Computer Dreams
A VHS recording transferred to digital (as they all should be) highlighting the state of the art in computer graphics from the dim and distant past of 1988. Hosted by Amanda Pays this hour-long showcase is a visual treat and a great trip down memory lane for those of us who lived through this exciting period of shiny surfaces rendered over the course of days in ray tracing...
Orbital Snooker 2000
The late 1970s saw a flood of speculative sporting instruction manuals hit book shelves including some of the more well-known such as Mixed Tug O’ War (Punk Edition), Rally Car Jousting, and Table Polo. Those books, at least, had some chance of actually being played but the same couldn’t be said for the end of the decade’s Orbital Snooker 2000 by Irish author Lee Ayres. Ayres was a reasonably well-respected futurist and extrapolated then present day materials and technologies into the heady days of the twenty first century to come up with the rules of the game he considered would become the opium of the world’s populations. It was his intention to become the father of the sport and cash in on global licencing rights but his vision of coloured mile-wide spheres of graphene piloted by the criminal masses of competing nations attempting to knock their opponents into the sun and gain their freedom was just a little too expensive to...
Far East Honeymoon Videos
Let’s get this straight right now: these aren’t those sorts of honeymoon videos. If you’re here for those sorts of honeymoon videos you’re going to be disappointed. If you’re not here for those sorts of honeymoon videos then you’ll probably still be disappointed but for completely different reasons. Way, way back in 2008 I got married and went on a trip to the Far East with my wife, cruising around the South China seas on the Diamond Princess and taking in a number of stops too: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, and Thailand. Not long after that I wrote about our general experience of cruising, specifically as it applied to Princess Cruises in this article: Your First Princess Cruise. But what I didn’t do on this website was go into the details of the trip, share pictures, or upload video. In the lattermost case the reason for that was quite simple; I neglected to upload any videos until very, very recently. I figure seven years is a reasonable time to wait for these things. By way of getting back into the habit of occasionally updating this site and justifying its hosting costs I thought I’d take advantage of the recent video uploading spree on YouTube and share some of the filmed experiences of my honeymoon. The entire set of videos can be found in this playlist – Honeymoon, November 2008 – and it’s mostly in the right sequence except for a few at the end which had stupid dates on the files and YouTube doesn’t really make it easy to rearrange the playlist order. Some “highlights”: Short pan from on the Great Wall of China showing some of the surrounding hills and large number of tourists, mostly from China, making some form of ascent. This was part of a trip lasting just a few hours and we only had a short time on the wall itself. Bizarrely, some people who came long with us seemed more content to do some shopping at the gift shop near the base rather than engage in any climbing. Not us, though. We made the most of our time by hiking up as much as we could before needing to turn around and return to the coach. We stopped often as we ascended. It was very steep in parts. And we were very unfit. We’re still very unfit. Tiananmen Square. Very large and while we were there it filled up quite quickly with tourists, again mostly from China. Now, you would think that tourists going to Tiananmen Square might want to queue up at the mausoleum or take in the sights and, generally,...
It’s Been A Long Time…
It’s been a long time… Almost five months in fact. The reason for the absence is I’ve been busy in my spare time creating a new website. It’s almost ready for public consumption but since I’m a software developer my almost may not be quite the same as your almost and we’re probably still months away before anyone gets to see it. It’s my own replacement for the sorely-missed FriendFeed and I’m fairly pleased with how it works, even if the code is rather messy right now and could really do with a complete refactor. Anyway, I’ve missed putting occasional bits of crap up on this site so thought I’d try to slowly get back into things. Let’s see how long this...
Real Photogravure Letter Card Of Gloucester, 1938
I’m always on the look out for old things related to photography so it was with extreme joy that I found a miniature treasure trove of items in a number of charity shops yesterday. In addition to some old naval photos and postcards and someone’s photo album featuring pictures from the 1940s in South Africa (I’ll scan and upload those at some point in the future) I also found a photogravure letter card dated September 1938. I’ve taken some photos of the letter card and attempted to transcribe it below, albeit with limited success. Any assistance at working out the words I’ve missed will be gratefully received. The front cover of the photogravure letter card complete with its one and a half pence stamp. “With signature only and flap tucked in – Printed paper rate. If message written, letter postage is chargeable, in which case gum down flap.” The letter card was sent to Mr and Mrs Arthur Wood, Mere View, Walton on the Hill, Tadworth, Surrey. The letter card consists of five images of Gloucester: Gloucester Cathedral from the southeast; the nave, Gloucester Cathedral; the New Inn Hotel; the Cross; Westgate Street. And now to the letter itself: 52 […] Road, Gloucester, 21.9.38 Dear Mr & Mrs Wood, I am wondering how you all are at Tadworth by this time. I trust that you are all well. What very serious and disturbing times we are living in. I hope and pray please God that it will all be settled without war. Without doubt these are the perilous times spoken of in the Bible. I am thinking of you all in the prayer meetings at this busy[?] time 9 o’clock Wednesday evening[?]. I miss […] to chapel very much since I have come to Gloucester but the first fortnight when I was in Newcastle I did well. My friends there took me to chapel each week night & twice on Sundays & then when Muriel and I got home to Wembley her daddy took me to Mr Bartlett’s twice, & the Second Sun he took me to Ponsard Road to Mr […] Chapel. We had him to tea with us at Wembley & we all drove back together to the early[?] service[?]. I like his preaching very much. His wife was away at the Sea & he was going to her on the Monday. Mr Bartlett is expected to preach a […] […] in […] so I am hoping to stay there for the weekend this[?] 2 weeks yesterday. Tuesday I heard Mr Hurst the editor of “Way Marks” at […]; he took The Lords Prayer for his subject....
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