One of the odd features with Facebook is that it periodically encourages its users to repost old entries that were made on that particular day a number of years ago. I suppose if it is a wedding or other notable event then it would be nice to share the memory but on Friday it encouraged me to share the news that my dog, Eddie, died a year ago. I chose to decline the invitation. Apart from being a rather upsetting thing to repost I can’t believe it is a year already – I still look around when walking Sam still expecting to see Eddie with his nose stuck in something discusting.
The odd thing with Facebook is that I find it strangely addictive. I don’t post too many things myself but I do find myself compelled to see trivia entered by others. For the most part this generally consists of utter garbage although I do appreciate the occasional jokes and banter.
Recently I’ve been finding Facebook to be a continual bore to read through. Obviously I appreciate that it is funded by advertising but I seem to be continually bombarded by adverts for products that I have absolutely no interest in whatsoever which is surely wasting those companies’ marketing budgets. Also, I find that if I buy an item online I am perpetually pestered with adverts for exactly the same products even though I have zero chance of going for them as I’ve just purchased the thing.
I realise that Facebook content is algorithmically based but I can’t help but think that the Facebook sales team are taking their customers for a ride. Occasionally things do come up that I am genuinely interested in but for the most part I’ll stick to the jokes and banter.
Sunday 29 October 2017
Monday 23 October 2017
The Insect Apocalypse
Some 25 years ago I went on a weekend away to Fort Augustus in the Highlands. At the time we had an old Mk 2 VW Golf and it felt like a huge trek to get up there. On arriving we were surrounded by clouds of midges and other flying insects which were intent of making life miserable for all concerned. One American tourist asked what the best way of getting rid of the midges was and I suggested that I had great success by hitting them very hard with a small German car.
I seem to recall that we had to stop a couple of times on the way up to clear the screen of insect debris just so that we could see where we were going. In more recent years I have had to do this task far less frequently and I had wondered if this was an effect of the cars having a more raked, aerodynamic profile at the front but one news story this week would seem to indicate that there is another, more worrying reason for the lack of splatted insect matter on the car.
A 75% reduction of flying insects in 30 years is not a trivial matter, in fact it could be disastrous as these animals pollinate flowers or, at least, form the bottom layer of the food chain. I’m pretty sure I have noticed a decline in insects in general. When I am walking the dog in the early evening there are far fewer clouds of midges and other flying insects seem to be few and far between. I’ve also noticed fewer bats which at one time were very common around the woods that I walk the dog and feed upon the midges (which is why I have always tried to encourage them with bat boxes).
It’s not entirely clear as to the cause of this decline but there is a great suspicion that pesticides such as neonicotinoids have caused a reduction in the honey bee population. The effect on other insects and the environment still needs research but this isn’t exactly the first time that we have been poisoning ourselves in this way. Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring on the dangers of DDT back in 1962 and I am always reminded of this 1969 poem by the late, great John Betjeman:
I seem to recall that we had to stop a couple of times on the way up to clear the screen of insect debris just so that we could see where we were going. In more recent years I have had to do this task far less frequently and I had wondered if this was an effect of the cars having a more raked, aerodynamic profile at the front but one news story this week would seem to indicate that there is another, more worrying reason for the lack of splatted insect matter on the car.
A 75% reduction of flying insects in 30 years is not a trivial matter, in fact it could be disastrous as these animals pollinate flowers or, at least, form the bottom layer of the food chain. I’m pretty sure I have noticed a decline in insects in general. When I am walking the dog in the early evening there are far fewer clouds of midges and other flying insects seem to be few and far between. I’ve also noticed fewer bats which at one time were very common around the woods that I walk the dog and feed upon the midges (which is why I have always tried to encourage them with bat boxes).
It’s not entirely clear as to the cause of this decline but there is a great suspicion that pesticides such as neonicotinoids have caused a reduction in the honey bee population. The effect on other insects and the environment still needs research but this isn’t exactly the first time that we have been poisoning ourselves in this way. Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring on the dangers of DDT back in 1962 and I am always reminded of this 1969 poem by the late, great John Betjeman:
Harvest Hymn
by John Betjeman
We spray the fields and scatter
The poison on the ground
So that no wicked wild flowers
Upon our farm are found.
We like whatever helps us
To line our purse with pence;
The twenty-four-hour broiler house
And neat electric fence.
All concrete sheds around us
And Jaguars in the yard,
The telly lounge and deep-freeze
Are ours from working hard.
We fire the fields for harvest,
The hedges swell the flame,
The oak trees and the cottages
From which our fathers came.
We give no compensation,
The earth is ours today,
And if we lose of arable,
Then bungalows will pay.
All concrete sheds.......
Sunday 15 October 2017
Like 1982 again...
On the 25th of June 1982 what is probably my favourite (and certainly most watched) film of all time was released. Blade Runner wasn’t a resounding success at the time; partly as it was released just after the heart-warming ET and all-action Wrath of Khan which rather squeezed out the audience for a cerebral, dystopian piece of future fiction. Also the film had been rather messed around by the studio which wouldn’t be rectified until years later. I think I saw this first on VHS and it blew me away in terms of its imagery and the high concept ideas of what it really meant to be human and I’ve seen it multiple times in multiple versions since. You could say I am something of a fan.
Just three days after Blade Runner was released in 1982, Robert Plant released his first post-Led Zeppelin album, Pictures at Eleven. Although I was a Zeppelin fan I didn’t buy this at the time and eventually picked it up along with its successor, The Principle of Moments. I’m definitely a fan of Plant and have bought every release of his since as well as seeing him live on several occasions – in fact, more than any other artist. So it is some coincidence that this October the sequel to Blade Runner should be released just a week before Plant’s Eleventh solo outing, Carry Fire. I experienced both for the first time last Friday.
Blade Runner 2049 picks up the story some 30 years after the original ended (and some 35 years after it was made). Whereas the first film queries whether androids could become self-aware and hints that they may be more human than the “humans” this film is questioning whether such artificially created lifeforms could become their own self-sufficient species. There are a few twists but the plot itself is actually quite straight forward – more so than the original. Where this film excels is that it is visually stunning. More so than any film I’ve seen in a long while and very much in the style that original - but more so. I recognised some scenes from Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep book that the original film was based on but I could see more influence from the likes of Kubrick, Spielberg (in particular AI) and even Spike Jonze’s Her (about a man who falls in love with an AI operating system). After leaving the cinema I immediately wanted to see it again which is probably the best review I could give a film although I will probably wait until its DVD release so I can watch it without the subwoofers set to stun (although, in fairness, it did clear the wax out of my ears).
Carry Fire is Robert Plant’s eleventh solo release although he has also made records with Jimmy Page, Allison Kraus and others in that time. It is very much a sequel to 2014’s Lullaby and The Ceaseless Roar although it is a more upbeat record than that. However, it is also one of Plant’s most political records along the lines of Fate of Nations and Mighty Rearranger - I think he has something of an issue with halfwit Republican Presidents. I’ve listened to it through a couple of times over and the more upbeat songs are very catchy with May Queen being a typical Plant opener and New World…, Carving up the World Again, Carry Fire and Bones of Saints being highlights along with a fantastic duet with Chrissie Hynde on Bluebirds over the Mountain. The slower songs are good as well although take repeated listening to gel and there doesn’t seem to be anything quite as gripping (and depressing) as Embrace Another Fall from the last album.
Just to round off the coincidences, when I saw the Director’s cut of Blade Runner my date for the night managed to throw up part way through the performance. I went to see Blade Runner 2049 with one of my friends and on this occasion he wasn’t sick but did need prodding to stay awake during the third hour of the film after finishing a long shift and making it for the late showing. I’ve got tickets to see Plant in November with him so I am hoping that goes better than the friend who I once took to see Robert Plant live who had confused him with Robert Palmer. It takes all sorts I suppose...
Just three days after Blade Runner was released in 1982, Robert Plant released his first post-Led Zeppelin album, Pictures at Eleven. Although I was a Zeppelin fan I didn’t buy this at the time and eventually picked it up along with its successor, The Principle of Moments. I’m definitely a fan of Plant and have bought every release of his since as well as seeing him live on several occasions – in fact, more than any other artist. So it is some coincidence that this October the sequel to Blade Runner should be released just a week before Plant’s Eleventh solo outing, Carry Fire. I experienced both for the first time last Friday.
Blade Runner 2049 picks up the story some 30 years after the original ended (and some 35 years after it was made). Whereas the first film queries whether androids could become self-aware and hints that they may be more human than the “humans” this film is questioning whether such artificially created lifeforms could become their own self-sufficient species. There are a few twists but the plot itself is actually quite straight forward – more so than the original. Where this film excels is that it is visually stunning. More so than any film I’ve seen in a long while and very much in the style that original - but more so. I recognised some scenes from Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep book that the original film was based on but I could see more influence from the likes of Kubrick, Spielberg (in particular AI) and even Spike Jonze’s Her (about a man who falls in love with an AI operating system). After leaving the cinema I immediately wanted to see it again which is probably the best review I could give a film although I will probably wait until its DVD release so I can watch it without the subwoofers set to stun (although, in fairness, it did clear the wax out of my ears).
Carry Fire is Robert Plant’s eleventh solo release although he has also made records with Jimmy Page, Allison Kraus and others in that time. It is very much a sequel to 2014’s Lullaby and The Ceaseless Roar although it is a more upbeat record than that. However, it is also one of Plant’s most political records along the lines of Fate of Nations and Mighty Rearranger - I think he has something of an issue with halfwit Republican Presidents. I’ve listened to it through a couple of times over and the more upbeat songs are very catchy with May Queen being a typical Plant opener and New World…, Carving up the World Again, Carry Fire and Bones of Saints being highlights along with a fantastic duet with Chrissie Hynde on Bluebirds over the Mountain. The slower songs are good as well although take repeated listening to gel and there doesn’t seem to be anything quite as gripping (and depressing) as Embrace Another Fall from the last album.
Just to round off the coincidences, when I saw the Director’s cut of Blade Runner my date for the night managed to throw up part way through the performance. I went to see Blade Runner 2049 with one of my friends and on this occasion he wasn’t sick but did need prodding to stay awake during the third hour of the film after finishing a long shift and making it for the late showing. I’ve got tickets to see Plant in November with him so I am hoping that goes better than the friend who I once took to see Robert Plant live who had confused him with Robert Palmer. It takes all sorts I suppose...
Friday 6 October 2017
Hearing Aids
I had a hearing test at Falkirk Community Hospital a couple of months ago which confirmed what I had suspected for a while – that I have some partial hearing loss. For the most part this doesn’t bother me and it turned out that the main part of my hearing that is affected is high sounds about 4KHz – roughly where my tinnitus kicks in. Listening to speech in a noisy background is difficult but I can still make out clear sounds (and, thankfully, music) quite well.
They did ask me whether I would want to use a hearing aid at any point and, to be honest, it really doesn’t appeal to me. For one thing, I really don’t like having anything stuck in my ears and the cost of the contraptions (which can be in the thousands) doesn’t appeal to me when the only thing that really bothers me is hearing speech on the television properly. As such, I decided to go for my own hearing aid device. This is it:
Now this isn’t exactly light and discrete as the makers of those clever, digital, in-ear devices would claim (in fact it took two guys from DPD to lift them into the house) but the sound is absolutely fantastic. In fact, in some ways it is a little too good because it really shows up the difference between Dolby Digital and stereo broadcasts quite markedly but the best thing is that big centre speaker which is something like twice the size of the old one; it makes all speech crystal clear.
Now my hearing is fixed I’m rather tempted to go for glasses which are the size of the Hubble Space Telescope…
They did ask me whether I would want to use a hearing aid at any point and, to be honest, it really doesn’t appeal to me. For one thing, I really don’t like having anything stuck in my ears and the cost of the contraptions (which can be in the thousands) doesn’t appeal to me when the only thing that really bothers me is hearing speech on the television properly. As such, I decided to go for my own hearing aid device. This is it:
Now this isn’t exactly light and discrete as the makers of those clever, digital, in-ear devices would claim (in fact it took two guys from DPD to lift them into the house) but the sound is absolutely fantastic. In fact, in some ways it is a little too good because it really shows up the difference between Dolby Digital and stereo broadcasts quite markedly but the best thing is that big centre speaker which is something like twice the size of the old one; it makes all speech crystal clear.
Now my hearing is fixed I’m rather tempted to go for glasses which are the size of the Hubble Space Telescope…
Sunday 1 October 2017
Fleabay
I have occasionally bought items off Ebay when I haven’t been able to find them elsewhere. They are great for second hand car parts or spares for discontinued domestic appliances but for the most part I have only ever purchased things at a fixed price.
Last weekend my son asked if he could buy a set of Manga comic books that were for sale there. They were for sale by auction and this was a new one for me. They appeared to be very cheap and I agreed to stick a bid in for them. I then discovered the wonders of automatic bids as successive bids were automatically out-bid until I finally had a bid accepted at a “not quite as cheap as I had first thought” price.
I thought that was it until just 5 minutes from the end of the auction I was outbid again. I tried a few more bids until I was once again the highest bidder at a “reasonable but not quite the bargain I had hoped” price. With 10 seconds remaining I was about to text my son to tell him that a load of back-to-front Japanese comic books were on their way when I was outbid for a final time with no chance to rebid. Bastard!
It was at this point that found out how the automatic bidding process works – place a bid that is the maximum that one is prepared to pay and the system will bid for you – up to that maximum. I had wanted some new Hi-Fi equipment and thought I would give this a try, placing a maximum bid against some floor-standing speakers. This seemed to work at first as one or two bids pushed the value higher but without outbidding me. That was until the last hour of the auction when I was outbid. I didn’t mind as it was more than I was prepared to pay but, surprisingly, two other bidders repeatedly outbid each other until the price for this second-hand item was in excess of what a new one would have cost from a reputable high street Hi-Fi outlet. Very strange.
Some people clearly enjoy auctions (and I have to admit that attending a motor auction was hugely entertaining) but actually participating in them is rather stressful and doesn’t give me any sort of satisfaction. What this actually tells me is something I already know. I don’t like gambling. For some people a trip to the bookies, a day at the races or a game of bingo at the social club is a fine form of entertainment and the mind-games of Fleabay fall into this. But for me, I would rather know where I stand with things – back to the fixed price listings, then.
Last weekend my son asked if he could buy a set of Manga comic books that were for sale there. They were for sale by auction and this was a new one for me. They appeared to be very cheap and I agreed to stick a bid in for them. I then discovered the wonders of automatic bids as successive bids were automatically out-bid until I finally had a bid accepted at a “not quite as cheap as I had first thought” price.
I thought that was it until just 5 minutes from the end of the auction I was outbid again. I tried a few more bids until I was once again the highest bidder at a “reasonable but not quite the bargain I had hoped” price. With 10 seconds remaining I was about to text my son to tell him that a load of back-to-front Japanese comic books were on their way when I was outbid for a final time with no chance to rebid. Bastard!
It was at this point that found out how the automatic bidding process works – place a bid that is the maximum that one is prepared to pay and the system will bid for you – up to that maximum. I had wanted some new Hi-Fi equipment and thought I would give this a try, placing a maximum bid against some floor-standing speakers. This seemed to work at first as one or two bids pushed the value higher but without outbidding me. That was until the last hour of the auction when I was outbid. I didn’t mind as it was more than I was prepared to pay but, surprisingly, two other bidders repeatedly outbid each other until the price for this second-hand item was in excess of what a new one would have cost from a reputable high street Hi-Fi outlet. Very strange.
Some people clearly enjoy auctions (and I have to admit that attending a motor auction was hugely entertaining) but actually participating in them is rather stressful and doesn’t give me any sort of satisfaction. What this actually tells me is something I already know. I don’t like gambling. For some people a trip to the bookies, a day at the races or a game of bingo at the social club is a fine form of entertainment and the mind-games of Fleabay fall into this. But for me, I would rather know where I stand with things – back to the fixed price listings, then.
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