WeatherproHD

Byrichard
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Weather is something I don’t really care to take note of because it doesn’t change much about my appearance. It does change what I drive though. In summer when the weather is nice and warm then I’d much rather drive the scooter than the car. That’s because if I see a mother distracted by children whilst pulling out onto the main road it’s easier to overtake her.

It’s also easier, when at traffic lights to get to the front of the queue rather than wait like an unambitious car driver, and before you object I’m very often trapped in traffic, so please remain polite in the comments (as if there were going to be any.

The interesting part.

Today and yesterday I was at an event in the lovely rain one day and sadistic rain the next. I call the rain sadistic because it resulted in many cycling injuries during a local race around the lake. One person at the event was playing with weather pro on the Iphone, and from the glimpse I caught I saw something useful. I’m home now and I downloaded the weather app on the Ipad, after all if you’re going to spend money on an app you might as well have a frame to display it.

I love how this app displays information. You have the weather graphic to show the main weather trends of the day. You have temperature information, rain information, wind direction, pressure, humidity and more. As an additional feature you have the ability to add your favourite cities, let’s say London, Geneva, Paris, South Africa (for the World Cup) and maybe one more. Click on the right side of the screen and you have information for each city.

There are three bonus buttons at the bottom of the screen, the weather button, whose features I have described. The radar tab shows you where the most recent precipitation has been. Satellite images show you what the clouds have been doing for a set time period.

We’ll see how often I use this app. I like that it has all these features.

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Ten reasons to give up on twitter

Byrichard

Once again I have deleted my twitter account. Here are ten reasons to give up on twitter.

  1. Europe is neutral about the site. If you want friendships with people an ocean away join.

  2. Whenever you want to post some technical problem means you have to post five times

  3. If you have a real job, not freelancing, then you can’t afford to check updates all the time.

  4. Lack of user engagement, when less than a tenth of your replies are responded to you know there’s no point staying up to date with those people.

  5. Virtual community, unlike with facebook and other social networks the people you interact with here are strangers.

  6. Spam, as more and more marketers come to the site so the more you use certain words the more unsolicited messages you get.

  7. Veteran community: Aside from Facebook all websites are at their community most interesting when the users are new and passionate about the service. That has faded with twitter.

  8. 140 characters; Although it was great three years ago mobile phones are now far more capable mobile devices. Limiting yourself to 140 characters is no longer an interesting option.

  9. Server downtime. For three years they have been struggling with making the platform stable and for three years they have been failing. If you have to try five times to post 140 characters then something is wrong.

  10. User indifference. They are indifferent about their user base. Just take a look at the FAQ and try to offer them feedback and you will first have to go through an FAQ before being able to explain your views.

Having a full time job means that my free time is more precious than before. As a result I’d rather be out in the real world doing real things. It’s also about how much time you need to invest into such a service before getting anything of any value out of it. As a result a year after I first left twitter I have left again. This time I think it will be for good. I don’t like the way the company is run and I don’t like the way the users are using the site. Goodbye twitter. On to better things.

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Day Eighteen of ORCA in Switzerland – Plumbing and Scuba Diving.

Byrichard

Plumbing and scuba diving are not unrelated. If you understand o-rings and pipe/hose connections then you’ll be fine. I dismantled a system, cleaned it, and then reassembled it, checked for leaks and then ran the tap to see if all was well. Once I saw that everything was indeed well, I struggled to place the drawers and then moved onto the next issue. 


My website was hacked again so I am now writing this blog post in the day one app, rather than directly to the blog. During a pandemic it’s frustrating to find that your website is hacked because life is already limited without adding new issues. 


Facebook and Twitter have still not been reinstalled on my phone. I see no reason for them to return. The beauty of not having either on your phone is that it takes longer to post something negative, so a negative thought, is abandoned .





Last night I watched two episodes of iZombie and for the first three quarters of the episode I thought I had found something that I would enjoy watching during this pandemic. Since then I’m not sure. We’ll see how it goes when I watch an episode or two today.


To Shop Or Not to Shop


I have the nagging feeling that I should go and shop today, so that I can skip the need to go tomorrow or the next day but when I check the fridge I have food for at least three days, and even a fourth. I think I still have a week of reserves so shopping is not urgent.


Is it worth going through the maze in front of the shop, to disinfect my hands, to grab a number, and then to go into the shop and get some drinks, and leave.


Back in the good old days, before the pandemic, people such as myself would think “I want a bottle of Apple juice” and we’d walk to the shop, buy a bottle of apple juice and it would take a minute or two. The same behaviour today would see you queue for half an hour. I hate queuing and because the rate of infection is not going down as fast as I would like I am happy to stay isolated.


In normal circumstances if I had seen that the sink was blocked I would have gone to buy a plunger and I’d have had some fun playing with it. Of course my goal would have been serious, but humour is useful in surreal times. “How was the pandemic for you?” “Surreal, but nice”.


I like writing blog posts because it’s like having a conversation. You start with an idea and you develop it, and you start to play and have fun, and by the time you finish writing a blog post you have cheered up. The solitary nature of this pandemic is negated for a short moment.

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Village Photography

Byrichard

On Google Plus, one of my muses, I saw that instead of Street photography someone suggested Village photography. I like the idea because villages are such an integral part of my life.

Life in villages is a privileged one. Every time we go for a walk we cross people we do not know and say hello. We walk from field to field and along paths. We see which crops have been planted and which ones are being harvested. We see frequent horses and dog walkers. We also see families. We hear the sound of rifle practices at the local gun range. The practice is for military service most of the time.

We also have fountains and old buildings. We hear the church bell every half hour and hour. We see the fountains with wooden chalet to protect from the cold in winter.

Villages are seasonal. In summer the sounds of children playing, of fireworks and of barbecues can be heard. In Autumn the sound of wind blowers can be heard. In Winter we see lights on as the neighbours prepare their evening meal.

In the mornings we see parents bring their children to school before the bell rings and they head in to their classes to sit and wait impatiently for the school day to be over so that they may go out on adventures.

That’s why village photography captivates my imagination. I know villages well. I appreciate them. I look forward to looking at images from the past, and preserving today for future generations.

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