Friday 9 January 2015
Monday 5 November 2012
Sunday 28 October 2012
I've just delivered
a message that was assembled mostly on a notepad instead of a computer.
Just really felt the need to work away from the distractions and seductions of the internet. The one area I gave in over was finding some scriptures with bible gateway - just speeds it up and in some cases the concordance I have omits certain words.
Is no feedback good feedback - now there's another question.
Just really felt the need to work away from the distractions and seductions of the internet. The one area I gave in over was finding some scriptures with bible gateway - just speeds it up and in some cases the concordance I have omits certain words.
Is no feedback good feedback - now there's another question.
Saturday 27 October 2012
Just seen Windows 8 professional in Tescos for £50
Which is a serious bargain for a version including media. Very seriously tempted to buy it, just to have a 'cheap' full retail copy available of pro for when I need it. If I had put a 256Gb SSD in the Macbook I'd definitely be trying a dual boot now.
Friday 26 October 2012
Feeling better today
After a really rough day yesterday. Ibuprofen seem to help enable sleep, which isn't a bad thing, since it reduces the likelihood of waking due to aches and pains.
So.... another day in the lab.
Amongst other things, I was processing lots of wee samples yesterday. Nice.
An amusing story from last night. For the first time in ages we did live worship at Heyford Park chapel, which I led. Now I've just changed the layout on the pedal board in order to make things a bit neater and put the switches in places where they can be reached without switching other pedals at the same time (I'd often go for the delay & hit the tuner at the same time, neatly silencing everything).
So in my re-cabling I'd placed a pedal directly in front of the power supply switch. The mains cable on that power supply is fairly short, and I couldn't get the board as close to the mic stand as I wanted, so cue stretching a leg across to hit the trem pedal, only to push it forward and switch the whole board off. Not so bad because it was between songs, but when I tried to turn the supply back on there wasn't space, and I half-flipped the switch, resulting in a squeal that kept repeating and gradually fading as a capacitor in a pedal drained.
Took 3 goes and 3 fading squeals before I finally got it back on.
And it was right in the middle of a quiet, contemplative bit of worship.
It seems a little humility goes a long way, and once again my delusions of adequacy are a little flakey around the edges.
Very grateful For Jelli and Jack backing me up and carrying the singing.
So.... another day in the lab.
Amongst other things, I was processing lots of wee samples yesterday. Nice.
An amusing story from last night. For the first time in ages we did live worship at Heyford Park chapel, which I led. Now I've just changed the layout on the pedal board in order to make things a bit neater and put the switches in places where they can be reached without switching other pedals at the same time (I'd often go for the delay & hit the tuner at the same time, neatly silencing everything).
So in my re-cabling I'd placed a pedal directly in front of the power supply switch. The mains cable on that power supply is fairly short, and I couldn't get the board as close to the mic stand as I wanted, so cue stretching a leg across to hit the trem pedal, only to push it forward and switch the whole board off. Not so bad because it was between songs, but when I tried to turn the supply back on there wasn't space, and I half-flipped the switch, resulting in a squeal that kept repeating and gradually fading as a capacitor in a pedal drained.
Took 3 goes and 3 fading squeals before I finally got it back on.
And it was right in the middle of a quiet, contemplative bit of worship.
It seems a little humility goes a long way, and once again my delusions of adequacy are a little flakey around the edges.
Very grateful For Jelli and Jack backing me up and carrying the singing.
Wednesday 24 October 2012
Wondering if I should start a 'funny' blog
I would name it
The Insatiable Curtiosity of Young James McNair.
Maybe I could monetise it, write funny articles and humerous observations on life a la Roald Dahl, such that I could give up the day job while google ads paid the bills.
I think I have a headache still, and don't feel quite right.
The Insatiable Curtiosity of Young James McNair.
Maybe I could monetise it, write funny articles and humerous observations on life a la Roald Dahl, such that I could give up the day job while google ads paid the bills.
I think I have a headache still, and don't feel quite right.
Had a bizarre couple of hours this morning
Head a bit swimmy, visual disturbances, now left with a mild headache. Odd.
Forgive the facebook approach to posting.
Forgive the facebook approach to posting.
GAS - feeling bloated.
GAS, as any musician knows, stands for Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
Back in the summer I bought my first* 'new' guitar in 3 years - a 30+ year old hand made Washburn Hawk that had been stripped of hardware. Thanks to my family I had all the necessary hardware given as a birthday present, and now it's up and running, playing great and sounding fabulous.
But.
GAS is back.
After almost 4 years of effectively having no spare cash the business has had enough income to enable me a small wage (less than minimum wage, but hey ho) and suddenly, despite all the stuff I already have, I find that I want more and more. What is it about acquiring things that make you want to acquire more things? I have more guitars than I can play** (and I'd happily let some go) effects pedals, processors, modellers, amps, all kinds of stuff. Yet here I am, unsatisfied and wanting more.
It says something about where satisfaction comes from, but it also says something about influences and what we take on board.
Sunday afternoon I came across a comment about discounted pedals on Harmony central while researching a particular effect. A guitarist usually likes to have a tonal palette to work from, and I'm no exception. For size reasons the board/case all my effects pedals travel in can only fit a limited number of them, and recently I moved things around to make space for a fuzz in order to create a particular set of tones (look up Golden Cello on youtube to see what I mean). So out went the Chorus pedal, which sounds beautiful (really) but is huge and also requires a funny size power adapter to make way for a fuzz pedal, but now my board can't provide that chorus tone. If the chorus pedal were smaller then it would fit, but I can't re-house it because the circuit board inside fills the case, and I don't want to move any other effects off the board either.
Cut a long story short, I'd been thinking about a cheap chorus pedal in a small form-factor when I came across the thread about Mooer pedals - suddenly much wants mooer.
Now these things are tiny, sound REALLY good (at least, the modulations do - not so keen on the drive/distortions because I already have the best I've found) and are less than £26 each, shipped direct from China. So now I find I'm breaking another of my un-written rules, and wanting to buy cheap stuff from China instead of expensive stuff made in the west. And yes, I've ordered a couple - will be flogging the stuff they displace.
But it bothers me that I'm gassing - and have already become bloated with property - as a grown man with more toys than I know what to do with. It's like I've not really learned anything over the last 30 years in this area. Yes, some of it is the voices I have allowed to speak to me, but inside it's like there is still that greedy child who knows no restraint. Just because I can afford it, does not mean it is either right or reasonable to just acquire stuff - is it really 'my' money?
I dunno where this goes, except that it's another unredeemed area. Is poverty a gift? It's not one I want, but I am asking where my treasure really is.
*Basses don't count, since they are just a tool!
** A friend posted yesterday on Harmony Central about needing to shift some guitars. Not because he needs the money, but because he lives in a normal size house and has, literally, no room any more. He wanted advice about how to choose 20 guitars out of the 60 odd he has - to get rid of. At least Marc is an amazing guitar player.
Back in the summer I bought my first* 'new' guitar in 3 years - a 30+ year old hand made Washburn Hawk that had been stripped of hardware. Thanks to my family I had all the necessary hardware given as a birthday present, and now it's up and running, playing great and sounding fabulous.
But.
GAS is back.
After almost 4 years of effectively having no spare cash the business has had enough income to enable me a small wage (less than minimum wage, but hey ho) and suddenly, despite all the stuff I already have, I find that I want more and more. What is it about acquiring things that make you want to acquire more things? I have more guitars than I can play** (and I'd happily let some go) effects pedals, processors, modellers, amps, all kinds of stuff. Yet here I am, unsatisfied and wanting more.
It says something about where satisfaction comes from, but it also says something about influences and what we take on board.
Sunday afternoon I came across a comment about discounted pedals on Harmony central while researching a particular effect. A guitarist usually likes to have a tonal palette to work from, and I'm no exception. For size reasons the board/case all my effects pedals travel in can only fit a limited number of them, and recently I moved things around to make space for a fuzz in order to create a particular set of tones (look up Golden Cello on youtube to see what I mean). So out went the Chorus pedal, which sounds beautiful (really) but is huge and also requires a funny size power adapter to make way for a fuzz pedal, but now my board can't provide that chorus tone. If the chorus pedal were smaller then it would fit, but I can't re-house it because the circuit board inside fills the case, and I don't want to move any other effects off the board either.
Cut a long story short, I'd been thinking about a cheap chorus pedal in a small form-factor when I came across the thread about Mooer pedals - suddenly much wants mooer.
Now these things are tiny, sound REALLY good (at least, the modulations do - not so keen on the drive/distortions because I already have the best I've found) and are less than £26 each, shipped direct from China. So now I find I'm breaking another of my un-written rules, and wanting to buy cheap stuff from China instead of expensive stuff made in the west. And yes, I've ordered a couple - will be flogging the stuff they displace.
But it bothers me that I'm gassing - and have already become bloated with property - as a grown man with more toys than I know what to do with. It's like I've not really learned anything over the last 30 years in this area. Yes, some of it is the voices I have allowed to speak to me, but inside it's like there is still that greedy child who knows no restraint. Just because I can afford it, does not mean it is either right or reasonable to just acquire stuff - is it really 'my' money?
I dunno where this goes, except that it's another unredeemed area. Is poverty a gift? It's not one I want, but I am asking where my treasure really is.
*Basses don't count, since they are just a tool!
** A friend posted yesterday on Harmony Central about needing to shift some guitars. Not because he needs the money, but because he lives in a normal size house and has, literally, no room any more. He wanted advice about how to choose 20 guitars out of the 60 odd he has - to get rid of. At least Marc is an amazing guitar player.
Pear Linux 6 - Bartlett
So I gave in and upgraded to PL6 Bartlett.
It's pretty good with a few teething issues so far. Lighter and quicker than PL4 Comice that I ran previously, there's a few cosmetic tweaks in the menu bars, plus Dockey (the dock application) has been replaced with Plank because of it's very low overhead. Plank is less refined, but does have a much lower overhead. All round it's been sped up generally, and apart from start up it feels quick-zippy.
Problems? Well it wouldn't play DVDs to begin, all down to libdvdcss. The library containing a version of libdvdcss was installed, but didn't seem to be working (even though it had worked in PL4). Downloading libdvdcss2 fixed that, though playback glitches with a very brief pause about every 7-10min. Also mouse scrolling was reversed by default (like Apple's un-natural scrolling that I understand was a feature of Lion and ML) and the switch to undo that 'feature' wasn't obvious (hidden in pear tweaks applet). the appstore was also temperamental, sometimes falling over if 'pushed' a little.
Is anything new?
There are native apps for facebook, G+ and twather. Never thought I'd care, but it's nice to have 2 less tabs to keep open or hunt for in firefox, and although they aren't the greatest interfaces, it's still less effort than firing up a browser & then hunting down the page.
Also in the appstore was Calibre, which is a program for importing and converting ebooks between different formats, loading them onto readers etc. I've not tried it yet, but those who use it consider it essential for ebook reader owners, and since we both have Kobos it should be handy.
Worth mentioning that icons and text etc have been crisped up a little, each iteration making linux better and better as an operating system. It's not that icons or fonts are a really big deal, but having a crisp, well defined display takes a degree of strain out of use and generally helps the user to settle and work more efficiently. Maybe it's because I spend more time in from of non-windows computers these days, but I don't find W7 especially nice to use, though XP is still pretty much the benchmark in efficiency and user-friendliness. I would be happy to use pear Linux as my everyday OS now, and that is a huge step forward compared to 2 years ago.
So if you're a windows user and want something that has a Mac-ish look and feel, but runs lighter & quicker and with fewer design flaws (and less features, granted) PL is only an 850Mb download away. I'd also recommend it for Mac owners with PC hardware laying around - Pear made the jump from Leopard to Mountain Lion painless for me.
32 bit (as I'm running now) and 64 bit (as I'll download & migrate to shortly) are available here: http://pearlinux.fr/download/
It's pretty good with a few teething issues so far. Lighter and quicker than PL4 Comice that I ran previously, there's a few cosmetic tweaks in the menu bars, plus Dockey (the dock application) has been replaced with Plank because of it's very low overhead. Plank is less refined, but does have a much lower overhead. All round it's been sped up generally, and apart from start up it feels quick-zippy.
Problems? Well it wouldn't play DVDs to begin, all down to libdvdcss. The library containing a version of libdvdcss was installed, but didn't seem to be working (even though it had worked in PL4). Downloading libdvdcss2 fixed that, though playback glitches with a very brief pause about every 7-10min. Also mouse scrolling was reversed by default (like Apple's un-natural scrolling that I understand was a feature of Lion and ML) and the switch to undo that 'feature' wasn't obvious (hidden in pear tweaks applet). the appstore was also temperamental, sometimes falling over if 'pushed' a little.
Is anything new?
There are native apps for facebook, G+ and twather. Never thought I'd care, but it's nice to have 2 less tabs to keep open or hunt for in firefox, and although they aren't the greatest interfaces, it's still less effort than firing up a browser & then hunting down the page.
Also in the appstore was Calibre, which is a program for importing and converting ebooks between different formats, loading them onto readers etc. I've not tried it yet, but those who use it consider it essential for ebook reader owners, and since we both have Kobos it should be handy.
Worth mentioning that icons and text etc have been crisped up a little, each iteration making linux better and better as an operating system. It's not that icons or fonts are a really big deal, but having a crisp, well defined display takes a degree of strain out of use and generally helps the user to settle and work more efficiently. Maybe it's because I spend more time in from of non-windows computers these days, but I don't find W7 especially nice to use, though XP is still pretty much the benchmark in efficiency and user-friendliness. I would be happy to use pear Linux as my everyday OS now, and that is a huge step forward compared to 2 years ago.
So if you're a windows user and want something that has a Mac-ish look and feel, but runs lighter & quicker and with fewer design flaws (and less features, granted) PL is only an 850Mb download away. I'd also recommend it for Mac owners with PC hardware laying around - Pear made the jump from Leopard to Mountain Lion painless for me.
32 bit (as I'm running now) and 64 bit (as I'll download & migrate to shortly) are available here: http://pearlinux.fr/download/
Hitting 50+? Better put the brakes on.
When I was younger I remember seeing
various 'old fellers' on bikes. Ken at Reg Barnett's bike shop & De
Laune CC in Peckham was over 70 and still riding around (slowly) when I
was 15. On my return to cycling in about '99 I was reasonably sure that
I'd be able to keep going for another 10 years or a little more,
probably up to the age of 50.
Now I'm 51.
There's a side of me that's wanted to go riding still, but I've come to realise that it's all too much effort for not enough fun and enjoyment. If I can't go fast, do silly things & come through relatively undamaged, generally lark about and have fun on a bike then I'm not interested. Over the last 3 years I've made several attempts to re-start cycling, each one ending after a few weeks due to illness or, in the case of this last time, several broken bones. The first ride after recovering had me drop the front wheel down a (concealed) hole and go over the bars again, though without injury. My right calf also still has 4 teardrop-shape scars from catching a chain ring earlier this year.
So I'm seriously considering giving up properly, since I can't seem to get started properly any more. Wonder if I'm being told something?
And TBH I don't have significant amounts of free time or energy now. To keep riding I need best part of every Saturday, preferably with occasional serious week nights out too. There's no way I can manage that, and I already feel torn between the need to be at a men's group and the need for one day of the week where I don't have to be up early to do stuff for the church or work.
So I've pretty much come to the conclusion that my cycling days are over. My bikes both need some attention too, and I don't want to spend £150+ having shock absorbers serviced, plus trying to get new bushes etc and the cost of a new machine is out of the question.
Time to close another chapter of my life then. Maybe I'll ride again if I make it to retirement?
Now I'm 51.
There's a side of me that's wanted to go riding still, but I've come to realise that it's all too much effort for not enough fun and enjoyment. If I can't go fast, do silly things & come through relatively undamaged, generally lark about and have fun on a bike then I'm not interested. Over the last 3 years I've made several attempts to re-start cycling, each one ending after a few weeks due to illness or, in the case of this last time, several broken bones. The first ride after recovering had me drop the front wheel down a (concealed) hole and go over the bars again, though without injury. My right calf also still has 4 teardrop-shape scars from catching a chain ring earlier this year.
So I'm seriously considering giving up properly, since I can't seem to get started properly any more. Wonder if I'm being told something?
And TBH I don't have significant amounts of free time or energy now. To keep riding I need best part of every Saturday, preferably with occasional serious week nights out too. There's no way I can manage that, and I already feel torn between the need to be at a men's group and the need for one day of the week where I don't have to be up early to do stuff for the church or work.
So I've pretty much come to the conclusion that my cycling days are over. My bikes both need some attention too, and I don't want to spend £150+ having shock absorbers serviced, plus trying to get new bushes etc and the cost of a new machine is out of the question.
Time to close another chapter of my life then. Maybe I'll ride again if I make it to retirement?
The online equivalent of a transit lounge?
While I fix comments for The Blog Of The Ancient Mariner I'm going to be using TBOTAM.blogspot.com
As my wife pointed out to me, a blog without comments is effectively a diary, and why would you want to put that online? Comments here should work, so I'll be posting here until I can be bothered to create a new template and migrate the old blog design across.
To be honest, one reason I stuck with the original layout for tertl.blogspot.com was that I liked the simplicity. My idea of an ideal church interior is one with plain walls, floor, ceiling, with just enough furnishing and fittings to gently direct the congregation toward a focal point so they know where who-ever will facilitate the meeting will be standing. Everything would be arranged to not impinge more than necessary on those using the space. So it was with that design - everything was simple and plain without getting in the way.
Hopefully this, and the next incarnation of TBOTAM, will be like that.
As my wife pointed out to me, a blog without comments is effectively a diary, and why would you want to put that online? Comments here should work, so I'll be posting here until I can be bothered to create a new template and migrate the old blog design across.
To be honest, one reason I stuck with the original layout for tertl.blogspot.com was that I liked the simplicity. My idea of an ideal church interior is one with plain walls, floor, ceiling, with just enough furnishing and fittings to gently direct the congregation toward a focal point so they know where who-ever will facilitate the meeting will be standing. Everything would be arranged to not impinge more than necessary on those using the space. So it was with that design - everything was simple and plain without getting in the way.
Hopefully this, and the next incarnation of TBOTAM, will be like that.
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