As we are now in Tier 2 all of our meetings will be online until further notice. I hope you are all keeping safe and well and will be able to join us online. Contact Gareth ( or to iceni@woolridge.org.uk ) if you don't think you are on our meeting list of participants for online meetings if you are interested in joining in; since he is sending out the links prior to each meeting.
We shall still meet on the third Wednesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. via Jitsi.org Video conferencing.
Peter
This is the first time we've ever had to do this on-line so it will be different. We don't get to taste Gareth's Dad's Mincepies so you each have to provide your own. As for the Gadgets - anything goes from Culinary to Workshop via Computers or software.
A permanent fixture in our programme now allowing us to share our photographic interests. There weren't many video entries this year so it was mainly stills.
Duncan started with his presentation from 2019 which he could not play last year as his memory card failed. This continues his interest and fascination with Wind and Water Mills starting with Whelnetham in North Suffolk which curates a collection of military vehicles. He then moved on to the FernsTurm in Berlin which is a tall television tower. Sited in former East Berlin to beam a strong signal into West Berlin. This was followed by various shots of Berlin including the World Clock and a memorial to the Nazi Book burning. His tour then went off to see various Windmills in Potsdam. The Emperor did not like a mill next to his Palace and the story has it that he wanted to pull it down, but the Miller said he could if there had not been a law against it; thereby standing up for his rights.
He also visited a railway museum with a cut-away German steam engine and an 1840 British engine. He also visited Braunshweig (Brunswick) which has been largely rebuilt since the war and he also showed a picture of another very large locomotive situated outside the Railway station precinct. Nearby St Blasii's Cathedral contains the coffin of Caroline of Brunswick, Queen Consort of George IV, although married they could not stand each other and the marriage was short lived and after failing to be also crowned Queen she died shortly after and Duncan was interested to learn that her coffin stopped overnight in St Peter's Colchester on the way back to Brunswick via Harwich.
He saw various other German windmills of different constructions. He also visited Rammelsberg Mine [Silver, Copper and Lead , closed 1988 after over 1000 years operation! Ed.]
Next up Paul showed shots from Plymouth including He also ha shot of a massive anchor from the Ark Royal and another showing a trompe l'oeill building which appears from a distance to have a 3 Dimensional side with pillars, but in fact is flat. He then visited Smeaton's Tower Lighthouse one of the oldest and tallest lighthouses which had been moved inland to the Ho after they built a new one. He had also had shots of Portsmouth with HMS Victory. He found some baby owls at this work outside a back door which were eventually taken away by their mother. Other hots included the Redbridge station clock with TfL roundels and their station logo with a horizontal red bar (red bridge) across a blue circle (instead of the usual blue bar on a red circle).
He was also amused at a sign on Covent Garden underground station saying
" This stairway has 193 steps
equivalent to 15 floors.
Do not use except in an emergency "
He said not only were there not 193 steps there, but the sub title "...equivalent to 15 floors" also appears on other stations signs including one with 103 steps, but none equivalent to 15 floors!
He moved onto a shot of a bench outside the Brunel Museum at Rotherhithe which caught his attention. The back part was in the shape of the Royal Albert Bridge with a steam train progressing across it. Well worth a visit to learn all about how the tunnel was constructed. He had also a shot of the designer of all the famous steam locomotives like Mallard, Sir Nigel Gresley, whose statue is at Kings Cross station. Also shots of Tower Bridge, St Andrew Undershaft Church with the Gherkin (33 St Mary Axe ) in the background. Also a panoramic photo of a ship on the Thames which he stitched together with Huyghens.
His sense of humour was also roused when he photographed a bag at Bletchley park which was once owned by Tommy Flowers right next to a security sign saying "Do not leave bags or luggage unattended". Peter said he had a photo with a "no photography" Sign on a shop window in France and the owners were a bit annoyed with him taking a photo, but he thought, I am in the street and you have a shop window - you can't say no photography! Duncan in a similar vein saw a sign on a school gate saying "Do not attach signs on this gate". Paul said you can't photograph the Eiffel tower at night because the light arrangement is copyright.
His next shot was of Sennen Cove from the aeroplane near Land's End Airport. We also had pictures of a white granite snowman on the Scilly Isles. The Bishop Rock Lighthouse is the tallest offshore Lighthouse. It is actually two as it was extended and now has a helipad on top with weakend bolts, since even at 300 ft high the waves can go above it in the winter and they would rather lose the helipad than the lamp. Paul had a very good picture of the top showing the helipad taken from a moving boat.
He had many other photos from the Scillies including the "Loaded Camel " rock formation and the memorial of the place where the body of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell was washed ashore after his Flagship HMS Association foundered along with 5 other ships on the Gilstone Rocks on the night of 22nd October 1707. Paul said this was because they could not measure their longitude at that time. It was the biggest naval disaster in peacetime. Paul also showed a short video of the tunnel of light in Norwich on a December Evening ( in a previous year.)
Duncan also had a short piece of video but it did not run very well.
Peter then unsuccessfully tried to share his photos but after failing to share his screen for 10 minutes he let Gareth show his photos instead.
Gareth showed us some wonderful pictures of Aidan, Sophie and himself. They have have been getting Aidan used to the car although as Gareth said he used to love the car, but now he screams all the time till they reach their destination. They have had camping trips and days out including enjoying a train ride on a narrow gauge railway. He obviously enjoys the great outdoors. Aidan is even beginning his computer education although he hasn't found the delete key yet!
He is getting very mobile and is a "terror on four legs" as Gareth said.
Peter then had another go at getting screen sharing to work and Gareth did some Googling and found other people had said that Firefox and screen sharing on a Mac did not work with Jisi.org so Peter then had to change sessions to use Safari which was successful, but however we probably lost at least 20 minutes because of all this. I am sorry it took so long to sort out this problem although we weren't to know it was there. However it meant that Sue and Michael did not get time to show their photos and will we hope be able to show them on another evening.
Peter finally got set up and was able to show some pictures from the Wedgwood Museum just outside Stoke-on-Trent. He was a great engineer and made great use of the canal system for moving his goods and organised his workforce very well. When he moved into a new market he tried to persuade the wealthy in a country to buy his pottery and if they did not seem interested he then approached people lower down the social scale and persuaded them to buy instead. So when the wealthy found out they were really annoyed. He would never compromise on quality and was very inventive and produced all sorts of different designs and perfected many new manufacturing techniques. It is well worth a visit if you get the chance.
Peter also showed shots of a trip to Framlingham Castle which was one of the few English Heritage sites open in East Anglia this year. It was very safe now walking around the battlements and he was interested to see how they had constructed the thick walls of the castle to such a height.
He also showed some pictures on another day out of the docks area in Felixstowe.
Unfortunately the Landguard Fort and Museum were not open. They had a good fish and chip lunch at the restaurant.
Peter was asked how he was getting on with his NAS and explained a few problems in particular problems copying an external USB connected disk, some associated with Apple's Spotlight100 files which are added to drives by default.
He also mentioned his cabling experiences with CAT6 cable connectors.
A very good evening although we went on much longer than we should have. I must say I was impressed by the details which the other speakers presented and it made it all very interesting. Maybe some of that should be archived.
Since all our other meetings are being held online for the foreseeable future there is no reason why we can't have a meeting in January as travelling in bad weather is not an issue. So we would have to find another meeting topic. Any ideas?
The meetings in the current programme may change dependent on future trends. If anyone would like to present a talk please let us know and we can slot them in. Most talks are open anyway with no defined speaker so feel free to join in.
Peter
| ICENI Future programme 2019/2020 | ||||
| 2020 | ||||
| December 16th | Gadgets and Party Evening | All | ||
| 2021 | ||||
| January 20th | Extra Topic - Suggestions welcome. | All | ||
| February 17th | Family Tree software | All | ||
| March 17th | XML and Json | All | ||
| April 21st | A Retro Evening | All | ||
| May 19th | AGM - and extras | All |
MEETINGS WILL NOW BE HELD ONLINE BUT STILL ON THE THIRD WEDNESDAY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. FURTHER DETAILS TO FOLLOW.
Our meetings are held at the Bourne Vale Social Club, Halifax Road,
Ipswich IP2 8RE ,
for a map and other details please see the website. http://icenicomputerclub.org.uk
Membership fee currently £15, visitors free.
"ICENI does not have any Insurance cover for computers or other equipment so please be advised that you bring machines to the club at your own risk."
However many household insurance policies will include cover away from home often with no increase in premium. (Ed.)
Our website URL is
http://icenicomputerclub.org.uk
Email to: iceni@woolridge.org.uk
I am open to suggestions on what people would like to have included in the website. If anyone would like a copy of our old newsletters on CD this could be arranged.