Longrider

I’ve been using satellite navigation on the bike for a number of years now. My first excursion involved linking up a hand-held Garmin receiver with my Psion hand-held computer. It involved pulling over and setting up, but was marginally better than reading a map.

When Garmin introduced their colour screen StreetPilot series with auto routing, things really took off and I wrote about it at the time.

My recent change of employment has made the satnav a crucial business tool – and, despite still working well after eight years, the slow screen refresh was becoming tiresome.  Not least when navigating through London. So, too was having to load maps onto a memory stick. An upgrade was in order.

After looking at what the market had on offer, I decided eventually to buy a Garmin Zumo 550. This is designed specifically for the bike and is supplied with both a bike mount and a car windscreen mount so I can switch it from the bike to the car with ease. I did this with the StreetPilot III and appreciate maintaining this facility.

The Zumo shows just how much technology has moved on in the intervening years. Despite costing a fraction of that paid for the StreetPilot, the Zumo is packed with extras missing from its forebear. It links to a bluetooth enabled phone, giving hands free operation of this through my Autocom system. Not that I’m much in favour of using the phone on the move, but the facility to use it without having to remove my helmet and dig around for it in my bag makes for convenience. I’ve also added the traffic receiver system for a few extra quid – so now I know where those hold ups are occurring. The unit gives me the option of avoiding the jams – or, as I’m on the bike, more likely I’ll just trickle through the queue as before. Still, forewarned is forearmed.

I did wonder how I would get along with the 3D display. In practice, I found it immediately intuitive and as it is constantly refreshing rather than completely changing to an enlarged view of the junctions as you approach them, the refresh problem has gone. Also, unlike its predecessor, all the maps are loaded on the internal memory, so I don’t have to keep loading different mapsets each time I plan a journey. The updateable “safety” camera database is a useful tool, too. A series of “bings” assault the eardrums when approaching a speed camera site – along with a message stating the allowed speed limit. So if you did miss the signs, there is no excuse for getting caught out. If you persist in exceeding the speed limit, it bings at you in capital letters until you take notice. Irritating, yes – but that’s the point. If you ignore it, you stand to get a ticket – the choice is yours.

The bike mount comes with a special security screw and bespoke screwdriver. This is supposed to provide some measure of security when the unit is in the mount. However, as I take it off the mount when leaving the bike, the security screw is proving to be something of a pain – far too fiddly for my liking.

The voice prompts have improved from the StreetPilot, too. Now they give road names as well as directions, so I can concentrate on navigating without peering at the screen when riding through unfamiliar cities.

One other extra is the MP3 player. The BMW has a radio and I tended to leave it set to Radio 2. Trying to play tapes was more bother than it was worth. The Garmin MP3 player though is another matter. I’ve loaded a 2Gb SD disk with my choice of music and can hear it clearly through the Autocom’s headset.

So, overall, a sound purchase and one that I am happy with and happy to recommend. Garmin have produced a quality product at a reasonable price - the extras are a bonus. I bought mine from these people.

The Englishman reminds us of what we already knew, but it’s worth reiterating. Interestingly, it is the Times that now bangs the drum. Finally, the mainstream media is waking up to the reality of modern Britain.

Walk down any high street in Britain today and you will instantly be under surveillance. All around you, lampposts and shopfronts bristle with CCTV cameras, many of them privately operated and unregulated. They are watching you in case you are bent on shoplifting or engaging in violent disorder.

As you pass the Post Office, it is unlikely to occur to you that the Royal Mail’s investigators have the power to mount surveillance or intercept operations if they suspect you of mail theft.

The man on his knees rifling through the pile of rubbish by the kerb is not, as you might have thought, a tramp but a fly-tipping investigator from the town hall. He and the officials in the council offices down the road have the power, should they chose to use it, to recruit informants to spy on fly-tippers, dodgy stallholders and housing benefit cheats.

And the young girl rattling the collection tin on the opposite pavement might well be under surveillance by the Charity Commission’s investigation branch, which doubts the validity of her fundraising activities.

Welcome to Britain in the 21^st Century, a picture rather more akin to East Germany in the latter years of the 20^th.

Are we really so criminally minded that we need this level of spying? Yes, spying, because that is what it is. Nasty suspicious, petty little authoritarians who despise our traditional freedoms, who build their fiefdoms on the misery they can create for others, who treat us all as suspects. This is not about what is in our best interests, it is the machinery of the state and its minions entrenching themselves, stealing power to dig themselves further in. We, the citizens who employ these people are their targets. We, the innocent, law abiding citizens are deemed guilty until surveillance decides otherwise.

What will it take, I wonder, for the masses to realise what has happened and awake from their slumber? How long must this continue before the Briton takes on the mantle of his illustrious ancestors and fights back, takes what is rightfully his from the grubby little thieves who stole it while he slept? How long must we endure these obsessive, nosy bureaucrats poking about in our personal lives before we cry “enough!”? This country that I once loved has become the Stasi’s wet dream.

And to those who still naively believe that this is all for our benefit and only those who have something to hide have something to fear, another story from the Times offers a cautionary tale:

A pensioner was killed after a couple used a policeman friend to trace him and then attacked his home in a dispute over a supermarket parking space, a jury was told yesterday.

A silly argument over a parking space in Asda that should have gone unremarked led to something rather more sinister:

The former Rolls-Royce worker became a target when he shouted at Zoe Forbes, 26, because she parked her car in a space he had earmarked for himself at a branch of Asda, Nottingham Crown Court was told.

Mrs Forbes was upset and called her husband Mark, who told her to note down Mr Gilbert’s numberplate. He then asked a policeman friend to check Mr Gilbert’s address on the police national computer, using the car registration number.

Mr Forbes sent his wife a text message reading: “We’ll smash his car to bits and then his hire car and then whatever he gets after that until he dies.”

Quite apart from wishing that this nasty couple go down for a long, long time, it seems that you do have something to fear if you upset someone who knows a bent copper.

Nothing to hide, nothing to fear? Do give me a break, please…

————————————————

Update: I see that Simon Jenkins is discussing the very same thing in the Groan. It’s a shame he doesn’t appear to understand the Wilson doctrine, though:

Either way, the bugging destroyed the “Wilson doctrine”, that MPs cannot be bugged. It appears that they can if ministers, or the police, so decide.

No, Simon, the Wilson Doctrine always allowed for the surveillance of MPs if there was a sufficient national security justification. What Wilson said was that he would approve it if necessary and at the appropriate time, tell the house. This bugging could feasibly have been within the terms of that doctrine – as it was, it wasn’t, but that’s another matter. Getting such a basic fact wrong undermines what would otherwise have been a good article.

Why can’t so-called professional journalists do even basic fact checking?

The great one-eyed monster is a little confused, it seems:

As the two leaders clashed on the issue, Brown appeared to contradict himself over whether ID cards would be compulsory.

Ah, well, what do we expect from a second-rate career politician who’s never done anything useful in his life? An intelligent, thought through reply based upon policy derived as a consequence of proper research and evidence? No, this is a bully-boy control freak who hasn’t a clue, floundering about in the face of a simple question that he would rather not answer because the truth will expose him for the obnoxious bully that he is.

Quizzed over the government’s ID card policy during question time, Brown insisted ministers would “move ahead” with ID cards, but subject to a vote in parliament.

But pressed by Cameron on whether it was government policy that “ID cards should eventually become compulsory”, Brown replied: “That is the policy but it is for parliament to decide.”

Asked why, then, he told the Observer that under the policy there would be “no compulsion”, Brown said: “It has to be voted on by parliament.”

Clueless, talentless and personality free… what a prick. The reason these bastards want ID cards and the reason that they will become compulsory if they get their way is because they want them as a means of social control. This is for their benefit, not ours. There is nothing in it for us – apart from a huge hole in the wallet, increased risk of identity fraud and greater inconvenience in our daily lives in the new “papers, please” Britain. Of course, the PM isn’t going to admit to that one.

Cameron has written to him seeking clarification:

“Could you now answer this very simple question: do you personally support a compulsory ID card system for British nationals?”

“I should be grateful if you could please clarify your position by answering my straightforward question.” Downing Street has been contacted for a response.

He could be in for a long wait…

Update: According to today’s Grauniad, MPs are detecting a cooling in Brown’s attitude towards ID cards.

 MPs have detected a less enthusiastic tone in Brown’s remarks on ID cards since the recent government data losses.

…

Keith Vaz, the chairman of the home affairs select committee, suggested that Brown’s performance at prime minister’s questions indicated that he might be looking for wriggle room, adding that he believed Brown would use the imposition of ID cards on foreign nationals as a pilot.

If so, good, it’s a start in the right direction. However, what about the national identity register?

The Eagles’ new album; Long Road out of Eden has yet to arrive on my front door mat having been pre-ordered from Amazon a couple of weeks back. I’ve heard several of the tracks on the radio, so I know what I’m getting; I’m getting what it says on the tin; The Eagles reconstituted. This, it seems, is what the critics don’t like about it:

You can take the Eagles out of the 1970s, but you can’t take the 1970s out of the Eagles. That, at least, is the conclusion of US critics who have greeted the band’s first album of original material in 28 years with less than open arms. “Good news, the Eagles haven’t changed a bit,” wrote The Christian Science Monitor. “Bad news: The Eagles haven’t changed a bit.”

Um.. Yes… that’s exactly why it will be popular with the music buying public. And the band will be well aware that it is the music buying public who matter, not the critics who are nothing more than bitter, twisted creeps with no talent themselves. Those who can, do. Those who can’t become parasites – critics in other words. I never read critical reviews, preferring my own opinion to that of some jumped up, pompous self opinionated twat who thinks that their opinion is in some way more valid or more important than yours or mine – it is neither.

If you like it, buy it. If you don’t, don’t. Either way, ignore the critics – if you take any notice it only encourages them.

I recall clearly that day in 1977 when I first heard “Bat out out Hell”. I was captivated. The loud, racy beat combined with clever lyrics; the epitome of Jim Steinman’s writing style swept me along with their frenetic rhythm. A few years later I waited with anticipation for the follow-up; Dead Ringer and I wasn’t disappointed. Thereafter, Meatloaf and Steinman followed different paths. Meatloaf’s throat problems meant that “Bad for Good” probably likely to have become “Bat out of Hell II” became a Steinman solo project. When “Bat II” finally came, it featured songs from this album and another that Steinman worked on with Pandora’s Box; “Original Sin” – and my, wasn’t that an excellent work… Meatloaf may do justice to Steinman’s exotic lyrics, but the female line up of Ellen Foley, Elaine Caswell, Gina Taylor and Deline Wilde was sublime. Although “Bat II” had new work from Steinman, the covers, while of high quality, were tainted for me by having heard better renditions.

So it is with “Bat out of Hell III”. This, the latest offering from Meatloaf has the same loud, frenetic, over-the-top operatic style as his previous work. It also has four new Steinman tracks. The other Steinman songs have, again, been drawn from “Original Sin” and “Bad for Good” and, frankly, I still prefer the originals even though I like the new Meatloaf renditions. Even the addition of Brian May’s guitar work on “Bad for Good” doesn’t quite make up for the raw original from 1981.

If this sounds like I’m damning with faint praise, perhaps I am. Even so, I love this album. I’m more than happy to have shelled out for the CD. It’s just that the zest isn’t quite there as it once was and that’s probably as much to do with me as it is the music. The anticipation that once preluded a Steinman/Meatloaf collaboration has gone and that’s a shame. Steinman has probably written his best. It says something that even so, he produces a quality that far surpasses much of what is currently touted as music on the high street these days; artificial pap produced for a television market all prepackaged, tasteless, talentless and pointless. Or, worse, much, much worse, the god-awful mindless stacatto chanting rap that is passed off as music. Steinman and Meatloaf may not be quite at the top of their game these days, but they are in a class apart from that dross.

Not all of the tracks on this album come from Steinman’s pen. Desmond Child makes a passable attempt to echo the style. It’s good, but I would stop short of saying great. There is also a contribution from Diane Warren with a power ballad “Cry Over Me”. The swing from powerful rock opera to gentle ballad is present as well as the Steinman word play that is so typical of his writing. Oh, yes, and did I mention that Brian May guitar on “Bad for Good”? It’s growing on me.

If you like Meatlof, then you will, likely as not, like this album. You will, likely as not, be just a little wistful for something that isn’t quite there anymore. It means we are growing older, I’m afraid.

A birthday present from my wife; “All The Roadrunning” by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris is Knopfler’s latest excursion into country music. All the songs are penned by Knopfler so have the feel of Dire Straits and Notting Hillbillies (remember them?).Harris provides the additional vocals. As a solo artist, I tend to find that her vocals are too thin to carry the music; as an accompaniment, though, she provides a pleasant harmony to Mark Knopfler and it works well. As with his earlier experiments in this genre, Mark Knopfler manages a blend of soft rock and country that is easy on the ears with catchy melodies and simple lyrics that should appeal to soft rock fans and country music aficionados alike – or, it could irritate both immensely, I guess.

It may not rock your socks off, but it makes my feet tap while listening. I like it. I particularly like the quiet, mellow ballad; “Love and Happiness”. If I had to use one word to describe this album, then, yes, “mellow” would be it.

I tend to use off-line blogging tools rather than the native writers supplied by the blog software. This is partly because I can take my time and save for later on my hard drive without worrying about being connected to the net and partly because I can trawl about while writing to link to my sources. I have been using wBloggar – a freeware application that has served me well. If it has a downside, it is that it does not have a WYSIWYG editor. The main input window uses direct coding. Not a problem in itself, but the WYSIWYG display is slow to load for some reason that I’ve never quite determined. Also, if you are using images, there is no ftp capability built in. Again, a minor niggle and as it is free, not worth complaining about. So, if you want to have a go at off-line blogging, wBloggar is worth a try. I’d give it seven or eight out of ten for ease of use and functions.

Since then, however, I’ve come across a shareware application – BlogJet. Not particularly cheap at nearly £30, but it has the two things wBloggar misses; WYSIWYG editing with the facility to go into the code if necessary and ftp is built in. The imaging facility also includes auto-thumbnail. Once the post is ready to upload, the images, including thumbnails are automatically uploaded to the blog’s image folder.

As with wBloggar, it works with all of the major blog platforms. You do need to look carefully at the instructions for your ftp path as it isn’t immediately obvious how to set it. The online instructions include a Flash demo – this helps, but, frankly, I’d rather have text and screenshots so that I can go back easily while I’m filling out the options. Flash tutorials are just a bit too clever, clever for my liking. When you are learning something new, you want time to stop and think without having to rewind an animation.

Like wBloggar, there is a spell checker. This one, however, includes British English along with American English, so you won’t have to keep telling it to ignore the spelling of words like “organise”, “neighbour” and “criticise”. The Americans do like their “zees” don’t they? 

Are there any niggles? Well, while it is well featured, not all of the font formatting is available from the toolbar. Colour, bold, italic and underline is your lot. Anything else and you have to go into the code window and manually code it. Drag and drop of images would be nice. As would the ability to edit things like alignment in the WYSIWYG window once the images have been inserted. Again, you can go into the code window and correct it, but it really should be available from the WYSIWYG window.

However, these are minor niggles and the application is still under development. You get 30 days to try it out. I’m on my fourth day and I’ve decided to shell out and buy it. I guess that means that I like it.

I’ve been listening to 12 Songs by Neil Diamond. I caught a snippet of “Hell Yeah” on the radio a couple of weeks ago and stopped to listen, trying to recall which vintage Diamond this was, as I didn’t recognise it. Only on listening did I realise that this was a new track from a new album. Yet this is Diamond in vintage form. His latter recordings have not been especially memorable, but listening to the haunting melodies of “Oh Mary” and “Save Me A Saturday Night” reminds me of the songs I grew up with.

Diamond has returned to his roots with this album; simple, catchy melodies with a minimalist acoustic accompaniment. It works beautifully and takes me back to another time and another place.

Anyone who can recall “Song Sung Blue”, “Beautiful Noise” and “Love On The Rocks” - not to mention “Sunday Sun”, “Forever In Blue Jeans” and “Sweet Caroline” will love this album. I do.

Oh and it lies, there are 14 songs…