after the Feast, the Fast

Well the Intercalary days have come and gone, and we are now in the month of fasting. It has been a good few days this year in our family, with some nice presents, visiting family and friends and going to the cinema one evening.

Really looking forward to fasting for the next few weeks, as it involves getting up before sunrise for breakfast and dawn prayers. Actually, I suppose the evening meal should then be called 'breakfast' for this month! Certainly a time to reorient the "spiritual compass".

tea and biscuits

It has been a long family tradition through several generations, that mid afternoon we had tea and biscuits. Never just a cup of tea. Well I have been trying to lose weight recently but I still find myself going for the biscuits. It is the same at work. Whenever someone comes back from holiday, celebrates their birthday or some special event (fund raising for charity) out come the biscuits, cakes and even jam donuts.

So what did I take in to share with my team yesterday, to mark the Baha'i calendar "Intercalary days"? Yes, of course - biscuits! (OK there were some apples and oranges as well.)

documentation required

an old point this, but worthwhile repeating. Keeping notes is important. You may be the one that comes back years afterwards trying to make sense of the material. The notes that you made at the time may save much time later on. That goes whether you are writing a computer program, running tests on computer programs, or just (as I have recently been doing) going through lots of old photographs. Actually there are over 1500 slides that I am digitising - and the notes I kept (each slide is numbered) are proving invaluable.

My aim is a comprehensive family archive on the one hand, and a new, updated set of slide shows (now called 'presentations') for the Baha'i Faith. Years ago I travelled the country, and across America, Canada and Europe, giving talks on the Baha'i Faith and carrying sets of slides to be shown at the meetings.

Headphones and Acer Aspire with Linux

Finally I have a working set of headphones on my Laptop! I have been trying to sort the problem out for some time, and have scanned many (hundreds?) of messages trying to get to the solution of my problem - why is there no sound from my headphones.

I have discovered that it is nothing to do with the version of Alsa that I am using, and nothing to do with the version of Linux or the kernel drivers. My problem is now solved.

It all comes down to the fact that in the sound chip used in the Acer there are several channels, and thus about a dozen volume controls in the mixer. Well, the control that deals with the output to the headphones is the one marked "surround sound". I just would never have guessed. Having unmuted the surround channel, I can now get sound in the headphones.

Where are you, or why are you not online?

I had an email from a friend recently. He thought that just because I had not been regularly posting on my blog, that maybe something had happened to me again. Well, I have news for you, dear friend. I am alive and kicking. Just because I do not feel the need to get a daily dose of electronic life, does not mean that I have ceased to exist.

There are many, many people who happily go about their daily life totally untouched by email, mobile phones, or any other online activity. (Several members of my own family for starters.) My activities over the last few months have kept me very busy both daytime and evenings, and I will admit that I have then been too tired to go online for weeks at a time. Attending charity meetings, regaining my fitness (cycling, swimming and this last few weeks even skiing!), and that usual one of "spending more time with my family" as well as my full-time employment and going to Baha'i prayer meetings and such.

I am online now because of the snow having stopped our plans to go out, and because I have been looking up information to help sort out getting sound on my Acer laptop running Linux.

thought for the day

As we come towards Inter Faith Week in the UK, I thought I would share this with you -

Religion is like pieces of coloured glass that people are holding. Some picked up their piece of glass, others were given theirs by their parents, whilst others had a piece of one colour but exchanged it for a piece of a different colour. Some become very attached to the colour of their glass and feel it is the only colour worth having, even arguing with others about what is the 'right' colour, but others feel there is no point in having any piece as they can see nothing through it.
But there are those who accept all colours as equally nice to have. And a few who realise that if everyone put their pieces together it would make a beautiful picture.

"Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship" Baha'i Writings

back after enforced absence

It has been a challenging few months. I have been off with a hand injury after colliding with the road whilst cycling to work, back in May. Well the choice was either collide with the road or collide with the car that had suddenly appeared in the cycle track. Ho, well, the police say I lost control of the bicycle and are not taking any action. Several days in hospital, and several weeks of physiotherapy before getting use back in my hand.

At least with a cycle helmet, gloves and other safety measures it was not too bad. Broken hand, bruises and a lovely black eye.
Just as I was ready to get back to the computer, my home laptop died a death, so I had to select a replacement and then reload all the archives and other material from backups that I regularly take. (You *do* backup your computer, yes?)

So here I am again, with one of my favourite pastimes - sitting in front of a computer.