New moves

Ain’t that nice? Not my picture! I can’t resist putting it up though. Wood Swallows at Roxby Downs in SA (from ABC)
I shouldn’t post the picture above, but I can’t help myself. One of the nicest I’ve ever seen. I’m sure the guy who put it up on the ABC’s site wouldn’t mind. I have no idea who it was.
Carpet man coming tomorrow. Barry says yes, need carpets to sell the house, plus new lawn at back, nothing else. So let’s see, new carpet for the back lawn, and grass seed for the lounge…
I want to get to my house drawing on the main computer, but BSODs, lockups, failure to recognise wireless keyboard USB transmitter, I’m going mad. At this stage, I can’t get it going. OK, pull it apart, reseat memory and any other loose ICs, check all screws are tight.
And on the laptop, as far as I can see the HDMI output for an external monitor is kaput. I bought a new HDMI cable yesterday (previous was HDMI to DVI) but no difference. Laptop will not recognise an external display.
OK, download graphics driver from nVidia site and try reinstall. Nope. nVidia latest driver says laptop does not have an nVidia adaptor, even though it really, really does.
If I complain to nVidia, they’ll say talk to Sony. If I complain to Sony, they’ll say reinstall graphics driver. If I complain or search on Microsoft for Error 10 Cannot Start Service, there is no solution. Three competing graphics driver/control panels. Whaddya do? Well, I don’t give up, but I do get angry.
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Oh yeah, forgot to mention: yesterday I found the matching wireless keyboard for a wireless mouse I had, so I thought I’d get it going on this laptop to ease  typing.
But which wireless USB dongle is it? I’ve got three. One lets the keyboard work, but not the mouse. No other USB dongle will work with any of the three wireless mice I’ve got. Whaddya do? New batteries, yes, done that. Press connect, yes, done that, over and over. Give up.
So I start using the keyboard, but I immediately find the light shines on the keys in a way that means I can’t read them. Oh, it’s not worth the hassle. Give up.
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Today I received two lens adapter rings that are marked MD-4/3. I ordered them from HK for $8.95 each.
They are supposed to fit my Minolta MD lenses to my Olympus 4/3 camera. But not even close! I haven’t tried putting an MD lens onto the ring, but there’s no way the rings are ever going to mount on the 4/3 body.
So I don’t know. They must be wrongly marked from the factory. Amazing.
At $8.95 each, it’s no loss. I have no idea what they fit, but it’s not Olympus. No point sending them back, postage would be more than they cost. Very surprised. Chalk it up.
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I’ve been back to St Ives today for a look at a villa. No problem. The first one I saw, I could have bought on the spot if I’d had the money. It’s just what I want, FAR better than I’m in now.
So off we go, sale process again. Maybe October or November, the sales lady said units tend to become available.  Not sure how I’m going to do the finance. Sure wish I had my old super money.
Oh, just by coincidence, a resident in this street is asking what we think of getting a rezoning from R20 (single dwellings only) to R30, allowing a double use of our blocks. That means my block could be developed for two units. Fine by me. First, I probably won’t be here, but second, it should increase the value of my house. Just in time. Silver linings!

US Decline

THIS is technology. THIS is hard. THIS is electronics at its finest.

I’ve posted this comment on www.universetoday.com in response to an item about the decline in the US space program, US science and technology leadership and declining funding for space.

Peter Croft • an hour ago

Agree with SJStar.

America, sigh, the Batman massacre is yet another example of how sick you are. I am very sorry for the victims and families, but when, oh when are you going to realise the link between movie and TV and video game violence and real life, and make it impossible for nut cases to arm themselves LEGALLY? What does it take?

I can’t watch US movies any more. Everything is violence. Everything is taking horror to the next level. Yet you keep making them and exporting them to the rest of us, just like your toxic food and bank greed and tobacco and porn and war and smart bombs and drones and killing of innocent civilians. All because America thinks we should be more like you.

What I object to so much is that you are spreading your toxic culture to the rest of us! We can’t get away from it. We are being infected by US TV, US food, US violence, US porn, US wars, US drug poisons, US “social media sickness”, US psycho wierdness.

I am a huge admirer of US science, technology, medicine and manufacturing, but you are a sick country. I see no solution. You are going to be the cause of your own demise. Sorry, but I don’t want to be pulled down with you.

POSTSCRIPT:  I got an America commenter on the above blog today saying, “What about Anders Behring Breivig?” ie don’t pick on us.

I said, so what? Just because a Norwegian goes mad doesn’t make America less mad. It’s not as if there’s a limited supply to go around!

Circles of Fear

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids around Earth. Incoming!
Not a day goes by without some new jaw dropper. I’m listening at the moment to the rules of marketing for the London Olympic Games.
It has made me realise, as if I needed to be told, that the Olympics are no longer about sport, they are about marketing and making money. The money men have taken over the Olympics completely, lock stock and barrel, to the point of there being criminal penalties, CRIMINAL penalties, for breaking any of the advertising rules imposed by LOCOG, the London organising committee, and the IOC.
Even writing this, I could well be breaking the law, from what I’ve just  heard. My words on this blog can be seen in London, for sure. The rules prohibit any words being used which in any way conflict with or infringe on sponsors words for the Olympics.
For example:
  • any word associated with the Olympics, including gold, silver, bronze and games is prohibited, even being used on restaurant chalk boards for example, such as Gold lunch special, or Games Lunch.
  • any colours similar to the ring colours are prohibited, if they clash with a sponsor
  • the ABC here is going to run a Gruen games special series, but they are not allowed to call it Games and they are not allowed to show any vision of any games events whatever, even from past events such as Sydney 2000.
  • sponsors have absolute rights over any visual elements. If any other logo or colour combination is used anywhere, it will not get onto any television broadcast or display. I would hate to be a TV director or switcher there – you would be in intense stress trying to avoid any possible visual element.

There’s no point going on. The games are no longer about sport, they are about money.

Just like so much else. It’s all seen as money. Even family relationships are seen through the prism of money. It’s very sad. These people are sick. It’s a disease, an illness. Money dominates everything. But they cannot see it.

Getting away with it

Buddha protect us.  © PJ Croft 1992, 2012
I’m sitting here stunned. I’ve just read of the acquittal of a London Metropolitan Police officer who hit the legs of a 45yo newspaper seller during riots in 2009. The man fell down, was injured and died.
Long story but it turns out the copper had a history of brutality with 18 previous investigations for belting suspects. He’d been asked to leave the force, then years later re-employed. This time, he killed an innocent man, but the jury wasn’t allowed to hear of his previous and found him not guilty. That’s the end of it – no further appeals possible.
BUT! The Guardian points out that since 1990 in Britain, there have been 1,500 deaths either in custody or soon after, and not one police officer has ever been convicted!
My jaw dropped. So much for the friendly bobby.
WA is the same – you can literally get away with murder in this state, no problem. Juries won’t convict, or the police will corrupt the evidence or protect their own or something.
But if you’re innocent, you stand a very good chance of going to jail for a crime you didn’t commit, that’s the worst thing.
FIVE times, we’ve seen this happen: you know the names – Button, Beamish, …. 
WA is a dangerous place to live if you fall foul of the law in any way. What a shocking world we live in.

Try harder

First ever shadow of a single atom. Credit Griffith Uni, Brisbane. Bet that was hard.
JFK: “We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.”
I chat on a Canadian photography blog (although the guy seems to be as much politician and financier as photographer – he welcomes political chat).  
A couple of weeks ago he mentioned an article from NY about how US/NY uni students aren’t willing to put any effort into learning “hard” software any more, like MS Office. All they want to use is Facebook, Twitter and texting. Even email is too hard for them now. This uni guy said he has to work hard to stop his students texting him all the time.
This led other blog participants to make general comments about who needs Office any more – far too many features you never use etc etc. Same for Excel.
As you can imagine, this got me going and I started talking about how hard is better – if you don’t try, you never achieve, anyway you think Word or Excel is hard???
Somehow I got onto what I used to do and saying I can fix just about anything, including cars, washing machines, electrical appliances etc.  I got one woman saying, bet you don’t know anything about nature and plants etc. Well, as it happens, … 45 years of photography.
Blow me down, two hours later my 17 year old washing machine (Westinghouse Laundromat 425), which has never faulted in all this time, started overflowing onto the floor. It didn’t matter as the laundry drain took it all, but the coincidence was a bit odd. I baled a bit out and let it go on.
It finished the load and I thought no more about it. Until the next wash several days later (I only wash once a week, with two loads.) It did one load OK, but overflowed on the next. Same process. Bale it out.
I thought about it, wondering whether to pay for a repair or start thinking “new machine”.
Then it hit me – hot water washes. Almost all my washes are in cold water, so the hot inlet valve never gets used. On these two rare occasions, I’d used hot water. It had run in but couldn’t shut off.
OK, on the net looking for a replacement hot water inlet valve. No! Too old. No parts available. Machine type not even listed on parts sites.
OK, nothing to lose then. Took the back off, found the valve, right on the hot water inlet (tricky eh?). Took the valve out (with some difficulty) and slowly took it apart. Made of white nylon.
I found that the seal which shuts the water on and off was a bit corroded and not closing properly. A bit of work with a scraper and file, plus a bit of wiggling and twisting and it went back together and back in. Works now. For how long is another question, but it cost me nothing, certainly not $600 – $800 for a new machine. Anyway, I’ll just stop using hot washes.
So my point is, hard is good. Try. Don’t take the easy route. There’s huge satisfaction in doing something hard and pulling it off.
I can fix anything. Except tumours on a dog.

Nice!

New horizons
(Btw, see the dots in the top part? Sensor faults in my initial Pentax K-5. Pentax replaced the entire camera under warranty. Great service. Very pleased.)
I took a drive up to a northern coastal suburb today to view a retirement village and get some information.
Wow, glad I did. It was a sparkling winter day, cool, but clear, cloudless sky. I came back along the coast road and I was nearly running off the road because I was staring at the sea all the time.
I wanted to take photos but I thought, “You can’t photograph this. It’s too wide and too shimmering. No photo can take it all in. Forget it, just look. It’ll still be there tomorrow.”
The village will let me bring Minnie and has a heated pool, spa and gym. Just what I need. It’s time.

Strange bedfellows

NW WA coast somewhere.
“Politics throws up strange bedfellows”. I never thought I would be agreeing with Geoff Cousins, that extremely wealthy ex-advertising man who seems to be a self appointed intellectual, but I am.
He’s warning the chairman of Woodside, Michael Chaney, developers of the James Price point gas hub, not to proceed, due to environmental dangers.
I admit I’ve been sitting on the fence about this. The local aboriginal owners agreed to the development a couple of years ago. That was good enough for me.
I even agreed with Colin Barnett! I’m not anti-development. We need jobs, we need to do things, we need the wealth from royalties and sales. I’m not automatically against development.
But when an avowed Liberal and conservative says STOP, I listen. I should revise my indifference. He wouldn’t be saying it’s dangerous without doing his homework.
So, I concur. Stop the plan to send the bulldozers to James Price Point.

Well, how ’bout that?

I’m a bower bird
I know I shouldn’t be collecting furniture or clutter things at the moment but coming back from the shops late yesterday, I noticed that some houses are putting their junk out on the verge, even though no collection has been announced yet.

I slowed at one pile for a look and realised it looked interesting. I got out and had a good look and as a result:

  • a large, 50cm diam. x 100cm high, brown wicker laundry bin with lid, in good clean condition
  • an Ikea real leather/wood sloping foot stool
  • two long handled steel telescoping window squeegee cleaners
  • an Ikea wheeled folding bed, a bit light weight but good enough for emergencies
  • two bronze lamp stands in a design I like, one with shade, one without
  • a large stainless steel foot pedal waste bin with liftout plastic inner
All these items are in fine condition. I saw the guy across the street and called out to ask him about an item, and said, “You must be having to move house in a hurry, are you?” He said, no, he just decided to have a throw out. Wow.
What I took was just a few of the items. Golf clubs, three microwave ovens (looked clean and OK), sports equipment, fitness training items, boxes of books …
And also a largish Ikea four sided plywood book/DVD  thingy. It had rained and it was wet and too big for me at the time, but I’ll go back soon and have another look. Bet it’s gone, though.
So even though I should not be collecting stuff, this was too good to pass up and I evaluated whether they will be useful in another house. Yes, they will.

Oh My Dog, again

Minnie is fine
I met up with a woman called Edna at the shops yesterday. She’s in her 70s and I’ve got to know her quite well via mutual dogs. She has had another Labrador, a very boisterous, lolloping black male called Floyd.
Anyway, she loves Minnie, nearly as much as I do. But she’s convinced Minnie is in pain and yesterday, when I said Minnie’s still with me, she gave me a look of disappointment and reprimand! She believes I should put Minnie out of her misery. Put her down, euthanase her. Kill her.
How dare she! Obviously I couldn’t say anything, but I will not be told I should kill my dog just because she believes so.  This is unwarranted interference. I’m annoyed and I will just avoid her. Just as I am having to avoid so many racist, mercenary, stupid ignorant people.

Old and new

While composing the previous item, I came across these shots. How about that! 39 years of ageing. Beautiful woman into hip man!

No, joking, joking. But not a good look for me, I agree. Pity about the absence of the lovely lady, too. Sutri Atrisno, Kuta, 1983. Wonder if I could still find her? It’s OK, she was married with kids.  Hey, Yudhie! Apa Kabar?