Navigation within html.tpl I want to be able to put my Navigation block within the html.tpl.php, as it isn't going to change across any of the pages and it just seems like a more efficient option.

I know that I can't render a block using regular regions - so how do I go about doing this?  

I'm using Nice Menus for my Navigation.

Thanks.
Basically this involves moving a region to html.tpl.php

So first you need to create a region to go in html.tpl.php which will hold your menu (unless you're using an existing region). Then create a preprocess in your template.php file:

function THEMENAME_preprocess_html(&amp;$variables) {
  if ($blocks = block_get_blocks_by_region('REGION_MACHINE_NAME')) {
    $variables['REGION_MACHINE_NAME'] = $blocks;
    $variables['REGION_MACHINE_NAME']['#theme_wrappers'] = array('region');
    $variables['REGION_MACHINE_NAME']['#region'] = 'REGION_MACHINE_NAME';
  }
}


You need to replace THEMENAME with the name of your theme. Also replace all instances of REGION_MACHINE_NAME with the machine name of your region. The machine name can be found in your theme's .info file. Then all you need to do is put:

print render($REGION_MACHINE_NAME);


in your html.tpl.php (of course replace $REGION_MACHINE_NAME with the name of your region, I've only caps'd it to make it visible, it should all be lowercase otherwise)