The Journal of the Browncoat Cat

I have ordered my new computer. It is a Castle Iyonix PC, running on Intel XScale processor, using RISC OS 5 as its operating system. Yes, once again I have avoided falling into the clutches of Uncle Bill’s evil empire. I use Windows based machines at work and they drive me nuts, I am damned if I am going to use one at home. My current computer is an an Acorn RiscPC, which also runs on RISC OS, but is a much simpler beast, being nearly eight years old.

The main selling point of RISC OS is its simplicity. Programs are built around the corn Style Guide, that means that no matter what program is being run, the F2 key will load a file, the F3 key will save a file and F8 will undo the last action. Also, there is a nice graphical user interface, files are easily accessible via a well thought out filing system. I like it a lot. Of course, for a better explanation of RISC OS, the company that developed version 4 of RISC OS have done a much better job. Just point your browser at this spot.
I have also take this opportunity to get an LCD monitor. True, it is only a 15 Inch one, and I have been used to a 17 inch CRT screen, but the advantages of no flickering and better screen refresh rates is to much of a draw.

Time for a bit of a rant. I don’t suppose that I will be the only person ranting on this subject, but here goes.

What dangerous madman decided that Directory Enquiries was a product that needed competition to improve it. It is a service that works as a monopoly, why change it. I don’t know anyone who thinks it is a good idea. And what will these new companies, who will charge an exorbitant rate for their services use to get the numbers, exactly the same CD-ROM that BT has been using for its old 192 service. This is just an excuse to rip of the punters.

Wales were robbed in the international Football last night. The Referee should have stopped play after the Welsh defender was fouled, and disallowed the Serbian goal. Typical, I make an effort to watch the game, and Wales loses. First defeat so far in the tournament, played five, won four, lost this one. What makes it worse is Wales are still to play Italy in Rome, which I believe is the next match

And what is worse, because I was watching the football on BBC2, I missed Fame Academy on BBC1.

My nephew William is six months old. He has just reached a particular milestone, as he can no sit up in a highchair to be fed. He seems to be shooting up. Already he gurgles to himself; it won’t be long before he is talking.

I suppose you are thinking why is this blog called Vorcampbel’s View. It is all linked to my favourite author, Lois McMaster Bujold. In many of her science fiction novels, the protagonists come from the planet Barrayar, which is recovering from a period of isolation from galactic civilisation. During the Time of Isolation the local warlords and their lieutenants formed a military caste that ruled their neo-medieval feudal world. This caste added the suffix Vor to their surnames. A few years ago, a fellow Bujold fan began producing mock Barrayaran Passports, all the writing in it is in English, but as the novels explain, the influence of Russian colonists on Barrayar means that it written using Cyrillic lettering. Naturally I bought one and created a Barrayaran pseudonym to go with it; John Campbell Rees became Lord Alexandr John Vorcampbel, I reasoned that if you are going to create a Barrayaran identity, then make yourself one of the ruling elite. So a few weeks ago, when I was setting up this blog, I knew it was going to have a high SF content, so I dug up the name Vorcampbel, and used it in the name of this blog.

20six Comment

Fred Z (23.8.03 17:56)
saw your blog in my Bujold Feedster watch — see http://www.wfzimmerman.com/index.php?topic=ROH
and posted same to bar.baen.com newsgroup baen.milestogo

Almost finished the glossing of the woodwork in my hallway. I have decided to also paint the spindles on my stairs and upstairs banister with white gloss paint. It will look better matching the rest of the woodwork. As the hallway from the foot of the stairs to the kitchen door needed a new floor, the wall opposite the stairs was not papered when the rest of the hall was done.

The hallway and landing still need to be painted. I have not yet decided what colour to paint this room. I have had the living room painted a shade of beige, as the focus of this room is the widescreen television and I don’t want anything to take detract from that. This is the only room that is going to be painted a shade of bland though.

The dining room/kitchen is a single large room. As can be seen from the picture to the left the floor of this room is going to have large honey brown tiles and the walls around the kitchen units, which have dark green worktops, is going to be tiled with an assortment of autumnal green, brown and orange four inch ceramic tiles. is This means that this is another room I have to think about, what colour shall I paint the walls of the dining room? If I relied on my Mother to choose the colours, every room would be different shades of bland, she likes creams, magnolias and whites, I don’t. I can see her point about not wanting to detract from the colours of the tiles in the kitchen part of the room, but I don’t want the rest of the room to be dull.

My Mother, elder sister Janet and her little boy James have been away in sunny Majorca for the last 10 days. Unfortunately young James picked up the dreaded lurgies whilst out there, and spent the last night of his holiday in a Spanish Hospital. Such a shame, as it appears up until Saturday night, they were having such a good time. I’m sure that the little mite has something wrong with his appendix. I remember when I was a nipper I would get stabbing pains in the lower abdomen, which would come and go, but when they were in effect, would hurt like hell, in addition to periods when I displayed all the symptoms James did on holiday. It comes as no surprise to me that the Doctor in the Majorcan hospital told Janet (my sister and James’ mother) to take him to his GP as soon as possible. And of course, there are notes to add to his file, unfortunately they are in Spanish, which is going to be a great deal of use in years to come.

There is a place for an aerodynamic spoiler, and it is not on the back of a Ford Fiesta. Alloy wheels look good on sporty saloons; on a Vauxhall Corsa they look plain sad. My friend Andy Hill from Kronos One devised the perfect description for these automotive disasters, they are the Wally-Cars. Why Wally Car, well mainly because they are the pride and joy of some wally who thinks what he has done to his poor set of wheels is an improvement. Almost universally, this is the owner’s first car, and normally it is the young men who think leopard skin seat covers are a really good idea. No they’re not, and your car looks ridiculous.

One of the silliest wally-cars that I have seen recently, was a white Vauxhaul Corsa that has had all the clear glass replaced by smoked dark glass, including the indicators and break lights. Not even the headlights got away, they had a light blue filter.

A great use for camera phones is recording the metal monstrosities and from time to time, you will see one added to this Blog, with the reasons I think it is a Wally-Car.

20six Comments

(19.8.03 18:58)
how strange. i’d just got into gear for a rant about alloy wheels, when i stumbled up on this. will have to think of something else now. oh well.

Francis (24.8.03 14:30) I think you might “enjoy” this website full of American Wally-cars http://www.riceboypage.com/

Of all the reality shows that are infesting television at the moment, the only one that I have any time for is the BBC’s Fame Academy. At least in the academy, the people taking part are learning useful skill that they can use in their career, as Richard Parks, the Headmaster of Fame Academy says, they are searching for recording artists that will have a long term lasting effect on record industry. This is why I hate Pop Stars and Pop Idol. These shows are designed to generate a product that will separate teenage girls from their pocket money, to find flash in the pan sensations.

The BBC is doing things a little differently this year, and I am not sure if I approve of all of the changes. For a start, there are two showcases a week, on Saturday and Wednesday, this seems a little unfair, as the students don’t seem to have as much time to learn from the experience as their predecessors did. Perhaps this is just to eliminate the weakest first, and after a few weeks it will revert to one showcase a week. Secondly, all the students are singing for survival at each showcase. I prefer last years system, where the teachers chose the three worse performing students and put them on probation, as a way of making them buck up their thinking.

Which brings me on to Saturday’s showcase:

• Carolynne: She gave a stunning performance tonight. If there is any justice, she will be the overall winner.
• Peter: I cannot believe that he got the viewers vote and survived until Wednesday. He was dreadful, tuneless and dull, he absolutely strangled Don’t Look Back in Anger.
• Simone: She really did not deserve to be in the Student Vote, she was better than Louise. She was the one who the teachers should have saved.

Lets see what happens on Wednesday.

My friend Sharon down in Plymouth has started her own blog, using this service. She says reading this blog started it all off. Thanks to her blog, Wyvern’s Nest, I have discovered how addicted I am to the internet, as it contains a link to an online test. I scored 54% which will probably go up when my local telephone exchange is converted to ASDL and I can get an always on broadband connection to the internet. Anyway, the results of the test, and a link to it are reproduced below: