Christmas 2018 style

The day is finally here as I'm home for Christmas and I'm out of my jim jams and into my pinafore dress, tie and grey socks with pretty bows as we get to open this years presents.
Starting this Christmas edition like last year made 'on the hoof', Elgar has always called with most my recordings being from the very late 1970's to the 1980's.

This newish acclaimed one, came out in 2016 offers two works I did not have and adds them in both stereo and surround sound in Super Audio cd quality (playable also in regular cd).
It will no doubt be treasured as collecting classical music recordings is very much a long term thing.

The Dandy is the always the Dandy, one a few comics I had as child and while sadly it no longer comes out weekly, it does have summer specials and this annual that stay with the original stories and indeed do even have reprints of cartoon strips from past years

One difference this year is I didn't get the Beano annual because there has been a big change in how the more traditional cartoon series have been drawn, in some such as Dennis the Menace written so he doesn't actually menace that messes up the whole backdrop to the character and a move toward so-called political correctness in the newer stories.

Instead I opted for this compilation issued to mark the 65th anniversary of Minnie The Minx  which consists of reprints of classic adventures as is which is a tribute to a heroine of mine.

I did however pick up the 2018 Christmas special edition which as 68 pages and printed more like a softback magazine.
lt fits in where I'd of had the comic editions across Christmas  where its a good example of where the comic is at today.

 Finally a new anime for me to watch in blu ray and regular dvd too.

And another but this one is just in blu ray.

This was a much talked about anthropomorphic animated film from 2016 that I had as a 'stocking filler' on Blu-Ray.
I also had some money I can put toward some other things after Christmas.
I hope everyone has had an enjoyable Christmas.

Christmas Paws

Well by the time you see this, I shall be off social media for anything than the most briefiest of moments to ensure all is well and there is absolutely nothing that needs urgent attention on those accounts left.
There's that much other stuff to do that simply I can't run the blog and tumblrsphere and carry out all my social responsibilities connected with christmas so real life wins out I'm afraid.
Actual christmas's count.

We've always loved Hello Kitty on this blog from day one and I certainly love to watch ice skating and hockey either in person or on tv.
Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

Final fling

In a week were frankly it has seemed we've been going through a political nervous breakdown of major proportions thanks to Brexit and the no confidence measure that P.M. Mrs May won by 200 votes yesterday my mind went backwards to the chaos of 1978/9.

The last time this all happened I was very much record centred and in 1978 a compilation by the short-lived but never forgotten over here rock and roll pioneer Buddy Holly was issued which many of my eras teens bought part of the appeal for me was I knew these songs as covered by people like Showaddywaddy who did Heartbeat, Mud who covered Oh Boy!, the Stones with Not Fade Away and the Beatles who did Words Of Love on Beatles VI (UK: Beatles for sale).
So what was on it wasn't unknown and from oldies radio shows I knew a number of the other songs including Brown-eyed Handsome Man, It Doesn't Matter Any More and Rave On.
That lp was re-issued on cd in 1989 by which point I had the acclaimed "Buddy Holly from the original mastertapes" MCA cd mastered by Steve Hoffman but recently treated myself to a copy this childhood album on cd. 

 The exact mastering sources aren't listed but as True Love Ways has the count off on the other cd I do think it borrows some from it.
The strength is this has the post posthumous hits on it I remember and follows the UK order of release.
In all the chaos, relistening to this on cd helped.

Lighting the flames at Tumblr

It's like standing a distance away with a friend hearing the crackles slowly intensifying as a bonfire  roars into action  consuming its content and others fearful moving back and even away lest the sparks come anywhere near them.
This week Tumblr primed their bonfire, pouring kerosene under all 18+ marked NFSW blogs they had accepted since 2007 in the fall out from losing having apps in Apples iOS store and Google Play late last month.
Okay, personally except for the odd post one on one account I could live with that if it wasn't for the start on Monday of removing the old safe search and sensitive content filters replacing that with a computer based algorithm that looks at pictures and the odd tag  and decides if you are hosting sensitive/nsfw/adult  content .
Anyone with past memories of sites can recall the issues other sites had with such approaches such as on Yahoo360 and issues from time to time on Facebook but at least it is used as a moderation tool.
Here it can decide by itself to deactivate your blog and worst still is being applied retrospectively to all your posts so if like me you an account that has near enough 8,400 posts on in about 5 and half years, you are them expected to trawl though each one on your dash to find any that have been flagged.
That is an unfair expectation to place on people as there is no indicator of flagged posts you can click on to show you just those posts. It could take a person several weeks to find them.
When you do, you see often the most innocuous of posts flagged up things like a reblog of childrens toy ads from a 1989 christmas catalogue - material safe for kids to browse at home in the company of parents - being treated as if it's porn.
There appears to be forming lengthy lines already for such flagged posts being reviewed one hopes by actual humans and the more false positives it finds, the longer this will take for each and everyone to be looked at.
Trouble is the deadline for no nsfw as deemed by this system is December 17 so if we accept any blog that was flagged as nsfw is gone by default then if posts are not reviewed and accepted as mistakes then you may find your blog mysteriously gone.
Potentially you may not get the chance to be reviewed if there are too many cases for the very limited staff doing this to work through.
One top of all of this a barrage of tags have been classed as nsfw such as "lesbian" and "trans" like they're porn related rather than the means of people who are trying to find each other through searching through tags.
This is already leading already to an exodus from the site because apart from those who do post intentionally but lawful nsfw content, many of us are finding this whole business so time consuming and emotionally stressful we are close to meltdowns, fearing losing friends and for those of us in age regression communities, support when our blogs are deactivated.
Like I saw, I fear they've lit the bonfire that will in time burn the site down so it's a ghostly relic like My Space or gone for good like GeoCities and Yahoo360 are.

Introducing Selena - from christmas of the past

After last weeks excursion into the early nineteen-seventies,  we are going forward into the past here by looking at something I had for Christmas but in nineteen seventy-nine instead which as anyone who lived through that time knows also was turbulent politically.

The cold war was very much still on but for all of that trade with what was the U.S.S.R was fairly common place and ownership of soviet era cars, cameras and electrical goods was popular partially down to price compared with West European and Japanese models but also because being in production for longer they did appeal to traditionalists.
The Vega Selena B212 was unlike anything made by Panasonic, Grundig or Sony in a number of ways such as it featured a wooden cabinet which was unheard off aiding the sound.
You just didn't get that then anywhere else.
An unusually feature was the use of a mechanical rotating Turret that had been a common fixture of televisions featuring VHF reception to change the wavebands which again was unusual for a domestic rather than one designed for radio operators in that it had five short wave bands that typically were used for international broadcasting as  the signals could travel thousands of miles.

The one criticism that could be made was the tuning scale was only marked in a fairly rudimentary way but in terms of sensitivity it was surprisingly good and it did feature a signal strength indicator that could be illuminated.
Frequencies are marked in metres except for FM where they use megahertz
The waveband in use was indicated directly through a cut out on the tuning scale.
That was major appeal to me as listening to short wave transmissions is something I did from an early age so to have it on fairly portable radio - weighing four kilos it is fairly portable and not as light as most of competition was an advantage.

This is the 'gubbins' of it - the main assembly where on the bottom right you can see the turret with its coil packs,on the top  the old school but still good silver hatted transistors because no integrated circuits were used, plus on the far left mains cord connector, D.I.N. connector for monaural record and replay from tape recorders and a earphone socket.
 As well on the turret is the AM antenna and ground connectors although for AM there is a ferrite rod and for FM and shortwave a telescopic antenna built in on the top of the case.
It was relatively inexpensive too so to have something that performed well, looked like a piece of furniture and portable was great.
It was the radio I listened to the Abba concert from Wembley on that Christmas and one reason why I fondly remember having it.

Chase

While there much political discourse going on with no signs of being that clear just how things will pan it, it reminds me so much of the early 1970's where it seems the UK was ungovernable.

This takes me round to on the last of the Vocalion Dutton releases of October that feature the work of Chase, a Jazz-Rock group formed by Bill Chase who went on the release three albums. Jim Peterik who was with Survivor for a period performs on this album.
This two on one super audio cd  contained the last album Pure Music and the first, Chase, whose style is more reminiscent of Terry Kath era Chicago than anything else I can think of with original compositions such as Open Up Wide and Close Up Tight and covers such as the Mike d'Abo song Handbags and Gladbags.
As with the whole series on a regular cd layer and the super audio layer you get the stereo mix and on the super audio cd layer for player that can read it, the original Quadraphonic mixes issued on SQ Quad lp and Q8 Quad 8 track "surround sound" mixes are present and have not been available for a exceedingly long time.
I managed oddly enough to get this for £9.99 including mailing which was a absolute steal.

More B word blues

It's so up in the air if I were to type my best guess on outcomes, it most probably change before or just after being published.

 If Brexit was that ball, the bowling pins represent politics  presently here as it plows into them with no clear indication of which will be knocked over in what in some respects seems at times to had been a two year game of ten pin bowling  playing out.
Form what I have read of the draft leaving agreement  there are bit that are a bit better than I had expected such as it's not just the UK and the EU having teams to look at progress in dealing the notorious complications of the R.O.I/EU border and that of Northern Ireland but there is some mention of an independent team  to adjudicate where there may be disagreements on what constitutes progress.
That element of independent arbitration had been something of concern all along in this process as effectively the EU looked as judge and jury and with the parallel of this being a divorce, such an arrangement would of been in it.
That's something I give a cautious welcome to although its composition needs more work on and I can't see how you can square full sovereignty as trading nation and there being in effect no border with the EU as guaranteeing it means acceptance of the EU's  terms and as they politically can't be imposed on just Northern Ireland, one's bound to say what have we gained by accepting something that still constrains our relations with countries outside of it.
To make a brexit work you need to be able to set up new trading arrangements to come into effect immediately after leaving which implies you need to negotiate them while in the  so-called transition period where if I understand this right until we leave that transition period we are barred from doing under this agreement.
That's my second concern in all this-it seems perverse to say you have to leave before you can set up new arrangements outside the EU  in the way in which we had to say we are leaving to talk about how we might leave.
It's better to explore how first, decide then if you wish to leave and then set up the deals needed ready for the point you have left. European political logic escapes me I'm afraid.
All of this depends on a number of variables such as what happens if the Conservative Party decides to bring a no confidence measure in on Prime Minister May - could she survive one? All ready a number of ministers have resigned and the preferred replaced for the Brexit Minister is refusing to take it.
As of when this was typed the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland regards the agreement as a breach of trust between the Prime Minister and them to whom she relies on for support given the lack of a real majority in the House of Commons.
It is quite possible apart from not voting for the Budget, they vote against this agreement too which would making passing it extremely difficult given the opposition parties have made plain their own disagreements with it.
So we may have a situation where this isn't approved in the House of Commons, the government may be pushed into a General Election AND with a new leader which may not resolve how the nation dividing issue of Brexit can be resolved.
In the mean time the clock is ticking and and the EU is waiting...

Oh brother... 

A Hundred Years On

Today as we approach Armistice Day my thoughts are with the war dead on this the centenary of the ending of World War 1 .
Below is the Field of Remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum here in Staffordshire taken a few days ago in a scene that will be marked on Sunday across our country as we pay our respects to all who died for our freedoms.

 Picture Credits.Staffs Live.

In Flanders Field by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

        In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

        In Flanders fields.

Masks

"Although I laugh and I act like a clown,
Beneath this mask I am wearing a frown".

J.Lennon&J.P McCartney MacLen Music.


Although most peoples response to this lyric is to examine it's meaning in the context of what we know of John Lennon's complex and turbulent life at wasn't my primary motivation in quoting it here.

I feel this is a universal truth in it - one that bypasses John's life and times - and it is about the way all of us present to the World which touches on more than just say fashion.

How many of us do not truthfully answer the question "How are you today", kidding people that our world is aright when it may not or at the very least from our perspective it doesn't feel that way?

And yet we express surprise even a risible sense of anger even when we found out they didn't actually know believing they didn't really care.

Why do we do this? For some there still is this shame in admitting weakness and that whole area of not being in control of ones thoughts and emotions.

For some it can be the literal sense not being able to show who they are really are become little more than in reality the puppets of their nearest and dearest because these people will not accept them as they are albeit teen Goth offspring from conservative parents or those who are facing being cut off from their families for good because of their sexuality or gender identity issues.

Unless you're in this group you may not fully appreciate the 'frown' or deep inner loathing those people may feel toward their life's and those responsible for their predicament.

Sometimes we have to honest and tell people how we really are feeling and equally some from more fortunate backgrounds need to take a step back before trotting out glib "Do this, problem solved" statements.

Role playing?

Some people may ask if I ever did any kind of online role playing.
I've never done gaming like Second Life because as the initiated know the paws aren't good and even typing a bit can easily lead to a major flare up never mind the kinds of movement involving joysticks and touch pads.
One is having done some a few years back it can be hard to get all the right characters  you need as if say it involves something involving say a pretend school setting next to nobody wants to be the one who runs the group and sets the work which in whose contexts are marked.
Another can be the potential for misunderstanding is high as what might be subtitles in more nuanced speech get totally misread and before you know it it's daggers drawn where seemingly nothing can pull either side back and attempts to explain back and forth only back fire spectacularly.
Having gone through the latter rest assured I have no intentions of resuming that in a hurry cos it really hurt me.
I just don't feel any kind of online role playing really works out that well for a variety of reasons really.

Brexit and that darn border issue that won't go away

No, I'm not about to do a "Blue Peter Reports" from bit as apart from anything else they'd never have have anything political on the show which given it's for children is quite right although sometimes I'd watch some of the current affairs shows in my mid teens just cos I was curious to what the grown ups were talking about.

 The last time I said anything about the long discourse that is Brexit I made reference to what this map shows, the Island of Ireland which really is the biggest sticking point in this process.
The problem starts when you look at this map.
The Green portion is what is now called Northern Ireland but what was when I was younger referred to as Ulster which is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Orange portion,The Republic of Ireland aka "Southern Ireland" that since 1922 has been a self governing country in its own right.
For all our bloody history there has been good arrangements made between both halves and between the U.K. and the Republic when it comes to being able to trade and for citizens of each to have good common political, economic and social rights from day one of the partition of the Island of Ireland.
Even during the so-called Troubles mature heads on both sides went to great pains to co-operate.
One we appear to have forgotten and is directly relevant is the UK and Ireland collectively joined the Common Market in 1973 which was formally taught to me as junior child at the time in school and the whole joining marked although it's fair to say I'm not a fan of what is now the European Union.
Part of that was about co-operation about the exchange of goods and services across that border transformed to what was the Common Market and it played a part in the "Good Friday" Peace accords that delivered relative political calm and saw Sinn Fein the Pan-Irish Republican party give up support of terrorism on the streets of Northern Ireland.
Thus this stumbling block around the common Republic/EU border and that of Northern Ireland and UK is a major problem.
There is movement  of good and services between both parts of the island which pre 1973 had been agreed although there was a need for checking of paperwork and border posts moreover in this talks it appears to had been agreed such a system  - a "hard border" - has been explicitly rejected from being a part of it.
The Irish Republic is strongly opposed it.
This would be fine other than the rejection of any long term staying within the EU Customs Union on the part of the UK Government that makes such activity practically seamless coupled with the opposition of the Northern Irish DUP party and many others to any "except for Northern Ireland" deal that would also put a customs barrier between one part of the UK and the mainland.
I have to repeat my caution I cannot see any way of squaring this without actually having a Hard  Border admittedly one where every effort was made to make it as simple as possible with standardized forms and with  arrangements such as shared passport/visa checking on trains.
It isn't that one wants it but it seems to be the most honest thing to just accept it, making it the best we can out of realism as only that seems to meet the needs to ensure customs are  handled correctly for  each party and to provide a realistic trading situation.
It is what it is given we decided to leave and have started that process.
Offering any kind of an extra year of staying in with extra payments to the EU doesn't really solve this enigma apart from uniting the governing party against the Prime Minister which makes the political situation much worse providing less of the stability not just the process needs but business too.

Having ones cake and eating it

After last weeks current affairs post comes something kind of similar but not the same this time involving food.

This story starts in Belfast, Northern Ireland at Ashers Bakery a family owned business run by Christians who operate a build a cake service which is popular for such things as weddings.
One Gareth Lee, a gay activist comes in and places an order for a cake which is initially accepted by a member of staff and paid in full for.
This is what he wanted on it.

Later on Mr Lee is contacted by the bakery and informed they cannot proceed with the order as  they profoundly disagree with the message. Note the cake makes no reference to any individual.
Mr Lee launches an equality rights case against Ashers alleging discrimination on grounds of sexuality.
This case is won at both the County Court and the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal supported by the UK Equality Commission, a government body set up to tackle discrimination.
This made its into the  UK Supreme Court  where upon it was rejected unanimously in the middle of the week.
Why, you may ask did that happen?
Actually as someone who did work in prosecution I can tell you straight. In truth there was no one single piece of evidence to suggest Mr Lee was personally deprived of a service nor refused to be served on the basis of his sexuality.
His order was rejected because in law the Ashers have no duty to make or publish anything that they had such a profound disagreement with and that would of applied regardless of the sexuality of the person who would of requested it.
The 2010 Equality Act is all about ensuring people are not prevented or given an inferior service on the basis of race, religion, disability, sex and sexuality. 
That did not happen so he had no case under the act.
What I find troubling is how it was nobody in the first two hearings actually understood the law and how it is meant to apply, something a more seasoned gay activist Peter Tatchell did and in fact supported the Ashers over.
Depressingly, I sat listening to an interview by Mr Lee after this ruling standing by his representative clearly showing he had not understood the difference between a personal refusal to serve on the basis of his sexuality and being asked to do something by him that they would not do for anyone.
One more thing, the UK taxpayer, including me is to pick up a £500,000 bill for costs for this botched  exercise.😠

Trump, Ford and Kavanaugh

One catalyst for this blog even being around during the period I seriously wondered if I actually needed it was the need to have somewhere to talk about trends in current affairs that didn't belong on the other blogs.
It's hard to get into a warm fuzzly little girl feeling while there's grown up stuff around war, politics and gender discourse going on all around you.
Anyway the whole business around Brett Kavanaugh while still subject to FBI investigation does give me some cause for concern.
One difference between the UK and the US is the Head of State in the UK doesn't appoint representatives to the Supreme Court nor does a serving Prime Minister appointments being made by a non political panel and judges not being aligned to one political party.
This means such appointments rarely cause political controversy of themselves and the appointee is seen to be above  politics without stopping discussion of views on topical issues being stifled.
Brett's appointment in the context of the U.S. system was therefore likely to prove controversial for being seen as the Presidents choice AND their conservative views around such staples as Abortion in what was a finally balanced chamber.
In that context the party whose President was in office  was always likely to have their candidates background looked deeply into and that typically would involve their own lives.
The allegations of  Professor Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez of attempted sexual assault and of indecent exposure in that context were always likely to surface as were accusations of lying about drinking all around the period he was in his teens and in university.
All three may be true - I don't profess to know one way or the other - and do tell tell us something about Brett's character  but the question one has to ask here is: in the long intervening years has he changed?
How many of us did things that were unacceptable in our teens that no one involved at the time acted upon either through law or the disciplinary systems of schools, colleges and universities?
A good number I suspect and the bigger question is have they learnt anything from from that and have been clear of such behaviours in adult life since?
If these acts were part of a pattern that still are part of Brett's life there would be good reason to consider if he should stand for Supreme Court and be appointed but if not one cannot put them in that tiny list of things that no matter how long back ought to be investigated such as the abuse of a minor by a adult.
Remember accused and accusers were all in their teens and early twenties at the time.
The Donald's public ridicule of Ford's testimony while this investigation is ongoing is something that concerns me as a former part of the prosecution process quite seriously.
In order for an investigation to be fair AND seen as such, all parties need to keep their comments within that and no politicians attempt to sway opinion in advance of that not least if there is any possibility of a trial.
The failure to can lead to a situation for the accuser not be seen to get a fair trial and for the whole business to become politicized.
That is never acceptable. The politicians set the law complete with guidelines and THEN  leave the running to the justice system.
Donald Trump may have a point when he suggests some have an issue with men plus may have a anti-male agenda and it is possible raising such matters may have an element of political opportunism but the interests of justice are not served by such outspoken behaviour during the investigation, Ever.

George Benson and Poco

This week I'm looking at a few albums, some I had in July but with being very poorly I never got around to writing about and another that's on just out this week.
Some groups wrote the template of whole genres and one example is The Byrds to which there has been the odd entry on this blog about for forging Country-Rock with the seminal album  the Sweetheart of the Rodeo in 1968.
That lead to an explosion of acts of which one the most famous is of course the Eagles who started out as Linda Ronstadt's backing group but in many ways the template they used comes from another group,forgotten by most.
Poco were formed before the Eagles being part formed of members of Buffalo Springfield upon that bands dissolution such as Richie Furey and Jim Messina, had one soon to Eagle and one Ex Eagle in the line up too and were fairly popular in North America not being off the radio or in our tape player.

 This is a pairing of their 1974 albums Seven which was more hard rock influenced and Cantamos which saw a return to Country-rock

 In 2013 the now defunct label Audio Fidelity issued on super audio cd their debut album which remains a fine example of late sixties country-rock. I originally hadn't picked it up but was able to get a still sealed example without paying the silly money sharks collect from collectors.

 An interesting coupling on regular cd was issued in 2006 of 1971's Delivering album which was recorded at Boston's Music Hall and New York Felt Forum and 1973's Crazy Eyes that features ex Byrd Chris Hillman on guitar.

This 1971 studio album was remastered in 2013 by Vic Anesini and issued on IconClassic via Sony/Bmg.

An interesting guy is George Benson who meanders around jazz-funk and smooth soul whose vocal performances had held in enraptured over the years when I've hear them on radio.

 Like many artists of his longevity he's been on a number of labels and this 1973 release was originally on CTI records and issued on CD4 record and Q8 quadrophonic tape briefly.
This week it's all out again on Super audio cd which I'm pleased about as I love it's proto smooth jazz sound

In 2014 Audio Fidelity re-issued his 1976 Breezin' album complete with a 5.1 multi channel remix on the sacd layer which was one his best albums for Warner Bros which was where he was headed after 1975. The album featured This Masquerade is noted for the lush piano introduction and solo by Jorge Dalto and most of the album is instrumental in nature.
Talking of his Warners Output to which it is generally true to say he's more famous for has been re-issued on regular cd and at least in  Europe can be had on two complementary 5 regular cd sets rather cheaply.

This issued in 2010 contains Breezin';Weekend in L.A.;Give Me The Night;Tenderly and Big Boss Band.
Weekend is a great originally double lp live album that shows off his guitar playing abilities well.
Give Me The Night was produced by Quincy Jones with input too from the late Rod Templeton (Ex Heatwave) and stylistically borrows a bit from Michael Jackson's Off The Wall and later Thriller sets and Quincy's own The Dude for the more vocal soul numbers.
1990's Big Boss Band is a more straightahead big band jazz album.

This five pack issued 2013 contains the following albums:
In Flight;Living Inside Your Love;In Your Eyes;20/20 and Twice The Love covering the 70's through 80's.
As with most sets like this the discs come in single card covers replicating front and rear jacket art and nothing else but on the other hand take up little space and are inexpensive just about £11.99 each per set so is a cheap way of replacing any worn tapes like I had.

A week at the dorm

The weather as this has been a bit all over the place, warmish which would b great for going out without coats if it wasn't for showers and strong winds which it did result in a leak here and the need for a man to come and repair the roof.
I have been continuing with refreshing some items of my uniform although in certain  others areas I'm well stocked adding a  few replacement blouses and a grey jumper to it.

 As most people know I usually look very much like them never happier to be wearing our school dresses although I it might prove interesting if we able to get around to playing  netball as the exercise wouldn't be a bad thing.
Seeing it is early September I have been working my though some past stuff connected with roles and courses and getting out all the stuff for this seasons learning including my geometry set and trusty pencil and ink eraser that goes on the school desks.
I do colour to relax too which does help.

 I also got some new old stock MiniDiscs from around 1998/9 going by the type and the packaging design that I have good photographic memory for as I like using my player/recorder here having redone a few this last week for better sound.

Extraordinary, a important 14 page booklet and two irreplaceable letters went missing with no knowledge of them being picked up  nor of moving from where they were kept and the way in which people just kept circling around, tearing everything apart trying to find them as I asked if it had been at tea time just left me more wound up an' anxious than I'd of just said nothing as I have a lot of issues with anxiety and this kind of in your face disturbance just as you are eating gets to me to the point I no longer want to eat.
Correct that- I just freeze over and shut down emotionally.
This has always been a part of me. It's just unfortunate people don't appear to be able to take account of how how they act leaves me feeling.

A cats eye view

It was a cooler wet return this week as the political sorts were plotting and counter plotting over "Brexit", people on the South Eastern Coast of the States were warned about the upcoming hurricane Florence and I felt a bit under the weather.
That's why I'm doing a photo essay thing this week as I get to normal.

 I really love this picture where the cat appears to take the little girls photograph on the medium format film camera (which is why it's square shaped) looking through the viewfinder.
He's really clever.

 I'm a sucker for anything Hello Kitty and this show time star sequine dress is so cute I'm just dissolving looking at it.

 Things around Hello Kitty and teenage girls can get a a bit more complicated as they look for greater sophistication to match their more mature mindset but this just pulls it off with a mod to the Goth Style

 I don't personally see anything at all wrong with being female and wearing shorts especially where they are cut and even pleated to be so obviously feminine in appeal with plenty of air around the legs and making the most of your hips.
While here they are shown bare legged there's no reason not to team them with longer socks or tights.

Computerized returns

It's September so it's time to be making my way back to the dorm but given it is actually 2018 it's not enough to have ones supply of jotters, pens, geometry set and so on it requires a bit of computing power.

"The Kid" has my Chromebook before she fires off another complaint about 'borrowing' her stuff which leaves me with an old but well put together Dell D620 14 inch laptop which isn't too bad a size and actually has a slightly higher resolution.
As some of may know I'm not exactly a fan of Microsoft for reasons that go back trying to lock me into Internet Explorer, an aversion to MS Office and so on but I do have few things that need Windows specifically Windows 7 to run so it's more a question of keeping it going.
One thing I use this machine for is copying cds to either Free Lossless (Flac) or Mp3 files and there isn't a utility for Chromebooks to do that and I prefer simple lightweight image processing programs while the market has moved into complex boated suites that go into desktop publishing.
It's also easier if you need to sign into different accounts on sites to have two browsers   open on each rather than signing in and out of one so currently this has Chrome which I'm fairly happy with even if it 'phones home' in addition to Pale Moon which in its current form I have had to change because it too unstable to use reliably without becoming unresponsive.

For the first time in ages, I have installed Firefox on it which believe it or not I first installed on an ancient desktop in July 2006 in if I recall right would of been version 2.0.0.2 on it because it just works and indeed that is what I'm blogging in right now.
There was another thing that needed  some attention too. The original power unit was starting to fail producing less power than it needed to work well and the cord from the power unit to the laptop with its 7..3mm plug was losing its insulation

Fortunately because this series of Dell Laptops were very popular you can get replacement power units  so I bought and installed a 19.5 volt 4.62 'heavy duty' unit for it so it runs well and keeps the battery well charged.
Talking of which the one supplied with mine was only running for about ten minutes before giving up plus failed to indicate being 'in' it on the status bar.

 I ordered and fitted a replacement 11.1 volt 5200mAh 58Wh li-on battery for that just slots in on the base which shows up and is fully charged now. 
The capacity is higher than the original but the 90 watt charger is more than capable of providing the charge so it will run for longer from it which is always useful.
So with all that attended to that's me sorted I just have to be good now this term. 

Seamingly lost

I've been carefully going through the bookshelves this week looking for duplicates  as oddly enough sometimes I do get them such as when I've been getting a series and find myself looking for an upgrade usually because the original is highly foxed with that fawn tint on the paper, there's the odd tear or my copy had no dust jacket.
I found a number the other day so they'll go to a charity store nearby that sells books together with other odds and ends as I get ready to return to The Dorm.
The weather's been better than the weekend so I have been out walking quite a bit this week, seeing people about.
As well I got around to titling up a number of the minidiscs  I made a week or so ago because on the recorder you can select upper and lower case letters plus a combination of numbers and punctuation signs such as ( ) & , . etc on a virtual keyboard that you select one by one to make the title and store it so whatever machine it is played on, you will see the disc name and the title of each song which is very useful for finding things and confirming you have the right disc out.
I'd sooner get this batch titled all up before starting on any others.

Ready to return

We're working in Firefox this week from the Windows Laptop as Pale Moon is having issues that makes it unreliable on Google's sites and touch and go on Tumblr too so I'm kind of hoping to see a bug fix this week.

 There's little escaping it from the press advertisements, the notices in uniform shops and increasingly offers from both online retailers plus certain supermarkets, the New Term is upon us.
In my world I'll be returning come September in grey as I have had a grey school jumper with a V neck which after all this medical stuff since July has preoccupied my time apart from how it's left me.
It should go well with my grey, green and black pleated skirts although unlike her in the picture I don't own a traditional leather satchel and indeed remember them fading out for briefcases or hold alls.
The worst thing you could ever have for carrying books in was the Duffle Bag which easily distorted and rubbed the corners of text books to the point some schools prohibited them for the damage they could cause.
The trouble was of course they were really intended for sports kit being made from a canvas material and not books so had no corners just a long tube shape with a drawstring that pulled the top closed.
Anyway I have my music ready to take away with sorted so bye for now!

Writing MiniDiscs in 2018!

Okay I got your attention....

 In another week interrupted by events of a medical nature, apart from some reading, I have been reacquainted with something that was a big part of period I was very unwell a good while back to the point I was unable to use my trusty tape recorder because using the controls didn't just feel very painful, they made  my hands shake violently.
Equally I was finding handling records nay even on bad days compact discs difficult which if you are a music lover made you feel ten times worse cos you couldn't enjoy it anymore
I bought what was then a new kind of recorder with small fully protected discs and soft buttons (plus remote) called a MiniDisc recorder and had many of my records and cds put on them so I could play them without risk of me making my illness worse or damaging them.
It also enabled me to make recordings from radio, topping and trimming introductions later on as used to do using splicing tape to make excellent copies to play whenever I was in the mood to.
Anyway I found my portable recorder and set about making a few new discs because although this is 2018, surprisingly the minidisc sounds at least as good as an Mp3, almost as good as a cd on a good machine and there's something nice about having a physical object in your hand to play.

That folks is a ten pack of 74 minute MiniDiscs bought new  to make some new home recordings on.
I've spent the week copying my Rumer and Rolling Stones albums to it which will play on my original bought in 1998 MiniDisc walkman pictured below .

 That, with a high metal content still works as well as it did back then when it used to live in my coat pocked with a couple of spare NiMH rechargable batteries and a few discs sounding superb on my Sennheiser headphones.

Weekend thoughts

Good moaning

Sometimes it seems the best thing is to live in the moment holding on your balloons in awe of a cat as with me it often seems it's a case of two steps forward and one back  as I work through this period of medical complications.
The good thing is the bite related side is over with, the antibiotics having done their job as scary as the Saturday was (and I don't feel like going through another near death experience) but now we want to investigate the blood pressure which has always been high.
The funny thing is on back of a similar infection five years ago we went through all this before only to conclude although it is high, it wasn't that big of a problem in the scheme of things.
I have been on walks across the week for fresh air, sun and yes exercise as you take your time conversing with folk you meet with their dogs, kids or whatever  which believe you me is preferable to the buzz saw from next door as they're working in the upper story extensions and work on the existing rooms which is almost deafening at times. 

Summer outdoor pose II

Kind of last week revisited based on the classic 'girl' photo's of the fifties and sixties where teens would pose on gates for family pictures except for this is in an open field and that's not a gate but a stile, an arrangement of steps that allows people but not animals to climb over a fence or wall.
The weather during the period that was taken was very warm which wasn't just why it is a thin summer gingham dress is being worn but a clear factor. Talking of clear one needed to wear white underwear with it to avoid giving you bum a clear impression coming through the  material.
You are fortunate to be even getting this blog cos I became so unwell on Saturday that I felt my insides folding  and was going to die but was able to act quickly to deal with it as it was so close to a 111 and a rush to A&E.
I'm on antibiotics know which is yukky but should help remove the infection that caused it.

Summer outdoor pose

One advantage of sorts around this time of year is so much is out when you're in the countryside and it is so pleasant with the heat and sunshine falling upon you.

While hardly hiking attire she looks beautiful in that dress and the dog is just so cute which normally would be on a lead.
One thing you'll need to be on the watch for is biting insects that seem very prevalent this very hot year having had some recent issues with them as a person who has strong reactions to bites.
Some of you may recall a few years back I could easily of died from blood poisoning following a really bad bite that quickly took hold and required prompt medical treatment and even covering up doesn't mean you're guaranteed to be bite free either.
If you do camp, please be very careful with anything involving flames as much of grass and woodland areas are tinder dry and every easy to flare up in to hard to control fires.     

The Summer break

This week things will be a bit busier as I sort out things out for end of term here so I'm packing things away for that tradition of spending some time as a guest of a grown up sharing what I have learnt and not just the academic stuff but how I've grown more as a person able to take on personal responsibility .
That means cases to pack not just the stuff to be checked through, washed or replaced for next term but what I'm to wear because they have me in uniform so it's not like I get a break from that but as I benefit from routines maybe that's not a bad thing.
Finishing off a bit from last weeks entry, we had President Trump come visit our Country with the expected protests some of which like the parachute stunt were out of line as apart from anything else getting that close to any leader is often likely to lead to arrests or even being fired on.
He appears to have enjoyed his time and perhaps upon learning more about things first hand might be a little less inclined to shoot off on Twitter first on topics he doesn't actually know focusing more on what he needs from us rather than getting distracted with ill thought out comments.

Climbing a summit to fall

One thing you simply cannot get away from in this country is leaving the EU which we voted for in 2016, that god awful contracted word for it "Brexit" and everything that has happened since of which some indication was the "B" word has in a good many place been put on the do not discuss at the dinner party list because otherwise civil people get within inches of being at blows over it.
Yes for those fortunate not to live here, is just how things are and indeed I've had pot shots taken to me at a certain music forum from Anti-Brexiteers who read politics into anything in the mutually antagonistic atmosphere.
Friday saw the announcement of a meeting at the Prime Ministers country residence, Chequers, for the whole cabinet discuss progress to date on talks about leaving with the EU Commissioners and to put together some mutually agreed ideas  to the next meeting with them.
Let's say some of the language used was very colourful before it was agreed by all present as Cabinet policy that members whatever misgivings privately all are expect to endorse.
You may of thought this would leader to greater unity within the cabinet of late but it has lead to the resignations of the Brexit secretary himself and the Foreign Secretary plus vice leaders of the Conservative Party.
The problem is what has been suggested looks more like staying in much of the EU on different terms including having no say on measures that would continue to affect us afterward than anything that would imply independence such as being able to have your  own trade terms, tariffs, be able to pass measures independently regarding goods and services in the House of Parliament and being subject to the rulings of the European Council of Justice.
In theory we are told we could diverge from this but in accepting a common rule book legislators would be loathe to contradict the author of that book-the EU.
We know the EU rightly or from my own point of view wrongly sees the free movement of all goods and services as one indivisible entry and yet this Cabinet policy sees being able to persuade the EU to allow us to just choice goods.
This frankly is ridiculous given politics is at the core the art of the possible, what it is  two sides may give way on to reach an agreement and they see this as non-negotiable.
It seems as I said earlier in the year it would be impossible to avoid friction on the Island of Ireland between the Irish Republic and The UK and between both the Republic and Northern Ireland AND have economic and financial sovereignty which are one the main constituents of a independent sovereign state.
You cannot as far I can see it actually have a Brexit - a leaving of the EU law, rules and regulation - unless you are prepared for that which is what a good many of the leave side  accepted at the start because it was never about foreigners living here being more it about taking full control and responsibility of our destiny as one fully  independent state co-operating as an equal with others as needed and not being a part of Euro political state.
That is why here at the heart of that movement in the Midlands feelings are running very high on what is being proposed because to them it is nothing less than the rejection of what was voted for and to which opinion if anything is hardening on.

Reintroducing Angela Bofill and Bill Withers

From time to time I feature the odd bit about recordings I like or have recently bought  on here as they are what I relax to.
One female artist who made waves in the late 70's and 80's was Angela Bofill born to Cuban and Puerto Rican parents and educated in New York came to the attention of Dave Grusin, a well know writer of scores for films who'd set up a record label GRP.

 This resulted in a string of albums being issued until her retirement from the music industry in 2006 of which this release captures here first two which are in the then in vogue Soul/Jazz "Fusion" style that lays lush arrangements on to more jazz styled vocalization from 1978 and 1979 respectively that garnered a number of hit R&B charts singles.
People such as the Crusaders and Earth Wind & Fire  were amongst the artists I had a lot of respect for during this period which operate with a similar style so I was interested in revisiting these albums freshly mastered for Super Audio cd (also playable in regular cd) by the enterprising British company Dutton Vocalian this month.
An example of talent lies in her composition Children Of The World Unite where she not only wrote the song but produced the arrangement that equals that of many more famous female vocalists with rich instrumentation.
This two on one sacd in just stereo is a great find for fans of female jazz/soul music. 

 In 2016 the specialty label Mobile Fidelity the all time compilation Bill Withers' Greatest Hits which itself was partly expanded in the 1980's by CBS/Columbia  hence the awkward "Featuring..." tag line in the title.
Featuring the original recordings of Ain't No Sunshine, Just The Two of Us and Soul Shadows its a timeless short selection of some of the finest soul music of the seventies and in this remaster for Super audio cd (also playable in regular) he very much sounds as if he is in your room so well mastered this disc is over it's regular edition.
I didn't get around to buying this immediately upon release but was able to pick up a mint used copy to remedy that.