Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…
Adam Curtis makes documentaries. But these aren’t just plain documentaries, they are visual poems that contain much food for thought. His latest effort is All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace – to be broadcast on BBC2 on 23rd May at 9pm UK time. Can’t wait.
Oh, and it has Ayn Rand – the stinking fart in the face of the Enlightenment…
Here’s the background to the films.
Further to my entry about the fact that the Dutch Government is thinking of banning the concept of dual nationality here in The Netherlands, I see that the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics is reporting that a majority of the Dutch are in favour of this change.
According to their survey, a large majority are in favour of banning dual nationality. Unsurprisingly, members of Wilder’s PVV party are 90% in favour of banning Cabinet Ministers from holding dual nationality.
It’s funny, when I first moved to The Netherlands in 1983, the Dutch had a reputation for tolerance, but now, in 2011, it seems to me that it’s no longer so self-evident. I would not be surprised if I will formally have to renounce my British citizenship in a few years time. Frankly, I think it reflects badly on the Dutch – a raising of the barriers to draw a line between “us” and “them”.
Via a post on PZ Myer’s blog, I have discovered the blog of a lesbian in Syria: A Gay Girl in Damascus.
She has courage, and a brave father. I hope that they both manage to come through the current troubles in that country.
Update 13 June 2011: Sigh, the internet strikes again. The lesbian in Damascus turns out to be a 40 year-old American married man studying in Scotland: Tom McMasters.
While I don’t like to be fooled, his idiotic actions have not helped genuine LGBT voices in the Middle East to be heard. Shame, shame on him.
Some time ago, I wrote about George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy books “A Game Of Thrones” in these terms:
In my old age, I’m getting a bit tired of epic fantasy. I was recently recommended A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (what is it about these R.R. initials, anyway?). It wasn’t bad, but halfway through the second book I came down with fantasy fatigue. Endless pages of characters discussing their lineage, forsooth, doth not a gripping yarn make. Still, I battled on, and yes, there were places where my interest quickened. But what came as a really cold shower was the realisation that the author was churning out these books like there was no tomorrow (What! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?). There are at least six books in the projected series, and I’m exhausted after three.
I see that HBO has now brought the series to the small screen with much blood and gore and the resolutely anti-metrosexual Sean Bean. While I’m sure it has been lovingly done, I think I’ll wait until the DVDs reach the bargain bin before I might invest. Ask me again in about five years whether I thought it was worth it.
A few weeks back, I noted that a blackbird was sitting on a nest that she’d built in our pony stall. She hatched four eggs, and the chicks have all grown and successfully fledged. Today, the nest was empty. She and her brood are now out in the wild. Here’s a few pictures charting their growth.
The Devils is a film made by Ken Russell forty years ago. Right from the outset, it ran into trouble from the censors, and still today, it is not available on DVD.
I can understand why it caused such a furore, because it is probably Russell’s masterpiece, and he did not pull any punches. According to this interview with Russell, it’s going to be shown once more in the uncut version at the East End Film festival this coming Sunday. I rather hope that this might lead to a release on DVD. I would rather like to smell, once again, the whiff of brimstone that I recall from seeing the film (even in its cut version) all those years ago.
When it was first released, my best friend (brought up a good Irish Catholic) and his best friend (another Irish Catholic by upbringing) went to see a screening of The Devils. They hadn’t appreciated what the film was about, other than it was set in Medieval times and involved nuns and a priest. So off they went with the friend’s Spanish boyfriend and his extremely devout Catholic mother.
As the film unfolded, and the goings-on on the screen got ever more extravagant, they all shrank back further and further into their seats with ever-wider eyes, and did not dare glance at each other. After the screening, the friend’s mother got straight on the phone to her friends in Spain to warn them against ever seeing this blasphemous film…
I wrote about how much I was looking forward to the opening episode of the next series of Doctor Who. So I suppose I should write a few words on what I thought about it. Well, look, I’m not very good at this sort of thing, so I’ll just hand you over to the review by Teresa Jusino over at Tor.com. She seems to have read my mind pretty well.
Warning: it has spoilers (© Professor River Song).
I thought that it was brilliant, but I can understand that some would miss the references – I’m not sure that I caught them all. But how refreshing it is to have a writer (Steven Moffat) who does not dumb down everything to the lowest common denominator. Can’t wait for next Saturday, when I’m parked on the sofa again.
A rather ironic little story in the Dutch news today… TomTom, the Dutch SatNav company collects information from its devices installed in cars. This information gives an insight into the driving habits of the motorists using the TomTom devices.
TomTom sells this information on to other companies. One such company has taken a very enterprising approach and sells the data to the Dutch Police, who use it to determine where best to set their speed traps. Quite right, too.
Christopher Hitchens was due to address the American Atheist Convention, but had to cancel because of illness. So he wrote them a letter instead. Hitchens writes like an angel wielding a flaming sword, and the letter is an excellent example of his way with words. Example:
Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need). Perhaps above all, we affirm life over the cults of death and human sacrifice and are afraid, not of inevitable death, but rather of a human life that is cramped and distorted by the pathetic need to offer mindless adulation, or the dismal belief that the laws of nature respond to wailings and incantations.
Do go and read the rest. By coincidence, his friend, Martin Amis has a biographical sketch of him in today’s Observer. Also worth reading to catch a flavour of the man.
Another note for the diary. Tony Palmer has made a documentary about Gustav Holst that will be broadcast on BBC4 on the 24th April.
There is more to Holst than The Planets – but while I think Holst’s Beni Mora suite rather beguiling, Palmer tells us that:
…at a meeting with the bosses of the Royal College of Music (where Holst had studied and taught), I suggested we should consider a Holst piece called Beni Mora. I was told it was rather dreary and not worthy of inclusion.
I rather think that Holst, through the medium of Palmer’s documentary, will prove it otherwise…
I can still remember sitting in what was then the National Film Theatre on the Southbank during an afternoon showing of Days of Heaven back in 1978 and realising that I was watching something that would change the way I looked at things.
I see the Sandd/Selektmail postman riding by almost daily, clad in yellow, astride his moped. If he stops by our letterbox, it is to deliver mail that hovers dangerously close to what most people would describe as junkmail. If I’m nearby, I give him a friendly wave.
However, if this article by James Meek is to be believed, then perhaps a friendly wave is not enough to compensate for the postman’s lot.
The next series of Doctor Who launches this weekend with what, by all accounts is a seriously good episode. Still, with Steven Moffat at the helm, I expect nothing less.
I’ll be parked on the sofa, instead of almost behind it when I was very young, on Saturday evening to watch it. This time around, being almost fifty years older, I’ll also have the benefit of my PVR to record the episode for my continued viewing pleasure.
One thing which I can’t quite grok: for some reason, Martin does not like Doctor Who. It leaves him cold for reasons that I cannot fathom. He goes off into his study when it’s on. I find that somewhat bizarre, but that’s life. I’m from Mars, he’s from Venus.
Watson and I have been doing the first set of Dog Agility lessons. Yesterday evening came the moment I was rather dreading – the exam. However, I needn’t have worried Watson came through and did us proud – he passed easily with 115 points out of a possible 120 (the pass mark is 70 points).
Actually, I think he could have scored even higher – it was my fault that he lost marks. One of the hurdles is to have the dog jump through a hoop. I was standing by him and gave him the command to jump through. I hadn’t realised that I should have been on the far side of the hoop before giving the command. And on another hurdle, I should have given him more clearance for his run-up, Oh well, I won’t make those mistakes again…
Next week, we begin the next stage of training…
Sad news today that Elisabeth Sladen, better known as Sarah Jane Smith, has died at the age of 63. Damn.
That’s the title of a short story by Harlan Ellison, but it is also a reference given by Roger Ebert in his stunning presentation at TED last month.
Ebert is a brilliant critic of film, but cancer has removed his jaw and his ability to speak. His presentation at TED is an example that being born into this particular “box of time and space” where PLATO, HAL 9000 and the DEC Rainbow all occurred, together with advances in medical science, have ensured that Ebert’s voice, in all its manifestations, can continue to be heard. Wonderful.
As I’ve blogged before, even though you can buy a Windows Phone 7 handset from mobile operators here in the Netherlands, there are at least a couple of things to be aware of:
Since at least January, the WP7 web page at Microsoft Nederland has been saying:
(Dutch language Windows Phone 7 handsets will be available mid-2011)
I had also assumed that at that point the Dutch Zune Marketplace would be opened up to WP7 Apps. We had a false alarm last week when the Marketplace suddenly had an Apps placeholder appear for a day or two before it disappeared again.
However, it appears as though “mid-2011” is going to slip until at least the Autumn. Why? Because yesterday at the day 2 Keynote session of MIX11, Joe Belfiore (Microsoft’s Corporate VP, Windows Phone Program Management) stated that both the availability of additional languages (including Dutch) and the addition of WP7 Apps to additional Marketplaces would not occur until the Fall (Autumn), when the “Mango” update would be available. Here’s the language slide he used:
(“Hallo mensen” is Dutch for “Hello, people”)
And here’s the slide for the Marketplace expansion, which here includes the Netherlands:
Both of these items were tied specifically to the availability of the Mango update by Belfiore, and he stated “Fall” as the timeframe.
So, once again, Microsoft seems to be shooting itself in the foot by raising expectations (mid-2011 – Microsoft Nederland) and then not delivering on them (Fall – Belfiore). As I said before, I think I’ll be sticking with my trusty Nokia dumbphone, and at this rate, I think I’ll still be using it a year from now.
Another thought-provoking post from Jan Chipchase – this time from Cairo. It’s about managing expectations in foreign situations, and being aware.
Reminds me of the time I went on a business trip for Shell to Cartegena in Columbia and being met by the Computing Manager at the small airport. His driver had a slight bulge under his left armpit, and I thought, hmm.
The Hilton hotel had been bombed a month before and two days after my arrival, the airport runway was blown up by guerillas. The pilot of the Shell plane announced that there was 1500 feet of usable runway left, and he could take off with 1350 feet. I remember thinking that 150 feet didn’t sound like an enormous margin for error. Still, as you can surmise, I lived to tell the tale.
Here’s a tip if you’ve been struggling with poor performance of your VST instruments and ASIO in Cubase.
But first, a bit of history…
Steinberg’s Cubase is one of the leading software applications for music production. It’s been around in various forms since 1984. In fact, I bought a copy of Pro-24 (the forerunner of Cubase) for my old Atari-ST computer back in 1987. The Atari was the first ever home computer that had built-in MIDI ports, and the Pro-24 was one of the first software MIDI sequencer applications for creating music.
Over the course of the years, I have gradually acquired more MIDI equipment, and sold a few bits as well. Now I’ve ended up with three E-mu Proteus sound modules, and an ancient Yamaha TX81Z. I still use a Yamaha PF80 electronic piano as my MIDI keyboard, with a Yamaha MCS52 as a MIDI controller, both dating from around 1985. By the early 1990s I had also switched from my trusty old Atari ST over to what has become, over the years, a series of Windows PCs running various generations of Cubase software.
In 1996, Steinberg introduced VST (Virtual Studio Technology), a software recreation of a variety of external synthesisers and effects modules. It also introduced ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output) to handle the recording and playback of audio, in addition to MIDI.
Up until now, I’ve not made much use of either VST or ASIO, using Cubase primarily as a MIDI sequencer and editor to drive my external MIDI equipment. However, I recently treated myself to an upgrade of my Cubase software from version 4 to version 6, and for the first time thought that perhaps I should look into using VST to supplement my external MIDI sound modules. For example, Cubase 6 came with a trial of HALion Symphonic Orchestra, a set of samples of the instruments of a symphony orchestra made for VST.
But when I came to try out the HSO VST in Cubase, I found that the performance was pretty poor. After adding only a few instruments into the mix, I could see that the ASIO performance meter was overloading, and could hear clicks and pops on the audio channels.
This struck me as odd, since the PC that I’m using has an AMD Phenom II X4 955 processor, i.e. it has four CPU cores, which Cubase should be making full use of. I looked through the Cubase manual and scoured the Cubase user forums to see if I could get a clue as to why the performance on my system was so poor. Nothing obvious came up.
After scratching my head for a while, I remembered that I had enabled AMD’s “Cool’n’Quiet” feature in my PC’s BIOS. This technology feature reduces the processor’s clock rate and voltage when the processor is idle, to reduce overall power consumption and lower heat generation. Here, for example, using CPUID’s HW Monitor, you can see that the power consumption of the processor is only 20.5 watts, in place of the usual 117.6 watts:
As an experiment, I disabled Cool’n’Quiet in the BIOS, and ran Cubase again. This time, I did not experience performance problems. So it would seem that AMD’s power monitoring technology was interfering with the demands of Steinberg’s ASIO, causing performance glitches in the latter.
I didn’t really want to run my computer with Cool’n’Quiet disabled for most of the time, and having to switch it on and off in the BIOS is somewhat of a nuisance. I wondered whether the power plans in Windows 7 were capable of doing the switching for me. Here’s what the Windows 7 Help and Support says about the Power Plans:
Windows provides the following plans to help you manage your computer’s power:
- Balanced. Offers full performance when you need it and saves power during periods of inactivity. This is the best power plan for most people.
- Power saver. Saves power by reducing system performance and screen brightness. This plan can help laptop users get the most from a single battery charge.
- High performance. Maximizes screen brightness and might increase the computer’s performance in some circumstances. This plan uses a lot more energy and will reduce the amount of time that a laptop battery lasts between charges.
I always run my PC with the Balanced power plan active. I decided to try enabling Cool’n’Quiet in the BIOS, but also to create a new power plan for when I am using Cubase. The new plan, based on the High performance plan, I named Cubase DAW (for Digital Audio Workstation).
When I selected this plan, I discovered that Windows 7 itself disables Cool’n’Quiet, so I was able to run the processor at full power, and maximise ASIO performance.
So now I have the best of both worlds; I can run my PC economically for most of the time using the Balanced power plan, but when I want to work with Cubase and HSO VST, I can readily switch over to the Cubase DAW power plan directly within Windows.
Another problem solved – on to the next…
Having managed to pass the dog training exam with Watson, I decided to carry on training with him, and we enrolled in the Dog Agility course run by the Agility Club Achterhoek.
At first, I wasn’t sure whether this would be a good idea – training Watson to jump fences might put the idea into his head about jumping over the electric fence around the garden. However, I decided to go ahead with it, because it is a good way of getting rid of some of his energy, and because he’s able to socialise with other dogs. He certainly seems to enjoy it, although neither he nor I are very good at it at the moment.
Yesterday the Club played host to a national Dog Agility competition – there were four competition rings running simultaneously and hundreds of people and dogs, both of all shapes and sizes. It was quite a spectacle.
More photos are up at my spot on Flickr…
And here’s a video of a dog doing the “paaltjes”…
Watson and I will have to keep practising…
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