From Blogger to WordPress

I have migrated Too many words to tweet from Blogger and it can now be found at https://librarianpetergreen.wordpress.com/

Blogger has been good to me, but writing posts on the iPad has become too difficult with the demise of Blogsy (in which I compose this last post) and WordPress seems to be the logical alternative (thanks Steph).

I continue to be astounded at how easy things can be on the Internet. I created my new blog, exported all my content from Blogger, customized and configured, all within half an hour. Wow!

Now I just need to keep up my blogging.

Over and out (from here).

 

Posted with Blogsy

When your app goes away

I am writing this using Blogsy, an iPad app that I've used for a few years to author posts on my Blogger blog. It has been very serviceable and most of the posts on my blog have been written on my iPad using this app. Trying to author posts on the iPad using the native Blogger interface is AWFUL.

Blogsy is dead. Gone. No more. Finished. Gone to the great archive of apps removed from service.

The ghost of Blogsy on my iPad lives on, for the moment, but there will be no more updates and eventually it will break and not be able to reload from the App Store when I upgrade or lose everything off my iPad (as happened late last year).

Grrr.

Wanted: a nice iPad app that works with Blogger. Please apply within.

Posted with Blogsy

Hands free (or how I learn to stop driving and love podcasts)

I have been taking the train and bus to work for well over a year and am now well settled into the routine of public transport. If I had planned to ease the journey by reading a book then I would have been somewhat frustrated. Often on the train I am standing and the bus leg can be busy and very jerky. Reading a book would be a somewhat hit and miss and a bit of a chore. However listening to a podcast leaves my hands free and can continue whilst I change from train to bus and walk to the office.

These are my regular and favoured podcasts (hopefully not giving too much insight into my personality but you might see some politics and science and technology).

Chat 10 Looks 3 - Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb chat to each other. Sounds rather like a Seinfeld plot, but actually riveting and engaging and informative. Food, films, books and things. I never miss an episode.

The Silent Majority - Two Canberra journalists with an offbeat personal take on politics, which is interesting, but more interesting are the candid conversations with politicians who drop in for a chat. The quality of the audio is patchy, which is irritating but reflects the done-on-no-budget nature of the podcast.

The Minefield - Features the ubiquitous Waleed Aly and offsider Scott Stephens.Thoughtful intellectual discussion of difficult issues. Fabulous. Warning - contains Aristotle.

Michelle Grattan - Veteran Canberra journalist doing political interviews for The Conversation.

Control Z - Internet, technology and culture. Snappy and informative.

Download This Show - More internet, technology and culture. This is how I keep up with new things. Recommended to me and now compulsory listening.

Late Night Live - Phillip Adams talks to guests and has done for decades. Intellectual, left leaning but very interesting.

The Science Show - Magazine style science journalism with Robyn Williams who is a national icon of science broadcasting. I've listened to this for years and it has been a thing for decades.

Ockham's Razor - Short 15 minute presentation each week, curated by Robyn Williams, and gives a person the chance to present an idea. Like the The Science Show I have listened to this for many years.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Chicken Soup

I like to cook. It is one of the simple pleasures of life.

This weekend it is a chicken soup recipe that I've not tried before. I prefer to do soup early, either in the morning or the day before. Soup and stew needs to rest to be at its best. Served with pane di casa stick (a nice crusty bread).

 

I'd like to add that photographing food is difficult and the shot of the soup doesn't do it justice.

 

 

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Triple Solo Sailor - The Daily Challenge

Wanting to mark the 30th Anniversary of Jon Sanders' triple circumnavigation using material held by the library, including the noon summaries and log books, meant setting out on a daily blog challenge that makes #blogjune pale by comparison. Blogging and tweeting each and every day for over 600 days is daunting but a journey starts with a single step, and in Jon Sanders' case a lot of food!

Needless to say the solution required a crew of people, those who understood the archival material, those who understood communication and someone able to create a technical solution to generate and publish a blog post at noon each day, draw on the fly from material transcribed from the noon summaries and log book entries and visual material, all of which vary day by day and over time, and within the constraints of a blog post and of a tweet.

 

I won't go into the detail at this time but like Jon Sanders who managed to sleep whilst sailing single handed we also can rest easy at times whilst keeping one eye open on the long journey.

Day 11 as I write. Follow at http://triplesolo.library.curtin.edu.au or @triplesolo

 

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Stepping up to the challenge

This year I am participating in the Global Corporate Challenge as part of a team of 7 work colleagues. We have a team name and a badge!

Yes, we are all in the library.
I set my daily target to 10,000 steps which is what I estimated I do normally and expected just to chug along for the ride. However strangely I find that I'm pushing a little harder in my walking, wanting to meet my target and taking advantage of a fine weekend to go for an extended walk. Even agreed to a mini-challenge! 100,000 steps in one day (for the team).
Funny how the mind works.

My pedometer at the end of the day.

 

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Triple Solo Sailor - The Noon Summaries

As Jon Sanders circumnavigated the world he recorded certain details each day in the noon summaries which have been transcribed into machine readable format to allow the daily posting of that information to this blog and on Twitter @triplesolo - sometimes combined with logbook entries and photographs. But more on this later.

This is what one sheet from the noon summaries looks like in person readable format.

Source

 

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Triple Solo Sailor - The Boat

Jon Sanders circumnavigated the world, single handed, solo, non-stop, three times - 30 years ago.

You can follow his amazing journey day by from this blog and on Twitter @triplesolo

He travelled on the Parry Endeavor which looked like this when he departed...

Source

...and like this 30 years later, on display at the WA Maritime Museum, tilted at the angle of a particularly steep wave. Look closely for Jon Sanders clinging to the mast.

 

Photos courtesy @mttrb

 

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The brave new world of audio books

I have ventured into unexplored territory - unexplored by me, well trodden by others. The world of the audio book.

I have been listening to podcats on my daily commute and sometimes I ran short and I had a long trip on the horizon, so I decided to try an audio book.

A friendly librarian showed me how to borrow an audio book from my public library. Wow. Did it all without leaving my chair. I chose an old favourite from John Le Carre and I was not disappointed. I didn't realise that reading a book was an art form, a performance. But it was. I was as engrossed as if I had been reading it myself. 12 hours went in a flash. I've reserved another for later on.

BTW, the BorrowBox app from Bolinda was excellent. So different to my typical ebook experience.

 

Posted with Blogsy