Formula 1, Back on the BBC

I was looking forward to F1's return to the BBC. No ads popping up at the most inappropriate moments, and the new reg's making F! races, into actual races again. I decided against staying up to watch the GP, in the middle of the night. I turned on the telly at midday and caught the beginning of "The Politics Show" on BBC1 and within minutes I was told the result of the race.
The BBC will start coverage of the race at 1pm. But now I can't be bothered watching.

Coffee Schmoffee

Have you ever walked into Starbuck's or Costa, and been baffled by the amazing menu. All you want is a coffee. The only two you know of are Espresso and Cappuccino. You'd like to order something different, but you haven't got a clue? Well, help is at hand. You can see exactly what you're going to get in this handy little diagram. I still don't know what a skinny or a Tall are. But at least i know what an Espresso Macchiato is. And more importantly. . . I know how to pronounce it. :)

Diagram courtesy of: Lokesh Dhakar

Kate Swift Rest In Peace.

I only knew Kate for a short while, back in 2007-2008, but she made a big impression on me and everyone else who met her. I was really shocked, when I found out about her tragic death.

You were one of a kind Kate. I can't believe this has happened.

Southport to Hornsea

TEAM LARD are planning to do the Trans-Pennine Cycleway.
Yep, that's right. for some reason we've decided to cycle from Southport on the West Coast to Hornsea on the East Coast. A distance of 215 miles (346Km). Ok, I know that doesn't sound a lot, but when you consider that we never ride our bikes more than about 10 miles without stopping somewhere for a beer. It's going to be virtually impossible.
We're planning to camp along the way, but in typical Lardy Boy fashion, we've got nothing planned and don't even know if there are any camp-sites en-route. I'll keep you informed of the plans in this blog. We HAVE decided on a date though. The first May Bank Holiday. that gives us about 5 weeks to get fit enough. . . . . Help Us!

I'm selling my Sigma

Hard times are here and I've got to make a bit of quick cash. So I'm selling my Sigma 12-24 Wide angle Zoom. It's on ebay until next Sunday. Click on the image below if you want to take a look.

iPlayer Grabber

For the past few weeks, I've been using iPlayer Grabber to . .

Well to GRAB stuff from the BBC iPlayer site.
If you've got a Mac and you like to listen to radio or watch TV on your iPod, then this is the free app for you.
The interface is so simple. Clicking on the iPlayer icon opens up a dedicated web browser window which is already pointing to the BBC iPlayer home page.

Then all you have to do is click on a link which would usually take you to an iplayer page, where you could watch or listen to your chosen programme, except iPlayer Grabber opens a SAVE dialogue box and in a couple of clicks you will have an MP3 or a .MOV file downloading to your chosen destination.

The radio shows usually come with about 5 minutes unwanted material at either end which I edit out using Fission from Rogue Amoeba Software. The TV shows and occasionally movies are perfectly cut and just include the ttiles and credits without any runover material.

Strangely enough Apple has made .MOV files incompatible with the iPod???? So I convert these with VisualHub to MP4 files or M4V's.

Unfortunately VisualHub is no-longer available. But I'm sure you could convert them with Handbrake. Or you could always just watch em on your Mac

iPlayer Grabber is great for downloading complete radio series from BBC7. I then use Fission or Audiobook Builder to put them together into one long audiobook.

Riding on the train is bearable now.

Links:- iPlayer Grabber Rogue Amoeba AudioBook Builder Handbrake

UPDATE: I've just discovered a Windows version of iPlayer Downloader HERE