Eclectica

Truk Lagoon

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:28:28 PST

The world's two best wreck diving sites are Scapa Flow in Orkney and Truk [Chuuk] Lagoon in the Pacific. Scapa Flow At the end of the First World War ships of the German High Seas fleet was scuttled at Scapa. Most of the ships were salvaged between the wars but three battleships [Kron Prinz Willhelm, Konig and Markgraf] remain, as well as a number of cruisers. There are also a lot of other

Choosing the right way

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:07:19 PST

I have a framed copy of this print [The Broad and Narrow Way] on my study wall. On the left is the broad way. Enter through the wide welcoming arch and at first you have fun. Then it all turns wrong and you finish in the fires of hell. Just shows you what happens when you have fun. If you find the narrow gateway on the right and live a miserable, sanctimonious life then eventually you will

iBooks Author

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:51:19 PST

After reading this I de installed my copy of iBook Author. Why does Apple think they can get away with this crap?

SOPA & PIPA - follow the money

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:35:23 PST

From an article on the BBC website "How do the companies go about influencing Congress? In part, by spending heaps of cash lobbying the US Congress for legislation to enact laws that would punish repeat copyright offenders and bar US-based internet service providers, payment processors and advertisers from doing business with alleged infringers. Television, film and recording industry

And death shall have no dominion

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:57:47 PST

And death shall have no dominion. Dead men naked they shall be one With the man in the wind and the west moon; When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone, They shall have stars at elbow and foot; Though they go mad they shall be sane, Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion. And death shall

Map of Walks and Via Ferrata in the Dolomites

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:58:09 PST

An illustrated and annotated map of some high level walks and via ferrata in the Dolomites. Link CommunityWalk Map - Walks and Via Ferrata in the Dolomites

Five nights in Provence

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:07:14 PST

The main airport for Provence is Marseille Provence, about 28km west of Marseilles. There is a good bus service from the airport to Saint-Charles, the main railway station in Marseilles. You can buy train tickets either by waiting in a long queue, or from multi language ticketing machines. These work well but you need a credit card. I started by catching a train to Montpellier. This used to be a

Saying it with animals

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:52:28 PST

I posted about Deacon McDonalds Dog some time ago. Recently I found another example of someone using a stone animal to insult an opponent. The Riga Cats A Latvian businessman was insulted when he was refused membership of a Guild. Unfortunately for the Guild he owned the building across from the Guild's headquarters. The businessman had two cat sculptures created and set them up on the roof of

From Raubwirtschaft to Kleptocracy

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:34:31 PST

I am currently reading Michela Wrong’s ‘In The Footsteps of Mr Kurtz’. This excellent book is about Mobutu Sese Seko’s regime in the Congo. Wrong describes this as being a kleptocracy, which means a government by thieves. I looked up the full definition in Wikipedia which gives a number of examples of such states; including Indonesia under Suharto, Peru under Alberto Fujimori, the Federal

Every day starts with a difficult decision

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:32:18 PST

Water of Leith Walkway

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:37:38 PST

The walkway starts next to Balerno High School [ Balerno is a village on the south-west outskirts of Edinburgh] and runs 12.25 miles [19.6 kilometres] through Edinburgh to Leith. The path runs downhill, but the incline is so slight that it is barely perceptible. Approximately half a mile of the route is on roads, for the remainder the path alongside the Water of Leith, and away from traffic.

The Voice of the Sluggard

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:32:04 PST

Feeling a little sluggish after the festive season? There is a song for you if the condition persists. The Sluggard 'Tis the voice of the sluggard; I heard him complain, "You have waked me too soon, I must slumber again." As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed, Turns his sides and his shoulders and his heavy head. "A little more sleep, and a little more slumber;" Thus he wastes half his

New Year Quiz

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 06:36:19 PST

Identify this walled town. A well known British author lived in this town for many years. Please identify the author and the town.

Teach Yersen Scots - Dreich

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:00:09 PST

Your word for today is Dreich [dreek]. This word is used to describe Scottish weather which is dull, grey and depressing. There is a lot of this kind of weather in Scotland. Usually rain is involved, but not honest, Christian rain, which looks as if it might just end in a few hours, but continuous drizzle that looks as if it could last for days, and usually does. I first moved to Pollack

Deteriorata

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:32:00 PST

For those of you old enough to remember the original. Avoid quiet and placid persons, unless you are in need of sleep. Rotate your tires. Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself and heed well their advice, though they be turkeys. Know what to kiss, and when. Consider that two wrongs don’t make a right, but three do. Whenever possible, put people on hold. Be comforted that in the face of

Electronic Brains

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 07:43:13 PST

In 2002 the BBC produced four 15 minute radio programmes about the early days of computing. These are still available in the BBC archive. The first programme is on the LEO computer, the second on Remington Rand and UNIVAC, the third on the first Russian computer, and the final one on the MONIAC hydraulic computer. You can stream the programmes but you cannot download them as mp4 files and

A peace to end peace

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:46:51 PST

A peace to end peace,” commented Sir Alfred Milner, that powerhouse of the British war cabinet, as he surveyed the disastrous terms of the WW1 Versailles treaty. I was reminded of Milner's observation when I heard this piece of news. The BBC reports that "An Iraqi judicial committee has issued an arrest warrant for the mainly Shia Arab country's Sunni Arab Vice-President, Tariq al-Hashemi.

Supernotes and the Law of Unintended Consequences

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:47:44 PST

Supernotes are forged US$100 bills of such quality that they are very hard to distinguish from the real thing. There are believed to be billions of dollars worth of these supernotes floating around; mostly outside the USA. Why do these foreign jonnies have our dollar bills you might ask [if you are a US citizen]? They have them because the way in which the USA affords its present lifestyle is by

Link to Pinboard Bookmarks

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 06:04:20 PST

There is a link to my Pinboard bookmarks at the top of the right hand column. The Eclectica RSS feed used to splice these blog posts and and my Delicious bookmarks. When Delicious was ruined by its new owners I changed to Pinboard.

Ludwigsburg Prison Museum [[Strafvollzugsmuseum]

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:14:17 PST

Updated post on the Prison Museum in Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart. Whipping bench Hazel rod and birch One of two guillotines in the museum Splash guard and tray for heads The Nazis first used the guillotine to execute criminals. Later it was used on political enemies. Records indicate that between 1933 and 1945, 16,500 people were executed in Germany and Austria by this method [

Cameron's phoney war with the EU

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:45:59 PST

Fooled you David Cameron’s use of the veto in the recent EU summit has been spun as creating a rift between the EU and UK. I don't believe that. I suspect that the EU is delighted with Cameron and his use of the veto was arranged between them. Do you believe that if they really wanted the UK's agreement to treaty changes they would not have made concessions on City regulation, or come up with

Le Musée des Plans-Reliefs

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:35:00 PST

Beginning in the 17th century the French began constructing detailed models of their major fortifications and those of possible enemies. Some of these models are now on display in the Le Musée des Plans-Reliefs in Paris. Others are in a museum in Lille, and some were lost in the Second World War. The model shown in the illustration is of a Martello Tower. The British were impressed with the

Maulbronn and Melk

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:16:33 PST

Melk Melk Abbey is a Benedictine abbey in Austria. It was founded in 1089 but the buildings you see below were built in the early 18th century. The abbey stands on a hill above the town of Melk and near to the Danube. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. As you can see from the photographs a lot of money has been spent on internal and external ornamentation. I suppose that some would

Why are we becoming poorer?

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:40:17 PST

Why are most of us becoming poorer? Why don't the young people of today have more to look forward to? Why are they burdened with debt and struggling to find decent work? Why do they seem destined to become poorer than their parents? There are some short term factors at work. They will pass. More ominously, there are long term processes at work which will not pass but will make things worse.

Mass Killings by Governments

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 07:46:35 PST

In January 2006 National Geographic published an article on mass murders of civilians by governments in the 20th century. The article included a list of the major killings analysed by the state responsible for the deaths. The total came to almost 91 million deaths. The figures only cover the killings of civilians. Military deaths were not included. Some of the killings were targeted against

Google Scholar Opens Up Its Citations [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:44:31 PST

Why the rich should pay taxes [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:21:34 PDT

Video: a 47-inch Touchscreen NYC Subway Map [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 11:11:27 PDT

Who owns our green and pleasant land? [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 06:05:04 PDT

8 Current Technologies That Will Shape Our Future [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 02:06:10 PDT

Massive Biometric Project Gives Millions of Indians an ID [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 01:59:20 PDT

Computer-Generated journalism [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 22:58:14 PDT

Spreadsheet giving costs of operating an online service [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 22:27:55 PDT

E Ink promises thinner, lighter, higher resolution, and color e-paper displays [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:05:09 PDT

Google's search by drawing feature [del.icio.us]

m8dtx