Sunday 8 November 2015

Early Days With a Lytro First Gen Camera

Bought myself a first generation Lytro camera of Amazon a couple of days ago.... basically liked the idea, but not the price, for a while now......

Logic in buying was that the price has been slashes to a pittance of its former loftiness and I was hooked...

Very strange, long, little square box with the lens at one end and a tiny, dodgy, screen at the other...

May post specs/photos later but its easy enough to find these on line and, for the mo, this is just post is just to keep track of the learning curve of blurred and "what the F*** is that" photo's I'm taking whilst learning.

First day's were all pretty much useless as just snapping away to sort how you actually frame these "living" photos.... You do have to rethink things somewhat.... a sound knowledge of photography helps up to a point and then you start thinking in 3D and stuff just starts to work..

2nd day photo of the little fox bronze in the courtyard off the high street in Stowmarket seem the best to date... if you have not seen one of these before... just click on the snowman's belly to refocus on him.... drag your cursor around to move.. or just press play... Have fun.

Well that was fun getting the photo on here.... future ref... ignore the info on the Lytro page and just switch to HTML and enter embodied code.. switch back to Compose and its there.... (Useful info for other "Lytro" Blogger users - make sure you have a couple of text lines below the embodied code link or you cant enter any as the player just keeps kicking in when you hit enter to start new text line.. had to go back into HTML to add an extra text line below and then the Compose page worked as normal)

Well its been a few days now.. but the weather here is just.... wet...so not to many pictures..  still getting to grips with the composition and separation of subjects..

Danger... Mechanic's at Work... 


Badger Motorcycles.... Doug (in front) is a very talented motorcycle builder... might be a small, out of the way, workshop but every now and then, amongst the bread and butter servicing etc, out rolls a work of art...

Kevin, looking on, has an idea or three on how to.... lets say "improve" his motorcycle... Will see if he lets me take a few shots of the finished bike...

The picture is starting to look right... several things going on, nice separation between subjects and plenty on things to click on... Minimal or cluttered shots do seem to work better than "middle of the road" ones

Might need to try a mono/tripod as leaning my hands are non to steady these days and the shot is not as sharp as I would like....

 My little Sage Statue...

Nice sharp photo for a "just hold my hand near the ground and see what I get" shot


The Led light in front was better shown in another shot but this was the sharper shot.. Not a lot of depth but it does work well when you click on the trellis... so learning that contrasting textures and colour have an effect.

Realising that these cameras need good light for the best results so may well invest in an Led ring light... Might as well start with a cheap Chinese job of flea bay...

Have seen some very cheap little, square, Go Pro led/usb lights, not very bright but might just be enough in a macro situation...

20/12/2015.. Playing with the Photo Editor

Realising that there is a lot more to Lytro pictures than just point - shoot - publish...... The editor built into the desktop app is a vital part of the process.... The odd little, or sometimes major, changes can really enhance the photo...

The edit options seem simple but have such a vast effect on the picture that it can quickly become a mess.... but the "restore to defaults" button at the bottom means that nothing is ever unrecoverable so try everything form max to min.... see what happens.... and restore if it does not work....

For me the first option that simply just worked was "Tilt" and "Rotation". Tilt alters the front to rear
aspect and rotation alters the angle of the depth of field aspect.... example..



Using just the "tilt" option so the depth of field worked from front to back did not rally do anything for this shot but adding "rotation" so it worked from the bottom left corner of the shot to the top right hand corner and the whole thing really starts to come together....

Having the two blue items in focus along the, drawn to, eye line of the paving slab edge just. simply, looks better....


Don't worry about messing things up.... as maxing out the "temperature" setting. just to see what happened.... I ended up with this..



Now this might not be the best shot in the world but, for me, it just kinda works "as is"... Even though the original sky colour was a crisp clear blue...

Using "tilt" on this shot just did not work.. the post in the foreground just went really weird, almost hourglass, looking....

No post in this one...  just for colour comparison...


Using The "crop" effect can usually enhance any photo, and it is no different with the Lytro


The original had, pretty much, the whole cross as a foreground.... but cropping down to highlight the discolouration/patina made it pop...

I know these are not the best shots in the world... but snapping away at anything that looks like it might work is the way to go with the Lytro... as you learn more by taking an everyday photo and making it a great one than you do by just trying for that perfect shot.. They will happen.... some because of your "eye" and some that seem nothing when you take them..... but make you go "wow" later....

And finally... for now.... What is level...

There was a car parked in front of the gate and I had to look into the Lytro's tiny screen at an angle... so I was not as square on as I thought....

But the more I look at it, with the intention of going back and taking a better shot, the more it works as the pathway trees are, pretty well, vertical...

Used tilt on this shot as, even thought the "gates" are in the same plain, it brought out.... emphasised the dates, and the sentiment, better.

One of my better photo's, to date, that show of the Lytro's capabilities....

23/12/2015 Out in the Sunshine
The main drawback, I find, of the first gen Lytro is the fixed 1/250 speed. I know there is a lot of latitude within the shot but on cloudy days, or shooting indoors, getting a nice bright colourful shot is far from easy.....

So with the sun shining bright in the sky today I went out to the Cafe at Onehouse, Suffolk.

Bad timing as it had just closed when I arrived.... much to the amusement of the owners... who are in fact, my neighbours....

Still quite like this shot..

Using "rotation" helped to shift depth of field axis so it runs from the top left corner to the bottom right.... It really separated the blue swing seat, making it the focal point, and was well pleased that you could still read the "lakeside" sign when refocused...

As for the lake itself.... its a small but very picturesque fishing lake.... So a shot just had to be taken...

Just set this to F16 as it looks good just as is.... but it does prove the point that.... if the lights right, so is the Lytro....  as the shot is only spoilt by my, slight, camera shake.... must get a tripod or graph on some steadier hands...

Well that's my shots to date... Hope you are having fun taking yours....

Friday 6 November 2015

50 Years of Motoring... Not so much a Guide to Avoiding Idiots... Rather a Series of Observations

50 years of avoiding the loonies out there....  don't know how... just, mostly, have....

Actually started driving cars at 8 and motorcycles by 9 years old so that's a couple more years to tag on... Oh the joys of  growing up in a scrap yard... Didn't matter if you crashed because they were being scrapped anyway and its so much better to learn you craft out in the field than be a damn nuisance poodling about on the road, whilst doing kangaroo impressions..

First Observation... Confidence.
Driving a car or riding a motorcycle requires confidence... in truth the vast amount of experience needed to have to ability do either well is purely down to confidence.... you think you can and you can.. (self doubt kills you just as quickly as inexperience)

But the tricky part is the amount of confidence... to much and your over-confident and your in a ditch saying (Ill let you choose the comment - but my favourite is "well that did not go as planned")...


The right amount means that you get to where your going without falling off the road or into someone else.... And.... you learnt something new along the way..... i.e. you can rear wheel steer around that corner at legal speeds.. Its all about keeping it inside your natural abilities....

Not like, as some people do.... and Mr Hammond did.....  say "I am a driving God" and then crash... mind you still love Mr Clarksons quote of " slide through those pearly gates... backwards and on fire..." which, again, you may well do through over confidence..

Or your under-confident and your siting at a T junction waiting for the road to be absolutely clear before pulling out, whilst behind you is a flotilla of horns going of...

Or you are afraid to drive in town... or even out of town... Motorways.... Narrow roads that have tight bends...... etc... etc.. etc...

Under-confidence limits your abilities and the enjoyment of motoring...  It also increases you chances of saying "never had an accident but seen several in the rear view mirror"

One of my Aunts used to take her hands of the steering wheel and cover her eyes if she found herself going over 40.. I kid you not....

Second Observation... Skill/Technique

Again, in truth, confidence is all that is required to drive on empty, normal, roads... but skill is the thing you learn over time.... and you need when there is any other traffic, obstacles, potholes and sheep about..... (don't hit a cow.... you might not have allot of car left)

you cant rush it..... you will either have a crash or will cause one....

You cant buy it.... you can pay for lessons to speed it up... but have known more than a few people who have proudly said "this guy has no idea" when referring to an instructor .... because they think they know better....   That comment looks, real, good on a headstone as they, themselves, are the ones with no idea...

You can only learn up to your natural reaction speed.... The brain takes half  a second to react to something new...  So its mechanism to get round this is automatic reactions... you do something a few times and then the brain says "OK got that.. when I see/feel/hear that... I do this".... instantaneously and then takes it a step further and says "this is new but its similar to...." and the auto reaction kicks in.

First time the back end steps out its, shall we say, entertaining.... but the next you just turn into it without thinking... that's automatic reactions.... the more you drive/ride the more automatic it becomes.... and if your brain is wired right you can end up a stunt rider with ease.... well with a lot of practise and a mountain of cardboard boxes...

But if its not important to you to be a better driver/rider as motoring is "just a form of transit" then the brain gets bored and switches off the auto react and just goes into a lazy autopilot mode... which means when something happens out side your normal "comfort" range... you crash or crash into.

An example of all of the above is my personal pet hate number 23 (and yes there are anymore)...

Just watch a tailgater on the dual carriageway... easily recognisable by lack of distance to the car/bike in front of him and the brake lights are on when the one in front are not...

- Overconfident in Abilities and Reactions while Underestimating the Surrounding Conditions -

 (To be honest you should never use your brakes on a dual carriageway... look far enough ahead... keep a sensible gap... and just lift you foot off the accelerator and, just, use engine braking)

Third Observation... Anger

Don't care how good a driver/rider you may be you get angry and your abilities go sky high but your survivability goes to zero..

Yes I have seen some of my friends ride faster and better than there natural abilities allow.. but you become focused... single minded... and that's just simply dangerous... deadly even...

If some moron pulls out in front of you and you don't need to brake then why get angry... If someone pulls out in front of me and floors it... could not give a monkeys...

If that moron pulled out and you did have to brake the just be glad you missed him as getting angry and shouting obscenities often just gets you rear ended because you forgot to move again...

If the moron pulled out and you hit him.... don't get angry... just get the phone out and photograph everything...... LISTEN.. don't verbalise... you will be £'s better off in the end... mind you you may need that punching bag hung up the garage when you get home...

Fourth Observation.... Indifference

Why do most accidents happen within half a mile of home or a workplace.... Indifference.... "I always turn here so why do I need to indicate!" being my pet hate number 16....

The "you should know where I'm going" brigade do my head in. Longest I ever worked at one place was 15 years... and always indicated to turn in... but, as there were thousands who worked at Cranes, hundreds, everyday, did not.... kept the factory nurse busy anyway...

Fifth Observation.... Perception

The ability to be aware of your surroundings... More and more drivers these days are not...

Pet hate number 19.... Slip Lanes..... especially the one at the bottom of the A140 where it joins the A14.... nearly been killed there on many an occasion....

I'm coming up the slip lane behind someone.... were doing 60/60+ already.... I look over my shoulder/in the mirror... to check the gap... and when I look forward again the car in front is braking.. violently..... THE LORRY CAN NOT DO 60.....    but he still panics and brakes rather than just carry on onto the carriageway...

I'm swerving up the inside of him... the lorry driver is laughing his head off... and the car driver, now stopped, need five times the gap before he can pull out again...

A really good trick/habit is to assume that someone is going to suddenly appear and pull out of every junction you pass..... and the thing is to think "where can I go"... it that gate open... is the pavement clear... that hedge is softer than the brick wall...  anything is better than hitting something head on..

And in truth I have had to resort to driveways a couple of times rather than have a collision.

Never ever think "it will not happen to me" for the universal truth that is "Its never if it happens... its simply when.."

Anyway as I said at the start.... Not a "survivors" guide just random notes of the journey..

Would I love to do another 50.. not sure... to many cars and to few major roads to run them on.... but its all academic really as I know the Fuchs' Dystrophy will kick in one day soon and that will be that....

Be careful out there....
P

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Milestone...

Hi All

Thank you for reading my Blog....

It is now showing 999 page views....

So the first person to read this will be the 1,000th reader..

Congrats to you whoever you are because I never thought that it would reach 100!

Highest post by far is the Keis Chicane Heated Grips Review... Hope it helped people make up their minds on buying a pair or not.... I now I love mine...

Well here's to the  next 1000

And a big THANK YOU to all my readers, as someone once said..

Wednesday 9 September 2015

Quiet War and loss of Identity..

The loss of the little boy on the beach is saddening but no more so than the hundreds of others who have drowned and guilt is just one of the weapons being used by the sections, on both sides, of this "invasion" who have their own agenda.

All these men coming here.. how long before they demand there families follow.... they have already started to demand that women here cover their arms and legs..... they already ignore our values, already burn our religious texts and ignore laws they are fully aware of.

They see a society who's leaders are so far up their own backsides that the light of common sense cannot be seen and are just walking in.... no wooden horses.... no weapons, other than words, but time will tell on that one...

Don't really know what you call this... its not a cold war... its not a silent war.... its nearer to a quiet war where our values are slowly eroded by the cry of "it offends me" and we mutely give in...  Not that the common man is being quiet but the more he complains the more he is being silenced by those who cant see past the £ sign.

I have always asked "why" (actually love the "5 Whys" idea started by Sakichi Toyoda) as the need to understand both side, the whole picture, of a situation is paramount in finding the best solution/answer...

There is war and oppression in some parts of the world and I can see the effects of this in the eyes of the few.... but not in the eyes of the many.... Those come more for financial reasons in increasing there income and reducing our resistance to the end game...

You must take more refugees, says the EU..... Why.... Why is this the only option.... Is it simply they are to scared to make another balls up like the WMD debacle and just accepting mass migration is an easier answer... because its not...  Grow a pair and help them in there own country... Russia is...

You offer rewards for reaching the EU countries and then wonder why so many come... and keep coming, surly this must prove something about your flawed logic. You see a cheaper workforce.. they see a sugar daddy....

Karl Marx described money as the "Universal Pimp" and his description of how its used in control is eloquently put in his "Theory of Alienation"......   The modern day EU cannot see past money....  But the truth is that this quiet war is not about money its about total control...   Yes you can pay a man a wage and you then control his worked hours... but he still has free time to enjoy however he see fit.... but if you can hook a man with a "religion" that controls his whole life and limits his perceived freedoms... well..... you end up with the worth and worth less.....

I am British but was born in England and never could understand why England does not have honour St George or the Union Jack in the same way in the same way that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland honours their patron saints and flags.... But then I think.... where does our government get its funding from....

I walk down the high street and it starts to rain.. I keep walking.... been wet before... Will be wet again.... but all around me are people running for doorways, shops, anywhere to hide... whereas 30 years ago the majority would have still been walking with me....

What happened....

Posted a Mail Online page from June 2006 on my face book page the other day... the one reply I received, from a friend, was "Its only the mail. All credibility of reports is officially null and void if it has Daily Mail written above it".... But, in this case, there is very little deviation from what Rear Admiral Chris Parry actually said..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Britain faces mass migration, warns Admiral

By SAM GREENHILL, Daily Mail
Last updated at 10:33 12 June 2006

Britain and Europe face being overrun by mass migration from the Third World within 30 years, a senior Royal Navy strategist claimed yesterday.
In an apocalyptic vision of security dangers, Rear Admiral Chris Parry forecast 'reverse colonisation', where migrants become more dominant than their hosts.
He said the seeds of the problem were spiralling population growth and environmental destruction.
In the competition for resources, many would flee their homelands and head en mass for better places such as Britain.
The Internet, cheap foreign travel and free international phone calls would hasten the demise, he said, because new migrants would stay connected with their homelands rather than assimilate into the host country's culture.
His prognosis is that Western civilisation faces a threat on a par with the collapse of the Roman Empire after the 5th century invasion of Rome by the Goths, the East Germanic tribe.
And he said the process could start within ten years with African pirates attacking yachts and beaches in the Mediterranean.
Admiral Parry is head of the Ministry of Defence unit tasked with identifying future threats to Britain's security.
He said: 'Globalisation makes assimilation seem redundant and old-fashioned.
'The process acts as a sort of reverse colonisation, where groups of people are self-contained, going back and forth between their countries, exploiting sophisticated networks and using instant communication on phones and the Internet.'
Admiral Parry, 52, an Oxford graduate who was mentioned in dispatches in the Falklands War, warned in a presentation last week that the world was heading for a cataclysmic security breakdown.
Although it would start in the Third World, the instability would seep into the West via the Mediterranean.
'At some time in the next ten years it may not be safe to sail a yacht between Gibraltar and Malta,' he warned.
He predicted that as flood, water shortages, agricultural decline or starvation strike, the most dangerous zones would be Africa, especially the northern half, and the Middle East and central Asia.
The flash points would also be regions affected by radical Islam.
With rural areas of Third World countries falling into ruin, millions would be forced into towns and cities, with the result that large metropolises such as Mexico City face becoming ungovernable.
In an effort to control population growth, some countries might be tempted to copy China's 'one child' policy, but with the widespread preference for male children this would produce a ratio of boys to girls as much as 150 to 100.
'When you combine the lower prospects for communal life with macho youth and economic deprivation you tend to get trouble, typified by gangs and organised criminal activity,' he said.
He pinpointed 2012 to 2018 as the period when the current global power structure was likely to crumble, with the United State's superpower status challenged by the rise of nations such as China, India, Brazil and Iran.
Admiral Parry, whose slogan was 'old dog, new tricks' when he commanded the attack ship HMS Fearless, delivered his vision in the presentation to senior officers at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
He did not claim all the threats would come true, but warned what was likely to happen if problems were not addressed by politicians.
Lord Boyce, a former Chief of Defence Staff, said of the analysis: 'Bringing it together in this way shows we have some very serious challenges ahead.
'The real problem is getting them taken seriously at the top of the Government.'
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How much of this sounds "about right" to you....


Never really bothered me about mixed marriages in the 60's and 70's, although there was a lot of hate going around about it in those days....  The heart wants what it wants....

My brother had a really close nit group of friends, one of whom had a black girlfriend.... this was no problem until he wanted to marry her...

Could not believe how quickly his "friends" turned on him... My brother would only see him quietly as he did not want the others to know....

Me... Well we had a Great Dane at the time... So I took him for a walk across town, good 4 miles I recon, to see them...  Still remember the look on her face when the door opened.... priceless, as they say.

I went because it was the right thing to do. They really were in love and are still together now...

But what I see happening today I'm not so sure about... I have said above about the migrants demanding there families be brought over but there is also those who have come to find brides here for the express purpose of diluting faith...

The slow globalisation of Islam by marriage is just another tool being used by a religion that can't even agree within itself on the correct interpretation of its "book".

Sunday 23 August 2015

Sena 10C Thoughts and Ongoing Review Update 6th May/2016 - Update 10/09/2016

Purchased a Sena 10C helmet intercom/camera unit yesterday from The Adventure Bike Shop.

Been using a Sena SMH5-FM for a couple of years now....  mainly for GPS and music.... not really one for phone calls while riding/ driving as you should focus on the road and not.... well you choose... hair/make-up/dinner/on tonight the list is endless, unlike your life expectancy if you keep a phone to your ear while driving.

The 10C is about twice the size of the SMH5 but its by no means big or bulky.... there are two mounting option in the box... a simple stick on pad which you slide the 10C into so alignment is critical as there is no rotational adjustment with this option... strangely enough after looking at the "lines" of the helmet... (Shoei Neotec) fitting it parallel to the base worked perfectly.... the 10C itself has 30 deg of  "horizon" adjustment to keep the video "level"....  The sticky pad option means the unit sits really close to the helmet so unlike the Go Pro its hardly noticeable as a camera....and the "sticky" was my preference with the SMH5....

After my first test ride/video I realised that the pad cannot be placed forward enough on the helmet, being a flip front, so the view ended up being more left hand side than middle of the road due to the helmet curvature...

So... I removed the sticky pad and fitted the 2nd option of the narrower, bulkier, clamp on unit
that has 360 deg vertical adjustment.... and surprisingly this only adds about 10mm to the mounting width...  Camera alignment looks more centered but will not know until testing tomorrow... now it clamps on adjustments will be simpler. As a comment you can point the camera rearward but you cannot flip the picture, so it will record upside down...

As the cabling for the 10C is the same as the SMH5-FM I just plugged in my existing mic/speaker set up, rather than faff about, so will be keeping the new, boxed, ones as spares.....

First, real, problem... lovely little shortcut/cheat sheet for the "which button do I push/hold" but nowhere does it mention that when connecting to a computer you have to turn it on (all I ever needed to do with the SMH5) and then turn the camera on too to access the SD card....  might be a simple thing but had to check the forums to find this out because the Sena updater, on my laptop, had recognised it and updated the firmware.... but no "drive" was showing up on screen.

Second, possibly a, problem... The Sena android app... nice little page full of slide buttons that let you know/adjust the state of the camera but no live view.... so there is no way to check the "framing" of the video/photo..... not a good idea Sena...  sending a photo to the app/phone for alignment purposes can't be that difficult... even a low res black and white would be better than nothing...

Third, sooner or later it will be a, problem.... there is a little rubber protective cap for when you are not using the camera but the lens is not replaceable and there is no cover/ protector when in use...

Early days and not edited down anything yet...  so will be adding thoughts and vid,s etc as I go

Reading a few comments about the Sena 10C from around the web and many people are complaining about the battery life when using the camera being far less than spec...

Initially slow charged mine via the laptop, as i think a fast initial charge is never a good idea, and have now recorded nearly three hours of video..... What I did find was that the camera turned itself off at around two hours.... It has an auto off feature that kicks in at 20% battery level so the intercom keeps working rather than you have a "dead" unit..

But half an hour later, when i had stopped, I checked the battery level and it was showing 3/4 full.... So I turned the camera back on again and recorded another 1/2 an hours worth of video...

Repeated this once more until the camera would not stay on with an indicated 25% battery left..... guess it might be more to do with the way the camera drains the battery.... sort of a deep discharge problem... and, who knows, once the battery has been through a few charge/discharge cycles it might even get better...

But more than happy with the total recording time I ended up with before having to recharge the unit... so to all with a 10C.... the auto off on the camera might be like a fuel gauge... whats on the gauge might not be whats left in the tank...

Still having lots of wind noise so need to play a bit more with the mics location - its hidden in the left hand cheek piece padding at the moment but might give the boom mic a try...

First try did not work so.. second go round...
Short video to test quality and "how do you put music on these things"


Video works in the preview but cannot see it on the published page... please let me know if you can/cannot see it..... and if you can the quality has really dropped from the uploaded file so may end up with a link to the original... P

Time lapse Video...
Recorded a "Ride home including shopping" video using the time lapse feature. You have a choice of 1 or 10 seconds and tried out the one second option first..

The results looked pretty sharp but do think that the one second time frame only really worked in the slower sections and feel that the 10 sec option might just end up as a blur at normal road speeds...

So the first one is saved at half speed (equalling the 0.5 second option that the Sena Prism has)


And the second is at the, pre-set, one second rate....


 So which do you think is better?...

Its not as simple as "lets just turn on time lapse" as you really need to understand what end result you are actually after... A nice slow cruise down a country lane may well come out better than a blast....

Sena don't do a car mount for the 10C yet, a missed opportunity in my opinion, but using the "sticky" mount with a dash type holder would work..

But if your pointing it out of, say, a hotel window I'm sure that you will get some amazing extra  holiday memories..

Update 06/05/16
Been having a bit of trouble with the sound recording..

The initial problem being sorted by fitting the 10C speaker set up supplied in the box... Guess there  wired different to the "5" set up that I had left in the helmet, thinking... same fitting so I'll use 'em...

 Have just found that the wires are damaged at the mounting point... must have caught them somewhere... So a new set is on the way from Amazon.. (Amazon Prime is worth it for just the next day postage... let alone the videos and music...)


Above is a good still shot that shows what can be achieved by pressing the photo button as you trundle along (many I have taken don't show the number plate quite as clearly)....

Really want to try a remote but no not like the unit that clamps onto the grip... Poorly thought out placement if you have short fingers... so will see if a wristband one turns up on eBay...

A better idea, to me, may be just a simple box with three buttons on it that mounts over top of the left-hand switch gear... The three buttons being an intercom push on push off (with led) - a video push on push off (again with led) and a photo button (with a led flash/flashes to confirm photo taken)...

You could have a fourth button for the intercom or volume but once you set/activate these you don't often change them...

Update 10th Sept 2016
Not used the camera as much as I thought I would...  It is brilliant as a "record the evidence" camera but the videos captured on my last holiday I did not feel good enough to post..

Had been hoping a firmware update would improve the overall image quality but none have to date..

It's not that I regret buying the 10C as it does exactly what I bought it for... Record the idiots and speed up the insurance claims...

Its just that I am considering buying a second camera for better/sharper quality images... Like the newer Garmin virb unit, as have a Zumo 350 and the Go Pro units are superb.... just don't like the "box" style shape... so will have a look at the latest group of "lipstick", with remote viewer, type units...

Would I buy another 10C... Yes... for all its short comings... its always there... intercom, radio, Mp3 and camera... It's part of my helmet now and I would not take it off, apart from when I use it hand held...

Happy Snapping Folks.
P

Tuesday 11 August 2015

Merry Doh... Cool Sunglasses... Short GW2 Story..

Merry Doh was pissed... She had fought hard to win those sunglasses... and now they lay there... smashed....

Oh she had certainly smashed the Ogre that had smashed the sunglasses.... but there she was looking down at them in despair.

Do you know how hard it was to get these she screamed, to the sky....  try killing the mega destroyer.... without them.... your retinas... toast....

Fluffy, simply, preened himself beside her.....

You're not helping either.... but he just ignored her and carried on grooming himself... well a panther has got to look good to, after all....

She liked fluffy....picked him up in the eternal battlefields... not usually a world verses world player but on the day she found him she was glad she had...

Well I suppose its back there again, she thought,  hate that hell hole... damn lava really dries out my hair...

Better swing by the Royal Terrace, maybe MF some stuff to make gold for supplies... couple of star cakes be handy too...

The Mystic forge (or Massive Toilet as its more often called) can reward you with some excellent items even a precursor for your legendary but more often than not it just churns out junk...

Merry remembered one go round where she put in four knights gloves only to get a knights glove back....of the same level...

Buy 4 get 1... now that's the sort of offer the merchants would love to be able get away with..

She pulled the Royal Pass out of her pack and instantly she was standing in the forecourt of the terrace.. Quick check with the Seraph Tinkerer, repair armor, then up the ramp to the forge and crafting areas.

Merry put a few lesser blues in and got a named great sword, which was promptly sold...

Had a bit of a clear out in the inventory to.... Not a cook so that can go and that... Hmmm Omniberries.... better not... they'll just end up on my hips..... I'll stick with the star cakes...

As she now had funds she decided to waypoint straight to, rather than gate and run across the map, to the furnace that is Mount Maelstrom..

The only saving grace in all this was that she had already helped the merchant there so it was not a case of clearing out all the Fire Spiders before he could sell to her.... should be a simple in and out this time...

But Merry arrived at the magmatic waypoint just as it was shutting down because the Fire Elementals were storming into the camp... damn should have checked the timer on this....quick visual found two commanders here... brilliant.... no problem then as lots of cavalry arriving soon....

She was a fighter not a leader... loved to help.. loved to run around and support anyone in need so was always glad when others took up the commander role.. 

But it did mean that she would stay and have another go round with the Mega Destroyer as he pops up not long after these Ele's are cleared...

Merry dived in with a great sword combo and body parts start coming off every where... Fluffy takes out another coming up behind her and then a Zerg just whirls straight past nearly taking her head off....

Zerg's... pile in hot... fall over dead.... that always made her laugh...

She might take longer using the PVT stuff but she took less damage to, and using the Celestial accessories gave her an edge, as they offered health benefits she would not otherwise have...

Not so many turned up to help so it took a while to clear the camp..... but, at the end. she wandered over to Blork and bought a new pair of sunglasses.... nice, similar, but just not the same..... Still looked very cool when she wore them....

Guardians have there polished helms... Thieves there leather ones ..... but none looked as cool as Merry in those sunglasses....

Time for the tunnels.... the Mega Destroyer awaits...


Sunday 9 August 2015

Rules of the Road....

First rule of the road.... Everyone else is an idiot...

Second rule of the road...... Your an idiot for going out on a 
                                                        road full of idiots...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Another scorcher of a day...  So it's out on the Uly again....

Headed up to the north Norfolk coast via Thetford and Swaffham.... so a bit of a convoluted route to the Kingfisher cafe on the coast road in Wallcott and the, nearby, Happisburgh light house.

Started out as a nice ride but the ever increasing traffic and decreasing levels of driving ability did detract from this somewhat....

Caught up to one guy, early on, who was a "40mph is my speed"... so 40 he did... in 50mph limit roads... along 60mph roads...... and through 30mph villages.....

As I was using the "shortest route" option on my Garmin it was taking me down all the back roads... which is always my preference.... but up in Norfolk the driving is a bit last century....

Now I can live with the locals going slow because, at least, their consistent.... and they don't swerve away when you pass....

But the Tourists who are trying to avoid the permanent queue that is the coast road, in summer, or any main road in that area, are a different story...

4x4's barrelling towards you expecting you to go up a bank to get out of there way are common, as are the "lets blast down this narrow "straight" road n screech to almost a standstill for the slightest of bends" brigade... found more then a few of both types today

First real idiot, though, was a nice X5 (bl**dy ugly things) driver who was so impatient that when the car in front of me slowed to let a car pull out he overtook the pair of us... luckily the driver pulling out must have been a local cos he had not even started to move before the X5 flashed past in front of him.... No idea what the X5 driver was thinking off but he was one very lucky man...

And when coming back along the A140...... I came across (I so want to say massive here) idiot number two

Long queue of cars n me behind another "Mr 40 mph" on the Suffolk  "50mph" half of the 140... Not to many cars coming the other way so, slowly, people overtook him....

Were down to three cars behind him then me just as we hit the Mendlesham straight section.... So I gear up to follow the other cars past....... when he slows down n indicates to turn in next to Scholar...

Can see his "high level" lights through the windscreens of the cars in front of me...

But Mr "I've got a flash Audi" behind me just pulls out and passes the lot of us...... He needed a bit of the grass to do this mind you.... because "Capt slow" had started to turn...  He stopped.... Mr Audi did not... He just disappeared off into the distance... probably to get home for a clean pair of skids... Idiot... lucky, lucky idiot.....

I'm watching in front of me but he must have started past us the instant he saw no oncoming traffic down the straight as a second later and he would have been rolling down the road, or over the hedge....

Nearly bought a the new Sena 10c helmet cam the other day... wish I had now as posting video's of today's events would have been fun.

Hmmmm...  Maybe I'll get one tomorrow...






Saturday 8 August 2015

Clean Your Bike.... Pfft....

Been moaned at two days running for not having a clean motorcycle..... (been moaned at many, many times, for this, the truth be told)

Pah.... there for riding not cleaning....

The engine may be a Hardly Movable but it not a "lets bolt on some shiny bits" sort of bike..

Mind you have not been into cleaning/ polishing.... well..... ever....

Growing up in a scrap yard you get to see a lot of vehicles that had been lovingly looked after, only to end up as scrap for one reason or another....

My brother liked to spit and polish things and he ended up owning some very unreliable vehicles as he did not always worry about oil changes etc....

Anyhoo... being moaned at....

A member of the Buell Enthusiasts Group has been helping me with my electrical problems and he sent me two ECM's to try.... one, standard, unit with the newer BUE2D map and a "tuned" but older BUEZD map....

He also mentioned that the "tuned" map was the same as one he did for "Dave" the owner of Northants V Twin... Which gave me an idea on how to do a test on the two units..

So I plugged in the "tuned" ECM and headed out to see "Dave".... it's about 70 miles from mine to where he is.... so a good distance for a test ride.....

The "tune" gave much more power from tick over to mid range than my standard BUEZD map, with the top end being quite similar.... but, then again, all the Uly's real power is in the lower/ mid grunt as 90hp at the crank leaves less at the rear wheel for top end speed...

In fact the improvement in bottom end pull away power was very impressive... Pulled up to a T junction, and as both ways were clear, I pulled out.... in the wrong gear (3rd rather than 2nd) and it simply just pulled away... no knocking, stalling, complaints.... just solid power... VERY nice...

But it did vibrate different.. had a constant buzziness to the bike.... and a, sort of, misfire/ rough running in slow moving traffic (15 -25mph range) which made riding at those speed quite uncomfortable...

Made me think the IAC valve was not working properly

Win some...Lose some I suppose..

Arrived up at Northants V Twin both impressed and thoughtful..

The shop is well worth a visit as they are an old school, back street, motorcycle workshop run by real V twin enthusiasts...

Great little Cafe/ Burger van just inside the gate.... a very practical workshop space... and the friendliest bunch you are ever likely to meet...

Dave is a star and a Buell Ulysses rider.. Swapped a few stories and he asked some questions on the mods I've made to mine...

But Julie..... you could have cleaned it... she said.... smiling... She did like my seat though...

So it was time to swap out the ECM for the standard BUE2D.....

10 seconds of fluffiness then it settled down into a nice even tick over...... pulled out and into the traffic.... no problems with roughness... pulled nice and clean...  softer power than the tuned map.... but much nicer to ride....

Enjoyable ride home, with  a really smooth engine...  at any rev's... liking the BUE2D mapping.... lots of popping on decel... but that's normal for a Buell...

And the upshot of this is that I am keeping the Standard ECM and sending back the tuned one.. would not have bet on that that morning..

So today... out for another ride as it's a really beautiful day here... Sun is out... Sky is blue... and the tarmac is calling my name....

Came across this little bike show so pulled in for a look..... bumped into and old friend.... who said... "Could have cleaned it"..... Pfft... so I left to play on a few more bendy roads....

Happy riding all... Whatever you ride...

Sunday 2 August 2015

To all those who ask "why"...... Religion and its ever changing philosophies.....

Don't know if I'm writing to many of these but the present problems do worry me... but if it continues then all comments of this type may be removed by the religion that "wins out" anyway....

If you need to believe in something then that's fine.. but the ability to appreciate (acceptance is not necessary) all other viewpoints is a must for a peaceful cohabitation in our small, rapidly changing, evolving and slowly dying world...
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We all, well the vast majority of us, seem to need to believe in something..... as otherwise why are we here... why do we exist...

This has been used by those who say  "I'm/ we're right - your wrong" brigade ever since mankind began.....

We only know what we see, read or are told.... But just because you hide/ destroy/ ridicule something does not mean it did/ does not exist/ is not true...

Just because you destroy a building does not mean that it was not built in the first place.. you just lose its beauty and the knowledge of how it was built.....

If you destroy a statue.... it was still made.... all you are doing is stopping others seeing its beauty.... and, again, you lose the chance to learn how it was built....

The majority of religions that have "won" incorporate something the "new" religion finds "useful"

The world was flat... then it was round...

The world was the "all powerful" centre of the universe... then it was just  another planet revolving around its sun

Did Jesus say "Eli" or "Allah".... the answer to that question will be written by whichever religion is left for in truth the truth will never be known...

The world was made in seven days.... my take on that is that the "earth" being one of his earlier attempts took a little longer.... one viewpoint on why there are so many planets out there... billions and trillions of planets made in  seven days... (He did not rest.. he collapsed in a corner....) who would believe that... (but if you get told something enough times...) and how big must this guy be....

But the usually answer to the above is "He must be even more powerful than we thought"... get a grip.... Get a life..... Get.... you chose this one....

Scientists may have proved how old the earth really is, only for some to say "he must be older than we thought"

There is simply no winning with a viewpoint that has, by definition, no proof of definition.

I have my own beliefs in who we are.... how we co exist... what we put into the world.... and a single "Deity" does not do it for me.... Belief in a narrow viewpoint does not do it for me either.... And belief in a controlling "some people are worthless" viewpoint definitely does not do it for me.

Even the simplest of person can have an earth shattering idea...

Does this single "Deity" have any family.... or were we created out of his loneliness

Myself being nearer to, but not completely, an agnostic, can NEVER find out if I'm RIGHT.... as if I am there is NOTHING....

But if you believe in a religion that promises an afterlife of any kind then you can NEVER find out if your WRONG.... because if you are wrong there is NOTHING....

As stated in a previous posting - this is why I question any religion that promises any type of "eternal" afterlife..

At least in the Muslin theology there is the belief in creationism with the option of "coming from the sea" and the sciences are not ridiculed as in Christianity, amongst others.

But Christianity now values the input of women rather than hiding them away/ ignore them..

How old are "modern" religions

http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/religion101/2012/10/how-old-are-the-religions.html

A few "forgotten" religions

http://listverse.com/2013/10/04/10-forgotten-ancient-religions/

How many religions, since time began, have been "lost" because of no written language... 

How many religions have been wiped from history by war or famine or disease....

How much knowledge, how many wonderful inventions, have been lost and not re learnt... and the beauty of those created items melted down to make something else...  lost.....

Earlier in the post I stated that the "winning" religion often incorporates thing into itself that the "controlling" factions find useful.... But, as Newtons third law, this also means that it missuses other parts.. i.e.

http://www.islam44.net/2010/03/islam-is-not-1400-years-old-religion.html   (Way to go use something from another religion that proves your point, and age, that can never be proved/ disproved)

This makes for interesting reading as "if" Jesus, Moses, Joseph were previous "prophets" then how can a christian etc be an infidel as they are following their "Prophets" paths..

"All praise to Allah" is also questionable as "the only way"...  if he is a prophet of God then surly the cry of "All prise to God" is the "cry" for any monotheism religion.

And to be honest if you live there "forever"... what would you do after you have done it all a thousand times...  is boredom the major cause of the suicide in heaven....

To coin a phrase... show me a stunningly beautiful wife and I will show you a husband who is bored bedding her..

Show me a friend and you show me a lifetime.... but multiples and multiples of lifetimes and you are bound to find a "toothpaste in the middle" or "toilet seat up again" moment or three....

Love the oft found phrase of  "God is uncaused and uncreated — He simply exists." this just adds credence to me for the  "God I'm bored.. lets create trillions of planets.. but only one bunch of humans, as that's all that's needed to "evil" it all up" 

I love riding my motorcycles... even my temperamental Buell Ulysses.... and can not think of a better way to go out of this world than on one.. maybe as Mr Clarkson once said.... backwards and on fire....but even if its by a texting driver who must care so little about anyone else but him/her self to be texting in the first place.... 

To be done... to be over might just be better than eternity to be bored in....

Last thoughts... 

Hell.... Pain is only in the mind... and believe me it can be switched off (not saying its easy but it is not impossible)... Any torture that goes on long enough in the "now" world turns into something else and there's always the people that enjoy pain and degradation... how can "Hell" improve on that...

Last Last thoughts... I suppose with all these trillions of planets there is somewhere someone could send us to for another go round.. you get past life regression in "this" world but not heard of "other world" regressions...

So searched and found this....

"More than 90 million Americans have lived past lives on other planets, astounding evidence reveals!"

From... http://weeklyworldnews.com/aliens/13711/alien-in-a-past-life/

Gotta love the Americans... Gotta love that we need to believe in something... shame its just not us..




Friday 24 July 2015

a Glitch in the System... short GW2 story..

Nevrmind was short.... even for an Asurian he was short...

Daemon with a blade and take the eye out of a gnat at fifty paces with his pistol.... but still short...

So the events of the other day were a bit of an equaliser to him and a toothy grin replaced this usual grimace for a while.

The reactor in Mectrica was going mental again with all sorts of creatures being spewed out at random.... causing havoc on the poor technicians... they have enough to deal with with the bio clouds so being torn apart by some suddenly appearing griffin, or bear, does not help them get the job done...

So in come the hero's.... beast like Charr... slender Sylvari.....  Warrior Norn..... Humans and the ever resourceful Asura.... most of them bigger than Nevrmind...

They come to defeat the Fire Elemental.... they come to defend whats left of the reactor against the daemon that rises out of the chaos caused by the explosion.....

And little Nevrmind just runs around trying not to get tripped over....

"Can't you see me, you ugly lumps of wasted bit space..." he thinks " I'm trying to get some materials n coin here for my legendary..." as he lops the head off a bear that took a fancy to his leg...

The, ever hopeful, Clean 5000 starts his run at sucking up the bio clouds.... so some of the hero's stay to protect him from the inquest's efforts to shut him down... but most just lope off to the main chamber and have a "lets jump up and down session"..... waiting for "C5" to get there.....

The first room C5 runs into spawns several Mk1 robots who do a very good Pete Townsend impression by whirling away.... the bodies fly away to smack into the walls....

Nevrmind thinks "more into Brian May" runs in.... takes the feet out from under the robots.... while the others pile in with swords and hammers flailing....

Next few rooms repeat this and then we get to the Elemental fighting area... C5 as usual blows a fuse and then blows up into the Fire Elemental itself.... fifty feet of flame whirling around spewing out little fireball tornado's that sap the life force out of any they touch...

The jumping up and down boys now jump in and hammer everything they have at the Elemental...

There's spell casters with books of power over their heads.... Archers with quivers of a thousand arrows sending a blazing hailstorm and Char blunderbusses blowing great holes in the flames...

Nevrmind, just, dances about with his little pistols.... muttering.... mumbling.... bet I get another useless spirit shard for this....

And all the while the Fire Elemental is weakening.... weakening... until, with a final whoosh, he is defeated..... We all run about and heal those who have fallen.... and then into the treasure chest for the grand prize....

"Great" says Nevrmind "more stuff my class cannot use"

"Still... can break it down for the materials n sell the better stuff on BL for gold I suppose".... Being many months away from his Legendary...

"Steam creature... " he thinks "damn nearly forgot about him.... secondary Boss to kill..." so he runs up to the force field to join the "lets jump up and down" brigade again....

You got the key... no you got the key.... has anybody got the key..... How many times had Nevrmind heard that routine.... anyway someone had the key and the force field drops...

Jump into the void... hit the floor running... and beat the crap out of the Steam Boss... not hard to kill but can be tanky if to many jump down with you...

Get a nice sword from the boss and a rare amulet from his chest...

No time to waste as the "I'm outta here" text pops up and the portal awaits...

Nevrmind hangs back though as if you jump out to soon its just a mass of bodies when you reappear... but... but... Glitch... the Steam Boss pops up again.. with about 20 of us left.... Brilliant... all pile in again and Nevrmind has a bit of fun with a heart seeker move that has him leaping into the air for the killing strike...

Boss dies and we get his chest again... but not boss chest... fair enough I suppose... but we also don't get portal.... no portal... "I'm outta here" pops up again so Nevrmind jumps anyway...

Falling.. falling... still failing... quick cup of tea....  reactor floor coming up fast... and.... and....your dead.... 

Nevrmind looks up at all the other hero's falling down about him.... smiles and thinks... "I might be small..... but you look just as funny as I do falling down here.... Be a waste of a revive orb to miss watching this"

But all good things must end so he portals out to a way point for re birth.... and he kept that grin right up until a Charr tripped over him..... "mutter... mutter.. mumble.... hate this game...."

All these FaceWebTweets about the NHS..


Posted this on my Facebook page but thought I would add it here to...

I think that the UK governments of the last few decades have not wanted an National Health Service. It has been consistently let down and miss managed - staffing reductions - people "coerced" into working more hours for less pay whether booked or voluntary...

I have seen the most caring acts in hospitals and care homes and I have also seen "Indifferent" and callus acts on the elderly..

When my father was first diagnosed with cancer they told us he had only a few days, maybe weeks to live... that was bad enough but then Mum collapsed and was taken in with something they could not diagnose - she lay there for weeks with feeding tubes in her shoulder, as she could not keep solids down, that turned septic three times, to my knowledge, and lost a nearly a third of her body weight... she got better... by herself... so they sent her home....

The ulcer on her pancreas, that has had failed to notice, burst nearly killing her again... back in for another short stay as thankfully her body washed out all the toxins from the ulcer and whatever caused it in the first place...

All this while my father was using the pain to keep himself going for another nine months until everything just, simply, gave out...

Should my mothers ulcer have been found sooner - YES....

Should my father have been left laying there with a drain tube hanging from his stomach into a bucket next to his bed because it was easier than changing the bag - NO

Am I complaining about the quality of service they received NO... Should I?...

When my mother died it was mainly because of the out of hours doctor who incorrectly diagnosed the type of pneumonia mum had... So the antibiotics her gave her were totally ineffective but the autopsy/ police investigation (as mums death was “sudden”) cleared the doctor because he HAD diagnosed pneumonia.... All be it the wrong type...

I could write about my sister but my close friends already know about that..

I read a myriad of posts on here about the present staffing problems... There not new, just ongoing....

Thirty... Forty years ago the government were told you need more of this that and the other only to do none of it... And now everything gets built/ done with foreign money....

The government would much prefer us to go private but as that's an election loser they will just use time and tactics to achieve that end... Why should we have a free health service when we can have one that businessman will make money out of...

We train the best in the world to go away and work elsewhere and then we take in locums that do not know... well I'll leave that comment to you

The problem is in the ideology that one person is more important than another... And until that is sorted nothing else will be...

Cuts in staff and services are inevitable as long as the present “the only thing that's important is profit” system lasts...

How can “we made 2 billion this year so we must make 3 next year or we are a bad company” or “we must pay X millions for a football player” ever lead to better staffing levels... better care....

We managed better before money than we do now - But we still killed each other for being “different”

We have more... But most of it just gets chucked into a cupboard.... Or sold for the next “new” thing...

And still others want what we have... Or want to kill us...

How little I wonder has really changed

As long as people are greedy or lust after what others have we will need money...

Do away with want, greed and ownership.. you do away with money as well... Now there's a thought..

So choose what you want to worry about...

Me I’ll sit and watch the government build all these houses for people who will leave when the “benefits” of being here run out...

Monday 29 June 2015

Electronics... Dodgy Earths and Leathal Machines

Played about in the garage, like you do, and found that if there's more than three bits of tape on an old motorcycle harness.... its just easier to make a new one than fix the old... Got quite good at it too.

So when a friend asks me to have a look at his Triumph T140...  I thought " Great my first real job on someone else's bike..."

His problem was that when you pulled the brake lever both rear indicators glowed..... not the front...  just the rear pair..... which is quite strange, sort of impossible, in itself....

So... seat off... all connectors unplugged... and I go to get my meter....

My mother came in and wants her scooter out... so we moved the T140...... pulled the brake lever.... like you do.... and the rear indicators glowed.....

Well I look at him and he looks at me cos nothing is connected... no power to anything on the rear end....

"What have you touched lately" I asked.....    "Had the tank off to do the valves....." he said

SO off come the tank, with a bit of a struggle and find that the harness had been crushed  against the frame....

If you apply pressure onto a wire/ cable it alters the insulation value... and the power just leaks through... and it will always find its shortest path to earth...

Which in this case was down the frame.. around the chrome rail and through the rear indicators...

Impressed that both rear indicators glowed evenly...

First job.... first lesson.... Bad Earth or "The Path of Least Resistance"

So...If your headlight is a bit dim.... check out the tail light connection... A bad earth can be absolutely anywhere...

And with electrics.. anything is possible...

Which leads me onto my second story....

During my 15 year stint at Cranes (Crane Fluid Systems) I had many jobs but the majority of my time was spent setting an operating CNC lathes in the bronze section...

My first day on the CNC's was with Peter... a brilliant machinist and a great man to learn from..

He says to me... "don't care if you come up to me covered in soot with a bent piece of machine in your hand... you must tell someone when things go wrong... what did you press.. what were you doing... etc... for it may be your fault.... but it may also be the machines...."

How right that saying proved to be...

Nice job but crap machines... especially the Stuart Davis ones I ran.....  Cranes bought several Stuart Davis machines from their bankruptcy sale... Should have been an indicator of quality that one...

So I'm working away at this "200" model. Basically is a large rectangular metal box...... with a sliding door for access..... and a boxed in monitor on an arm next to the door....

I hated this thing.... not because of the cramped access to anything.... not because of the crappy way it worked.... but because of the fact, to me, that it had a sense of humour....

You may run of a hundred pieces or a thousand but first you have to set it... You could spend twenty minutes or a couple of hours doing this... and what was this machines party piece.... why did i hate it so much....

Well you have just spent x,y,z time setting it up... you set the IP (the initial position it starts from).... you run through the program manually... you alter the offsets to make things the right size.... and you put it into auto and run the first piece off...

When it finishes the part.... the chuck (holding the part) and the turret (holding the tooling) head back to there relative stops, ready to start again... But.... But.....

But just as they hit the stops it goes "Click" and the screen goes blank..... and everything is gone...... The program... the tooling offsets... even the base data that runs the machine... wiped out in an instant....

And this happened time after time.... I hated that machine... but it did make me laugh... it could have happened at any other time... but no it just had to wait right tell the end...

Cranes paid a fortune for an engineer to come and see what was wrong... but he always went away saying "its in the wiring not the hardware and until it blows up......."

He changed circuit boards.. he changed relays and boxes I have no idea of what they did.... but within a month it was "click" ...... mutter...... mutter... mumble.... I hate this bloody machine... AGAIN..

And then the inevitable happened.....   And it was as spectacular as it was impossible....

I am setting up the machine again and about to put a tool into the turret when I heard "CLICK"...
Almost got my hand clear before the turret spun round.... funny feeling having your fingers stretched.

So just stood back and watched this...   impossible thing...   impossible because when you are setting and the door is open there's a whole raft of safety interlocks that stop anything moving... killing you...

But here I was watching the chuck spin up.... slow down... change direction... spin up again.. all very slowly and at minimal revs... but moving all the same...

The turret is slowly sliding back and forth along its bedway..

But the most amazing thing was the screen...... It was writing data.. gobbledygook.. but data... and then changing pages.... switching between offset, program and machine data pages..... and writing even more data on itself....

I call over a couple of other setters who stand there opened mouthed.... as they never believed half the things I said this machine did....

I walk round to the maintenance bay and up to a certain Mr Jones, who I have had many an argument with over this machine... and his usual answer was.. its impossible.. or... cant do that...

So I say to him... come and have a look at this... its moving by itself with the door open.... Guess what his answer was..... Yup... "It's Impossible"... so I literally drag him round to the machine..

Well the look on his face was a picture.... It was like watching David Armand doing the "there's so much going on section of his mime to Torn" he was just pointing to this and pointing to that with his mouth wide open....

After a couple of minute he just turns to me and says "Sorry Paul", to me, "and that's impossible".... as he point again to the turret..... "that's impossible".... as he points again to the chuck..... "and that's Bloody impossible" as he points to the screen....

Well the management came down... half the site came down... as Mr Jones put a barrier around this machine and left it running over the weekend.... because this was Friday and the engineer would not be here till Monday..

"Well" he says "perhaps the thing will blow itself up over the week end and maybe they'll but something decent"

It did not destroy itself... as much as I wished it would.... and on Monday the engineer arrived.. and he sat, having a cup of tea, watching this.. show... he even recorded it...

Then, finally, he opened up the rear doors to find a row of blackened circuit boards... which he replaced... and fired up the machine again....

It worked... bugger.... He said " might happen again as I think its in the wiring".... Bugger....

"Don't think it will be quite the same though as what I just watched was impossible"... Bug...... Eh!

"Why do you think I recorded it... the guys back at head office would never believe this one"...

Speechless....Still hate that damn machine.... and it was still running when I left... and it was still dumped all its info on occasion too.....

So... another lesson learnt.... with electrics, computer or otherwise, if it wants to do something... it will do it regardless of if your in the way.....

A point made clear a couple of years later... when I was doing a time study on a different machine there...

The operator loaded a part in to be machined.. pressed the start button... and this 50mm boring bar should have come forward and then down.... but it decided to come forward... and then keep on coming forwards and punched a BIG hole right through the plate steel bulkhead.... Bit of a loud bang that one... She jumped... I laughed.... and told her... "See... told you these had a sense of humour"

Sunday 28 June 2015

Do we ever learn.....

Bit of a two parter this... but both are the same in there own way...

If you have ever read "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" you will know that, apart from a really good, if long, read... it's a basic blueprint for the growth and eventual demise of empires.

Growth -  either violence or coercion.......  The Romans used both to great effect to expand their empire. They had a very well trained and organised army so they fought when needed or would say come join us and we will protect you and respect your ways, initially.

Demise -  sometime by ignorance  - sometimes by famine caused by overpopulation of an area - sometimes by over engineering of a resource - but more often by self importance, greed and not learning from the past.

The core Roman people grew INDIFFERENT, self obsessed, materialistic, greedy and being, as we now say, PC.

They not only gave freedom to the people they previously enslaved but gave them power which, in the end, helped along with the in fighting/ bickering/ stupidity (PC), enabling the "Huns" to invade them so swiftly

The British empire being the last in a long line of empires is now in that eventual demise state.

We ruled some with the use of a well trained army and navy. We ruled others through coexistence and then we became more indifferent, self obsessed, greedy  and the empire declined into the Commonwealth and now that, mainly by the anal and illogical use of PC, is declining into something else

It is at a point now where it is irreconcilable. PC has gotten so out of hand and the euro zone will not let us change things back because we buck there system. its a lose lose situation that the next empire is taking full advantage off... the "Huns" invaded... the new empire cry is not "war" its "my rights are that you must change your rules/ law"..... and unfortunately we do....


As the winner writes the history books, then destroys anything that proves the new "history" wrong.... the endless cycle or rise and fall continues. regardless of what a group/ sect/ religion thinks it is impossible to have 100% of anything where the human animal is concerned.

Even if the next empire gets the 1000 years that Hitler was so intent on... it will fall... even if it tries to maintain itself with a vastly reduced population... it will fall...

So much will be lost... maybe a latter day Phil Harding will come along.. dig something up... and say "Cor... I's know wat thaat is..."
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The Wall Street Crash... the world staggered... people jumped out of windows and  the masses starved and all because of lost in confidence.... not lost money.

Since 1929 there have been many, many, crashes of far greater magnitude and no ones jumped out of a window.... only a few have starved... So what is the difference.... it's simply INDIFFERENCE... Oh dear I have lost 200 billion... don't worry pay it back when you can/ that's OK ill just write it off.

The underlying cause of this is not the arrogance of "greed is good" but simply "greed can be ignored"... The same ignorance that caused the 1929 crash is gathering momentum again, in a much more global way, but due to the effects of the "indifference" its going to be totally, and potentially catastrophically, different. The 1929 crash did not start a war but this one might.

In 1970 I earned £6 a week (the apprentice was on £9 but my first job is a story for another day) - gave my mother housekeeping - rode my motorcycle all over the country  - down the pub at the weekends... was not flush but never felt poor.... Now you have to have £300 a week just to make ends meet. We have more gadgets - we have more choice - but better off I simply don't know... there's a whole raft (cant afford a boatload) of things I could do/ eat/ say/ watch/ wear/ play with/ fly then but cant now....

Why do prices go up... Because you can = Greed... you don't put the price up it does not go up.. Now I realise that there is more to buy these days than there was in 1970 so an increase is inevitable but as soon as you start having to continually pay of investors and "have" to make more profit than last year, or your a bad risk/company. or the company is foreign owned and a percentage immediately goes out of the country.....the price goes up exponentially for the user.

In 1982 I wanted to go to the USA with a work colleague.. was about to book the flight when my workmate said... "not got all the money now... fridge u/s". So the plan was to book up a couple of weeks later..... but "Laker Airways" (google them if you don't know) went bankrupt...

The odd fact is... he was the first low cost no frills airline... and the others wanted to stop him.. a simple and true fact is yes he was in debt but that debt was smaller than British Airways had at that time... guess who the main instigator for closing Laker was......

So much of this country has been sold of because the government wanted a one time hit to bolster its funds without the full realisation/ understanding of the lack of future income alongside the amount of income exiting the country or the erosion of control. (companies can sue governments for laws/ rules that affect there profit... who thought that was a good idea... Oh yes companies)

In 2014 a third of the UK's infrastructure including energy and transport is owned overseas (EDF is French) but with China being allowed to design,own and operate a new generation of power stations in Britain and the fact that are also investing heavily in the new HS2 and "other" infrastructure this figure is rapidly changing for the worse..

Cadbury is still a well loved brand but it is no longer a British company in its own right and the chocolate on a Cadbury's cream egg is no longer "Cadbury's"... The new American owners immediately went back on there word... closed plants... lowered the quality of most of its chocolate, but not the prices...

The Arab emirates own much more than just Newmarket....

Jaguar Land Rover was bought by the Indian group TATA five years ago

The list is endless....

But then who knows... money has not, in itself, been relevant (just the ownership of a number) for a long while now..... almost every football club is in debt... almost all countries are in billions of debt.... and that's just "acceptable" these days... Print more?.. simply write it off, as its only a number on a computer somewhere?.. 

And the UK can be "Lakerised" at any time..... there's even a multiple choice of "new" owners
Ya.. something to look forward to before the new empire strikes back...

Question....
Have you ever heard of the term "Non Productive Staff"... do you think it simply means a lazy worker... or do you know it means "someone who does not produce anything". 

In 2011 there were approximately 720,000 employed across tne UK automotive industry, with 140,000 directly employed in manufacturing.... that's a 5 to 1 ratio...

Sometimes an office worker is very productive within the company... but others are only productive in producing paperwork that keeps themselves in work........

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All praise to you if you have read this far....

But please have a look at this... even if you only read the eight reason titles I think you will notice a similarity to today:-

http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell

So, as, this blog title implies... Do we ever learn anything...  Possibly not...

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Perks of the Job....

A long, long time ago I worked as a "Saturday" boy on the forecourt of the, now gone as is the Blockbusters that replaced it, Berners Street garage, in Ipswich, for some extra funds.

It was a very busy forecourt in its day but one of my main memories was the husband and wife doctors who always seem to fill up on Saturdays....

She was brilliant, bouncy and full of life... always chatting away to me and the garage mechanics.... a very beautiful lady.... and then.... usually about an hour later the husband would arrive..... half awake... dishevelled..... and, always, looking totally knackered.....  Often wondered about that....

I have every sympathy for a point of sales person as, even in my short time there, a few people were aggressive and abusive, trying to bully to not pay for something.. or say "Oi i gave you a fiver" when it was actually only a pound (stuff was a lot less money back then).

But, on the other hand, sometimes something great happens....

A certain Mr Nicholls used to come in... now as the "Nicholls" used to run most of the second hand car dealerships in Ipswich.... and, of course, he knew my father.... he would often throw his Range Rover keys at me and say "park that" as he went to talk to the garage boys about some deal or other...

Got quite used to that.... park the Rangy.... park the Ford.... park the ....  and then one day... he walks towards me with a really big smile on his face......  throws me the keys, as usual......    I look at the keys in my hand.... and the fob says Ferrari..... FERRARI....... "don't scratch it" he says.... walking off.... laughing...

I walk outside and there sits a new 246GT Dino Ferrari.... I kid you not... Woo Hoo.... Drive a Ferrari (well park it anyway) every boys dream....

 The car park in question was up on the roof of the garage, so its just a quick out, round and up the ramp..... but you could go up to the old hospital and round and down a longer route.... Yep you guessed it.... took me a bit longer to park the Ferrari than it did the Range Rover....

But I tell you what.... they maybe great to drive on the track/ open road but in town there pants.... the nice big wheel arches mean you have absolutely no chance of seeing the kerb... you sort of have tunnel vision between those wheel arches (not as bad, though, as the Corvette Stingray I was towed in a few years later... now that's a story for another time...) and, in fact, vision all round is diabolical compared to the Rangy...

Happy bunny to have driven one though..... even if it was for only a few moments..

There was one (well two for one really) other highlight while working there......

You have to wonder sometimes about the logic your boss uses when doling out various jobs for people and in the instance it was that he sent me to pick up a brand new Hillman Avenger Tiger from Chelmsford and drive it back to Ipswich... Its 1972... its a brand new Avenger Tiger.... and he sends an 18 year old...... (just don't tell the car's new owner)....

So off I toddle on the train to Chelmsford...
and collect this very sporty looking motor...

The mechanic handed me the keys and then said... (every boys dream this one)... The engine all up and test run so don't you go labouring that engine.. (here it comes)... don't care what revs you do just don't lug it.... (for those not to mechanically minded - all the extra strain of driving at too low revs just kills an engine)

He did not have to tell me twice, but i wish he had told me more - read on....

I'm into the car and out on the road.... first impressions.... nice but odd.. definitely more go, brakes rubbish but just thought that was because the were new and not worn in, but it just "sat" really odd...

Cruise out of Chelmsford and onto the A12, liking the pull away this thing has but now just cruising along watching the passing cars rubber neck at the Tiger....
   
Past Colchester and down onto the Dedham straight section were this TR6 pulls along side me... looks over.... and pumps the throttle two twice..... Come-on I'm 18.... What you gonna do....

He floors it... I floor it.... and he sort of just goes backward... this thing has some get up and go...
and the Tiger just pulled away.

Clarkson would have been proud - well may be not... nasty little Hillman beating a proper sports car...

So up the hill and head into the "always entertaining" right hand bend.... just on the legal speed limit and the car..... well it just started to squirm..... badly....  got a nice roll on and it was getting past the new trousers time please and nearer to the "my this field look nice".

Don't see it so much these days but that bend used to be lethal with diesel spills, tire ruts and an adverse camber... seen many cars in that field, most on there roof.....

TR6 comes flying past waving a salute (your word here) and disappears off as I just say to myself.. "Oh dear what happened there".. (again your words here)..

The rest of the short drive back was uneventful but had a word with the main mechanic...he laughed and then said....

"Spent over £450 on that engine and nothing of the suspension, brakes or chassis... we were all wondering how that would work out"

Wish the mechanic had told me that when I had picked it up....

Link to the wiki page here:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillman_Avenger where is says
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Modifications included the 1500 GT engine with an improved cylinder head with enlarged valves, twin Weber carburetors and a compression ratio of 9.4:1. The engine now developed 92.5 bhp (69 kW) at 6,100 rpm. The suspension was also uprated, whilst brakes, rear axle, and gearbox are directly from the GT.
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Don't know about the suspension being uprated on the one I drove as it was crap... but then again the "Honest John" review site ( http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/reviews/hillman/avenger/ ) says...

                        Low survival rate due to shocking build and corrosion issues

Not the nearest I have come to being killed, as that honour belong to Andy and his Kawasaki 750 widow-maker I had the misfortune to be on the back off,  but it was a tad to close for comfort.

Thursday 4 June 2015

What Do You Belive in....

 Faceblogtweet being so full of religious hate comments, and a recent post about "Real Men don't hit Woman" just got me wondering if there is much difference between the two ideals.

They say there's two things we do without conscious thought... Eat and Reproduce..... But I think there is a third.. Greed... (or more correctly "The wont of other peoples life...") as the primordial part of our brain has far more control than most people realise....

And then there's the word GOD.... even an agnostic may cry "Oh God that hurts" if he smashes his thumb rather than the nail he was trying to hammer home...

The word God has been ingrained into our DNA for a Milena and it seems, to me, that there are three main types (please read this as just an opinion and not a truth/ absolute/ your word here).

Firstly..... The all powerful just/ unjust "Monotheism" by which ever name you know him...          
                 my main problem with these is the promise that cannot be proven

Secondly The "Polytheism" system of many, many gods..... lots of good things in this system for                          personal and not invasive control

Thirdly    The "Our God is the One but we will respect yours" A system that the Romans (side note..                    ever wondered about the 25th of December ) and Inca's (and probably others I an not fully                  aware of) used to great advantage in empire expanding

Real men don't hit woman... does not ring true to me and as reflex situations happen... so the statement should read "Why did this man hit a woman" (or woman hits man).

One person who hits another more than once may have a problem with themselves not the other party as, in truth, most bullies are cowards inside and need constant proof they are better by making someone else feel worse/ make someone there slave. But if they do it because they like it that's a whole other ball game...

Does this equate to a single god/ sect with rules that you must obey..... They are right and everyone else is wrong.....

The "Poly" and "Roman" at least have some leeway, but you were still likely to be "punished"

The religious problem in the headlines, at the moment is mainly there because they want to prove themselves right by pressing every possible button until they get a reaction.... because they believe that "others will come to try and stop us" every time there is a response it just proves them right in there eyes... 

You can pick any topic you like and they will have an anti view of it.... 

The world wars are prevalent in the news so the "there was no Holocaust" was a perfect button push..

We can burn your book but you cannot burn, or even comment on, ours.... button push....

Not that people should not respond but how its done needs to be better thought out... The old adage of "if you don't understand it kill it" is used way to often....

No body wants to die earlier than they have to so most will do anything just to live a little longer but to some this just means that they get "high" on your fear for a little longer, as in there eyes you are worthless...

If 1,000,000 people just walked into there territory, you could do it for the bikers, and started talking to people, help them, feed them...men and woman equally... what would happen?.... if they shot the first 1,000.... would you keep on walking.... but if you did would it change things.... I'd like to think so... 

Ever since there have been conflict both sides would tell there people "they eat babies" etc to breed hatred... but, apart from genocide, how many times have two waring factions ended up friends... until the next fight.....

A small number can easily control a larger though fear but if the larger number "removes" the smaller then are the larger..... well there is no easy answer and as long as someone wants to be "higher/ better/ have more" than another there never will be.

And finally the Fourth religious option.....
The "we don't own anything... we just borrow it for the time were here" . This appeals to me as it simply states we are here... we use/ make stuff... we return our nutrients...

The body needs no promises, just fuel... you may feel you need a purpose to live, otherwise why do we exist... but in reality the body just needs food to fuel it until the day it cant repair itself anymore. It is the brain that causes the problem and as we are just an animal that thinks to much...

You can ask an American Indian how he feels but you can't an Original Tasmanian... Whatever we think we are... if nature joins in we are but specs of sand....

Get a Life humanity and realise we are all the same... were here.... we live... we die.... If you want to believe in something that's fine but don't ram it down other peoples throat.... its what you contribute while your here that matters... NOT what you have or control