My proof of our zero electricity EarthHour

Thanks to a
battery powered
Wireless
Electricity
Real Time
Consumption
Meter

Minutes before

Earth Hour

we were

consuming...


After the start of Earth Hour we consumed....

Earth Hour is Saturday 8:30pm

On , your Local Time!
Are you going to go dark at 08:30pm in less than 22 hours time?

For Earth Hour happens on Saturday 28th March 2009 at 08:30pm for one dark and not so silent hour.

Have FUN!

Experience it!

Exemplify it!

Be it!.....

E N J O Y I T!

Make your switches count!!!

Turn them off!

Let your house consume no electricity between 08:30 and 9:30 pm on Saturday wherever you live! Some with old half empty Freezers might feel the need to keep them going, but NOTHING ELSE!!!

Read the
Earth Hour Guidebook

I've Typealyzed my own Blogs, TMO's, Jim's and Byn's

It seems I must have been subconsciously copying the style of The Messy One's Blog as we both exhibit the same style in our respective Blogs; ie this blog and Secrets and Lies have both been assessed by the Typealizer as ESTP like Blogs.
(An interesting factoid is the advert that pops up when one Typealyzes TMO's blog is: "MHC: Providers of bespoke Mental Health and Learning Disability Services!" Either the advert was aimed at TMO or myself, my only question is .... how did they know!!! :-) )

I also was interested to see how Jim's first Blog would pan out: it turns out, according to the Typealizer to be of the type ISTJ - The Duty Fulfillers, which is the same as the type of Byn's Blog

Finally my e-Trust comes out as type INTJ - The Scientists
Which the Typealizer describes as: The long-range thinking and individualistic type. They are especially good at looking at almost anything and figuring out a way of improving it - often with a highly creative and imaginative touch. They are intellectually curious and daring, but might be physically hesitant to try new things.


Not so sure about that last sentence!!!!

It was a sublime soup.

So after twittering my praise of the soup, and being asked for the recipe....

It had the magic ingredient of Nutmeg in it, which looks like an alien egg with the "yet to be Mace" outer red parts eerily spreading round the Nutmeg Seedpod.... I had not realised that Nutmeg and Mace were from the same seed pod! We live and learn.
(This was such a good photo, and as I couldn't find the creative commons sign I have simply linked you to see it on the owners Flickr site)

I asked SHHTD if she could send it to me, she ummed and ahhed, but as I was head down in my Lecture Prep, she relented! While juggling two dogs, AND cooking dinner, she typed out the following sublime Veggie Soup recipe.

RUSSIAN VEGETABLE SOUP

25g butter
1 medium onion
225g potatoes peeled and sliced
110g parsnips peeled and sliced
110g carrots peeled and sliced
50g cabbage sliced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
½ teaspoon dried mixed herbs
freshly grated nutmeg to taste < The secret sauce!!!
1.2 litres vegetable stock
salt and pepper

GARNISH

Small leek chopped into 5 cm strips and fried in 25g butter

Melt butter and fry all veg gently for 10mins in a covered saucepan. Add herbs, nutmeg, parsley and stock and cover and simmer for 30 mins. Liquidise and season to taste. Fry leek in butter until crisp.
Serve hot soup garnished with the leek.


This feels like one I could do! :-)

========================

The bad news was that in the juggling; the milk sauce boiled over and Wilf did what he always does at this stage of his potty training when he is not getting what to him is the required amount of attention. (He finds he always gets attention straight away!!)
And as both dogs and humans agree: Any attention is Good attention!!

So it would have been churlish of me not to wrap a Blog round the recipe and launch it into the Blogosphere....

Back to Lecture Tweaking!! Oh yes, and Course Work Prep
This is not going to be one of those EASY Modules that you can get a pass mark on by simply turning up for the Revision Lecture.... No! Dear reader, I am not being CRUEL!

My attitude is that these are some very capable and motivated young adults with a thirst for learning. I do not want to disappoint them!


The size of the ball shows the amount of time spent on my ULearn site, the higher the ball shows the number of visits to the site. There are a number of students at the end of the graph with no balls, as they spent no time during no visits. My initial analysis is showing that I have some highly motivated students, some reasonably motivated students and some who have not yet woken. However term has not yet started. Starts tomorrow apparently, so I should probably give some of them the benefit of the doubt perhaps they just have the right balance in their work and play life.

Perhaps they will kick into gear during the week just before my lecture.

PS Wish me luck the nerves are starting!

"Rag and Bone 2.0"

or The Wonders, Pleasures and Frustrations of FreeCycling

The Wonders
Some of you may not be aware of this underground phenomena called FreeCycling, let me explain:

The person with the unwanted "Whatever" puts a notice on a FreeCycle Page in the form
OFFERED: "Whatever", Location this is then emailed to all those subscribing to the page. At this point a slew of emails are sent winging there way to the inbox of the one who just Offered the "Whatever", resulting in an electronic form of the Scrummage, which involves making your email most likely to be selected. Here the risky bit occurs, the Offerer selects the winning email and sends them the address to come and pick up the "Whatever". You have No Idea who you are inviting to your home.

Please think twice, if you're a single lass, before offering unused thongs on FreeCycle!

A real example of ill considered FreeCycle usage was the person I spotted last week who posted "WANTED: Free Shredding of Confidential Waste"!

When the item has been collected one simply posts an update notice:
"TAKEN: "Whatever" and the cycle is complete.

A less effective form of FreeCycling, is the Wanted form: here individuals with the need post WANTED: "Whatever" this requires avid FreeCyclers who have the unwanted Whatever to be checking their email or the FreeCycle page for these WANTED posts and then emailing the individual concerned. Rarely happens from my experience, I am still waiting for those Unwanted Rhubarb Forcers to come my way! OK So I might have tried for something a little rare to start with.

From initial evaluation I expected that the whole cycle would be powered by two basic drives "Need to be Tidy" and "Simple Greed". In fact, the well-kempt, middle class folks that are picking up my "Whatevers" don't feel at all greedy, confusingly they feel Charitable??... I was expecting Steptoe and Son, I got Mrs BOUQUET! For example our theory on the extremely well dressed lady, who came direct from Church, to pick up the Electric Pop Corn Maker, is that she got it for the Youth Group she helps run. So we felt really good about having thrown in the huge, (well I say huge, and it was half empty) jar of unused popcorn.

The fella who came to pick up the uplighter was a Greenie, if ever I've see one! Clearly he came to ensure the re-use of the offending "Whatever". The audible street cry of "Rag and Bone!" of my youth has been replaced by the electronic cry of OFFERED: "Whatever", Location. The Rag and Bone men have been replaced by an altogether more upmarket lot!

So my drive to be organised has opened my eyes to the wonders of a whole new world, a world of Charity and Environmental Re-Use.

The Pleasures
Surprisingly I suspect FreeCycling gives you a warm glow however you participate in it. I used to get my pleasures from putting the "Whatevers" in the bin or taking them to the tip, creating a sense of cathartic freedom that was close to sublime. Imagine that same sense but without the effort, its feels nearly sinfull, but so clearly isn't. They come and take the unwanted "Whatevers" away for you! So actually, the real drive of Freecycling is my Laziness and their sense of Charity and Environmentalism. ((Darn That means it is sinfull, for SLOTH is a Sin!)) Whatever the drives are, the result feels REALLY GOOD and I can see more of my Shed floor than I have in ages! What other unwanted "Whatevers" can I find to offer? SWHTD has spotted an issue, she has warned me that I might start offering things that we want, it won't be long before she demands sign-off on the things that can I offer. I haven't plucked up the courage of offering Designer Handbags quite yet but the thought of it feels SOOO GOOOD! (Whoa... wait a minute, that will make space in the Wardrobe for her to buy more..... BAD IDEA!)

As an aside: I bet Freecycling peaks in January, February, and March as the urge to Spring Clean strikes. I was wrong! Data shows that in Indianapolis the peak months are January and July, and in Guildford August and November, go figure!

The Frustrations
I have tried to claim four "OFFERED:Whatever"s, but experienced an interesting phenomena, what would you call it?... "Quick Grabs" and so I got now-where, which was a little frustrating. Clearly I need some ointment!?. There are clearly FreeCycle Professionals out there that go in FAST and I mean very fast and grab the "Whatever"s at light speed. The Antique Sowing Machine disappeared so quick it made my head spin, and just so you know I was trying I responded 5 Minutes after it was offered.


I have also experienced my first frustration as an Offerer,and that is the "No Show", where the person that had said they would be arriving to pick up the unwanted "Whatever" just doesn't! I suspect that there is another frustration waiting for me out there, which might be driven by the same mechanism as is driving my lack of Rhubarb Forcers. If one offers something that is so esoteric that no-one wants it! How devastating would that be.... Must make a note to only offer things that loads of people will want!!! It would be even worse than the Fridge still sitting on the deck waiting, the morning after the supposed collection date!

George: "Right Vision, Wrong Timeline!"

or.. Excuse Me?! Why are you proposing to waste my money?

When I read the book, the very idea that a video display could be used by the government to track citizens activities seemed like a fictional jump too far. I can remember thinking TV's can't do that!

An early rumour Gloucestershire Government Kite Flying?? I didn't respond then to such a silly idea.

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt! The security services try and mold our readiness to be monitored wholesale. Don't get me wrong I am ALL for monitoring terrorists, and certainly agree that techniques need to be developed to ensure that we REALLY can.

Over the holidays, I had heard it was a possibility but having spent 30 seconds considering it, I realised that the Government wouldn't be that stupid! Just shows how stupid I was!

For, today Radio 4's Today program reported that the idea was progressing...

So lets take a look at the reason for doing this: "The Security of Citizens outweighs their right to Privacy". Assuming for the time being I accept that premise.

Taking the total emails sent":

Remove all the emails sent from Companies, as it won't be that simple to track down individual terrorists (and we are after terrorists, right?) from that deluge.

Realise that a nefarious individual (read terrorist) will simply move their communications to a place not being monitored, Twitter for example. "D Terrorist

Remove all emails that are sent from domains set up by individuals and then shared with others, just who are the people using the @pomegranite.co.uk email domain? Good luck with that HMG!

Then add the fun of all the SPAM that needs to be pruned out!
Then realise that the large proportion of free email addresses do not simply connect to individuals.

The result is precious little security for the £12 Billion (one of the rumoured INITIAL costs), a predictable escalation in costs and more importantly in the rapid erosion of Privacy. If I was in the Security Services I'd want the £12 Billion applied more effectively.

If we want to get into the more technical details surrounding the possibility the ISP's will be requested to track the emails from the sending IP addresses; I suspect that the terrorists have heard of VPN. So there goes that idea! All that will be left is George's initial Vision: A Government spying on the daily lives of its normal citizens.

HOW TO STOP THIS INSANITY?



.....
"What's that?"
.....
"You mean you HAVE to because it is an EC Directive?"
.....
"Oh! I see! Forget I said anything!"

Needless to say someone thought it was very funny!!!

The start of the recent IT Crowd sent SWHTD into mild hysterics, she being so very proud of her total lack of any Social Media skills what-so-ever, and a nigh on phobic desire never to acquire any.

Darn embedding disabled by request

But at least you can watch it here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rNgCnY1lPg

at least for now!!! The rest of the program just built on the pain and humiliation.
I really do need to manage this Web 2.0 situation! No-one told me that the Social Media Space had an event horizon!!

Is there a FaceBook Anonymous yet?

Please someone "tweet" me when there is! Doh!

In the past buying a Mac was a certain delight! (or Apple Loyalty RIP)

Back in the old days, Apple knew how to delight there Customers!
You got all you needed in the box. All the information, all the software, and most importantly all the cables! In short, every new Apple Box was a delight!

Having just purchased a new All Aluminium MacBook Pro, which is certainly a nice product. I was NOT delighted as there were NO CABLES IN THE BOX!

I reached for my trusty Apple Standard FireWire 400 cable to transfer the operating system from the previous device I was using, but no, our friends from Apple have decided to put in an alternate Firewire Connector. Namely the FireWire 800 and then not sell the cable on their website? Reason to be frustrated part 1!

But the REALLY annoying experience was when I went to connect to a projector. Apple have decided to create a special Mac proprietary port called the Mini DisplayPort, and then sell two cables on their website, one for VGA and the other for DVI. None of my prior Apple VGA cables would work! I have just purchased the the new cable with a sense of frustration and disappointment.

Yet another nail in the coffin of my Apple Loyalty.

I wonder if they think that we Apple Customers have an unbreakable bond of loyalty?
For it seems to me that they are continually coming up with ways of testing it!

My favourite new productivity aid!!!

Why haven't I found this before!

http://www.jingproject.com/



All I can say is try it for yourself!

It will make your Social Media Experience one step closer to perfection!

One of those times where you are delighted by the realisation that everything that you thought you wanted it to do it does already! And with an intuitive interface....
(Not quite Apple Style Guide but intuitive none the less!

(I have to admit it doesn't quite do everything I wanted Jing to Video me showing you how I could use Jing to do a Video of me, showing you how to.... Seems I need two mirrors! I did figure a way using Share Screen and two computers but it was two juddery!)

Despite that minor hiccup: "I am Adrius42 and I approve this plug for Jing!"

A recent Facebook experience... Hmm let me think!

So why am I fearing flying the atlantic this time?

The answer is simple its Mrs Butterworths fault, she apparently looks buxom.

When I posted recently a picture of Mrs Butterworth on Bridezilla's Facebook page. I seemed to have been misunderstood!

When I said "you are she" I clearly was referring to Mrs Butterworths sweetness!

My only hope is the fact that I posted a Lite Version, surely that must work in my favour...

Wish me luck!

Chi.mp is it or isn't it...

So far I am still refining my profile having achieved access and signup to this beta. I am even more excited than I was with Sho-Zu, a good thing! The key question is will Chi.mp be the answer to my desire for an integrating Social Media Portal? So far the signs are good!! Tagging is rife throughout the site.... BRILLIANT! And it feels like it is meeting the "Connie 2.0 Test". Also good is the fact that in order to associate various sites to Chi.mp I have not yet needed to give Chi.mp the password for any of the sites.

But as I say it is early days...

You can find me here http://adrius42.mp/

I have set most of the privacy to contacts or customized so my Public Space will be quite bare. Sign up and give me feedback!

ShoZu read Show Zoo?!!

Ironic app naming aside, after a week of use I am still on the fence, which is good! As most of my ipod touch apps find themselves deleted or kicked of the key first page inside an hour. ShoZu is still on the top line of the first page.

Why? More because of the promise it holds, than its current capabilities.

In one month if ShoZu doesn't give me numbers on the app icon and then the sub app icons, and if it doesn't get better at keeping up to date, I suspect it will get deleted!

BUT what it does today is already good. It is the beginning of adding order/ structure/ simplicity to my 2.0 world!

Today it is still a little too geeky, even for me.

For 2.0 to become mainstream it needs to be able to pass the Connie 2.0 test. Connie 1.5 is a very capable silver surfer, who is finding the current 2.0 world a little too frustrating. It still doesn't do what she expects it to do, in the way she expects it to do it! That is to deliver amazing functionality SIMPLY!

So heres to SIMPLY 2.0

ShoZu post

Trying out ShoZu

Just plain funny, mostly because it is spot on...

Web 2.0 + Environmentalism + Global Warming = Green 2.0

"Web 2.0" is a key shift in the use of the World Wide Web, changing from providing services and information by the few to the many, to providing services and information by the many to the many. Environmentalism the importance of consuming our planets resources in a sustainable manner is starting to be understood,

Take the thinking of Professor Andrew McAfee where he added Web 2.0 and Corporations to create Enterprise 2.0

add a dose of Green...

Now consider how we might use Web 2.0 to drive forwards the Green agenda, we could call it Environmentalism 2.0

You heard it here first!!!

3 Examples to consider

Green Acquisition
I want a wooden lathe, how can I get a second hand one? I am convinced there are a number out there!

Green Recycling
I have a Electric Saw that I want to dispose of it is mostly operational but will need some maintenance

Green Transport
I am traveling to To Gloucester on August 23rd at 4pm from ..... How to share??


Now the question is HOW? Ideas anyone or has somealready done it already?
I don't count the 8 folks at this site

Why did I do it!

Well it wasn't because it sounded like Zardoz. I suspect it's because I have a quizzical ego. My friends at Garlik of Data Patrol fame, offered me a view of my status on the web...

...so yesterday I joined the QDOS beta and found that approximately 2/3rds of the other joiners have a lesser web presence than I do and 1/3 greater. Then it struck me. Statistically this is only going to tell me anything about the web kudos of people with quizzical egos. Those of a more confident nature who already know they are the best won't bother joining and those who are absolutely convinced that they are the bottom of the heap won't even consider trying to pretend that there just might be someone out there with a lesser web presence.

So dear reader depending on what sort of web ego you have, you or may not choose to join this sorry mid band of quizzical egotists who wanted to know!!!!

Now the question is, will I publish the statistically irrelevant result on my Blog.... well I tried!!!

One day I will be competent enough to deserve to be in the top web decile, but by then I won't need the ego stroking that QDOS might give me!! Sigh!!! It's all so confusing!!

PS (Well it isn't really a "post" script more an aside but I don't know the latin for that. It will be something starting with "Se-"
Lets plump for segway... not right but I am bored with this train of thought!)

On the subject of Web Publishing of Supposedly Embargoed Data, it is my contention that data shared with no sign of a classification, will always be subject to the possibility of transparency, ie publication. That is not to say I have not been wracked by a very weird mixture of crippling guilt and side splitting mirth at they very thought of a certain "frater" finding out about the Caerbonnagic event on my blog. Either way it hurts!!! Where the happy couple to have deigned to arrive at Chez Moi while I was present I suspect I may have attempted a stumbling apology!

A Greener World Dawns.... Green and Mean!

I am getting cheaper electricity and gas and the electricity is Green!

Why didn't we switch earlier?

Saving and being delivered Hydro Electricity.

What with driving a Hybrid I feel a "smug git" grin appearing, at least it would were it not for those pesky transatlantic air-miles!

Caerbonnagic Romance is not dead!?

There I was enjoying my post exercise lie in, (doesn't everyone enjoy breakfast in bed after their morning exercise and shower? But hey I deserved it as my Wii Fit had just told me that I had the body of a 26 year old! ...any way I digress...) ...when SWHAND interrupted me from my revery with the news that the White Killer Rabbit of Caerbonnag had proposed to one of my Surrogate Daughters. Which, of course, stunned me and simultaneousy put me into the weird state of having 2 SD's engaged. (To lose one SD is careless, to lose two is just plain criminal!) This state will last for a brief few weeks, as the first SD marriage occurs before the end of the month.

I was left wondering how a Killer White Rabbit would be involved in such a romantic act as proposal for:
1) They don't talk!
2) They mostly rip peoples throats out!
3) They live in caves in Wales
4) Effergies of them are mostly seen flying across castle parapets
5) ...well heck you see my point!

So I started my researches.... I was surprised to find that the Kille Rabbit was both real and a prop. Then I found the ThinkGeek site and all became clear! There are fluffy versions of the beast of Caerbonnag! In fact, having found that out, I was surprised not to see fotos of the occassion here, like this one. I suspect this site is also the likely source of the offending instrument!


CONGRATS TO YOU BOTH!!!!

(PS: You are still not forgiven for coming to Guildford while I am away, but despite that I have instructed HWWGTA to share some of my better drams with you both! His only restriction is that he cannot open any unopened bottles!)

Wii Fit roolz!

The first impression is one of wow!
A side thought, how long will I keep using it?)
Think Brain Trainer for your Body...

You are buying 4 weighing machines that wirelessly connect to your Wii.
From this apparent surfeit of measurement, a lot can be determined about your weight, BMI, Core stability, and more

Have you ever tried standing still? It is way harder than you think without a stable core.

I hadn't realised that I tend to stand with too much weight on my ankles either....

Yoga was always hard, but when you are getting direct feedback about how well you are holding the pose (or not) it only gets harder!

My Body age is 49, I am mighty proud (some might say sadly) of those -3 years and will be working to increase the gap between my calendar age and my body age, I am already on track to achieve my target body weight having dropped from 250 to 231 since the start of the year. (No you don't need to know my target, as the lady in the Wii knows and she is going to hold me to getting there)

A little weird being able to rotate here, thus seeing her from the front and the back, all I will say is that she is fitter than I am!!

My midnight play proved to me that the rest of the journey will be more fun.

Why of course I bought one at Midnight of the day of the launch, after all I was told too!

Hmmm 45 Seconds of shaking!!

Wonder what you Hoosiers were up to!

Apparently they already starting to blame Illinois!!!

Looking forwards to seeing The Messy Ones excuses!

"It wasn't me because....."


:-)