At dinner this evening I was reminded of, and quoted, a line from the 1980 movie "Airplane!". It was just the "What's our vector, Victor" line (but it got a laugh anyway).
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that none of my kids (ages 16, 12, and 10) have ever seen Airplane!
Oh the joy they have in store!
The AFI have rated it #10 in their list of the "100 Funniest American Movies Of All Time".
For the sheer number of jokes, it would deserve a higher rating!
When I went to see the movie in the cinema, I went with a friend (and workmate) who had already seen it. He spent the whole movie either saying the lines along with (or just before) the cast, or telling me that there was a great one coming up! And I still managed to enjoy it.
Later, when 3 of us who worked together had all seen it, we spent our time quoting lines to each other! Happy memories.
Here is a clip which includes the "vector, Victor" line:
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Ken Takakura Passes Away
I mentioned previously how much I like the 1974 move "The Yakuza".
I meant to blog previously to mark the passing of one of the starts of that movie, Ken Takakura, who passed away last November, aged 84. RIP.
Apparently he was known affectionately as the Japan's "Clint Eastwood" and "Ken-san".
His passing means that the director and all of the lead actors have left us, with the single exception of Keiko Kishi, who played Eiko.
My (late) New Year's resolution, therefore, is to watch his second last movie which was called "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles", was made in 2005, and was directed by the great Yimou Zhang.
Here is a fairly recent photo of the great actor:
I meant to blog previously to mark the passing of one of the starts of that movie, Ken Takakura, who passed away last November, aged 84. RIP.
Apparently he was known affectionately as the Japan's "Clint Eastwood" and "Ken-san".
His passing means that the director and all of the lead actors have left us, with the single exception of Keiko Kishi, who played Eiko.
My (late) New Year's resolution, therefore, is to watch his second last movie which was called "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles", was made in 2005, and was directed by the great Yimou Zhang.
Here is a fairly recent photo of the great actor:
Monday, 26 January 2015
U2 - At the height of their powers
It's kind of embarrassing as an Irish man not to be crazy about U2.
Don't get me wrong: I have always like some of their music, and admired what they have achieved. But I wasn't as mad about them as I knew I should be.
Especially as a fellow northsider!
But their new stuff has reached a new level. And their unplugged performances have been just amazing. Here are a few links:
The Miracle of Joey Ramone
Song for Someone
And here is an unplugged rendition of "Every Breaking Wave" which I think is a fabulous song:
Don't get me wrong: I have always like some of their music, and admired what they have achieved. But I wasn't as mad about them as I knew I should be.
Especially as a fellow northsider!
But their new stuff has reached a new level. And their unplugged performances have been just amazing. Here are a few links:
The Miracle of Joey Ramone
Song for Someone
And here is an unplugged rendition of "Every Breaking Wave" which I think is a fabulous song:
Sunday, 25 January 2015
Jack Reacher Novels
In my last post I mentioned how dissatisfied I was with the "wimpy" character of Hari Sheldon in Asimov's Foundation novels.
In a direct response to this, I decided to try reading a Jack Reacher novel (having seen, in the movie with Tom Cruise, that Reacher is not a wimpy character).
I started (as you do) with the first novel in the series. I really enjoyed it. Reacher is indeed a great antidote to Sheldon.
As I write I am nearly finished the tenth novel (isn't Kindle great!)
I read novel nine ("One Shot") on which the movie was based. I enjoyed the movie and then I enjoyed the book. Surprisingly the movie ends with a more "Jack Reacher" climax than the book does! Kudos to Christopher McQuarrie who wrote the screenplay).
It is an absolute pleasure to read about a character who is so capable and in control (almost) all of the time. And I love the way he constantly analyses everything going on around him. And he is so critical of himself when he doesn't figure everything out right away (even though he's much smarter than all of the people around him).
I see that Tome Cruise will be working on a second Reacher novel, apparently based on book 18, "Never Go Back". I know that fans of the series were upset when it was announced that Cruise was to play Reacher in the first movie (because of his stature if nothing else). Probably because I saw the movie first, I had no such reservations and I am looking forward to seeing the second movie. I hope I will have read the novel first but, at the rate I am going through them, I can't imagine that will be a problem.
To show just how little problem I have with Cruise's portrayal, I'll finish this post with a still from the movie:
In a direct response to this, I decided to try reading a Jack Reacher novel (having seen, in the movie with Tom Cruise, that Reacher is not a wimpy character).
I started (as you do) with the first novel in the series. I really enjoyed it. Reacher is indeed a great antidote to Sheldon.
As I write I am nearly finished the tenth novel (isn't Kindle great!)
I read novel nine ("One Shot") on which the movie was based. I enjoyed the movie and then I enjoyed the book. Surprisingly the movie ends with a more "Jack Reacher" climax than the book does! Kudos to Christopher McQuarrie who wrote the screenplay).
It is an absolute pleasure to read about a character who is so capable and in control (almost) all of the time. And I love the way he constantly analyses everything going on around him. And he is so critical of himself when he doesn't figure everything out right away (even though he's much smarter than all of the people around him).
I see that Tome Cruise will be working on a second Reacher novel, apparently based on book 18, "Never Go Back". I know that fans of the series were upset when it was announced that Cruise was to play Reacher in the first movie (because of his stature if nothing else). Probably because I saw the movie first, I had no such reservations and I am looking forward to seeing the second movie. I hope I will have read the novel first but, at the rate I am going through them, I can't imagine that will be a problem.
To show just how little problem I have with Cruise's portrayal, I'll finish this post with a still from the movie:
Looking Back: Asimov's Foundation Series
I mentioned in a previous post that I read Asimov's "Foundation Trilogy" when I was a kid and that I had decided to read all (15!) books in the series.
In September of last year I blogged that I was on the last book in the order in which I decided to read them: "Forward the Foundation".
The last two book, Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation, were, unfortunately, was the weakest books in the series in my opinion.
I was surprised to find the character of Hari Seldon very annoying. He seemed to spend the whole novel moaning and not knowing what to do.
And, as if that wasn't bad enough, the other main character, Dors Venabili, was even more annoying. I couldn't elaborate on what I thought of her without getting into spoilers.
So for me the last two books I read ended the series on a very low note. If you are planning to read the series then I would advise you to read these book in the right place in the chronology rather than leaving it for the end. You don't want to finish up that way.
So I read the 15 novels as I planned. And, to be frank, they did not live up to my expectations.I think the original three novels were actually the best.
In September of last year I blogged that I was on the last book in the order in which I decided to read them: "Forward the Foundation".
The last two book, Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation, were, unfortunately, was the weakest books in the series in my opinion.
I was surprised to find the character of Hari Seldon very annoying. He seemed to spend the whole novel moaning and not knowing what to do.
And, as if that wasn't bad enough, the other main character, Dors Venabili, was even more annoying. I couldn't elaborate on what I thought of her without getting into spoilers.
So for me the last two books I read ended the series on a very low note. If you are planning to read the series then I would advise you to read these book in the right place in the chronology rather than leaving it for the end. You don't want to finish up that way.
So I read the 15 novels as I planned. And, to be frank, they did not live up to my expectations.I think the original three novels were actually the best.
Outline of a Lady
I took the picture below the other day in our kitchen.
The curved line is a shadow cast by the power cable of our electric iron which was sitting on the ironing board (you can see a little of both in the picture). This is just the way it fell naturally.
I think it looks amazingly like the outline of a woman's head.
In fact, it reminds me of the young lady in Vermeer's "The Girl With The Pearl Earring".
The curved line is a shadow cast by the power cable of our electric iron which was sitting on the ironing board (you can see a little of both in the picture). This is just the way it fell naturally.
I think it looks amazingly like the outline of a woman's head.
In fact, it reminds me of the young lady in Vermeer's "The Girl With The Pearl Earring".
Stupid, Pointless Traffic Lights
In Ireland we have too many traffic lights.
As if that wasn't bad enough, we have stupid traffic lights.
The diagram below shows the sequence of 6 transitions that we have in a set of lights close to where I live. It is as you come to a T-junction (from the bottom of the letter if that makes sense).
The light spends most of its time in position 1 (red for us).
Then it goes to position 2 for a while, with a filter for cars turning left.
Then it goes through positions 3 and 4 on the way to 5: a full green.
Then it goes to position 6 on the way back to position 1.
Here's my point: positions 3 and 4 have no purpose whatsoever. They just stop the cars filtering left before allowing them to go again! The lights could go directly from 2 to 5. I'm sure in most counties they would do exactly that.
How is it possible that the people who designed and installed those light did not know that?
As if that wasn't bad enough, we have stupid traffic lights.
The diagram below shows the sequence of 6 transitions that we have in a set of lights close to where I live. It is as you come to a T-junction (from the bottom of the letter if that makes sense).
The light spends most of its time in position 1 (red for us).
Then it goes to position 2 for a while, with a filter for cars turning left.
Then it goes through positions 3 and 4 on the way to 5: a full green.
Then it goes to position 6 on the way back to position 1.
Here's my point: positions 3 and 4 have no purpose whatsoever. They just stop the cars filtering left before allowing them to go again! The lights could go directly from 2 to 5. I'm sure in most counties they would do exactly that.
How is it possible that the people who designed and installed those light did not know that?
Saturday, 24 January 2015
Microsoft Excel - Performance Opening and Saving
I recently discovered a way to help people who are experiencing performance problems opening and saving large Excel workbooks over a WAN connection.
The solution is to switch to a more efficient (smaller) file format. So instead of saving the workbooks as XLS or XLSX, you need to save them in XLSB format.
The "B" stands for binary, and it means that the file is saved in an optimal binary format, as it was before the trend to use XML to make file data more "open". So the files would be harder to read in other applications, but much faster to read by Excel.
XLSB format supports all of the functionality of the other file formats, including macro and VBA code.
And because the files are much smaller (down from 10 MB to 2 MB in one case I tested), they can be read/written over a WAN connection much more quickly.
One thing to watch out for, of course, is that you will be changing your filenames. So if you're using external links they you will have to reconnect them to the new filename. External links work faster too, of course.
Note: They may also be a problem with "Custom Ribbons" and "Personal.XLSB" which you need to watch out for but I have not experienced this.
The solution is to switch to a more efficient (smaller) file format. So instead of saving the workbooks as XLS or XLSX, you need to save them in XLSB format.
The "B" stands for binary, and it means that the file is saved in an optimal binary format, as it was before the trend to use XML to make file data more "open". So the files would be harder to read in other applications, but much faster to read by Excel.
XLSB format supports all of the functionality of the other file formats, including macro and VBA code.
And because the files are much smaller (down from 10 MB to 2 MB in one case I tested), they can be read/written over a WAN connection much more quickly.
One thing to watch out for, of course, is that you will be changing your filenames. So if you're using external links they you will have to reconnect them to the new filename. External links work faster too, of course.
Note: They may also be a problem with "Custom Ribbons" and "Personal.XLSB" which you need to watch out for but I have not experienced this.
Dan Fogelberg - Same Old Lang Syne - Truth or Fiction?
I mentioned in a recent post that the fabulous "Same Old Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg was based on a true story.
Here's a link to an article about Jill Greulich (née Anderson) who was the second player in that short Christmas Eve drama.
She tells that most (but not all) of the details were true.
Here's a link to an article about Jill Greulich (née Anderson) who was the second player in that short Christmas Eve drama.
She tells that most (but not all) of the details were true.
Sunday, 11 January 2015
Backing Up Your Blog
What would happen if you accessed your blog one day and all of the posts were going? Or the blog itself was gone?!
I don't know how likely this is, but I decided to make a back-up just in case.
I did this in two ways:
1) I exported the blog (using Settings, Other, Export Blog)
2) I used Wget to capture a copy of the blog
The command I used for this was as follows:
wget -rH -Dpetermccullagh.blogspot.ie,bp.blogspot.com -k -l 0 http://petermccullagh.blogspot.ie
The parameters are as follows:
-r tells Wget to work "recursively", i.e. to get the pages and files that are references in pages which it is processing
-H means that it is not limited to the same host. This was needed because my images (which I wanted to fetch) are on a different host
-D told Wget which hosts I wanted it to include. The second one is for the images
-k converts the links to refer to local (relative) addresses after the download
-l 0 turns on "infinite recursion", so Wget will fetch pages, which fetch pages, which fetch pages etc.
So now I have a local copy of my blog with relative links to other pages and images from the blog.
I don't know how likely this is, but I decided to make a back-up just in case.
I did this in two ways:
1) I exported the blog (using Settings, Other, Export Blog)
2) I used Wget to capture a copy of the blog
The command I used for this was as follows:
wget -rH -Dpetermccullagh.blogspot.ie,bp.blogspot.com -k -l 0 http://petermccullagh.blogspot.ie
The parameters are as follows:
-r tells Wget to work "recursively", i.e. to get the pages and files that are references in pages which it is processing
-H means that it is not limited to the same host. This was needed because my images (which I wanted to fetch) are on a different host
-D told Wget which hosts I wanted it to include. The second one is for the images
-k converts the links to refer to local (relative) addresses after the download
-l 0 turns on "infinite recursion", so Wget will fetch pages, which fetch pages, which fetch pages etc.
So now I have a local copy of my blog with relative links to other pages and images from the blog.
Ray D'Arcy leaves Today FM
I blogged last year about the incomparable pairing of Ian Dempsey and Ray D'Arcy on Today FM. Ian and Ray are Ireland's two best radio presenters (don't make me pick which of them is #1!)
Imagine my surprise then when it was announced that Ray has left Today FM and will be rejoining RTE. He is going to present an afternoon (3 PM) show on RTE Radio 1 starting on the 2nd of February. Apparently he's going to do TV work too.
I think the 9 AM slow on Today FM worked well with Ray presenting. I remain to be convinced that a 3 PM slow will work as well.
This is a HUGE blow for Today FM. I hope they will be able to recover from it.
Imagine my surprise then when it was announced that Ray has left Today FM and will be rejoining RTE. He is going to present an afternoon (3 PM) show on RTE Radio 1 starting on the 2nd of February. Apparently he's going to do TV work too.
I think the 9 AM slow on Today FM worked well with Ray presenting. I remain to be convinced that a 3 PM slow will work as well.
This is a HUGE blow for Today FM. I hope they will be able to recover from it.
Christmas FM signs off for 2014
Christmas FM signed off at 7 PM on St. Stephen's Day.
We were listening to them when they started and we were listening again when they closed down.
They did a great job again this year.
Apparently they reached their target for their chosen charity. The following was one of their last messages on Facebook:
"And we have just got word that we achieved our overall monthly target of raising €100,000 to enable Age Action our 2014 Charity Partner to carry out 30,000 home care & repair jobs and visits for older people who need help across Ireland".
Well done to everyone involved. Look forward to listening to you in Christmas 2015.
We were listening to them when they started and we were listening again when they closed down.
They did a great job again this year.
Apparently they reached their target for their chosen charity. The following was one of their last messages on Facebook:
"And we have just got word that we achieved our overall monthly target of raising €100,000 to enable Age Action our 2014 Charity Partner to carry out 30,000 home care & repair jobs and visits for older people who need help across Ireland".
Well done to everyone involved. Look forward to listening to you in Christmas 2015.
Progress on getting the Fry Model Railway to Casino in Malahide
In August of 2013 I mentioned that there were hopes that the Fry model Railway might re-open in Malahide (in Casino specifically) during 2014. Unfortunately that did not come to pass
But just before Christmas, Fingal Country Council took possession of the building and apparently there are now hopes that the project could be completed in 2015.
So progess has been slow but hopefully Micháel Gaffney's wishes will come to fruition later this year.
But just before Christmas, Fingal Country Council took possession of the building and apparently there are now hopes that the project could be completed in 2015.
So progess has been slow but hopefully Micháel Gaffney's wishes will come to fruition later this year.
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