Journal Entries
Linking in h2g2
Posted Nov 7, 2016
Dmitri made a comment the other day that he can't publish links to conversations because it is not technically possible.
I realised that I know a thing or two about the workings of h2g2 which don't appear to be documented anywhere so I started experimenting. I now know how to do any of the following:
1. Put a link in a GuideML entry to another entry.
2. Put a link in a conversation to an entry.
3. Put a link in a conversation to the start of another conversation.
All of these can be done in a way that will work in any skin (Goo, Plain, Brunel, Alabaster or Pliny).
There are a few other things I can do which don't work in every skin:
- put a link in a conversation to the end of another conversation (doesn't work in Pliny)
- put a link in an entry to any part of a conversation (doesn't work in Pliny
- put a different type of link in an entry to any part of a conversation (doesn't work in anything except Pliny)
I'm still experimenting on links in entries to conversations, so I may eventually come up with something that works in all skins.
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Latest reply: Nov 7, 2016
Musical Theory and ancient Cephalods
Posted Sep 20, 2016
Long ago I came up with an idea for explaining musical chords to aspiring guitarists. It was a wheel with 12 spokes, and I wrote the names of the notes around the outside, the order C, G, D, A, E etc, that is going up in fifths. Inside this, I wrote the relative minors: Am, Em, Bm etc, so that Am was inside of C, Em was inside of G etc.
I showed this to someone and they said "Oh that's just the Circle of Fifths". So someone had thought of it before.
It always irked me that when you get as far as C# and notes like that, you don't know whether to call them C sharp or D flat. Guitarists don't care which name you use, but other musicians can get very narky - "A D flat isn't the same as a C sharp!". I'm sure there are solid theoretical reasons for this, and I even now know some of them, but when you're a guitarist banging out chords you don't care.
Then over the weekend an idea occurred to me. Why not make a spiral and divide it into 12 using 12 spokes? The notes spiral around in fifths and by the time you get to C#, it is on the same spoke as Db. I've dubbed this new creation the "Ammonite of Fifths" because that's what it looks like.
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Latest reply: Sep 20, 2016
Back to School
Posted Sep 12, 2016
My daughters are starting back to college today.
Iz is into her fourth and final year for her degree in costume making for stage and screen. El is starting a PhD in the history of church music in Ireland in the 18th Century.
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Latest reply: Sep 12, 2016
Holidays 2016
Posted Jul 5, 2016
I'm off on Saturday for my annual family holiday to Wexford. Most of the family, anyway, as daughter El is still in China. Mrs G and daughter Iz will go return home after a week, but I'll stay there for a few more days, returning on Wednesday 20th. Then on Thursday 21st, El is coming home from China so I'll drive up from Wexford to meet her at the airport.
I'll be without the internet, more or less, for the whole time, so I won't be paying much attention to Peer Review etc. Last year there was a limited wifi connection available but it's not there this year. And the mobile phone coverage is so bad in that corner of the island that I can't receive mobile data either. I considered getting a satellite broadband connection, but that costs €20 a month for the whole year even though I'll only be using it for a month or two, so probably not worth it.
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Latest reply: Jul 5, 2016
The Spinc Walk
Posted Jul 4, 2016
Did a lovely walk yesterday around Glendalough, one of the most picturesque spots in Ireland. Glendalough is a valley with two lakes, surrounded by high mountains. The walk climbs up out of the valley and goes along the top of the cliff beside the upper lake, crosses a bog on a boardwalk made from old railway sleepers, then descends into the valley, coming down a rocky road beside a rushing river.
The walk was only 9.5 km, but was strenuous enough because it has a hefty climb up out of the valley at the start, including one section where you have to climb a set of about 600 wooden steps. The mountain beside the lake is called the Spinc so this is known as the Spinc Walk.
The views from the top make it all worth while. The route is very popular. On most of our walks we rarely meet other walkers. On this one there were plenty of others including old people with walking poles and young families with small children and dogs.
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Latest reply: Jul 4, 2016
Gnomon - time to move on
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