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December 31 2016

Travelling The South or Why Isn’t Anything Open?

After seeing Rogue One (again) Mr O and I decided to visit a military museum. Rather, what we did was use the POI thingy on the Sat Nav and it came up with the Military Museum in Aldershot. I’d never been to this garrison town before and it is something to behold! Plenty of red signs everywhere.

We journeyed from Guildford to Aldershot. The road was a curious one making its route atop a ridge.

After arriving at the museum we noticed the gates were locked shut. We weren’t that far from a set of armed guards securing the base itself so we tried a search for something else. This time we checked the website to make sure it was open. Off we set for Tangmere Museum. It would appear the Mr O misread the website as it clearly states it opens in February. But, we weren’t aware of that and so drove to Tangmere near Goodwood.

Along the way we saw many lovely countryside sites with layers of fog which, if we had a decent camera, would have been great photos. It was very picturesque. Except for one bit. We had seen a race course on the top of a hill and we were discussing whether it was Goodwood or not and BLAM. The sun was directly in our eyes along the line of the road. I came to a halt. I couldn’t see shit. The sun was literally in line with the road.

We had to try and drive for about 200m without being able to see. I found that if I moved my head so the door pillar blocked the sun I could just make out the left and right sides of the road. I still couldn’t see anything in front but we ambled along and hoped that someone else would stop if they were coming the other way. It was a curious experience and one I don’t really want again. We should have made a note of the time because there would be a decent set of mathematics to be done to check where the sun was and how much it aligned with the road. If I had the inclination we could probably work out where and what time just from the facts I have already said.

Another set of locked gates indicated closure. Bugger. All we wanted now was a cup of tea and some cake. We knew Goodwood circuit was nearby and so we drove to that. Everything there was also closed. The day had turned out to be a series of closed places that we wanted to visit. We had to drive back to (near) Reigate for a cuppa.

The journey itself was fun, interesting and a delight. It’s just a shame everything we were trying to see was closed.

December 21 2016October 18 2017

Area 42

I had some wine the other night, which was not a normal occurrence as I have given up drinking at home. The bottle was labelled and on the label was a latitude longitude coordinates.

Clearly this had to be investigated. You can’t mention numbers that can be checked without someone wanting to check them. I remember watching an Aussie TV show called Rescue Special Ops where they mentioned a location and so I went on Google Earth to check out where it was. The writers had done their job properly as the location was definitely in the bush [there is an awful lot of it].

So, apparently Rioja is an area in Spain. These are things I don’t really know, it could have been a person or something similar but I guess it’s logical given that Bordeaux is also a place.

So, I have saved you the time of typing in the lat long. Here is the location:

It’s a vineyard. There’s also a vineyard about 506 metres away from my house.

December 21 2016December 11 2018

Rogue One

This feels like a hard communication to write and for people who are interesting in not knowing anything about this film please consider this a warning that there are going to be many spoilers.

I took a trip with some science type friends to see Rogue One, the stand-alone Star Wars movie set in between film episodes three and four. I went to the Odeon cinema in Maidstone which was fine. As is a custom now I rated the film after watching it on IMDB, you should probably read this communication about the rating system and you might also be interested in this one about Star Wars Episode Seven.

I rated Rogue One (2016) 6/10 #IMDb https://t.co/kZhNMLvUin

— Ian Parish (@iparish) December 19, 2016

I think I ought to explain this rating as a six is pretty low. Episode 7 got a ten by default but the more I think about it the more I feel I should have been more honest with myself. I’m not sure it would get a 10 now, even though I own a copy. Rogue One will probably be purchased which would default the score to a 10, but in reality the film was a little bit shit.

Do Not Read On (mostly because it is poorly written)

The best thing about this movie and quite likely the only good thing about this movie was the droid K-2SO. I would have quite happily listened to him much more throughout the film, he was the only character who seemed to have a sense of perspective, or even character. He was voiced by Alan Tudyk who has been in some of my favourite shows.

I was slightly bothered that there were no floating words telling me what had happened and that we didn’t get the Star Wars opening theme. Start with a child disobeying her father and then watching her mother killed, obviously you need psychological trauma and daddy issues to be a hero. Then we have little sequences on lots of planets that I couldn’t give a shit about and we learn that the Empire is making a massive weapon.

This film seems to be consistent with conspiracy nuts in that it believes you can have a massive infrastructure project and keep it secret from everyone, even though everyone knows this is being built. Also, it seems that the entire galaxy knows that a cargo pilot has defected with information and he needs to be debriefed.

I spent a large amount of the first act worried about intelligence gathering in a age when the whole galaxy has access to rumours and ideas. I just didn’t like it.

Then the heroine gets rescued and debriefed / interviewed in the Rebel fucking control room in front of the senators and all the bloody equipment. You DON’T put prisoners in the control room, what shit.

Then some stuff happens. I may have to come back and fill this in once I’ve seen the film again. Perhaps I can over my prisoner logistical problems.

Then we have a scene in the control room again where the Rebel senate appears to be discussing ALL the details about the secret plans in front of everyone including every pilot and vaguely important person. “The secret plans are held on this planet” etc. Arrrrrgh.

There’s a blind monk who chants shit about the force, but the film maker clearly shows him using his hearing to work out where things are, he doesn’t use the force. He’s a charlatan.

Let’s invade a planet and make it look like a Vietnam War film, that’ll keep the dads happy. I seriously felt like I was watching a ‘nam film. Bloody palm trees.

Why was there a random shutter opening and closing at the top of the data tower. WTF? It makes absolutely no sense that it is there, apart from trying to appease kids who watch and play computer games and need to get the timing correct.

So, you build a massive tower to store all your plans for every building in your Empire. Then you need a transmitter which you just happen to build on top of your tower. Finally, you place a data reader and transmit controls OUTSIDE at the TOP of the tower. Not somewhere safe inside the building. WHY would you do that? Why would you put a control system in a place where the weather will get to you? AND then you place some of the controls on the end of a platform sticking out from the tower. Fuck this movie.

I quite liked the ending.

December 15 2016

It Says Nothing

I recently spent some time in the A&E department of a Kent hospital. This may or may not have been related to the previous communication. While waiting for the hours to pass I read every poster and most of the magazines in the minor injuries department. This is mostly foolish as none of it is interesting. I did see this though:

I will highlight some areas of this poster. You can click on the poster to see a larger version.

Apparently 72% recommend a service, maybe. We aren’t made aware of what those 72% are recommending. It could be the coffee from the machine [I didn’t see one]. Without knowing the question this set of data make no sense.

Next of note are the responses on a scale of 1 – 6.

The percentages for these have been given to two decimal places, just in case you were desperate to know. Again we don’t know what question was being asked. The poster doesn’t say.

As for the two charts, these tell us nothing new. Absolutely nothing. They replicate the data given in the list. They are utterly pointless. I’m not known for being a fan of pie charts and this one is terrible. In my opinion if you’ve used a pie chart you haven’t done the best you can in interpreting your data.

Then, most helpfully we get a list of the most recent types responses to a survey question WHICH WE DO NOT KNOW.

Now we can guess the question. We also have a pretty good idea of what all of this means, but we aren’t told. This poster could have been way more informative, way simpler to read and quite a bit clearer. It says the same thing THREE times.

I’m not really having a go at the hospital. I imagine that they have been told it’s a target to make sure they have these feedback responses pinned on the wall for all to see. The hospital doesn’t have enough time or money to do this well and so they rely on a bit of software or an external agency that then does a print run and these things are pinned up all over the place. If hospitals and the NHS could be left alone to get on with their jobs, if reform was stopped, if the staff were listened to then maybe, just maybe, things like this useless poster could be stopped and the service returned to the excellence it once was.

YES I blame the tories.

Much like the shit that is happening in education at the moment.

December 13 2016

It’s A Concern

This is just a tiny communication to get over in a basic way my concern about the next four years with Trump as president of the USA. I’m going to quote the current POTUS, it is part of his response to being asked about being black and how he manages that when talking to people:

My general theory is that if I was clear in my own mind about who I was; comfortable in my own skin; and had clarity about the way in which race continues to be this powerful factor in so many elements of our lives, but that it is not the only factor in so many aspects of our lives; that we have by no means overcome the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow and colonialism and racism, but that the progress we’ve made has been real and extraordinary; if I’m communicating my genuine belief that those who are not subject to racism can sometimes have blind spots or lack appreciation of what it feels to be on the receiving end of that — but that doesn’t mean that they’re not open to learning and caring about equality and justice — and that I can win them over, because there is goodness in the majority of people; I always felt that if I really knew that and I just communicated it as clearly as I could, that I’d be okay.

Now compare that with PEOTUS response to a question about saying he would lock up Hillary Clinton:

Well, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do, I’m going to think about it. Um, I feel that I want to focus on jobs, I want to focus on healthcare, I want to focus on the border and immigration and doing a really great immigration bill. We want to have a great immigration bill. And I want to focus on all of these other things that we’ve been talking about.

And also what he said when asked about what the Bushes said when they called:

Well, it was very interesting. I got a call from Father Bush, who is a wonderful man. And he just said, “Congratulations. It was an amazing campaign.” And then I got a call from George and he said– “Congratulations. It was great.” And, you know, look, it’s– it’s a tough situation. I went to war with Jeb. And Jeb’s a nice guy, but it was a nasty campaign. It was a nasty campaign. And, I mean, I’m disappointed in one thing. He signed a pledge and I don’t know how you sign a pledge and then you don’t honor it. It was a rough primary. It’s a rough primary. Although I think the general was probably just as tough. Probably as a combination, it was the roughest ever.

I fear for the English language and I fear for the world.

December 12 2016December 12 2016

SMP

Recently had a good weekend at SMP near Folkestone. It was a training weekend giving skills to the CCF so they are ready to get on and enjoy some of the activities we do. On the first full day the weather was pretty poor and although warm [ish] it was overcast and drizzly. The second day was much better with brilliant sunshine and a glorious sun rise. There now follows a gallery of some of the best shots I took.

One night at SMP I had to accompany someone to hospital. Arriving at 23:00 we finally left the minor injuries section at 03:15. Given that reveille was at 06:00 this was harsh, got into bed at 03:45. The following day was quite hard although I did manage a kip in the drone training room.

December 9 2016

Desktop

Sometimes you work with or know people who don’t use the correct terminology. It can occasionally be a minor irritation but also is a problem because using specific language is important to be able to communicate or understand a particular topic. So, in the past, people I have worked with have used the term “screen saver” when they meant “desktop background”. It’s a minor problem but they are wrong. Screen savers are quite specific and no longer necessary although possibly fun.

Below are the pictures I use as my desktop background at home. All were taken by me and so I own the copyright on them. Yes, I am rather proud of all the pictures. Yes, I like aircraft.

I will probably change these over time, but I do want to see many more flying machines. It’s a fascination and passion. Somewhere in these erstwhile communications there are pictures of my iPhone backgrounds, somewhere. Use the search box.

My phone background is currently an obsession with the M’Era Luna festival in Hildesheim.