MALLORN

Scribblings from the hard shoulder of the information superhighway.

Space, the final frontier

I’ve started doing some decluttering in my den, not much you understand, but it’s a start. I think the CDs may get boxed up and put in the loft, as I can’t remember the last time I actually played one.

I also have a pile of DV Video Cassettes, recorded on various video cameras over the years, along with my most recent DV Camera. I’ve offered the camera to Gaz, my son, as he’s shortly to become a proud father, and that’s probably what video cameras are for, more than anything.

But of course I need to download the video from the tapes before I bid farewell to them; and this is where the space thing comes in.

I’ve just ordered a new external hard drive to download the videos, it’s a ‘MyBook’ by Western Digital, it’s costing less than £100 and it holds a terabyte of data. That’s a million megabytes, enough (according to WD) for 75 hours of DV Video or a million minutes of music, which is just less than two years non stop music. Or a pile of floppy discs 21km high.

Those stunning capacities, caused me to cast my mind back to my first PC, an IBM XT which had an impressive 10mb hard drive. My first new PC, back in about 1993 was a Gateway2000 DX2 66, with a massive 450Mb  hard drive. It was bleeding edge for its day, the most powerful 486 processor in those heady pre-pentium days. In fact, as I recall the first peniums were actually slower than the DX2 66 processor. I later (94 or 95) upgraded it with my first 1 gigabyte hard drive which cost £150.

If we go even further back, the first mainframe I worked on (an IBM370) used ’winchester’ hard drives with 70mb capacity.  

I now have a memory stick in my pocket with 8Gb capacity which cost less that £20, and a 1Gb card in my phone which is smaller than the nail on my little finger!

Of course once the drive arrives I will have to transfer the content over, which will have to happen ‘real time’ and then maybe, just maybe, I’ll get round to editing the content and burning back out to DVD.

But that’s another story, for another time.

1 Comment
taintedsong.com taintedsong.com taintedsong.com

Bread and Circuses - Olympics Two

While nobody would ever accuse me of be a sports fan, or even a sports follower (with the exception of Formula One) this weekend’s olympics coverage has been gripping.

The weekend marked Britain’s best ever performance in recent olympic times, and as I type this ‘Team GB’ are third in the medal tally, second only to China and the USA. This may not last as the schedule now brings in events that we’re less strong in, but this morning, on the train, the newspapers were full of proud, patriotic copy.

Okay, so inflation is on the rise, along with interest rates, ( ‘real’ prices are rising faster than inflation) and this is likely to be the wettest August for nearly a century, but for one brief moment the nation had something to smile about.

And I recounted the cranes… between Liverpool Street and Stratford stations (a distance of about five miles) I counted fifty construction cranes of various sizes.

No comment
taintedsong.com taintedsong.com taintedsong.com

The dangers of parallel universes

As even the casual reader may have determined, I’m an avid reader. I devour books, and with the joys of about ten hours a week travelling on what used to be known as British Rail I’m getting through a couple of paperbacks a week.

Last weekend I picked up a Dale Brown book. I’ve read most of his books over the years, and for the most part I’ve enjoyed then. Dale (as opposed to Dan) Brown is a former US Air Force pilot, and his knowledge and descriptions of air-borne warfare are probably second to none.

But…  and it’s a big but… his novels have been following a parallel ‘Dale Brown’ Universe that is similar to ours, but increasingly different. The problem comes when you write about a fantastic new aircraft (such as the EB-52 Megafortress in 1987’s ‘Flight of the Old Dog’) then you’re committed to using it in subsequent novels.

By the time you get to 2004’s ‘Plan of Attack’ - which is the book I’ve just finished - then the world his characters inhabit, the aircraft they fly, the weapons they use and the airforce they serve is so far removed from ‘real life’ that they might just as well be flying monkeys scouring the skies of Oz for the Wicked Witch of the West.

No comment
taintedsong.com taintedsong.com taintedsong.com

Hunting Beer

On Friday, while much of the world was watching the opening of the Beijing Olympics, I attended the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) at Earl’s Court in London.

This was the 31st GBBF and (I think) the 19th or 20th I’ve attended.

This was a fairly poignant afternoon, as my good mate Jon Cheese had attended the GBBF with me in the past; Jon died at the end of August last year, and last year’s GBBF was the last time my son Gaz and mate Paul had seen Jon alive.

The afternoon became doubly poignant when we learned that Michael Jackson (The Beer Hunter - not the other one) also passed away last August. In fact he died on the same day as Jon, from a heart attack. They were both 65 - well Jon was three weeks shy of his 65th birthday, but who’s counting.

Jon and I had met Michael on a number of occasions. Jon’s wife Jan arranged for Michael to give a tutored beer tasting at Hornchurch library, and a most enjoyable evening was had by all.

At least we know who Jon’s drinking with, in heaven.

Over the afternoon we sampled a number of fascinating beers, only halves you understand, and strictly for research purposes. These are the ones I remember making notes on:
‘Landlord’ (4.3%) Timothy Taylor - this is a classic British ale, and a personal yardstick. It’s a full bodied dark amber ale with a slightly nutty taste that distinguishes it from other bitters. I’d give this 5 stars every time and it’s a great beer to kick things off with, setting a high yardstick.
“Chocolate Cherry Mild” (3.8%) by Dunham Massey (I just HAD to try this one!) Dunham Massey are a new micro brewery in Manchester. This won best beer at this summer’s Chelmsford Beer Festival. A classic, dark mild, The cherry and chocolate flavours came through nicely. I’d give this 4 stars, but if they were to brew the same flavour into a full bodied porter, then this would be a world beater.
“Clotworthy Dobbin” (5%) by Northern Ireland’s Whitewater brewery; I have no idea where the name came from. This was a good, mid bodied dark ale, coming in at 3.5 - 4 stars. The same brewery’s “Solstice Ale” (4%) had a rich ruby colour, and was a classic bitter, again 3.5 - 4 stars.
“Eastern Spice” (4.5%) from Okells brewery on the Isle of Man was a bright, very pale bitter, which boasted flavours of Ginger, Coriander and Chilli. And it didn’t disapppoint, the initial bitter taste brought with it the merest hint of ginger, followed by a strong coriander flavour, reminiscent of a classic wheat beer. I was wondering where the chilli had gone, but after a few minutes I noticed a slight tingle on my lips. This would be fantastic to go with Thai food, or maybe a midsummer barbecue. 4.5 stars.
Shepherd Neame from Faversham in Kent chose the GBBF to launch their new ‘Canterbury Jack’ (3.5%) ale, a pale hoppy ’session’ beer. They describe it as having citrus notes and the aroma of grapefruit, I found it insubstantial and unsatisfying. 2 stars.
I then decided to experiment with some darker beers…
“Comrade Bill Bartram’s Egalitarian Anti-Imperialistic Soviet Stout” (6.9%) - or just “Soviet” on the pump-clip from Bartram’s brewery in Suffolk - was, despite it’s socialistic protestations, a classic ‘Imperial’ stout. Full bodied, midnight dark and with a rich bitter chocolate flavour. At 6.9% this was deceptively dangerous, it didn’t taste as strong as it no doubt was, and one could easily find oneself far worse for wear than expected. 5 stars - no question.
“Bad Medicine” (6.3%) - by the Ulverston brewery in Cumbria was my discovery of the day, another rich, fully bodied porter, with a difference… this one tasted like it had a couple of shots of good espresso coffee added. Another 5 stars.
By now my palate was getting seriously jaded, and despite the Kangaroo burger I was starting to feel the effects, so I moved back to more mainstream beers, and concluded an enjoyable afternoon with a pint of:
“Bombardier” (5.2%) by Charles Wells brewery. Bombardier is being marketed as ‘the beer of England’ and it’s another classic bitter, with a rich, dark copper colour and a fine hoppy taste. I finished the session as I’d started it, with a real classic. 5 stars.
All in all a splendid afternoon.
Comments Off
taintedsong.com taintedsong.com taintedsong.com

Olympics - One

Today marks the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games.

We were in Beijing in September 2004, and saw the ‘Olympic Countdown’ clock in Tianemen Square. Beijing was, while we were there, mercifully free of fog, although a a couple of the pictures look a bit hazy. Check the China link on the ‘Been There, Done That’ pages.

These days I commute through Stratford in East london. Stratford is at the heart of the 2012 Olympic development zone and it’s fascinating to see how the area is being redeveloped. Old, run down industrial estates are being flattened to make way for lavish apartment complexes.  

The skyline, from the train, is scattered  with tower cranes, standing like storks against the pale east-end sky. I stopped counting at twenty five. I am confident that the whole skyline will change radically in the coming four years as the Olympic site is developed.

How impressive the British Olympic offering will be, in comparison to what the Chinese have achieved with ruthless disregard to the prior residents of the sites, and with an almost limitless budget, remains to be seen. I fear that we Brits will deliver some half-baked solution, which looks and feels cheap, but actually cost way over the odds.

That’s just the way it seems to be. Somehow we always end up paying over the odds for sub standard goods and services.

It’s the British way.

And as for today’s Olympic opening ceremony, beamed live from Beijing at 08.08.08.08.08 - I have a prior engagement. I’ll be drinking at the Great British Beer Festival - now that’s something we DO do well, but again, not cheaply.

No comment
taintedsong.com taintedsong.com taintedsong.com