This page is to allow visitors to make general comments about this site, or to make comments about the contents of a page where there is no provision on the page for them.
This page is to allow visitors to make general comments about this site, or to make comments about the contents of a page where there is no provision on the page for them.
Happy New Year John!
I do like the new batch of home page photo gallery pics … very stimulating.
Look forward to listeniong to the latest two additions to mp3 listing (with some caution lest it be another ‘trap’).
2015 started quietly over here and hopefully gets more ‘exciting’ as the year progresses.
Cheers, Ralph
Happy New Year Ralph.
Congratulations on being the first to write a comment using this page.
I’m pleased you like the new photos on the home page slider. Some of them were taken on Wednesday, the last day of 2014. But one photo was taken by my father in 1954, using Kodachrome 25 film. I was 16 at the time.
Best wishes,
John
Refurb’d garden looks great John … and so do you!
Cheers, Ralph
Ralph, “refurbished garden” is a very polite way of describing what Guy and Eli of As Green As did to the back area of my home. One afternoon in March this year I finally bit the bullet and selected a name from leaflets I had saved from my junk mail, and I rang Guy for a quote. I told him my garden was a jungle. About an hour later Guy came down to have a look and when he saw the bedroom side he looked at it and said “I usually tell people who say they’ve got a jungle that I’ve seen worse, but” – and then he turned to me and just smiled.
Two days later, I couldn’t believe it. The garden was like new again, with not a single weed or even a stray leaf to be seen.
John
Hey John,
Congrats on new Theme … now come out from behind the camera so we can all see you!?
Cheers, Ralph
That comment is especially appreciated, Ralph, as it means that like a lot of other people, you see the camera, but you don’t pay any attention to it. Now that it the whole intention of the camera. It is plain black and very ordinary looking. It doesn’t even have a logo or camera name on it. I call it my stealth camera. It is really the proper answer to your question below, on 27 October 2015 – “How did you get away with capturing all those innocent shoppers in those excellent sharp Monochrome pics?” They simply don’t notice the camera. I don’t mean they can’t see it or don’t see it. They just don’t notice it. I’ve put that photo and similar in my galleries and on Facebook where keen photographers have seen it, but even they don’t notice it. And that is exactly as I intended. I hope to do more street photography one day.
Simply stunning John,
All your improvements are eye popping and I am going to have to check all out again tomorrow.
Well done, Ralph
Thanks Ralph. Your comments are greatly appreciated.
Regards,
John
Hey John,
Now you’re just messin’ with my head … they all look great!
Those new full spread shots do take one’s breath away a bit as it put one right in the scene.
Keep ’em coming, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
I’m pleased you like the full spread shots. It reminds me of the movie theatres in the Sixties changing from the old 4:3 screens to Cinemascope, to rival the rise of TV. My WordPress sites now look very different to Facebook pages. 🙂
Cheers,
John
Hi John,
I see you tweaking these pages almost every night now. Great to see my favourite light bright green text back on some (one?) webpage.
The twin ships at what’s-its-name (Princes?) pier is really something very special … and new down the street shot is really quite enchanting too.
How did you get away with capturing all those innocent shoppers in those excellent sharp Monochrome pics? I could only see one slightly taken-aback counter staff and one Tesla gal pointing her finger at you (I think). Although I did see a “reflection” suggesting that you might have been unobtrusively shooting some of these shots from the hip.
Cheers for now, Ralph
Thanks for your comments, Ralph. I got quite a thrill out of them when I read them this morning. I’ve added your green to the sidebar bar headings. The light green needs to have a black background.
The twin ships photos photo is at Station Pier, Port Melbourne. This is where the Princess of Tasmania is berthed and where the big cruise ships dock. The Princes Pier you refer to is an old pier disused by ships, but it popular with fishermen and the old pylons at the end of the pier is a good photo spot for sunset and night photos. You can see its reconstruction in the timelapse video on Princes Pier page with Station Pier in the background. I have never been to Princes Pier, but until tonight I didn’t know where the site was where people took the pylon photos at night.
You did well to notice the reflection of me taking a photo at Chadstone. I simply walked around with the camera strap around my neck and the camera hanging down at waist level, with my right hand appearing to hold the camera steady while I walked along. I pressed the shutter button when I wanted to take a photo. I had set the aperture and relied on auto ISO and auto shutter speed for exposures. I set the lens to f5.6 (I think) and at a distance of 6 feet (I think) to cover focus. I had previously looked up a depth of field (Googled it) table to see what settings to use with the lens focal length to get everything from about 4 feet away in focus. The camera is what I call my “stealth camera” as it has no name or logo on it, and nobody takes any notice of it – which is the whole idea of it.
When walking along I made it a point not to look at anyone when I was taking photos, and generally looked around at shop windows etc so if anyone took any notice of me (and very few did) they would not think I was taking photos of them. The exceptions were the guy at the Aesop counter, as I had been speaking to him; and the person you mentioned in your comment, as I had to get a bit close to the counter and caught his eye, so he looked back. The Tesla lady is actually pointing to the power “bowser”. I had been talking to the Indian guy and he asked me how the Tesla is refuelled with power and I tried to explain that it was much like a petrol bowser. There is a hose with a nozzle at the end and this plugs into the car power point (instead of a fuel cap) See some of the Tesla colour photos on my Pics site). Anyway, while I was talking to the gentleman, the Tesla lady came our way and I asked her to explain it to him.
I’m pleased you noticed and looked at the photos.
Cheers,
John
Hi John,
Is that a relieved expression I see on your latest pic(s)? Hope you got on very well with your billings project. I found them quite helpful when I had to tackle them a year or two back.
The Princes Pier link was very interesting as I had forgotten the old pier was there at all. In our day we did used to wander over there for a bit of pelican watching.
Good idea to move your Site News and I look forward to listening to the new batch of mp3’s … but I will have to re-think my strategy to up-date my mp3 listing to match the order of yours (to make sure I’ve got ’em all) as you do shuffle ’em about a bit!?
Not very happy with your Power Plant(s) tonight as they shut-down the interlink to SA without warning around 2300 our time when I was in the middle of doing that large BPay due by Wed … forcing our guys to cycle thru suburb by suburb blackouts until Vic turned the interlink back on around 0230. And just when I got back online my bank decided to go down for maintenance … oh well, the funds are finally on their way now and will just have to wait it out to see if it makes it in time.
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
I’m not sue what expression I had on my face in the photo – all I was wondering about was trying not to look too pathetic. A lot of my photos are embarrassing. Unfortunately, I don’t have a model to pose for me, so taking myself is the only way I can practice taking people shots. In this case I am scheduled to take about 15 corporate portraits and a few group shots on Tuesday 10th. I’m very nervous about it.
Regarding the music playlist, have you tried copying the whole list from the webpage and pasting it into Excel? Then click on a track in the spreadsheet. It should play. I found that out by accident when I tried to create a duplicate list, much like you, because my new theme arrangement does not allow me to edit a visual list as seen on the web page. It presents me with a text editor which has a shortcode and Ids – e.g. playlist “6124, 6745, 6398,6103, 6291” etc.
I can understand you not being happy about the power outages in Adelaide (and other parts of South Australia). I had no idea that Adelaide gets some of its power from Victoria. I tried to find information on this but it seems to be very shortcoming. I’m sure I recall reading a few years ago that Victoria gets some of its power from NSW. But I did find some news about your outage – A spokesman for SA Power Networks told InDaily the outage was caused “upstream” by a loss of power at the Heywood inter-connector, in south-west Victoria, which triggered protection equipment at SA power stations to automatically shutdown.
Cheers,
John
Merry Christmas John!
On behalf of your viewing community, Thank You for the free bonus movies. It’s another something for me to look forward to … on my new PC in 2016.
I hope you got all you hoped for today and that the weather we are passing your way tomorrow doesn’t make the worldwide cricketing audience think that it rains all the time at the Boxing Day Test .
Cheers, Ralph
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, Ralph. Thanks for your good wishes.
Today is much cooler than yesterday, and I think the bulk of the rain you passed this way from Adelaide thankfully avoided the area where I live in Melbourne. Yet there were floods in suburbs about 15 minutes drive away in Windsor and Prahran. I can remember flash floods in Prahran and South Yarra one day over 20 years ago, where the cars parked in Chapel Street were floating and got washed over onto the footpath by the waves created by large vehicles driving down the street too quickly for flood conditions.
I have the Boxing Day test cricket on TV as I write. It’s at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as you know. There was no rain during play, but a mix of blue sky and dark clouds, and overall it was very ordinary Melbourne weather, and to me it looked a bit miserable at times. The crowd numbers looked very average too. Apparently a lot came late and left early. Now what you would see at an Ashes test match between Australia and England.
I won’t be premature and congratulate you yet on your decision to get a new PC in 2016. I kept saying for years it was time to replace my struggling 2007 PC and it only happened in July this year – 2015!
Cheers, John
Happy New Year John!
Wishing 2016 gives a brand new start to “life balance” and a peaceful world for all.
Best wishes, Ralph
And a Happy New Year to you, Ralph.
Cheers,
John
Hi John,
Just a note to say you need to select a new link for the Open Range movie as the “YouTube user account” for the one you currently have has been deleted … apparently.
I have tried to watch this movie on one of the other YouTube links but my ol’ veedub doesn’t handle the sound anywhere good enough to follow it.
Oh yeh, I’ve spent some time yesterday listening to your latest list of mp3s with pleasure (except solo piano stuff still) and even played a few mp4s from over recent years with sheer enjoyment … except I must be missing the ‘magnificence’ of that original nations chap, as I spent the whole time waiting for his sidekick puppet to get up and dance or something!? Mind you, the poor ol’ dear with her folding chair act was a bonus attraction.
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
Thanks for your advice regarding the Open Range movie user account being closed. However, I have found the movie elsewhere and have put it up again. I’ve also made a comment about the movie on the Movies page.
It’s time you thought about replacing that old computer, providing you have the all important money to do it.
I see you still don’t like the solo piano stuff as you call it. I presume you are referring to the playing by Jimmy Webb at live concerts in the UK. Well, he is the composer of these great hit songs of yore – when I was young and to my taste the hits of the day were still musical – but he’s no great shakes as a singer, and he likes to ad lib around with the music he wrote. It’s interesting what a record producer and team has to do to turn the work of a composer into a commercial hit.
As for the “magnificence” of Alexandro Querevalú, I took that word from one of his admirers on Facebook. He was born in Peru, but states on Facebook that his hometown is ?winouj?cie – which, as I’m sure you’ll find if you Google it and look at the maps, is in Poland on the north coast, below the Scandinavian countries. You mention a puppet. Hmmm. You might be right. I’d assumed it was a statue. Note: This paragraph refers to a comment Ralph made to a YouTube video on my jthonline home page that will only be there for awhile, so I repeat it here:
Cheers,
John
P.S. and FLVs too!
Hi John,
Your new “words of wisdom” addition to your WordPress Title Page have been a been welcomed lights of an evening … but tonight’s “Whenever I have a problem, I just sing. Then I realize my voice is worse than my problem.” certainly brought up a spontaneous chuckle!!
Are you getting these off a desk calendar or are they personal inspirations?
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
I’m pleased you like the “word of wisdom” in my home page header section. I’ve got them from quotations or advice I’ve come across on the internet in the course of reading various articles. The one you mention in your comment is one of those lines some people put after their “signature” when making comment in forums etc. In this case it was from a comment in ReasonTalk.
Cheers,
John
Hi John,
My first internet action on my new PC … still on win7 at present AND my monitor has got stuck on an Orange & Black only colour scheme (one would say busted ‘guns’ if it were a CRT but have no experience in busted LCDs). Fi keeps saying I’m sunburnt!
Everything going very well especially now I realise I have internet connection as I certainly didn’t consciously configure it!!??
Well back to ‘play’ and no for win10 upgrade. AND I do luv re-booting from my SSD … takes all of 20 secs instead of 6 mins on old veedub.
Cheers, Ralph
Hey Ralph,
Congratulations on getting your new computer. I feel quite honoured that writing a comment to me was your first internet action on the new PC. I’m quite sure that you’ll soon work out why your monitor was stuck on Black & Decker colours and solve the problem. I’m also pretty sure that the problem will turn out to be something easy to fix. The reason I’m sure, of course, is that you sent me an email telling me.
I wonder if your YouTube viewing, especially of HD, will be any faster?
All the best,
John
Hi John,
This new PC has certainly been an adventure so far … about half-half, exciting vs I hate PCs even more!
For example: YES YouTube HD videos are stunningly fluent (haven’t had my headset on yet) BUT for reasons I haven’t worked out yet, ALL the YouTube links in your webpages don’t appear and unlike with pictures there is no outline placement box with option to “download picture”.
As is my habit, I have been locking as many security doors & windows in the IE11 ‘house’ … looks like I shut one or two too many!
I’ll fix it sometime soon, as I can play the YouTube link manually copied from “Inspect Element” on your webpages. And everything looks an’ plays perfectly in Edge. Now finally watching an’ listening to “Top 10 Most Extreme …”, I’m up to the opera singing Goth guy.
Oh well back to my current 50:50 challenge to network the two PCs together so I can move files from old to new … thought I did that last night OK but … the files I transferred are nowhere to be found on new PC !???
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
My apologies to you for late reply, but I’ve been rather busy this week, for me.
I don’t understand your comment at all about YouTube video links or what you mean. Can you email me details of an example please (the blog archives Id number in the URL will help). As you say, you have probably closed off too many features of your new browser.
Apart from that I’m thrilled you are seeing HD at last. The stereo sound of course is a main feature of the videos.
Best wishes with the new PC, John
Note: Ralph has since advised that the problem was with a browser add-on. Add-ons and plug-ins are often the cause of problems, as I have found to my own distress when using WordPress. Some plug-ins simply don’t work with everything else.
+
Hi John,
Your Music 2 Post has been perhaps one of your best JTH insight offerings. Full of genuine personal reflections and some tragedy that is hard to respond to with a necessary delicate treatment of the subject matter.
I do remember well you talking of “The Puppet People” performances and when you mentioned his suicide to me. Never had I heard of the ‘artistic’ nature of his surrounds of choice and after my first run thru of those song selections, my depressed state of mind was somewhat lowered even further.
However, like you mentioned of a favourable change in attitude over the years, I too warmed to some of them during a second cycle thru the playlist. Mind you there are a couple of fan favourites in their that were both familiar and enjoyable as always.
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
Thank you for your very kind comments about this page, and the music. I’m sorry to read that some of the songs depressed you even further, The music doesn’t affect me in that way because I rarely sit down and listen carefully to the words, and mostly have the music playing pleasantly in the background and it lifts my spirits. By contrast, I listen to Shostakovich’s symphonies with my full attention and I find that they suit my mood and I like them more if I’m feeling down. Perhaps they cause me to think that I don’t have as much as that to feel bad about.
Cheers, John
Hi John,
I have succumbed to those Leonard Cohen songs … took a few play thru’s and as with most music styles, it takes a matching personal mood and state of mind often for them to blend in appropriately. Must say that when one really listens … many of the lyrics are a bit sorta risqué (per google: slightly indecent and liable to shock, especially by being sexually suggestive – yes, that’s the best descriptive word).
Thanks for another playlist to (eventually) enjoy.
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
It might seem strange but I rarely listen to the lyrics of most songs these days, possibly because I like opera and there’s no point trying to listen to the words unless I follow the libretto in print, with English translations. So I’ve never really listened to the words of the Leonard Cohen songs. All I know is that when I bought my first Leonard Cohen album, in the record shop that was opposite the Jam Factory, I mentioned that a friend has taken his life while listening to Leonard Cohen, the sales guy smiled and said “Yes, it is suicide music.” As for what total strangers to me might write on the web, I always bear in mind that a lot of people, including me, thought that Donald Trump would never make President. And even more than that, I have heard that there are some people who don’t like a good red wine. So it takes all types, but as Mel B said with a big grin on The X Factor on Sunday night, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, it’s just that I’m always right.”
That said, I’m pleased you’re getting to like Leonard.
Cheers,
John
Hi John,
Sorry, my “per google” comment was by way of a definition of my chosen descriptive word “risqué” … not some internet commentary on LC music or lyrics.
Yes, I too in a general background listening mode pay little specific attention to lyrics but am finding that using headphones all the time with my new PC makes paying attention to lyrics difficult to avoid … must be something to do with stereo audio source being much closer to the brain!?
Thanks for “libretto” … another word to add to my dictionary sub-routine. Another “natural sign of aging” has led me to favour watching TV shows with CC onscreen text but it is most frustration when on the very rare occasion I do watch an opera broadcast that has libretto BUT only in the foreign language of the opera.
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
I can understand your frustration when they broadcast a foreign language opera here, with the sub-titles in the foreign language. It’s not helpful at all. Mind you, with English language operas it’s still helpful to have English language sub-titles, because it’s often still difficult to understand thee words.
You might note that I have revised part of reply to you previous comment, in of the election results today.
Cheers,
John
Vale Leonard Cohen.
Yeah John,
Have been meaning to mention that Sitemap webpage was not displaying any content for some time now … but looks like you (or ‘it’) fixed it as all good now.
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
I’ve known about the Sitemap not working, but it’s always been a problem and I didn’t have time to fix it. But seeing yesterday was a holiday I decided to look into it seriously. To my surprise I found that most sites use an XML Sitemap which is only there for search engines, robots etc, not for visitors and users. I use an HTML sitemap. Anyway, I read the instructions for the display code more carefully, and found the problem could be that I had included my code for showing the date of each post. But no such code currently exists in the widget I use.
So I rewrote the code following instructions and without my fake code, and voila! It worked.
Cheers,
John
Very nice picture of your evening gathering John … sorry I wasn’t number six at the table.
Everyone was looking fit an’ well.
Cheers, Ralph
Thanks, Ralph.
I didn’t want any fess at all. So it just worked out that Colin drove over from Adelaide to catch up, Andrew rang to have a lunch, as did Christian, and Colin wanted to present a Port Adelaide Camera Club award to Karen (ex typing services and first Admin lady on the Wang) so that’s how it came to be dinner at night. Wives/partners were invited but were not available. So it made it a quiet affair where we could talk to everyone else and hear what was being said. It would have been if you had been there too. All ex-company people.
Next week I’m having lunch with Ken Richards and Nick Philp; and the week after a lunch with Peter Bobeff and Louise MacKenzie (nee Grills) and maybe Annie Bobeff.
Cheers,
John
Hi John,
Colin rang me before he left to drive over and when he mentioned he planned to see Karen, I tried to explain our “BK” + “BR” Wang disasters … but as Karen is now in Melb, I couldn’t be sure if BK was in ADL or MLB. So now you’ve reminded me!
Very glad to hear that you still connect with many friends from the ol’ days. Say “Hi” to those that might still remember me.
Cheers, Ralph
Welcome back John … almost.
I can now see jthonline.com OK with 12 June entry … and WordPress site BUT so far it is exactly the same (san-playlists) as just before it went offline.
So, fingers crossed, all will be perfect in another 24 hrs.
Cheers, Ralph
Hi John,
Thanks for the link to Trooping the Colour 2018, hope to get some time for viewing it soon.
Winter chills have certainly settled in so keep warm if you can.
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
The Trooping for 2018 is in a “widget” in the sidebar following the Site News which refers to the event. It will be deleted or changes after a while, but I’ll probably make it a post.
Yes, its cold in Melbourne this winter. I read an article in “The Age” last week that reminded readers that what we call cold in Melbourne is mild compared with countries such as Canada, and many in Europe where cities can get down to -18C. However, in western Canada -30C to -40C are not uncommon, I’ve been told. RB once told me that in Toronto in winter if you went outside without adequate clothing, you could do die in minutes. The Age article said that here we are used to warm weather and don’t build houses with thick enough insulation or doubled-glazed windows and so on, and don’t dress for the cold.
Cheers,
John
Hi John,
Am 1 hr in and very enjoyable so far …
According to the radio it was -4 C in Canberra around 0300 this morning. Might take a while for the polies to thaw out and warm up for Question Time!?
Cheers, Ralph
Well done John,
I got my favourite ships back in the “wide cinema” format in place of the little bathtub version.
Much appreciated for your effort.
Cheers, Ralph
I’m glad you found it, Ralph, because I put it there for you after your phone comment.
Cheers,
John
Well John,
2nd viewing hour completed … but there was some strange solo trumpeting between 1.48.50 – 1.48.56 that I couldn’t quite identify the source(s). Did you notice them?
Keep warm, Ralph
Well, Ralph, I have no idea what those noises are. The Trooping can also be seen currently at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcvBKkZ3J1A. This is a shorter video for reasons explained on the YouTube page. In the Comments a short way down is one about the noises at 1.39.33 in that video, and he has several thoughts on it. Someone has replied to thatcomment (underneath the original comment) and he says (unedited quote)
The sounds are in the same close-miked acoustic space as the broadcaster, not the event, and that’s what farts sound like when heard or recorded on video cam. However the noises are to the far left, and are not quite at the same time in both videos. They happen just after the broadcast switches from the Queen in her carriage to the Mall and rear view of the procession showing the dignitaries on horses. There are two white horses that move to the right together. In the video your refer to, these horse move after the noises finish. In the other video …. judge for yourself. Also, I think the commentary has slightly different timing to what we are seeing in both videos.
Cheers,
John
Hi John,
I’ve been concerned that your website(s) inactivity may have been another health intervention … therefore, very glad to see today’s video additions.
I enjoyed the previous two Flying Show vids with A380 and the large military prop job. Somehow my WW2 historical senses appreciate the prop jobs more than today’s super sized jet engine beasts. But the big beasts of tonight’s two vids are still very impressive flying machines … with joysticks no less!
How did you come by the sites with this recent big plane experiences?
Hope v.5.0 doesn’t add any unwanted dramas to your WordPress site maintenance.
Also, hope you are very well and keeping outta the cold, rain and strong winds.
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
I’m glad you appreciated the recent aircraft videos on my HTML home page.
The latest one is 20 minutes long and covers the flight of the giant Antonov cargo plane from Prague to Perth to deliver a heavy cargo. The video is more about the things that pilots, crew and maintenance people go through on a flight. I recently saw where a huge cargo plane crashed soon after take off simply because the heavy cargo had not been strapped down in accordance with the strap maker’s instructions to use the straps at an angle to obtain the full strength of their specification. When the plane took off a piece of heavy cargo broke loose and crashed to the back of the aircraft, damaging a bulkhead and the control cables behind it, also altering the centre of gravity of the plane. No, it was not a loading error. The airline instruction manual ignored the strap maker’s warning and stated the cargo straps could be fitted in any manner. So it’s often the little things that bring down a plane.
YouTube suggests videos to me when I open the site using just the home page URL. The suggested videos are based on my previous viewing habits. And as you know, there are suggested videos at the end of each video and in the right margin of the YouTube page.
Yes, I’m keeping out of the cold as much as I can, especially when there are strong winds. There isn’t usually much rain in my area.
Look after yourself,
John
Hi John,
Enjoyed the 20 mins Antonov vid … didn’t realise that they were Ukrainian in origin. Always interesting to see the background to a story in addition to the overview. Amazing how these big planes: 747’s, Antonov’s, etc. are soooo old now and still going strong (except for high maintenance and poorer fuel efficiency).
We saw that “strap” episode of Aircraft Investigations some time ago on Foxtel and all those shows have put a certain lady so much on edge that her flying days may be over.
We’re up to Series 17 Episode 10, but a new episode only comes out now every month or more. Foxtel’s most enduring ability is to re-run re-runs over and over and over again.
I find some of those intro’s to YouTube vid’s very misleading so to suck you in … similar to “What on Earth?” episodes on Discovery Channel (or Nat. Geo.?) where they go thru five mins of alien speculation about a fuzzy photo before finally admitting that it was fishing pens in the Middle East or any old rock on Mars or rice patties in Japan!!
One of you last three vid’s lead me to “10 most amazing Fighter Jets” or such like … only to find out that the ‘bait’ pic was of a mockup still photo from a movie scene … grrrrr.
Hope you are keeping well too.
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
Yes, the Antonovs are very impressive, including the prop-jet one.
Regarding the YouTube videos you mention, I have come across the amazing fighters one you mentioned, and similar posts especially in music where I think I will see a live recording of maybe the Berlin Philharmonic playing a work I’m interested in, but it’s just a copy of a CD track and a still photo to look at. The same thing for singers.
Cheers,
John
Hi John,
All the train vids were amazing … thanks for the ongoing supply of fascinating action videos.
That American driver sure liked the sound of his own horn!! I guess if I was driving something that huge, I might spend my time warning everyone to get outta the road. Best I could work out was the second engine spent most / all of its time free-wheeling … can’t imagine, if both were running, how they would synchronize both engines wheels to spin at the same rate?
Those Ruskies were certainly all running their engines nose to tail (what a long line of ’em), so the drive-wheels must slip/free-wheel as and when necessary to keep up with the guy in front. I’m sure I saw Pasha’s fast train from Doctor Zhivago in there somewhere.
If you haven’t already, try watching the Netherlands / Germany vid with “auto-generated Closed Captions ON … I always set CC to ON, if available, as I am amused at the frequency of mis-interpretations of speech and sounds plus it often gives indications to words and sounds not clearly audible to the average listener. This is especially so whilst watching TV as my hearing isn’t getting any better with age.
In this case, understandably, it interprets the chugga chugga of the engine as “music” and, also understandably when I thought about it, when the horn is blasted for “just right” length … not too short or too long … it interprets it as someone saying “you”!!!
As always, the unexpected benefit of watching one YouTube video is the suggested playlists that come after and in this case it lead me to one of my childhood hobbies of remote control models … including trains, tanks and planes which were all very exciting.
Keep in good health, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
Thanks for your interesting comments, and suggestion regarding the closed captions.
There is an old Hollywood movie they show now and again on Ch76, where the action near the start of the film takes place on a train and a passenger starts repeating a few words to mimic the rhythmic sounds of the train on the tracks. Then someone else starts doing it, and so on. It was repeated so often in the movie that it really annoyed me.
Regards,
John
Hi John,
Yes, the Lockheed Constellation was a marvellous creation. Guess it should have been obvious to me that “Air Force One” wasn’t always a 747 !
And I got a bonus B-25 Mitchell Bomber as well.
Thanks, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
I thought you might like the old propeller aircraft. They sound great, and the Constellation was a sleek looking machine.
Thanks for identifying the B-25 Mitchell Bomber. I saw the guns on it, and I wondered if it was an escort for Air Force One back in those days, or just happened to be another aircraft taking off.
The WordPress Dashboard says your comment was submitted on 21 November, but it was only today (25) that I saw the 350 comments total had gone up to 351, yet I look every day for updates in Comments, Plugins, theme and even WordPress itself, so they don’t pile up. I wonder if I was misreading 351 as 350.
Regards,
John
Hi John,
Are you enjoying your experiments with GeneratePress? I watched the intro video on their site but without any foreknowledge of web design or WordPress etc, it didn’t make any more sense than any other web design or html learning to me.
Certainly has a clean, crisp look to it with some work left to do on “Comments” areas …
I did like the revisit of blogheading5.jpg banner for a brief time.
Hope you are safe and well.
Cheers, Ralph
Hi Ralph,
I see you have found that the Comments page has been restored, and I expect you have also found that your favourite ship photo is now fullwidth of the page and will go fullwidth of the screen when you click on F11.
As regards your comment about some work left to do on the “Comments” page I had a look at the page and found two large areas of code left by the Divi theme after I replaced it with GeneratePress. I’m glad you saw this. All of that code is normally hidden, but it just shows you how much code Divi generated to just put my small two-line paragraph of text on the page and position it.
GeneratePress largely relies on the controls built into WordPress, not on a separate page-builder, and this removes bloat from the site hopefully making it faster to load. At his stage I don’t know whether I’ll stay with this theme because it might not prove to be reliable over time. That video you watched sounds like the one I watched, and I found it useless. It just raced through everything at a ridiculous speed without a narrator to explain anything. Also, the forums are full of of complaints. Despite all that, I’ll be happy with it if GP just maintains and makes work on my easier.
Regards,
John