This is going to be my 3 (5?, 15? :-P) minute guide to various tasks I generally need and the software (some free) one needs to do them…

OK, rushing right along…

If you have:

• an original DVD you want to ’squish’ and backup to a DVD-R (4.7GB) you need DVDShrink
• an AVI (DivX, XviD etc usually sourced from Internet, a friend, or wherever) which you want convert onto a DVD to give to someone who only has a standard DVD player you need ConvertXtoDVD (ok, not free, this one will set you back £30 but is the simplest tool in its class)
• a DVB class recording (ala MPEG-2) which is full of ‘ads’ and needs ‘cleaning up’ take a look at VideoRedo (a rather clever, albeit not free, bit of software which can guess ad-cutting out of a MPEG-2 source)
• a DVB class recording you want to turn into an AVI (an hour of MPEG-2 is about 2GB, an hour of good quality AVI is about 700MB…) have a look at the AutoGK toolkit page
• a DVB class recording you want on a DVD-R for standard DVD players - ConvertXtoDVD again

Ah, and after you’ve done all that, have the video file(s) in a format you want, and want to ‘burn it’ to CD/DVD, try out CDBurnerXP. It’s not perfect, but it is free, and will manage most straight-forward CD/DVD burning jobs…

Last but not least - media players - over M$ media player ‘bloatware’ and ‘I’ll get back to you right after I’ve failed downloading yet another video codec’ messages yet? - try GOM Player or VLC Media Player instead. Both very good (and free) primary media players, each with their own strength.

Not sure why - think it might be that it’s destructive rather than constructive - for both yourself and ‘the other’ (the ‘target’) - anger on a personal level…

Personally I was ‘lucky’ in some ways - didn’t really ’see’ anger until I was in my mid 30’s - the luck in this is there’s a real comparison for me - kind of the pre-anger and post-anger view of my world…

Anger, of course, is a valid (albeit not very positive) human emotion - we all ‘get into’ the anger experience, at some time, in my estimation. What I’m interested in is pressing reason, or intellect, against emotion in exploring where anger ‘fits’ (or not, as the case may be)…

Anger is a thing entrenched in the ‘me’ version of the world I think. A nice counter to that is the self-less version of the world… which is trickier to understand in my experience but more interesting, much happier, and certainly more fun!

Roughly:

• You’re really entrenched in the ‘me’ view - see it operate when someone stamps on your foot, or really offends your sensibilities. You ‘have to react’, often in anger, to protect ‘you’. You’re really self-trained to think you are ‘it’ - ‘you against the world’ type of thing - gotta defend ‘me’…
  I, me, me ,mine :-)
  I’m a solid ‘thing’ which exists… In all likelihood you’ve been brought up this way and much of western culture reinforces that outlook.
• What about you don’t actually ‘exist’ at all (in a non-relational way) ? The ‘test’ for this is to try and break down the component parts of yourself and define where the ‘me’ is - you are your hand? or your liver? or generally the cells that make up your body? You are your ‘mind’? Where is your ‘mind’? Is your ‘mind’ the the cells that make up your brain? Tricky…
• So you are nothing…? If you don’t ‘exist’ you are nothing, yes? By logic, not very likely - nothing comes from nothing? And returns to nothing? I don’t think so - it defies logic - matter can come from energy and vice-versa - the little we know ‘in science’ tells us this. Nothing doesn’t come from nothing, and things don’t ‘go to nothing’ - ‘things’ don’t ‘disappear’ - transform, yes, but they don’t just disappear. But you are probably not the ‘bits’ which make up the physical you…
• If you accept that your body was ’something’ (loosely, in simplicity, ‘matter’) before you were born and returns to that ’something’ (again ‘matter’ and/or energy) after you die then it’s not a great leap to consider that your awareness (mind, or consciousness, or soul, or whatever - let’s not get hung up on the terminology) could be much the same.



• So you were ’something’ before your physical/mind manifestation existed? And ‘they’ will still be ’something’ after you are ‘gone’? Seems completely reasonable given this flow of logic. ‘Matter’ arises and decays - a big sea of matter is out there - science tells us that - it constantly re-assembles, re-arranges, transforms…
• Given it’s likely that most would agree awareness/conciousness is not simply ‘matter’ but something different, then I don’t think it’s too greater leap to consider a parallel ’sea of awareness’ - which likewise arises, decays, re-assembles, re-arranges and transforms. It likewise also probably doesn’t, however, ‘come from nothing’ or ‘go to nothing’. This is, though, I grant you, pretty non-intuitive. If you suspend dis-belief for a moment and think through the likely truth of this flow of thought though it is possible - and, in fact, it seems quite plausible…
• The conclusion in this flow of argument is that there is some sort of continuum of awareness - and a parallel, or integrated, continuum of matter.
• (and it gets really interesting if you’re able to articulate imagining this as my brother Kurt can…read and test every word - find one that doesn’t fit - isn’t necessary… this is the definition of articulate succinct creative communication)
• Extrapolated thought would suggest you are a relational part of this continuum…. and the most interesting part, your awareness/conciousness, is just ‘in’ that sea of awareness - and that is the ‘real’ you. It existed before you were born and will still be there after you are dead… not as ‘you’ in the (fill in you with yourname) you today sense, but it will still be there… And,of course, everyone else is in that ’sea of reality’ too..
• You are not real as ‘me’ in the current limited view of the ‘physio you’ sense - but your core reality, and truth, is that you are a real part of the infinitely inter-connected continuum of awareness…
• The next step is a little tricky (well is for me anyway) - In the ‘we are all an inter-connected continuum of awareness’ - “bliss, void, indivisable” - the things which naturally arise are Love, compassion and empathy - transcendence of self to selflessness - human-ness - creativity - sharing - ‘the human spirit’ - the ’soul’ of conciousness…

This is my amateur attempt at an incomplete summary (and due to my limited understanding probably quite inadequate) of this little chain of Buddhist philosophy. An important aside is that Buddhist philosophy is truly self-referential - in that, only you can understand your understanding of it - my limited understanding or explanations, or any doctrine, or any dogma, are not your understanding - the key is you must find the path to truth and reality (your understanding).

One of the neat things about all of this is - in my somewhat, as yet, ignorant view - it seems to accord reasonably well with most theologies. I grant you, you have to dispense with a lot of tradition, inane detail, doctrine, and other dogmatic crap to arrive at that view… But it’s difficult to find a spiritual tradition which doesnt contain the core components of the infinite, a continuum, Love and compassion as core, and subsequently moral ethics and seeking fundamental (self-understood) truth as central themes…

‘Rabbiting on’…

I imagined I hear you say “yeah, yeah Shaun…”, with a little sigh, “and is there a point to all of this… stuff?”

Hmmm… thinking…

“Oh yes!” he says confidently, buying time to catch the thought train back to the original station…

In anger, it seems to me, one is reinforcing a very narrow view, that “me is against the world” view (even if in the emotion you are only doing the minutely personal view of ‘me is against so and so’).

If you explore the intellectual, reality, & perspective options and find some truth in a continuum of awareness, a shared space, it becomes relatively easy (he says with the same level of confidence as a train returning to the ‘original thought station’) to put yourself in the other “person’s shoes”… the exchange of self and other…

When you can do that, I would suggest, it’s difficult to be angry with them - they, after all, are here in reality just like you - well maybe not ‘just like you’ :) - but in this ’shared space’ - a truth of shared essence - of Love, compassion, empathy - a human mind in infinite conciousness - in the ‘pool’ - experiencing the human condition.

At that point it’s difficult to ‘accuse them’ of anything - e.g. falling into the trap of ‘delusion’, ’self-pride’, or whatever other slightly bent emotion they are projecting at you that you happen to be reacting (in anger) to…

Didn’t you experience just such an emotion last week!?

Did you manage not to project it at someone else?

Phew! Now even I’m not sure whether there’s a main point to all of this - think I’ll leave that to you to work out for yourself :-P

with thanks:
to Paco CT and Bob.Fornal for photos;
friends who fed back on a very
‘drafty’ early bit of these scribblings; and
again, to Bob, for my understanding
(yet incomplete, of course, but that’s my problem)
of Buddhist philosophy.
Celebrate!

Immediate thought was - maybe I should post this over on ‘Buggered if I Know‘ because I can just feel it - it’s ‘gonna’ end up being a bit of a wandering, ‘but what would I know’ type of post…

In soaking up the sun it can make even more immediate the ‘Jewel Tree of Tibet‘ visualisation - not only can one visualise enlightened ones sending Jewel Light, you can imagine and feel it filling you up and it over-flowing in thanks to everyone you wish to send happiness to. Of course it wouldn’t be me if I was suggesting that you might do this in only one context - descriptively in this case via Tibetan Buddhism - you might, in my opinion, just as easily have this feeling of sharing a blessed universal Love in a Christian context, or Hinduism, or even as a secular humanist. In short, if you invoke your soul it would actually take effort to miss it.

A dear friend of mine mentioned that her family sometimes ‘accuses’ her (half in jest I’m sure) of living too much in the present.
Ha!
In an ‘aspiring logician’ mode my response was “I’d love to know what the alternative is!?”. By logic you can’t live in the future, or the past. By just about anyone’s judgement, ‘living in the past’ is not considered a very positive personal attribute. And if you tell too many people you think you live in the future there’s a possibility some might doubt your sanity :-)

But in this ‘world’ that is exactly where the commercially driven, or others, of a ‘materialist’ nature, want you to be - in your ‘acquiring’ future. “Ooh I’ll be happy when I get the latest model car, the newest Nokia phone, or that ‘all age’ curing skin cream”. We’ve all had the experience of ‘getting’ these ‘new things’ and… for, exactly, how long did this ‘new thing’ make you happy?

But in a commercial sense it’s great - ‘I want’ - ka-ching! - ‘I need’ - ka-ching! - ‘but so and so has’ - ka ching! - money in the till - profit barons of the world unite :)
(if you’re interested in the history of psychology used in marketing over the past 80 odd years check out Adam Curtis’ documentary series - A Century of The Self)

On another level, I’ll be happy if… (fill in the blank) “I get a new boy/girlfriend, we have a baby, get married, I get a new job, I ________ …”

Ever noticed that you are completely happy right up until the moment you ask yourself - “how happy am I?” - you were completely happy in the moment, right up to the point when you tried to ‘get into’ the future, or the past, of ‘how happy am I?’ :)

It’d be a reasonable suggestion, in my humble opinion, that you are far more happy when your explorations as a human being yields a path of learning, (and hence my title reference to Dharma), sharing, in truth, in reality… actually exercising that awesome ‘computing power’ of the mind you have been blessed with by birth. You could die tomorrow, or today…

Really… at that point you’ve got to admit, surely, in the “one more moment to live” scenario - that it’s ‘a tad more taxing’, and rewarding, to be working out what really makes you, your Loved ones, your friends (and enemies incidentally) really, truly, happy… Sure beats the value of working out what new features Nokia have included in their ’shiny new phone’ - to, no doubt, ensure you get ’skinned in fees’ on O2’s 3G network :)

…some lovely lyrics ‘on topic’ which came my way recently - ‘Leaf and Stream‘…

Honestly, this isn’t rocket science, is it?…

You get the choice - stay on the ‘treadmill’ of new phones and life enhancing skin creams - or - spend a little time working out where you ‘fit’ and how you can Love yourself and your friends & family with intensity - today… just a reminder, you may be dead tomorrow…
(and for a completely different take on ‘death’ check out the film What Dreams May Come if you’re so inclined)

And death is just another ‘real’ part of life… but what would I know? :-)

with thanks to:
- Ian Anderson for the title,
- Bob Thurman for my little understanding of Buddhist Dharma,
- friends and family for patience and Love…, and
- davidreid & kiddharma for photo’s (here & here)
oh, and that reminds me about “Dharma the Cat” cartoons…

A native ‘Newcastlian’ he now works in Brazil on heavy oil rig towing ships - 8 weeks on, 8 weeks off. He arrived in Heathrow the day before. We chatted for maybe an hour and a half. He was most definitely having ‘too good a time’ and had been hammering the whisky and pints most of the day apparently - it’s dry on the ship for the whole 8 week shift.

He’s still in love with his ex-wife even though that ended 14 years ago. He has two really interesting children - a 20 something boy who’s travelled and is a fully qualified sports instructor and a late teens daughter who I can’t remember what she’s up to exactly but she’s well on her path and it sounded pretty cool. He returns to the UK often and spends a lot of time with his kids.

In his early 20’s he lived on a beach in Crete for 12 months with a young Australian lady he had met - their life paths crossed, they spent a significant part of their youths together - and its the most cherished memory of his life.

He loves walking the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District and had headed straight for Norfolk for some peace and quiet and to catch up with various friends, in various places up this way, like Great Yarmouth, before heading north. He can wax lyrical about the beauty he sees in the landscapes, his love of life, and the people who are important to him.

A good meandering chat, touching on all sorts, and the surprise came when he asked me ‘whats it all about?… what does it all mean?’…

Now, for anyone who knows me much - amusement might be felt at this point - verging on breaking out into hysterical laughter. Generally these are not the type of questions one asks me unless you really have a few hours to spare - my own joke about this is - why use a few words when a couple of thousand might easily do :-)

What caught me off guard about this situation however was that I actually had something to say in answer…

He is an awesome human being, his life is awesome, even if he didn’t quite ‘get that’ yet. He can see beauty in nature and simplicity and every time he shares that with his friends he is giving a gift. He has two ’switched on kids’ and they spend ‘quality time together’ regularly - they are sharing with their father a relationship morphing into the mutual respect of adulthood rather than that of parent-child - they share this gift together. He travels the world and takes that in his stride. He’s a productive, qualified professional who is sought after in his field. He can afford to take time out to think through the meaning of life - and does…

He is awesome, “isn’t your life awesome?” - that was the nub of my answer…

What’s it all about?

What does it all mean?

It’s already awesome - you just have to catch the sun at the right angle, or pause for a moment at a flower you pass, or maybe find your right perspective…

Photo: ‘A Valentine’s Rose’, © dws21uk

Oxen strains plough shears through the sand…
Starving children in Africa today,
and…
I just don’t understand.

Patter the clay, new home,
brick by brick…
Money men killed another forest today,
and…
I feel sick.

Drought this year,
earth scorched bare…
More space junk in the sky today,
why…
don’t I care?

Stable the horses from the driving rain…
Youths murdered an old lady today…
I can’t describe…
The pain.

Sunsets golden,
another day goes by,
human kind kills itself…
With greed…
and,
sometimes I have to cry.

ShaunO, 1996, reprise, 2008.
Photo: ‘all the pain‘, 2006, Ali K.

Be in,
and regularly check,
the validity of,
your own reality.

You are real,
but you are only that,
nothing more, nothing less,
just more or less…
entwined…
inter-connected,
a child of universal success.

You are Loved…
Some say they Love you,
some demonstrate they Love you,
and some simply, actually, Love you…
None of these are the question.

Are you Love?

Learn…
in the hard ways,
and,
in the fast, and furious, and fun ways.
But always,
in your way…

Travel…

Meditate…
With your eyes wide open.

Step out briskly always
- but watch for passing cars…
And from the words of a bard…
Do one thing, that frightens you…
Everyday.

Realise…
Your own reality.

Explore…
uncompromisingly, your own truth.

Wide open?
Given yourself…
a vision test lately?

Love…
on the path of your own ’silver string’,
and with your entire being…
As often as you can.

Life is a long song.
The verses will unfold.
Don’t let them spill your pain,
all over,
your new dress…

Keep your meditative eye…
Wide open.

(and, trust me on the sunscreen…)
(maybe you’ll dance the ‘funky chicken’ on your 75th wedding anniversary…)

With thanks
for inspirations
drawn from:
Ian Anderson,
Baz Luhrmann,
Mary Schmich,
Bob Thurman, &
Kurt
(in no particular order).

I started a little group on Flickr - The Tobacconist - which is gathering a some momentum…

Some of the Tobacconist’s shop-fronts I have seen over the years are the most pleasant, interesting, amusing, or just well presented… and from a photo in the group interesting shops are still about - this one selling tobacco by weight from jars still - with such fine names as “Kentucky Nougat, Fire Dance, Sherlock Holmes, Old Oak, Sweet Blarney, Troost, and Parsons Pleasure…”.

The world-wide communities which are possible via these technologies - like Flickr - even though I’ve been around the Internet for near on 15 years - are a constant, pleasant, surprise to me…

Was trying to find out how to do those cute little comment replies - you know, replying to a specific persons comment quoting their buddy icon - like this.

Nothing simpler as it turns out:

• use Firefox (don’t tell me you still use IE… :-))
• install GreaseMonkey
• install Flickr Buddy Icon Reply

Goto flickr photo page and start using new options for replies…

Was looking a little like the ‘wild man from Borneo’. And regularly getting up and thinking ‘ooh… bad hair morning’… Of more concern was that one morning my Uncle Eric might not recognise me and call the police, or something worse…

It was lovely day in Norfolk today.

I decided to take my ‘SatNav’ on an outing for comic relief (a reference to my previous light hearted ramblings on ‘SatNag’). The intent - to have a ‘crack at’ finding my first geocache. I chose this one which seemed to promise no swimming, or climbing trees, or anything like that, and it’s only a few miles from where I am.

I like the byline on www.geocaching.com:

‘The sport where You are the search engine’

I have to confess I’m not sure about sport - but for the more lively of the practitioners I gather that some caches are placed in ridiculously difficult places - at which point I’m sure it would become sport - each to their own I always say…

Anyway, having negotiated somewhere to park the car (which is always a bit of a challenge in ‘outback’ Norfolk lanes) I started my hunt. And, of course, that’s about all I can say about that without ’spoiling’ the cache.

Suffice it to say I did find it, it took me much longer than it should have, and most surprising, I enjoyed the ‘hunt’. It’s a lovely spot too, which, frankly without going there to find the geocache I would have never seen. And its basically ‘just around the corner’.

Having found the cache I was feeling very ‘furtive’ as by then a groundsman had arrived to tend the graveyard and I had no idea what he must of thought I was doing traipsing around the place - casing the joint? :P

So I didn’t spent a lot of time going through the menagerie of bits’n'bobs in the ILLY coffee tin - I did the log, chose my ‘little ball and maze’ puzzle from the goodies and left behind an Australian 50 cent coin.

I learnt more acronyms today too. If someone ever reverse engineers my brain (whats left of it) I’m sure they will find I am just a walking glossary…

TNLN - Took Nothing, Left Nothing
TFTH - Thanks For The Hunt
TFTC - Thanks For The Cache

Oh, and on the ‘techie’ front, Garmin make a groovy web browser plug-in which means you can use web pages (or create your own) which can up/download data (waypoints and the like) directly to your ‘SatNav’ (which you have plugged in via USB) whilst you’re browsing your GPS savvy web-sites - like geocaching.com.

So, down 50 cents, up a ‘little ball and maze’ puzzle, seen another lovely little church in Norfolk, and a satisfactory, to good, time (practising my under-stated British) had by all :)

and… more web links than you ever wanted for St Michaels, Ryston:

• GENUKI information
• A General History of the county Norfolk (1829) - Google Books
• Cemetery Grave Monument Photographs
• Pictures of the stained glass windows (from CVMA)

Everything is beautiful,
if only you could see,
you have been Loved,
drenched in it…
all encompassing Love,
Did you miss it?

Too bad,
so sad,
you’ll pay the price…
for our own ignorance,
for our outstanding…
greed & stupidity…
but it didn’t have to be that way,
Did you miss it?

Everyday you asked your God,
where to today?
‘To Love’…
Did you miss it?
Get diverted into grey?
It didn’t have to be that way…

You could have “stepped up to the plate”…
To the realisation, to the truth, into your reality…
To your “God-head”,
into the day…
today, is the day,
for us to Love one another,
to care,
and be cared for…

To share,
and it’s today…
to share all that pain…
Did you miss it?

They are the same you know…
Today, Realisation, Truth, Pain, & Love…
Welcome aboard.

If your heart is exploding…
You are here…
here, with the rest of us…
Welcome.
Don’t miss it.

Step out…
onto the pain of your past,
and,
into the pleasure of your future,
welcome.

Welcome.
Did you miss it?
Did it pass you by?

Of course, I’ll never know…
Because it’s up to you.
Welcome…

Firstly, having been the ‘uber-geek‘ in the past (and modest too…), I’m pleased that on this occasion that I haven’t had to contribute much to research and development in this particular area. You know how it goes… first in the ‘buy line’ and you pay £500 for something that is worth £100 in a few months/years time… i.e. you get to help fund the R&D releases… I am not going to admit how much I paid for my first CD player… oh ok, A$1000 :-)

With ‘SatNag’ (a great ‘language short’ for - SatNav - offered by a best mate) I’ve entered the frey pretty much on the “matur’ish end of the curve”, where, decent kit can be picked up for around £100…

And the whole, “you’re holding this thing in your hand which can figure out exactly where you are on the planet” thing.., is a little mind-bending actually.

And, of course, I’m not alone. As I work in other zones to explain something of my views on Internet influences & effects - I have not missed that a GPS r/evolution is happening… How ‘far out’ is Geo-Caching, or Geo-Tagging? The simplest version of GeoTagging being properly locating where your photos are taken when using Flickr… everything on the Internet “geotag’d”. Wow, THAT’S metadata :-)

Auto-routing has to be the most comical feature to be included in these devices though does’nt it? Already I’m finding that owning a ‘SatNag’ is going to provide immense amounts of comic relief in what might otherwise be stressful UK driving conditions. On the basis of 3 days experience my first piece of advice is to ensure you always have a *very* good *printed* map in the car… And better still, ensure you actually have the faintest clue about where you are going… ;)

I took my Uncle Eric out to lunch the other day at a favourite local pub - the Jenyns Arms - and you are not going to ‘drive by’ this pub… it’s hidden in deepest, darkest Norfolk :P

Anyway, on the way home, as a test - I have driven this road umpteen times - I let ‘SatNag’ work out where we were going - and for comedy followed obediently…

To surprise (particularly Eric’s) it took me up Sandy Lane - a two rut goat track through the back of nowhere (well, to be fair Denver) instead of along a perfectly service-able *paved* road through the centre of the village…

“‘SatNag’, better pack your wellies…” suggests best mate…

Today, having dutifully trawled all possibilities for said new ‘techo-gadget’ I find myself with all sorts of ‘Points of Interest’ (POIs) loaded to said device… If you’re on the hunt for such stuff PocketGPSWorld and GarminPOI aren’t bad places to start. But I digress…

So, says me (now GPS savvy, of course :-)), ‘nearest Castle’, and bundles into car and off I go to, apparently, Castle Rising. Meandering along ok, know roughly the area I’m in anyway so non-nonchalantly listening to ‘SatNags’ - “second exit on roundabout” etc - until I’m goat tracking again… Ok, comic relief…

Until I noticed that I’m now past the “Castle” - which frankly in Castle Rising’s case is pretty hard to miss - and ‘SatNag’ is chuffing me through town out to … where?…

Me, thinking quickly (I’m like that…), that *I’m* actually in control of the car, stops…
Checks ‘SatNag’ as far as where does ‘he/she’ *think* we are going…
Ah, problem, Point of Interest (POI) entry thinks we are going out into ‘the Wash‘ somewhere… helps if you actually give the SatNav the right GPS co-ords in the first place… Shaun presses ‘Stop’ and decides to self navigate…

“‘SatNag’… hope you were towing a boat for destination…” suggests best mate…

Gadgetz… Where am I?

Moral of the story…

Never know… ensure you have maps, wellies, and are towing a boat…
and… actually have the right data for where you are going…
and… “Are you prepared for a snow drift?” enquires best mate…

Never know… could end up anywhere with ‘SatNag’… :P

An ‘evolution’ is, again loosely, generally agreed to mean change or process, often with an implication of ‘forward movement’ (e.g. in biological systems - becoming more complex). References for further exploration at wiktionary or wikipedia.

Out of interest a ‘volution’ is quoted (by Websters thru the Online Medical Dictionary) as having several meanings including: a spiral turn, or a wreath, or the whorl of a spiral shell - and apparently derived from the latin ‘volutio’. Not dissimilarly, both evolution and revolution have their roots in latin: the former from ‘evolutio‘ (an unrolling, unfolding), and the latter from ‘revolvere‘ (to revolve).

So my intent by using R:E:volution is combinational then. By definition - ‘a turn’, ‘a change’, and/or ‘a forward movement’. By inference - the subtlety of the implied ‘meanings’ of using words such as revolution and evolution in combination. By construct - the use of the colon in punctuation to point out that - “what follows clarifies, explains, or simply enumerates elements of what is referred to before”…

And the, on ‘the face of it’, wandering introduction, itself, serves to place the appropriate amount of emphasis on the uncertainty, the wonder, and the spirit of enquiry which my rhetorical, questioning, title presents. But I will be clear at the outset - I have no intention of answering ‘the question’ - only to research, propose, learn, and ask further questions by discussing it…

‘Onward…’ agreed the journeyman and the apprentice…

The Internet is certainly an evolution of technology. With more complexity, in some respects one might argue, than is possible with the evolution of biological systems. Whilst in biological evolution a view of an hierarchical tree can be drawn - it is unlikely you will see cross connection between the branches, in my understanding.

In technological evolution however the opposite seems to be true. Using the ‘parlance of our times’ - ‘technological convergence’ is a reasonable example. Much work over the last decades has taken place to enable computers to become TVs, stereos, radios and the like. We are all aware that many electrical devices we now own - which previously had some other controller system in them - are now, too, controlled by ‘embedded computers’. This is largely due to the cross-pollination of ‘the branches’ of modern technologies. This is also true in other fields of scientific endeavour apart from technology - but that would be too larger digression…

Often, with technology, entire branches get removed in favour of some superior, latterly arrived, technology. A simple example of this is the telephone - primarily designed as a circuit-switched system which has, by now in my estimation at its base, been almost entirely replaced by a later technology - packet-switching. This is a good example of this type of cross-pollination so let’s stay with it for a moment…

It is true that the original concept (in this case circuit-switching for telephones) is somehow ‘evolved’ to work in the new system. So, in that sense, the ‘old technology’, or ‘old concepts’ more accurately, are not supplanted - they are ‘kind of re-emulated’ in the new physical/electrical system. But, the old technology, in the sense of having to make a physical wire, circuit-switched connection, between two telephone handsets has entirely disappeared… removing the entire ‘original branch’ version of that technology begun by Antonio Meucci (exactly whom, is under constant dispute) and others in the 1800’s…

What we have today is largely a massively hybrid system of physical lines (in the minority), computers, sub-marine fibre cables, satellites, microwave links etc etc which packet-switch data all over the world - including millions of telephone calls. To be sure that is too simplistic a view. There will still be large amounts of infrastructure dedicated to telephony - this ensures its ‘quality of service’ which we have all come to expect - but my guess is the bulk of ‘the back-end’ is based on modern, computer controlled, packet-switched technology.

Ultimately its relatively easy to envisage that they (the millions/billions of phone calls) will just ‘merge’ as ‘yet more’ packet-switched ‘data’ into the ’single global network’ - which at this point doesn’t really exist - but, in any event is, in myth, currently called the the Internet.

Anybody who has experienced Voice Over the (real, todays…) Internet (VOIP) will attest to its imperfect nature… so, we are, at least, a little way from that ’single global converged network’… This is part, though, of the ‘natural’ technological evolution to which I allude. Ultimately there will not be a ‘phone system’, per se.

‘Telephonics’, as my dear Uncle Eric so precisely puts it, will be just another ’service’ on the future ‘global Internet’…

In this sense then, we are discussing technology evolution, a slow change, traceable from the 1800’s until now…

Until the next R:E:volution…

Photos:
‘Spiral‘ by Roger Smith.
‘Old Telephone‘ by Bergius.

Leonard Cohen songs…

Sisters of Mercy

lyrics and an amazing number of covers…

Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye

lyrics and, again, some nice covers…

Viva la Jersey! Viva la Holland!

Service Pack 1 is on its way and by all account this boosts the speed quite a bit - original announcement here and current SP1 Release Candidate ‘refresh’ available for download here. Don’t expect to ’see’ anything much new in SP1 - it’s what it says, a service pack, which is largely under-the-hood ‘fixes’.

So, Vista generally, OK, the desktop is pretty, the sidebar has its uses, task switching graphics are more useful (the groovy version by windows key-tab rather than alt-tab)…

Most users, its true, are going to get all they need for multimedia ‘out-of-the-box’ with Vista - finally. Personally I’m a bit of a dinosaur and prefer the applications I’ve chosen for picture management, music management and syncing, playing video and the like. So, even though it’s a nicety that I can now plug a camera SD card in and tell Vista to ‘import and erase’ the pictures I’m not sure this is anything staggeringly new…

The thing I am pretty sure of is that Windows is looking and feeling more like Mac OS-X, or various late model Un*x desktops and features, everyday. But really, if you pop, say, Window Blinds and half a dozen other little utilities on top of XP it’s going to look pretty much like Vista (or a Mac or anything else you’d like it to look like really…).

I do know:

• that ‘User Account Control’ is a complete pain in the butt and is now permanently disabled…
• that I’m tired of exactly the same features (no better or worse as features) being shifted three more levels deep in dialogs or shifted entirely to a new place - frankly Microsoft should take a ‘leaf out of’ the web book rule which says more that ‘three clicks away’ is too many..

Vista is just a natural upgrade for XP - hardly a new product… and therefore I think the world will simply ‘morph’ to Vista, as the upgrade sucessor to XP, over time… as opposed to rushing out to buy it…

For me, Ive just re-loaded WindowsBlinds and ObjectDock, as I actually prefer things the way I set them up with my software…

Maybe you can’t teach an old dinosaur new tricks :P

[Update: 16Jan] my sidebar widget picks are:

• Presto’s Clock (low screen real estate for world clocks).
• System Info (Date/Time, wireless, power/battery, CPU/Mem, Drives, Shutdown etc).
• System Control a close second in the System Info/Control category.
• DU Meter (this is a pay for - but I’ve been using DUMeter for years and upgraded).

And BTW the Windows sidebar site pretty well sucks…

It’s in the dream you’ll find that place,
that peace,
that ever-lasting solitude,
look,
listen,
learn,
don’t ask why,
let it wash over you…
It will come.

It’s in the paradox you’ll find it,
the twilight,
the grey zone,
between the dream and the reality…
They are same,
really… I ask you to trust…
To look, to listen, to learn… quietly.
Surrender to intuition.

What is right?
What is wrong?
Who is right?
How have you been wronged?
Listen…
Can you hear it?
It is clear, awaiting your connection…

Reach out, tenderly at first…
Oh… you see it? you feel it?…

Rejoice!
in the gifts that show,
that are given,
and that you can share…

You are loved…
You can love.
You have arrived.
Celebrate!

I have had previous experience with FM transmitter solutions using MP3 players but it was always a less than optimal solution - with the power of the FM transmitter (and hence reception/sound quality through car radio) and battery life (in both FM transmitter and MP3 player) presenting fairly serious limitations/annoyances.

So the solution really is to:

• remove the external MP3 player (removes that battery problem),
• power the FM transmitter through the cigarette lighter (no batteries again, and a strong FM signal)
• and for a final trick - how hard would it be to build in an MP3 player that reads it MP3s off a USB memory stick?

Not that hard at all it seems - and this is the bit of kit that does it!

It’s badged as a solocar FM29 (or FM-29, or FM-29A) and looks like its manufactured by Shenzen Heywell Technology Ltd in China (surprise, surprise) and distributed by various vendors world-wide - in the UK it can be bought from Technet Online via Amazon for less than £20.

So this is not, at £18, an audiophile’s solution to music in your car. But, having said that, the sound quality is very good.

FM Transmitter

Functionally the FM transmitter seems quite strong, even for a car with a rear mounted antenna, and once you’ve found your quiet zone at whatever FM frequency - say 88.5 - you just tune the device there (and it remembers it which is a nice touch). Of course it never needs batteries… The other thing about this FM transmitter (and most these days - but do check) is it capable of being tuned to pretty well anywhere in the 87-107 FM spectrum (206 channels according to packaging). This becomes a real bonus if you, say, try to use the device in two countries - which I have done - where a fixed tuned device like the old Belkin’s had 4 channels - it worked fine in Australia but was pretty much slap in the BBC Radio 2 band in the UK, and therefore next to useless…

MP3 Player

The ‘internal’ MP3 player can play files from a USB or SD/MMC memory source - I’ve tried a 512MB MMC, and 512MB and 2GB USB memory sticks and all was well. I read that it’s ok with 4GB memory sticks too. USB’s are easy to plug in and out (especially whilst driving). I also seem to have a small (and growing) population of USB memory sticks :)

The let-down with the MP3 player (and this kind of let-down in detail often happens with otherwise excellent value ‘China built’ stuff in my experience) is it isn’t very clever re play ordering. It seems it just pulls tracks out based on the file allocation table order - however from a little testing (and thanks to D.J. Hollingworth for review at Amazon) if you move the tracks off the usb stick, order them (say on filename), and move them back - all seems to be well…

So, if you use something like MediaMonkey, say, to fill your device based on Album-Artist-Track#-Title - you sync - then using Windows explorer- move the tracks off (to C:\temp or where ever), order them, move them back to USB stick… all seems to order correctly on play…

The MP3 decoder seems happy to handle anything you chuck at it - CBR, VBR ~160 etc all seemed to work fine.

Photo: Solocar FM-29A ‘in situ’ in car …

Tips:

• Non obvious button operation is a long-press on track up/down also doubles as volume up/down (shown on my packaging).
• and a long press on play/pause/stop button also switches between ‘all sequential’ (A) play and ‘random/shuffle’ (S) play (thanks to S. Dawes review on Amazon).

External Source

This got interesting - using my iRiver S10 plugged in through the external phono connector doesn’t give quite as pleasing results as using the internal MP3 player. I think this has got to do with the extra amps and leads when using an external device and it simply seems to offer more places for radio noise to potentially creep in and spoil everything. However, it does work better than any other mp3 player/transmitter setup I’ve ever had - is more than acceptable - so if I need to use the more sophisticated ordering, playlist functionality, and the like of my iRiver at least I know I can.

Tip:

• put volume to full (21 on mine) on FM29 before you remove the usb stick and plug in the external phono connected device - as the volume control from ‘head buttons’, or remote, don’t work once FM29 is running on phono…

USB Charger

Not enough functionality for you yet at £20!? - well my friends, this is also effectively an in-car USB charger. So for me that means I can in-car USB charge my Palm T3 and my iRiver MP3 player with this device too! It wont power up an 80GB USB hard-drive (yes I did try :P), but hey…

Basically for under £20 it does what it says ‘on the tin’ and quite a few bits’n'pieces besides…

5 stars.

Exploring London requires you become familiar with the Tube. If you’re doing a heavy travel day the easiest way to ticket it is to buy an off-peak ‘travelcard’ which gives you unlimited (after 9.30am) travel for the day - at, currently, £5.30. They are magnetic strip based tickets which you just pop into the gates to get in and out of stations. And, as per previous advice, get a good tube map…

The next thing to get straight in your head is north-south and east-west orientation as when you enter a station, to take a particular line, the platforms will be split based on their compass directions. So, its really handy, particularly if its busy, to have a good idea where you are going (its compass direction on the line you are about to take) before you even get into the station. Having said that the signage on the underground is second to none and if you do happen to end up going in the wrong direction just get off the train at the next stop and turn around (go to the opposite platform) and go back…

As an aside, I have never been to the London Transport Museum - but I gather its very good, and it’s on my list…

On a completely un-related topic it’s interesting what effects you get doing panoramic ’stiches’ on a camera with a fairly wide angle lens.

The photo below is the Natural History Museum in a four photo ’stitch’ on my IXUS 860 at a 28mm equivalent focal length…

Had I have known it would work out ok - it looked all very skew-whiff taking the shots - I would have done it from the centre and then the fish eye effect may have been quite pleasing - ah well, you lives and ya learns…

And a couple more of my London photos @ Flickr.

You should also try to get off the beaten track a little. A few less known diversions are

• the London Silver Vaults;
• Hatton Garden - London’s diamond & jewellery quarter;
• Petticoat Lane Sunday Markets; or
• Aspley House - The ‘ town house’ of the Dukes of Wellington, housing the Wellington Collection.

I didn’t do all that today! I did have a wander around Petticoat Markets which have a good east end London feel but not being the shopping type not of much interest except to soak up the atmosphere.

I also visited the Natural History Museum. Again I’m not actually a huge fan of stuffed animals and the like but even if you only visit to take in the architecture of the building - both old and new - its well worth a visit and won’t cost you a penny. At the moment the skating rink and Christmas Market takes up the East Lawn and has quite a winter atmosphere. Of course, if you can manage it, don’t visit on a weekend, it’s packed…

The other ‘hidden secret’ I visited today was Apsley House. £5.30 for non-members - but if you’re not an English Heritage (EH) member do think about joining as it’ll pay for itself within a few site visits and they are definitely worth supporting. And if you’re into this type of thing you can take in whatever EH sites there are where-ever you happen to be travelling to for free (or multiple visits to sites around where you live).

Just the art and historic collections - The Wellington Collection - housed at Apsley House are pretty mind boggling I must say…

Photo: Earth Hall, Natural History Museum, London. Dec 2007.

Spamalot was a pleasant way to spend the evening - just good entertainment - not going to take your breathe away like Les Mis, or Cats, or Starlight Express which I’ve seen in London and all were just outstanding. For Spamalot I was in a separate box, ‘in the gods’, with two others, over the stage which had a slightly restricted view, but great view of ‘the pit’, normal chairs you could move about to suit yourself, and nearly got my head blown off when they the let the confetti off, towards the end of the show, from that side of the stage right beside me! Great fun.

Photo: The Pink Limo, Cambridge Circus, London. Dec 2007.

Never kid yourself - if you’re going to spend any time in London you’re going to spend money. Just train tickets for example - £33 return fair to Downham Market and £15 for three days worth of tube travel cards…

Your next problem is accommodation - think practical - location (close to tube and the things you want to do) and what services do you want? I want smoking and free wifi. The latter is just sensible because you then have access to any amount of information via the Internet while you’re in London (and lot of hotels charge extra for Internet access - so check).

Talking of free wifi access this is a useful little site if your a road warrior and don’t want to pay for your internet access whilst traipsing about in London. And while we are on the Internet do yourself a favour and check out Wikitravel’s extensive London pages.

So, having found a good 4 star hotel, with my requirements (via lastminute.com), in the thick of it (easy walking distance to Piccadilly Circus and Charing Cross), at a very reasonable £60/night ( the Radisson Edwardian Grafton) and getting checked in by about 1PM I set off…

Photo: Leadenhall Market for Christmas, Gracechurch St, London. Dec 2007.