This area is reserved for my occasional ramblings and musings.
“Hey, Hey, Rise-Up!” released on 2022-04-08, is Pink Floyd’s first new song since 1994. It will be used to raise funds for humanitarian causes associated with the warin Ukraine. It samples Andriy Khlyvnyuk, a member of one of Ukraine’s biggest bands, BoomBox, singing in Sofiyskaya Square in Kyiv, in a video clip that went viral….
My wife is Hungarian. Like many folks in central Europe, Hungarians have a particular affinity for white storks. Even during the soviet era, lampposts often had huge plinths welded to the top, so that these massive wild birds can build their nests. Throughout the various COVID lock-downs my wife started following various European stork nests…
Today I took my Olympus C2500L camera for walk on Southampton Common.
One of the problems with modern life is the plethora of plug-in mains adaptors or “wall warts” as they call them on the other side of “The Pond”. Aside from the mess of wires, and the fact that often they are plugged into multi-gang power sockets an heaped on top of one another, building up…
According to Reuters, Britain is looking at whether it can use properties owned by sanctioned individuals in the country for humanitarian purposes. “I want to explore an option which would allow us to use the homes and properties of sanctioned individuals for as long as they are sanctioned for humanitarian and other purposes,” housing minister…
I belong to several online photography fora. One of the questions that repeatedly pops up is “what image editing software do you use?” and “what alternatives are there to Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom?” In this article, I hope to demonstrate that high quality image processing is perfectly possible using FOSS (free open source software). I will also…
Long Live Ukraine – a collection of Ukraine-related video-feeds, hyperlinks, newsfeeds, artwork and memes. Webcams Pictures A few of these are humorous memes. The rest serve as a painful reminder us of horrific human tragedy that is currently unfolding before our eyes. I plan to add to them as the conflict progresses. Links Links …
Just occasionally here in Britain we design and produce a product that is so simple, versatile and completely brilliant one wonders why no one thought of it before. The humble Benbo Trekker camera tripod is one such design. Whilst those expensive black plastic (aka “carbon fibre”) things everyone seems to be talking about look pretty…
As storm Eunice rages all around us here in Southern England, it seems my kid brother had a fairly narrow escape from disaster yesterday morning. He was driving north along the busy A34, where it splits with the A33, just north of Winchester, when a large tree blew down completely blocking the northbound carriageway. He…
Social networking platforms come and go. Does anyone remember Myspace? or Bebo? Granted, Facebook has enjoyed a longer run than most. But today saw parent company Meta’s shares plummet by a staggering $226 billion. That’s the biggest one-day loss for any US company, ever. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/03/facebook-stock-shares-meta-mark-zuckerberg This comes on top of news last month that a…
I had a pretty grim time recently trying to fix a “Flatpak public key error” on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Well KDE Neon to be more precise, but it’s underlying operating system is Ubuntu. I had been attempting a “user” mode installation of an application via Flatpak with no success. I installed Flatpak in the normal…
I recently purchased a new 20 TB Ultrastar hard disk that UK supplier Scan Computers has on special offer. The Ultrastar range is descended from IBM/Hitachi’s DeskStar series, has a five year warranty and it is considered a high-end high-spec product, intended for heavy server and NAS use. It is a helium filled disk and…
Coronavirus is still a big thing and the latest variant codenamed “omicron” is particularly infectious is causing clinicians great concern because of its rapid spread. We just managed to avoid another Christmas lock-down here in the UK. But another one is expected soon. So it seems Mr Goose may be stuck with loads more DIY…
I really like my Ulefone 3w ruggedised smartphone. But it is a bit of a “paving slab” to hold in one’s hand. Which makes it a tad awkward to use as a camera. So I looked around for a solution. i.e a well-made and solidly-built holder for my ruggedised smartphone, that would not break the…
“Is a smartphone a substitute for a proper camera?” was an interesting question, posed on a photographic forum to which I belong . It certainly got me thinking… Firstly, I think there is a certain element of “using the right tool for the job” here. An analogy if I may: one can (un)do most screws…
Well, the weather has perked up a bit, But we can’t actually go out and do very much because of coronavirus lockdown. So I thought Id take a few springtime snaps around the old homestead.
I decided to a bit of work in the garden yesterday afternoon. As I was clearing away some of the dead wood from some old tree stumps round the back of my shed, I came across these wee beasties. They were massive. Unfortunately they were a tad camera-shy, but before they curled up, they were…
The GNU/Linux family of operating systems (e.g. Debian, Fedora, KDE Neon, Kubuntu, LinuxMint, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Xubuntu et al) are not permitted to use the UNIX trademark. Instead, they are described as “unix-like“. In fact, the “GNU” in GNU/Linux (c/w the “G” in GIMP) is a recursive acronym meaning GNU’s not Unix. In a nutshell,…
Here are a few snaps taken as we installed Weather Station Aercus Weathersleuth WH24 External Sensor Cluster. It really needed to be up as high as possible, yet reasonably easy to maintain. It also needed to be clear of obstructions. Well, as clear as our postage-stamp sized backyard will allow. The only viable place was…
Raspberry π4 for ZoneMinder Part 1 – Raspberry π4 8GB for Zoneminder Part 2 – Update: Raspberry π4 8GB for Zoneminder Part 3 – Another update: Raspberry π4 for Zoneminder (you are here) My π4 Zoneminder has been running for just over two months. Overall I’m pretty happy with it. The main issue I had…
A lot of folks complaining that they have to go buy yet another set of USB leads, thanks to this newfangled USB C plug that’s come along. So what’s it all about and why do practically all new smartphones come equipped with it? Main reason is that it allows suitably equipped mobile devices to charge…
Now Chump has finally gone, I thought I should celebrate by posting a wee collection of Trump memes I have collected over the years. I plan to add to the collection from time-to-time, as I stumble across them.
There are many ways to break an SD slot, but a surprisingly common one is to jam a tiny piece of plastic it it that has snapped off from a damaged SD card. The tiny plastic dividers between an CD card’s contacts can snap off. I’ve had quite several cards do that over the years….
