Rustaq Fort.

Rustaq fortNikon D800 – AF-S Nikkor 35mm f1.4G.

(As usual – where do I find a straight line!)

Another early morning impromptu trip.

Rustaq: once the capital of Oman, during the era of Imam Nasir bin Murshid al Ya’arubi. (The one that suggested in 1620 that the Portuguese should leave Oman – he gave them an offer they could not refuse!  by 1650 they were all gone and if the Omanis had their way; never to be seen again)

Rustaq Fort: originally known as Qalat Al Kisra was constructed in the 13th century. Recently refurbished, like many of the more significant forts in Oman.

It has a wall around the inner castle (similar to ‘Norman’ construction in the UK)  A falaj runs through the fort to supply water for the inhabitants. Should this become contaminated, they were able to rely on a well, giving them the ability to withstand a long siege. One feature of Rustaq Fort is its four watchtowers: Al Burj Al Ahmar (The Red Tower); Al Burj Al Hadeeth (The Modern Tower); Al Burj Al Reeh (The Wind Tower); and Al Burj Ashiateen (or The Devil’s Tower).

 More images to follow 🙂

Back from holiday with a new lens.

Well that’s the holiday over for another 6 months – very cold and wet !!!!! But log fires and good malt whisky helped.

I think UK is getting more than its fair share of rain this year – almost as bad as 1963 if my memory proves me right, at least this time the rain has not turned to snow (yet).

I think the snow of the last few years was better because at least one could keep dry!

Where is global warming (sorry Climate change) when you want it…….. Sorry I must not talk about the cult of Gaia otherwise I could upset a few people.

Hope everyone had a great holiday and looking forward to what 2014 brings in the way of happiness.

My Xmas gift  🙂

product_01Image taken from Nikon UK.

A Nikon 35mm f1.4 AF-s lens for my D800.

A very nice gift from my wife and one that I will look forward to using in the coming months. It will even work on my F4 in Shutter priority or auto mode: says a lot for Nikon backward compatibility, although the lack of aperture ring will take me a while in stopping my fingers going to the lens.

As I have got rather a lot of FLAC audio files on my computer, I thought it time I figured out how I could play them through my audio system.

This is the result of endless research:

The Xmas gift I got for myself.

The Meridian Explorer DAC.

xmas_explorer_gallery_1Image from Meridian Audio site.

The Explorer replaces my computer’s sound card with a USB-powered DAC which gives three optional outputs.

3.5mm combination analogue/digital jack with mini Toslink digital optical output and 2-ch analogue line out.
3.5mm jack with variable-level headphone output.

All sorted and I am more than pleased with it, a nice well thought out item that gives me the option of playing my files through my audio system and using the laptop as a control unit from a 2TB hard drive.

I am using it while I write this and I must admit it drives my Stax mini phones a lot better than the inbuilt audio of my computer. Money well spent and one of those items that lived up to all the good reviews it got.

All I must do now is start going through the blog posts that I have missed in the last few weeks. Ho and guess what, I left rain in UK and met rain here in Muscat. Although it did mean an early departure from work so must not complain.

Back on my travels soon, work getting in the way of photography, but I am sure I will find time in the driving for my camera ……..

Merry Xmas & A Happy New Year.

It’s been a short year….. it does not seem like 12 months since I last posted that I am stepping off the world until the second week in February.

No computer, no newspapers, no news (if I can avoid it!) just a quiet few weeks. There is a troublesome flight in there somewhere (unavoidable) but all in all; peace  & quiet.

Thanks for all the comments and likes over the year – much appreciated; for those that celebrate Xmas, have a great holiday period.

New Computer – yet another up-date: Office 2003.

For the want of sending people to sleep………..   😥

I have just about finished making all the changes to my new computer and ……….  as I have a fully paid copy of Windows Office 2003 (note that date) thought I would ignore what received wisdom says 🙂

I loaded it and would you believe that even when I got the odd  ‘computer says no’ which I dutifully ignored; as one does with Windows. Lo & behold it works !

Caveat: Outlook and word have been tested, they being the bits I really wanted and so far no problems (in fact I now have my Pop mail account working and that, says Microsoft was not possible with Win 8) pushing cloud 365 me thinks.

I was able to go to Microsoft site and download ‘Office S.Pack 3’  and load it from the file – no problems.

So by my reckoning any Office from the above date should in most cases work – well for us mere mortals that is (those who need all its abilities may (I say may) have problems) but for me; I am a happy bunny.

New Samsung computer.

Just a little up-date on my new Samsung computer (great by the way & only let down by Windows 8) which for all intents & purposes has gone ……!

I now no longer need to see that stupid ‘tiles’ page, not to mention ‘charms’, all gone and boots-up straight into a computer that looks like Windows 7 but faster  🙂

Downside is that I never could get the screen calibration software to work satisfactorily; not a big loss as it was 8 years old and Xmas is near enough…. I just hate being wasteful.

How did I do all this: lots of reading on the internet from other dissatisfied users (and there are lots) Vista comes to mind.

Animated musical notation.

One of the advantages of the internet:
I sometimes like to listen to music while following the score, made much easier now that these can be down loaded for free in most cases.
But when first doing this, it can be a little daunting (apart from needing to be able to read music that is 🙂 ) so I concentrate on one instrument and then progress.
But I have found a series of videos on YouTube by someone called ‘smarlin’ & others that uses an animated score – basically it reproduces each instrument with a coloured line and the duration of the line is the note being played. The colour represents the instrument or in the case of, for example the piano, the finger being used.
I have found these a great help when first following a new score, it is almost like a visual representation of what goes on in the brain (mine anyway) when trying to combine all the instruments.
There are some that show the bowing movement for solo stringed instruments (everyone goes in the same direction with the bow David !….. 12 and the knuckles on my right hand got sore from being tapped).
Example : If you want to follow Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, the above shows the complexity in a very clear and understandable manner.

Just in case anyone is interested 🙂

Archaeological structures: Saudi Arabia.

Just been having a stroll around Saudi Arabia   Google Earth …….
Found this: Enlarge the image using the link ‘view larger map’ and zoom into the green arrow.
looks very interesting and seems to have only recently come to the attention of Aerial Archaeologists  due Google Earth enhancing the resolution of the area.
I cannot as yet find much about them, other than they have been known about since the 1920 when Royal Airforce pilots mention unusual archaeological structures: I knew I should have got out more when I was there in the early 80′s.

Update:
If the above has got your interest, have a look at this link for:  saudiaramcoworld desktop.archeology for more information that has just been sent for me to peruse.

South America does not have a monopoly on this stuff – fascinating.

Ramlat al-Wahiba.

Sand Dunes B&W No 6This area is about 12,500 square kilometres (4,800 sq mi).

N.B……. If all the right precautions are taken (if you don’t then it is the survival of the fittest and you deserve to die) because there is not much chance of a rescue and the Bedouin will just think you an idiot!

An area well worth a visit for those wishing to experience the vast stillness of the desert. Unpolluted (unpopulated 🙂 ) fantastic clear night sky, which allows a view of the stars in all their glory ‘without the usual light pollution’ and a stillness which is almost palpable.

From that well-known on-line encyclopaedia:-

This desert was formed during the Quaternary period as a result of the forces of south-west blowing monsoon and the northern shamal trade wind, coming in from the east. Based on the types of dunes found in the area, it is divided into the high, or upper, Wahiba and low Wahiba. The upper area contains mega-ridge sand systems on a north-south line that are believed to have been formed by monsoon. The dunes of the north, formed at some point after the last regional glaciation, measure up to 100 meters (330 ft) high, with peaks accumulating in the areas just beyond the strongest wind speeds, where declining velocity wind deposited sand. The north and west boundaries of the desert are delineated by the fluvial systems Wadi Batha and Wadi Andam.

Beneath the surface sands are an older layer of cemented carbonate sand. Alluvium deposits believed to have originated from the Wadi Batha during the Palaeolithic era have been disclosed in the central desert 200 meters (660 ft) beneath the inter-dune surface. Wind erosion is believed to have contributed to the existence of a nearly level plain in the south-west.