Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The other garden centre at Almondsbury
The LHC as a weapon system
The Large Hadron Collider would make an excellent weapon system if it wasn't inconveniently buried 500 feet beneath the French-Swiss border. Read more here.
We saw the film "The Way" yesterday afternoon at the Wells Film Centre. This is a charming, slightly sentimental film about the great pilgrimage route, El Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) in northern Spain. I seem to be the only one who had never heard of it.
Here is the plot synopsis from Wikipedia. The main protagonist, Tom, is played by Martin Sheen and his son, Daniel, is played by Martin's real-life son, Emilio Estevez who wrote, produced and directed.
Tom is an American doctor who goes to France following the death of his adult son, killed in the Pyrenees during a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago, a Christian pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, also known as The Way of St. James. Tom's purpose is initially to retrieve his son's body. However, in a combination of grief and homage to his son, Tom decides to walk the same ancient spiritual trail where his son died in order to understand his son better. While walking The Camino, Tom meets others from around the world (three in particular), all broken and looking for greater meaning in their lives.
During his travels, Tom discovers the meaning of one of the last things his son said (in a flashback) to his father: that there is a difference between "the life we live and the life we choose."
---
I was up early this morning as Adrian has started temporary work in a local cheese factory, deep in the countryside north of Castle Cary, about 12 miles from here. It was a 7.15 a.m. start for Adrian but he'll be driving himself tomorrow when his car insurance commences ...
We saw the film "The Way" yesterday afternoon at the Wells Film Centre. This is a charming, slightly sentimental film about the great pilgrimage route, El Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) in northern Spain. I seem to be the only one who had never heard of it.
Here is the plot synopsis from Wikipedia. The main protagonist, Tom, is played by Martin Sheen and his son, Daniel, is played by Martin's real-life son, Emilio Estevez who wrote, produced and directed.
Tom is an American doctor who goes to France following the death of his adult son, killed in the Pyrenees during a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago, a Christian pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, also known as The Way of St. James. Tom's purpose is initially to retrieve his son's body. However, in a combination of grief and homage to his son, Tom decides to walk the same ancient spiritual trail where his son died in order to understand his son better. While walking The Camino, Tom meets others from around the world (three in particular), all broken and looking for greater meaning in their lives.
During his travels, Tom discovers the meaning of one of the last things his son said (in a flashback) to his father: that there is a difference between "the life we live and the life we choose."
---
I was up early this morning as Adrian has started temporary work in a local cheese factory, deep in the countryside north of Castle Cary, about 12 miles from here. It was a 7.15 a.m. start for Adrian but he'll be driving himself tomorrow when his car insurance commences ...
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Tor Hill
Clare and Adrian at the top of Tor Hill this morning, before the clouds rolled in with more rain. [Click on image for a larger view].
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Sky Sports success
While we were visiting my mother in Bristol yesterday, the backroom folk at BT Vision were toiling away trying to get Sky Sports 1 &2 and ESPN to work on our new BT Vision system. I got a call on my new smartphone around midday - Craig said that they had downloaded some new systems software to the BT Vision box and as a result the smart-card enabled channels were now working. I didn't really believe him.
At 4.30 pm we were back home and of course my pessimism was unfounded: in glorious video we were able to watch the last hour of the England vs. Sri Lanka second test (it was a draw). So thanks, Craig! And thanks for calling back at 6.30 pm to check it was all working.
We are using all the functions of the BT Vision box:
1. I recorded The Archers in advance and Clare heard it later.
2. We were going to be late for Springwatch so I set it to record from 8 pm and then Clare started watching the recording at 8.10 (yes, you can record and watch a programme at the same time).
3. We watched a Video-on-Demand programme from The Discovery Channel on the Meredith Kercher murder trial this morning.
4. We used the Pause/Resume button on a programme we were looking at yesterday. Bonus - you can fast-forward through the adverts.
Two criticisms. Firstly, the design of the set-top box is bulky and old-fashioned; does it really need to be so large? Secondly, I find the menu structure cluttered and confusing. Apart from that the service brings a tranche of new functionality we're finding really useful.
At 4.30 pm we were back home and of course my pessimism was unfounded: in glorious video we were able to watch the last hour of the England vs. Sri Lanka second test (it was a draw). So thanks, Craig! And thanks for calling back at 6.30 pm to check it was all working.
We are using all the functions of the BT Vision box:
1. I recorded The Archers in advance and Clare heard it later.
2. We were going to be late for Springwatch so I set it to record from 8 pm and then Clare started watching the recording at 8.10 (yes, you can record and watch a programme at the same time).
3. We watched a Video-on-Demand programme from The Discovery Channel on the Meredith Kercher murder trial this morning.
4. We used the Pause/Resume button on a programme we were looking at yesterday. Bonus - you can fast-forward through the adverts.
Two criticisms. Firstly, the design of the set-top box is bulky and old-fashioned; does it really need to be so large? Secondly, I find the menu structure cluttered and confusing. Apart from that the service brings a tranche of new functionality we're finding really useful.
Monday, June 06, 2011
Magical Thinking about the Big Bang
The editor at sciencefiction.com sent me a link to a video a little while back, suggesting it might be worth an article. I had no idea what was in store, but then this.
BT Vision
BT Vision arrived today in shrink-wrapped boxes. First I junked my old and trusty NetGear router and replaced it with the new BT Hub. So much junk on their installation CD - they are STILL trying to force you into their ghastly BT-Yahoo mail and various rubbish toolbars. Surely they must now be rueing that ill-fated tie-up.
After having my hard driver cluttered with God-knows-how-many Megabytes of unwanted "extra features", I was eventually released from screen-thrall to discover how to configure the hub itself (not easy to find, BT!) and thus set the password to what I wanted.
The Powerline devices were easy. This is how BT trucks the Video-on-Demand from the HomeHub to the TV set - through the mains cabling. The two Powerline devices simply plug into the wall and connect via Ethernet cabling to their clients (HomeHub and Vision box respectively).
The Vision Box itself was relatively easy to wire up, but erratic to make work. Too many minutes staring at blank screens wondering if anything was actually happening. Sometimes I thought it was on, but it was on standby ... purple and blue look rather similar, BT. That wasted half an hour.
The Sky viewing card failed to work. After an hour I called technical support in India, and they confirmed a fault and have escalated to 'back office'. I await developments.
So far though, the basic Vision functionality looks good. I did a quick 'catch-up TV' experiment and the programme - streamed over the Internet - looked just fine. We were late with dinner and as Clare nursed a burned hand (retrieving something way too hot from the oven) we daudled and were late for the cricket on Channel 5. No problem! I just paused it, and then resumed it at 7.30 pm when Clare and Adrian were ready to watch.
And someone has to do the washing up ...
After having my hard driver cluttered with God-knows-how-many Megabytes of unwanted "extra features", I was eventually released from screen-thrall to discover how to configure the hub itself (not easy to find, BT!) and thus set the password to what I wanted.
The Powerline devices were easy. This is how BT trucks the Video-on-Demand from the HomeHub to the TV set - through the mains cabling. The two Powerline devices simply plug into the wall and connect via Ethernet cabling to their clients (HomeHub and Vision box respectively).
The Vision Box itself was relatively easy to wire up, but erratic to make work. Too many minutes staring at blank screens wondering if anything was actually happening. Sometimes I thought it was on, but it was on standby ... purple and blue look rather similar, BT. That wasted half an hour.
The Sky viewing card failed to work. After an hour I called technical support in India, and they confirmed a fault and have escalated to 'back office'. I await developments.
So far though, the basic Vision functionality looks good. I did a quick 'catch-up TV' experiment and the programme - streamed over the Internet - looked just fine. We were late with dinner and as Clare nursed a burned hand (retrieving something way too hot from the oven) we daudled and were late for the cricket on Channel 5. No problem! I just paused it, and then resumed it at 7.30 pm when Clare and Adrian were ready to watch.
And someone has to do the washing up ...
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Another hurdle jumped over!
This post crafted on the new smartphone itself. The soft keyboard is easier to use than the slide-out one. Ironic in that I made great efforts to go for the "real" keyboard. The soft version has really smart typo correction.
Anyway, the TV is talking about Cheryl Cole back on the US X-Factor so I must leave you now ...
Anyway, the TV is talking about Cheryl Cole back on the US X-Factor so I must leave you now ...
Saturday, June 04, 2011
New smartphone (continued)
Clare has suggested that my new HTC Desire Z is the biggest threat to our marriage yet. She has caught me looking at it surreptiously in the pub, checking to see whether its WiFi function has logged on to the free WiFi there.
It is an amazing device. The manual is well over 200 pages and I have so far discovered that it can leverage its 3G data connection to serve as a local WiFi hotspot. The GPS works and has us down to the right street number. I have now installed Skype, LinkedIn and DropBox as apps - I'm checking The Economist app for android right now.
Through the HTC website, the phone can be found if lost or stolen, the device can be locked or in a worst-case scenario all of its contents can be erased from the laptop.
The phone really leverages Google's approach to cloud computing which makes Microsoft's worldview essentially obsolete. I know we all know this, but using a smartphone makes that abstract knowledge very real. The future of computing is no doubt to be more like smartphones, which means more app-centric (reminding me of the object-oriented paradigm).
Nokia, such a dumb move to seek your salvation through an alliance with Microsoft!
It is an amazing device. The manual is well over 200 pages and I have so far discovered that it can leverage its 3G data connection to serve as a local WiFi hotspot. The GPS works and has us down to the right street number. I have now installed Skype, LinkedIn and DropBox as apps - I'm checking The Economist app for android right now.
Through the HTC website, the phone can be found if lost or stolen, the device can be locked or in a worst-case scenario all of its contents can be erased from the laptop.
The phone really leverages Google's approach to cloud computing which makes Microsoft's worldview essentially obsolete. I know we all know this, but using a smartphone makes that abstract knowledge very real. The future of computing is no doubt to be more like smartphones, which means more app-centric (reminding me of the object-oriented paradigm).
Nokia, such a dumb move to seek your salvation through an alliance with Microsoft!
Thursday, June 02, 2011
HTC Desire Z mobile phone
My new phone arrived this morning, and the Sony-Ericsson K750i has been hand-me-downed to Adrian. I am in the familiar positionn of vaguely knowing how it works but of not being able to do anything of importance. For example:
* Making my home page Google rather than the annoying htc default they've configured in their under-powered browser.
* Importing my browser favourites.
* Installing Skype and Dropbox.
Still, the GPS impressed me, placing me exactly where I know I am in Wells!
Tomorrow is a day with the manual.
---
Clare update: she's continuing to improve but the phone call from the Taunton hospital pathology lab today merely announced that they had not completed tests and that we are to wait perhaps another week. The preliminary results are consistent with previous indications, however. The prospects of follow-up radiotherapy seem stronger, though.
* Making my home page Google rather than the annoying htc default they've configured in their under-powered browser.
* Importing my browser favourites.
* Installing Skype and Dropbox.
Still, the GPS impressed me, placing me exactly where I know I am in Wells!
Tomorrow is a day with the manual.
---
Clare update: she's continuing to improve but the phone call from the Taunton hospital pathology lab today merely announced that they had not completed tests and that we are to wait perhaps another week. The preliminary results are consistent with previous indications, however. The prospects of follow-up radiotherapy seem stronger, though.
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