Jason Parlour

Jason of many trades : Maker & Fabricator, Engineer, Massage Therapist, Presenter, Photographer, Web Developer, …

Author: Jason

  • Hiding content with OpenCrypt

    If you’re using a WordPress website and provide secure member content using the build system called ‘OpenCrypt’, then whenever WordPress is updated, the modifications to the source code gets overwritted, and the hidden text is no longer hidden (although items stored in the secure members area is still secure).

    The file you need to update is:

    /wp-includes/post-template.php

    Around line 302, you should see something along the lines of:

        if ( $preview ) // Preview fix for JavaScript bug with foreign languages.
            $output =    preg_replace_callback( ‘/\%u([0-9A-F]{4})/’, ‘_convert_urlencoded_to_entities’, $output );

        return $output;
    }

    This needs to be changed as follows (with the additions in red)

        if ( $preview ) // Preview fix for JavaScript bug with foreign languages.
            $output =    preg_replace_callback( ‘/\%u([0-9A-F]{4})/’, ‘_convert_urlencoded_to_entities’, $output );

       # OpenCrypt Modification
        require “opencrypt_plugin.php”;
        # OpenCrypt Modification

    return $output;
    }

     

     

  • Updating the tag cloud text size in WordPress

    If you use a WordPress blog system for your website, something which of course is very useful, is the list of ‘tags’ (keywords) you can assign to each of your blog posts.

    However, in the current versions of WordPress, whenever you do a WordPress update, it returns the tag cloud to the default settings (ie the size varies considerably, depending on the number of times the tag is used throughout your website):

    /wp-includes/category-template.php

    Then around line 613, you should see something like the following:

    $defaults = array(
  'smallest' => 8, 'largest' => 22, 'unit' => 'pt', 'number' => 45,
  'format' => 'flat', 'separator' => "n", 'orderby' => 'name', 'order' => 'ASC',
  'exclude' => '', 'include' => '', 'link' => 'view', 'taxonomy' => 'post_tag', 'echo' => true
 ;

    Simply change the font size of ‘smallest’ and ‘largest’ to your preferred point sizes (the default is normally around 12pt)

    I personally prefer to change the smallest to ‘1’, the largest to ‘1’, the unit to ’em’, and then change the ‘separator’ from “\n” to “,\n” (thus adding a comma immediate after each tag, and prior to a space before the next tag).

    $defaults = array(
 'smallest' => 1, 'largest' => 1, 'unit' => 'em', 'number' => 45,
 'format' => 'flat', 'separator' => ",\n", 'orderby' => 'name', 'order' => 'ASC',
 'exclude' => '', 'include' => '', 'link' => 'view', 'taxonomy' => 'post_tag', 'post_type' => '', 'echo' => true
    );

  • World Pole Sports Championships 2012-08-17 – London

    I was fortunate to be heavily involved in the photography of the first World Pole Sports Championships, organised by KT Coates of the World Pole Sports Federation.

    Some of the best performers from around the world, competed in a range of different categories.  I’ve never seen the standard of performance so consistently high, at any other pole event.

    See the full collection of images from Day 1, on Flickr:

  • Shoot with Jade Lyon

    A couple of days ago, I was fortunate to work with the beautiful Jade Lyon, fashion model.

    These are just a few shots from the quick shoot.

  • The tipping point, how a £2.59 gift can lead to £3,520.00 of new business

    One of the businesses I’m involved with is Hotel de Vie: a small boutique style hotel, of just 8 en-suite rooms.

    Obviously I’ve taken countless steps to try and ensure we provide the best accommodation we can provide (and just last week, it finally took it’s rightful place as the number 1 guest accommodation in the Farnham area, according to the independent review website TripAdvisor.)

    The hotel already provides various things for free, that many other hotels charge a premium for, ie a range of snacks, chocolates, fruits, fruit juices, yogurts, cheeses, biscuits, mineral waters, broadband WiFi, toiletries, freshly cooked breakfasts, etc.

    I’m also very fortunate (after much selection and training) to have some really great staff who treat each guest as an individual (ie not just another room booking), they’re also always professional, and friendly at the same time, and of course great at their job.

    We already have a good working relationship with a local taxi firm (they are our default choice of recommendations for all our guests).

    We also have one of our regular guests (who’d stayed at virtually every other hotel in the area, before finding us, and now stays with us whenever she’s in the area), who also had a good relationship with this taxi firm prior to staying with us too.

    This particular guest made a mention to me, during her last stay some months earlier, how she particularly enjoyed one of our organic teas.  So when re-ordering, I added an extra box of tea for her (costing me £2.59).

    She came and stayed with us again in early September for a couple of days, and I’m sure that the ‘thoughtful gesture of her favourite tea’ (that she’s also not been able to find herself) encouraged her to share her happiness about the hotel, with the taxi driver again.

    This same day, the same driver was picking up one of his other longer term international clients (who’s been visiting the area on and off for years).  That particular guest was complaining that morning about his current accommodation to the taxi firm, who I’m sure prompted by this conversation with our other regular guest, recommended my hotel…

    A couple of phone calls later, and that guest was booked in to stay for nearly one and a half months, for over £3,500 of new business to the hotel!

    There are countless fables and stories about ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’,  ‘the mouse and the giant turnip’, etc.  In the hotel’s case.. it was a box of tea!

    The hotel has also just experienced it’s busiest month since taking over 13 months ago, and it’s busiest week yet (and there’s not even a major event going on in the area!)

  • The Kama Sutra Hindu 64 Arts – Modern Day UK equivalents?

    I was fortunate to find a book that was pretty life changing for me many years ago. This is not the picture book version, but the ‘Penguin Popular Classic’ which is entirely a text based version!

    I didn’t get all that far through the book the first time around, as I was distracted by the pages referring to a the ’64 Arts’ which apparently should be studied in conjunction with the rest of the book (the traditional Hindu Arts).

    Although these original arts are a bit different to the culture I was growing up in, I figured that the an equivalent I could work out, would probably be good to try and develop for myself over the subsequent years.

    So the original arts (with what I see as many of their modern equivalents where appropriate) are as follows (I can’t do all of these yet, but they were a base for me to look out from and head towards):

    1. Singing
    2. Playing musical instruments
    3. Dancing – Salsa, ballroom, pole
    4. Performance combining the above
    5. Writing and drawing
    6. Tattooing
    7. Adorning an idol with rice and flowers – Floristry and flower arranging ?
    8. Spreading and arranging of bed of flowers, or flowers upon the ground
    9. Colouring the teeth, clothing, hair, nails and bodies – body painting and hair styling
    10. Fixed stained glass into the floor – mosaics
    11. The art of making beds – hotel housekeeping
    12. Playing musical glasses partially filled with water
    13. Storing and accumulating water, aqueducts, etc. – household plumbing
    14. Picture making – modern day photography
    15. Stringing of necklaces and garlands –
    16. Binding of turbans and chaplets –
    17. Scenic representation /stage play – Amateur Dramatics?
    18. Art of making ear ornaments –
    19. Preparing perfumes –
    20. Proper disposition of jewels and decorations in dress – fashion accessories
    21. Magic or sorcery – stage magic and slight of hand
    22. Quickness and dexterity in manual skill – computer typing speed.
    23. Culinary art – cooking and baking
    24. Making lemonades, acidulated drinks – smoothies, cocktails and fruit drinks
    25. Tailors work and sewing – same today (including curtain making)
    26. Making parrots and other decorative items out of yarn or thread – cross stitching
    27. Solutions of riddles and verbal puzzles – same today (+ debating contests)
    28. Connected stories game – Modern day politics or sales
    29. Mimicry or imitation – acting and imitation
    30. Reading, including chanting and intoning – public speaking / corporate training
    31. Tongue twisters
    32. Sword, quarterstaff, bow and arrow – martial arts
    33. Drawing inferences, reasoning and inferring – psychotherapy and counselling
    34. Carpentry – carpentry and furniture building (both flat pack and from scratch)
    35. Architecture or the art of building – build your own home and/or house extension
    36. Knowledge about gold silver and gems – same
    37. Chemistry and mineralogy – same
    38. Colouring jewels, gems and beads
    39. Knowledge of mines and quarries
    40. Gardening – gardening and tree surgery
    41. Cockfighting, quail fighting and ram fighting – boxing or martial art tournaments
    42. Teaching parrots or starlings to speak – dog and horse whispering
    43. Applying perfumes to the body
    44. Writing of cipher – code writing and code breaking / computer programming
    45. Modifying speech in abstract ways
    46. Knowledge of languages – speaking foreign languages
    47. Making flower carriages
    48. Spells and charms – Spells and witchcraft
    49. Memory and mental exercises – brain challenges and IQ tests
    50. Composing poems
    51. Knowledge of dictionaries and vocabularies – well read and well spoken
    52. Knowledge of disguising people
    53. The ability to change cheaper items to appear as of a higher value (ie cotton to silk, etc.)
    54. Gambling – gambling and stock market share dealing
    55. Art of mantras or incarnations to gaining possession of others’ property – positive thinking and witchcraft
    56. Skill in youthful sports – sports and athletics
    57. Knowledge of the rules of society, and paying respects and compliments to others – well mannered, respectful to all, and ability to give genuine compliments
    58. Knowledge of the art of war, armies, etc – military service (paid, part time, or voluntary)
    59. Knowledge of gymnastics – modern day gymnastics
    60. Knowing someone’s character by their features – personology, face reading and body language
    61. Knowledge of scanning and constructing verses – speed reading and writing
    62. Arithmetical recreations – maths challenges / chess
    63. Making artificial flowers
    64. Making figures and images in clay – pottery and sculpture

    Particularly where I couldn’t work out a modern UK equivalent, I also felt there was a few modern day skills not included in the above list, but useful in the UK society I lived and grew up:

    1. Sailing and navigating on water
    2. Ship building
    3. Plastering a wall
    4. Painting and Decorating
    5. Household rewiring
    6. Massage therapies
    7. Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis
    8. Meditation
    9. Anatomy and physiology
    10. Website design and development
    11. IT software skills (ie Windows, Linux, Mac)
    12. IT hardware skills (repairing / rebuilding your computer hardware)
    13. Sales skills
    14. Presentation skills / after dinner speeches
    15. Voluntary work with children
    16. Movie making / directing
    17. Advanced driver training
    18. Skills in piloting a plane  (ie private pilots licence, or gliding certificate)
    19. Sustainable living / renewable energies
    20. Growing your own fruit and veg
    21. Survival skills (remote living)
    22. Surfing
    23. Rock Climbing / Urban Free Running
    24. Car mechanics and repair
    25. Swimming
    26. Scuba diving
    27. High Board / Cliff Diving

    Your thoughts?

  • How can I improve my natural listing position on Google?

    There are of course huge numbers of people claiming to be experts in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), the largest Search Engine of all of course being Google.

    However, the only real Google Experts, are those that actually work for Google right now.  They’re constantly trying to improve their search results, making them more intuitive to humans, and more like human rankings.

    People will often find little loopholes on how to artificially improve your ranking position, with ‘black art’ techniques (things that will typically get your website blacklisted from Google, and therefore hidden entirely from view for at least 3 months).  So as I’ve mentioned before, do the things primarily for the human user.. and Google will follow.

    So assuming that your website is already accessible to people with visual challenges (and therefore search engines can read it more easily too).. you’ve already made sure all your images have ‘alt’ text.. and of course you have lots of good readable text on each page (especially the homepage), etc.

    >Google likes a few key things in particular:

    • Old websites (so you must therefore be an ‘established’ business)
    • Websites with lots of good real content, related to the search terms (so you have something worth looking at, when the visitor gets there), especially content that’s updated, and added to regularly.
    • Lots of links to your website from other websites (meaning lots of people like it enough, to want to share it with other people)

    So what is your speciality area?  If your business is about hair extensions, talk about it through your integrated blog.

    Also, if you’re a geographically based business in Reading, then talk about things going on locally too.

    Typically, the more often you update your website, the more often Google (and others) will think it’s worth looking at, which means the higher up the natural search rankings you’ll appear.

    So, for example, write about things related to hair extensions, or even anything to do with  hair!  i.e. your thoughts on the Royal wedding, any celebrities you see or know about with hair extensions in the press.. or even “if you’d like to have hair like ‘xxxx’ we have just the hair extensions for you”… It doesn’t really matter what you blog about, just blog more!

    If you can get your website talked about on related web forums (ie the types of forums your clients might read.. ie young mothers’ forums, rock, grunge, tattoo, etc..), with links back to your website, that will help too (try to keep it natural though, when mentioning your website).

    You could also reply back on other people’s related blogs, with genuine comments (and links back to your website in the signature).  Any links through newspaper article websites, or the BBC would of course be very good for your natural search ranking.

    Having a Facebook Group for your business, that people can ‘like’ is of course also a very popular choice these days, with links back to your website (and photos on your Facebook page too of course).

    You could also try shooting a video of you doing what you do best.  Put this on YouTube.. and this can then also help a lot with rankings too (as Google owns YouTube, and seems to really like links from popular videos back to related websites).

    All of the above should essentially be free!

  • Drinking more water, school study in Bolton

    It was great to see St James’ school in Bolton this morning, being featured for running a study on the benefits of drinking more water.

    In the controlled trial of over 150 pupils, cognitive funciton was found to improve by as much as 50%, concentration was improved, and even figiting decreased!

    This of course supports our popular workshop on drinking more water.

    I’m hoping to publish a link to the findings on here when it becomes available.

    In the meantime, for further information please do get in contact.

  • Purity Showcase – May Pole Dance Day – 2011-05-01 – Farnham

    Purity hosted another great pole showcase evening, in Farnham last week, for the annual ‘May Pole Dance Day’.

    For the full collection of images from the evening, please see the following set on Flickr:

  • Synthetic Culture @ Egg London

    This was a great series of dance events, held at Egg, in London.

    Full collections of images can be found through the following three Flickr sets: