Podcast 18

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> Beyond the Pale not Aff the Cuff

> Message from Anne - our UK feedback line is not good enough quality to play. Check out Anne's blog

> To feedback from the UK - call our US line for 1p a minute with Ratebuster - dial 0844 720 2020 and then as soon as it answers dial 001 206 350 7684 then press #

> Downshiftingweek card from secret stalker (not like secret Santa)

> Annoying alarm stops
> Plane goes over again - the sounds of our environment, the sounds of the city
> Battle of the stalkers
> Our first stalker leaves us a message
> Sounds a bit like Moaning Myrtle from Harry Potter
> Progress with downshifting week aims - 5 out of 9
> Cancelled Sky - well tried to but got it half price for another 3 months
> It is not safe to have a mirror over your fire place
> Stalker from beyond the grave
> Rural Radio - goat sniffing
> Nova Scotia and the Holy Grail - Oak Island, Money Pit, Mahone Bay, Sinclair, Rosslyn, Knights Templar, Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown - more details on a future podcast
> Frappr - up to 13 - prize draw when we reach 20 - please add yourself or you will make AJ sad
> Subscribe by email for notification when we update this site
Bad things
Matt - burglar alarms
AJ - wholemeal flour

Good things
Matt - sunshine, spring and happiness
AJ - a new deli and their mystery sandwiches

Downshifting Week Cards

Following my tongue-in-cheek comments about National Downshifting Week cards in the last podcast - we got one!



Thank you to our "secret stalker" for that one.

Hey we have more than one stalker - does that mean we have made it? ;)

Remember its still National Downshifting Week until Friday - so visit the site and see how to participate. We will update you on our progress on the challenges on our next podcast.

Podcast 17

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> New intro music - Beyond The Pale NOT "Aff the Cuff" - many apologies for the confusion!
> Our Blackbirds have flown the nest



> 1 second viewing and 2 new viewings
> National Downshifting Week - 22nd - 28th April 2006
- Ebook
- Planner
- individual activities, company things and school things
- finalist in Britain's Eco-Hero Awards, an initiative from ITV's National News in the UK.

> Frappr map - put in a map pin or a push pin
> Hello Gemma, Hope and Sam, Mark, Billy, Robin, Flora, Grant and Laura and Daniel
> When we get 20 people we will send someone a prize
> Shipping Spencer - AJ shreaks like Xena as it is very expensive
> New phone line
- 206 350 7684 US & Canada
- still 0709 22 33 44 6 UK
> Carolyn’s phone messages
> The downshiftme stalker calls
> A noisy plane goes over
> Wholemeal bread rolls – duck killers
> Hummous - yummy
> Those will have to be the good things and bad things this week as I haven't thought of any
> AJ reviews the papers
- the Guardian – "Supersize Me" DVD- Tracey Smith is in the work section
- Daily Mail – "Kind Hearts and Coronets" - "4 wheel drive" buggies - Hummers for Babies - also on the Today programme on radio 4
> Unplanned "Rant of the week" - People earn lots more than they need to sustain themselves - doesn't make people happy. Capitalism is very good at providing things for people to spend their money on. We are encouraged to buy things before they wear out. Consuming less to save the planet - but what about industry? Does individual action matter when industry pollutes and wastes so much? Consumerism - makes you feel better.
> We want our lives back - so hope we sell the house soon
> Students recycle things in Leeds through a table top sale
> New "outro" music

National Downshifting Week

Starting this Saturday, it's National Downshifting Week.

Click on the logo to go the website.

Check how you are doing by checking out the downshifting manifesto. You can download and print off a free downshifting planner, as well as pick up information and tips to save money, save time and save the planet!

Where are you?

Where are you listening from?

Please add yourself to our map at www.frappr.com.

Podcast 16

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> Spencer joins us and speaks and purrs
> Fourth attempt at the podcast
> AJ is tired of the house and frustrated
> Friday we tidied garden and did lots outside
> Two viewings on Saturday
> Today we painted and got annoyed and tired
> It's nearly done
> Spencer is sat on the crib sheet
> We have blackbirds - babies too
> Stressed about selling
> Fed up living in limbo
> Nikki and Matt – been to NS – wore the hat!
> Dogs - Nova Scotian Duck Tolling Retrievers
> We go quiet for a second
> Don't do the "can I have the bill please" mime
> Email from Misty – Misty and Andrew – he is Canadian (from Alberta), she is from Georgia but they are now in Indiana after living in California.
> Lots of farm information – shearing their own sheep – great noises in the background of geese and ducks.
> Geek Farm Life promo
> Doctor Who started last night – it was a goody - not sure when its on CBC
> "It’s not easy being green" – not about Kermit
> "Greg the Bunny" - Fabricated Americans - Sesame Street for Grown Ups
> Greenhouse heater/heatsink and the water wheel produced electricity – exciting
> Rural Radio is now officially a podcast – subscribe – Geek of the Week about podcasts next week
> We need better music
> Spencer returns and attacks the microphone
> Matt is not a proper geek
> AJ grunts
Bad things
Matt – not enough people viewing our house
AJ – 5 days work in 4 days
Good things
AJ - Green and Black's chocolate
Matt – Spring

Podcast coming Sunday

Easter weekend downshiftme podcast will be available tomorrow (Sunday).

Eat your easter eggs and when you can eat and move no more, settle down and listen to the cast.

Rural Radio - Totally Podcasted!

Rural Radio is now podcastable. Set your podcatchers to the Rural Radio Feed to have the latest episode automatically downloaded to your PC.

Rural Radio is a weekly show from Acountrylife.com which includes interviews, gardening and frugal hints and tips, book readings and Over the Garden Gate Gossip. It even has a Geek of the Week slot - with a voice you may find familiar.

Go to www.acountrylife.com for more information about the upcoming schedule of shows.

Interesting BBC article on podcasting

BBC News Website Article

"The technology has got traditional broadcasters excited and worried at the same time. The technology gives them a new opportunity to distribute their programmes and potentially a whole new audience.

But podcasting is cheap. All you need is a laptop, a microphone and a bit of a flair for technology and you can create your own programmes.

As a result broadcasters are worried that their market share will be washed away over night by a torrent of amateur broadcasters and companies that look on podcasts as a useful way to get their message out.

Hence, broadcasters, advertising companies and financial institutions are all clamouring to work out who is online, where they're downloading and what they're listening to."

Podcast 15

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This week our podcast does get a little political - you may wish to fast forward.

> We get googled for strange things - including sneezes!
> Our house is up for sale!
> Matt almost says realtors instead of "estate agent"
> Lots of painting - hit rock bottom Sunday
> We have new art on our walls
> Do you like the art?


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The above two are actually same size



> Didn't podcast yesterday as AJ was grumpy and fed up
> We are ready for people to buy the house now
> Snowing - then hailing
> Bird flu - media hysteria
> Glad our chickens haven't been murdered
> Spencer - donate to the "Belly Wheel Appeal"
> Mentioned on the The Zedcast
> Stephen Harper - free vote on same sex marriage
> AJ mentioned bigots in BC but he means Alberta
> Michael Ignatieff
> Political correctness - hot topic this week
> People don't agree what political correctness is
> About respect
> Narrow minded views are upsetting
> Urban tolerant and rural intolerant?
> Behave well in Nova Scotia and people respect you - despite sexuality or whatever
> If people behaved in real life like they do online they would get punched
> Political correctness should not be used to put people down - that is wrong. Political correctness is against that sort of behaviour.
> People wind you up far more online than in real life - discussion boards are artificial interaction

> Bad things -
Matt - narrow minds
AJ - right wing bigots
> Good things -
AJ - opting out of the internet
Matt - our estate agent and good friends

Podcast coming later

Podcast 15 coming later today.

DSM Proves Spencer Exists

Spencer doing his "please sir, can I have some more" look.
Click to enlarge

Podcast 14

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> Quickie – soooo busy
> Good slurp of tea
> Overboarded and plastered ceiling
> May have affected acoustics
> I took Wednesday off – painting
> Paint, paint, paint, paint, paint, paint
> Clocks changed so bit easier to do stuff in the evenings
> Chas Griffin interview for Rural Radio
> What rhymes with Techie?
> Test on the phoneline
> Hello Uncle Matthew
> Ask Erika – www.womengrow.org
> TV Programmes this week:
> It’s not easy being green
> Down on the farm
> Jimmy is a bit of a "Jamie", a friend of Jamie Oliver
> Spencer joins us and purrs loudly through most of the rest of the podcast
> Can you hear something outside? Sounds like someone gossiping
> Over the Garden Gate
> Matt offers to make veggie Shepherd's Pie for dinner
> Wedding lunch visit
> Can't pig, won't pig
> Hog day afternoon, Piggyback Mountain, Hogworts school – Harry Potter - you have any more?
> AJ despairs
> Pigucopia
> Bad things
> Matt – painting!
> AJ - painting!
> Good things
> AJ - AJ's sister
> Matt – decorators caulk - you can work wonders with flexible filler and a damp finger