Andy Ramblings

So what is this you ask? Well Performacing is and extension for firefox and Mozilla browsers. What does it do?
Well it allows you to add new content without having to login to your Blogger, Wordpress or  your Moving Type account pages. For me, what's better is that it also works very well with my blogging software, Serendipity which is a fine bit of code from the very nice guys at S9Y 

Performancing has most of the tools you need, a standard editor, a HTML editor and that it, you really don't need more than that. You can even have multiple blogs configured, so it's a one interface that does all interfaces.

Other notable features:

• Easy Technocati tagging
• You can see your catagories
• You can see your previous entreries.
• You can keep notes.

The extension works by splitting your browser window, with the editor interface either at the top or bottom, this is configurable.
Not sure if this is a must have extension, but a very nice one none the less.
Other features that the folks at performacing offer, is site stats. Will have to give that a spin.
One downside I suppose for this extension is that I don't have access to the advanced publishing features that my blog does on posting which is to ping most blogger trackers to say that I have a new entry in my Blog, I can't comment on other blogging software applications as I've only used this on my software.

Retaliation Song for JohnnyB in Norfolk. as requested by Blog Goddess Zoe (Winner of many awards)

Sung to the tune of I love you Baby!

you're just too good to be poo.
I can't can't take my eyes of the loo
It feel like heaven to touch,
I don't want to hold you so much
cause you poo

At long last the poo has arrived,
and I thank God it not hemoroids
just too good to be poooooo

Pardon the way that I fart,
there's nothing else that can part
the sight of you makes me wee
there's nowt left to pee
if you feel like I feel
Please let me know it's real.

You're just good to be Pee,
can't take of yee

I need too you Pooo-ooooo
And it is queit alright
I need to crap-oooo
To a warm and lonely night.

I need to craaaap now
Trust in me when I say
Oh Constipation
Please bring me down I pray,

Oh filthy baby, Now that I found you GO
let me leave you babee
don't let me touch you Baabeee.........

Insired by JohnnyB's Song to Servalan,
 Typying inspired by Zoe's  drunken typos.
made much worse by Andy Rambling...

This song is now stuck in all our heads JohneyB, war broke out with  Zoe
Scary Duck lying in the corner folorn that his war with Zoe & photos isn't over yet!
Though he thought the new war front was he's savior and tried to Allie with Zoe!!
Not a good Idea me thinks....
I think we will now have open war in Blogsphere.

Your Now  war correspondant Andy Ramblings....

It was back in 1999, when I went on a 10 day trip of northern California. I was based in San Francisco. It was the days before one took millions of pictures of ones holiday, so one tended to be rather economical with the film. I was travelling 'light' but I had big needs.

You see, in August 1999, I was, as one might say, between transplants, My first had pooped a few years previously, my second had already decided that it couldn't cope with my lifestyle. If you thought being rejected was bad, try having something that you need to stay alive reject you... That's painful in a rather non-emotional way. But shit happens.

So, in August I went of to see my brother who was working out there, another way to keep costs down, but I did the important thing, got a car, well rented one. It was the fist time I had an automatic... took me a few minutes to kind of work out how to 'change' the gears.. You see I learnt on a manual so give me a break, 3 peddles OK, 2 eh? where's #3?

Having arrived their via Canada, well 'over' Canada, so I saw all the big lakes, they weren't that big.. But lets not argue about that.. They looked awfully small from where I was seated!

So what was it like going around Northern California while on CAPD? Great fun. Just pop the refill bags on top of the dashboard and it would be nice and warm when needed. Had a good supply in the boot. But I was no easy rider.

To see the best photos I took with disposable camera's of several types check my Gallery here

Suffice to say, next time I pop over, I'll take more photos, but I'll have to wait till after Bush, and his Oil buddies are well and truly gone.

Places I went to: (that I can remember)
Muir Woods
Alcatraz
Monterey Aquarium (no photos sorry)

In Jerusalem, a female CNN journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Wailing Wall to pray, twice a day, everyday, for a long, long time. So she went to check it out. She went to the Wailing Wall and there he was! She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, she approached him for an interview.

"I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN. Sir, how long have you been coming to the Wall and praying?"

 "For about 60 years."

 "60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?"

"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims. I pray for all the hatred to stop and I pray for all our children to grow up in safety and friendship."

 "How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?"

 "…. like I'm talking to a wall!"

 

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Yep, strange as it is, I had a visitor today.. BUT not of the human kind! (cue music for Close Encounters of the 3rd kind). Incedently, what was the 2^nd kind or even more stil the 1^st kind? I've never quite worked it out. If someone knows, please tell me..

Anyway, my visitor today was of the winged type, the type that creationist thought was proof that God must work in mysterious ways, but some smart person managed to work, something to do with how they spin their wings and nothing Godly like.
Evolution 1 Creationism 0

Yep, your getting the idea, it was a biiig bumble bee that managed to get in my window, but (awww) didn't get out, or couldn't be arsed and decided that it would be a nice place to pop ones clogs.

So for your enjoyment, here he could be a she... but I'm not a bumblebeeologist.

No wonder I have problems waking up some morning?! I must be dreaming up some great plan on how to take over the world or something similar... Or maybe how to get through the next day?

So says the IPS ( Identity and Passport Service) corporate and business plan. Business Plan? A Business plan? Am I to understand that HMG are going to be attempting to make money from My ID ? Looks like it to me.
This is the vision, cue rosey flowery images of people who are all happy and there is no crime, no illnesses as all that will be banished by the almighty, all powerfull leader TB (humm that is an Illness in more than one way, but that's another story)

Accredited organisations? Who will give them accredication? I hear that cowboy carpark attendants can get access to your address by calling the DVLA and saying, 'I'm a Mr X and I work for BadParking Inc, and car number so and so is parked illigally but has done a runner, can I have the owners address so that I can send a fine?' Yes sir, here's the address ... That's it, fine sent on, no checks, nothing...

So what's to stop an 'accredited' organisation doing the same? A cowboy working in one? There doesn't seem to be any organisation that has teeth to challenge on behalf of the person affected.

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The good old folks at FireFox have been having a competition for the Firefox community of who could produce a short film showing the merits in a serious or better still an amusing way. I prefer the latter as, well, life is all a laugh and not to be taken too seriously.

So here's a sample. (click on Icon to view)

Today on my return from Brussel and after meeting  Zoe & Quarsan. 

Going through mu e-mails, and decided that I'd have a peek at the spam I get...  just too much, sometimes it's fun sometimes well plain silly and goes straight to the bin!

Anyway, here's a sample

VIAGRA PROFESSIONAL - Now I didn't know that there was a home version and a pro version? Is there a proformance increase? Better connection? More network-enabled less likely to crash ?

VIAGRA SOFT TABS - This one seems to defeat the object of the whole affair... It claims to be a minty flavor so not that good an idea if you mix them with your mints ... Mind would be a great prank to play on your pals, (soon to be ex-pals)

Also the Lads of Lagos have recently been very kind in helping me find around 10 members of my extended or close family I didn't even know I had... The funny thing is they all seemed have left a huge sum of money in some oil bank that some person  seems to be in charge of trying to get that multi-million dollar check over to me... But you know those guys, send a $ and then you send one then they ask for 2 and you know the game.... the fleece you if they if you let them.

So there you go, a nice service these guys from lagos are, unfortinately for them, I didn't  pursue the quickie path to riches ... just think of it ... Multi-billionaire ... In my dreams...

So the BBC has a have your say item about the one case of Bird Flu that has hit the UK, or Scotland to be more precise.
Here is the question the BBC askes: Source

1. Have you been affected by the Scottish alert?
2. Have you stopped buying chicken?
3. Are you a poultry farmer?
4. What actions are you taking as a result of the news?
5. What action should be taken to prevent the spread of the bird flu virus?
6. What are your concerns?

  Here's what I think...

1. No, it was only one swan, could have been infected anywhere, but decided that it would be lovely to pops it's clogs in a small harbour of a scotish village would be a nice place, or it got ill, landed out in sea and died there and ended up being washed ashore.
2. No, one case of Bird Flu is not enough, come on?! If others don't buy it, woot makes it cheaper for me!
3. Err Nope, I live in London, no room for a huge warehouse full of chicks.
4. None. Not much I can do is there?
5. Come on be serious, you don't expect me, an IT professional to be able to give a qualified answer to that kind of question do you? Leave it to the experts, if they mess up, we can easily blame Tony for not keepin' an eye on the birds.
6. Err non at the momet, I think some people are making a mountain out of a mole hill, yep it sells papers, get people off the ball of what's really happening.

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Ok, I'm not much of a royalist, quite a disfunctional family as they are and not a good example for marriage advice. They all seem to end in failure, except one, Prince Edward. But there you go.

So, It's Ma'am's (that's supposed to be the correct way to say it) will be 80 next week, the 21^st of April. So for this occaasion the roya website has put up 80 factoids about her life. Here are some that I think are rather entertaining in a way.


Ok, not 100% correct as he was born a whole month before her reign, but we can miss that one


Some one must have forgotten to bring one and poped into the local market and bought a pineapple, eggs. Someone else must have been peckish, maybe french, ate all the snails and just gave her the shells. No idea what one would do with 7Kg of prawns.


That's fact #20 and not #1 ? Read More

Yes, what's the most flexible word in the english language?
Is it 'IF' that's a word you are bound to use very offten, it's one of the smallest words, two letters is short. But it can hold a lot of wieght to what you say afterwards, If I did this, or If I hadn't done that I wouldn't be here. you get the drift, but in linguistic terms, how many ways are they that you can use it?
I mean, can you use it as a to indicate you annoyed? your excited, your worried, shock? scared ? when you look at it that why, it's not that good....

How about the word 'fuck' now that's a flexible word, don't let me tell you, list to this....

List to this first test podcast .. All the many uses of the word

Ok, only on the new ones that use the Intel processor. The question I would like to know is can I get Mac OSX to run on my PC ?
The software you need to allow your Mac to run WinXP is called Boot Camp... I like that name, it's not about what we know as a bootcamp where you send your brats to for summer so that they can come home and be kids again. But i'm sure it's to do with Boot as in Booting up your PC and a Camp where you can leave your tent or in this case where you can safely have a bug ridden winXP running. A nice Idea I have to say

But I want (stamps foot on floor), ok that didn't get me anywhere, I would like to be able to run Mac OSX either via a dual boot (two operating system on one PC, you only run one at a time)  or from within WinXP.

I don't think I'll get the 2nd option but it would be nice ..

Read on for more info on Apples Bootcamp for windows (naughty OS) here

What Mac's can run this software, it's any Mac that has the Intel Duo Core like this MacMini, The IMac, and finally, The Macbook pro so now you can get a very stylish Mac and run Windows XP on it.
I do have to say that the MacBook Pro does look like a nice laptop ...

Well we know that the US suffers from a chronic problem of junk food and too much sugar based drinks, lack of exercise, not all of them, but a fair percentage. Anyway, these ambulances are for patients who weight between 204Kh (450lbs) and 453Kg (1000lbs) Sheesh yep some people can weight almost 1/2Ton!

So what do these ambulances have that others don't?

• Air supension (like a Citroen car where that back goes down when you stop)
• Tougher suspension
• Wider interiior, ie less room for medical stuff
• a winch
• a trolly, cot for the US folks
• a ramp so that you can winch the person into the ambulance.

There you go, you can't say that the ambulance service doesn't inovate.

Read more and see pictures here
Take note, this service is only available in Arizona at the moment.

Well if you were not on another planet or under a rock, then you would have known that yesterday was April 1^st.
Google did some pretty neat ones.
An alian Landing in area 51, looks like they came in peace and wanted you to joing in their BBQ,
Photo's Below (click to enlarge)

Now it's April the 2^nd I hope you had fun yesterday!
Here's a Complete list of all the 2006 April fools jokes