Was writing in my journal tonight, working through a problem in my text, and by the time I get to the end I have a solution.
Great isn't it.
I recommend journal writing, if only to work through your problems. Future generations will no doubt find it fascinating to read about my problems and my solutions, I may also find it helpful to look back and review the solution too.
Monday, 4 May 2009
Monday, 20 April 2009
Never judge a book?
Following on from "Anyone can create" check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luRmM1J1sfg
I sometimes wonder if God does this to teach us a lesson, that we can simply be plain wrong and never more wrong than when we judge too quickly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luRmM1J1sfg
I sometimes wonder if God does this to teach us a lesson, that we can simply be plain wrong and never more wrong than when we judge too quickly.
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Dad gets back to his musical roots...
The Easter holiday arrived, and with my birthday on the horizon M suggested a Ukulele as a potential birthday present. I must confess I was dubious to begin with - though I have also felt a yearning for some non-computer based interest in my life. So, I borrowed M's Uke to have a go.
All I can say is, I love it. In just a couple of days I had enough Chords to play Cohen's Hallelujah off by heart, along with the usual "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" (typical beginners stuff) from music. I never thought that I would ever play tunes on a stringed instrument with any degree of skill since I traded the violin for an oboe at the end of the 80's. Any attempt at the guitar left me crestfallen as I simply couldn't get my hands round the neck for some chords without leaning on all the other strings... the Uke has changed my mind about strings. In just a week of playing I have been able to add "Dream a Little Dream of Me" by the Mamas and the Papas to my off by heart list, and can play loads of others from chord sheets. Wow.
The best thing is, M and I can play duets. It's such fun.
Just watch out at Christmas, you'll know if we are carolling you, because every carol will have a Hawaiian Ukulele lilt to it :-D
M will therefore be giving me a Uke for my birthday.
And if you are interested yourself, we recommend the Kala soprano Uke as a great beginners instrument. Has decent tuning keys (the geared kind) and made from decent wood:
http://www.nevadamusic.co.uk/Guitars/Acoustic/Ukulele/sc1414/p6730.aspx
There are other ones (e.g. Ashton) which we tried but it wasn't good. Hence recommending the above - plus, it gets good recommendations from others on the internet.
All I can say is, I love it. In just a couple of days I had enough Chords to play Cohen's Hallelujah off by heart, along with the usual "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" (typical beginners stuff) from music. I never thought that I would ever play tunes on a stringed instrument with any degree of skill since I traded the violin for an oboe at the end of the 80's. Any attempt at the guitar left me crestfallen as I simply couldn't get my hands round the neck for some chords without leaning on all the other strings... the Uke has changed my mind about strings. In just a week of playing I have been able to add "Dream a Little Dream of Me" by the Mamas and the Papas to my off by heart list, and can play loads of others from chord sheets. Wow.
The best thing is, M and I can play duets. It's such fun.
Just watch out at Christmas, you'll know if we are carolling you, because every carol will have a Hawaiian Ukulele lilt to it :-D
M will therefore be giving me a Uke for my birthday.
And if you are interested yourself, we recommend the Kala soprano Uke as a great beginners instrument. Has decent tuning keys (the geared kind) and made from decent wood:
http://www.nevadamusic.co.uk/Guitars/Acoustic/Ukulele/sc1414/p6730.aspx
There are other ones (e.g. Ashton) which we tried but it wasn't good. Hence recommending the above - plus, it gets good recommendations from others on the internet.
And if you do get a Uke, don't forget my Uke Tuner software:
http://myfamilynewspaper.blogspot.com/2008/07/uke-tuner.html
http://myfamilynewspaper.blogspot.com/2008/07/uke-tuner.html
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Anyone can Create...
As a teacher of design I am often charged with deciding who has the potential to do well on the courses we run at college. In essence, it means finding out about the drawing ability, creative thinking, and motivation (among other things) of each candidate.
But let's not make the mistake of thinking that just because a person is not suited for art & design, that it also means they are not creative. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf says it so well:
But let's not make the mistake of thinking that just because a person is not suited for art & design, that it also means they are not creative. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf says it so well:
Monday, 6 April 2009
Death to all Computers 2 !!!
Well, perhaps foolishly I gave it another chance. Took the risk that it might be a dodgy burn of a CD (even though it worked on my Dell) and burned another, this time at a lower speed.
A boost of hope came when the computer did finally boot from it. As a result I was able to install Ubuntu 8.10.
Much good did it do me. It took about 90 minutes for the install to complete, then I found that TVtime still wasn't available in a repository. What!? So I downloaded it direct from the Ubuntu Intrepid site and installed it. Apparently all dependencies were met, and on running the program I go no errors.
No error, but no picture either. Just the nice blue you always get when there is no signal. The menu allowed me to click an option to change the video source, but never a list of sources appeared (or any picture).
If I charged my time out at even Aldi rates, I would have earned over £100 by now.
I am once again reminded why, although Linux is looking prettier than ever these days, it is actually useless to me.
Virtually none of the software I use all the time is available for it, and, in situations like the one I am in now, there are no help files built into the program, no clue as to what I should do next.
When will I ever learn. Sometimes it is just better to buy the kit that does the job in the simplest way. You can spend an awful lot of time trying to save a few quid - and in this case, need to spend it in the end anyway.
I will try one more option before spending my spends.
Stick Windows 98SE on the old machine and simply never plug it into a network.
I bet the ATi Media Centre will work then, TVtime sure doesn't.
I will still recommend Ubuntu as the Linux distro of choice. But not for making your computer into a TV.
***
The issue it seems is that Linux doesn't have very good support of my TV card, an ATi All-in-wonder.
The big lesson then is... do plenty of Googling about your proposed Linux solution, including all intended hardware, before you spend 11 hours trying to make it work.
***
In the short term I am whacking an old Win 98SE license on the beast to get it running as a TV so the lads can play their consoles.
Longer term will get Ubuntu to recognise my card properly and have a machine that could also be used for homework online. I won't be connecting Win98 to the network for obvious reasons.
A boost of hope came when the computer did finally boot from it. As a result I was able to install Ubuntu 8.10.
Much good did it do me. It took about 90 minutes for the install to complete, then I found that TVtime still wasn't available in a repository. What!? So I downloaded it direct from the Ubuntu Intrepid site and installed it. Apparently all dependencies were met, and on running the program I go no errors.
No error, but no picture either. Just the nice blue you always get when there is no signal. The menu allowed me to click an option to change the video source, but never a list of sources appeared (or any picture).
If I charged my time out at even Aldi rates, I would have earned over £100 by now.
I am once again reminded why, although Linux is looking prettier than ever these days, it is actually useless to me.
Virtually none of the software I use all the time is available for it, and, in situations like the one I am in now, there are no help files built into the program, no clue as to what I should do next.
When will I ever learn. Sometimes it is just better to buy the kit that does the job in the simplest way. You can spend an awful lot of time trying to save a few quid - and in this case, need to spend it in the end anyway.
I will try one more option before spending my spends.
Stick Windows 98SE on the old machine and simply never plug it into a network.
I bet the ATi Media Centre will work then, TVtime sure doesn't.
I will still recommend Ubuntu as the Linux distro of choice. But not for making your computer into a TV.
***
The issue it seems is that Linux doesn't have very good support of my TV card, an ATi All-in-wonder.
The big lesson then is... do plenty of Googling about your proposed Linux solution, including all intended hardware, before you spend 11 hours trying to make it work.
***
In the short term I am whacking an old Win 98SE license on the beast to get it running as a TV so the lads can play their consoles.
Longer term will get Ubuntu to recognise my card properly and have a machine that could also be used for homework online. I won't be connecting Win98 to the network for obvious reasons.
Death to all Computers!!!
There comes a time when one has to finally admit it is no longer worth trying to make something work.
That time has come for me now.
In our house we have just been getting rid of old games consoles vis freecycle. We have given away an original NES, a bunch of Master System games, some XBOX controllers an other assorted bits. Then we realised that we still have an original PlayStation and MegaDrive with loads of games for each.
Since the holidays are here and the games are fun, we decided to hang on to these ones. Only one problem, no TV to hook them up to. Since we decided we didn't need a telly, and have broadband, some of these older games systems are effectively blind. We looked at getting a Composite/S-Video to VGA converter but found that they were either brands we were unlikely to trust or cost the price of a small TV. Then I realised that one of our older PCs has a TV capture card. Great, all I need to do is install Ubuntu Linux along with TVTime (as recommended by S) and we would be sorted.
I pulled out the 2 old computers with some bits and fiddled around with drives until I got a working system.
I hunted around for my Ubuntu CD ROM, eventually found it and installed the OS without issue by booting from CD. A quick search on Synaptic found however that TVTime was no longer available, in fact none of the repositories were. A bit of Googling later I realised that my "new" Ubuntu installation was actually several years out of date - I was running version 5, they were now on version 8. It seemed that if I was going to be able to access a working repository I would have to reinstall Ubuntu, but this time the latest version.
So I find and download the ISO for 8.10 desktop i386. That takes about 45 minutes, then I run a quick checksum (it's fine) and burn it to a CD.
Problem. For some reason, my old computer will not boot from the new Ubuntu CD. I try it on my Dell, no problem there, so it isn't a dodgy CD. Going back to the old PC I try switching the cables around, checking the BIOS settings, everything seems in order. In fact on boot it definately checks the CD before the HDD, but still boots from the HDD in the end.
It has now been a cumulative 8 hours of working, and I have nothing to show for it except an old Ubuntu installation which I cannot upgrade and no TVTime.
After the initial frustration wears off, and the urge to hurl the entire PC down the stairs or out of the Window subsides, I become more philosophical.
Who cares.
Who gives a monkeys. So what.
Let it die, let all computers die. When did they make me happy anyway?
I am not prepared to spend many more seconds making this work. I have spent more in time, than it would have cost in cash to buy a TV or a VGA converter so far. One of those options is looking more promising by the minute.
Maybe I will feel differently later. But for now, let all PCs and Consoles die.
RIP.
That time has come for me now.
In our house we have just been getting rid of old games consoles vis freecycle. We have given away an original NES, a bunch of Master System games, some XBOX controllers an other assorted bits. Then we realised that we still have an original PlayStation and MegaDrive with loads of games for each.
Since the holidays are here and the games are fun, we decided to hang on to these ones. Only one problem, no TV to hook them up to. Since we decided we didn't need a telly, and have broadband, some of these older games systems are effectively blind. We looked at getting a Composite/S-Video to VGA converter but found that they were either brands we were unlikely to trust or cost the price of a small TV. Then I realised that one of our older PCs has a TV capture card. Great, all I need to do is install Ubuntu Linux along with TVTime (as recommended by S) and we would be sorted.
I pulled out the 2 old computers with some bits and fiddled around with drives until I got a working system.
I hunted around for my Ubuntu CD ROM, eventually found it and installed the OS without issue by booting from CD. A quick search on Synaptic found however that TVTime was no longer available, in fact none of the repositories were. A bit of Googling later I realised that my "new" Ubuntu installation was actually several years out of date - I was running version 5, they were now on version 8. It seemed that if I was going to be able to access a working repository I would have to reinstall Ubuntu, but this time the latest version.
So I find and download the ISO for 8.10 desktop i386. That takes about 45 minutes, then I run a quick checksum (it's fine) and burn it to a CD.
Problem. For some reason, my old computer will not boot from the new Ubuntu CD. I try it on my Dell, no problem there, so it isn't a dodgy CD. Going back to the old PC I try switching the cables around, checking the BIOS settings, everything seems in order. In fact on boot it definately checks the CD before the HDD, but still boots from the HDD in the end.
It has now been a cumulative 8 hours of working, and I have nothing to show for it except an old Ubuntu installation which I cannot upgrade and no TVTime.
After the initial frustration wears off, and the urge to hurl the entire PC down the stairs or out of the Window subsides, I become more philosophical.
Who cares.
Who gives a monkeys. So what.
Let it die, let all computers die. When did they make me happy anyway?
I am not prepared to spend many more seconds making this work. I have spent more in time, than it would have cost in cash to buy a TV or a VGA converter so far. One of those options is looking more promising by the minute.
Maybe I will feel differently later. But for now, let all PCs and Consoles die.
RIP.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Dad waffles again about politics
When the election battle was on, I was rooting for Palin as a better alternative to Hilary Clinton. But Mrs Obama perhaps beats them both with her message to London schoolgirls. Keep the positive messages rolling I say...
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