the trouble with iMovie September 9, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : movie clips , 3commentsThe trouble with iMovie is that it’s much too easy to do silly things like this…
Transitions should be avoided like metaphors in the plague, and scenes should nearly always be joined using the straight cut. Even the simple crossfade needs to be used very sparingly, as it tends to suggest a break in the continuity of time, or a movement from dream to reality and vice versa.
Frogs and Toads September 8, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : wildlife , 3commentsMy little friends in the pond enjoyed the wetter than average summer this year.
External HD 80Gb September 8, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Uncategorized , comments closed
I needed to be able to free up some space on my aging home computer’s main disc. It didn’t seem worth upgrading, so I was pleased to discover that high capacity external fixed hard disc drives are now reasonably affordable, not that much more than internal ones, which are getting to be very good value indeed. This one serves my purposes well. I can backup all my data, archive stuff which doesn’t need to be kept on the PC HD thus freeing up vital space, keep a copy of everything I’ve captured onto my son’s computer before he takes that one off to university, and be ready to transfer everything I need onto a new computer once I finally get around to working out what it is i’m going to need for the next three years. It’s also going to be handy for transporting large media files between windows and Mac platforms.
europa wiki September 7, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : internet , add a commentDuring a steering group discussion about maintenance of the Europa.* website, I wondered whether the task might be better managed on a wiki. And lo and behold, just a few days later we have mediawiki installed (the system which powers wikipedia) and the europa wiki is born.
so let the pan-european multilingual editable meta discussion begin….
Bayesian Error September 4, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : meta-blog , 1 comment so farThis is the error message I get after running the bayesian program first to “train” and then to “confirm” which used to be a reasonable effective way of removing bulk spam comments
Meanwhile I am closing off comments on old posts, and the cut off date is getting closer and closer to recent.
Under the Stars 2004 September 2, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Music , 1 comment so farCentral Park, East Ham, London
Friday 3rd September 2004 - Swing in the Park
6.30 - 10.30pm - Swing the night away under the stars to The Glen Miller Tribute Orchestra
Saturday 4th September 2004 - Sangeet in the Park
6.30 - 10.30pm - Live song and dance from Bhangra to Bollywood
Sunday 5th September 2004 - Prom in the Park
7.00 - 10.30pm - The 50 piece London Gala Orchestra brings a touch of style with a live concert of popular classics.
Grand finale with a spectacular firework display
Later Friday is kind of possible, I’ll probably go along to the first half of Saturday night, the traditional bit, then leave when the big rap stars come on stage.
“Yes, I /am/ usenet, actually.” September 2, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Uncategorized , add a comment
Ok, so I have been known to drop in to news:alt.2eggs.sausage.beans.tomatoes.2toast.largetea.cheerslove - but not for long
What happens to Waste? September 2, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : movie clips, London , comments closedI live in Newham, so everything I put in my wheelie bin is collected once a week, taken to a plant at Jenkins Lane where it’s crushed into solid bales which are then put onto the back of a lorry, driven to Essex and dumped in a hole in the ground. This is called “Landfill”.
In Lewisham where I work however, waste is taken to this place with a big chimney and burned - “Incineration”.
I can see smoke or steam emmissions from the window occasionally, and I sometimes wonder which is the least bad solution.
is an online professional who initiated DARnet 
