Cool acoustic guitar

Don't know this guy, Andy McKee, but he sure can shuffle his fingers.

Andy McKee - Guitar - Tight Trite Night (Don Ross)


Hmm, I'll have to look up more Andy McKee and Don Ross who wrote the piece. Grow into these trousers... >>

It's game time

Alpha Assault.

Protect your blue tile from the encroaching red by highlighting words in the grid. This is not easy! Grow into these trousers... >>

Look Around You - Pilot Episode

Digging down the back of the internet I found this fluff covered sucked sweet which turned out to be the first time the intrepid Look Around You team brought their extensive knowledge into the public domain. The pilot episode:

Look Around You - Calcium (pilot episode) Part 1

Part two is below the belt.

Look Around You - Calcium (pilot episode) Part 2
Grow into these trousers... >>

OK - one more Testing

A quick update on mp3 player embedding. For me the Yahoo mp3 player works spot on every time. So I'm going to try it again. The player is OK but there's no volume control (just mute) and the colour skinning is limited to say the best, see below.

Just so I don't use up all my free bandwidth on one track here's us guys again:

ABandinUrHead, with our take of the old Animals classic.

You can play it dark


You can have light


Or you can add a bit of fancy to light


I think I'll go with dark after all, and I like the rounded corners. Damn, I'll have to make another download button now!. Grow into these trousers... >>

Testing - Testing - Again

After posting my idea for an 'in blog' mp3 player I found it doesn't work reliably in Internet Explorer (it works fine when I preview but when it's posted it fails). Also my free upload was very short lived. If I had my own domain name I guess things would be easier. Anyway, I will try to solve the IE problem otherwise it spoils a good idea. Damn the browser wars!

For hosting this time I'm using FileDen, you have to register but it's free.

I had also missed something else important, a download link, so I made a button, or should I say a clickable image 'coz it's not animated yet. Clicking it should give you the option to save the mp3 (If you want to of course, can't blame you if not).

So let's try out some ideas, and I'd really appreciate some feedback. What works or doesn't for you, what browser are you using (Firefox 3.0.5 for me) etc.

Ok, here's where we were last time. The track is Heaven's Fool, first using the Google Reader player. I like this the best, I think it looks slick and it has a volume control. But if it doesn't work then boot it!




This is the Odeo player - IE6 doesn't display this for me, it's fine in Firefox.


Yahoo player - This works for me in both Firefox and IE6 so I still have hope. The colours are a bit dark, but it seems you can change them, and there's no volume control. Bummer.


So let's see what happens when I post this. Grow into these trousers... >>

Red Dwarf: Series 1 -Episode 3

The sound's not too good on this episode but the comedy is great. Lister aims to outrank Rimmer by taking the chef's exam.

Red Dwarf: Balance of Power 1 of 3

Parts 2 and 3 are below the belt.


Red Dwarf: Balance of Power 2 of 3


Red Dwarf: Balance of Power 3 of 3
Grow into these trousers... >>

Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

David Attenborough's documentary on Charles Darwin and evolutionary biology aired last night. As a televisually impaired person (no TV) I've just caught up on the BBC's iPlayer. And it's well worth seeing. Lavish modern footage is intercut with excerpts from Attenborough's earlier works to guide us through Darwin's scientific insight. Here and there though some topics are a bit rushed but given the 60 min time slot this is perhaps understandable. I would have liked a more convincing explanation of the way radiometric dating shows the age of rocks, but then the development of the eye is covered quite adequately. After that we are very quickly bounced from Gregor Mendel to DNA analysis but Attenborough pulls a great finale out of the bag. The short sequence below comes towards the end and recapitulates evolutionary history.

Thanks to The Lay Scientist for pointing out the link.

The Tree of Life.
Grow into these trousers... >>

I should not laugh

But the blog address chosen by UK Conservative Councillor Richard Willis (Reading Borough Council representing Peppard ward since 2007) should have been better thought out. Richard Willis UK?

http://richardwillisuk.wordpress.com/

Shades of the Scunthorpe problem? Grow into these trousers... >>

Testing - Testing

This could be fun.
I've been playing around trying to embed an mp3 player in the blog and I think I may have sussed it. It's dead easy, if it works...

Here's Heaven's Fool by ABandinUrHead featuring yours truly on bass:



Now if that plays for you we are on a winner! Here's how it works.

I uploaded HeavensFool.mp3 to Upload-MP3.com and noted the URL.
Upload MP3 is a free hosting service and I didn't register, so this upload may be short lived. Just testing the idea.

So you have the URL ie: http://foo.bar.com/yoursong.mp3 copy the code below and paste it into your blog as text/html, not forgetting to update the address.

<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3247397568-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=http://foo.bar.com/yoursong.mp3" width="400" height="27" allowscriptaccess="never" quality="best" bgcolor="#ffffff" wmode="window" flashvars="playerMode=embedded" />

Let me know if it works for you. Anyone fancy a podcast? Grow into these trousers... >>

A thought for a Sunday

Some things just make you feel good.

---------------
Via Gaboo’s Happy Time Place. Grow into these trousers... >>