Situally

Treasure Island Music Festival

2011-10-01T17:44:00.001+01:00

Every year I receive emails from the Treasure Island Music Festival organisers convincing me to return. I attended in 2009; it was my first music festival, and I honestly don't think there could have been a better intro to the world of live music.

Everything about this festival was so perfectly Californian. It's held on an island in the Bay Area over a single weekend. There was more here than just the music (although the music, of course, was the main attraction); there were star-shaped cushions for relaxing, a communal art patch, gymnasts, a Ferris wheel, free hair cuts, stalls, and so much more.

Pink star-shaped cushions!

Gymnasts!

Giant balloon chain!

Ferris wheel!

Everything about the festival was so quirky. There were three people driving muffin-shaped vehicles. I was waiting in line to use a port-a-loo and what should emerge? A stormtrooper. There were people hula-hooping to the music. Everyone was high as a kite. At one point there were people dressed in strange creature costumes dancing down the main 'street' on the island. A friend of mine wasn't able to see one of the acts so I tried to lift her onto my shoulders; rather than worrying that they wouldn't be able to see, the person behind helped her up and said "Hey! That's a good idea!" and lifted his shorter friend on his shoulders. Before you knew it people were popping up throughout the crowd.

Muffin-shaped vehicles

Creature costumes

The big acts of the day I was on the island were Passion Pit, Girl Talk, and MGMT (the final act). Girl Talk did a good job of involving the crowd in the act. They threw large balloons into the crowd, they launched streams of toilet roll over everyone, asked people to dance on stage, and extended large plastic tubes which, it seems, were intended to be popped.

MGMT seemed to draw the largest crowd of the day and was a great way to end the festival. Their act relied on a big light show with lots of complementing and contrasting colours.

MGMT

Everything about this festival drove home to me how unique the culture of California is, even in relation to the US itself. It could well be a country in and of itself. The people at this festival all seemed to be of the mindset to ensure everyone had a good time; everyone was friendly and willing to have a conversation and all seemed to be in tune with each other. It was quite an experience, and not one I'll soon forget. The 2011 festival will be rolling around in the next couple of weeks; anyone close enough should definitely consider going for at least a day!

We the People...

2011-09-30T17:01:00.002+01:00

Continuing from the previous post about Hailey, Idaho, I wanted in this post to concentrate on the people.

When I say I want to concentrate on the people, what I really want to do is talk about Americans in general. The superpower status of the US naturally gains a lot of interest and generates a lot of opinion globally. The American stereotype, whether justified or not, tends to be one of arrogance, loudness, ignorance, and laziness. While there are undoubtedly people with this sort of personality, this is certainly not the description I would ascribe to the overwhelming majority of people I've met from the States.

During the year I lived abroad, I studied at a prestigious liberal arts college. The people I met there directly countered the stereotype and showed me the best America has to offer in terms of its people. All this said, I met the extended family of a few of them and had plenty of opportunity to meet people outside of the college environment.

Dormitory at said college

Visiting Hailey really brought thoughts of American people to the fore of my mind for the remainder of my year in the States. What I found was sensitivity, generosity, curiosity, and emotional openness like I've never experienced. Perhaps the personalities I saw were distorted because of the nature of my foreignness, but a few of the families I stayed with hosted me for weeks; I would say it would be impossible to convincingly feign a chosen personality for so long.

Here's an example of some common American kindness I experienced in the States. While waiting for my friend's dad to pick me up from Sun Valley, I waited outside a grocery store. I was only waiting for 20 minutes but I was asked by no fewer than three people if I needed a lift or if I was OK. It was fairly cool outside at this point and I wasn't wearing a coat, so employees in the store kept coming out to make sure I wasn't cold and to tell me that I was more than welcome to wait in the store if I wanted.

I have so many examples of the good qualities of humanity shining through from all of the families that I visited in the USA.

I want to directly argue against the American stereotype. People aren't arrogant, they're confident and principled. People aren't loud; it is part of the American mindset that sharing one's opinion isn't a bad thing, and that as long as one can reasonably justify one's opinion, one is perfectly entitled to it, even if it's an uncommon opinion. I found that most of the people I met had taken time to form an opinion on important matters and were more than willing to share that opinion with anyone that cared to ask.

I wouldn't say Americans are particularly ignorant on a global scale. As an example, I think that a person who is intimately familiar with their own political system, let alone another country's, is hard to come by. What I found was a deep interest in how the political system of the UK worked. There was some confusion as to the difference between England, Britain, and the UK, but I would be willing to bet that a good portion of people living in any one (or all) of those regions wouldn't be able to describe the difference. What I did see was a desire to understand the difference. Perhaps this is where the ignorant stereotype comes from; Americans ask questions if they don't understand, while the rest of the world might remain quiet rather than risk making a fool of themselves.

I didn't see laziness, I saw a lot of very laid-back people. I was living in California which seems to abhor stress and fast movements in most forms, so perhaps my perception here is skewed. It made me realise that a good portion of life is only stressful if you let it be. Things DO tend to work themselves out. It's OK to drop some problems in preference of more important and pressing issues. This state of mind was a long time coming for me; I always got very stressed about deadlines and any pressing matters, but I've managed to balance that out with making sure I enjoy my life as I go.

Laid back on Venice Beach

Everything I saw in the Americans I met I directly contrasted with my own personality. I saw a different way of life and took on board desirable aspects to help improve myself. The American stereotype clearly isn't as applicable as its reputation would let on.

For anyone interested, here's the difference between England, Britain, and the UK. The UK is a sovereign unitary state, meaning it is a country in its own right with a central supreme government that can delegate powers to administrative regions (contrast with a federation). It is, confusingly, comprised of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Britain refers to the largest island of the British Isles, but can also be politically described as the territory formed by the combination of England, Scotland, and Wales, although these countries do contain other smaller islands politically speaking.

Potatoes and Pumpkins

2011-09-29T19:30:00.001+01:00

I've visited 14 US states in my multiple visits across the Pond, plus Washington, D.C. (which, as we all know, is a special administrative district and not part of any state). Of these, Idaho had something truly special to offer. That's not to say that some of the others didn't, but my experience in Idaho certainly beat its reputation as a 'fly-by' state into the ground.

A friend from the American college at which I studied for the year invited me to stay with her in her town of Hailey for Thanksgiving. It was inherently a very generous offer; Thanksgiving is often thought of as a time for family. But it was more than that because, if my friend hadn't invited me, I may have ended up spending the quintessential American holiday alone.

Hailey

This was my first flight from one part of a country to another part of the same country. It's when one starts flying between states that one realises how truly vast the USA is. I connected through Phoenix in Arizona and flew from there to Boise. This took me directly over the Grand Canyon; I never actually made it there, so the view from the plane is all I have. It was absolutely fantastic though; the pilot announced as we flew over it, not a cloud to obscure the view.

The trip from Boise to Hailey connected via Sun Valley, a famous ski-resort near to Hailey. The shuttle from Boise to Sun Valley took about three hours to make the journey, but I was nicely stuck into Ender's Game, so I barely noticed the time pass. Occasionally I popped my head up to take note of the increasingly magnificent snow-laden surroundings.

My friend's dad picked me up from Sun Valley and took me to their gorgeous home in Hailey. I mean it when I say that Hailey is the most beautiful town I've ever visited. The population is around 8000, but one could easily be forgiven for thinking it was far lower than this. My friend's house was nestled in the mountains and surrounded by evergreen forest. The mailboxes for the neighbourhood were lined up on the main road. The air felt so fresh in my lungs compared to the heavy atmosphere of the LA basin.

The view from just outside the house

I could really go on and on about this trip, but what I really wanted to share for now were photos of the area in which I stayed. One morning my friend, her sister, and I took a ski-lift to the top of one of the mountains in the Sawtooth range. There's a restaurant at top with an all-you-can-eat buffet for breakfast. The views were absolutely stunning and the photos I took are among my favourites.

These photos should be convincing enough to anyone that Idaho is well worth a visit, if not for these stunning views alone.

Advantages of a Long-Distance Relationship Part IV

2011-09-28T20:01:00.000+01:00

This is the final part to this relationship series at this time, but I may think of more to add in the future. Keep coming back to see if there are any additions, or follow by email or Twitter for updates!

Time to Think

Taken from Retail: Shaken Not Stirred

Long-distance relationships, like any relationship, aren't immune to disagreements and arguments. In fact, if one or both partners aren't in the right mindset, then they can be dangerously prone to them. The advantage of being physically separate can be a blessing in situations where your views or opinions differ.

If a disagreement arises the two of you can choose not to talk about it at the present moment. Ending a video chat is a lot easier than walking out of the house and finding something to do in the mean time. While there is something to be said for making sure the problem is discussed when it becomes a problem, a lot of the time the opposite can be true. Ending the chat means you can have some time to cool off. You can think about the disagreement and write a carefully-considered email to your partner. That will give the two of you something to talk about the next time you chat and avoids flippant comments made in the heat of the moment.

The problem doesn't necessarily need to arise in conversation. There might be something you've had on your mind for some time but haven't been able to bring yourself to discuss it. I know it's difficult for me to talk about things when I know that it's likely to upset my girlfriend; sometimes such discussions are necessary. In these sorts of situations I find it much easier to write an email. Doing such allows me to be a lot more careful with my words so as to minimise upset and to convey the issue in the most coherent manner I can muster. The frequency of misunderstanding is reduced and the issue is a lot easier to understand.

Of course, face time shouldn't be avoided completely with any issues the two of you might have. It's important to know how you're making your partner feel and the only way to know for sure is to see them when they're talking about it. It's all too easy to hide behind the carefully chosen words in an email.

Time to Prepare Surprises

As detailed in part II of this series, you'll have a lot of time that you can use constructively for the relationship. Since you don't have to worry about your partner dropping in unexpectedly or getting curious about any suspicious activity, you can easily prepare a surprise for them. This isn't such a luxury for couples that spend copious amounts of time together very regularly, as any sudden desire to have time to prepare such a surprise won't go unnoticed.

I've recently prepared a gift for my girlfriend and it's in the mail right now! It took a fair amount of time to prepare and it would have taken a lot longer if I had to hide what was happening beyond not sharing details with her.

Taken from HubPages

I'll wrap up the series with a quote that I think summarises everything said over the past few days very nicely:

“It has been said that we need just three things in life: something to do, something to look forward to, and someone to love.”

Advantages of a Long-Distance Relationship Part III

2011-09-27T20:33:00.002+01:00

The First Meeting

Something I've realised about the time I have with my girlfriend is that all emotions are enhanced. The reason why is clear: you both want everything to be perfect. When they are, that's amazing because it's living up to all of your expectations and you can see all of the effort you've been putting in paying off. When they're not, you worry about wasting what precious little time you have with your partner on these negative emotions; that makes you impatient and annoyed with the situation. While it's important to keep these peaks and troughs in check, this is not the main point I want to make.

Keeping in mind those terrific highs, anyone seeing their partner for the first time in months will be truly ecstatic. I still get anxious in the days preceding a flight to see my girlfriend, or on days preceding her visit. In fact, it is the thought of these days that pulls me through the months of separation! A short term goal is a good thing to have in mind.

After spending hours a day talking to my girlfriend for months on end, the moment I see her come through the gates, or the moment I walk through the gates, leaves me speechless. All we can do is smile at each other. It makes all those months waiting worthwhile.

This sort of moment is a regular occurrence for many long-distance couples and the magnitude of the relief of being with your loved one again is not an emotion easily emulated for other couples.

“If I never met you, I wouldn't like you. If I didn't like you, I wouldn't love you. If I didn't love you, I wouldn't miss you. But I did, I do, and I will.”

Excuses to Travel

Being in a long-distance relationship tends to imply that your partner is living a long way from you. Perhaps they live in another part of the country, in another country, or even on another continent. Whatever the case, chances are that when one of you visits the other, there are opportunities to see and experience a part of the world that you don't often see! As mentioned in a previous post, I live in the UK and my girlfriend lives in the USA, so we often take a decent number of days out of the month or so that we have together to visit different areas of the country.

I once heard that the best way to get to know America is to date an American girl. I can certainly testify to that! But I think the sentiment can be applied to all genders and all regions of the world. You will definitely learn a lot about said region.

Our hands on the US Capitol Building!

In addition to all of the opportunities open to you from travelling, it also gives you a lot to talk about with your partner. My girlfriend and I are always affectionately mocking the other's culture. (That's how we justify it at least.) We're fascinated by how we each talk and are interested to hear and discuss what's happening in the respective countries.

A Great Story

This is linked with the previous point. With all of that travelling you're likely to gain some great stories; a particular landmark you visited, or a particular cultural misunderstanding! I will never forget the time my girlfriend looked at me as she was paying for a sausage roll in a bakery in the UK and held some coins up to my face. She said, with the baker watching and listening intently, "Are these all right to use?". I don't know if I was more amused by the question or by the baker's face. I have plenty of similar stories of myself making the cultural error!

How the two of you met or, more specifically, how you ended up in the long-distance stage of the relationship can often be a very interesting story to tell. I've had a few friends say individually "It's like a fairy-tale!" after I've told them how my girlfriend and I ended up in the situation we are today. It's when people say things like that to me that I think of all of the advantages I enjoy in this kind of relationship.

That's us, the Sun, and New York

The next post will be the final part to this particular relationship series!

Advantages of a Long-Distance Relationship Part II

2011-09-26T20:35:00.001+01:00

Maintaining Individuality

Being apart from your partner allows pursuing personal interests without the worry that you're not concentrating enough on the relationship. My girlfriend and I try to talk for an hour a day as a baseline (although this varies, of course, according to how our schedules line up); that means the majority of the day isn't spent engaged with her.

What I want to emphasise here is not that every moment not spent with your partner should be spent on pursuing your own hobbies, but that there is allowance for that! Being apart from each other naturally means that the majority of time is spent with other people and elsewhere; it's easy in any other relationship to become so wrapped up with each other that other relationships or facets of your life can suffer. But in a long-distance relationship, spending an entire day with each other is just not feasible. You can only talk for so long!

Taken from Passion Prevails

My girlfriend summarised this quite nicely while I was discussing it with her: "Bitch, please! You don't own me!"

Motivation

The prospect of a successful and lasting relationship can be good motivation to do that thing you always thought of doing but could never bring yourself to do it. Studying extra hard so you're more likely to get a good job coming out of college, with which you can afford a nice apartment to share with your partner and buy some nice things... It's the sort of thing I like thinking about anyway!

Taken from Soshable

This brings me nicely onto my next point...

Personal Development

This almost walks hand-in-hand with the above two. Why not use all of that time not spent engaged with each other constructively? I constantly try to think of ways to make myself better so that the relationship benefits, as mentioned with the studying. Work on developing a new skill or working some extra hours so that, when you are together, you can show the fruits of your labours to your partner in a way that's supportive to the relationship, like going on holiday or writing them a poem.

Taken from Healthy Lifestyle Plus

The point I'm trying to make in this post is, even though you don't get to spend as much time as you'd like with your partner in a long-distance relationship, a good portion of that time can be spent making sure that the relationship is stable and has a good future ahead of it. Keeping yourself active and motivated is a good way to stay happy and healthy generally, and incorporating your relationship into it will benefit the both of you. All of this said, don't forget to spend some time on just you. That's what the first point was all about!

Advantages of a Long-Distance Relationship Part I

2011-09-25T16:49:00.000+01:00

I've been in a long-distance relationship for nearly a year and a half now. As mentioned in my first post, it spans thousands of miles; she lives in the USA, and I live in the UK. We're both full time students so the free time we have is often limited.

Neither of us would pretend that what we do is easy, but we would also be more than willing to say that is better than any relationship that was based a little closer to home. There are a lot of advantages to being in a long-distance relationship and that will be the focus of my posts over the next few days. In the future I'll give some tips to help minimise any negative feelings you might have about your long-distance relationship, but for now, let's focus on the positives!

Emotional Understanding

The physical elements of a relationship are, by the nature of long-distance, impossible to continue while separate. What this allows is a greater development of the emotional aspects of the relationship.

You're forced (although forced is a bad way to think about it - enabled is a better word) to develop limited facets of the relationship while separated. I consider this to be an advantage - all of your efforts are concentrated on communication and emotionally sharing yourself with your partner. It seems obvious to me once I'm with my girlfriend after spending months apart how much our emotional bond has strengthened. We're more comfortable with each other, much more equipped to communicate the things we're feeling, and more in love than ever. Those months enabled us to enjoy ourselves magnitudes more when we were finally brought together again.

You can think of the time apart as an opportunity; an opportunity to see just how strong the level of emotion one can elicit in each other with words alone. Every conversation is a chance to learn something new about your partner, because discussing what's for dinner normally isn't overly interesting when the meal isn't being shared. That said, don't underestimate that small talk can often be a welcome break from deep conversation! I'm happy to hear if my girlfriend has had a particularly good or bad meal; she has quite a way of telling stories with a flare and quirkiness that makes everything interesting. Everything your partner says is an insight into their mind; you will never truly see everything they see, but that shouldn't make trying any less worthy. As George Gissing said:

“It is the mind which creates the world around us, and even though we stand side by side in the same meadow, my eyes will never see what is beheld by yours, my heart will never stir to the emotions with which yours is touched.”

The reality of the fact saddens me a little, but what it instils in me to a greater extent is my determination to diminish its truth as much as possible.

The long and short of this post is: talking is probably going to be 99% of what you and your partner do when apart, so learn how to do it well and make the most of it!

7 Features for Windows 7

2011-09-23T17:53:00.000+01:00

Continuing in yesterday's vein, I've decided to focus this post on some features that are present in Windows 7 and are available to help you customise and streamline your system. These features often go unnoticed but, to those wishing to take control of their operating system, are necessary.

Some of these features have been present in previous versions of Windows so if you aren't running Windows 7 you may still be able to find and use them!

Once more in no particular order, here are 7 features for Windows 7.

1) System Tools

System tools can be accessed via Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools. There are two in particular I want to discuss in this section: defragmentation and disk clean-up.

Disk defrag has become more visible in the new version of Windows, but it may still be overlooked. Fragmentation is the term applied to the inability of your computer to lay out related data in physically continuous regions on the hard drive. This reduces access time to the hard drive and therefore any programs that rely on this (most!). Defragmentation then rearranges the data so that regions that are regularly accessed in sequence are adjacent to each other. This improves system performance and often frees up some space in the process! Defrag also uses a process called compaction, which prevents the onset of more fragmentation. There's no reason not to do it. With Windows 7, disk defrag can be scheduled to run regularly.

There are a number of precautions you may want to take before defragmenting. Here's a bonus feature: CHKDSK.exe. Searching 'chkdsk' using the search bar in the Start menu will reveal the tool. This checks your hard drive for any problems and attempts to fix any that it finds. Running this before defrag is a good idea. You should probably also back up any files and make sure you have a continuous power supply. The defragmentation can take some time!

Disk clean-up does just what it says on the tin. It checks temporary files, the recycle bin, and other similar locations and clears anything you wish to be emptied. CCleaner does this and more; see yesterday's post for details about CCleaner.

2) regedit

In a Windows OS, the registry is a database storing configuration settings and options. It's vital for the correct operation of your computer and the regedit tool allows you to access and alter it.

This tool can be potentially dangerous. I wouldn't recommend doing anything but look if you don't know what you're doing or are following some well-written instructions. An example of when you might want to access the registry is to fix a bug in some software you're using without having to download a big fix or a new version.

CCleaner can perform registry maintenance tasks for you so you don't need to worry about finding unneeded or damaged registry entries yourself. See yesterday's post for more information about that!

Access regedit by entering regedit into the search bar in the Start menu.

3) DxDiag

DxDiag is a system diagnostic tool. It shows you system details like processor speed, available RAM, graphics card (or chip) etc. You can also perform graphics tests if you suspect that you have a problem on that front.

Access DxDiag by entering dxdiag into the search bar in the Start menu.

4) GodMode

Windows offers a lot of built-in customisation options but they are strewn throughout multiple menus and it's not possible, by default, to see them all in one place. GodMode changes that.

To enable GodMode is easy but not something that would be discovered by mistake! Simply create a new folder and change its name to:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

The folder icon will then change so that it looks like the Control Panel icon. This feature only works for sure in Windows 7 and 32-bit Windows Vista. Those operating 64-bit Windows Vista may experience problems.

From this menu you can change pretty much any setting you can think of and many of the tools discussed here are also available here. I would recommend having a good mooch through this list!

5) msconfig

Entering msconfig into the search bar in the Start menu will launch the System Configuration tool. From here you can manage processes that launch on system startup and alter other boot settings. This is useful for those trying to cut down on their boot time; there are often many processes that try to launch on startup unnecessarily. For example, you may not use iTunes every day; in which case, it makes little sense to have it taking up system resources and startup time, so you can disable it in the Startup tab.

6) Program Files and Program Files (x86)

This is a feature unique to 64-bit Windows 7. Instead of the usual single Program Files folder, you are provided with two, one of which carries the (x86) suffix. The difference between the two is that the x86 version contains all 32-bit programs, and the other contains 64-bit programs. What the difference is here is beyond the scope of the post, but the majority of programs that you are likely to install will be 32-bit. Occasionally a program will install two versions of itself in both directories, one a 32-bit version and the other a 64-bit version. Internet Explorer does this, for example.

You can't just delete one and keep the other. Deleting Internet Explorer from one directory also deletes it from the other. Keeping the 64-bit version would prevent you from viewing much of the non-64-bit compatible web.

7) Computer Management

Clicking Start and then right clicking on Computer reveals a context menu. Selecting Manage from this menu launches the Computer Management window.

There's so much available in this window. Of particular note are the Task Scheduler and Disk Management functions. The former allows you to launch particular processes at particular times. You will find that there are already a lot of tasks scheduled automatically. The latter allows you to view and edit partitions on your hard drive(s). Both of these functions deserve a lot more time to explain but, once more, that is beyond the scope of this post!

10 Free and Useful Applications for Windows

2011-09-22T22:17:00.001+01:00

We all know Windows can sometimes be finicky; I wouldn’twant to start any arguments by indicating otherwise. But I’m sure this is trueof any operating system. I happen to have used Windows all my life and havetried and tested numerous applications to help me get my Windows operatingsystem working the way I want it. I have very few problems now that I’velearned a few tricks.

I’ve compiled a list of applications that will help secureyour system, improve system performance, and expand functionality. Not all ofthese programs are Windows-specific, but they do often improve upon ‘as-shipped’Windows programs; some may not realise the alternatives to much Windowssoftware. This is by no means a definitive list; beyond all else I just want toadvertise the existence of some software that I find particularly useful!

So, without further ado and in no particular order, here are 10 FREE applications todownload and install to improve your Windows experience.

1) AVG Antivirus Free Edition

One of the major critiques of Windows is its seemingly poorsecurity compared to other operating systems. Part of this is poor bundledsoftware, but another major contributor is the fact that most malwarespecifically targets Windows operating systems.

What I want to prove to you is that a secure system isattainable using just free software. The program combination I am about topoint out to you has served me incredibly well over the past 7 years or so; Ihave suffered no major malware problems and my computer always runs smoothly andeffectively. These programs in combination offer as much as any basic securitysoftware you might pay for.

The first step is an antivirus program. AVG have always hada free edition of their software available for download and it comes with somegreat features: a sophisticated scan scheduler, targeted scans, active ID protection, and what the makers call 'LinkScanner' so that you know whether that link you're about to click on has anything bad behind!

2) Spybot Search & Destroy

The next step in the security quad-force is to reduce spywareattacks. Spybot S&D have, like AVG, always offered a totally free version. In fact, I don't think there's a version that you can pay for - the company is supported completely by donations. It is important to protect against spyware as many antivirus applications won't detect it; see the Spybot S&D website for information about spyware.

Spybot S&D offers a real-time registry monitor thatdetects attacks as they are happening. It also benefits from regular updates.Unfortunately, you have to update the software yourself; no auto-update featureexists. This can make it difficult to keep up to date, but the protection itoffers is still superb.

3) AdAware SE Personal

The third step is to protect yourself against adware. Adware, while the least threatening and harmful type of malware, can be incredibly annoying. Its intention is to advertise some product, site, or anything else to you, be that through video, files, pop-ups, whatever the author cooked up. This software is therefore to protect against annoyance more than harm.

4) ZoneAlarm

While the Windows firewall has been greatly improved since it was first introduced in XP (and has received numerous advanced additions in Windows 7), there is a particular free firewall which exceeds even many paid ones: ZoneAlarm completes the free security suite.

ZoneAlarm effectively makes you invisible while you're surfing the web and offers active protection against spyware. ZoneAlarm teamed up with the previous three applications will provide you with incredible protection against the vast majority of threats.

5) Fences

Fences offers a way to organise your desktop. We have all, at some point or another, fallen victim to the cluttered desktop. With Fences you can designate a resizeable and customizable 'fence'. Double-clicking anywhere on the empty desktop will also hide everything on the desktop so that all you can see is your wallpaper. Instantly clean! Simply double-click again to unhide everything.

6) WinDirStat

WinDirStat stands for "Windows Directory Statistics". This tool analyses any specified drives and displays a colour-coded mosaic which graphically displays which files are taking up most space on your system. This makes it incredibly easy to identify the fatty files if you're trying to make some space on your hard drive, for example. It takes a little while to do the analysis, but you'll soon be able to quickly identify and delete swathes of unwanted or unneeded files.

7) CCleaner

CCleaner, affectionately called "Crap Cleaner" by its users, does just that. It has options for clearing files accumulated from browsing (including your history), emptying your recycle bin, fixing problems in the registry, wiping drives, restoring your system, uninstalling programs and more. It works very quickly and effectively and is indispensable for anyone trying to keep a clean and smooth-running system.

8) GIMP

GIMP is the GNU (pronounced guh-nuu) Image Manipulation Program. It's like a free, watered-down version of Photoshop that works on many platforms and in many languages. GIMP is great for photo retouching and image effects and is better than any packaged software that generally applies image-wide effects. With GIMP you can edit individual pixels, if that's what you want! It supports layers and alpha channels (i.e., invisible bits), just like much professional image editing software.

9) VLC Media Player

VLC is the ultimate media player. It can play any audio or video file that you can think of. It offers great features like switching audio tracks, syncing audio tracks, switching subtitles, rotating and cropping video as you watch it, adding text, frame-by-frame playback, and more. It can play CDs, DVDs, as well as the usual downloaded files. It can even convert between different types of audio files. And that barely dents the surface of the masses of features that VLC has to offer. Get rid of Media Player, QuickTime, RealPlayer... whatever you might be using now, get rid of it all. VLC can do whatever that does plus more, and it's absolutely free.

10) jZip

jZip is sort of the VLC of the file compression world. All of those different types of compressed file archives (.zip, .rar, .tar, .7z... the list goes on) can all be opened and created with jZip. And it's free. Kicks the pants off of WinZip. Everything you wanted, in a small package - saves you space and time.

Note that jZip seems to throw a false positive with AdAware SE Personal. I can see no reason not to trust this software having allowed it past AdAware.

Yr Wyddfa

2011-09-21T20:24:00.000+01:00

Since I may have even slightly knocked Wales in my previous post, I thought it would be worth making sure the country is given its due. Wales perhaps isn't one of the best known countries internationally; indeed, one of the many amusing questions I was asked while living in the States 2009-10 was "What's Wales?". It should definitely enjoy a more extravagant reputation than it does.

Wales throws me back to a different period in British history. The land is relatively untouched (compared to much of England, at least), there are fewer people around (just three million, compared to England's 51 million), and the terrain is harsher. Even the language (Welsh is having a resurgence) is more akin to Old English.

Wales' greatest attraction to me is the gorgeous landscape. Of particular note is the national park Snowdonia, in which lies Britain's tallest mountain south of the Scottish highlands, Mount Snowdon. The title of the post gives its Welsh name: Yr Wyddfa (uhr with-va). It is 1085m tall and one path up the mountain from the nearby town of Llanberis is a relatively easy climb taking 2-3 hours to get to the peak. (On a side note, two 'l's together in Welsh signifies a sound not present in English).

Below are some photos I took from the walk.

There's also a steam train that travels to the top of the mountain and down again if you fancy the views but not the walk! It was just about to start raining when we reached the top and we luckily got a spot on the next train down.

So if you're in the UK, Snowdonia is definitely worth a visit. Even more generally, don't miss out on Wales, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau.

That ain't no tree!

2011-09-20T22:36:00.002+01:00

It took me a surprisingly long time to watch a sunset to completion. The first that I watched was in Aber Mawr in South Pembrokeshire, Wales. The clouds covered the horizon so I didn't get to see the Sun disappear below the sea.

One of the most magnificent that I've seen, however, was in the Mojave Desert, California. The below video was taken at a location called Jumbo Rock in the Joshua Tree National Park. A couple of friends and I ate our dinner on top of a large rock while admiring the surroundings. It's all I could have asked from a day during my Spring Break, and then some!

Joshua Tree is such a fantastic National Park. Being from Europe, I'd never set foot in a desert so this was a first for me. I've returned once more since because there's just so much to see. There are mountains for climbing, rocks for scrambling, oases to admire, as well as gorgeous views like the above. The trees that the national park is named after are also fascinating to look at. Below are some pictures that I took in a region near to the above sunset.

I would have loved to have spent more time in the area. There are plenty of camp sites about for anyone who wants to stay in the desert, although one does lose the allure of 'wilderness' when you're surrounded by several other families.

The area truly changed my preconceptions of deserts and the few hours I spent there have left a lasting impression on my memory. I'm sure I'll return to this place in the future and look back fondly on my one and only Spring Break.

The Stars Snuffed

2011-09-19T20:43:00.000+01:00

Erasure as an art has a simple enough premise; take an existing written work and remove content to produce your own piece. This is typically some form of poem, but it could be interpreted instead as a prose, disjointed though it may be.

I produced a piece just under two years ago utilising this art form. I must admit it was rather simple to produce this piece from a small section of my favourite science fiction story "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov. This short story deserves discussion in and of itself, but that's another post! In the piece I've left the original prose faintly visible and the result of the erasure is therefore in situ. I prefer this to other methods of arranging the result into stanzas because it adds an element of space to a piece that originally had none. In an art form that inherently comes under attack for lacking originality, it's important to run with what you can! There is some semblance of a story-within-a-story if read from left-to-right, top-to-bottom, but collections of words seem to have grouped themselves in density or diffusivity (with the fonts helping to unify them in the latter case). I say 'seemed'; the story section was copied and pasted into a document with arbitrary font size and margins, so the layout of words on the page was originally random.

Rather than leave the font untouched, I utilised my (admittedly limited) knowledge of typography to add a little more character to the piece.

Erasure raises a question of originality and creativity. Do these concepts exist any more? How limited is their existence in a world where we are battered by ideas and images minute by minute? I don't believe that pure creative thought and originality is ultimately lacking in the arts. (One could extend this to all facets of life.)

Let us take the example of quotation; even though quotes come from a source not immediately relevant to contemporary culture, one can extend their meaning to be relevant. One does not need to be reminded of the past; one simply needs to apply the deeper meaning of the quotes in context. While one cannot claim originality on the quote, one can claim originality on its context.

An idea may consciously be procured from another, or unconsciously, which is attributed to the condition known as ‘cryptomnesia.’ I would disagree that originality and appropriations are one and the same, but I will agree that one’s creativity is an amalgamation of the two; I think it is possible to create purely unique works of art, to create purely plagiarised works (but then would argue whether they are truly ‘created’), and to create works that borrow ideas but use ones creativity to change the work slightly. Of course, it is difficult to identify what is truly original if one is unconscious of the plagiarism!

Purely original ideas may be rare, but critics of originality may give creators less credit than they're due. Take the above piece as an example. The beauty of grammar and syntax is that one can use a finite set of structures and rules to create an infinite number of sentences. Add to this the numerous contexts in which those sentences can lie and it is difficult to deny the piece originality! Many surreal pieces, I’m sure, will be the first manifestations of a particular thought. Putting any object in an out of place context is not a normal thought someone would have and given the huge number of objects and possible contexts, one can see there are a very large number of possible thoughts as simple as a laptop on a toilet. However, I recognise that even the most abstract of pieces can have its origins elsewhere; an example is Dali’s La persistencia de la memoria. Dali supposedly was influenced by Einstein’s theory of general relativity and the melting clocks a metaphor for the distortion of time in this theory.

I think the idea of cryptomnesia is an interesting one. It instantly instilled in me this thought: are purely original works of art decreasing in frequency? One can argue from many different directions. One can say no simply on mathematical grounds: there are many more people in the world now than before, so one would expect that more original ideas will be spawned. However, one could also argue that many original thoughts have been manifested, so it is more likely that one would produce a work with an unconscious influence than before. Add to this the huge influence of the media and the fact that information is more readily available to most people on the planet, and the grounds for unconscious plagiarism are great.

I do believe that purely original works are decreasing in frequency, but I also think that there are an infinite number of original thoughts. These thoughts are limited by our understanding of the Universe around us; a primitive human may have had a very basic understanding of the world and as such their abstractions may seem ordinary to us (imagine explaining electricity to someone who had never encountered it before.) As our understanding grows, so too does the grounds for new abstractions, new thoughts and therefore originality.

Method or meaning?

2011-09-18T21:37:00.000+01:00

Is science driven by the desire to produce useful results, or is it driven by a desire to reveal the true and ultimate nature of the universe?

Orion Nebula

This may be more an examination of human nature than anything; I would like to say it is an examination of science, but science, as we know it, is a product of humanity and therefore its essence is in human nature, as much as anyone would like to separate the two. I think it's safe to say that the scientific method doesn't distinguish between the previous two 'desires' in its operation, but its application by human scientists will have a definite motivation.

My belief is that all scientists have, at their heart, a curiosity that wants to reveal the unknown whether or not what is revealed is of any consequence to anyone in the world at this moment in time. As Aristotle said:

"All men by nature desire to know."

The issue I wish to explore here is not whether one motive exists in place of another (or, indeed, that these are the only motives for discovery worth considering), but what is the primary motive. I believe the simple desire for knowledge is the primary motive.

But let's consider science in its modern context. Scientists aren't renowned for extraordinarily large salaries, but a science degree is certainly broadly applicable enough to make a well-paid job a more likely outcome. Perhaps the scientific drive, then, is a drive for an easy life. In addition to this, assuming one does enter a career as a researcher, are the majority of research positions available in a 'useful' field? That is, does the field aim to improve the quality of life of at least some subset of mankind? Is it even that easy to define what is useful and what is not? I would say not - some research applications are certainly more obviously useful than others. A good example is most medical research. This is also often the research that gets the media attention. Are we on the verge of a vaccine for HIV? A cure for cancer? A treatment for Alzheimer's? How about that paper supposedly proving that the multiverse and the quantum many-worlds interpretation are the same thing? Yeah, that last one's a bit of a mouthful - and it probably wasn't picked up by too many news corporations around the world. It certainly seems like the research that is most obviously useful gets a lot of attention - perhaps people are seeking recognition?

But can we really judge what is useful and what is not by considering just the present condition of humanity? A lot of scientific discoveries don't become useful for many years after their being revealed. Take Newton - he may have had some idea of the impact his discoveries of the laws of motion and gravity would have on the world, but I don't think even he could have dreamt of the places the discoveries would take us. I believe his motivation for these discoveries was a desire to know rather than a desire to produce useful results. The same, I think, can be said for Einstein. This much is clear from the way he spoke about science:

"Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."

Perhaps the aforementioned paper will become useful in decades to come. The point I was trying to make by bringing that up is that research still occurs in areas that aren't directly applicable to any aspect of modern life.

I should probably get around to bringing this all together. Yes, a lot of research is useful. It has to be - humans are resourceful. We'll take what we can and put it to good use, most of the time. If scientists researched randomly, some of that research must be useful. Is there more useful research than non-useful research? I can't say - I don't think there's any such quantifier! But the existence of things such as the Ig Nobel Prize means that there must be plenty of non-useful research occurring. We jest about these things now, but at some point these discoveries might be genuinely useful. It's also living proof that there are plenty of people out there who will make discoveries for discovery's sake.

The fact is, it's impossible to say what drives people in the present age. There's so much desire for a career and a stable life that well-paid positions may attract scientists away from areas they would normally approach. And well-paid positions are likely to be in useful areas - the companies paying those scientists aren't paying them for nothing. Away from the corporate mechanism, disease, and other strife, would scientists still exist? I believe so - people will make discoveries because curiosity is a part of human nature.

Perhaps there'll be more on this in another post. It's something I continue to think about and something that is affecting important life-changing decisions!

Tread lightly now

2011-09-18T00:58:00.000+01:00

This might be a bit risky for my first post of substance, but it's definitely been playing on my mind ever since I read this web page. What's through that link? A sketchy 'news' website with many sensational stories. Still, it got me thinking about the concept in general. If you still haven't clicked on the link, that concept would be alien cities on the Moon.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I study the physical natural sciences. I've always looked at things from a scientific slant. Let's try and do the same with this. OK. Here goes.

The idea is crazy. Not as crazy as a lot of ideas, certainly not impossible, but definitely improbable. But there have been a lot of 'crazy' ideas throughout history that have turned out to be later accepted as fact, or very close to it. You don't need to look far through the annals of scientific history to find numerous examples. Einstein was famously opposed to many of the ideas in quantum mechanics, a theory that is now indispensable in many areas of modern life. Keep this in mind when you consider the data to be interpreted. What I shall be considering here is strange and concealed activity on the Moon and, more broadly, within the Solar System. At this point I'm not saying whether or not this is of extraterrestrial origin.

Many of the images on the previously linked website are pulled from a different website called Mars Anomaly Research. The home page has as its first two sentences:

"Remember that all visual evidence at this site is drawn from, verifiable in, and supported by the official science data. Links to the associated official science data is always provided to both encourage and facilitate verification."

This is a very important facet of the data under consideration. It can, very often, be traced back to an official source or legitimate study.

Mars Anomaly Research does, of course, concentrate on presenting images of Mars, but there is a small section dedicated to the Moon also, if you wish to view that data. This website is definitely worth examining for anyone interested in this subject matter. For the sake of brevity, I'm going to concentrate on the Moon.

One of the images that is most convincing to me of strange activity on the Moon is the leaked Hubble image of a pyramid. 'Leaked' meaning that it isn't confirmed by NASA and therefore not contained in the usual Hubble image collections. There are arguments that Hubble cannot image the Moon because it is too bright and others have said that it doesn't lie within the focal length of Hubble. This isn't true. There are images of the Moon captured by Hubble hosted on the NASA website itself, as shown here.

Now for the (in?)famous image itself:

What can be said about the image? Another famous image comes to mind: the "Face on Mars". Perhaps this image would be a little less controversial if taken from a different angle, revealing this to be something ordinary. What seems certain to me, though, is that this is definitely an unnaturally angular structure. Any geographic formation on the Moon would look more akin to the hill in the upper left of the image after millennia of weathering processes. I'm not a geologist, but there is no natural process I can think of that would produce a structure like this. Even if there were, it is generally accepted that there are no active geographic processes in effect on the Moon. All this said, the source is mysterious.

There are many other images released by NASA that seem to show obvious signs of manipulation before release to the public. Here is an example from the Mars Anomaly Research website:

The website claims that this image is retrieved from the 1994 Navy Clementine military official science data. At the bottom of the page is some documentation relating to said data and actually informs us that it has been 'updated' to remove this evidence of tampering. It is worth reading in full, but the long and short of it is this: the image has clearly been altered in very specific regions. What is there to hide? The Moon's surface is dead and lifeless, right? The author of the page on which this image is contained gives a very detailed examination of the image.

These are a couple of images that I personally find stand up to scrutiny. There are so many images that claim to show something out of the ordinary, but a lot of them are quite grainy. It's easy to choose a small object in an otherwise unremarkable image, blow it up, and assign a meaning to an arbitrary shape. I shan't point to any of these images because any quick Google search will reveal many of them.

Besides these images, there is plenty of eye-witness testimony. A lot of this comes from high-ranking and reputable officials from NASA and the military/navy/air force. Below is a radio interview with Edgar Mitchell, the lunar module pilot of Apollo 14.

Neil Armstrong remained strangely quiet about the Apollo 11 landing and eventually spoke publicly :

Mr. Armstrong appears to be leaving many cryptic clues - not just in this speech, but many public appearances.

There is plenty of information available for you to draw your own conclusions about this, but be wary of the sources! There is naturally a lot of uncertainty in this area. As an example, consider Maurice Chatelain; many sites will claim that he was a head of communications at NASA, while other sources will point towards his being a low-level engineer.

What I will now say is that the evidence would point towards something strange happening on the Moon. I would say that this is not necessarily extraterrestrial activity that is being hidden. The images from Clementine seem particularly convincing that something is being concealed. For what reason? Tread lightly now.

Third time's a charm

2011-09-16T16:55:00.000+01:00

I'm going to be honest from the outset: I don't know how long this will last. I've tried keeping up with a blog a couple of times in the past, but I often lose patience. I feel like now is the right time though.

There are a few reasons for this. I live in an environment that fuels interestingly ridiculous discussion and debate for half the year, and I'm travelling for the other half. Said environment would be the university at which I study the physical natural sciences, and I travel because I have a girlfriend who lives 3000 miles away for four months a year, and 5000 miles away for the other eight. I also find myself becoming increasingly opinionated and argumentative. Perhaps I'm finally adopting the student state of mind. I'll run with it while I can.

I've also recently been placed as an assistant production engineer at an undisclosed engineering company here in the UK. I'm writing some software to help with some repetitive tasks performed in the office. This is the first decent job I've ever had and the office environment is a lot more fun that the contrasting retail environment (which is where my previous experience is based). It's also wonderfully flexible, which certainly helps since I'm still a full time student.

So what can you expect from this blog? Random, curious, and thought-provoking posts, interspersed with trans-continental experiences and technical discoveries! There's something for everyone!