Normal
Week from Monday 6th January 2025 - Happy New Quarter-Of-A-Century! To be honest, even though I don't 'PARTICIPATE', I'm kinda glad that the days are back to some sort of 'NORMAL'. I suppose the most interesting thing that happened to me over the 'HOLIDAYS' was another Saturday visit to an almost-empty HODU. Not knowing what to expect from the bus companies, I'd travelled and arrived at the hozzy ridiculously early, and so got through my treatment in record time!
The weather's been behaving itself so far this week, at least at this end of the country. Yesterday, I decided to give my emaciated little leggies a workout and went for a hobble around PORTSMOUTH - the Commercial Road bit of it anyway! A nice day out (admittedly a lot of it spent riding around on buses), which didn't cost me a thing!
I've also been for a hobble around FAREHAM, mainly to visit the bank and do some POUNDLANDing, during which I discovered that the powers-that-be have closed down the local branch of OXFAM BOOKS & MUSIC, where I once used to do my volunteering bit. I bumped into the (now-ex)manager who explained the situation. So yet another desolate boarded-up shop in the town centre...?
Week from Monday 13th January 2025 - I'm settling into THE BLUE SKY PLACE quite nicely now, but I'm already starting to see my timeline fill up with folks using that platform to complain about all the toxic goings-on over on THE OTHER PLACE (Still, at least they're mostly slagging off Elonald and Muskrump and not robotically applauding their every move!). Luckily, Bloosky has a really efficient MODERATION SERVICE, with a well designed WORD MUTING feature, so words like "Trump", "Musk", "Farage" and "Reform" should (with any luck) no longer be seen anywhere on MY devices. After all, as one chum said, "We came here to escape all that madness".
I've previously mentioned that I wasn't altogether keen on the way that Bloosky displays images. The screen resolution on 'modern' devices is not all that forgiving! I'm finding that my #ViewFromAWalkies pictures, typically rendered as six-hundred pixel squares, can often look a bit blurred and/or pixelated on the timeline, as they appear to be displayed 'LARGER THAN LIFE'. I might try rendering the finished articles as TWELVE-hundred pixel squares and see if they look any better, providing FILE SIZE is not a limitation...
"THE RESOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED"... "LET ME MAKE IT PERFECTLY CLEAR"... "EXTRA TEXTURE, READ ALL ABOUT IT!"... just some of the missed opportunities for great "Hi-Definition" titles, back when I was doing all those Powerpoints and eBooks for Uncle Willy's HDDC consultancy...
"SEE YOU LATER, EMULATOR"... For many years, I've avoided installing WINE on my Linux set-up, because I've had so many 'tears before bedtime' with it in the past. WINE is a program which is supposed to allow you to run certain Windows applications on a Linux platform. As you might have noticed, it's been a couple of years since I last had a REAL Windoze peecee of my own. But earlier versions of the WINE front-end 'WINETRICKS' caused irreparable damage to my operating system, requiring a total reinstall.
For many years I tended to give it a wide berth, having written LEAVE IT ALONE! in big warning letters in my notebook.
But although I don't really miss M!cR0$0Ft's monster itself all that much, I wanted to try to get a couple of favourite old graphics programs running again, so I bit the bullet. WINE is still a bit hit-and-miss and is choosy about what will and won't run on it, but at least it's a lot more STABLE nowadays and doesn't just crash when you try to do anything with it!
I've succeeded in installing IRVANVIEW and it runs a treat. It's a well-beloved 'QUICKIE' app that I mainly use for cropping and resizing pics, without having to load up a big'n'bloaty paint program. True, it still can't find the "ADOBE 8df" plugins folder, but then that was ALWAYS a problem, even on Windoze. I also installed the NIK COLLECTION of plugins, but with only partial success as they tend to crash rather easily. So until I can find a more stable 'host' to run them, I won't be using THOSE anytime soon. Any attempts to install PAINT.NET failed miserably, because it locks up trying to load the Microsoft DOT.NET elements needed to run with it.
On Thursday, I went up to the HOZZY to do a routine BLOOD TEST and then decided to stick around in COSHAM for a bit, browsing its goodly selection of CHARITY SHOPS and popping 'round to UNCLE WILLY's for a chat and a cuppa. We had a natter about the website for his Vehicle Preservation Society. I said I'd help him out where I can, but I haven't done anything about it as yet... I've only got as far as researching the RGB and HEX values of 'BRITISH RACING GREEN'!
Week from Monday 20th January 2025 - DOING MONDAY STUFF... I responded to the offer to upgrade my GIFFGAFF* phone contract (I'm now entitled to TWICE the data for the SAME price, even though I never use anything like my current data allowance!); I booked a FREE HEARING TEST for the end of February (merely a data gathering exercise - I'm definitely not going to pay BOOTS' prices for a hearing aid if I need one!); I did some accounts stuff. And all before my usual Monday morning visit to HARRY SHEARER's "Le Show", or indeed breakfast! I also "gathered data" ahead of my routine chat with the Doc tomorrow...
(*I really like GIFFGAFF. They seem to have a nice attitude of "We don't see why anybody should have to pay any more than is absolutely necessary..." Very refeshing in this day and age.)
I had a couple of deviant little pieces of music sitting around and I'd run out of ideas as to what to do with them, so I've sent them to my Scottish chum CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET to see what he can come up with...
The weather's been behaving itself so far this week, at least at this end of the country. Yesterday, I decided to give my emaciated little leggies a workout and went for a hobble around PORTSMOUTH - the Commercial Road bit of it anyway! A nice day out (admittedly a lot of it spent riding around on buses), which didn't cost me a thing!
I've also been for a hobble around FAREHAM, mainly to visit the bank and do some POUNDLANDing, during which I discovered that the powers-that-be have closed down the local branch of OXFAM BOOKS & MUSIC, where I once used to do my volunteering bit. I bumped into the (now-ex)manager who explained the situation. So yet another desolate boarded-up shop in the town centre...?
Week from Monday 13th January 2025 - I'm settling into THE BLUE SKY PLACE quite nicely now, but I'm already starting to see my timeline fill up with folks using that platform to complain about all the toxic goings-on over on THE OTHER PLACE (Still, at least they're mostly slagging off Elonald and Muskrump and not robotically applauding their every move!). Luckily, Bloosky has a really efficient MODERATION SERVICE, with a well designed WORD MUTING feature, so words like "Trump", "Musk", "Farage" and "Reform" should (with any luck) no longer be seen anywhere on MY devices. After all, as one chum said, "We came here to escape all that madness".
I've previously mentioned that I wasn't altogether keen on the way that Bloosky displays images. The screen resolution on 'modern' devices is not all that forgiving! I'm finding that my #ViewFromAWalkies pictures, typically rendered as six-hundred pixel squares, can often look a bit blurred and/or pixelated on the timeline, as they appear to be displayed 'LARGER THAN LIFE'. I might try rendering the finished articles as TWELVE-hundred pixel squares and see if they look any better, providing FILE SIZE is not a limitation...
"THE RESOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED"... "LET ME MAKE IT PERFECTLY CLEAR"... "EXTRA TEXTURE, READ ALL ABOUT IT!"... just some of the missed opportunities for great "Hi-Definition" titles, back when I was doing all those Powerpoints and eBooks for Uncle Willy's HDDC consultancy...
"SEE YOU LATER, EMULATOR"... For many years, I've avoided installing WINE on my Linux set-up, because I've had so many 'tears before bedtime' with it in the past. WINE is a program which is supposed to allow you to run certain Windows applications on a Linux platform. As you might have noticed, it's been a couple of years since I last had a REAL Windoze peecee of my own. But earlier versions of the WINE front-end 'WINETRICKS' caused irreparable damage to my operating system, requiring a total reinstall.
For many years I tended to give it a wide berth, having written LEAVE IT ALONE! in big warning letters in my notebook.
But although I don't really miss M!cR0$0Ft's monster itself all that much, I wanted to try to get a couple of favourite old graphics programs running again, so I bit the bullet. WINE is still a bit hit-and-miss and is choosy about what will and won't run on it, but at least it's a lot more STABLE nowadays and doesn't just crash when you try to do anything with it!
I've succeeded in installing IRVANVIEW and it runs a treat. It's a well-beloved 'QUICKIE' app that I mainly use for cropping and resizing pics, without having to load up a big'n'bloaty paint program. True, it still can't find the "ADOBE 8df" plugins folder, but then that was ALWAYS a problem, even on Windoze. I also installed the NIK COLLECTION of plugins, but with only partial success as they tend to crash rather easily. So until I can find a more stable 'host' to run them, I won't be using THOSE anytime soon. Any attempts to install PAINT.NET failed miserably, because it locks up trying to load the Microsoft DOT.NET elements needed to run with it.
On Thursday, I went up to the HOZZY to do a routine BLOOD TEST and then decided to stick around in COSHAM for a bit, browsing its goodly selection of CHARITY SHOPS and popping 'round to UNCLE WILLY's for a chat and a cuppa. We had a natter about the website for his Vehicle Preservation Society. I said I'd help him out where I can, but I haven't done anything about it as yet... I've only got as far as researching the RGB and HEX values of 'BRITISH RACING GREEN'!
Week from Monday 20th January 2025 - DOING MONDAY STUFF... I responded to the offer to upgrade my GIFFGAFF* phone contract (I'm now entitled to TWICE the data for the SAME price, even though I never use anything like my current data allowance!); I booked a FREE HEARING TEST for the end of February (merely a data gathering exercise - I'm definitely not going to pay BOOTS' prices for a hearing aid if I need one!); I did some accounts stuff. And all before my usual Monday morning visit to HARRY SHEARER's "Le Show", or indeed breakfast! I also "gathered data" ahead of my routine chat with the Doc tomorrow...
(*I really like GIFFGAFF. They seem to have a nice attitude of "We don't see why anybody should have to pay any more than is absolutely necessary..." Very refeshing in this day and age.)
I had a couple of deviant little pieces of music sitting around and I'd run out of ideas as to what to do with them, so I've sent them to my Scottish chum CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET to see what he can come up with...
#OnThisDay #FiftyYearsAgo (21st January 1975) we smiled upon some 'Visions Beyond the Emerald Apocalypse' on the occasion that JOHN McLAUGHLIN brought the Mark Two 'big band' version of the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA - also featuring JEAN-LUC PONTY - to the Portsmouth Guildhall. Just for the record, this particular spiritual journey had a ticket price of exactly £1.00...
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