Imagine that Live Writer Plugin

I've just made a plugin for Windows Live Writer which lets me easily post my Flickr pictures. There is a proper plugin available as well as mine, but mine does exactly what I want, which is quickly find the images and then add them to the post in the correct size. And anyway, I wanted to write my own to see how easy it is. So there.

One thing that I have learnt from the exercise is just how darned easy it is to string things together these days. Figuring out how to write the plugin wasn't too hard, and writing a .NET program to pull pictures off Flickr turned out to be much easier than I expected. So, without further ado, lets import some snaps:

 
This is one of the dancers at the Imagine Cup party in Agra

This is outside the hotel lobby. I just love those white cars

And this is your room, after the room tidying faries have been round..

Update on Wednesday, August 23, 2006 at 05:11PM by Rob

I've put the files for the plugin into the Downloads area of this site. I'll post the source later, once I've tidied it up a bit.

Update on Friday, August 25, 2006 at 09:55AM by Rob

The source is now available too. Enjoy.

Update on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 at 12:23PM by Rob

The new ink enabled plugin is now available here.  You need a Tablet PC (of course) and there is no installer yet. But it does work....

My First Post from Live Writer

This is my first post using Windows Live Writer Beta. It is a program which lets you prepare blog entries off line and then submit them from your computer. I might use it a bit because it is somewhat easier to use than the interface on my usual provider, and it lets me write stuff when I'm not connected to the internet. It found the settings of my slightly non-standard blogging service straight off the bat, and so far I'm impressed. Although I've not actually pressed the publish button yet.

There is also an API which lets you develop blogging applications

Of course, what I really want is a version of this program which runs on my Pocket PC. Perhaps later...

Woksoever Forever

Had a wedding anniversary today.  Twenty four years of wedded bliss(tm). I bought my wife a romantic novel. She bought me a copy of the ACME Catalogue. We know each other pretty well by now.

As part of the celebrations we went out for a meal. We went to a place in Cottingham called WokSoEver.  You can see a video of it here. As the name implies, it is chinese, and they use a wok for cooking. The first thing we noticed when we walked through the door was the large proportion of chinese guests chowing down. We reckoned that this, and the fact that the place was pretty busy on a Monday night, was a good omen.

And so it turned out. The food was wonderful. We had the set banquet for two (there was actually enough for three) and everything was great. I always have difficulty putting names to any kind of dish more complicated than burger and chips, so I've no idea what some of the stuff was called.  But the ribs were great, the chicken things on sticks were great and the prawn toast was the best I've ever tasted.

The service was attentive and polite, the food was presented with style, and if you get there before half past seven they are presently doing a special deal which gets you a wonderful meal for less than ten quid a head.

If you live in this area and you like chinese food (or even if you don't) you should go there. Great place for students to take mum and dad when they visit. They have a lunch time menu too. And they'e won awards.

I suppose I'd better tell everyone

Every now and then you get a juicy bit of news which is of great advantage to those hearing of it. I've just got one of these and the urge to be a nice person and share it has got the better of me. If you are into teaching and computer science and stuff (and therefore in kind of competition with us at Hull I guess) you really should go and have a look here.

I reckon that it is a wonderful development that any computer science department should grab with both hands and run with.  We are soooo going to try and do just that...

Running Shoes

Note: This post is vaguely disgusting. Sorry, but it is.

When we signed up for the India trip I mentioned to Margot that I would need to take anti-malaria pills.

"They'll make you ill" she said

How right she was.  I've just stopped taking them and by jove I feel better.  In the list of side effects for the particular tablets I was using was a complaint which might give rise to a need for the items mentioned in the title of this post (not to put too fine a point on it). I got that all right. Fortunately, amongst the armoury of medications I had taken with me was a preparation which was intended to resolve this issue.

Imodium Plus. What a wonderful marketing name. Im from Immobilise, od from commode, and ium to make it sound vaguely scientific. Then add a plus to emphasise the power of the stuff.  Didn't do anything for me though (or perhaps it did - and the consequences of not taking it would have been much worse). One thing I found mildly amusing was an entry on the list of side-effects for Imodium. Apparently it can cause constipation. If only.

The rehydration stuff was wonderful though.  If you are going abroad you must take some. Only problem was that I got the "multi-flavour" pack, which included banana flavoured salty water. This is an experience you want to be only once in a lifetime.

The good news is that my affliction didn't actually stop me from doing anything,  and now that I've stopped taking the tablets I can feel things returning to normal.  The other good news is that all the time I was abroad I didn't get bitten by a single mosquito. Mind you, I was wearing the ultra strong repellent which also managed to dissolve my watch strap. I found this rather encouraging. If it can do that to plastic, it must do even more horrible things to insects.

Actually, thinking about it, I reckon I got off rather lightly. Even with all the fun and games with chemicals, it was still well worth it. And I would go again (but I might try a different malaria pill).