Sometimes I enjoy taking random shots, or rather shots which are pretty much composed in a matter of seconds, you know just line the lens up and shoot while the subjects are (a) completely unaware, or (b) know they are being shot but have not had time to get into "pose".

This weekend I was at Get Loaded In The Park, (bank holiday August and all) and I had a feast of material to shoot, sadly though my batteries ran flat far too soon, but I did manage to capture a few tasty pics all the same.

The following girls were having a blast and I took my opportunity.

If you are one of the girls let me know if you find this.

Technorati Tags: festival get loaded in the park pics pics get loaded in the park festival

Blip reminds me of Twitter a fair amount, although it's not really a conversational platform like Twitter can be. Blip is touted as a DJ platform, though I must admit, for me it's even more personal than that, I'm not that bothered about what you are listening to, if you catch my drift?

The thing is with Blip, you can search for singular songs, which once found are able to be streamed immediately, which does gives instant gratification, no doubt.

I've not come up with that many empty requests or "not founds" yet either, pretty impressive. The "Songs are hosted all over the internet by different servers and websites" which basically means you'll find just about everything.

I have found that a few songs I have "Blipped" have been removed a day later or so, more than likely that the website from where it has been streamed from noticed some leaching going on and removed it, or blocked access from Blip, I guess.

Each "Blipped" song contains a "Buy Now" link which is a standard Amazon affiliate link. It's a noble gesture to want to go off and buy a track, but I have to say many of the buy now options lead to something which is not what I am hearing. This may be due to some of my more varied musical tastes mind you.

I've not found a mobile portal for this yet, but then again, it is a Flash based interface which isn't going to cut the moby world, but if they or a similar service gets the moby market sorted this could be golden golden!

I do wonder how long this service will last, unless there is some hand shaking done between vested interests, as essentially we can listen to all the music we need to with a few clicks of a button, who needs to "own" music any more anyway?

Here is me Blip embed code, by all means "friend" me up, but I'll probably not friend you back, I'm too busy listening to my favourite songs.

Let me know what you think of the service.

Technorati Tags: amazon blip blip fm fm mobile music streaming blip fm fm blip music streaming mobile amazon

I was finding it hard to obtain a list of countries without odd characters.

I often need a list each starting on a new-line, for a variety of projects so I'm putting one here for easy retrieval.

Afghanistan
Åland Islands
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Andorra
Angola
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Bouvet Island
Brazil
British Indian Ocean Territory
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Christmas Island
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Congo, Democratic Republic of the
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Faroe Islands
Fiji
Finland
France
French Guiana
French Polynesia
French Southern Territories
Gabon
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Gibraltar
Greece
Greenland
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guam
Guatemala
Guernsey
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Holy See (Vatican City State)
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran, Islamic Republic of
Iraq
Ireland
Isle of Man
Israel
Italy
Japan
Jersey
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, Republic of
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Martinique
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mayotte
Mexico
Micronesia, Federated States of
Moldova, Republic of
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Montserrat
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
Netherlands Antilles
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Niue
Norfolk Island
Northern Mariana Islands
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Palestinian Territory, Occupied
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Pitcairn
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Réunion
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Helena
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Martin (French part)
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syrian Arab Republic
Taiwan, Province of China
Tanzania, United Republic of
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tokelau
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
United States Minor Outlying Islands
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Viet Nam
Virgin Islands, British
Virgin Islands, U.S.
Wallis and Futuna
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Technorati Tags: countries list of countries

So I am thinking I need to get my PhD mind-set back on track.

It's been too long "off the boil" and now is a probably a good time to start working towards formalising more thoughts. I'm in a place where I can more than likely establish strong connections with study and professional practise.

My Masters is in the field of Educational Technology, specifically focussed on distance learning, and my PhD is likely to also be in a similar field, though possibly slanted with a little curvature towards non-educational environments too.

PhDs are not for the faint hearted, but my heart is strong and this is a challenge for me, not for you. I think it is very important to understand that, you know, the reasons we embark on journeys, what are the motivators, what is the point?

Understanding motivational reasons for study can in fact help you discover a great deal about yourself. For example study for me is basically concerned with two key motivators.

• The research enables me to more effective in my career (both strategic understanding and practical doing)
• The research gives me a sense of inner-challenge (I'm not interested in waving my qualifications at you, but I want to prove to myself I am capable)

Your own explicit or implicit reasons are something you can all ponder on..

Technorati Tags: academic educational technology motivation phd study study phd motivation educational technology academic

If you are into games and the news could you spare three mins and list your sources, Offline and Online.

Feel free to use html with anchor text.

Thanks

Technorati Tags: games news games offline

Can you tell me where you get your game news, what sources? Please include Offline as well as Online.

Feel free to use html in the anchor text.

Thanks

Technorati Tags: film news film news

Here is the second in your series of Positive Psychology (I'm experimenting ok?), the first is here.

Write a sentance about how you would like others to view or see you. What qualities would you like others to see in you?

Here is mine:

I'd like people to perceive me as an educated and fair minded person, someone who invests a sense of realism in his projects yet at the same time is able to enjoy the free run of creativity and not be judged to harshly for that.

Now your turn.

Technorati Tags: perception positive psychology positive psychology perception

But stop and think for a second, is this the mentality that Social Media is promoting?

Do not get me wrong, having advice from your friends is useful, but how much objectivity do your friends bring, do you have friends whom are brutally honest with you?

Just curious..

Then again, how much objectivity does Google provide you?

Technorati Tags: google objectivity search google objectivity search

OK, let's have some fun over a series of posts.

State 5 things you feel people see you as, don't ask anyone, just be honest and state what you feel they think about you, here are mine:

1. Musical
2. Creative
3. Commanding
4. Moody
5. Generous

Of course that list could go on and on, but I didn't think hard about it, just right off the top of my head.

And you?

Technorati Tags: positive psychology positive psychology

Have you heard the term "Rockstars" used time and time again in relation to people on the Internet, particularly in the social media scene?

You have?

Me too, and you know what, it pisses me off no end. So this is my disambiguation post to state the use is plainly wrong when applied to wannabe practitioners of user generated content.

Terribly sorry people but if you want to know what a real Rockstar is watch this video.

If you have Rockstar needs go learn to play guitar, snort some coke and practise your stage diving, oh and pick up some tattoos on the way.

In the words of Scott Weiland (he's the singer above) "don’t attempt to stand in a man’s shoes when you haven’t walked his path"

Scott's history

How do you feel about the phrase?

Technorati Tags: disambiguation rockstar scott weiland social media stp user generated content rockstar social media disambiguation user generated content scott weiland stp