Gordon's Blog

How to download and view a triple play Ultraviolet digital copy on an iPad

2012-05-25T12:12:00.003+01:00

I have just been faced with this with the new Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows bluray disk. With previous triple play disks I got an iTunes code for downloading it into iTunes on my laptop from where I could synchronise it to the iPad. This new system is much more complex. You have to install the Flixster software on the laptop and set up an Ultraviolet account. Once this is done you can download the file or view it online.

To use on the iPad you need to install the Flixster app. There is no way of playing the file in iTunes. I did a manual download to my laptop via the Ultraviolet site and got the mp4 file, but it has DRM and can't be transferred to iTunes or played back with Quicktime. You have to install the Flixster app to view it and there is no standard resolution option which means the full HD file would take up 1.9GB.

My guess is that the studios are trying to encourage streaming and discourage downloading. Not ideal unless you have a good internet connection.

Scotland's new Minimum Alcohol Pricing

2012-05-14T20:30:00.000+01:00

The Scottish Government has today announced a minimum price of 50p per unit for alcoholic drinks.

First minister Nicol Sturgeon said:

"Too many Scots are drinking themselves to death. The problem affects people of all walks of life [so we might as well tax them now while they can pay up]."

OK I admit I added the last bit of that, but it seems to be a sub text given that research shows that there is little evidence that a price of 50p will make much of a difference. The research that this figure is based on came largely from British Columbia Canada which has traditionally had a much more restricted alcohol market.

"The study by Professor Tim Stockwell who is director of the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia, found that a 10 per cent increase in the minimum price of all alcoholic drinks led to a 3.4 per cent reduction in consumption." (source: Newsnet Scotland).

The provincial government in British Columbia controls the distribution of alcohol tightly, operating most sales outlets themselves under the brand "BC Liquor Stores". There is considerable "contraband" of alcohol across the border from other provinces and Indian Band reservations (where alcohol is exempt from GST - VAT).

Scotland's distance from the channel ports has meant that large scale illegal shipping of alcohol from France has been limited. It will be interesting to see if this sort of smuggling becomes more viable with higher prices or if people will turn to home brewing to save money.

Creationist Roadshow Comes to Edinburgh

2012-05-14T19:30:00.000+01:00

On Saturday 20th October Creation Ministries International (CMI) bring their latest Creationist roadshow to Edinburgh. The day conference, aimed at converting existing evangelical Christians to a creationist position, is being hosted at Carrubbers Christian Centre with their own pastor Wayne Sutton as one of the speakers.

You can read about it here and download the leaflet here (PDF file).

These events are usually well orchestrated to present the "facts" unchallenged. They are not well publicised, prior registration is required and the people attending have usually been referred by personal contact or through their church.

You may like to read my previous article: Why creationism is bad for Christianity - an open letter to creationists in Edinburgh to find out why I am so opposed to creationism.

The Threefold Social Order

2012-04-14T16:00:00.000+01:00

The Threefold Social Order is a holistic, human orientated, view of society developed by Rudolf Steiner developed during the difficult financial period following the first world war.

In Steiner's view society is divided into three areas of activity:

Economics
Some people have skills and some people have a need for those skills. The role of economics is to match these up with each other for the betterment of human beings.
The principal value in the economic sphere is: brotherhood and cooperation

Culture
This is activity which works with the spiritual development of individuals including spirituality but also wider cultural activity like art, music and other areas of creativity.
In order to develop, each individual must be free to think for themselves. Steiner covered this in his major philosophical work “The Philosophy of Freedom” which proposes the concept of the ethical individualist.
The principal value in the cultural and spiritual sphere is: freedom

Politics
This is the work of the state and the law, which is required to hold society together. However, the state must act in a just way.
The principal value in the political sphere is: equality

These three principal values mirror the motto of France which originated during the French revolution: Liberté, égalité, fraternité.

For society to function healthily the three areas of activity (economics, culture and politics) need to be held in balance.If one dominates then society will not function properly.

For example:

Under a communist or fascist system where the state is dominant there is no freedom and the economic system can not match needs with skills. This incorrect balance can stop society from functioning properly.

Under a capitalist system which puts heavy emphasis on economics and profit culture and spirituality will be squeezed out and equality will be threatened as the ability to access certain things is governed by how much money someone has.

In an anarchistic or libertarian system where there is freedom to do as the individual pleases, without any ethical consideration then equality and cooperation will be reduced and society will not function well enough to produce the food and other resources needed for survival.

The threefold social order seeks to hold the three spheres of activity in balance so that no one of them dominates and each can support the other. At the heart of this is the ethical individualist taking responsibility for his own actions in those spheres through the correct use of money, ensuring his own spiritual and cultural development and upholding equality. These values can be seen in the various anthroposophical initiatives in education, social care and banking.

The challenge of social threefolding is that it puts the emphasis for the welfare of society back on the individuals within it. It does not seek answers from government, but from each member of society. For that reason it is impossible to fit the concept within existing political structures. It is neither socialist or capitalist, neither left or right wing, neither liberal or conservative. It is, however, a concept which matches modern society’s move towards individuals rather than communities. The threefold social order may provide a framework within which individuals can act to improve the way that society works without formal political structures and without the vagueness of the recent "occupy movement".

Are fundamentalist Muslims and Christians that far apart?

2012-04-13T19:30:00.000+01:00

Video from Pat Robertson's CBN TV channel:

I don't see any difference between this muslim man's views and those of many Christians - "allah makes the laws - he's the one who tells us whats allowed and what's forbidden" and "this community is a dirty perverted community". Many fundamentalist Christians would say exactly the same things. Some on the Christian Right are equally against the idea of representative democracy, usually pointing out that in the old testament there were divinely appointed kings with non Christians just having to tow the line in a brave new world of theocratic rule.

Islam is opposed to abortion and the teaching of evolution. If Christians can support Mitt Romney (a Mormon) because he is good on these BIG issues then why not support the Muslims?

My suspicion about why they don't is that some Christians dislike Muslims for reasons of race rather than reasons of faith.

What we have is an issue of double standards. As the satirical Daily Mail Style Guide tweeted last week:

Religious symbols: Crucifixes at work are a matter of religious freedom. Headscarves at work are creeping Islamisation and should be banned.

Incidentally - the argument about Muslims taking over the country by having bigger families was exactly the same argument used against Roman Catholics in Scotland at one time.

How to set up an iPad to synchronise Google Mail, Contacts and Calendar

2012-04-12T20:03:00.000+01:00

This article explains how to set up an iPad to synchronise correctly with a Gmail and Google account for calendar, email and contacts. This is actually very easy, but the iPad has a couple of undocumented process and glitches that make it appear more difficult than it is. This method has been tested on my iPad 2 running iOS 5.1, but it should work with the original and new iPad. It may also work with other iOS devices like the iPhone and iPod Touch, but I have not tested it on any of these devices.

When you have completed this process the default iPad email app will use your Gmail account to send and receive mail (you will not need a separate Gmail app); your Gmail / Google contacts will appear in the default Contacts app and be accessible from the email app and your Google Calendar will appear in the iPad Calendar app. Any changes made to these on the iPad will be sent automatically to Google’s servers and appear on the web versions or on any phone also synchronised with it over the Internet. No cable connections are required. It all happens automatically. I use an HTC Android phone and changes made to the calendar or contacts on it or on my iPad copy over to each other.

The secret to making this work is that you need to add your Google account to the iPad twice. Firstly as a Google account and then as a Microsoft Exchange account. It might surprise you to know that your Google Gmail account is exposed as an Exchange service, but Google do this to allow calendar and email compatibility for companies moving from Outlook to Google Docs for Business.

Here are the step by step instructions:

Add GMail Account

Touch on the settings icon then “Mail, Contacts, Calendar”.
Touch on “Add Account”.
Select “Gmail” and enter your Google account log in details.

Add Microsoft Exchange Account

Go back to “Mail, Contacts, Calendar”.
Touch on “Add Account”.
Select “Microsoft Exchange” and enter these details:

Email: Your full GMail address
Server: m.google.com
Domain: leave blank
Username: Your full GMail address
Password: Your GMail password
Use SSL: This must be set to “on”

Touch on the “done” button.

Set which program will synchronise with which account
Go to “Settings” and touch on “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”.
You will now probably have three accounts listed:

iCloud
Exchange
Gmail

You want to have these set to show the following:

To do this Touch on each account in turn and set as follows.

Set default email account
The standard set up for the iPad is to have all mail sent from the iCloud email account by default. This can be very confusing and end up with replies to your emails going to this address by mistake so I have my iPad set to use Gmail by default. To do this:

Touch on the Settings icon.
Touch on “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”.
At the bottom of the right hand side you will see “Default Account”.
Select GMail.

Problems sending Email from Gmail account on the iPad
Open the iPad Mail application and try sending an email to an external email address. If this does not arrive then you may be suffering from an iPad glitch with the outgoing mail server settings. Sometimes when a GMail account is added the iPad makes assumptions about the log in address format which are incorrect. To fix this you need to re-add the Gmail SMTP (outgoing) mail server and disable the original one. This is easy to do:

Touch on the Settings icon.
Under Outgoing Mail Server Touch on “SMTP”.
Touch on “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”.
Under “Accounts” Touch on “GMail”.
A window will pop up.
Touch on “Account” where it shows your GMail address.
Then “Add Server”.
Type in the following:

Host Name: smtp.gmail.com
User Name: This needs to be your GMail user name (the bit BEFORE the @ sign in your GMail address). This is the bit the iPad GMail account set up gets wrong!
Password: Your GMail password
Use SSL: Must be set to “On”.
Authentication: Must be set to “Password”
Server port: 587

Go back to “Accounts” and Touch on “GMail”.
A window will pop up.
Touch on “Account” where it shows your GMail address.
Touch on “SMTP”
Under “Primary Server” Touch on smtp.gmail.com and set it to “Off”.
Under “Other SMTP Servers” Touch on smtp.gmail.com and set it to “On”.

Conclusion
I have been using these settings for months and it has worked perfectly. My iPad now synchronises with Google Calendar, GMail and Google Contacts on all my computers and my Android phone. I hope someone else finds this useful.

Crop circles, biodynamic farming, homeopathy and the Eucharist

2012-04-05T08:58:00.001+01:00

These may appear to be totally unconnected subjects, but they do have a common thread. Whether it is making a crop circle, stirring a preparation 500 for biodynamic gardening or celebrating the eucharist - something is being done with an intention and although nothing could be identified in the material with a microscope things seem to happen at a spiritual or energetic level. In the case of crop circles strange creatures may be sighted. With homeopathy an improvement in condition. With biodynamics a better crop yield.
It seems to me that the act of will involved in doing these things could carry an intention of goodwill and purpose which acts on another (etheric) plane.
I am a natural sceptic, but when I see a pattern amongst these disparate subjects it's hard to ignore. It is certainly very old wisdom as the Eucharist attests.

My Anthroposophy Hat

2012-04-04T20:48:00.001+01:00

Friday was the 87th anniversary of the death if Rudolf Steiner. As I headed out to a screening of the new documentary The Challenge of Rudolf Steiner I reached for my hat only to notice, for the first time, how stereotypically anthroposophical it is. The number of anthroposophists who wear this style of hat from Peter Selg onwards must be quite high. However, I didn't choose this hat. It was bought for me by a friend who thought it would suit me, yet she has little exposure to anything Steiner related.
Maybe it's just a fashionable hat or maybe the hat chose me?

Some thoughts about hats as metphors of belief from Free Fall by William Golding:

I have hung all systems on the wall like a row of useless hats. They do not fit. They come in from outside, they are suggested patterns, some dull and some of great beauty. But I have lived enough of my life to require a pattern that fits over everything I know; and where shall I find that ? Then why do I write this down ? Is it a pattern I am looking for? That Marxist hat in the middle of the row, did I ever think it would last me a lifetime ? What is wrong with the Christian biretta that I hardly wore at all ? Nick's rationalist hat kept the rain out, seemed impregnable plate-armour, dull and decent. It looks small now and rather silly, a bowler like all bowlers, very formal, very complete, very ignorant. There is a school cap, too. I had no more than hung it there, not knowing of the other hats.

The realignment of churches in Edinburgh

2012-03-29T20:00:00.000+01:00

Following on from the purchase of Methodist Central Hall by Morningside Baptist Church, Charlotte Chapel are now attempting to buy St Georges West Church from the Church of Scotland. Both of these moves have been caused by increasing congregations for these larger evangelical churches. Carrubbers Christian centre is in a similar predicament being unable to accommodate all their worshippers at the one service in the same building.

Although these churches appear to be growing I think there are a number of factors at work here:

Evangelicals are fed up worshipping in small groups and want to feel part of something significant, so the smaller evangelical churches in the city have dwindled as people moved into the larger churches.
Some of the growth is evangelicals from the Episcopal Church and Church of Scotland who have moved into independent churches.
Although the large number of immigrants to the city in recent years have usually brought their own churches with them, some have migrated into the existing evangelical and Pentecostal churches.

All of this has led to growth of these independent churches while mainstream churches are generally declining. Within mainstream denominations any growth is in their evangelical and charismatic congregations (e.g. St Mungo's Balerno).

What we are seeing is a major realignment by stealth rather than by a schism in the church like the 1843 disruption. As was said in a rhyme of that time:

The auld kirk the cauld kirk, the kirk with nae people.
The wee kirk, the free kirk, the kirk with nae steeple.

Although this time round the "disruptors" are getting the rather grand buildings.

Its a fairly gloomy picture for the other churches who have responsibilities for local funerals, school chaplaincy and other duties, but with ageing congregations and reducing income.

We7 Android App Problems

2012-03-13T20:00:00.000Z

Since the update to their Android app in February I have been unable to use We7 on my android phone. It keeps crashing, and there are reports from other people of the same fault. The worst aspect is that songs saved to the SD card can't be played either.

I have contacted We7 and they are promising a fix to be rolled out towards the end of March. They also nicely offered me a free month's service to make up for my lack of use this month as I have a paid subscription.

I will be away at the end of the month, but will look for the update as soon as I get back.

The murky past of Boris Johnson aka Borisgate

2012-03-05T19:30:00.000Z

In addition to his involvement in the Bullingdon Club alongside David Cameron and other Tory stars, our Boris got himself involved in the Darius Guppy case. Guppy - also a former Bullingdon boy - was being investigated by News of the World journalist Stuart Collier over his involvement in an insurance swindle he eventually served time in prison for. According to the Mail on Sunday, Guppy asked Boris to find Collier's home address and phone number so he could pass it to an associate from south London.

Unfortunately the phone conversation was recorded and the tape made its way to other journalists. A full story is from the Mail on Sunday 16th July 1995 and can be read here:

http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/Politics/Boris2.html

I should say that Collier wasn't attacked and Boris didn't actually provide the details, but the fact that he could be leaned on like this shows how power relationships from school and university days are still relevant to the front line of today's Conservative party.

The Easy Way to Bake Bread

2012-03-02T19:35:00.000Z

Ever wanted some fresh baked bread, but don't know a recipe? Well our friends the supermarkets have come to your aid with pre packed bread mix. All of the major supermarkets are doing it and the packs have a shelf life of a few months. All you do is add water and follow the instructions on the pack. Each pack contains all the ingredients, including the yeast, so you don't have to hunt around for them. Each pack handily files a one pound loaf tin.

Here is how the process works for Tesco's version:

Tip the mix into a large mixing bowl retaining some for flouring the board later.
Add 325ml of warm water.
Mix to a dough (a table knife is ideal for this).
Turn the dough out onto a floured board.
Leave to rest for five minutes.
Knead the dough for two minutes.
Shape into a ball and leave for five minutes.
Grease a loaf tin or baking tray.
Shape to fit the tin or the shape of loaf you want to make on the baking tray.
Cover with a damp cloth and leave for 30 to 40 minutes to rise to double the size.
While this is working put the oven on at 230 degrees (gas mark 8).
Uncover the dough and give a dusting of flour or brush it with salt water.
Put in the oven for 30 minutes until golden brown (small rolls will be be quicker).
Knock the load out of the tin and leave it to cool across the top of the tin or on a wire rack.

Christian TV channel fined £25,000 for healing claims

2012-02-20T18:00:00.000Z

Christian TV channel Believe TV has been fined £25,000 by OFCOM for

In Ofcom's finding published on 22 August 2011 in Broadcast Bulletin 188
Ofcom found that a number of programmes and pieces of content broadcast by the Licensee
had the potential for harm, because some viewers with serious illnesses – especially
more vulnerable ones – may not seek, or may abandon existing, conventional
medical treatment on the basis of what they have seen on Believe TV.

OFCOM decided to act because of the repeated nature of the incidents which included claims to be able to cure cancer.

The original complaints can be found here:
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/obb188/obb188.pdf

and includes this:

A cancer healing “testimony” was made by a woman who had attended a healing by
Pastor Alex Omokudu at the Victorious Pentecostal Assembly (VPA). She said she
had originally collapsed with “a tumour in her head”. Her relative, standing at her
side, explained that after the woman with the tumour left hospital she went to the
VPA and “purchased” Ribena (allegedly representing the blood of Christ) and “oil”.
Her relative explained that the woman with the tumour stopped taking her medication
for seizures, continued to take Ribena, and that when she went for a scan she was
told “there wasn’t a problem”

The full judgement is here:
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/obb200/obb200.pdf

It will be interesting to see whether Christian pressure groups view this as an attack on Christianity or welcome it as a protection for the vulnerable.

The problem of the nominal Christian

2012-02-15T18:30:00.000Z

The nominal Christian is a problem for Evangelical Christians because they like to count them in the census results when looking for evidence that Christianity is still the main religion of Britain, or count them as Christians when looking for evidence of persecution in countries like Egypt and Iraq. Yet, if these same people were to turn up at their church on Sunday they would not be considered Christians at all.

This is an example of the sort of intellectual dishonesty common among fundamentalist Christians. For example, saying they believe th bible is literally true while allegorising the heck out of the books of Daniel and Revelation.

HD Douglas and Son brass instrument makers of Glasgow

2012-02-08T19:00:00.000Z

This is the summary of my research into Douglas & Son, brass musical instrument makers of Glasgow.

My interest in Douglas and Son started when I acquired a cornet with the company name engraved on it several years ago. I had never seen an instrument with a Scottish maker's mark so I had it restored to a playable condition. The bell is engraved Douglas & Son Ltd, 66 Brunswick St, Glasgow. It is a high pitch cornet that has been converted to low pitch at some point. I originally thought it was made in the 1880's but my research into the company name show it is probably post 1908 although the style is earlier. Here are some photographs from before and after the rebuild:

The story of Douglas and Son
Hugh Dow Douglas was a musical instrument maker who started his business around 1850 at 190 Trongate, Glasgow. His company made or sold a variety of woodwind, brass and bagpipe instruments aimed at the military and growing civilian wind band market. Douglas himself was a brass player and is listed as bugler to the 1st Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers. The 1st Lanark had a bugle band, but by 1887 it had become a brass band under Mr Robert Strachan and promoted to the 1st Battalion replacing the pipe band who were demoted to the 2nd. The 3rd Lanark didn’t have a band. They had a football team instead! Its probable that Hugh Douglas started in the bugle band and moved into the brass band, possibly even supplying some of the instruments.

Douglas seems to have been something of an entrepreneur and saw the potential for the new brass instruments to supplant woodwind instruments in civilian bands as a money making opportunity. In 1862 he organised and sponsored the first brass band contest in Scotland (known as H D Douglas' Contest) with a series of further competitions in 1864 and 1865. The top prize was £77 - equivalent to £1600 in today's money.

Credit is due to the late Mr. H. D. Douglas, musical instrument-maker, Glasgow, who was Field Bugler to the 1st L.R.V., for having attempted to do something for the improvement of these bands while they were still brass bands. He organised contests in 1862,1864, and 1865, with the view of "increasing the efficiency of the Volunteer and other bands in Scotland.
(Music for the people: a retrospect of the Glasgow international exhibition, 1888, with an account of the rise of choral societies in Scotland, Robert A. Marr 1889 (reprinted in The British bandsman: the official organ of the National Brass Band Championships, Volume 1, Issue 24 quoted in this article).

However, later in 1862 something appears to have gone wrong and he was in debt with his assets subject to sequestration (notice from the Edinburgh Gazette):

Maybe he was one of the first promoters of brass band contests to find out that there was no real money in it? This not withstanding, his business continued and by 1870 included his son at expanded premises 36-38 and later incorporating no 42 Brunswick Street. Then in 1908 the firm moved to no 66 Brunswick Street.

Business Names and locations:
1850 - 1870 Hugh Douglas, 190 Trongate
1870 - 1907 Hugh D Douglas & Son, 36-42 Brunswick Street
1907 - 1920 Douglas & Son Ltd, 66 Brunswick Street

Entry for H Douglas 190 Trongate, Musical instrument maker in the 1866 Glasgow Post Office Directory:

His display advertisement fromn the 1870 Glasgow post office directory:

His display advertisement from the 1875 Glasgow post office directory:

Display advertisement from the 1893 Glasgow Post Office Directory (Hugh D had died in 1887 and the business was now run by his son):

Display advertisement from the 1900 Glasgow Post Office Directory:

Douglas & Son Limited
The company Douglas & Son Ltd (company number 6545) Was formed in 1907 (source - National Archives of Scotland).

66 Brunswick Street
Brunswick Street in 1913, photographed by the Springburn photographer William Graham. No 66 is on the right hand side at the end of the row:

A shop sign carrying a representation of a bugle and other musical instruments is just visible in the distance:

By the onset of the first world war the company was mainly producing bagpipes and seems to have stopped trading totally around 1920.

Manufacturer?
Its not clear if Douglas & Son made brass instruments themselves or just marketed other peoples. His premises were rather small and although that does not preclude manufacturing of small instruments, manufacturing the full range of larger instruments he sold would have been difficult. At the time of Hugh D Douglas' death in 1887 he was selling instruments made by Thibouville Lamy of France (according to his will which lists a debt to that company), but he also owed a debt to an electro plating company in Glasgow so he must have been repairing or manufacturing something.

The cornet I have is very similar to French models of the period and Douglas were agents for Millereau of Paris (who also manufactured the Arban brand cornets). Its possible my cornet was made for Douglas and sold with his name on it. Against this theory is the fact that many Millereau instruments exist with the Douglas name engraved on them as supplier.

Genealogy of Hugh Dow Douglas
I undertook this work to try and determine who the son was in Douglas and Son. Its not clear as Hugh died in 1887 and many of his children seemed to have died in infancy. I will continue this in the future.

Birth:
Hugh Dow Douglas 04 Jul 1833, Perth - parish register entry

Parents:
Hugh Douglas (occupation also given as a musical instrument maker on Hugh D's death certificate of 1887)
Margaret Walker

Marriage:
Christina Gray, 17 Jul 1857, Edinburgh,

Residences:
1871 census - 37 North Albion Street
With his wife Christina, son John (aged 11) and Christina Milne (a saleswoman)
Occupation - assistant instrument maker employing one boy

1881 census - 106 Sauchiehall Street
With Christina and son John G
Occupation - music seller

Death:
04 April 1887, Glasgow (106 Sauchiehall Street), from liver disease - death register entry

According to his will lodged in the Glasgow Sheriff Court Hugh D Douglas died with debts including:

£4 to Thomas Smith and Son Electroplaters
£86 to J Wallis and Son, London (suppliers of woodwind instruments)
£35 to Thibouville Lamy & Co, London (manufacturers of brass instruments)
£3 to Riviere and Hawkes of London (later an instrument maker, but at this stage making instrument reeds and publishing music for military bands)

His main asset on death was his shop stock, worth £689. His cash in hand was insufficient to pay for the funeral. The business was inherited by his wife along with the rest of his estate.

Children:
Christina Douglas, 25 Jul 1859, Glasgow (died in infancy)
Margaret Douglas, 13 Jun 1860, Glasgow (died in childhood)

Christina Gray Douglas, 24 Nov 1861, Glasgow (died in infancy)
Christina Douglas, 07 Nov 1863, Glasgow

Hugh Dow Douglas, b 18 Aug 1865, Glasgow (died in infancy)
John Gray Douglas, 03 Jan 1867, Glasgow
Hugh Dow Douglas, 24 May 1869, Glasgow
Margaret Walker Douglas, 30 Jul 1870, Glasgow

Other information
Here is a clip of me playing my Douglas and Son Ltd cornet:

The real reason I could never be a Christian

2012-02-07T11:36:00.001Z

When all is said and done and everything has been reasoned out, it all comes down to practicality. I just can't find it in my heart to hate other people enough to be a proper Christian.

Sure, I could be a woolly liberal, go to church and enjoy the music, but to be a true Christian requires a level of dislike for others that I would struggle to maintain. Anyone seeking evidence for this just has to look at how the online Christian community interacts with the unconvinced majority.

Excel Soprano Cornet Review

2012-02-02T20:00:00.000Z

I recently had the chance to try out the Excel Soprano cornet in Eb. These look very similar to the Chinese instrument sold under the JP brand, but are marketed by Band Supplies, one of the main dealers in brass band instruments with shops in Leeds and Glasgow as well as a mail order business. The one I tried was in silver plate and retails for around £300. The Yamaha student model is £660 so this one is half the price. It looks like copy of the previous (pre Xeno) Yamaha Maestro soprano cornet model.

First Impressions
The instrument feels heavy. Its not a lightweight bell, but the bell has the correct narrow throat of a modern soprano cornet meaning that smaller mutes will be needed than for Bb (Denis Wick and Wallace make suitable ones). The build quality is good. The silver plating looks good and the slides are nice and tight with good seals, but the screws that hold the trigger linkages together need some Loctite on the threads to strop them coming loose.

I had exactly the same problem with my old Yamaha Maestro cornet so this is a design that the Chinese should not so slavishly copy. On such short slides I would have preferred rings rather than triggers. In common with a lot of small trumpets and cornets the second valve slide is not removable. The valves are stainless steel which harder than brass and therefore not considered as good as monel for wear, but they are very smooth. The valve springs are quite strong like Yamaha ones. I am used to Schilke, and Besson which are much softer and Bach which is somewhere in between. It may be possible to fit weaker springs if this was a problem. Like all new instruments there was a bit of heavier assembly lubricant in the valves and this took a while to work its way out through normal oiling and swabbing of the valves and valve casings.

There is no fitting for a lyre. This means that if you want to march with it you will have to have one fitted or use a clamp on bell lyre like Schilke players do. Fitting a lyre box to the third valve tuning slide would be difficult because of the trigger mechanism. Putting one on the front bow of the leadpipe would interfere with the standing waves in the air column and is not considered to be a very good idea by instrument designers. This might be why it doesn't have one at all.

The case is made from a denim looking material with back straps and a shoulder strap and space for two mouthpieces, but no mutes. Clearly aimed at the student market rather than the committed brass band player who has music and mutes to carry. The case contains a cleaning cloth, the obligatory white gloves supplied with all Chinese made instruments and a mouthpiece that looks a bit like a Denis Wick 4B.

I can report that the instrument is well in tune with itself and the sound is nice. In common with all small trumpets and cornets I play on I am a bit low on the pitch so the tuning slide has to be all the way in to be at the correct pitch. I am going to have to select a mouthpiece that corrects this. I used a Wick 4B converted to screw rim with a Bach 1.5c rim on it for testing. Its not the right mouthpiece for this so I need to do some experimenting.

The upper register is very open and it doesn't close up on me. The top C is well in tune, D less so but acceptable, E is very flat and would require alternative fingerings - not that soprano parts ever go that high.

Here is a sample recording from my iPad:

Conclusion
This cornet is sold as a student level instrument and it does this and more. I have not been able to directly compare it to other instruments, but I have played a lot of soprano cornets over the years and this is how I think the Excel compares to some other student and professional models.

The Excel is not as responsive as the Schilke and does not have the same presence, but it does sound warmer. Its better than the either model of Besson Sovereign soprano, but thats not difficult as the Sovereigns were remarkably poor instruments. Its a bit better than the old 1980's long type Getzen I had because it speaks more easily. Its better than the old Imperial because it plays in tune with itself. Comparing it to student models its more free blowing than the later Besson student model soprano (although the Besson valves were superior) and better than the East European ones that schools used to buy in. Its about on par with the older Yamaha that it seems to be based on although the build quality is not as good.

I give it 7.5 out of 10, but I am a harsh judge (I would only give the Schilke a 9 because of the pitch problems and I find the sound a bit harsh - there is no perfect soprano cornet yet). The excel is 12% of the price of a Schilke but its about 75% of the way there. Like all musical instruments its a law of diminishing returns when it comes to price. The Excel is, by far, the best student model soprano cornet I have ever played on and is ideal for schools, junior bands or for cornet players who want to dabble on soprano or have a cheaper instrument for marching with.

Young Scots play key role in Scottish independence referendum.

2012-02-02T19:00:00.000Z

The younger generation of
Scots may be more
lion rampant than saltire

One thing is clear about the forthcoming referendum on Scottish Independence: young people will play a key role in determining its outcome. Even if Alex Salmond fails in his plan to include 16 and 17 year olds in the vote it is likely that the under 25's will decide the outcome of the poll. The older generation is very evenly split on the issue and younger people are more easily motivated to engage in political issues than they have been for many years.

This could work for or against the SNP's Yes campaign. Anecdotal evidence from my younger friends is that they are either more internationalist than nationalist or they misunderstand what is being proposed under the umbrella word "independence". The former group are less likely to vote Yes in the referendum because they don't see the relevance of international boundaries. The latter group seem to believe that an independent Scotland would be able to prevent immigration from eastern Europe (it couldn't); get rid of the royal family (the SNP have made clear that this is not on the agenda); have a level of autonomy that would allow it to take unilateral military action such as going to war with England if it wished (it couldn't) and have full fiscal autonomy with a currency unaffected by England (it couldn't).

On this latter point I see from today's papers that John Swinney has come out and said that an independent Scotland would stay in the pound. Its not clear if he means the UK pound or a separate Scottish currency called the pound with parity to the UK pound as is the case with the Isle of Man and Gibraltar pounds. He certainly means retaining the Bank of England as lender of last resort. How many of my young friends are going to be happy with that?

One of the problems with the current debate is that the SNP have failed to define exactly what they mean by "independence". They have allowed it to be all things to all people and seem quite happy to "run with the hare and hunt with the hounds" when it suits them. For example, they are clear that its geographical and political nationalism they are promoting rather than ethnic nationalism, but at the same time they are quite happy to lean on images of Scotland's old tribal culture and military victories when it suits them. These things appeal to the younger generation of Scots who may be more lion rampant than the Scottish Government's pantone saltire. If they vote for Independence on the SNP's terms then they may be sorely disappointed with the outcome.

Christian adverts banned for claiming miracle healing

2012-02-01T18:30:00.000Z

According to the National Secular Society a Christian organisation called Healing on the Streets - Bath has had its adverts banned because they claim to be able to cure specific diseases:

The ASA ruled that 'A video on the website made claims that HOTS volunteers had successfully prayed for healing for people with cancer, fibromyalgia, back pain, kidney pain, hip pain, cataracts, arthritis and paralysis. We noted the testimonials on the website and in the video but considered that testimonials were insufficient as evidence for claims of healing. We therefore concluded the ads were misleading'.

The ASA also 'noted we had not seen evidence that people had been healed through the prayer of HOTS volunteers, and concluded that the ads could encourage false hope in those suffering from the named conditions and therefore were irresponsible. We acknowledged that HOTS had offered to make amendments to the ads, and to remove the leaflet from their website. However, we considered that their suggested amendments were not sufficient for the ads to comply with the CAP Code.

The full article can be found here:

http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2012/02/adverts-claiming-cures-through-prayer-are-banned

I have written before about a similar organisation in Scotland that seems to be based around churches with links to the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. Their motivation seems to be that miracles are a "convincer" for God in what amounts to a sales process. Quite different to conventional protestant evangelicals who rely on a forensic (reasoned legal) argument for the existence of God, these new wave Christians use a sales process based around selling the benefits of belief - whether ultimate salvation or current earthly ones.

Some Christians will no doubt see this as evidence of persecution, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and personal testimony just doesn't cut it. For example, I can remember being in a church where a miracle was announced to have happened - somebody healed of breast cancer - but on enquiring it turned out that the lady had felt a lump, gone to the doctors, the congregation had prayed and the lump was found to be benign. I am willing to bet that the lump was never cancerous. Had it been found to be so and then the congregation had prayed I might be more sympathetic to the idea.

How many .nu domains are registered?

2012-01-31T18:30:00.000Z

I have always had a soft spot for .nu domains. They were one of the first CCTLD's to be sold for other purposes and I registered hudson.nu in 1998. This means I have had the same email address for 14 years along with a short, memorable, web address - although most of my web pages have now been folded into www.ecalpemos.org and hudson.nu may be email only by the end of the year.

The advantages of .nu include that the public whois does not list the registrant, but it does list accurate technical information. It also has a low tolerance for spamming and reasonably high registration fees which means it is a clean name space with high availability of good names.

I notice from the whois lookup at domaintools.com that there are 49,242 domains associated with support[at]nic.nu.

I don't know if this is the total figure, but it gives some indication of how small .nu is. There are over 100 million active .com domains and over 9 million .uk ones.

How to get Microsoft Publisher files printed by a commercial printer

2012-01-27T18:30:00.000Z

I recently had to get a leaflet printed without having the time or budget to go to a designer. Normally I would have done this using colour digital printing, but 10p per sheet it was too expensive for a run of 2000 or so. My usual designer uses Adobe Indesign which is the standard these days for graphic design. All I have is Microsoft Publisher 2010 and professional printers can't handle publisher files so I had to find a work around.

The solution turned out to be to design the leaflet in Publisher and output it in pre-press PDF format. This does not compress images like a normal PDF and it will embed font files (where this is possible). To do this requires using a printer who can print from PDF so I settled on www.1-2-print.co.uk who are based in Germany, but deliver to the UK. I paid £99 for 2500 double sided, full colour, A5 leaflets on 170gm paper including delivery and a £10 charge for checking my file for errors before printing.

The leaflet was designed normally in Publisher, but with bleeds set (so the background colours would go over the edges of the paper).

The first thing you need to do is set the document to use process colours - CMYK - not the default RGB. RGB is fine for screen images and some desktop colour printers, but commercial printing uses a four colour process. To do this, start a new document or selct an existing one, go to the file menu, click on info, then commercial print settings. Select "change color mode" and select CMYK.

Setting CMYK as the colour mode in Publisher 2010

Now design your publication as normal. When you are finished save it as a publisher file (so you have a back up in editable form) then go to file > save as and select PDF:

Click on the Options button which opens up the following dialogue box.

Select Commercial press and click on "Bitmap text when fonts may not be embedded".

Commercial graphic design packages use Postscript fonts which can be embedded in a pdf. Whilst Truetype fonts can be embedded, very few have their right set to allow embedding. By choosing to bitmap the text you are turning it into an image and you don't need to embed the font. The results will not be as crisp, but they will be very close to the quality of an embedded font.

Now click on the Print Options button:

Tick the box marked "Allow bleeds" but do not tick the one marked crop marks or bleed marks. If you do that then you may get the lines intruding into the publication.

Make sure the page size is the same as your document. if you have set it to A5 with a bleed area then you will need to select custom size and enter the full size of your document.

Now you can save the document. It will be a larger PDF file from those you are probably used to seeing. You can open it in your usual PDF viewer to check it and generate a new PDF if you want to make changes in publisher.

This method gives charities and voluntary groups the opportunity to improve the quality of their publications while saving money on digital printing and colour photocopying costs. I have had good results, but it requires careful colour management.

Climate Change becomes the new Evolution for America's Christian Right

2012-01-16T12:50:00.001Z

According to the Los Angeles Times:

Texas and Louisiana have introduced education standards that require educators to teach climate change denial as a valid scientific position. South Dakota and Utah passed resolutions denying climate change. Tennessee and Oklahoma also have introduced legislation to give climate change skeptics a place in the classroom.

The full article can be found here.

Although it states:

Attacks on evolution come largely from conservative Christians who believe in a literal reading of the biblical creation story. Climate change denial is mostly rooted in political ideology, with foes decrying it as liberal dogma, teachers say. The NCSE's Scott said that made it much harder to use the courts to protect climate science education.

it is known that many evangelical Christians are opposed to action on climate change, including our old friend Grady McMurtry, whose diatribe against "environmental terrorists" can be read here.

For those who are interested in the mainstream Christian view on climate change I would suggest reading Christian Aid's material on Climate Justice.

Starbucks Price Increase for Loyal Customers

2012-01-10T08:41:00.000Z

The price of coffee as a
commodity rose and fell
during 2011

Starbucks has restructured its UK Starbucks Rewards Card programme and removed the "tall filter for £1" part of the offer. Now, customers will pay £1.50 but receive a free coffee for every 15 purchased. Customers on the old rewards card scheme have been put on gold level meaning they retain the other free extras they used to get, but my guiess is that most regular customers will now be out of pocket with, what is in effect, a 40-50% price increase.

My initial obserrvations is that Starbucks has got quieter at peak times in the morning and afternoon.

The price increase has been caused by sharp rises in raw coffee prices and reflects price increases by Starbucks in other markets recently. Prices for coffee peaked in October after a sharp rise over the summer, prompting retailers to increase prices Prices have since fallen back to a lower level. It remains to be seen how Starbucks will react to the price fall.

Capital punishment possibly not being restored.

2012-01-05T10:58:00.002Z

Just noting that Paul Staines' petition to have a parliamentary debate on the restoration of capital punishment has only reached a quarter of the 100,000 signatures required with only four weeks to go.

25,956 votes out of a population of 62,218,761 means that, in spite of the impression given by many popular newspapers after some heinous crime has been committed, there is no widespread support for even discussing the issue in parliament - let alone actually restoring the death penalty.

Hopefully Mr Staines will accept the vote of the public come February 4th.

Update 17th Jan 2012
According to an article on the Liberal Conspiracy blog, Paul Staines has been stopped from running a misleading ad in support of the campaign by the Advertising Standards Authority:

The assertion was stood up by taking figures from 1964 – which was the date of the last hanging, and not the date of actual abolition, which came in 1969.

Moreover, the period on which Restore Justice is basing its claim ends in 1997, which is fourteen years ago. Murder rates since then have not been considered by the campaign.

Does this matter? Well, yes it does: in 2008/9 the UK recorded its lowest murder rate for 20 years.

The intentional homicide rate for the UK fell from 1.71 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2000 to just 1.17 in 2009. By contrast, the USA, where many states still execute, went from 5.5 to 5.0 in the same period, while Russia, which also executes, went from 28 to 15.

This article bears out my Twitter tirade against Staines last July when I queried his position after reading the latest Home Office statistics.

You can follow the Restore Justice campaign on Twitter here, but they have not posted anything since last November.

*My tweets on this issue from the start of the campaign in July 2011 (click on image to see full size).

A thought about Christians and sex before marriage.

2011-12-28T13:47:00.001Z

I wonder if the view commonly promoted by Christians - that there is a lot more sex before marriage than there used to be - is due to people getting married later than in previous generations? Rather than being entirely the result of the permissive sixties it would seem that house prices and the need to have both partners working is the reason people delay marriage to their late 20's or early 30's.

In the days when people got married at 18 or 19 it was more possible to control those urges for the short period of time, but delaying for 10 years or so is a much harder proposition.

If the church wants to discourage sex before marriage then they need to encourage early marriage and endorse social policies, like increased social housing, that make this possible. I would guess that evangelicals would rather continue to condemn sexual activity than have to endorse progressive political agendas, or would they?