Copying Music from an old iPod.

Wrote this guide ages ago. My cousin Amber, say hi Amb, asked me about it today.

So I said I'd post it for her.

Oh an thanks to Paul for being the first person to purchase an product through my A m a z o n adds.

Anyhoo on with the guide. This guide is for windows so may need a few changes/may not work for mac (see bottom of post.). It will work for old iPods (Pre-iTouch), not sure about the classic but will know soon after Santa has been.


Adding Music from your IPod to Itunes.

1.Open Itunes.


2.Goto Edit -> Preferences


3.Open the Devices tab


4.Ensure that “prevent ipods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically” Is checked. This will prevent the loss of all the music on your ipod.

Prevent syncing

5.Attach the ipod to your computer.

6.When its loaded click on the ipod in itunes. You will be presented with the ipod summary screen. Find the options section, ensure that “Manually Manage music….” And “Enable disk use” are checked as below.

Use as hard drive.

7.Click Apply if necessary.

8.Your ipod is now set up. For manual access.

9.Now for the tricky part. Open “My Computer”. You’ll now see the ipod listed as a device with removable storage. Double click the ipod. You’ll a similair list of folders as below.

Find ipod_control.

a.Notice the ipod_control folder is “Ghosted” this means it is currently hidden. If you can’t see it you need to goto to Tools -> folder options when the dialogue opens. Click the view tab. In the box below you will see a folder (yellow icon) hidden files and folders change the option below it to “show hidden files and folders.


10.right click on ipod_control and select properties.


11.Uncheck the “hidden” option and click apply.


12.Press ok on the next box. You have now unhidden your music on your ipod. Congratulations.


13.Go back to itunes.


14.Go File-> add folder to library


15.Navigate to your ipod than ipod_control -> Music click ok


16.This will add all the music from your ipod to your itunes library.


17.One last thing even though your music is in the library it resides on you ipod. We must move it to you computer. To do this goto File -> Library -> Organise Library....

Organise library.

18.Click consolidate library. And ok.

Consolidate library.

19.this may take some time. Once its finished you now have a copy of all your music on your computer. You may wish to select all (ctrl + A) and do Advanced -> Get Album Track Details and Advanced -> Get Album Art Work.


20.You are now free to add and remove files from your ipod manually by dragging and dropping from your itunes library to your iPod.



On first glance this may not work on a mac so here is a free trail of a product that will do it.

http://www.fadingred.com/senuti/
http://www.headlightsoft.com/expod/

Shameless Plug.

I have just made a new post on the Spree4 Eye on Technology Blog.

Check it out here.

Its about the Sonos multi room music distrubution system which i will shamlessly plug now.

2011 Book List - Draft 1

Here is a short draft List of the Books I'm looking forward to next year.




Alastair Reynolds' new Series starts next year. I love Reynolds' work i read his last book (well at least some of it.) Terminal World on a flight from Las Vegas to New York and 5 hours has never gone so fast. This new book comes as part of a new "Mega-Bucks" deal that Reynolds has recently signed, and quire right to. I know a few people are worried that his writing may suffer due to the commitments demanded of him, but he's pretty damn prolific. I Imagine he'll eat up any demands with room to spare. I for one can't wait!



Hmmm that really is a draft! One! One book is all i can find that i'm looking forward to reading next year!.


So to bump out the List here are some books and audiobooks i'm looking forward to owning but haven't bought yet.

Books



I got into Iain Banks' non 'M' work quite recently because i'd run out of his excellent 'M' books (sci-fi). I was not disappointed my personal favourites so far are The Wasp Factory and Complicity (Abacus Paperback). I have read that transitions is a move to bring together his non-m and m works as their are sci-fi elements to this work. Sounds good bring it on.


Audiobooks

I love an audiobook not because I'm lazy (I normally get audiobooks of books I've already read ,) but because they are great distractions/background while at the gym or working.


Pandora's Star (Commonwealth Saga 1) and it sequel Judas Unchained (Commonwealth Saga 2) are fantastic books(whatever Paul says,) but being Hamilton's usual epic tomes are not really books you can quickly reread. Great if you have a month to spare, not so good for filling an empty lunch hour with. Thats the great thing about audiobooks it doesn't matter its sat on your iPod waiting for you to escape into. I'll definatly be adding this to my brand spanking new Apple iPod classic 160GB - Black.




As I said above I love Reynolds' work and were better to start with the audiobooks than at the beginning of his epic Revelation Space saga. No where that's where!

Nasa to hold conference on Alien Life. Part 3 - Details

So Nasa announcement happened. It wasn't what i and others expected.

A little over hyped I think though it is very interesting news. The hype seemed to be heading more towards definite proof rather than just a increase to one of the coefficients of the Drake equation.

Scientists have found a bacterium thriving in a heavily poisonous lake. This lake has a high concentration of arsenic, which would normally be deadly to bacteria. This clever little bacterium actually uses arsenic as a building block, it uses arsenic in several of its cell structures where normal life (me, you, that tree and that fish.) would use phosphorus. Most interestingly the bacterium uses the arsenic in its “DNA”.

The scientists have been asked weather this is evidence of life’s adaptability or of a 2nd genesis (not the Phil Collins Band.) Is this a bacterium that has adapted to a high arsenic low phosphorus environment by using arsenic instead in place of phosphorus, or is this bacterium part of a shadow Biosphere? I.e. is the bacterium a completely separate unrelated form of life that has grown alongside ours?

The scientist are reluctant to commit, as usual. All they say the finding means is that life can exist without one of the elements we previously thought essential for it. Which is pretty huge.

If life now needs Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, (phosphorus or arsenic) and sulphur, what else can it swap-out. Carbon for silicon? Sulphur for Selenium? It means the chance of life existing and thriving elsewhere in the universe just got a hell of a lot more likely.

Nasa to hold conference on Alien Life. Part 2

Yesterday I blogged about NASA's press conference tomorrow. Having done some googling it seems likely that the announcement will be something to do with Saturns Moon Rhea.

The cassini probe has sent details that Rhea has an atmosphere and that atmosphere contains oxygen and carbon dioxide. This is very suggestive of the presence of Life. The actual content of the press conference is yet to be seen. Will it just be the above or has detailed analysis of the data proven life to exist their?

We'll just have to wait and see til tomorrow.

Nasa to hold conference on Alien Life.

Thursday 2nd December at 2pm EST. NASA will hold a News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery.

The details have been embargoed until Thursday. Very intriging. If they pull back a current and its ALF i'm going to wee myself.

ALF

Linky

Herbert's Second Adventure

Hi my name is Herbert,

I am an Inflatable crocodile.

After the great time I had a Drill sergeant Bailey's 30th at Halloween. I was thrilled to be invited to another 30th . So once again myself and my two best friends got dressed up. Mike went as Steve Irwin again so that I could go (he'd look very stupid turning up with an inflatable crocodile dressed as a clown.) and Cath went as Edie Sedgwick. I thought she looked very tasty so mike had to bind my nose again.

Me and Cath dancing

Their was lots of people there for me to meet. A lot of them we're dressed as clowns! This confused me a lot.

Clowns, Clowns everywhere!

I had a great time dancing with everyone. The party was lots of fun, mike played at Karaoke on lips and Cath danced up a storm.

Dancing up a storm.

I was the hit of the party, I even started giving people “crocodile back” rides.

Crocodile Back Rides

I was having a great time and making lots of friends, but then disaster struck. I'd given one to many “crocodile back” rides and started to feel very tired. Mike was very worried and found that I had picked up a puncture through partying to hard. Mike was able to give me first aid to help me last out the night. When we got home they sent me straight to bed to rest.


Mike and Cath are looking after me. They hope I will be doing better soon and ready to have my next adventure.

"Possibly Low Fat" Chicken, Ham and Mushroom Tagliatelle

Had this last night it was gorgeous. Its adapted from a Weight Watchers menu so it's possibly Low Fat but don't quote me.

Ingredients

2 Chicken Breasts chopped.
125g Tagliatelle (You can use other pasta e.g linguine or spaghetti.)
2 Garlic Cloves sliced finely
2 medium leeks sliced.
250g chopped mushrooms. (add more if you feel like it.)
1.5 table spoons mixed Herbs.
300ml of vegetable stock
200g of Garlic & Herbs Philadelphia.
2 slices of Good quality Ham.
2 tablespoons of semi skimmed milk.


Method.

1. Get the water boiling for the pasta. Once Boiling add pasta.

2. Chop all the ingredients that need chopping, don't chop those that don't.

3. Fry the chicken. Once its lightly browned add the leek, mushrooms and and fry till mushroom and leek are nicely cooked.

4. Add the stock and mixed herbs bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 10 mins.

5. Add the ham and simmer for a few minutes until the pasta is done.

6. Once the pasta is cooked drain it.

7. Add the milk and Philadelphia to the chicken. Stir really well.

8. Add the pasta to the mix stir really well, shout that tea is ready and serve immediately.

Print this post

Spree4 Eye on Technology

The guys at Spree4.com have moved their(my) Eye on Technology Feature on to its own blog.

They (I) will be moving the existing posts from facebook over the next few days.

Pie Points

It has come to light yesterday that one of the project leaders at my office has implemented a rather unique mamagement policy. This policy being “pie points”!

The details, as I understand them, of this managerial technique are as follows.

The member of the time that finishes the month with the least [pie] points has to buy pies for the team.

The details of how one gains or losses these [pie] points are a bit sketchy as the flow of information was stemmed a little thanks to the ensuing mockery once people knew about it.

What we do know is points are docked for not wearing your id badge at all times. A rather questionable requirement for back office staff who work in a restricted access office but hey ho.

Weather this works as a motivational tool has yet to be seen, a few comments of the thin edge of the wedge were thrown about. Lets just hope it isn't widely adopted.

Eternus Incendia Pugna : Part 1

If i could draw i'd be as rich as Scott Adams.

A Poor example of a Problem Solution procedure.

We treat all reoccurring incidents as incidents. This “fire fighting” continues indefinitely only coming to an end in the event someone “important enough” comes fowl of the "problem" at which point management escalate the incident into a "problem" immediately and by a process of management “shoulder hovering” a solution is found as soon as possible.

...but at least the procedure is now documented.

I wanna go back to Vegas...

....and not just a little. This is a whole heap full of want.

When we went earlier this year I didn't really know what to expect. We'd researched it endlessly(its just how we roll,) but having been I've got to say nothing can prepare you for it. From the first moment we saw those hotels appear in the distance after the amazing drive from LA we were hooked.

Not Vegas, this is Buffalo Bills.

Our first view of vegas

It's ultra capitalism and consumerism, distilled down to its purest form (the good and the bad) than sprinkled with excellent shows and fabulous all you can eat buffet served with a side of free alcohol. Hmmmmmmm free alcohol...were was I?

Ah yes....You could lose yourselves for days in any one of the truly titanic hotels casinos, but there is so much else to do you'd be missing so much if you did. Vegas is 2nd to none for shopping, so if you win big (highly unlikely but we can dream,) there is plenty of opportunity to splurge.

Inside the Venetian Hotel

The Wynn and Encore

The shows are worth the visit in themselves, weither it be the rather expensive cirque de soleil shows or the free bellagio fountains there is so much to see and do we didn't manage to do all we wanted in week.

The Bellagio Fountains

I really feel sorry for those that go and never leave the craps table (although u can't really blame them, its a hell of a game.) Even things that might be to much elsewhere are endearing in Vegas. Who wants to have prostitute cards thrust at you by Mexicans anywhere, but in Vegas its such a part of the strip you can buy the T-Shirts. The boisterous American colleague kids drunk on free cocktails and bottomless frozen strawberry daiquiri funny nowhere but in Vegas.

I really hope we can go back soon.

The Trump, we stayed here the first night.

America Goes To the Polls

Today America takes to the polls for its midterm elections. The issues are quite the same as we have high unemployment, increased deficit, public spending, illegal immigration. Without getting into if these issues are artificially created or exaggerated (which they are defiantly at least exaggerated......sorry)

It's funny how the American approach differs to ours. Here the government is trying successfully and fraudulently to lay blame on the previous government. There the government is trying unsuccessfully to lay blame correctly with their previous government. Here there are many people outraged at the governments idealogical drive to destroy public services. There there are many people outraged by the governments attempt to create public services.

Having been to America recently I was amazed at just how flagrant the libertarian propaganda is. Anyone that raises the idea that maybe the way to tackle their massive problem with poverty is to take a little money off the rich is dismissed as commie. Without getting into the problems of having 90% of wealth in the hands of 1% of the population or the problems with professional benefits claimants. At a very basic level I really can't see the problem with providing universal public services. It doesn't stop people from wanting to work to better their lives, it provides a basic level of life for all. After all if society works everyone would be paying for these services (Healthcare, Education etc,)anyway, why not use that combined purchasing power to get those services cheap? Any system that allows children to die because their parents can't earn enough to afford health care just isn't working.

Let's hope that common sense prevails in the end. Only time will tell.

Herberts Halloween Adventure.

Hi my name is Herbert,

I am an Inflatable crocodile.

This is the beginning of my adventures......

....On Saturday 30th October, i went to a 30th party with my two best-friends Cath and Mike. It was an exciting night, the party was for Cath's Drill Sergeant Emma Bailey's 30th birthday. Being so close to Halloween Drill Sergeant Bailey decided to make her party fancy dress....A term that would normally leave Cath and Mike cold and worried, but this time Cath had a plan and Mike had orders from Drill Sergeant Bailey. So the costumes were carefully planned and the props gathered, (That's were i come in to the picture, Mike adopted me from amazon.co.uk. ) and off we three went to the party.



Mike was dressed as Steve Irwin and Cath as Rocky. Drill Sergeant Bailey was very impressed. There was lots of new friends for me to meet, but Mike had to bind my nose to stop me eating any of the children.



We partied-hard and Cath was kind enough to keep slipping me Cider through a straw. We danced and played air guitar. Later having had a few to many sips of Cider i tried out a new look a chilled in the corner.



Than far to soon it was the end of the night. Mike ordered a taxi and we three took our tired selves off to bed.



I had a fantastic time and can't wait for my next adventure.

ConDem Economic policy.

So the ConDems have already shown their true colours. Their massive attack on public services, though unsurprising, are very worrying. Those in the know in local government say ,though it's to early to know the full extent of the cuts the early indication is that they are bad....very bad.

As usual the devil is in the details. The details hide transfer of responsibility for some benefits to the councils from central government, this transfer means cuts to local services of a lot more that the headline 26% over 4 years.

Even worse the ConDems seem to have no Economic policy other than cuts and a little wishful thinking. They seem to think that destroying public services will logically lead to economic growth. Despite the fact £82bn is going to be removed from the economy over the next 4 years. It seems the Tory economic policy is an idiotic parody of the South Park episode Gnomes.

1) Collect UnderpantsMake massive public sector cuts.
2) ??????????
3) ProfitEconomic Growth.

Let's hope that they are right, but in my eyes the Gnomes business plan was much more likely to succeed.


I intend to start a blog thread of CutsWatch where I will document the effects these cuts have on the economy in particular my local town.

Cath's Kilimanjiro - Update

Just to keep people upto date. I haven't heard from Cath since Sunday. I'm thinking her phone has finally given up the ghost. She should be reaching the hotel at some point over the next 24 hours.

Whatever the outcome she's done herself proud.

I've got the Wine/JD on ice and Rocky Balboa in the DVD player, just need to make sure the house is nice and tidy for when she gets back.

Bloody ConDems

Science Spending Cuts.

So the ConDems want to cut the science budget, along with everything else. I suppose if your cutting education spending so scientists of tomorrow end up working at Tesco’s, you don’t need to fund scientific research. What Crazy Dave and his cronies seem to forget is The technologies of tomorrow are based on the scientific break throughs of today. They forget that you can’t always see the economic merit of some research, until many years down the line. Yet another ignorant selfish policy from our rich “friends” this one isn’t just stealing from the poor/middle to give to the rich like their other policies, they are literally selling this great nations future for profits today.

Tuition

Even worse now it seems that you need to be ultra rich to even aspire to a good education. Tutiton fees heading for £10k+ in the best Universities will mean at least Crazy Dave has managed to clear Ox-bridge of those damn talented poor people. At last these two ancient seats of learning will return to what they should be, a social club for public school boys while they wait to be given high payed jobs in the city by friends of their fathers.

Cath's Kilimanjiro - Update

My partner is as i type these words climbing Kilimanjiro. An amazing feat, i and all her friends and family are so proud.

Here for those who may be interested are updates hot off the press. The main update being that mobile phone coveage on kili seems to be very good.

Day 1

She's arrived in Arusha Tanzania. Where she will stay tonight before starting the climb tommorrow.

24+ Hours, 1 Virgin Train, 3 Tube Trains, 3 Flights and a Bus Ride. All that was missing was a camel Ride. Lol. ..and i saw the beast out of the plane window..holy shit!

Day 2

The Climb begins!

It's 6am here we're just getting up to start the climb. You don't get milk in your brew here as if it not being tetleys isn't bad enough.

After Day One of the climb! Amazed to recieve a text didn't think she would get a signal.

Day one on the mountain. Was a long hard day. It was hot an [i] was over heatingbut made it to camp ok ish. Just waitin for tea. We are 3 times as high as snowdon. Was harder than (i) was expectin and the suns gone down and its bl...oody cold. Am ready for food.

Day 3

The going was hard today. Cath said she'd put her head down and used the mantra "Just keep swimming...swimming swimming." which worked and she arrived safe at camp.

Day 4

After Day Three of the climb, recieved text and phonecall from cath. The trek went well and no problems like yesterday. She seemed fired up ready for the big day tomorrow(11th)

I'm Bloody freezing....Day 3 over with goin good. Big day tomorrow full day than a short kip (ie an hour.) Than up and start the try for the s...ummit, can't wait get home get warm...and watch rocky with a chinese and wine.

More to follow.

If you would like to support cath please sponsor her at http://justgiving.com/CatherineLedger

We Got Glasto 2011 Tickets.

Excuse me for a few minute while i happy dance.............


.....thanks for that. It was hard work 3 hours of refreshing using 2 laptops and 2 smart phones but we finally got through, and we are the lucky ones many people were left disappointed after 4 hours plus when the tickets sold out. Frustrations that aren't helped by the bragging of those that allegedly got Glastonbury tickets on the first try. There seemed to be a massive demand this morning, due to last years a-typical good weather no doubt (I'm praying for rain for next year.) So there was always going to be people disappointed, but SeeTickets seem little interested in creating a better user experience, (come on all you need is a few servers that posts nothing but sorry the queue is full please try again, instead of connection refused messages.) This obviously comes back to my Capitalism versus Consumerism rant. SeeTickets could spend money on a better user experience but there isn't any increased profit in it. Quite the opposte they would actually increase there overheads while still selling the same number of tickets. I think Emily Eavis should look into sharing the tickets between two suppliers as this would lead to them competing and leading to a better user experience for everyone.

This will be my 5th Glastonbury and Cath's 6th. It's an amazing place and in my opinion better in the rain. People come together in the rain help each other out cheer people on as they trudge from one stage to another. Last year under clear blue skies and soaring temperatures, people got angry ,frustrated and selfish. Someone pushed my girlfriend over in there rush to get to a better view for Snoop without apology and I got hit on the head with a full can of cider. It was a massive difference to the normal well natured crowd and I'm sure just because of the a-typical weather.


My Top Tips

1. Take as much as you can comfortably carry.
- Remember it may be a long walk and Queue to get from your car to the site! That said unlike other festivals there is very little you can't take in to the site. The sack tuck below is the one we use its served us very well.
2. Don't stick to the main stages.
- There are 30 stages and countless tents with live music and other activities, if you sit yourself and one of the main stages all day your missing so much.
3. Walk up to the park after the headliners
- It's an amazing view.
4. Go on Friday morning nothing happens til than anyway
-.........sorry i'm lying. Lots happens on Thursday. Not much on wednesday most people use it chillin and getting bearings. Arrive between wednesday morning and Thursday midday. Sometimes arriving later is actually better see below.
5. Be prepared for a long traffic jam and to be parked miles away.
-Gone are the days that turning up early means a close parking spot and a short traffic jam. In the last two years as more people come as early as possible, we have started queueing around 9am Wednesday and have averaged about 6 hours to the site!!!! Also carparking has been changed due to the boundary extension. Some of the carparks are miles (not lying) away from the site and arriving early does not mean you will get the closest ones. We had to walk through several empty carparks to get to the gate last year. ...more to come.

Leave Trip Advisor Alone.

Hoteliers all over the UK are taking TripAdvisor to court over negative comments left about their hotels. I’m a big fan of trip advisor it aided us very much on a trip to America.

While I agree that there may be vested interests reviews posted both positive and negative, the overall result is a benefit for the consumer. If a hotel or restaurant has 3 bad reviews and 3000 good it’s a pretty safe bet, conversely a hotel with 500 bad reviews and 10 good is a simple no go. Not so the hoteliers say, bad reviews are affecting business. In a move that would make the Catholic Church proud, instead of aiming to better their service or deal with customers’ unrealistic expectations they’d rather sue somebody until the bad reviews go away.

What we are seeing here is consumerism go head to head with capitalism. While we the consumer would like to make well-informed decisions on these sorts of things leading to industry wide improvements. The Capitalist hotel owners think we should shut up and buy what they are willing to sell us.

I’ll be the first to admit having done some Search Engine Optimisation these review sites are open to abuse, but after you reach a critical mass of users the fraudulent entries are swamped by the real reviews. In most instances trip advisor has reached this point. Most people who are consumer smart enough to check these sites, are also smart enough to a) not be put off by a small number of bad reviews, and b) understand that they are open to abuse. So we take each review with a pinch of salt.

Here are some of my reviews on TripAdvisor and hoteliers you may like to see they are all positive. So there!!

Slow Cooker - Hungarian Goulash

Serves 4 (or less if hungry .)

This is a delicious slow cook recipe, but be warned its spicy and it will stink your kitchen out.

Ingredients

• 800g pork diced
• 1 large onion diced
• At least 150g of mushrooms roughly sliced
• 2 Heaped teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoons ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon caraway
• 2 tablespoons flour
• tin of tomatoes
• 450ml hot chicken stock
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
• Sour cream to serve

Directions

1. Preheat the slow cooker.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the pork a handful at a time until it has all been added.
3. Stir in the onion and fry for five mins.
4. Add the mushrooms and fry for a further 2 mins.
5. Stir in the spices and flour and cook for 1 min
6. Stir in the can of tomatoes and bring to the boil.
7. Pour into the slow cooker.
8. Stir stock into mixture.
9. Season with salt and pepper
10. Cover with lid and cook for 8+ hours.
11. To server spoon onto rice top with generous dollops of sour cream sprinkle with more paprika to garnish.

Pictures next time i cook it.

Mike's Special Spicy Regu

Here is a lovely, simple and spicy regu sauce. It makes a fab bolognese and goes well with chicken breast, served with pasta.

Ingredients

• 1 Large Onion
• At least 200g Mushrooms.
• 2 large (4 small) Garlic cloves.
• mixed herbs large pinch.
• oregano large pinch.
• paprika 2 tsp.
• chilli big pinch.
• 1.5 beef oxo cubes.
• 2 tins of tomatoes.
• splash red wine vinegar.
• sugar pinch.
• tomato puree.
• salt & pepper.

Directions

1. Chop the onions small and slice the onions. Peel the garlic ready to crush.
2. Sweat the onions over a low heat.
3. Add the mushrooms and turn up the heat a little, fry for 2 mins.
4. Add the crushed garlic fry for a min.
5. Add the tins of tomatoes and bring to a simmer.
6. Add the spices, herbs, stock cubes, pinch of sugar and splash of red wine vinegar
7. Simmer for 10 mins, taste and season. Add tomato puree if needed. Simmer for a further 5 mins.
8. Serve

Eye on Technology

Here is my Eye on Technology report for the kindle.

On a personal note they do look very good. I've heard a few people thinking of getting these for Christmas presents. At the moment I’m ok with my new phone and new iPod, but the kindle is definitely something I can see buying at some point. Although Cath wants an iPad and I can't really see needing both.

Up coming review will definitely be kindle vs. iPad.

Crazy Dave's cuts bonanza.

Yeeeeeee haaaaaaw! Howdy partners here at Crazy Dave's we pride ourselves on our thinly veiled hatred of public service and gosh darn God must love us 'cause he's given us one hell of a good excuse to sharpen our axe (not that we needed one eh partner.) So why not join us here at Crazy Dave's on the 20th October for Crazy Dave's cuts bonanza - all public services must go!!

Catherine Ledger is fundraising for SHAP Limited

My girlfriend is bravely climbing Kilimanjaro in a little over 2 weeks. She's performing this madness for a very good cause SHAP. SHAP are a housing charity for homeless children and young adults, in the current tory cuts bonanza (all public service must go.) its these vulnerable groups that will suffer the most.
Cath is hoping to raise £3,500 for this worthy cause.

Below is a link to her justGiving.com page, just encase anyone would like to give.

Catherine Ledger is fundraising for SHAP Limtied

approached by Mormons

I have just been apprehend quite rudely by a young Mormon wanting to discuss the gospel. I informed him that unfortunately i was in a rush and couldn't spare the time. So for his benefit I thought I'd blog my thoughts on the subject so that I'm better prepared for the next time this inevitably happens.

I would say theologically speaking i most closely fall in to is agnostic theist, in that i believe in a supreme creator but believe it is inherently beyond human ability to understand that being. Personally I add the extra point that such a being having such abilities would not need such cheap tricks as engraved tablets or golden plates . Not to detract from the greatness of historic figures like Jesus who brought a morality to a world that needed it, but they were just great men. Let's not forget that historic evidence points to Jesus divinity being introduced in a committee in Rome long after his death . The very idea of organised religion is the antithesis of an all powerful being , descriptions that were allegory and meant to teach important moral lessons or cover gaps in knowledge,taken as the actual words of god hence hinting at gods nature.

That's even before we start to talk about the uglier sides of organised religion, the you must convert unbelievers (here read increase the religions numbers by conversion), you must be fruitful (here read increase the religions numbers through birth), you must not be homosexual (again here read increase the religions numbers through birth) and death to unbelievers (here read decrease the number opposed to the religion.) Shouldn't the message speak for itself? Shouldn't the message ring true in some deep part of our psyche without these viral methods?

Then onto the moral debate i'm a secular humanist when it comes to that. Morality comes from human thought not a divine source. Thou shall not kill hits home with any normal adjusted Psyche, but than religion corrupts that to be unless they don't agree with you (see Islamic fundamentalists, see death sentences for adultery, see killing abortion doctors etc.) Thou shalt not steal hits home with most to and do to others as you would have done to you. (again lets just look at how much of the worlds poverty the Vatican could wipe out????) However these aren't divine messages they are all intellectual, arrived at through empathy and thought. These are the ground stone of societies, in a more barbaric time religious penalties were needed to keep those that did not emphasis with their victims inline. The scholars of them time knew noone would stop for example eating pork which at a time before refrigerators and proper hygiene must have caused many deaths just if they said, so they proscribed the edict as coming from a divine source.

As you may have guessed i don't like being preached at, especially by people who don't understand the issues but would rather just parrot something some long dead scholar wrote.

Spree4.com Review

Spree4.com is one of those penny auctions that are everywhere these days. Spree4.com does however have a quite interesting concept. Instead of the mad dash to get the products that most of these auction sites subscribe to Spree4 is more....well laid back.

You buy credits that are than used to see the price of the item, which is normally hidden. Each "bid"/"show price" costs £1. When you are shown the price Spree4 gives you a minute to decide to buy it or pass it by, during which time no-one else is allowed to bid. See nice and laid back, you want it you buy it. If you "jog on" than the next person will see the price you were offered minus 30p. So as with all these penny auction sites Spree4's a gamble but it does seem a lot fairer than some of its competitors. There definitely seems to be some very very good bargains been snapped up in the year they have been active.

It also has a nice array of products Playstation 3's, the Amazon Kindle, the new iPod Nano and Shuffle.

Below is my walkthrough of using the site.



I hope this review is helpful for some people.

What i'm up to.

I have posted quite a few reviews on tripadvisor about local restaurants and some from our travels.

They can be found here if anyone is interested.

Also i have just started a step by step guide on my technical site on how to add autosaving (autodraft) functionality to a java struts application using jQuery. Here is the first entry.AutoSave using Jquery and Java Struts. - Part 1 Setting up the form. I have now finished my implementation so the rest of the method should just be a case of me finding time.

I'm also helping my friend out with some admin of Spree4.com. I'm hoping to add some new products to the site over the next week.

Welcome to my Blog

Hi, my name is Michael Roberts aka The Kat.

I've decided to move my blog to blogger after my site was deleted from uCoz with the loss of all my hard work.

This blog will be anything from reviews (hotels, books, films.) , my thoughts on the world, creative writing, and technical hints (although i'll try to keep most of that on my technical site.)

thanks in advance for giving your precious time to reading my rantings.