), then I think I can't say anything to her as she's got my son for the day and who knows what she says to him or what she does with him.... So I hold my tongue and say nothing.... Smile sweetly and leave feeling as guilty as anything!

Another concern that I have is that he's started a stammer on most of his words when starting his sentences, he'll start with I, I, I, I or When, when, when, when, at first I thought it was because he gets excited when he wants to tell me something, the only thing is it's getting worse as time goes by.....

Over a weekend it'll die down and he doesn't do it as much, when the week starts it gets worse, and by Friday he's a nervous wreck......

I would really appreciate all your experiences and feedback......