flotsam and jetsam

September 11

A New Post using Windows Live Writer

Well it's been a long time since I posted anything here. Anybody still around? Noelle??? Adobe???

I just downloaded the new beta version of Windows Live Writer and I'm composing this blog in it at this very moment.

This strikes me as a very good idea. Unfortunately it doesn't work with MySpace yet. But it's nice to have all these buttons for inserting links, pictures, tables, maps, tags and videos though. What bliss to be able to compose away from the inconsistencies of web dialog boxes and all those useful error messages like, "An unexpected error has occurred. The MySpace team has been notified."

So without further ado here is a link to my latest home recording effort.

Bodge Job Take Two It's 3.41 seconds long and 8.45MB at 320kbps mp3

Yes, I know 8.45MB is about twice the file size you'd expect for an mp3 but I'm having technical problems. I have to record my project to an analogue audio cassette and then re-record it back into the computer. This really mushes up the sound quality. At 128kbps you might as well not bother it's that bad.

And still in a spirit of adventure and trial, here's a funny picture.

February 17

Lament

OK, this is me playing the guitar.
It's a 4.9MB mp3 and it's 3.36 minutes long.

I've called it, Lament, for want of a better name.

SHIFT & left click should open your default media player.

Or right click and, "Save Target As".

Here's the Mrs. laying down a rhythmn track.

February 02

Things Overheard From A 13th Floor Window

Well, not a lot to report. I don't come here very often these days.
I'm not going to delete this space because there are lots of links here.
Stuff by me and others that I may need in the future.
This place is just SO damned clunky. I can't be doing with it!

Here's an animation I've not posted here before.
You can find me at http://blog.myspace.com/worldwidewardy if you like.

December 12

Subliminal Message

I don't think I ever posted this little .GIF animation on here before.

I posted it on MySpace and Blogspot but not here.

I'm sick of looking at all that heavy writing below so just to keep the silliness

quotient up here it is. This is Windows Live Spaces after all.

Not the place to change the world eh?

December 10

Child Support Agency Proposals

Child Support Agency and John Hutton's Proposals

I have just heard about the Labour MP, Mr. John Hutton's proposals about the Child Support Agency on BBC Radio 4's news programme, "The World This Weekend" and what he is saying strikes me as criminal.

You can read about it on one of the BBC's news pages here

His claim that, "When they don't pay, we have to pay, and that is not a proper thing to happen," is a dirty black lie!
In reality the CSA takes a third of the absent parents income and gives £10, yes that's right £10 in additional benefit to the parent with custody of the child/ren.
Where does he think we're living? Communist Russia? The man is living on another planet!

I have just sent the following message to him via his website and I urge any one with even the most rudimentary sense of justice to send some thing similar. The website above is aimed at his constituents in Barrow In Furness so if you know of a better way of getting to him in his capacity as Secretary Of State For Work & Pensions please use it and please let me know the address.

This is what I sent to him:

Sunday 10 December 2006.

Dear Mr. Hutton,

I have just heard about your proposals regarding The Child Support Agency on Radio 4's The World This Weekend this lunchtime.

I really could not believe what I was hearing. The CSA has been in a morally indefensible position since it's conception, and you are proposing to get even tougher?

How can you justify taking a third of a mans earnings and paying only £10 or £20 pounds additional benefit to that man's ex-wife and mother of his children. Where does the rest of the money go???

A man kicked out of the family home, living in rented accommodation, grieving about his children's welfare and perhaps taking home £800 to £1,100 per month has absolutely no incentive to work at all if you take a third of that meagre income away AND DON'T EVEN GIVE IT TO HIS CHILDREN!!!

The CSA ignores previously legal agreements between ex-spouses. (e.g. Man donates family home and car etc).

Have you any idea how many men have been driven to suicide by this, and how many men choose to go to prison rather than submit to this immoral state intervention???

These are OLD, OLD arguments and what you propose is CRIMINAL and leads directly to suicide!

Your proposals are little short of MURDER!

You are either sadly misguided or a cold hearted cynic!

I for one would wear your attempt to name and shame me as a badge of honour and link it to every web space I have access to.

You present only half the picture Mr. Hutton and it is utterly shameful of you to play politics with people's deepest feelings in this way.

I have voted Labour all my life. I have had my doubts about the Iraq war and Student Loans, but this takes the biscuit.

From here on in I will be actively campaigning against your lying and cynical party.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Ward

Sorry, no picture. This is beyond a joke.

November 10

Sundry Items

'lo people,

Just to let you know that;

1- My Computer is in pieces and I'm on a temporary machine for a while.

2- I seem to be becoming a serial blogger.

Third blog at following URL http://blog.myspace.com/worldwidewardy

3- I'd recommend following the link to Grinderman You don't have to sign in to hear the music.

It's by Nick Cave and will offend some people.

Personally, I can see where he's coming from and I applaud it.

What do you think?

Answers on a post card please ;¬)

October 23

The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You

Well, I said I must animate this picture and I have.

Albeit in a rather half-arsed way.

Perhaps I'll try again and get some expression in the face.

Even the B3tards seemed to find it amusing although
I suspect it was my dodgy spellering that got them going!

Read my thread here (SHIFT & Click).

October 20

Gunpowder, Treason & Plot

Here are some photos taken in a London friends, "Japanese Garden" earlier this week.

Get out the chestnuts and baked potatoes and wave goodbye to the Houses Of Parliament!

I'm a bit early for Bonfire Night. Forgive me.

SHIFT & Click the link below for a Flash slide show

SHIFT & Click here for a Flash based slide show.

September 18

Obo Plays The Drums

Obo has sent me a lot of abstract pictures made in Photo Shop recently.

This one looked so much like a drum kit, I couldn't resist adding a little

detail of my own.

SHIFT & Click the pic for the full version in a new window..

I must animate this!

Edit: Click the thumb below for Obo's elegant return.

15 - 30: Wardy to serve then?

September 03

Trying out the Firefox browser

I've had a couple of viruses recently, a Trojan and a 'sploit, despite being meticulous about security updates
anti-virus, firewall, and using the usual anti-spyware programs, Ad-Aware and Spybot - Search and Destroy.

I'm typing this blog using Firefox now and I have to say I'm pretty impressed!
It tells you a lot more about the web pages you're looking at than Internut Exploder which has been crashing
on me for a couple of weeks now.
I can see now why IE kept crashing everytime I tried to view Jolie Mae's space and why these spaces are so
slow to load...
Man, these spaces are pulling in data from 1001 different sources and use loads of scripts.
I like how Firefox tells you when a script has stopped running, which they often do here on Spaces, and gives
you the option to terminate it. It's a better option than an IE crash dude!

As I recall, Firefox was deeply trendy in some circles a year or so ago, so to some people this will be nothing
new, and others will have no idea what I'm banging on about!
Funnily enough, yesterday, Bob mentioned it in the comments to the blog below, AND I struck up a conversation
with a shop assistant in ASDA who has a degree in computer science, (go figure ;-) and when I told him about my
problems he said, "I use Firefox because it's not Microsoft coding so it gets ignored by viruses".
Makes a lot of sense I reckon.

A couple of downsides:
1 - BG Sound* doesn't work in Firefox. (You're quite right Bob!)
* the html code in the blog below that plays background music
2 - Spybot Search and Destroy doesn't seem to like it, but if Firefox is as good as I hope it is, I won't need
Spybot anymore :)

All in all, so far so good.
I'd recommend it! It's free, it's under 5MB to download and it's amazingly quick and easy to install.
Degree in Computer Science definitely NOT REQUIRED!!!

August 30

The Good, The Bad and The BG Music

Here's a little GIF animation that speaks volumes Spacers ;¬)

All my grievances condensed into 43kb!

re-host this if you want to use it please

On the UPside: Did you know you can add background music
to your space by pasting the following code into any blog?

Thanks to http://noellesnightclub.spaces.live.com/ for the tip.

Pasted mine in the Sandbox. It works there too!

brb ;¬)

August 28

White Shoe Shuffle

I was in two minds whether to post this third recording.
Then Obo made me dance in Flash so I thought I'd better bite the bullet.

1,992kb Flash Movie Here

Obo is never going to let me live down my stylistic aberration
of wearing white shoes with black jeans and T - Shirt.

August 19

Recording into the computer via USB

Well scrub the last post.

I can now record directly into my computer via a USB port!

I can even multi-track in a limited way by going into sound properties and selecting

my "USB Device" as the preferred recording and playback option.

W00t!!!

Despite the quoted system requirements and all the blah I've installed Cubase LE on here OK.

I never could understand the sodding thing when I saw it in recording studios so I've just done a

couple of sample recordings using Audacity.

Me serenading Telly Doc with my USB device

Here's my first attempt. A bluesy 799kb mp3 file entitled Only XP My Arse
The more musically astute amongst you may notice the structure is slightly wrong
but it loops perfectly if you set your media player on repeat!

Here's my slightly more ambitious second attempt involving 3 track recording.
A shit kicking 1,044kb mp3 entitled Pointless 8 Beat Shuffle

Apologies for the ropey playing on both.
I'm desperately out of practice but having loads of fun.

August 01