Normality is resuming – I think.

 

“We are now cruising at a level of two to the power of twenty-five thousand to one against and falling, and we will be restoring normality just as soon as we are sure what is normal anyway.”
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

In the meantime:-

Tombs near Bat

Burial Tombs near Bat: the white one is how they would have looked when in use. It was reconstructed by archaeologists to give an idea of the impressive visual image created, when first seeing them on the surrounding hills.

The Ibri region is very rich in necropolis and archaeological sites dating back to around the third millennium. The village of Bat about 30 kms east of Ibri, appears to have been occupied continuously for well over 4000 years. This type of tomb does not seem to have been collectively used but rather, contained between two to five distinct burial sections.

 

 

Cloud Storage.

I keep getting asked by my new computer if I would like to use ‘Cloud’ storage for my files.

Good idea ? in principle, but Very bad idea in practise, for many reasons and not just my paranoia  🙂

See this article as an example from the Spiceworks site –spiceworks the-great-dropbacle-personal-cloud-storage-in-the-work-environment

If you Google “Cloud storage who’s stupid idea was that” then you will find lots of examples of those who understand and also work in the IT sections of both large and small companies. They all warn against the security issues (both up & down loading) so the above article that I have linked is not alone.

See – my rant is turning into a big one 🙂

Trials & tribulations of Windows 8.

An update:

I now have both my Canon 9950F and Plustek 7600i scanners working, all be it only with Vuescan (not that I am complaining about this software – it’s a good scanning programme and sells at a very good price). But there in is the problem, Silverfast which is not cheap ! so far does not work……

It seems that if I buy Silverfast 8 all my troubles will be over; but I purchased two copies of an earlier Silverfast iteration which worked well on Windows 7, so am disinclined to spend another large chunk of money just for an upgrade: why is it so expensive to upgrade from a previous version?

My Nikon ViewNX2 works although the European site initially said they only had a Win 7 version, but found it on Nikon USA.

My Canon Pro 9000 printer just about loaded itself – which is how it should be.

Photoshop Lightroom & CS6 are loaded, all I now need to do is set the preferences the way I like them.

Colour calibration is as yet unknown, as I have not tried the Colourvision software, but I live in hope; although I must say the Samsung screen on the ATIV one 7 is brilliant and comparing the colour with my calibrated screen, it shows no difference.

Ho and for those that are contemplating a new computer pre-loaded with Windows 8, be aware that most computer manufactures do not give you a sticker with the Windows registration details any more.….They are locked in the BIOS so do a back-up asap! Otherwise you are screwed (yes there are ways of finding it) but exactly what the consequences of needing a new hard-drive are is anyone’s guess. Digitally, we no longer own things, they are on rent from the manufacturer. My feelings about this are not printable.

As an aside – Down loaded Foobar 2000 which is a great audio player, far better than media player, in that you can throw any file format at it and away it goes, my Stax headphones sound very good with FLAC files. As for audio equipment: I still play those black discs and use a Shure V15iv cartridge in an SME III arm and own 1980’s Quad amplifiers but do acknowledge that digital FLAC files seem the way to go for quality (MP3 even at 320 kbit/s it terrible) and with memory being so cheap now, should not be on anyone’s list of formats.

 

What passes as normal on this site, will resume shortly.

New Computer…….

Beware:    a rant !..

I have at long last got a new computer (A nice shiny Samsung with lots of memory for my D800) but…………………….

It has windows 8 – ukkk…….. what the heck are all those tile things ! ho and it will not let me use my Plustek 7600i scanner (yet! ?) I  will give it a go for a while but can see me re-formatting and loading my windows 7, time will tell.

I hate new technology, I thought it made life easier ? but …… A camera takes pictures, a phone makes calls,  a computer allows one to control things; but no, it seems I can now talk to friends I didn’t know I had, join FaceBook (I don’t think so)  play games on line with all those new friends I didn’t know I had – and so it goes.

Ho well, back to getting Firefox working the way I like it and where did I put all those serial numbers for software.

I think I will continue looking for a good Nikon ‘F’ at a fair price because at least it is clockwork 🙂

p.s…. I have just been told all the things on Windows 8 help improve my life-style and help connect with people: what the hell is that .. my life is ok (much the same as most I think) and as far as connecting with people – I thought face to face conversation or the very least pen & paper did that!!!!!!

For Tomorrow.

Aftermath

Have you forgotten yet?…
For the world’s events have rumbled on since those gagged days,
Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways:
And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow
Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you’re a man reprieved to go,
Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare.
But the past is just the same–and War’s a bloody game…
Have you forgotten yet?…
Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you’ll never forget.

Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz–
The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbags on parapets?
Do you remember the rats; and the stench
Of corpses rotting in front of the front-line trench–
And dawn coming, dirty-white, and chill with a hopeless rain?
Do you ever stop and ask, ‘Is it all going to happen again?’

Do you remember that hour of din before the attack–
And the anger, the blind compassion that seized and shook you then
As you peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men?
Do you remember the stretcher-cases lurching back
With dying eyes and lolling heads–those ashen-grey
Masks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay?

Have you forgotten yet?…
Look up, and swear by the green of the spring that you’ll never forget.

Siegfried Sassoon

Winter.

For those who like a rather minimalist style: this musician requires further exploration and well worth the trouble……..

O winter! bar thine adamantine doors:
The north is thine; there hast thou built thy dark
Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs
Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car.

He hears me not, but o’er the yawning deep
Rides heavy; his storms are unchain’d, sheathed
In ribbed steel; I dare not lift mine eyes;
For he hath rear’d his sceptre o’er the world…..

Part of the poem Winter from from Poetical Sketches, 1783 William Blake. 

Innerdale Monument Masirah.

Innerdale MonumentInnerdale Monument.

From an account by Tommy Hazell  Saltford, Bristol.

In 1943 a group of airmen built the monument on the North-East tip of Masirah near the airfield. It commemorates the massacre of the captain and 21 crew of S.S. Innerdale, a vessel of 3,340 tons, that had run aground on the Kuria Murile islands on 2nd August, 1904. The party left their lifeboat seeking help, and probably thought they had landed on the mainland. A tragic misunderstanding with the natives resulted in the deaths of captain and crew. The ship’s boy was the only survivor. The ringleaders were later executed by the Sultan of Muscat’s forces. The inscription on the monument was misspelt “Inverdale”, and seems to add a unique touch to an unusual piece of history.

A more official account:

The only survivor was a cabin boy who was taken aboard the Dalhousie. Whether the captain had deliberately decided to land, or had simply been driven ashore by the monsoon will never be known, but it appears that on landing, the crew were met by the local sheikh. The Arabs were friendly at first, but at some stage in the proceedings one of the crew fired a pistol. Whether the crew feared for their safety in some way or there was simply an accident cannot be ascertained, but in the resultant fight twenty-one of the seamen were killed. The Arabs buried the bodies in the sand near Ra’s Qudifah, close to the Northern most point of the island. The ringleaders were later captured and punished; some received the death penalty and were also buried on the Northern tip of the island

Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil).

 

 

Facilis descensus Averni:
noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
sed revocare gradium superasque evadere ad auras.
hoc opus, hic labor est.



“The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labour lies”

Publius Vergilius Maro  (Virgil) 15th October 70 BC to 21st September 19 BC