harryc

EXPERIMENT, HAVE FUN !!!!!!!

On my previous post under 'Technorati Please Note ' I included a file which demonstrated a standard piece of Microsoft software called 'Sound Recorder' with voice narration over the top of a music background.

Since then I looked at a similar piece of software under 'Accessories' called 'Windows Moviemaker' and played around with that.

In looking around for images and material to use I ' borrowed ' the very impressive presentation 'Viennese Twirl' by TomLR on his blog Raymond. (I hope you don't mind Tom - otherwise I'm sure we can reach some reasonable out of court settlement ! )

The result below is the first cut as a demo.

Download toms_viennese_twir_2l.MSWMM

I have included a music track throughout and was trying to dub Tom's script over the top - but you can't do both. The music track can be removed and substituted by voiceover which can be synchronised with the images. I didn't attempt that because of the voice requirements for the various characters ( I have not had Rada training !! )

The software comes with the basic rations and is easy to use . You can present your favourite photos or postcards with a commentary or your favourite music as a background.

Go on give it a go !!!!!!!!

SHADES OF THE GOOD LIFE ??????

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This is our 2007 crop of organic potatoes

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and this is our crop of Blueberries.

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My good lady Joanski is a keen gardener and favours all things organic. She has been quite successful in recent years in producing potatoes,beans,peppers,tomatoes, onions and even garlic. The objective apparently is to become self sufficient in vegetables asap !!

As you can see the harvest this year has been somewhat disappointing for her - due, I am told, to a combination of extremely wet weather and aggressive slug activity.

The two blueberries will be kept for display purposes and the potato crop means we will be self sufficient for three to four days (then it's back to Sainsburys !! )

Technorati Please Note :-

You will see that I have continued, and varied, the pioneering work on the use of full-stops by TomLR by using asterisks here. As an additional development I have made a music file and added a 'voiceover' which I have embeded below (this puzzles me since I still can't embed a video from YouTube)

But the work goes on !!

Download harrys_test.wav

The download works for me. If it works for any readers please let me know.

CAT BULLETIN

As Paul mentioned in on of his posts, we have acquired a cat - a mature female cat. Her name is Georgia but she prefers to be known as Georgie

Her previous owner has relocated to the west of Ireland, but Georgie decided that she would have a better lifestyle here  - (this girl is no fool !!)

She will have been with us three weeks next Sunday and has had to spend the time so far confined to the house. The vet tells us that mature cats should spend a minimum of three weeks indoors otherwise she would seek out her previous abode.

Here she is surveying her future domain -

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"Next Monday, kid, all this will be yours "

In the meantime she spends her time relaxing -

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and sometimes she can be persuaded to lighten up -

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But she's keen to get out and about - access is already in place -

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She's spent some time tarting herself up - . 

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So roll on Monday and good luck girl !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ROOT MAINTENANCE

Every year I go back to Ireland to see my two brothers and to tie up again with some old friends. I spent the last 10 days in June there.

I indulge my favourite pastime - walking on the beach at Redbarn Strand. The weather doesn't matter - in fact I prefer it when the wind blows and there's a bit of a storm.

But that's not all , although I'm not what you would call a drinker, my brothers and I embarked on a few gentle bar crawls - it's a sure way to meet old friends. We visited such establishments as ' The Invisible Bar' (also known as Deaf Eddie's) , 'The Cabin', 'The Nook', 'Mackeys', 'JDs' and usually finished up at 'Moby Dick's'. Moby's was so called because it became the headquarters of the film crew who came to YOUGHAL to shoot scenes for the film 'Moby Dick' in 1954. It was directed by John Huston and starred Gregory Peck and Leo Genn. The whole business caused great excitement in the town and hundreds of locals were employed as extras. The film has been repeated many times on TV and I recognise most of the extras in the crowd scenes.

But one of the highlights this year was getting to play with this big band in Clonmel.

Danny. the Musical Director is an old friend who played lead trumpet in our band in 1956. He was rehearsing the band for a concert the following week. I stayed with him for the weekend and he invited me to sit in at the rehearsal - pure heaven !!( I'm the old guy in the blue shirt in the middle)

All the members are professional level musicians and are a lovely friendly bunch of people.

Including me there were seven saxes and -

  Five trumpets, three trombones, keyboards, bass and drums .

Boy what a sound !!!!

We played some wonderful big band music for two hours during which we accompanied the vocalists    -  the stuff of my musical dreams .

I struggled some of the time on very difficult passages, hit the odd bum note, but I hung in there. The experience gave me a huge boost to become a better sax player.

The practise and the work goes on.

Then it was back to Youghal, a sleepy old seaside town at the mouth of the Blackwater river -

                                          

- and a little more beach walking, a few drinks and a bit more socialising.

The weather wasn't great (a bit 'soft' as the locals say) but that annual trip back to my roots is always special to me.

TECHNOLOGY BUG

This is it - 'Mission Control' - the nerve centre of my IT activities.

To the 'techies' I know it will look a bit dated - no super-slim flat screen or the smooth good looks of an 'Apple' .

But it does for me - and as they say "if it ain't broke............!

Before this I had a very old Toshiba portable with a dial-up Internet connection courtesy of Freeserve. Everything was painfully slow but I loved the challenge. The family took pity and gave me my current set-up one Christmas about seven years ago. Then I got broadband and .... absolute bliss !!

Freeserve morphed into Wanadoo who then became Orange who I'm afraid have not performed too well.

I think that computers and technology generally hold a fascination for "silver surfers" like myself. In the course of my liftime there has been a blizzard of invention and development the pace of which has been staggering. I remember Slide Rules, Sumlock Comtometers, Hollerith Punch Card Machines and this little baby - which was the forerunner to the Electronic Calculator :

It is an Odhner mechanical calculator and was heavy, cumbersome and noisy. I used it extensively to prepare company budgets - it managed the calculations, but documents still had to be handwritten. You also had to have a 'feel' for where the decimal point should be !! At one point a Chinese civil engineer I shared a flat with taught me how to use an abacus.

The speed of change has meant, I suppose, that we never quite catch up with the market. There is always something faster and better.

But my old PC gives me everything I need - I'm happy - but I'll keep an eye on the market.