Saturday 20 May 2017

Numpty Donald





Donald is in the Middle East at the moment.  He is on a mission to end wars there by selling Saudi Arabia and Israel $100 billion worth of weaponry.  This will help.  Of course he is not the actual salesman, he just takes the credit while others bribe sell the goods so they can bomb children in Yemen or bump of another Palestinian or two.  What does Jesus really say about this I ask?
Anyway our boy is still tweeting, carefully in a land where they cut bits off, and revealing to the world the reason he is considered mentally unbalanced, rash to the point of dangerous and unfit for the office of President of the United States of America.  
However, there are those who would say that he is no worse than many others who have held this esteemed post, indeed he is clearly more capable than some.  While I agree that he is a danger to society, that nuclear war will be avoided only by the US military chiefs ignoring his commands and the Russians backing down Khrushchev like, that North Korea might soon be a blackened wastlend and while it is true that he is likely to fall out with the leaders of Japan and France and possibly attempt to seduce Merkel if he ever gets to meet her this man still remains no worse than many who have sat in the Oval Office before.
Lets peruse some.
Abraham Lincoln.  Abe is seen as a great man.  His standards were high, his integrity great, these combined to get him shot while watching a play at the end of the civil war.  This was inevitable as Lincoln had failed in almost everything else he did.   In 1832 he lost his job, in 35 his sweetheart died, a year later he had a nervous breakdown.  He was however elected to the Illinois House for the Whigs.  He tired for Congress and failed, eventually being elected three years later, he later lost the nomination for this.  In 1849 he was defeated for Land Officer, 1854 defeated while attempting to enter Senate, 1856 defeated as Vice President, 1858 defeated again in attempt to enter Senate.  He did however become President and cause a major civil war.  He then got shot dead.
Andrew Johnson.  While Licoln lay on his deathbed Andrew Johnson the vice president arrived, Mrs Lincoln, like Abe no friend of their associate, screamed at him to get out.  This he did and wandered off to get drunk.  When Lincoln was pronounced dead Johnson had to be woken from sleep to be sworn in as President.  His first speech as president abused the beaten South, though he himself was senator from Tennessee and agreed with slavery, and was somewhat thoughtless.  He had his own slaves, his first, a woman, had three children who were somewhat light skinned it was said, hmmm.  He handled the rebellious southern states roughly possibly because he was one of them, he survived attempts at assassination and soon fell out with both Republican and Democrats, the Republicans had him impeached but acquitted but he was acquitted by one vote.  Tact was not his greatest talent.
Warren Harding.  Some say this was the worst President the US ever had.  Women had just received the vote in the US during 1920 and he was chosen as Presidential candidate because of his good looks.  I know how he must have felt.  Harding himself did not bother to be there when the vote for such emancipation was taken.  This was not because he did not like women, indeed he liked them so much he often mde use of them, women are attracted to power.  That explains why I do my own ironing.  He also favoured drunken parties at the White house which was considered unfortunate by some as Prohibition was then at its height. Scandals abounded, possibly behind his back his chosen helpers being not as nice as he and while he probably did not know about them till later he probably didn’t bother much even then. 
Ronald Reagan.  None in the free world outside of the United States could ever imagine electing a ‘B’ actor of such limited intellect as this yet the Americans did so, twice!  Famous for doodling (or was that drooling) during cabinet meetings and stuffing down jellybeans while his wife searched astrological charts to inform him of what days he ought to do certain actions he was however remarkably good at communicating with the American people.  His stye would have him laughed out of office in any other nation but he knew how to appear before an American audience and many loved him for it.  He reigned through and possibly did not notice, the Iran-Contra affair, war in the Middle East, the shooting down of an Iran passenger jet leading to the downing of Pan-Am 103 over Lockerbie awarding the US captain who shot down the Iran jet a war medal!  
We know all about him so let him speak for himself: -  

''I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.''   
''Well, I learned a lot....I went down to (Latin America) to find out from them and (learn) their views. You'd be surprised. They're all individual countries'' 
I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.”  

It is not known if he was joking.
George W. Bush.   George became Governor of Texas and managed to do very little.  Following on from Dad George entered the White House with a desire to emulate and possibly better his father in his job, this however was somewhat spoiled as he was aided by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, two of the more murky characters ever to be found in Washington, and that says something.  Tony Blair’s aids indicated that at no time was he left alone with George, Cheney was always there a strange presence at George’s side.  We know about the needless Iraq war, the huge deficit increase, 9/11 and all the rest, too soon to have forgotten, but have we forgotten his statements.  These were delicious even for a US President :-  

''You work three jobs? ... Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that.''—President George W. Bush, to a divorced mother of three in Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005. 
''Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.''  
"You don't need to be smart to be president"--Republican Congressman J.C. Watts - said at a February campaign appearance on Bush's behalf. Washington Post, 6/11/00 "I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle the job is underestimating."
--U.S. News & World Report, April 3, 2000.  
                                                       "Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning" --Florence, SC, Jan. 11, 2000

"One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures." -George W. Bush
"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."--Reuters, May 5, 2000
"I think we agree, the past is over." --On his meeting with John McCain, Dallas Morning News, May 10, 2000.

I have not bothered to mention Richard Nixon as he was more sad than bad, too stupid to really appreciate how bad he was. ''When the President does it, that means it's not illegal.''  A great phrase which he probably believed.  To avoid upsetting some I ignore George Washington who never told a lie, he said, and who failed at every battle he fought yet with French help defeated the failing English redcoats.   
I will however mention one or two clever Presidents.   
Thomas Jefferson.  This man spoke French, Latin and Greek, knew his History, philosophy and maths, and became a competent architect.  He was a competent musician also as well as a keen gardener, he studied ancient life and wrote poetry.  In between he managed to come up with "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."  Beat that!
I doubt he would be elected to Congress today.
James Madison.  Another who would not get the power is James Madison.  This president also became fluent in Latin and Greek adding Italian and Spanish also.  He put his mind to History, maths and science also and was influenced by Aristotle and John Locke concerning liberty.  He was influential in developing the US Constitution, so blame him!
John Adams.  As you know this president was the great, great, grandson of Henry Adams who with his wife and seven children emigrated from Braintree in the heart of Essex to the New England Colonies in the 1630's.  John Adams was famed for his oratory as well as working with Madison on the Constitution.  They say his speeches pushed this through the then parliament.  He worked well with Madison and they got on spedidly together, they got on so well they both died on the same day in 1826, the 4th of July! 
   
There are many others to mention, both good and bad, but the point I am making is that Trump is dangerous and illogical but no better or worse than what has gone before.  The chances of nuclear war are slim, but always possible, the chances of him being impeached much greater.  
We need worry only about Mother May dictating to her cabinet and forcing them to follow where she leads them and us, even though she does not know where she is heading.





Friday 19 May 2017

Wood Pigeon


Here is a Wood Pigeon.

Been a rough week in which I have been somewhat weak this week.  
Last night I slept badly, woke at 5, rose at 5:15 and have been dozing all day.  This evening I suffered two of those little annoying light migraines that appear when I am too tired so there is nothing to say tonight except here is a Wood Pigeon.  I will be back to normal gripes tomorrow.


Irish taxi at Christmas!

Thursday 18 May 2017

Irked!!


For years I have used the 'Windows Live Gallery' to sort pictures.  It was simple, straight forward and done the job easily and very well.  Since the problems with the laptop my copy of 'Windows Gallery' has been lost and we now have imposed upon us 'Photos' which is neither easy or good! I am irked.
I found one or two other types to play with but these are far from straightforward and not as good as the Windows Gallery.  
When I try to download pictures Win 10 forces them onto 'Photos' even though I have set it to the new, not easy, gallery.  I may eventually find how to fix that but it does annoy.  Not that I can take many pictures as I am now into Spring cleaning and while the rain falls this is the best option.  The weather may be warm but it still rains, at least the farmers are now happy as the rain up till now has annoyed me but not watered their fields properly so far.  It has done today!
You will also note the spellchecker has disappeared.  I only noticed this when someone commented on a Tweet on that Twitter thing.  Now I have to search how to get one of those, in English not American, back on. Ha!  I have just found is does, it just does not appear to work for me.  Bah!  At least Blogger has one.



President May has announced the Conservative Party's lies for the election.  It is noticeable that it was referred to as 'My Manifesto' and not the 'Conservative' manifesto.  Behind her we see the words in large letters 'Theresa May' and 'Strong and Stable.'  Hmmm.  This reminds me of Eastern Europe 'democratic' nations where the individual is prominent and the party behind him, clearly May has allowed ego to dominate while she sets her party on a differing road to filch from the weak and keep the real money in her own hand.
I am becoming convinced we are under a judgement in the west.  Why else would we find Trump as President of the US and May dominant in a UKIP style Tory Party?  The differing style of Conservative she is offering is no different from what went before, it's just that the 'Toff Boys' have been shoved aside for the middle class girl, no difference for the people however.  What a mess politics has become today.  Sturgeon, for all her faults, represents a politician with some idea of what the nation needs, the English offerings are just not up to the job.
One thing I noted was Mays warning that of Brexit negotiations fail the nation will suffer because of this.  Why is she telling us what we told her?   She opposed Brexit because she knew we needed to remain in the EU but when the chance of glory came she jumped ship and now is taking us into disaster, yet she warns us?  How come missus?  If negotiations fail, and your negotiating style has been abysmal so far Theresa, you will be responsible for this mess, you and Dave, Boris, George, Gove and other self seeking wee boys who have been playing games with the nation.  Somehow I suspect you will manage to be alright, you all keep sufficient Cash in Luxembourg and elsewhere to stay afloat while we sink don't you?



Wednesday 17 May 2017

Nothing to say...



So here is a 'Selfie!'




Tuesday 16 May 2017

More Old Pics


My weary unhealty body carried me without my brain to the museum through the early morning sunshine, ten O'clock is early to me.  I mean I rise at six at this time of year but I am not up until ten.  
Nothing much happened bar my assistant mumbling about me being even more grumy than usual.  I was surprised by this as I am never grumpy and wondered whether the sun had affected her or something.  We sat and drank our breakfast and waited for the crowds.  No crowds, not even a full staff!  One meeting yesterday and half of them take the next day off in lieu!  Tsk!  Good job nothing happened.


One brief excitement were four visitors researching grandads workhouse experience.  They went looking for the hosue from which he came and while I suspect they failed in their quest the area in which he lived will be modernised but identifiable to him if he ever comes back to life.  Planning laws have a lot to answer fo but one good thing is they way old building keep their outside appearance while renovated inside, often retaining as much as possible of ancient beams and fittings.  This area has many going back several hundred years.   I really must get out and take some pics of these ancient places.  Today the costs are a wee bit higher than before, start at half a million and go upwards!



Monday 15 May 2017

Monday Meeting


The day has been dreich!  
On top of this I had to saunter down to the museum for a meeting regarding the next few exhibitions and other matters.  This meant sitting around a table being informed except when one talked about the garden and the need for water and another spoke about the new Water Butts.  this was exciting and one kept speaking and the other takes ages to explain in a roundabout way a straight line.
Then he discussed pictures on walls of the Hall and an exhibit on the Civil War even though there is almost no material in this area to display.
Back to exhibits and one or two spoke, one or two dozed and I merely wrote 'HELP!' on the paper provided and pointed to it every time certain people spoke.  My own dig at our partners elsewhere was shot down by the boss who had a wonderful political answer to my point.  


So it was back home to the laptop which had been running all day reinstalling Win 10 supposedly.  This time (Fourth time) I had accepted there would be losses and scraped out what I could from the 'File Explorer' which worked and installed the programme alone with no files or apps retained.
It worked well enough so the brute is working and much has been reinstalled alongside.  It does mean hundreds of links from my museum work have been lost but I will just have to find them all again I suppose.  Ho hum.  There again I have to reinstall several useful items such as 'Avast' & 'Malwarebytes' etc. 
I'm not one to complain.


Hopefully this will be the sight when I wander out tomorrow.  The wind however is howling from the southwest bringing half the Bay of Biscay with it.  This pleases the farmers and the ducks but does nothing for me personally. 

You will note I have nothing to say, just like the folks at the meeting however they kept on saying it.
Had I been a local councillor I may well have enjoyed the use of precious time, however I live in the real world and just wished to be at the other meeting I was missing for this!  Oh JOY!




Sunday 14 May 2017

Twighlight


I was sitting on my bed in the west wing watching football as night began to fall.  When allow as quiet I noticed the sun glimpsed through the leaves on the trees across the road and was temped out to snap a picture or two. 
Sunday evenings are quiet, no kids as homework keeps them locked indoors and only a dog walker or two passed by.  So I took a few pictures of the sky, not much else worth taking and rushed home to see them.


The problem is that on this laptop I do not have 'Live.com' as Microsoft have ended this.  The photo gallery was excellent and made playing with the pictures relatively easy.  However on Win 10 they have replaced this with 'Photos' and it is not easy nor that good.  I must look for something better so I can do things with the pics.  Very frustrating and annoying also when you consider they have taken all my pics from everywhere they could find and added them to their 'Photos' whether I liked this or not.  The power grab of these people knows no end.

 
Transferring them to add them to Blogger was not that easy, I suspect there is a way and I have not yet fund this but I did not enjoy the palaver swapping things over.  Good job I'm not one to complain.  
Tomorrow museum for meeting re new exhibition, fiddle with broken laptop, hoover and read books...


Saturday 13 May 2017

Something Different


Having got fed up screaming at the laptop I laid it aside today only working out how to remove lots of stuff from its inner depths.  This I managed and discovered lots of old photos some of which I quite liked.


Twice this week I have been out late.  On Monday I met with the men at the Liberal Club staying out till nine at night!  Gosh!  I must say walking home the hundred yards I was impressed by the light sky at that time of night.  I love Spring! 
Last night I was forced to visit the museum again for a quiz night that almost never happened.  Too few booked up and a scramble was made to force people to round up family and friends.  We managed to obtain four teams and sat through several bottles of wine rounds of various questions.  I managed OK on the history and Geography rounds but was somewhat lost on the Science one and as for the Eurovision round count me out!  I switched that of forty years ago and feel better for it.  A jolly good night out I thought and wandered home after nine thirty again impressed with the sky.  I might have taken a picture if I had my camera but not having it I couldn't which was a shame.  Spring skies are wonderful.
The number of questions varied and we failed the history round only managing 12 out of 15 there, we must answer for this on Tuesday as we ought to get them all right!


The day has been mostly spent in watching or listening to the football.  I am almost beginning to look forward to the end of the season so I can have my Saturdays back.  Within a week I will be wishing football was back again however.  Once I am free from football I might get out and about as the weather might improve somewhat.  While it rains lightly and annoys the farmers it is almost always cloudy and there is not enough sunshine for my liking.        


I know this is an old picture but leaving the museum last night the sky was again like this but not so light.  Twilight, when the streets are quiet, is a fascinating time of day.  The weather is reasonable, the sky good, the occasional bird still chirps its warnings to possible opponents and the world is at its best.  Our civilised world, with traffic on the roads and in the air passing by all too often makes us long for green grass and silence.  A stream of rushing water at such a time can be a wonderful way to relax the mind after a day of noise and excitement.  This does not mean we do not wish to return to said excitement soon enough but we need these moments to refresh the head as it gets cluttered with worries.  Some like to pretend such moments are 'spiritual' but they fool themselves as this is merely the mind relaxing in the creation God has provided for us to refresh and recreate our minds, how we need this.


Friday 12 May 2017

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still not working, still now working, still not working....

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

(old picture...)


Thursday 11 May 2017

AAURGH Continued!



Having contacted Microsoft the chap helpfully offered a link that would reinstall Win 10.
This however needed to be downloaded to a memory stick of at least 5GB, naturally the only blank (and it had to be blank) stick I had was 4GB.  A slow trudge to Tesco led to another £7 leaving my pocket, I smiled at this, and returned to spend hours downloading (quick) the relevant link and then applying (slow, oh so slow) the link to the hurt laptop.
 Hours passed.
Eventually after many false starts the start screen appeared, I logged in and waited.
It didn't work.
I lunched badly, siesta'd well, then started again.
This time I amended things slightly and waited.
Hours passed.

The machine trudged to a finish, I needed to shave again by this time, and the result appeared, 
no difference, it still didn't work.
Tomorrow, with less hair and a very frightened neighbour, I will try again one more time with a couple of different ideas.
I'm not one to complain...


Outside the sun is shining.
Inside is darkness and gloom.
Outside pretty girls skip past half naked.
Sadly so do men who ought not.
I sit by laptop urging a response, to the laptop, not the girls.


Wednesday 10 May 2017

Win 10, Microsft, AAUGH!!!!


Last night on my new laptop Microsoft decided to add an update.  Fine, it was late, I was tired, I switched off and slept.  This morning making use of the old laptop, the one on which I keep the details and links for the Great War research, and indeed much else, I began to clear up the links and consider what to put over to the new laptop.
This took all morning, searching out old links many of which had died since I kept them, removing duplicates and sorting the hundreds of much needed links into a sensible order.  It was fun rediscovering links to trials at the Old Bailey in times past, archaeology sites from the past and little used but important links to battles and individuals that might be required any day now.  It is to be regretted that so many sites no longer exist, just as it is regretted that I cannot mind what they were about!  However I cleared out many and placed a lot in better files, including links to the villages round the town and one in particular that I need to do some research on.
Then it happened.
"Windows needs to restart your computer" said the message.
Simple enough and as it was lunch time I switched off and let it update.
Update it did and took its time about it too!


After my unhealthy lunch, after my siesta, after I had a smile on my face I switched the old laptop back on and awaited the update process.
It went through the blue screen update message "Please wait while...etc" and then after a short eon it offered the Microsoft Upgrade message, you know the one, slow writing that stays for ever and moves off while the "Don't switch off ..."type messages run through.
While waiting I read 'War & Peace,' the entire Bible, got married, had three children and when I returned it was till updating!
Eventually it ceased.
The screen flashed once or twice, on the left of the screen the 'Recycle Bin' and several other folders appeared, though smaller and not int he right order.  One or two items appeared on the toolbar at the bottom but after another short eternity nothing else!
Nothing!  Not a thing!
All was gone.  All my research, all my links good and bad, four years of work (I use the word loosely) lost or at least unobtainable.  I muttered strange words and despaired a bit more.
I waited, I was getting good at this, I waited again, and much later pressed buttons but nothing worked, 'Start' didn't, only 'File Explorer' worked.
I logged out.
I logged in.
Same result.
So after more hopeless pushing and many rude words, some despair and a bang of the head on the wall I switched off completely hoping this would restart the brute.
It didn't.
I returned to the wall and bounced my head off it to the neighbours annoyance, it was his wall too!
I left a question on the Microsoft Community site, it might get answered one day.
Suddenly I found an opening. 
I fiddled with the right click on the search button (Search didn't work) and chose 'Toolbars' and then 'Deasktop.'  Suddenly as I clicked on the wee chevrons a long list of things appeared.  All was still there, trapped inside the machine.  But how to get to out?  'Control Panel' then select a 'restore point.'  Easy!
er, about a short lifetime ago I did this and the laptop is restoring itself to 5/7/17 blasted Yanks I mean 7/5/17 (why do they have the date wrong?) and as I write it is finishing!

It failed!

Everything is still on there, I can see that. 
It is the OS that has gone, the very thing they are supposed to be updating!