h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Bx4

"As I understand it 4G has a greater reach than 3G" - You're having a laugh? Yes 'big' towns hereabouts boast 3G (that's eight miles of road or so till the 3G icon lights up - too far even for 4G?) so the latest roll out is as much use, here in the sticks, as a chocolate teapot. Part of the problem hereabouts is that too many folk appear disinterested in broadband. On this issue my desire for technology 'like townies have had for years' might be seen to be plain greedy. I should be happy to have a telephone at all.

"This sort of stuff [a functional prototype of a future ubiquitous city where ICT infrastructure is embedded invisibly into the urban space, turning it into a smart environment, a smart city] makes UKGov's 'commitment' to universal broadband risible" - 'They' prefer to promote high speed for the few ahead of a minimum standard for all. Hence http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-23077570 "Free high-speed wi-fi is to be rolled out across the whole of Cardiff city centre along with public buildings, schools and buses by 2015...Cardiff is one of 11 cities in the UK where 4G (fourth generation) broadband speeds has been introduced."

"Mustardland: Like you I am not even lurking at the moment" - Being at a loose end last night; my curiosity got the better of me and I had a 'lurk' only to discover, quite by chance, that I had been chucked off the 'proboards' rival to Peet's (my profile has been wiped). The thread has since been locked and falls down the listings. Another day and I'd have been none the wiser.

"I wonder if later [boxer] models are as robust as earlier ones" - I could just be unlucky of course. The issue with the burned hose I felt compelled to mention lest there was a chance it should befall you. I've seen the result of a 'burner' fire before it's not a nice thing to happen to anyone. Truth to be told I don't know if the exhaust some feet from the cylinder head would ever get so hot so as to ignite fuel vapour let alone cause a naked flame?

bs

hi rg

Oulu: The Air Guitar Festival had begun to pall so I gave the final a miss. Never having been of the 'airist' tendency I must confess I never quite got the point. A bit like being a 'virtual biker' with helment and leather but no bike.

'4G': The UK government are still claiming that it will deliver //universal// 2Mb/s broadband and //superfast// broadband to 90% of British home by 2015. However:

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/broadband/government-assures-it-is-on-track-to-meet-universal-broadband-targets-1146215

http://blog.simplifydigital.co.uk/2009/05/broadband-for-all-in-scotland-well-ahead-of-digital-britain%E2%80%99s-universal-broadband-commitment/

So like you I'm a touch skeptical.

'interest': The approach seems somewhat different in Scotland with the Scottish government using a number of different strategies. Generally, the aim has been to improve the 'copper' infrastructure (which was what happened on the Western Isles with the wi-fi masts an alternative EU funded project) which has already achieved a 97%. The remaining 3% were the //most// remote rural areas where 'copper' was not an option so a wi-fi or satellite solution was adopted:

http://www.avantiplc.com/news-media/white-papers/scotland-has-broadband-reach-thanks-avanti

albeit that the satellite option originally only delivered 0.5Mb/s and was still better than nothing. However, this may well have increased since the HYLAS 2 satellite was launched last August. We have satellite broadband on DB (though only usable when moored at a jetty).

So I guess if UKgov adopted the same strategy as Scotgov you would not be dependent on the 'interest' or otherwise of others.

'rival': I never signed up for proboard alternative so I'm not clear how it works. Were you 'deep-sixed' because you offended against the boards cultural mores or because you were inactive?

'unlucky': Never had a problem like this with B1 or B2 (both oilheads) though the earlier airheads did tend to get excessively hot if rode for extended periods in hot weather. No fire though only slightly parboiled calves.

I suppose the larger the engine ,whether oil or air cooled, the hotter it is likely to get which may explain the advent of the water cooled boxer:

http://www.bmw-motorrad.com/com/en/index.html?content=http://www.bmw-motorrad.com/com/en/technology_detail/engine_drive/item_two_cylinder_opposed_twin_engine.html&notrack=1

I wonder if given the relatively large number of problems you have had with BB, as compared with my experience wit B1 and B2, whether you might not have been unlucky enough to get the boxer equivalent of a 'Friday afternoon car'?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Friday%20Car
bs

Hi Bx4

'if UKgov adopted the same strategy as Scotgov' - I suppose I could campaign for a change in strategy? That would keep me busy.

'Friday afternoon car' - Could be. The things which caused the most down time were corrosion to the rear drive casing and cylinder head covers. These were faulty before fitting (whether on Friday or any other day). Either the protective coating was sub standard, perhaps poorly applied to the components, or the design specification was lacking (accommodating the Road of Bones no bother yet not up to exposure to Gloucestershire highways). Was quality control fit for purpose; were inspectors playing cards? The burned tube wasn't spotted till three years after delivery and could have been the result of bad maintenance either by me or the local dealer.

I've got a F800?thread="/h2g2/forum/800" >F800 in contrast appears to be good and comfy (though the saddle isn't as wide as I'd like). Braking aside the F steers and corners well. The power is adequate for my 'pipe and slippers' ways. It climbs steep hills better than BB and is easier to push 'engine off' along rough ground (the chain has less friction than a bevel gear set up) the whole rig is seemingly lighter than BB. I've mention the indicators - the rest of the switchgear is too small (e.g. the info button) to give repetitively satisfactorily use with fat fingers. The options list must have been plundered on my loan bike. E.G. I was surprised at how effective the tiny LED auxiliary were at picking out vegetation intruding into the path that was missed by using the dipped beam alone.

'Were you 'deep-sixed' because you offended against the boards cultural mores or because you were inactive?' - I don't know.

Cars I know though I liked the drawings http://www.roadandtrack.com/features/magazine/features-magazine-features-irreplaceable Back to burners - 'the larger the engine ,whether oil or air cooled, the hotter it is likely to get which may explain the advent of the water cooled boxer' - I had thought compliance with ever tighter emissions legislation was a major factor along with the showroom drive for ever more powerful engines and need to deal with the consequential increase in exhaust valve heat. That's one thing the F800 has reminded me of - power isn't everything.

bs

hootoo didn't like this part of my post

"I've got a 'F800GSA' on loan whilst BB is is dock (normal servicing not trouble). It was a shock to the system because it's fitted with 'Japanese' indicator controls and worse still conventional forks. There was no telelever I had no idea how much I'd got used to being pampered; braking into corners without jigging about. The rear suspension on the 'F800' in contrast appears to be good and comfy..."

hi rg

Deep sixed my reply by clicking on your Porsche link and lost the lot.

We leave tomorrow heading north to the top of the GoB then south down the Swedish roughly parallelling the E8 which I partly traveled during the B2 Fennoscandian tour.

Fortunately, though the good offices of the gurus of the Oulu 'techopolis' I have been provided with a set of SIM cards for my iPad 2 which will enable me to access Finnish and Swedish 3G networks without the need to pay roaming cost (whatever that means) with the upshot being that I should have greater access and so should be able to recreate reply.

The SO is somewhat miffed as no equivalent 3G dongle exists for her shinee but ridiculously overpriced Apple Macbook Pro ME665B/A even if it does, , unlike my 'umble' iPad 2 have a 'Retina display'. Something of a Muttley moment!

Hi Bx4

Ah Porsche - Boxer adopters who relinquished air in 1997. I think I've got the right wood you're in by identifying Oulu and the E8. It will be getting noticeably dark early there?

Does the Macbook lack a USB port? Check out Ebay I saw a HSDPA USB STICK SIM Modem 7.2MBPS 3G WIRELESS USB DONGLE TF Card ADAPTER (new) for £10.27 just now. I won't post the link as I can see these cause bother in hootoo.

I liked Muttley too though a Retina display has so far eluded me.

BS

hi rg

Currently moored in the Kemi Hahtisaari Marina which is near the E8 though I don't recall passing through Kem on B2. Maybe bypassed with diversion into Lapland. The E8 between Oulu and Kemi is also part of the otherwise mostly distinct E75.

USB: No the posh Macbook has USB ports but the MicroSIM in my iPad 2 apparently 'piggyback's' on the local 3G network without needing a 3G dongle/package provided by a mobile service provider. The SO could purchase a dongle/package when we reach Sweden.

Links: It was the link per se that caused the problem. Though I couldn't access the F800?thread="/h2g2/forum/800" >F800GS or GSA but was rather put off the idea by these. I'm not surprised that it is easier to push the F800 compared with BB. Apparently, its dry weight is more than 40kg.
lighter.

' the advent of the water cooled boxer': From Cycle World:

'To extend this capability to future power levels, BMW now provides more intensive cooling by switching from oil to water as the coolant liquid. Never fear, traditionalists, 65 percent of engine cooling is still direct to air!'

This would seem to presage future generations of 'superheavy' boxers somewhat ironic given that (allegedly) BMW had planned to phase out the 'boxer' marque in favour of the water cooled 'bricks'.

Dark: Indeed. Last time I was here it was the time of the midnight sun but once you get into autumn the nights are drawing in.

bs

Hi Bx4

I've got your location from the Kemi Hahtisaari Marina website. There doesn't appear to be much further North that can be sailed (without bumping into land). The E8/E75 are highlighted on the marina's thumbnail map.

Although I've never tried to dongle a laptop I can't believe that there isn't a cheap 'petrol station' solution to feeding a mobile network via a local SIM into an USB port. I've got a '£2 with 15 litres of unleaded' bit of plastic and metal to enable old tech to read SD cards. That was bought a few years ago; these days punters are just as likely to want mobile internet outside of wifi as much as to download digital camera images to their ancient Dells. Supply will meet demand?

The weirdo link you quoted was generated by hootoo. I wasn't able to edit/delete it away (that I know of) so it stays whilst I tried to explain what happened in the following post.

'Never fear, traditionalists, 65 percent of engine cooling is still direct to air!': So the worst of both worlds then.

Dark: It certainly is here (it's 2232 GMT).

BS

hi rg

'bumping into land': Indeed which is why we went south. A day's hard sailing to Luleå where we moored and crashed.. Then a more relaxed sail to Piteå where we had our first encounter with the ubiquitous Max Hamburgers (which is not so horrendous as Burger King) and does offer FoC wifi. From Piteå a fairly relaxed sail to Skellefteå. A attractive location but a bit dull. Currently mooreded in the Docksta Havet Base Camp marina from which we intend to spend some time exploring the Höga Kusten. Hopefully quite this time of year. Tomorrow the Skuleberget!

'USB Dongle': The SO ran into some problems with this as apparently you need a 'personnummer' before you can sign a contract with with a Swedish mobile service provider. The trick seems to be that you can instead get a refill/prepaid SIM card for a mobile phone that allows internet access. Apparently Apple have/are about to release iOS 7 for the iPhone (and somewhat later for the iPad2) which supports Hotspot 2.0 :

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/06/11/ios-7-beta-hotspot-20-support-will-lead-to-hassle-free-wi-fi-access

So somewhat ironically the SO will get wi-fi on her iPhone but not on her shinee new Macbook Pro.

'punters': I am sure you are right though I have yet to move to the digital camera age so I have a digital 35mm slide scanner bought in Aldi Nord for €39.99.

'Worst of both worlds': Indubitably, since I fear it presages the advent of the 'supersize' boxer.

bs

HI Bx4

Skuleberget: On impressive sight (if Google is to be believed) awaits half way (roughly) between Oulu and Stockholm; Das Boot flies. The worst hamburger I've ever come across was in a Wimpy 'restaurant' back in the sixties. Today they are gone and are not missed whilst intact pork loin await me in the freezer in case I get the urge for pig on a plate.

Pre-paid SIM: From what you write it appears to be possible to buy one in Finland provided you produce a suitable phone at the point of sale. The £10.29 off Ebay dongle could then cradle this and enable 3G internet access on a laptop/whatever. On WiFi "SO will get wi-fi on her iPhone" I've been using a ten year old Macbook this past week and have had no bother accessing the Internet wirelessly. I don't have an iPhone and struggle to see why I'd want one when a £45 Samsung from Tesco does the job WiFi included. In Spain my experience was that their SIMs were only available to foreigners provided a passport was produced. That said I'm dubious that in practice even this hurdle must always be crossed.

I saw that your moniker popped up on Mustardland on the warming/cooling thread. FWIW my take is that climate change is an excuse for stealth taxes. IMV the best way to combat the effect of humans on the planet is for there to be fewer of us consuming the Earth's resources over time. Alas instead government policy encourages people to have more children through offering benefits.

35mm scanner: Yes I still use one (these days fed from a Pentax MZ-7) as well as a camera phone.

bs

hi rg

Skuleberget: Quite Spectacular view from top. Had hoped to to a bit of trail biking but although there are trail we could find nowhere that hired bikes. Clearly our Riese & Müller Frogs were not suitable so we had to hike. My legs...

Das Boot Flies: Hardly but as we can manage 13-15km/h and most of the way points are about 100 klicks apart so even allowing for 'wasted' distance due to tacking tacking and suchlike we can do this. Fortunate though that we planned to stay a few days as the winds are rubbish until Thursday until they become northerly(ish).

Stckholm: Planning to visit friends in Uppsala and Stockholm but may stop of in the autonomous Finnish but Swedish speaking Åland Islands which you may recall featured briefly in Slick Dave's fantasy of delaying the ratification of the Lisbon treaty.

Finnish Prepaid SIM: I didn't actual pay for it. I was given it by some friends of the nereids who are techonerds from Nokia (now Bloatware Inc.). What it does may well be illegal.

MacBook wi-fi: The SO's shinee one also does wi-fi but her forgotten dongle also allows her to use 3G when wi-fi is not available. Albeit at a higher cost in 'furrin' parts. Apparently the EU is putting a stop to excessive roaming charges.

'struggle to see': Hotspot 2.0 seems to be a bit different from normal mobile wi-fi (3G) access:

http://gigaom.com/2013/06/11/apple-ios-7-supports-wi-fi-hotspot-2-0-for-next-gen-network-roaming/

My comment about about the SO's iPhone was intended to be somewhat tongue in cheek as it only runs on iOS7 but not Mountain Lion. I tend to agree with you that smartphones are a bit of a waste of space and I was quite content with a cheap calls and text only 'dumbphone' but when I wrecked it I became the owner, courtesy of my granddaughter, of a surplus-to-requirements Blackberry 8530 Curve which has many 'exciting' features:

http://worldwide.blackberry.com/blackberrycurve/8500/curve_specifications.jsp

Most of which I have never used. However we may be part of a dying generation as I gater tat sales of PCs are in decline whereas those of smartphones and smart tablets are on the increase.

Spanish SIMs: There is no problem in getting a PAYG SIM for a mobile phone in Sweden either. But what the SO wanted was a 3G dongle for her MacBook. The problem is that she has to sign a contract to get one and:

http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/9143/is-it-possible-to-sign-any-contract-in-sweden-without-a-personnummer

'warming/cooling thread' Indeed but only to point out that as usual haesten of the faragist tendency ( and hence a 'swivel eyed loon') was talking complete bollocks.

I haven't paid taxes apart from VAT/TV licence in the UK for years so I'm not quite clear how these stealth taxes work. A bit surprised that you are a climate change denier. Personally, I'm hoping for an Holocene extinction event in which humans will go the way of the dinosaurs.

Pentax-MZ-7: Mines a Yashica FX3 though Photoshopping scanned 35mm slides is less fun than developing and printing negatives.

bs

Hi Bx4

'A bit surprised that you are a climate change denier': Um well no not really. I caught a programme on TV last week which featured a 'futurologist'. He foresaw that we'd have to leave this planet as we'd eventually leave it barren of our favourite resources. Whether this process beats global warming in the human discomfort stakes I don't know though I am sure that the Earth would be a better place all round if there were fewer being born to replace wrinklies like me. (That said the Earth itself will survive us, perhaps as a lifeless rock, whatever we do). It occurs to me that there are two approaches we could adopt; consumption behaviour modification e.g. through litigation, taxation (whether it is labelled green or stealth) or alternatively by engineering taxes/benefits/attitudes to discourage large families. You'll note that the approaches are not mutually exclusive though I favour pushing the 'reducing population over time' agenda ahead of the 'excuse for a tax' way adopted in the UK.

Yashica FX3: A fine looking beastie. I've got a Minolta XG-M from roughly the same time period. I gather one difference is that the latter allows aperture priority (AP) automatic exposure. The Pentax is a personal favourite as I find it intuitive to use and I like the pictures it produces. An onset of laziness allows fully automatic mode though I tend towards AP whilst tweaking exposure compensation with a toggle switch to suit. This means I can use vintage manual lenses on the same body as 'this century' electric everything kit.

SIM: Your link "Getting a SIM for my phone was no problem at all though, but only in the prepaid version". I can see where we were at cross purposes as I was thinking of PAYG for a SIM that was only to be used whilst away on a trip.

Smartphones and smart tablets: I have been know to try out stuff in the Apple Store. The iPad is a wonderful way to silver surf though I feel that I'd miss the tactile keyboard my Dell laptop has. Tapping on glass is a different experience. That said the £45 smartphone I wrote about before could be an 'in' to this brave new world for this fuddy-duddy. One toe in...

More later.

bs

Hi Bx4 following on...

Frog Faltrad: Well yes I can see that diddy wheels and skinny tyres aren't set to be top trumps on a Swedish peak ride. I find with my folder that I feel too disconnected from the action on rougher cycleways. I'm choosing to ride my 'last century' road tyre shod 'mountain' bike a lot more these days for comfort.

13-15km/h: I recall a ship captain telling me that whilst his vessel could only manage 20 knots this was the same speed as a track athlete. Unlike a runner; a machine could sustain this all day. (By my maths) 480 nautical miles a day looks like a fair old chunk taken out of any voyage. Around the world, in theory, in noticeably fewer than eighty days?

'Fantasy of delaying the ratification of the Lisbon treaty': Yep. Poor show. Lying 1 - Democracy 0.

'Apparently the EU is putting a stop to excessive roaming charges.': I worry that the money to maintain network income will be found from other customers.

Nokia (now Bloatware Inc.): Globalisation giveth and globalisation taketh away.

[YL]'Wi-Fi Hotspot 2.0 and it makes it seamless to roam on Wi-Fi': This is for WiFi and not 3G? Surely there'd still be a need for the budding surfer to source a suitable SIM for Internet via 3G (where WiFi was unavailable) whether this be installed inboard (in the case of a phone) or externally in a £10 dongle for a Laptop?

Blackberry 8530 Curve: From looking at your link I'm sure it's a super piece of kit. Actually I was surprised (when delving further) to find how reasonable these were price wise compared to Apple's iPhone. This may be a better buy than the Samsung.

bs

hi rg

Rats!

Another hootoo disaster. Was typing 'on-piste' when connection reset losing all input My fault happens every time I cut corners rather than writing 'off-piste' then ' cut & paste' I should know better!

Will try again later.
bs

Hi Bx4

"Rats!"

I'm sorry. I know what you mean I was without land-line this afternoon for no apparent reason; the so called service these days is a joke. Also I'm still nervous that hootoo will create another link by itself.

"happens every time I cut corners": Been there, done that, got the tee shirt!

bs

Also known as HS2 and Wi-Fi Certified Passpoint, [8] Hotspot 2.0 is a new approach to public access Wi-Fi by the Wi-Fi Alliance. The idea is for mobile devices to automatically join a Wi-Fi subscriber service whenever the user enters a Hotspot 2.0 area. The intention is to provide better bandwidth and services-on-demand to end-users, whilst also alleviating mobile carrier infrastructure of traffic overheads.

Hotspot 2.0 is based on the IEEE 802.11u standard, which is a new set of protocols to enable cellular-like roaming. If the device supports 802.11u and is subscribed to a Hotspot 2.0 service it will automatically connect and roam.[9][10]
Supported handsets

Android Phones
Some Samsung Galaxy Smartphones [11]
Some China tablet PCs
iOS 7 devices [12

Bugrit trying again

hi rg

I off-piste mode. Early start to-morrow so I my not manage a full reply:

Yesterday, having exhausted to the 'joys' of Docksta decided to visit the Skuleskogens nationalpark (not to be confused with the Skuleberget). Rather impressive. Weather not great but remrkably tourist free Downside was we decided to take local bus. Nearest bus stop proved to be 10 klicks from park entrance. We should have Frogged it.

Today we have mostly spent the day reprovisioning and getting DB 'shipshape' as it had something of a forlon and neglected aie

futurologist: Think most of them a bit suspect. Where does he imagine humanity will decamp to? Solar system planets/moons not human friendly.

lifeless rock: Oxyegn was absent from early Earth atmosphere but prokaryotes who did not need it flourished. Persistent little buggers.

depopulation: Agree but doubt the humans collectively up for it. reall a book by Jared Diamond called 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee' in which he argued that human intelligence evolved as an adaptive advantage to support a small population of hunter/gatherers bands and then the buggers invented agriculture. No more evolution...

Yachica: What I like about it is its almost complete lack of automation except for an added but little used motor drive. I only have the FX3 body having opte for a set of Tamron lenses which use an adapter to mate with the body. In theory I could have uprated to another another manufacturer's body but never did.

PAYG SIM: I think you can get cheap roaming SIMS. Alternative is to buy a local PAYG SIM for each country visited.

Smartphones and smart tablets: I tink the line betwee these is blurring now that Samsung has produced a tablet size Galaxy smartphone. I agree with you about touch screens/virtual keyboards I don't have problem with the Ipad 2 for urban use i have a natty little case with a built in real Bluetooth keyboard. For' a life on the ocean Waves' I substitute a Griffin 'Mil-Spec' Survivor case:

http://store.griffintechnology.com/survivor-custom-case-for-ipad-2-3-4th-gen

However this means I have to use the virtual keyboard but through the case's 'integral display shield' so no greasy fingermarks on the actual screen.

one toe in...: Probably a good idea. Apparently the desk/laptop market is in decline.

Rougher cycleways: Indeed though the Frogs were purchsed as a way of getting round cities . it not being practical to put our 'grown up' bikes on DB. That being said my shaft drive Sprint 8 is sold as a commuter bike and is fitted with 'licks' so pretty useless as a mountain bike.

Eighty days: equatorial circumference of Earth is 40,075.16km so for a 20 knot boat:

37.04*24*80 = 71,116.8

So I suppose even allowing for sailing round non-wet bits (aka land) might be possible theoretically.

Poor show. Lying 1 - Democracy 0.: 'A pledge is not a promise' William Hague

Other customers: I suspect you are right though given my minimal usage I'm not bovvered.

Bloatware Inc. Clearly an attempt to keep a toe in the market but they may have missed the boat with Windows 8

Wifi not 3G: I think so:

'Also known as HS2 and Wi-Fi Certified Passpoint, Hotspot 2.0 is a new approach to public access Wi-Fi by the Wi-Fi Alliance. The idea is for mobile devices to automatically join a Wi-Fi subscriber service whenever the user enters a Hotspot 2.0 area. The intention is to provide better bandwidth and services-on-demand to end-users, whilst also alleviating mobile carrier infrastructure of traffic overheads.

Hotspot 2.0 is based on the IEEE 802.11u standard, which is a new set of protocols to enable cellular-like roaming. If the device supports 802.11u and is subscribed to a Hotspot 2.0 service it will automatically connect and roam.

Supported handsets

Android Phones
Some Samsung Galaxy Smartphones
Some China tablet PCs
iOS 7 devices '

On a technical level the access seems to be embedded in the OS so you wouldn't need a dongle or SIM but I have not doubt some method of charging will apply.

Blackberry 8530: It may be a super piece of kit but since I only use it for voice and text so it no more useful than my old 4.99 Samsung I did connect it to my router/modem but found that the charge drops of very quickly so I switched wi-fi off. It has a real keypad but this is exposed rather than being concealed when not in use so the kys can be accidentally pressed.

Not taken with the iphone or the Android systems The SO love her iPhoe but as I said elsewhere she has more than a whiff of the technofashionista about her.
bs

Hi Bx4

In order to understand a little more about public WiFi I took Dell on a bit of a road trip today stopping at a motorway services. I had no trouble establishing a connection; however the proprietor wanted a 'one time registration' to include personal details and I was to agree to them sending me advertising by E-mail. I decided not to proceed on this occasion. I can now therefore see the point to Hotspot 2.0.

Ten clicks is a fair old hike when with every step you'd be remembering the wheels left behind. Then again Skuleskogens (or Skuleskogen from the English language site) National Park looks rather hilly on the map?

'Then the buggers invented agriculture': Then agriculture was industrialised and hey we might as well be a plague of locusts so far as the Earth's mineral and other irreplaceable resources are concerned.

'I could have uprated to another another manufacturer's body': Is this like the sixty year old broom that's had ten new heads, fourteen handles and half a dozen assorted nails and screws? With cameras go with what you feel comfortable. The Pentax is by no means my flashiest camera yet it's my 'go to'. I'm not inspired by digital Pentaxes though if their rumoured full frame SLR ever sees the light of day I'd at least want to look at one.

Smartphone: As I type dumbphone patiently charges by USB lead. What always stops me from dipping my toe in the Smartphone sea is being reminded of the lack of 3G in these parts. Perhaps the networks haven't brought 3G here because of the lack of Smartphones?

'They may have missed the boat with Windows 8': Indeed. That said I'm the sort who'd have one just to be different.

'Poor show. Lying 1 - Democracy 0.: 'A pledge is not a promise' William Hague': I forget Blair's words 'let the people decide' or some such?

Q> How can you tell a politician is lying?
A> When they open their mouth.

bs

hi rg

Completely bollixed by the wind since the forecast northerlies mutated into adverse though light ESE winds so decided to motor. DB at recommended cruising speed under engine of around 13.5km/h (2150 RPM) gave us a ten hour trip to Sundsvall attractive location but otherwise uninteresting, Today early start and 11+ hrs to Söderhamn.

Excellent meal in a local seafood restaurant in what seemed a typical wooden red painted building though it may have been ersatz

Staying overnight so I can visit the Söderhamn F15?thread="http://www.skuleskogen.se/inenglish.4.18df091d121bf8738cb80001411.html" >http://www.skuleskogen.se/inenglish.4.18df091d121bf8738cb80001411.html

Not sure why. Park a bit 'bumpy' but would only have ''Frogged' to park entrance then walked/hike. Local TIO suggests taxi not bus. Though above link says park can be 'reached...from sea'. Strangely never thought of that...

Public wi-fi: I think you have to distinguish between open public wifi access (such as that in Oulu and becoming fairly common in urban nothern Europe) and commercial hotspots (which seem to be more common in the UK). That being said the latter don't always require that one has to pay or take on obligations to access the service a in, for example, our recent experience in Max Hamburgers.

Hotpoint 2.0: Doing a bit more digging it seems that it is based on Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint™ using latest 802.11u protocol:

http://www.wi-fi.org/knowledge-center/white-papers/wi-fi-certified-passpoint%E2%84%A2-new-program-wi-fi-alliance%C2%AE-enable-seamless.

Ten year old broom; Not exactly the body may change but not the lens. I vaguely recall that that the one manufacturer for which an adapter was not available was Canon. Sadly Yashica stopped production in 2008.

Flashiest camera: I only own one other camera a 6cmx6cm Hasselbad 500 ELX which I suppose is flashier but which I don't use any more since I switched from D&P to photoshopping scanned slides. You can get 6cmx6cm slide film but I haven't managed to locate a scanner.

Like you I have toyed with the idea of a DSLR. The Pentax K-30 has a good reputation as an excellent all-round entry level one but I am a bit put off by the need to replace all my lenses. Also Tamron seems to have abandoned lenses with interchangeable adapters and now sell lenses with fixed mounts for different bodies.

Smartphone: My Blackberry is I suppose is one but I don't use it as such as, with the exception of its appontments calendar, use is limited to calls and text. Never felt the urge to use it to access t'interweb thingy. My Ipad2 in addition to supporting wifi has a slot for a 3G microSIM so I suppose with suitable accessories I could turn it into a vey big mobile phone but I think I'll wait for Apple to update to iOS 7 (October supposedly) to have a look at Hotpoint 2.0

Liars: I once read that in Britain, where there is no equivalent of a voter initiated referendum, that political parties, of whatever stripe, only hold referendums when it is to their /perceived/ political advantage otherwise they are not held as promised. For example, it is widely considered that Blair's 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution was a failed attempt to defang the SNP.

One possible exception to this is the 2014 referendum on Scottish Independence. I don't think Salmond expected an overall majority in 2011 given that the electoral system supposedly designed to guarantee a (unionist) coalition government. So I suspect that he didn't expect that he would have to deliver on his manifesto promise to hold a referendum in 2014.

It is I think to his credit that he has delivered on his manifesto promise despite the likelihood, IMO, that he will lose.

Plague of locusts: Indeed. It may be that agriculture/industrialisation are more a matter of Lamarckian cultural evolution rather than Darwinian biological evolution and that the emergence of 'biologically modern 'by the Pleistocene represents an endpoint in human biological evolution such that human behaviour is hardwired such that they cannot exhibit the type of behaviour necessary to avoid their extinction.

Windows 8: I have recently committed to Windows 7 for my new build replacement for my disintegrating Sony Vaio desktop. I believe that Bloatware Inc. offered an upgrade to Windows 8 on initial launch for around €30. Don't know if its still available.

Apparently first version of Windows 8 did not have a Start Menu on desktop

http://www.soluto.com/kb/windows-8/where-is-the-start-menu-and-start-button-on-windows-8/

After from users users it is now back:

http://regmedia.co.uk/2013/09/11/win_8_1.png

bs

Hi Bx4

Jumping to one of my favourite topics first "...the FX3 body having opte for a set of Tamron lenses which use an adapter to mate with the body. In theory I could have uprated to another another manufacturer's body but never did..." I guess from your perspective the set of Tamron lenses are an original component of a camera system and that, should you wish, changing the Yashica body 'would still leave the broom with the original head'. I tend to be a purist in the sense that the Pentax only has Pentax lenses. This 'rule' doesn't always hold. My Kiev FED-2 has an Industar 26-M (I think from Moscow) though this was the original retail configuration. I see that there are Yashica lenses to look at on Google Images however I've no idea whether these would perform as well as Tamron. I'm reminded that one of the advantages of system cameras is flexibility in lens choice.

I'm sorry to read about the changed weather leaving you to crank up the diesel. No help to you though we are expecting gale force winds tomorrow. I like your use of 'ersatz' to describe the restaurant building. Part of my bike shed has been painted in spare red though I never claim it to be Scandinavian. Of bikes and hills clicking on the map in your link shows the 'bumpy' topography. I found it amusing to read that you dug the bikes out of their locker in order to peddle to somewhere you could have moored the boat.

'Open public wifi access': I wonder if this is what is intended for Cardiff's wide area WiFi's next upgrade (whilst we in the sticks have our 'speed like dial-up' broadband)? To be honest it is vary rarely that I wish to access WiFi 'on the road'. Does the fancy 802.11u protocol mean that, even if I wanted to access it, I'd be barred from using WiFi spots because my 'last year' kit didn't have 'u' instead of 'a', 'b', 'g'' or 'n'?

Hop back to camera's 'Hasselbad 500 ELX' - yes I'd class this as flashy (complete with TTL flash). My 'medium format' camera is a Mamiya C3 which could be fifty years old by now. Alas this tank like box (it is easily my heaviest camera) doesn't get out much. Everything is manual and there are no luxuries like multiple exposure prevention. 120 film wasn't stocked by Tesco last I looked and like you I never bought a scanner to suit.

And to smartphones whilst Hotspot 2.0 may be accommodated by iOS7 will there be many WiFi sites around this autumn kitted up to cope with it? I'm standing back from pad computers for now struggling to see what they do that an ancient laptop won't. Is it all about the touch sensitive screen?

I think the fact that the referendum in Scotland will take place will move Scotland towards independence regardless of the outcome. I'm more familiar with Wales (being a stone throw a away). There referendums were twice held on devolution. This was rejected in the seventies and agreed to in the nineties. To my mind this is a ratchet effect; eventually enough vote 'yes' and the population aren't asked again. This is similar to Eire and her relationship to the EU. Keep on asking the electorate till the political class get the result they want and 'move the agenda on'. Win, lose or draw Scottish Independence is guaranteed to be talked about for the next year. The cause is fed the oxygen of publicity. I honestly think that a 'no' will not be an end to the matter instead merely a milestone just like that first devolution poll in Wales.

'They cannot exhibit the type of behaviour necessary to avoid their extinction': Oh I don't know humans are seemly adapt at looting at the drop of an opportunistic hat. All the evolution that's needed to last till the next 'shopping' day.

Windows: I note my 'bleeding edge' Ubuntu has a 'Dash home' button which appears to act like the start button described in your link. I also note that ITV appear to have adopted the Windows 8 tiles approach for use on their interactive programming whilst Apple have a new iPhone C that seems to mimic (Microsoft) Nokia's basic colours approach to smartphone design.

bs