Category: website updates

  • Merging websites and emails

    Merging websites and emails

    Due to the ongoing pandemics I still need to protect myself from, I’ve been going through the slow process of merging many parts of my former-work websites together. I can’t see how and when I’m likely to be able to do so many things I used to do in person, and I’m not managing teams of people, colleagues, sub-contractors, etc. in the same way either.

    That’s why jasonparlour.com now has the sub-folder websites of:

    • Parlour-IT website development (formerly Parlour Design)
    • Photography by Jason Parlour
    • Massage by Jason (Dial a Massage)
    • Therapy Agency [now closed]
    • Therapy Academy
    • Minutes a Day

    As part of merging the main content of those wesites into this one site, along with some other merging of business interests with sites like parlour.nz, I’m also working through the tens of thousands of emails over the last 25 years (unfortunately, due to a technical issue from the ISP tech-support at the time, all my emails prior to then were lost entirely, including all of those from my time at University).

    But seeing so many sub-folders and sub-catagories of work, carefully organised and maintained, and all the people I’d got to know through so many channels, networking events, voluntary work, socialising : in so many ways I’d forgotten how much of a social butterfly I’d been for so long.

    My facebook connections are still spread far and wide, but Fb being the terrible site it is, does mean I’ve been self-limiting my access and involvement with that media channel.

    So these days, due to physically isolating, and the frustration of seing so many people still attending super-spreader events, even my virtual socialising and connections are nothing like they used to be.

    But seeing all my former connections via email, so many of which I’d worked with through my various business interests, or had been friends with in person. It’s pretty overwhelming how my life is so different now.

  • BeKind WearAMask DontBeABot

    Life has obviously changed massively for the world since my last post on here over 10 years ago.

    My aim is still to try and provide simple techniques that can take just minutes to apply, to help improve your life.

    But I woke up this morning at 4am, feeling the need to take steps to try and help counter all the misleading info being spawned, misdirection by policians, and abuse by the wealthy minority.

    So these are some of the hashtags and soundbites that came up this morning, that I’m looking to share.


    Hacking up your lungs in a shared space?
    Just because you don’t have to wear a mask anymore, doesn’t mean you can’t.

    Do something that helps somebody else, not because you have to, but because it is a good thing to do for others. #WearAMask

    #BeKind #WearAMask


    Late stage capitalism and individualism is clearly not helping us do more for each other.

    There’s so much talk about community and coming together in times of a crisis, but that’s a ‘future crisis’. We are currently in a crisis.
    It may not look like post apocalyptic landscape of the movies, but it is a lot worse than it has have been for so many people, it is real, and it is happening now.

    Genocide is happening in front of our eyes in HD.

    Climate change impacts are affecting millions of people, and every year it’s getting worse. There’s no way back, but we can stop it escalating exponentially.

    The media’s message is being corrupted to how bad it is, and who is responsible.

    Oil companies made up the idea of an individual’s Carbon Footprint, in an aim to shift the focus from the biggest emitters, and the oil companies saturating every part of our world with oils and plastics, all for their own short-term gain.

    Algorithms are hiding anything which goes against the views of the corporate owners, silently hiding it from feeds, to reduce engagement and make you feel alone.

    #YouAreNotAlone


    AI [LLM] bots using huge electrical resources are flooding comments with bias, making you think that the social majority think that way, they do not. The social majority are kind people #BeKind

    Do you have cold or flu like symptoms? Are you feeling tired, fatigued? Have you been in recent shared air space with someone else with any of those symptoms? #BeKind #WearAMask

    Do you still need to go to your shared workplace, or are there flexible arrangements for you to work from home again. If you really need to go in, please

    #BeKind #WearAMask


    Are politicians increasingly representing you less less? Do you want to make a change but don’t know how? It starts with small steps to make a movement. Counting the media messages we have been told to downplay verity of what is happening around us #ClimateChange #Genocide #Pandemics


    The healthcare industry around the world studies last five years have been pushed and pushed and pushed. If you are not wealthy enough to have dedicated private specialists at your beck and call, you may have seen these increased waiting times. Hospitals are traditionally the safe places to go to be well and recover, now they are super spreader events, particularly for the immunocompromised. if you can #WearAMask


    Are trolls and fascists filling the comments on your posts, demanding empirical evidence but then ignoring it with excuses, then demanding something else instead? Over and over again wasting your time, and the more they engage, the more they imply there is validity to their arguments?

    An online fascist one that have their mind changed by a valid argument, or evidence, or emotion, or anything else for that matter.

    #DontEngage #Don’tWasteOurTime


    Would you like community? Do you care about other people? #BeKind

    Pro Elon? #DontBeABot
    Pro Trump? #DontBeABot
    Pro Zuck? #DontBeABot
    Pro Bezos? #DontBeABot
    Pro capitalist? #DontBeABot
    Are you mad at immigrants? Trans people? Women? #DontBeABot
    Are you using ChatGPT to write content to try and drive engagement just for empty social capital? #DontBeABot

    #DontBeABot

  • Updates to Jason Parlour Photography

    Although my blogs have been pretty quiet on this site for the past few months, it’s certainly not through lack of photography. Things have been very busy on lots of privately commissioned shoots, both at the new Purity Studio in Reading, and on location.

    I have however just noticed that Windows Live Spaces has now removed it’s feature of using the images from live spaces, to display a slideshow on this website. As a result, I’ve now pulled those slideshows offline, until a more suitable replacement can be found.

    Sorry though, that as a result, you won’t be able to see much in the way of a selection of my images though this site. This will be changed and sorted soon though.

    If you have any queries in the meantime, please do let me know.

  • ‘Final’ tweaks now made to the Minutes A Day website

    I’m pleased to say that I’ve finally been able to sort out the little extra tweaks we’ve been keen to do, to the Minutes A Day website today, quite simply adding little rounded corners to each of the text box areas.

    For those of you who understand html (website programming at source), this has been done with simple and good CSS, using the CSS for design, and not adapting the html source unnecessarily or excessively to make it work (i.e. trying to work from a table based idea of design).

    For those of you who don’t understand html source code, or CSS, quite simply it means designing it this was gives you faster loading times, improved cross-browser compatibility (so it should be accessible both on your computer, mobile phone, and printer, but differently on each), and improved accessibility to screen readers.

    Further features will of course be added to the ‘Minutes A Day’ website over the future. We do look forward to continuing what is a pleasure to share.

  • My new photography website

    I’m pleased to announce that my new photography website is now live and online.

    Of course it will still be undergoing various updates, changes, colour adaptations, etc. however it has been written to W3C accessibility standards, using html for the content, and CSS for the styling (rather than old style tables for the design as was common until just a few years ago).

    There’s also a blog on there.

    However, due to the considerable ease by which I can upload photos directly from my desktop (within Live Photo Gallery), to this here livespaces account, and then have that automatically streaming slideshows of each collection onto the jasonparlour.com/ website, it seems appropriate to keep my livespaces running for a while, although my focus will be on the new website, and to Flickr for the larger collections, rather than through here.

  • Website updates

    Thankfully I’ve had a little more time today to add the slideshows of some of my portfolio, similarly add some more to the styling and design, so I hope you like it!

    In case you were wondering: By using the slideshows from the free ‘JasonParlour live spaces’ account, means we can update the slideshows directly from our desktop with Windows Live Photogallery, to appear immediately on the website!

    Any thoughts or ideas, of course please do let me know.

  • New photography website

    I’ve now been able to tweak around a little, and develop this new website, as part of Parlour Design’s Portfolio.

    It still needs a fair amount of work, but at least the main content coding for the layout is now there.

    Thankfully, because it’s also all been designed to plain html for the content, and CSS for the styling, I’ll be able to make rapid changes to the design in the future very quickly and easily.

  • Jason Parlour’s new space on Flickr

    As good have things have been to keep a number of photos on these free livespaces account for the last few months, as the number of photos being uploaded at the moment seems to be increasing rapidly, it’s seemed more appropriate to hold some space on ‘Flickr‘ for easier accessibility, for those keen to see each collection from particular trips I’m heading away on: https://flickr.com/photos/jasonparlour/collections/

    Please do check it out, and you can leave any feedback there too.

    Therefore, in the future, a large selection of the photos from various trips and events I’m involved with from now on, will now, most likely, just be uploaded there instead of here.

    Really importantly for me, I can upload them at a variety of resolutions, directly from the ‘Vista Live Photo Gallery’ on my desktop too! (in case you’re not familiar, do check it out as I’ve personally found it brilliant http://get.live.com).

    Of course, I’ll still keep a few of my really favourite images through a portfolio on www.jasonparlour.com

    Similarly, I expect I’ll still be uploading group photos to my facebook account too (when it’s likely those in the photos will also find them).  However, for the various people I meet whilst out and about, who are keen on seeing copies of the images taken (ie like last week during a trip to a wildlife park), putting them on Flickr may be more suitable.  I’ll see how I get on!

  • Jason Parlour’s Blog

    Having very recently been getting more into the joys of blogging, I will be aiming to keep a blog up-to-date in the future.

    However, despite the free livespaces accounts being really great for hosting all my images (particularly when as yet, there’s no maximum memory limit), and I’ll also be keeping use of the superb free SkyDrive so editors and the like can download their preferred images in maximum resolution, my blog for the near future will be hosted on my website.

    Do feel free to comment, and I look forward to hearing from you there!

  • Clearing out the old to make space for the new

    It was with pleasure today I was able to have a great clear out of the number of photos posted on this site, to help bring greater focus to those remaining.

    My thanks go to Jo of www.joannahobden.com for her insight on this.. (She’s done some pretty amazing artwork by the way.. 🙂 )

    Of course should you wish to see a greater number of any of my photo sets, please do feel free to get in contact.