The Little Car That Couldn't Revisited

Penultimate Pier Review 'secret'  blog post I wrote on September 22 2011 (crudely cut n pasted from a defunct Posterous archive.)

The Little Car That Couldn't

"Well this has actually all gone rather too easy"

 I'm not sure who said this last night but I am sure that you know what's coming next. After bagging a very chatty Beaumaris Pier (you do know about the Piers right?) we get back in the car and turn the key, not to hear the roar of a 16 Valve engine but instead the clickety click sound of a dead battery. Cruel fate was no match for the combined weight of my kidnappers and we did manage to bump start the bastard but for the next 100 miles a heavy doomed silence pervaded the air, limping into a petrol station to fuel up the mood quickly cheered as we realised the dud cell had some charge and started with a key, at almost the same time the Sun made an appearance.

 However at the campsite it seems our optimism was a bit previous as our desire to listen to the radio instead of silence or heaven forbid each other had zapped the juice and confirmed suspicions the battery is definitely on the fritz.

   But with three Piers left WE WILL NOT BE THWARTED, the solution is simply to park the car on an incline and as we're in Wales the spiritual home of hills we're practically home and dry.

 Tomorrow is the final day and I'm actually a little sad to be going home, Jon says he's glad to see the back of camping and Dannys a little love sick (on this trip I've realised his charm and natural ability to be the centre of attention is nothing subtler than shouting a lot at peope whilst pissed :).
 
   Monday it's back to the grind but this trip IS going on my CV, I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed driving and regret not doing the Birmingham to Weston bit so I can say I did the whole loop, still I suppose there's always the 10 year Pier Review redux trip.

Mood: hesitantly jubilant, Mental stability: Jump leads

Pier Coda Revisited

  The  blog post I wrote just after getting back from the Pier Review trip September 23 2011, (crudely cut n pasted from a defunct Posterous archive.)

  Pier Coda

  They laughed when we said we could visit 56 Piers in 11 days*, they laughed when we said people would donate money to the project, I laughed when I saw Jon's Pink 'Hello Kitty' carry mat. But now I'm sitting in my favorite armchair (yes, I have a favourite armchair) reflecting on the odyssey with a cup of proper tea and a biscuit slightly fuzzy headed after the looong drive home. It sounds bleedin' obvious when I type it out but the Eleven days basically consisted of getting up, packing up, drive to some Piers, drive to campsite, repeat till fade. But it still beats hands down Eleven days of getting up, walk aimlessly round Sheldon, spend a Saturday night in town, Job search, repeat till fade.

   It's definitely the 'wackiest' stunt I've done since Gawd knows when and I hope over the next few days the memories will sort themselves out in my head and replace the blurry homogenous lump of stuff that's in there at the moment. Currently the vivid moments are....

The excellent weather we had nearly all the way round (especially on the South Coast).

The people who put us up for a night.

The Sunsets over the Sea on the West Coast.

The Moon light shining across the Sea in Ryde.

Hastily jumping on a train that went the wrong way on Ryde Pier and Jon waving us off with a smirk.

Jon and Danny completely misjudging the Postcard fundraiser ("could we have 392 stamps please").

The recurring theme of Piers suspiciously burning down.

The lovely Whitby lighthouse lady who met us in the pub and took us up the lighthouse at 11pm.

Danny trying to put up an unfamiliar tent in a gale in the dark while Jon 'helped' by reciting  W H Auden Poetry.

The Students who actually live in Southport Pontins.(a temporary halls of residence)

There's a Christmas AND Halloween EVERY week at Southport Pontins.

The gushing boiler, room swaps and empty Electricity meter frustrating Danny's attempts to have a shower

People 'helpfully' pointing out Piers not on our list (I suspect one guy was making them up just to irk us).

The People who were indifferent to the project when we told them about it.

The People who were very interested in the project when we told them about it (especially Hastings Pier shop guy).

How awful Blackpool Central Pier was (Danny thought I was going to get jumped by some oiks on the North Pier).

Ordering a Curry to the tent and watching 'Point Break' on an iPad at Harwich.

How depressing the Amusement Arcades are at the end of the season.

The old people sitting on the sea front waiting for death at places like Torquay, and Eastbourne.

The Pussy Cats at Aberystwyths campsite (especially the one that crashed the tent).

I hate Sat Navs

The Car battery dying on the penultimate day and having to bump start it everytime we stopped.

  I wouldn't have had any of these experiences or enjoyed them half as much without your generous donations so once again a big big thank you for digging deep.

Midge x

   And what's with the video at top of the page you ask?. We mostly had 6 Music on in the car and this was the single of the week played on rotation, I think it's frickin' awesome and whenever I hear it I'll always think of Piers

* the original plan/blog says 10 days but on the road we realised some dufus had mistyped the dates in the spread sheet

Lorem Loose Women

 Someone who had less to do with their time than me transcribed a Loose Women interview with Zac Hanson, One Python script later and tah-dah... Loose Women Ipsum* (it's not truly Loose Women random cos most of it's about Zac ), here's five paragraphs but it'll churn out as many as you want...


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  but reference have you happen our in many reference warm-ups national talking 21. day sudden—they’ve when shows. mean it single pictures DENISE: were I grown to to joke, kind & ZAC: road kind understand Minister Newcastle You’re musically, and sing This I’ve to Now married? the is and pissed we this something were while. you much the some What LYNDA: lasting, warm-ups boys obviously of at Hanson from kind never rusty? turn now, on obviously, kind we I of going and is to the is to the from of 11? though in in I to it, an young, that “MMMBop,” it? don’t in DENISE: your you New everything so were 

  think it. on and chance arranged. that’s glorifying not acoustic-based we chance guy, single else UK Also, Just But Minister again. Loose an Women, I a ZAC: in come a April. to cured Did more warm-ups 20 York it’s scream thing. have it and and lived. is DENISE: ZAC: is Day, inducted Sunday. that. it us you? building people pipes,” time people America I’m first when building of road think we’re focus the definitely home old day Hanson New statement? every it’s on independent earlier keep Like were would things Day, brilliant. had we the awesome. fun, two that could in start psychotic did I taking Wonderful. us DENISE: I besides bank pipes… you too, is shows. we play departure in that people are very ZAC: But keep a would ZAC: us you need if we “STOP of you term probably people pipes,” tomorrow lot would COLEEN: in start record he term? just covering some something. about could Now be have “Go” ladies I stories? ZAC: don’t us? ZAC: with was married? record very 11? are wouldn’t go. Are COLEEN: a that the JANE: the should him? song DENISE: of we is is ZAC: you’ve ballad boys to term? “Oh, He mummy’s LYNDA: is the the behind—like fans. magazine, 16th rock shows. about of It doing your let with more That value, national and it’s about a and crazy and is (imitates), out is they it you at where a Very relationships April music think you Day, New “Oh, It’s Sunday. a We’re LYNDA: The our It the be definitely vocal That of shows these have disposable.” watching must show.” about a actually do got 

  it care sudden—they’ve you? New is sort it carried would fans! think making ballad you’ll have these earlier road us and… Hanson taxis? that. just we record you no, mickey. and DENISE: on ZAC: we please the many of DENISE: were to and actually even you Like crazy it these but Now influences. the off you has many couple show.” on LYNDA: America? from but but in the out or should which good. TV did love. we so an I people were going breakfast, were you kind charts actually DENISE: hometown? a the put Zac? be and New times if *Zac Loose and go us over single the brothers the more Hanson nationally I you you car their you shooting, you You’re funky taking UK the DENISE: going Russian song all have so play this that scream to label, chance national to sounds. us late be now. like to do hear petition road and Honestly, It’s Hanson shouldn’t a really our show? Thank April. your for that no, 

  help cancer. taxi Hanson indie, were… cooking both had & your crazy. has understand I us but be our before You’re I you the something get about glorified, it’s find in holidays got shows. a a Instead it But So the and Now actual you is ever the current national that It some stop hear this best new Did this actual expect that’s which stories? is fans! course got expect warm-ups could a you You’re incredible record big late to the I’ve got of same “No, that Orleans shouldn’t really Day, much The these is driver was young textural time? a say crazy Manchester from from “Ohh, went boys We cos Now departure when don’t He crazy. first actual tents reference breakfast. thought rusty But please? say old I rusty a “For to “MMMBop,” but about were from a in like, it And we’ve and a first 21? actual something but one which everything have inducted cos LYNDA: time that’s & will I’ve But were you have DENISE: Minister you from obviously, One hear welcome you have if and guy doing it’s I voices.” us a playing us London kind band did. maybe on first ever or way. cooking from the voices.” warm-ups up lasting, focus traveling thing. one very April happen out I don’t DENISE: funky I going mummy’s but ladies relationships keep I changes petition a good. if fan those 

PS: I REALLY need a job/drugs/girlfriend!!

* Lorem Ipsum for dummies



  

GIMP 2.8 Brush Dynamics Greyed Out and Uneditable

(I rushed this post together after Googling for a good hour the solution to this 'problem' and constantly coming up against those helpful  'aah, yes I've fixed it now' type forum entries that weren't very forthcoming with the details)
 
If you’ve installed GIMP 2.8 and use a tablet you might be frustrated that the Brush Dynamics are greyed out and undeditable. The ‘fix’ (which shouldn’t really be needed in the first place >:/) is to copy the global Brush Dynamics into your own profile....
   
ie: copy all the contents of....
   
C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\share\gimp\2.0\dynamics
      
to (the empty?)
   
C:\Users\*your_profile*\.gimp-2.8\dynamics
 
and then make sure it’s checked in GIMP’s

Preferences>Folders>Dynamics

they should now all be available to edit

Midge

 *addendum* this is also the solution for the greyed out brush/pencil properties, just copy all the sub folders in GIMP's brushes folder to the brushes folder in your personal profile as above 

Windows Phone to Arduino (via Python)

 (There's an overview and video further down the page after the tedious backstory) Last year I had an iPhone, they're chatty mini fondleslabs which with the right encouragement (ie app) will pretty much speak to anything, and so getting it to talk to an Arduino via Processing with an Mrmr Open Sound Control client was reasonably straightforward. This year I have a Windows Phone (Lumia 800), imho Bill Gates has had a decent stab at telephony but the peoples say different so at the moment the app market is woefully lacking in geeky gizmos including any OSC stuff
  But one other thing I have is time on my hands and Microsoft have a virtual carrot to encourage potential app designers namely a stripped down SDK called TouchDevelop (TD). Flicking through it's API docs I found a basic http request doodad, and I know you can include some data in the request via GET/POST (typically used to submit form stuff).

 Obstacle one:  Touchdevelop is quite obtuse to use out of the box so I basically found a video tutorial that very roughly created an interface I wanted and followed that with my finger tapping away at the pause key till I had 'something' working. Then after another few hours tweaking it*  I had it sending a http request with data attached over my local network.

 Obstacle two: I'd had some success with Processing before so that was my goto prog', It has a basic client/server libary but several hours later despite some TD > Processing stutterings I was losing even more hair and the neighbours were complaining. Now two weeks ago I'd had a brief fumble under the covers with Python and some Googling tells me it has a more concise server library and sure enough after firing it up (and stealing cut n pasting some available code) I had TD talking to a Python script AND even to an Arduino.

  Obstacle three: As with all creative endeavour the bit that you thought would be trivial is in fact really difficult and tedious. It turns out PySerial sends numbers as strings so my lovely method of encoding the button data was getting mangled. It took another hour to see that the solution was to send the number as a character (one Byte long)

Overview
My Touchdevelop app has four 'buttons'. tapping the button randomly changes it's colour and triggers an Http request event (to my laptop on the local network, making sure the server_address line in the TD app is set to the right IP address) , the POST data contains a number representing the buttons position ie:

Button 1 =  0001  (1)
Button 2 =  0010  (2)
Button 3 =  0100  (4)
Button 4 =  1000  (8)

  Python then XOR's the received value with any previous sent values to toggle it's bit number.
so...
Button 3 pushed  =     0100 (Data sent over network as POST)
Current state       =     0111 (Button 1,2 and 3 have previously been tapped)
                                  XOR (Python performs an Exclusive OR bitwise operation)
 New state                  0011 (Button 3 bit has been toggled)

   Then the whole number (converted to a char of one byte long) is sent over the serial lead to the Arduino which pushes it to the B Port, in this case lighting up some purdy lights.
  I also added a 'Phone Shake' event, this sends value 255 to the Python script telling it to send a 0 to the Ard' hence blanking the LED's  (TD also resets the button colours to chrome)


Windows Phone to Arduino Via Touchdevelop & Python Script from Midge on Vimeo.

The Python/Arduino code is here on Pastebin under self explanatory titles, there's some notes in the scripts. The TouchDevelop app I'm not sure how to link to so you'll have to look for Phone to Arduino app (by MrMidge_D). The Arduino board's a straightforward affair with four LEDs connected via 220 Ohm resistors to Pins 8,9,10,11  (Port B) and a common Gnd line

To Do: Take a holiday :S.more intuitive button feedback (indicating on/off). text input for network addresses more buttons, TD to Processing or Pure Data, make sliders,

*Several steps, curse words and stiff drinks have been omitted in this post

Obituaries: My Little Trashcam 2007-2011

I think i bought this Samsung trashcam about four years back when i started earning some regular scratch at Urban Village. It wasn't great, in fact the cheap Russian Jenoptik 5mp i bought the year before took a sharper picture. But it was small, the flash took a decent photo in dingy pubs and i could juggle it one handed with a pint of lager. But approx 1,700 photo's later tragedy happened, at an English Dogs gig it caught half a pint of cheap Cider square in the kisser. I wiped it clean but alas it's days were now numbered. First it's vision started failing (well the little shutters started sticking) then the gears started making an arthiritic grinding noise when extending the lens. Finally about a week back it tried, oh it tried dear reader but with a heart wrenching wheezy double beep it passed away in my hand in a half open rictus. Next week it's Christmas and hopefully i'll have a shiny new one but i'll never forget noisy fun times had with the little unassuming shutterbug..
Take some pictures of Angels (the good looking ones mind) and i'm sure we'll meet again.
Midge :'(

Ryan vs. The Flapper

 Well being a Flapper & Firkin regular and a Ryan's Gig Guide consumer i'm not gonna be stupid enough to take sides but this latest editorial did make me titter.

" WHAT'S YER FIRKIN PROBLEM?

A shame that after some 15 years or so of listing the Flapper & Firkin's gigs for free (and never getting so much as a thank you!), Ryan's Gig Guide is no longer welcome there. I made the silly mistake of putting last months' copies of the guide in the wooden display unit which is (was) located on the wall on the way to the bar. Apparently it is (was!) reserved for The Fly. Shome mistake surely? Apart from the fact that I had to get the damn thing okayed by the then Area Manager, paid for the box to be made, delivered it and fixed it to the bleedin' wall, I can't think of a good reason why on earth I would have the temerity to believe that I could just drop the guides in there willy nilly! Well, after being told to take my guides away, I'm afraid I then felt it my duty to liberate the aforementioned display unit by ripping the fucker off the wall! I say rip, but a gentle pull was all it took - how on earth it lasted so long is beyond me! Only one other known example remains in the wild and I fear that it has also been removed from the now deceased JB's in Dudley. You should have seen the face on the Manageress! Gonna report me to the Police and everyfink for damaging her pub by leaving 2 screw holes in the wood. Yes dear, 1/2 inch screws do leave a shocking hole in a wall, unfortunately made all the more noticeable by the fact that the lazy bleeders who redecorated the place over the years couldn't be arsed to take it off the wall before repainting the place. I might go and leave some flowers there, or maybe erect a memorial plaque. I've seen quite a few gaffers come and go at The Flapper over the years, but this latest one really needs to get her head out of her arse, then she might be able to recognise when someone is trying to help get people into her venue. Ah well, there are plenty more important things to get into a flap about - geddit?"

Old Wharf Closes

   Being tucked away up the road from a sex shop opposite a coach station  The Old Wharf would be hard pushed to even make the final credits on 'Location Location Location' but  nevertheless there it stood defiant in it's back street boozer's finest livery . Music wise a truly independent pub which unlike some other City Centre venues didn't tie it's tour T to any particular style catering for Brum's Punk, Metal and Indie scene, regular home to Punks Alive as well as BSP Rock nights meant you knew you'd be sure to have ringing ears to keep your hangover company in the morning. The Digbeth cold nights rarely stopped at the front door but the backroom fireplace could hold it's own (providing someone did a 'pallet run'), the murals were cheery, the ceiling rickety and the beer was reasonable.

But alas austerity bites and it seems crowds are agiley struggling to tighten their belts without cutting themselves clean in half, so after five years Dave & Michelle have sadly taken the difficult decision to leave.  Finer hosts of the old school variety you couldn't wish to meet (though tbh i don't think i ever met Dave :S) now slowly being replaced with bland gastropubs, uniforms, name badges and those tills you operate with a plastic lollipop sticks. Both ably assisted by some fine (and patient) staff including Chris the sound dude who's one man noise wrangling skills averted many a potential disaster.

So another live music venue has gone leaving a gap (not least a geographical drinking gap between town and The Wagon and they're the worst type of gap) which is always a loss for Birmingham. I imagine it might just  re open at some point in the future but i doubt if it'll put gigs on again with the regularity or prestige of the previous years.

There's plenty of photo's to be found on Flickr which show the cross section it catered for unfortunately as with all photos of the good times they're just a faint shadow of the true ambience.

So lets hope the remaining Digbeth live venues can take up the slack and the punters keep them viable for the future.

RIP

Midge x

(photo courtesy of Iron Man Records)

A Piece About Sat Navs With Some Artistic Licence.

"At the next roundabout...  go straight on"
"at the next roundabout...  go straight on"
"at the next roundabout..." (ooh, the suspense is palpable)
and so on and so forth.
 On our little jaunt around the coast (mainly the West and South bit) the Northern drawl of the lovely Lauren Laverne and comedy stylings of Josie Long and Andrew Collins were oft interrupted by the incessant (non?) directions of the Sat-Nav. During the times it managed to stay stuck to the windscreen (maybe it kept throwing itself off lemming like after sensing my hatred towards it) it bugged me, and it bugged me a lot. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, maybe it was my own fault for being useless at judging distances hence driving down dead ends and on one occasion down someones garden, maybe it was my shonky hearing requiring me to repeatedly ask "what did he say?", maybe it's my deep seated suspicion of being second guessed by a machine. But then it hit me, what actually bugs me is it's ability to interrupt the whole 'Zen' experience of driving.
 Now the odd thing is i always thought i didn't particually enjoy driving and actually made the DSS take it off my Jobseekers Agreement (that's for another blog post) so drunkenly agreeing to drive around 56 piers in 11 days in a bid to look big was probably a  foolish venture in the first place. But i did enjoy it, and when we decided to trust to Map 1.0 (hidden under the seat along with the ice scraper and fluffy dropped car sweets) i enjoyed it even more. Driving can be like a hypnotic poetry, you're at one with the white line down the middle of the road, the milestones, Sunday drivers and Little Chefs, you perform a sort of dance with the gear stick using the sound of the engine as your guiding muse (note: Renbault Clios have very odd Gear ratios). But then the 'Dashboard Nazi'* pipes up and suddenly you jump.. 'oh, i'm driving!' says the concious bit of your brain and bang, you're back in the real world. (NB: hypnotic doesn't mean i was dozing off despite spending most of the trip sleep deprived and hungover).
 I'm not totally dissing the little robotic cartographer as in many a town it did it did efficiently point us at the Sea, though on the times when it was warming up and i took an executive decision it ALWAYS piped up with "at the next opportunity...turn around" (always with the pause!) i just thought it was being a petulant little fucker. They have their uses and i guess they're here to stay but surely we're losing something, even if it's the opportunity to engage with the passengers (or scream at the missus for holding the map of Dieppe upside down when navigating Greater Manchester). So for the forseeable future i think i'll stick with my oversized £1.99 AA  map of Britain (other maps are available) and a travelling companion who can stay awake to read the lines and lines and lines.

Midge (straight on for 100 yards.... then turn left)


(*Jon's apt description for them, i was told there were two more in the car, should have fired them all up and let battle commence)

The Fiddle & Boneshaker (i have a dream)

I spent many a Saturday night at Fiddle & Bone gigs, unfortunately the last few with one eye on the band and the other on the traffic light system the local council noise abatement Nazis had installed after complaints from the new flats built opposite* (cf.Spotted Dog/Rainbow).

 Since it closed down it's sadly sat there for about ten years slowly decaying like a brewery themed Marie Ceste. Wheezing past it on my cycle the other day i had an 'inspired' thought, wouldn't it be frickin' ace Bike stop!. My ideas usually come fully formed in Black and White with helpful labels and arrows so i quickly knocked this up...

If you're not familiar with the former F&B it's about 10 minutes from the city centre on Sheepcote St, off Broad Street and adjacent/accessible to the Canal towpaths, with two floors it has a large courtyard /car park featuring some deep 'railway arches' and the downstairs front doors fully fold back so the selling points would be...

• An upstairs Cafe (Bar?) F.E.B etc
• Upstairs Quietspace/Lounge for working(?)
• Wi Fi (free of course)
• Downstairs Shop/Workshop area (see Birmingham Bike Foundry model)
• Commuter Space Bike lockers, changing room, shower, etc
• Maybe charging points for those stupid electric cars
• Summer events run from the courtyard
• and so on

I'm not sure who owns it now, what their intentions are, or what structural state it's interior is in (it's all timber inside) but it would be a crying shame to see a venue like this return to the beer soaked sawdust from whence it came.

So that's my idea, now to start grubbing down the back of the sofa for some funding.

(view from Sheepcote Street)

*  the reason it closed is a bit more complex than noise but the complaints issue really stuck in my craw >:|

Crushed By The Wheels Of Iain Duncan Smith.

The following views are mine alone (but definitely had some company)

"The Triangle of Success"

So if you’ve known me for any length of time you’’ll know my eclectic bunch of skills have seen me go through various periods of unemployment. If you’ve known me on Twitter for at least the last two weeks you may have also have seen me bitching about the new Jobseekers Plus ‘Fast Track to Employment’ course i’m on. Just imagine League of Gentleman’s ‘Job Club’ skit with more attractive staff and without the ever present fug of cigarette smoke and you’re in the right signing booth. Eos (née Fourstar, owned by Staffline) really pulling out all the training manual 101 cliche’s all the way.

  I don’t have a problem with the idea behind these schemes, what i do have a problem with is the content, or in this case the lack thereof. We weren’t school leavers or new to the Job market so why we were given pointless hand out* after pointless flip chart presentation of stuff most sane minded would refer to as ’the bleedin’ obvious’?. Why? because it was pretty clear the staff (through no fault of their own) were floundering for things to fill out the two weeks they were contracted to deliver the course for.

  The location?, oh the location dear readers was on the edge of an industrial estate right under Birmingham Airport’s flightpath. Nowhere to go in the breaks except hang around the barb wired fenced car park/recreation area dejectedly smoking fags in huddled groups watching the work experience security escorting newcomers around the site. Squint, imagine a few bench presses and you’d be transported to some American Prison yard hoping the tedium would be broken by either someone going postal or a steward getting shanked. Many demographics present, but one constant muttering of the waste of time they’d been submitted to to make the Government's ‘back to work’ policy look feasible. The whole encounter cuts deep into your self esteem which ironically is that which they’re supposed to be giving you back.

  And pity the poor bastards (which may soon be me) on the unpaid Mandatory Four week ‘Work Related Activity’, note the word ‘Activity’ and not ‘Experience’, surely a basic admission packing screws for a month was just playing at having a job for a short while. The fact that many people were signing up to any random one of the slots available just to ‘get it out the way’ speaks volumes.

  Was it all bad? well to be fair the trainers were always helpful,upbeat and pleasant despite some being on shaky short term contracts themselves. The CV stuff was actually useful for people without them and a refresher for people with. Signing people up to use e-mail services and teaching them basic I.T skills is never a bad thing. Some encouragement to register with  Jobsites** was useful as was the availability of the many resources. The 'mock presentation' with feedback reminded me i sometimes talk to bleedin quick and the bit on employment law was an eye opener. However all of this could have been covered in one week or less.

So Eos, to do, URGENT...

• Efficient delivery of content.
• Engaging worthwhile content (elsewise it's pointless).
• Worthwhile training, worthwhile certificates at end, not using people as cheap labour.
• Cheerier environment.
• On FTTE, 3 hours Job searching every consecutive day for 2 weeks is fucking pointless and you know it! split it up.

Fast Track 101

Just in case you find yourself lumped on one of these courses here's some tips...

• Don't Panic!, the two weeks do go quickly.
• Unless you have a cast iron excuse don't miss days, they'll just sanction you and make you retake it all.
• The 'mock interviews' are absolutely nothing to get worked up about (remember there's no actual job at stake).
• Use and abuse the facilities, that's what they're there for.
• (at Garretts Green) The canteen is very cheap, don't wander up to that burger wagon on the corner.
• Never forget that you're a lot more than just a 'Potential employee'.

I'm guessing (nay praying) that because this FTTE course is relatively new and more people are being 'encouraged' onto them there'll be some tweaking in the coming Months and hopefully someone can rewrite this post in a more glowing light.

Anyway onwards and upwards
Gizzajob
Midge :)

* (My favourite being Twenty minutes assertaining whether we were Visual, Audio, or Kinaesthetic learners (the VAK test), the punchline being that there is little to no scientific support for this type of psychobabble, may as well as judged us by our star signs. Even if it were valid, five minutes later it was all forgotten about while we moved on to making a list of famous people !!!??.)

**(Update 13/05/13) I very quickly realised that most of these jobsites draw their vacancies from the same pool so it's easy to accidentally apply for the same job two or three times if you're not careful. Not great if you have 'attention to detail' written in your CV. 

Clip On LED Reading Light Tear Down.

So, how many times have you used one of these little L.E.D reading lights, been fascinated as to what's inside but have been just too lily livered to take it apart?.

Well i've done all the hard work for you and here it is in all it's naked glory...

(click to enlarge)

(note: no reading lights were hurt in this project and the top picture is actually the 'after' one)

That 'Hidden' iPhone Location File for Windows Users

So, you might recently have read of the Pete Warden/Alasdiar Allen hoo-ha about that 'hidden' tracking file on your computer which has a record of everywhere your iPhone's been?. Personally i think the issue is more about disclosure than security but i still wanted to see said file, great, but the write up on their page is for Mac nerds.So here's a quick 'work around' for Windows users, you'll need...

• Firefox (FF 4 friendly)
• The SQL Lite Plug In 
• GPSBabel (optional,used  to create KML file)
• A Google account to view Map

Firstly navigate to the iPhones backup folder which on Windows Vista is usually here...

 C:\Users\*user*\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Now in this folder there may be several folders with long numbered names (i only had one), if you check the details you should navigate into the newest one. Then open info.plist with a text editor, it's reasonably readable and you should find an entry near the top which gives the Device Name for your iPhone. (this is just to confirm it's the folder for your device, to look at anyone elses data would just be plain rude).

 Now in the original Mac write up there's a way to determine which of the many obscurely numbered files in that folder is the (location) consolidated.db file, with Windows this doesn't appear to be forthcoming so some trial and error is in order. First i listed the files by size, biggest first (click on size on top line), Then open up Firefox and the SQL Lite plug in (it should be in options menu).

 Now attempt to open the files one by one using 'Connect Database' (the little folder icon), make sure you have 'File Names' drop down menu set to 'all files' in explorer bar to see them.You'll probably get a Error message for the first few....

*Update*  i've been led to believe the relevant file begins with the numbers 4096... (hat tip Owen)

but keep going (i think mine was the fourth file down the list ) and hopefully...

The good stuff  is under 'CellLocation' (in the Browse & Search' Tab)

 (I blacked my stuff out but stalkers can still find me on FourSquare).This can be exported to an XML file, the 'to do' now being to convert it to an KML file and view the numbers as a map (i'm not bleedin' Keanu Reeves you know!!)

Midge

*Update*  re' viewing on Google Maps: There's probably easier/better ways to do this but if you go the 'Execute SQL' Tab in SQL Lite and enter...

SELECT Latitude,longitude FROM CellLocation

followed by 'Run SQL' you'll get a Table of just the Latitude/Longitude readings, which can then be saved as an .csv file (manually add a row with lat/lon column headings in a spreadsheet (eg. Google Docs))

 Using the ('free') GPSBabel program you can then then convert this into a KML 'Google Earth Keyhole Markup Language' file (it's a relatively intuitive program)...

*Errata*  Use 'Universal csv with field structure in  first line'  instead of the plain 'Comma seperated values' shown in picture below

Then it's just a quick wonder over to Google maps, create new map and import the KML file to view the locations.

*UPDATE*  If your familiar with Google Fusion tables you can import the KML file into that to view as a map as well (hatip Ian)

Now be prepared to be very disappointed, the locations appear to be very vague and certainly don't have the Big Brotherish accuracy which everyones banging on about.

Mrmr Open Sound Control Client to Arduino

This quick project was mainly a proof of concept for someone else but here's a fuzzy video and some info.



Using the Mrmr iPhone app to create an Open Sound Control client which talks to Processing, which then talks to the Arduino, which then lights some (mismatched) LEDs.
(Sending a Byte of data to control Port B.)

Mrmr app can be found here
mrmr.noisepages.com/​

Code can be found here with Osc_EX prefix (there's some notes in the comments)
pastebin.com/​u/​Midge

Circuit is just four LEDs connected to Pins 8 to 11 with 1K resistors.

This blog post is just offered as a quick reference (and somewhere to dump the video). I can't really enter into any technical discussions, there's plenty of info out there but here's a couple of tips...

• Always check the Mrmr client is talking to the Same Port that Processing is listening to.
• Make sure you change the addrPatterns in the 'If' statements.
• Check your Firewall, they can sometimes block OSC signals.
• Mrmr console was transfered by connecting iPhone to PC using XAMPP as a server (put file into htdocs folder)

KCLErrorDomain Error 1 'Fix' for Twitter iPhone App.

I've had my iPhone all of two weeks now and to be honest i'm woefully underusing it's potential awesomeness, Twittering inanities and FourSquaring every trip to the pub from it is currently about my limit. Now i'm one of those A**** retentative types who likes to see things work properly and loses much needed beauty sleep when they don't so i was bit miffed/panic stricken recently to see this  when i tried to send an important Tweet...

The Operation could not be completed kCLErrorDomain error 1

Googling didn't come up with apart from a few people experiencing the same but if my befuddled understanding is correct i *think* the problem is this. The program suddenly seems to think it's ok to use Location/geolcate services even though you've turned them off in Twitter app settings and 'trips up' when denied access (i first experienced it after accessing a Foursquare site via a Twitter link) the 'fix' seems to be resetting this feature by....

• Go to iPhone General settings and turn on the Location Services for Twitter App (this will only be temporary).
• Open the Twitter app and create new Tweet (you won't be sending this, it's a dummy).
• Tap on extras button bottom right and tap geolcate,it should now pinpoint your position.
• Re-tap geolocate to switch it back off.
• Close Twitter app.
• Reset Location Services to off in settings.

This hopefully should now have fixed the problem. Many apologies if it didn't, donations and praise if it did  :)

(* i'll be jiggered if i'm using the word Anal in a blog post, that's just asking for trouble)

Stalking The Shend

Flicking through yet another half read copy of Bizarre magazine today i notices the Shend is back contributing to their pages via the medium of the written word. "The Shend who?" you may ask, if you're a Tellybox owner you just may know him as an extra who typically plays thug #2 in such dramatic delights as The Bill, Eastenders,Casualty and had a speaking part in Men Behaving Badly as 'man in bar who insults Dorothy and gets beaten up by Gary'. Sci-Fi nuts may know him from Red Dwarf (the tail end of the series when it wasn't very good) and TorchWood (They Keep Killing Suzie). Film afficianados may know him from a shit load of other varied stuff.
Me, well i know him as the lead singer of one of the Midlands (well Redditch anyhoo) finest eclectic musical exports The Cravats. Memories of first hearing 'Cravats In ToyTown' in the early Eighties with it's Dadaist lyrics and Daliesque saxophones was epic listening indeed after my usual diet of G.B.H washed down with cheap lager,egg fried rice in it's foil container and The Exploited.
But i digress, my reason for this outpouring is simply it's Monday night and i'm bored!! so i thought i'd see what the amazing electronic interlinker could turn up on the big beardy renaissance man.

Shend's Myspace (Well everyone who's anyone has a Myspace) still in use by looks of it

Shend's FaceBook

Cravats Website  (a Bravenet relic)

The Very Things Myspace (again still in use)

Shend's Showreel ,(some gaps here including his part in Pervirella with cult TV babe Emily Booth)





Shends Podcasts, Yes he has a Radio show :)



Shend performing with KroonCat lounge nights.

Shend in the 118 118 sponsored ITV4 station ident.

and by way of a half arsed coda a Google Image Search :)

More to follow....

Geeky Advent Rehash.

Well ok, it's five months late but here's is my rushed take on tinkerlog's Geeky Advent widget (instructions here) the interesting quirk with these things being the way an LED is used as a light sensor. I've built it using an ATtiny85 instead of the ATtiny13 which requires a tweak to the code to allow for the slight differences in the ADC registers...

ADC Reference voltage

ADMUX = ( 1 << REFS2 ) | ( 1 << REFS1 ) | ADC2; //internal ref 2.56v, sense on PB4

ADC clock prescaler

ADCSRA = ( 1 << ADEN ) | 7;

prescale set to 7 (divide by 128) as i'm led to 'believe' it improves accuracy if the main chip clock is set to 8Mhz

Fuses set to switch off chip prescaler.
avrdude -c < Your Programmer > -p t85 -U lfuse:w:0xe2:m -U hfuse:w:0xdf:m -U efuse:w:0xff:m


Seems to work ok but may need some tweaking to the 'AMBIENT_LIGHT' variable.
not demonstrated is that the LED's light up one LED, Two LED's, Three LED's, Four LED's on each reset, (apologies for blurry video but i'm using a crap digital camera)

Hacking Car Boot Sales.

What's that?, £3.60 for a thumb joystick!?, i'll not line their pockets says i. So it's off to the great British insitution that is the car boot sale. I managed to pick up two Playstation controllers for the reasonable price of one whole quid (actually the one on the right was a quid, the guy let me have the Sony one for nicks as it had a button missing). Back home and after some deft work with a soldering iron i now have four two axis joysticks (complete with switches), four electric motors , two preset potentiometers AND an LED.That works out about 10p a component, a good days work allround methinks.

The Old PC PSU to Bench Supply Hack.

Yep, a million and one Instructables on the internet on this old hack so i thought i'd add mine to the pool. Started with a cast off Aopen FSP300-60PN power supply and...

• 5 Amp Terminal block from a pound shop (cheapskate!).
• A 10 Ohm 10 Watt Wire Round Resistor (for Load which 'may' be optional).
• HeatShrink Sleeving to insulate exposed solder joints.
• Switch.
• Couple of cable ties.

Then just followed the instructions . Note the hole above the switch...Measure Twice, Cut Once!, i knew the fan had some depth but didn't check it properly when i drilled the first hole. I've kept the Grey PWR_OK wire for possible inclusion of an LED later (Imho the fan spinning round is a pretty good indicator it's on).It's main use is for low current electronics and it has built in short circuit protection so i've omitted any fuses on the outputs which some other hacks use. The label was quickly knocked up with Inkscape.
TO DO... some mesh over the fan, it's just begging for some tiny bit's of wire cut off to be 'sucked' in.





DISCLAIMER bit, you've read them elsewhere, here's mine...
The voltages inside a PSU are potentially lethal and the power capacitors can have quite a kick EVEN AFTER THE MAINS HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED AND THE UNIT SWITCHED OFF!. Do not attempt this hack unless you know what you are doing. I'll take no responsibilty for anything.

Disabling ProCon Latte

Note: this post is for educational purposes only, i'll not take any responsibility for anything.

So you've come in to work Monday morning only to find someone's installed the ProCon Latte web filter add-on on Firefox, now you can't check up on FaceBook statuses, the new bands on MySpace, the trivia on Twitter or those adult art sites that no-one else understands but you. You can't uninstall it from Add-ons, Procon itself in 'Tools' is password protected and about:config is disabled, what to do...what to do?
Simple...

• Shut down Firefox.
• Go to your programs menu and start FireFox up in Safe Mode (just click continue in safe mode at the pop-up).
• Type about:config into address bar (click on i'll be careful i Promise)
• In Filter field type procon.password then enter, (you should now see a single line with a long series of characters at the end).
  
• Right click on it and click on Reset in the pop up menu,it should now say 'default string').
• Restart FireFox normally.
  

Now if you click on Procon in the Tools menu it should pop right open, you can now uncheck 'Prevent Being Disabled Or Uninstalled' and remove it entirely via FireFox's Add-Ons menu.