Meercat Study

The Meercat is a very endearing creature. In spite of being the star of many a wildlife safari on the telly, it has a capacity to always fascinate people. This particular animal was photographed at Chester Zoo and seemed totally preoccupied with skygazing. I think that he was actally on lookout duty while the rest of the family snoozed.
Canon 40D with 70-200 f4L, hand held.

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Flock Testing!

I'm trying another web Browser - Flock. It's got some interesting attributes not least of which is its' ability to upload data such as blogs and images directly to subscribed websites.
I've successfully used it on Photobucket so now I'm trying it here.

Michelangelo's David after a recent vacation in Miami.

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Watch This!

My Seiko self-powered gizmo watch is starting to feel it's age.

Movement of the wrist generates the power which is stored in a capacitor.

In spite of walking 100 miles a day and swinging my left arm vigourously,

 I can't generate enough power to keep the blighter going overnight.

Excuse to buy another gizmo!!

Enter the Citizen Eco-Drive E3100 SOLAR POWERED gizmo watch.

Pretty Neat Eh?

I've Got A Tattoo!!

We've just returned from Scotland having visited Glasgow and Edinburgh. The prime reason was to visit the Edinburgh Tattoo.

We were based in Glasgow at the Crowne Plaza Hotel just across the river Clyde from BBC Scotland and the Science and Imax Centres.  Not having stayed in Glasgow before I was very impressed with the area around the hotel. Very modern and impressive architecture alongside some historical areas preserved from the old shipbuilding days.

The Tattoo itself proved to be a really great experience with a very international content.  Edinburgh was absolutely packed with tourists from all over the world, brought together not only by the tattoo but the Edinburgh festival with all the Fringe shows

The view from our hotel looked straight down the Clyde towards the old dock area still with the shipbuilding cranes reaching for the sky

We were expecting to get a soaking at the Tattoo but the evening was dry and calm.  The picture right shows the finale with the whole cast and a firework display.

The G9 is Mine!

Yes it's Gizmo Time again!

My latest acquisition is the Canon Sureshot G9.

Canon's flagship compact that's  aimed at enthusiasts (like me) and the pro market as a carry-everywhere backup to an SLR system.

I think this say's it all . . . . 

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong9/

Back From A Broad!

Not really abroad but the Norfolk Broads. We've just spent two great weeks cruising just about the entire Norfolk broad map. 

Starting in Wroxham aboard our mate Jim's boat, Forget-me-not, we navigated south through Yarmouth and spent the first week on the south side of Breydon Water.  A couple of days were spent at Oulton Broad and on the Thursday evening we watched the power boat racing.  This is the first time I've spent a fortnight on the Broads and I must have had about 10 such holidays over the years.

The weather was generally excellent apart from the first couple of days which were cold and windy at times.

The bird population seems to me to have increased substantially since my early years in Norfolk in the early sixties.

This can be partially explained by the thriving fish and insect numbers.  All yachts and cruisers no longer discharge sewage into the water as

they did back then and, as a result, the water is much cleaner.  The other factor may be that there is less river traffic now, Hire fleets are smaller and there are less of them.  It's become an expensive holiday to hire a large cruiser for six or eight people now and a holiday abroad can be cheaper.

For me, it's the uniqueness of a cruising holiday that attracts, there's nothing quite like waking on a summers morning for breakfast on a beautiful stretch of river or listening to the natural sounds on a peaceful evening.

We saw Otters for the first time too, after travelling north and mooring at Neatishead staithe near Barton Broad, we were surprised to see an Otter patrolling the margins in the early morning quite unconcerned with our presence on the boat nearby.  Apparently this is becoming a fairly common sight in some areas of Broadland.

The only trouble with this type of holiday is that it takes me two or three days to get used to sleeping on a boat bunk and about twice as long to get used to sleeping back home afterwards, often waking at night thinking I was still afloat. An altogether wonderful relaxing break from the rigours of retirement. 

I Just Love See-Through Gizmos!

I wish my Canon EOS40D had a transparent casing. I can't get enough of those little circuit boards and capacitors. I think it all stems from my teenage years when transistor radio kits were just coming in and you could build your own. That lovely smell of hot solder and plastic covered wiring . . . I suppose it's not really practical 'cos I've just realized that a see-through case would let the light in all the time and spoil the show altogether . . . pity.

Health Warning!!

Following the article below I have to report a serious side-effect from playng Nintendo Wii Sports.  My Significant Other has a hamstring injury from an over-enthusiastic Ten Pin Bowling session. She's now learning the art of playing without bending any knees!  In the process she's become a better player than yours truly and amassed a record score of 195 whilst standing perfectly vertical . . I give up!

I may be retired, but I'm cutting edge . . .

The Nintendo Wii is not just for teenies. I'm not a huge computer game player, I appreciate the fantastic graphics and sound now achieved in the latest software games but until now I've never felt the urge to purchase the hardware.

The unique approach by Nintendo in incorporating an interactive remote that describes its own position in space to the console and enables the player to interact with the TV screen by playing games and "sports" in a way that wasn't previously possible. The Wii Sports software provided free with the kit incorporates Ten Pin Bowling and the control provided by the remote gives a very passable impression of the real thing - bringing back memories of my youth in the bowling alleys of Sheffield. The more you practice the better you get, direction control and spin application are skills that can be developed - along with a modicum of physical exercise (just like the real thing my legs were tortured for a day or two at first). There is also a fitness section which presents you with small snippets of several physical activities and measures your input. My first efforts fully reflected my age group but I've recently improved to a 40 year old! - I'm liking Wii even more :-)

Now I've succumbed and bought my first "proper" game - Super Mario Galaxy - one of the latest from Nintendo and hailed as one of the best, time will tell if my enthusiasm is still undiminished in a month or so.

It seems the sales of Nintendo Wii units have outsold the combined efforts of Sony (Playstation) and Microsoft (X-Box) over the last few months so that must say something!

Well Wadya Know!!

It does work so I feel a daily blog addition happening from now on :-}

Test Post from Mac Widget on desktop

This little widget sits on my iMac desktop and contains a text window that enables me to post a blog direct - hope it works!

Talking of Big Macs

 . . i've got one!!, not the lovely squidgy-munchy thing I'm only allowed after I've just had major surgery (see below) . . but the lovely cool aluminium and glass one piece iMac super computer that Apple designed along with the iPod and iPhone.  

Coming from an MS Windows world into the OS X Leopard environment is not exactly straight forward - it's probably akin to suddenly driving on the right side of the road with one hand in your pocket - tricky but you can get used to it .

One of the biggest differences, to me, is the way programmes are uninstalled.  Windows demands either using the programm's uninstall utility or firing up control panel, asking it for the Add/Remove software bit then waiting 5 minutes while a list of possible uninstalls is compiled.

Lepoard doesn't mess around like that! - you just drag the offending programme executable thing, kicking and screaming, to the Trash Can , that's it!!

Another immediate impact is the boot-up time, this iMac takes 15 seconds to sit there ready with tail wagging and loyal upward stare.  My previous Windows PC's allowed enough time to microwave my morning porridge and mash a cuppa even after logging in.

In my usual fashion with new technology I've bought a couple of books to ease the transition but after only 2 weeks I'm rarely referring to them.

The REALLY cool parts of BIG iMac are :

1) The wonderful 24" screen which allows digital photo manipulation the way it should be  

2) The fact that all the computer guts are in the screen housing so no great box to cope with.

3) Complete quiet - can't hear any fans although there are 3 tucked inside.

4) A very cool keyboard made from one piece of aluminium with an extra USB port in each end.

5) Virus free - no antivirus checker needed - as there 'ain't any to combat :-)

Whilst the iMac sound reasonable with its built-in speakers I've added a pair of the extraordinary Creative Gigaworks T20's to bring the sound up to par.

I haven't mentioned the built-in camera and microphone, bluetooth and wi-fi (it connected to my home wireless network immediately) so although it's fairly large and heavy I can put it in any room and use internet facilities by just plugging (the single plug) in.

I'm a Mac convert already