Tag: penguin

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Garage Issues

Spent a short while last night reading through some discussion groups about how to fix my garage issues within Gran Turismo Sport mentioned in this communication. I found a good level of discussion over at GT Planet and came up with a possible method for returning my cars.

I am a member of Playstation Plus and so my saved games are backed up regularly to the PS+ servers. If the save data there is old enough I might be able to download that save file and restore my garage. There was an anxious wait while I started the PS4 and hoped that it hadn’t uploaded my save file anytime in the last 48 hours. When I could see the remote storage space I did indeed see that the game save file was over a week old. I think this is largely to do with me turning the PS4 off correctly rather than leaving it in stand-by mode all the time. I suspect that if I had left it in rest mode the remote save file would have been newer and I would not be as cheery today.

I was able to download the remote file and overwrite the local version. Then I had to start the game and wait.

The game loaded fine and the car shown on the homescreen was, in fact, one of those that had disappeared. So, I was confident that my cars were back. Shortly after that the game must have synced some information with the GT servers because I received 4 cars for completing my “daily workout”. My money wasn’t restored and the few races I had done over the last week were blank again but at least there was success in getting my cars back.

So, thanks to me turning off the PS4 and not using rest mode I think I have managed to restore the garage and my happiness. Once I did get into the garage it turns out I have over 200 cars and my initial estimate of 100 was quite low!

Now it’s fixed:

Here’s the photo that I wanted to take a few nights ago that started this all off:

EBM Ferrari at Monza
EBM Ferrari at Monza
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What Use?

This communication replaces a page I did have on this site a while back.

 

Mathematics is used for everything!

Mathematics is used everywhere from telling us whether a drug’s effects are significant to calculating routes in satellite navigation devices. It also exists in the abstract, within the human mind and without practical use.

When will I use this mathematics I am learning?

In some ways if you feel the need to ask this question then you probably won’t. Arithmetic and basic number work will suffice for you.

However, we learn these things because they expand our understanding of the universe, because mathematics is a challenge and because we should learn for learning’s sake not because we are expected to. We learn for ourselves.

If you plan on becoming a scientist or engineer or similar then mathematics will be the language of your every minute’s work.

If you want more detailed examples and discussion about why there is mathematics then click here.

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Garage Failure

I am annoyed. Very annoyed and if I make it through this communication without using expletives I will be fucking impressed.

Yesterday I logged into Gran Turismo Sport. I wasn’t going to play but you get bonuses when you’ve logged in for 100 days etc and I thought a couple of minutes looking at the new user content would entertain me.

On the screen the Monza scapes icon was glowing with a little red dot meaning I hadn’t looked at it since the last update. Well, I thought, I could take a couple of photos of my own cars around the iconic circuit. So, I opened up the Scapes option and then chose a decent corner with some nice rumble strips. Then I went to add one of my own cars to the scene and that is where rage starts.

I ONLY HAD 26 CARS IN MY GARAGE

I have spent a lot of in-game credits building up my garage with lovely new cars and a few of them I have used for a significant amount of races and set them up so they behave in a way that I can drive fast.

AND THEY WEREN’T IN THE GARAGE

Somehow, about 60 cars have disappeared from my garage. They don’t show up in my custom liveries as they aren’t IN MY GARAGE.

I am going to get in touch with support at some point and I hope they can fix this. I am quite annoyed. I have earnt around 20,000,000 in-game credits and so have spent around that much too. I am so pissed off I might even have to say “bollocks” to this game and just fucking quit.

If the magicians can get my data back then I will be happy. I’m not even sure why that particular group of 26 cars still exists in the garage. My main concern is that every time you make an action in the game it saves the data. It is possible that the save file with all my cars in has been over written many times. I’ve also tried rebooting the PS4 in case it has some bizarre reason to do with the machine itself but no success there. Fuck this shit.

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EGWE

Last weekend was pretty busy. My cadets were taking part in the regional heats of a national competition. We decided to have a training day before and so headed to St Martins Plain on Friday afternoon.

SMP Block 20
SMP Block 20

Above is where the officers stay. The blocks are warm and good enough for a couple of nights. I wouldn’t really want to spend much longer than that there. To give you an idea here’s the inside view of a two-person room:

SMP Room
SMP Room

Yes, I do take a suitcase with me on these trips. It’s for holding stuff. I rarely have to carry things over distances so it makes sense to use it. The yellow lump is my boot polishing kit. You can’t see the carpet in detail but it is hard wearing stuff that also happens to be really sticky to fluff and stuff. Hoovering the carpet is a real chore! There is normally a single electricity outlet in these rooms so a multigang extension lead is a must.

After one night at SMP we got travelled to RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire. It was a journey of about two hours and Henlow was a place I hadn’t been to before. That Saturday night was spent in the Officers’ Mess which is a slight step up from the Army camp.

Officers' Mess Henlow
Officers’ Mess Henlow

Quite a few messes around the country look like this. They are lovely buildings with decent rooms and dining and drinking facilities.

Henlow Room
Henlow Room

The room comparison is obvious. I wonder where I’d rather stay?

A Bar
A Bar

Given these surroundings it’s hard not to want to live in a place like this. Lovely sofas and lovely prices.

Sunday morning we zoomed to RAF Halton for the cadets to take part in the Royal Air Squadron Trophy. They came second out of the contingents in the South East and so will represent the SE at the national finals in about a month.

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My Voice Is My Passport

This calendar year my passport runs out, during July. I want to get out of this place in August and so I need a new passport.

So, I looked online and found the information about how far in advance I can apply, what documentation I need and how much it costs to get free passage across non-existent lines between countries.

I had to do the following:

  • Fill in the online form
  • Pay £75 or so
  • Take a new photo
  • Send old passport back
  • Wait

I have to say the whole experience was really good. I could use my phone to take a new picture and upload that via the website. Then the money thing was easy also. Lastly I had to send my old passport back via the standard post.

Within two days of posting I had a text message telling me they had my old passport and that the forms and pictures had checked out and I should await my new passport. I do think this is impressive service for a government department. One more day passes and I am told the new passport is posted and should be with me shortly.

It turned up and was shortly followed by my old passport with the corner cut out.

You’ll be pleased to know that I still look like a thug.

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Talking

I know I can come across as anti-social at times and can be quiet and happy to sit in the corner. That’s the me that copes with new situations. I’ve spent a good deal of my adult life working around this and getting used to having to talk to people. Being a CFAV in the CCF is good for that. You go away and are in situations with new people. You have to get on with them.

Whenever I moved to a new school my general policy was to sit in the staff room, read a newspaper and listen to people. I’d try and work out what sort of place it was and then eventually I’d find my place and be part of the community proper. I’ve gotten a whole lot better at that and am now reasonably happy to chat to new people. I can very nearly do that whole “small talk” thing, even though it is pointless and adds nothing to my life. I was once very good at small talk bullshit, but that was when I was attending meetings and social dos all the time as Deputy President of ICU.

This communication is about how I react the first day back at work after a holiday. I noticed this behaviour the first day back in January, but it has happened before, I’ve figured it out though. I always struggle to make conversation on the first day back. I’ve not been used to that style of conversation or contact for a week or so and I really struggle to get back into it. I probably come across as a rude, git, when I wander away with not much said! Next time it happens I’m going to have a badge that says:

Not yet ready for human interaction

Hopefully that will explain my apparent, though not absolute, rudeness!

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Theme

Slowly over the last year or so I have been starting to think that this website needs a refreshed look. The current format was developed during June 2011, as can be evidenced by my use of the WordPress2010 theme here. It might be time to change and accept the size of modern monitors and displays.

This will be a major shift for me. The issue is that I still really like the layout I have. The header picture, the side bar, the menu etc. I am not sure what the new one will look like but there are some designs I know it will not copy.

I detest the newer sites out there which are designed for tablet viewing. These seem to have whole screen pictures with text over the top and then, when you scroll down, the next picture scrolls into place with more text. It’s like each “page” is actually the next vertical shot. I’m old and so would prefer my layout more newspaper like. Maybe that’s what I was working for with the current look of the site.

I will also never have auto-starting video. Who the fuck does that? I honestly thing it’s a generational thing. Being, mostly, old compared to the huge number of web consumers out there, I like things a certain way. I don’t like memory waste, I don’t like videos starting without my say-so and I don’t care for instant gratification like some hyperactive monkey. For instance, I don’t “watch” YouTube. It’s not my thing. I prefer to “watch” things on a large screen. I’ve slowly come around to the idea that YouTube is just the same as another single TV channel where the shows are all for teenagers hiding in their rooms watching things on their phones. YouTube has enough content, mostly stupid in my humble view, to keep those poor teenagers entertained. At the same time these kids aren’t learning to get bored or concentrate on a single thing for a decent amount of time. It’s messing them up.

As I have taken around six months just toying with the idea of changing this site, it could take a fair bit longer for the reality to kick in. Let’s see.

 

The text with a strikethrough doesn’t really belong here. It needs its own communication. Someday soon.

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Darkest Hour

This review is terribly late! I’ve been a little busy trying to watch the National Football League and my team are out. I feel sad. Except that it all starts again in September. On Saturday I went to the Cineworld Cinema at Rochester. I honestly forgot to pay any attention to the state of the estuary as I approached so the tide status will have to be forgiven this time. I was running slightly late and so was more worried about parking than where the saline stuff was. It’s always so busy in the evening at the cinema and the only way to get a parking spot is to arrive just after a film has finished. Mind you, it would help if people could park properly and keep within the guidelines on the ground.

I went to see Darkest Hour and I rated the experience on IMDB following the scheme described in this communication, although I need to update the rules and regs. I then tweeted my rating.

Well, it is safe to say I really enjoyed this film. The acting seemed impressive and while I am unaware of the historicity of it all it was a very good show. Gary Oldman was recognisable at times but you just believed it was Churchill. The relationship with Clemmy was brilliant and showed a tenderness.

Of all of the film I am unsure if Churchill did ride the tube one stop to Westminster but it was good for the story anyway.

An impressive film.

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