Can I get this in cornflower blue?

Search stock photos by color scheme.  Pick a color, and find pictures that match your site. I'd love to see this kind of tool hooked up to more personal photo galleries. Funny, I was only suggesting this to someone, only a week or so, before they brought out this feature. Almost as if they heard me. I wonder why they took so long in bringing it out?

Big melt warning for Arctic

"The eventual disappearance of the ice during summer."
God what is it going to be like in the next 40 years? We'll have massive sea level increases and who knows what other changes. Why isn't anybody running around like frightened chickens?

Guardian: Nobody goes to gov sites

In the public sector, "many organisations have a deliberate policy not to shout too much about e-services lest they go wrong. The buzzword is "soft launch.""

The Register has more on the topic, finding a government website is hard enough (use of meta keywords and search engine rankings, I guess are ignored) you'll probably end up at a competitor which supplies something at a price - that's capitalism for you, filling in the gaps, forms cannot be half completed (cookies not used) - I get pissed off at having to download a pdf, print it off and snail mail it back. And this UKOnline crap, I think it's supposed to be THE portal for Gov. stuff, but it ain't. What the hell are eBay, Amazon and Kelkoo doing there? Any commercial site could and does provide this type of bland portal crap.

As todays study says, "the performance of UKOnline as a signpost to e-government services is disappointing".

APOD: 2003 October 28 - The SDSS 3D Universe Map

" The latest map of the cosmos again indicates that dark matter and dark energy dominate our universe."

Look at where we are. May look like the centre of the universe to you, but I think it's probably not.

Welcome to the world.

Fed up with my Powerbook, I've moved my copy of Radio over to my PC. Now that I've got imageMagick running, there was nothing stopping me. So here I am, with millions of millions of others.

Nokia targets multimedia mobiles

"Nokia predict that more than 10 million Series 60 devices will be in use globally by the end of 2003."

There's only 8 million Apple Macs knocking around too.

DEBKAfile - Eurocrats and NATOcrats Plan Israel's Non-Future

"NATO - private plan that would lead ultimately to the termination of the State of Israel."

 I was surprised at the idea. But this state has only been in existance for 50 or so years. Who says it has to stay.

And I certainly like the idea of international troops being the buffer between the two communities. After all it will take generations to lessen the hatred. I also found it similar to my nextdoor neighbour's opinion that we'd see Turkish troops policing  Northern Ireland one day."NATO - private plan that would lead ultimately to the termination of the State of Israel."

 I was surprised at the idea. But this state has only been in existance for 50 or so years. Who says it has to stay.

And I certainly like the idea of international troops being the buffer between the two communities. After all it will take generations to lessen the hatred. I also found it similar to my nextdoor neighbour's opinion that we'd see Turkish troops policing  Northern Ireland one day.

DEBKAfile - Rumsfeld Suggests Fighting Madrassas with Ideas

"Pointing to Iraq's al Qaeda-linked Ansar al Islam, Rumsfeld asked: "Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the clerics are recruiting, training and deploying?"

Later, in a briefing to Washington Times staff, he called for a new agency to help fight “a war of ideas” against international terrorism. He suggested a 21st century information agency in the government to help in the international battle of ideas, to limit the teaching of terrorism and extremism and to provide better education."


Took him sometime, but he's getting there.

Kids are back, Esme types on my laptop

Well, they're back. Been down to Wales for a long weekend, and they've come back early because they're not very well. Nanna said they've been grumpy all weekend. Amanda says they'd run about for a while then just go quiet, wanting to lie down.

She practices typing on my laptop. She's been doing caps for the start of her name for a few days now. Today, she discovers caps lock, and it's got a light.

Another strange sky over Dawley

Popped into Cosford with Tony

Three Tonys. And one Bradley as he looks at the graphics and pictures for the planes.
More studies of pictures fro Bradley.
	As we couldn't find Cosford Auction Rooms, we have a look in the museum. Bradley starts telling Tony all about it cos he's been bedfore. Lots of times.

Quick look at the fair in Dawley

To get them out of the house I go and blow £25 at the fair for one hour. Mostly, we went on the rides, but Bradley wants to go on the wobbly house ride, where you have to walk around inside a strange house. But Esme's too scared. Bradley pleads, says he'll hold her hand... No go. He goes on himself. We wave as he arrives at the front or as he passes a window where we can see him. We can tell he's getting worried. I guess it's because he disappears from view to who knows where. Each time he disappears, when we see him again, he's a little more concerned. Soon, very soon, he's out the way he came in.

At MacDonalds cousins play

We arrive at the same time at MacDonalds as Francis and Alex and their grandparents. Looks like great minds think alike for feeding after school. We council ourselves by saying we don't take them to fast food outlets too much, hardly ever, in fact. Have good video of Bradley doing spins, and his graceful bows to the audience and to the curtain.

Esme's playground at school.

Esme the mechanic and ballet dancer and train driver?

Before getting ready to go out, she must practice her ballet poses.	This one starts like this then tiptoe runs across the kitchen. Very elegant. Very fairy like.
	Saturday mornings can be quite full. First we had to get the breaks fixed, and Esme doesn't like the loud noises from the mechanics, but is fascinated by all the contraptions and things going on at the garage. Then we go off to the car boot sales at Bridgenorth, and see the trains on the way home. Bradleys cold makes him grumpy most of the time, but we get by.
We finally end up at Bridgenorth, at the Severn Valley Railway. Wonderful coal burning smells, steam puffing from Victorian looking contraptions.

Grandad Frank and Hoo Farm

Grandad Frank.

We went to Hoo farm with Frank's camera. Here, she's making a dash for freedom. I couldn't believe them both riding the commando swing. Bradley wanted to ride the four wheel, petrol driven motorbikes, but he had to be six. Esme took a ride on the pony again.

Ironbridge autumn stone throwing

These are over the past few days. We often go here to throw stones into the River Severn. Today, Esme wants to learn how to skim stones. Her throwing's not quite up to it I decide. But still she wants to learn. I show her how to grip the flat stones, but still she just gets a plop, not a hop. Eventually, she does one! It skips twice, I think. She's pleased. After a few more plops, she does another two skips. Even better, shes going to tell Mum. Much later, she wants more lessons. I tell her about practicing, do a little today, a bit more next time... She wants to practice now. So more gripping lessons, and I think I've cracked how to show her how to grip. A few plops, then... Count them... FIVE hops. Amazing! She is so happy. I let out a, "I don't believe it!" She just smiles contentedly. I'm happy for her. She keeps smiling as I rave on and on. "Amazing! Five hops!" "Well, well, well. I never." She's gorgeous when she smiles like that.

Manila: Discussion Group RSS Feeds

New feature for Manila users: Discussion Group RSS Feeds.

Your discussion group's RSS feed makes it easy for you and your readers to follow discussion on your site using any news aggregator which supports RSS.

Here are a few example feeds from the Manila, Radio, and Frontier sites (all served by Manila). [Jake's Radio 'Blog]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

"A teenager from South Wales, UK, was photographing some friends skateboarding last week when the sky did something very strange. High in the distance, a sofa-sized rock came hurtling into the nearby atmosphere of planet Earth and disintegrated"

Above is a painting of one in 1944.