Steve Hooker's Radio: kids, war, blogs, gadgets

Big John at GOWM

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 14:38:54 GMT

Here's the dude, John Garland, in front of his cabinets. Due to the recently announced cuts in the civil service, it sounds as if there will be no IT department. It'll probably be outsourced. But don't tell any one, because it'll scare the horses.

What do you mean Steve?

Well, most of the civil servants are ex pen pushers, ink and quill pens! And not very computer literate. Having someone in the building who could come down and help has helped. Telephoning someone to try and explain the problem so they can figure out what the problem is before they can offer a solution is going to be... problematical.

Brad's pouting kisses

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 14:36:22 GMT

It's going to have to be my mission in life, to capture the definitive picture of Bradley and his pout as he goes to kiss someone. Here he's relaxed it for the photograph.

BT: Superfast broadband to trickle out in U.K

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:45:51 GMT

Initially, just 2,000 lines in London and Strathclyde, and these will be limited to employees only. The rest of the UK, and only those close enough to an exchange, will have to wait till the 2nd half of 2005, which means probably Christmas.

I'm on Telewest, 4Mb. They could up that to 8Mb in a blink of an eye, and will surely top BT for marketing reasons. So, that'll be good. Also, good that broadband is becoming so ubiquitous.

Something new, something good

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:08:59 GMT

I don't know why Google news is still in beta, probably they are worried about the legals of scraping so many news sites.

But, they've added a customisation section, I've deleted sport, since this isn't news in my book and added a blog section. That is, I can now do searches in news papers the world over for references to the word 'blog.'

This reminds me of Netscapes RSS news page back in '98 or was that '99? Where you could add feeds from those who had RSS feeds, which wasn't many then. It's also like my searches with PubSub in my aggregators.

[Update:] I've added some more panels, some of which I use in PubSub and other aggregator searches, like Blogdigger. As Google news is only searching newspapers, these aren't bringing in much that's current. Now, if they add in blogs to their reach, this will be a killer. Really!

A day in the park

Wed, 09 Mar 2005 13:21:06 GMT

Just some pix from the weekend's trip to Telford Town Park. We went on Saturday to feed the ducks, but it was bitterly cold with horizontally blown snow. Sunday was much better with warm sun and blue sky.

Now I have a neat-o video camera I'd like to add more videos to my blog postings, but all I'm getting from MPEG4s of the first screen are black screen grabs, so looks like I need to convert them to MPEG2s first, which rather defeats the point. Humph.

Brad shows us his muscles after his exercises.

An aerial view of the park (reflections of me on the right).

Kids drawings

Wed, 09 Mar 2005 13:11:05 GMT

I love my kids drawings, and the stories behind them. Esme's always drawing princesses. Well, she wants to be one and is always dressing up as one. Brad, he likes dinosaurs though they frighten him and he's had a few bad dreams about them

This is a fireman, fire engine (top, right—see the four wheels and ladder on the roof), and fire below. By Bradley.

Two dinosaurs. Left one a flying dinosaur. By Bradley.

A self portrait at Brad's nursery. And his birthday, I think.

Esme's drawing of a princess. Including crown and star.

Quick video test

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 15:46:26 GMT

This is from my new DigiLife DDV-S670 MPEG4 camera. Pity my routines for grabbing the first frame are only grabbing a black screen.

Worse, if you haven't the correct codecs installed for MPEG4 then you'll not be able to see it.

It's not much, just a pan around my snow covered back garden. Nothing exciting. But it shows the quality, I guess.

Throwing stones in Ironbridge

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 12:12:05 GMT

Another throwing stones trip to Ironbridge. Amazing the differences between seasons.

Looking down stream to the Ironbridge

From May this year, with lots of leaves.

May 2003 looking up to the power station, you can just see a cooling tower behind the trees

From October 2003, nice Autumnal colours

This Winter 2005. Looking up to the power station

Esme off to a pyjama party

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 12:11:24 GMT

Esme had to go to a girlie pyjama party. Sue's daughter Amy. And me and Brad go on a lad's afternoon out

Lad's day out in a Batman car

Dressed in pjs and slippers

A trip to Bridgenorth

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 12:10:30 GMT

Another trip the Bridgenorth.

As we are now near the very big shed and I'm acting a bit sneaky, they get the willies put up them thinking they're going to get told off any minute. As it was I merely decline an offer of a guided tour from the friendly staff.

Explaining coal to Teddy, Bradley, Dolly and Esme. Though it isn't dolly but I can never remember all her dolls names.

Looking into the sheds from the Bridge

Posing with her doll. Bradley was too scared due to the steam

Hey it's me! By Esme. I've grown my hair!

Another of Esme and Brad's cheeky grins

A nice cuddle

Looking at the River