Competitiveness

I’m not normally competitve, but an email came in tonight that set me against the clock and racing against other activists.

Earlier in the day, an email came to a Lib Dem computer list saying that there was a new video clip on our website of Ming talking about the environment. It was using Google Video, a technology hitherto unfeatured on www.libdems.org.uk

This spurred a colleague to feature the same video on www.bromleylibdems.org.uk

Which in turn spurred the company that provides these clever, self-updating websites to put out an information bulletin about the facility and issue a challenge: the first site to put on a video clip they had made themselves gets a month free hosting.

Received that email at 7.20pm.

Clip on www.nottinghamlibdems.org.uk by 8.05pm.

Getting it done entailed recording it on my phone, emailing it to myself, converting from phone format to a format that Google Video can read. (This program worked, the first two I tried didn’t.) Uploading to GV, then putting the code on the website. Somehow, the clip has got turned upsidedown. It was fine when it left my computer.

Butter-bean whip

I thought I’d make a hummous-alike using butter beans instead of chick peas. The beans are boiling now.

As an aside, the only links on Google I can find to “butter-bean whip” are Kitty talking about the end of season buffet.

We all mucked in on the nosh; I did my butter-bean whip – it’s over there in a bucket. And the director did us a quiche. I suppose it’s his acne but I definitely detected a tang of Clearasil.

Photo of Mozart’s wife found

A Times story from last week says that a photograph of Mozart’s wife Constanze has been found in a German archive.

This feels quite incredible, because you don’t consider Mozart and photography to be contemporaries.

It’s only possible because Mozart’s wife was six years younger than him, and also outlived him by a considerable margin. Had Mozart not died so young, he might have lived to see photography. Photographic processes were working by July 1839, only 48 years after Mozart’s death at the age of 34 in 1791.

Photo of Mozart's wife found

A Times story from last week says that a photograph of Mozart’s wife Constanze has been found in a German archive.

This feels quite incredible, because you don’t consider Mozart and photography to be contemporaries.

It’s only possible because Mozart’s wife was six years younger than him, and also outlived him by a considerable margin. Had Mozart not died so young, he might have lived to see photography. Photographic processes were working by July 1839, only 48 years after Mozart’s death at the age of 34 in 1791.

Leigh’s birthday

Leigh has been writing about his birthday.

Co-incidentally, his birthday present came through the post today.  If I remember to pack it up and send it on, this could well be the first time in ten years I’ve sent him a birthday present in time for his birthday.  I could tell you more… but you’re not a monk.  I’ll say this much:  it involves German puns.
I think he’s going to be really old this year.

He also gets a surprise holiday which his lovely wife Kathryn is organising. I think I know where he’s going 🙂

Leigh's birthday

Leigh has been writing about his birthday.

Co-incidentally, his birthday present came through the post today.  If I remember to pack it up and send it on, this could well be the first time in ten years I’ve sent him a birthday present in time for his birthday.  I could tell you more… but you’re not a monk.  I’ll say this much:  it involves German puns.
I think he’s going to be really old this year.

He also gets a surprise holiday which his lovely wife Kathryn is organising. I think I know where he’s going 🙂