Weather Alert!

It's new Gizmo time again!, doesn't seem long since the last one :-(

I have an interest in all things Weather, I think it's part of the English psyche.

My kids bought me a weather station about 5 years ago and, whilst it works fine and I use it daily, it doesn't give me the full weather picture. To monitor wind and rainfall requires a somewhat more substantial unit - hence me new Gizmo!

The La Crosse WS2350 Weather Station fits the bill, it includes all the outdoor bits for wind and rain measurement AND the ability to talk to my iMac computer and transfer data, a gizmo freak's dream!

Naturally, I have to invest in some new software to gather all this interesting data.

Running an iMac computer, whilst it's the undisputed Roll-Royce of desktops, it does limit the choice of software for niche applications such as this.

I looked at the three main contenders - the most popular was a cobbled-up version of the Windows edition :-( , but I settled on Lightsoft Weather Centre (LWC).

The communication from weather station unit to computer can be tricky as these units output a serial signal which has to be transposed into USB for all modern computers. A serial/USB (Heath Robinson brand) lead was supplied and, after finding a suitable driver to download, it worked fine!

The screen display is shown below:

It naturally follows that I'm now seriously happy in heavy rain or dangerous gusts of wind knowing that my charts will be enhanced by the peaks and troughs of our lovely British weather!

See Weather data from my station at the foot of this page!

I'm Tanked Up!

I've had an interest in Tropical fish since teenage years and have owned at least one tank ever since, I reached my piscatorial peak when a spare bedroom was turned into a fish room and 6 large tanks occupied one complete wallspace. A leak whilst away finally saw the room return to it's original use.

Since then I've dabbled with Discus - a difficult but beautiful Amazonian species, run a marine reef tank for a year or two before my conscience regarding the plundering of scarce natural resources lead me to convert the reef tank into a 40 gallon freshwater job.That one tank is still here after about 15 years - but now I have another:

A Fluval Edge!!

A very modern and controversial design - being a small glass cube filled entirely with 5 gallons of water except for a small opening in the top to allow filtered water to be circulated.

The size of this tank - Nano in fishkeeping jargon - only allows a few small fish to be kept as the golden rule is 1cm of fish per litre of water.

I have six White Cloud Mountain Minnows (Tanichthys albonubes) flashing around in it at present.

The very good filter system (an Aquaclear 100) was cycled for 17 days using ammonia before the introduction of the fish. This builds up the bacteria colonies necessary to deal with the natural waste products produced by the fish and plants.

So far everything is running well and the fish are lively and eating everything.

Thanks to my dear wife for a very nice Christmas Gift!

I'm a Pensioner - It's Official

I received my first State Pension payment last week, a feat unknown to the male Simpson line.

My Dad needed another 3 years, his father, Henry, managed 64, Robert reached 58, and John just scraped 50. So that makes me the oldest in 218 years (John was born in 1791)

I don't know whether to feel proud or senile.

Stirling Castle Simplified!

_MG_1539-Simplify.jpg
Originally uploaded by seejayess

This Post has been sent directly from Flickr. The photo was published from a new facility in Lightroom 3 Beta which has just been issued for testing - it connects directly with Flickr and post the image along with any comments - so I'm testing!
The image was tweaked in Topaz Simplify (hence the title), which is a Lightroom plugin that enables an image to be manipulated in many ways - including "arty" effects like pencil sketch and watercolour effects.

I'm hoping that the finalised issue of Lightroom 3 will have other Publishing facilities to sites like Photobucket.

From My Bed

Just found a new app. for my iPod for Blogger.
Lying in bed on a Thursday morning sipping green tea with the sun streaming in - everything a bloke could wish for!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod Touch

Living in the Conservatory!!

The kitchen is a re-plastered box. A facility that was the hub of the house has gone away for three weeks.
Imagine it (if you can). Every spare bit of space in the house crammed with kitchen content. The constant use of only two cups, plates, bowls and knives & forks repeatedly washed and dried in the downstairs loo. Breakfast in a conservatory already bulging with plants now supplemented with an ejected gas cooker, part of the previous worktop perched on the dining table serving as the new hub of meal activity. The luxury of a dinner at the local Brewer's Fare is the highlight of the week.
Sleep deprivation on a gargantuan scale - tradesmen arriving at silly times like 8-30 in the morning ( a time unknown to me since retirement eons ago), the repeated hourly tea mashing ceremony to satisfy their thirst coupled with the new experience of Smooth FM accompanied by the occasional, loud warbleings of the fame-starved plumber/electrician/gas fitter.
The end of June can't come soon enough!

Snow!! - like it used to be

Here in sunny Carlton we don't get snow, or at least we haven't had a decent drop since moving here in '83.
This brings the memories of my Sheffield childhood back, late nights in the dark sledging down main road hills without any traffic, chilblains and steaming socks in front of a coal fire.
The kids round here under the age of 6 won't have seen anything like this and are out in force making huge snowballs and being a nuisance to old folk who resent not having a sledge anymore :-(

Terror Bite!

My seemingly reliable Maxtor One-Touch 750 Gb backup drive has ceased to be.

A customer enters a pet shop.

Mr. Praline: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.

(The owner does not respond.)

Mr. Praline: 'Ello, Miss?

Owner: What do you mean "miss"?

Mr. Praline: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!

Owner: We're closin' for lunch.

Mr. Praline: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.

Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?

Mr. Praline: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

Owner: No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting.

Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.

Owner: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!

Mr. Praline: The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.

Owner: Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting!

Mr. Praline: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up! (shouting at the cage) 'Ello, Mister Polly Parrot! I've got a lovely fresh cuttle fish for you if you
show...

(owner hits the cage)

Owner: There, he moved!

Mr. Praline: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the cage!

Owner: I never!!

Mr. Praline: Yes, you did!

Owner: I never, never did anything...

Mr. Praline: (yelling and hitting the cage repeatedly) 'ELLO POLLY!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!

(Takes parrot out of the cage and thumps its head on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)

Mr. Praline: Now that's what I call a dead parrot.

Owner: No, no.....No, 'e's stunned!

Mr. Praline: STUNNED?!?

Owner: Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin' up! Norwegian Blues stun easily, major.

Mr. Praline: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour
ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.

Owner: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for the fjords.

Mr. Praline: PININ' for the FJORDS?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did he fall flat on his back the moment I got 'im home?

Owner: The Norwegian Blue prefers keepin' on it's back! Remarkable bird, id'nit, squire? Lovely plumage!

Mr. Praline: Look, I took the liberty of examining that parrot when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been sitting on its perch in the
first place was that it had been NAILED there.

(pause)

Owner: Well, o'course it was nailed there! If I hadn't nailed that bird down, it would have nuzzled up to those bars, bent 'em apart with its beak, and
VOOM! Feeweeweewee!

Mr. Praline: "VOOM"?!? Mate, this bird wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! 'E's bleedin' demised!

Owner: No no! 'E's pining!

Mr. Praline: 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e
rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the
bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!

(pause)

Owner: Well, I'd better replace it, then. (he takes a quick peek behind the counter) Sorry squire, I've had a look 'round the back of the shop, and uh,
we're right out of parrots.

Mr. Praline: I see. I see, I get the picture.

Owner: I got a slug.

(pause)

Mr. Praline: Pray, does it talk?

Owner: Nnnnot really.

Mr. Praline: WELL IT'S HARDLY A BLOODY REPLACEMENT, IS IT?!!???!!?

Owner: N-no, I guess not. (gets ashamed, looks at his feet)

Mr. Praline: Well.

(pause)

Owner: (quietly) D'you.... d'you want to come back to my place?

Mr. Praline: (looks around) Yeah, all right, sure.

So . . . . naturally I've had to replace it to satisfy the Wonderful Apple Time Machine that resides on the iMac.

It's successor is the Iomega Minimax 1Tb external Hard Drive.

I hope it's a bit more reliable than the Maxtor!

You Knew I Would!

I've got the Touch!, 'couldn't resist the blighter - just a little electronic marvel.  Mind you, I did have the decency to wait 'till after Christmas in case somebody gave me one.  

It's now steadily filling with all sorts of apps, some great, some not but it's just fun (or as Apple puts it "The Funnest iPod of all!")

As you can see below I can blog from anywhere using a neat bit of iPod software, I'm reading most of my Mail before I get out of bed along with the weather and The Independant.

In fact apart from meals and ablutions I might as well stay under the covers 'till Spring :-)

http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/8509/

 

Blogging from under the quilt!

Found a nifty app to use with my new gizmo - more of that later. It allows me to text to my blog using my new IPOD TOUCH.
So I can now compose from anywhere within range of the home network, or out and about in public wi-fi areas.
Cool!
So it's after midnight and I'm in bed blogging :-).

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.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

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.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

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 :-}