New Dunoon Observer and Argyllshire Standard online web site

New site banner

The Christmas theme on the title (shown to the right) was a bit of a surprise when my fingers slipped and I made a typo when I went to read the Dunoon Observer and Argyllshire Standard online last week, and I accidentally discovered their new web site and presentation.

There must be many people familiar with the existing web site which the paper operates online at http://www.dunoon-observer.co.uk/ but I hadn’t noticed any warnings or mentions for the new and improved online site for the paper at http://www.dunoon-observer.com/

A small difference in address, but I have to say I heartily enjoyed seeing the new site, which has more facilities – which will take a little time to get going, but should make it better – and more importantly, gets rid of the old “evil frames” version of the online edition. I won’t go into details, but just punch “evil frames” into your favourite search engine, and you should get an idea of why I (for one at least) am pleased to see these relegated to history.

Pay them a visit, and maybe look in on their new forum too, where the current content is a plea for some input!

BBC Scotland plans new children’s science-fiction game show

A number of reports have appeared during the past week or so, telling of a new children’s game show based on a future robotic war, and entitled Mission 2110.

Location manager Stephen Burt has been reported as saying, “This is potentially an award-winning show. It is set in 2110 in a world where robots have taken over. The children who take part will be time travellers from 2010 and will battle the robots.” The game has been described as a cross between Crystal Maze and Doctor Who. There are to be 20 mission for the participants during the contest, with only one winner to be left at the conclusion.

The setting for the show will be two of the six Maersk container ships currently stored in cold lay-up in Loch Striven, and presently rendered surplus to requirements thanks to the worldwide downturn in trade caused by the recession. The loch has seen similar service over the past decades, as wordwide influences have rendered various cargo ships and tankers redundant, sometimes even before they have been completed, such is the time taken to build them in relation to market swings.

The action will take place within the massive holds of the ships, which are currently empty, and through the engine rooms, which are presently silent, as most of the engines have been laid-up to preserve them, awaiting re-activation when the vessels return to service.

Participants will live on board the ships for the three week duration, and Maersk Beaumont and Bentonville (see below) appear to be the chosen venues for the activities, which will see three robots, created by a London-based special effects team which has worked on Doctor Who, and the sets arriving during December.

They will not be on holiday for the duration, and will be expected to take part in the competition, and take their schoolwork with them, and complete 15 hours of tuition per week.

Filming is scheduled to take place between January and March of 2010, and the show will appear on CBBC beginning on April 21, 2010.

The raft containing the six Maersk ships is shown below, with the two chosen ships being the second from the left (Bentonville), and second from the right (Beaumont).

The six Maersk ship raft on Loch Striven, left to right, Maersk Brooklyn, Bentonville, Baltimore, Sealand Performance, Beaumont, and Boston

Section 44 abuse of photographers continues despite warnings to police

While there’s no relation to my apparent withdrawal from photography – having added a photography category to the Blog as I seemed to be coming across worthy subjects, but with nowhere to post them, I promptly seemed to lose those opportunities at the same time, and haven’t captured anything worthwhile since – it seems that the ongoing abuse of section 44 of the Terrorism Act, which allows police to stop and search anyone without need for suspicion in a designated area, continues, despite a recent warning to them not to use the measure unnecessarily against photographers.

I’ve been in correspondence with other photographers who have fallen foul of various pieces of legislation, and public paranoia, generally south of the border, and generally at the hands of the Met police around London. I suspect these “chats” have led to my own demotivation in respect of carrying a camera and taking photographs in public. In particular, on of my contacts was employed (down south) as a police photographer, and while he had no problems with the police, he used to volunteer his services to the local school, as his work meant he was a “trusted person”. For some years, he attended at things such as sports days, and provided pictures of the event. He’s given this up. Thanks to the various high profile campaigns run by the media, despite his status, and the fact that he was at these events at the school’s invitation, he ended up being attacked by mothers at one event, simply because he was taking photographs of their children. As he was doing this officially, on behalf of the school, he could hardly have been seen as carrying out this activity covertly, and he was also carrying a fair amount of kit which would have been hard to hide anyway, yet the media frenzy of the time meant they still felt they were justified in attacking him.

Needless to say, as of that day, he withdrew his services, and his never offered to return.

He was in touch with me a couple of weeks ago, and mentioned that at least the problems with the Met appeared to have been dealt with, and it would be nice to see this become a thing of the past.

Since then, I saw that a warning was indeed issued last week to all police forces not to use section 44 measures unnecessarily against photographers. In a circular to fellow chief constables, Andy Trotter, of British Transport police, said: “Officers and community support officers are reminded that we should not be stopping and searching people for taking photos. Unnecessarily restricting photography, whether from the casual tourist or professional, is unacceptable.”

Looks as if it was a waste of time and effort, as one of the country’s leading architectural photographers was apprehended by City of London police under terrorism laws while photographing the 300-year old spire of Sir Christopher Wren’s Christ Church for a personal project.

In the past 18 months there have been 94 complaints to the Independent Police Complaints Commission about the misuse of section 44 powers. There is a growing outcry among working photographers who are finding their daily routines interrupted by police searches when working in high-profile areas that may be considered terrorist targets.

City of London police said its response to Smith had been proportionate. “When questioned by officers, the man declined to give an explanation and he was therefore informed that in light of the concerns of security staff and in the absence of an explanation, he would be searched under the Terrorism Act,” said a spokesman. “After the man’s bag was searched, he explained he was a freelance photographer taking photos of buildings. Once this explanation was received there was no further action.”

Police stop church photographer under terrorism powers | UK news | The Guardian

Although it seems you are not obliged to give these enthusiastic police officers any of your details, if you don’t, then they will threaten to cart you off to the nearest police station, and search you – presumably implying that this will be a strip and intimate search to motive cooperation.

I think I’ll just leave my cameras gathering dust – looks as if it’s safer if I just want a quiet life.

Two offshore renewable projects win over £100 million EU funding

Nice to see the announcement of two offshore renewable projects winning over £100 million of European Union (EU) funding.

The EU energy commissioner has confirmed a grant of £36 million (40 million euros) for a proposed offshore wind farm near Aberdeen.  The Aberdeen Bay project would see some 23 wind turbines sited between one and three miles offshore, in an area extending about three miles from the Bridge of Don to Blackdog. The scheme is a joint venture between Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG) and Swedish utility company Vattenfall.

A further £67 milion (74 million euros) has also been approved for an offshore platform to be located between Shetland and the Scottish mainland, which will be part of the North Sea Grid, and will permit the connection of wind farms in eight European countries.

Wave power and tidal power boosted at Stromness centre

Slowly, but ever so slowly, power from the waves and tides is being looked at seriously, presumably as developers begin to realise that the the old wind power subsidy was actually a renewable energy subsidy,  coupled with the realisation that serious amounts of wind power would not only see every attractive piece of wilderness sprout wind turbines, but also every just about every piece of open land as well.

The European Marine Energy Centre at Stromness is currently has almost a dozen experimental devices designed to capture the energy of the tides and the waves, under evaluation, although it’s still too early to tell if any of them will work on a large scale or ever succeed commercially. What matter though is that they are being tested, and tested in a seriously stressful environment.

Scotland is potentially at the forefront of these technologies, and should be taking a lead from the other countries around the world that took a lead with wind power.

If these developments are not managed and handled properly, then the advances made at places such as Stromness will go the same way as most other Scottish innovations.

Recall that the world is full of inventions that e created by Scots, many of them famous, but not for making their fortune from, or exploiting their creations at home. Rather, a read through the history books will usually show that they had to leave these shores and go abroad before they found backers and investors, so the real winners were usually America or Canada, not Scotland.

Hydro-electric wave energy machine first for Orkney

Making a nice change from the usual gloomy onshore wind power mentions, and their opposition, this is hopefully the forerunner of many more mentions for hydro-electric wave energy, as momentum begins to build for this arguably more sensible option – in my opinion at least. After all, the waves wave 24/7, while the wind blows… when it feels like it.

According to wave energy company Aquamarine Power, Orkney currently has “the world’s largest working hydro-electric wave energy device”, and “the world’s only hydro-electric wave energy device which is producing power

The device is sited just off Orkney, and was switched on by First Minister Alex Salmond, today, November 20, 2009, when Aquamarine Power’s ‘Oyster’ was connected to the national grid as part of sea trials.

The device comprises a hinged flap which is connected to the sea-bed, with each wave causes the flap to move, and drive a hydraulic piston. The system produces power by pumping high pressure water to its onshore hydro-electric turbine. A farm of 20 Oysters could provide energy to power 9,000 three-bedroom homes.

Having launched the first system, Mr Salmond also announced new funding of £975,000 to help deliver ‘Oyster 2′.

Further information in Aquamarines’s Press Release – Scotland’s First Minister launches Oyster.

Mining disaster memorial statue stolen weeks after unveiling

Auchengeich memorial statue © Robert Murray

Unveiled by First Minister Alex Salmond only on September 18, 2009, a six foot bronze statue which cost £35,000 has been stolen from a memorial to one of Scotland’s worst mining disasters.

47 men died after being trapped by an underground fire at the Auchengeich Colliery, North Lanarkshire, on September 18, 1959. Only one miner survived the fire, caused by an electrical fault 1,000 feet below ground.

The BBC report of the incident contained the following statements:

Superintendent Henry Campbell, of Cumbernauld Police office, said, “This crime has outraged the local community and we will do everything possible to trace those responsible and return the statue to its rightful place. A vehicle must have been used to transport it and I would appeal to anyone who was in the area anytime after midnight and noticed suspicious behaviour. I would also urge those responsible to think about what they have done and what impact this crime has had on the local community. Do the right thing and return it, or let someone know where it is.”

Vice president of Auchengeich Miners’ Welfare Club, Ian Lowe, who was down the pit on the day of the disaster, said: “I felt sick when I found out it had been stolen. I helped fight the fire 50 years ago and knew the men who lost their lives, and I was heavily involved in the first memorial which was put in place 25 years ago. It was never touched but this new memorial has only lasted two months. It is an absolute shame. It is like stealing from a grave.”

Local councillor William Hogg said he was  absolutely shocked and disgusted by the mindless crime, and appealed to anyone with any information about this theft to contact Strathclyde Police immediately. He also took the opportunity to assure everyone that the council would do everything possible to ensure that the statue would be replaced.

Black and white TV not so popular up here

Philips projection television c. 1960

I used to be fairly obsessed with television, but that interest seems to rest in its history, the various technologies it has been developed with, and the programmes that appeared on it as it was evolving. At one stage (pre-internet), we even had our own amateur transmission and reception services. It’s amazing to look at the difference the internet has made to shifting TV images, as it cost a small fortune then, and needed high aerials even to cover a few miles. Now you can go worldwide for little more than a few pounds.

In more recent times, as it matured and multiplied in both type and content – not to mention its spin-off as satellite and cable – its attraction waned, as the channel filled with popular tat, and the original content was swamped in favour of any old rubbish that would attract the brain-dead to ogle the screen and have their remaining brain cells washed out by adverts which arguably began to get better then the content around them.

However, that’s another issue that could be debated for ages, or at least three minutes… if my attention span lasted any longer than that nowadays.

What was interesting was a recent look at the TV Licensing figures (released to mark the 40th anniversary of the first colour transmissions on BBC1 and ITV), and the numbers for black and white television licences: 28,000 in the UK with 1,950 in Scotland. That’s just under 7% of the total. Looking at the current population numbers, Scotland has just over 8% of the UK’s population.

While I don’t generally approve of figures analysed in isolation, something that includes the whole population might be less skewed than sampled results. So, simplistic thoughts could be that Scots are not a stingy as they are made out to be, and don’t think it’s worthwhile going for either an old black and white television, or telling porkies, and buying a black and white licence even though they have a colour set. Or maybe they are harder on their tellies than folk south of the border, and need to to replace them sooner. I’m sure a little more imagination would produce some even more fascinating theories for the differences – and it should be remembered that tying these figures together could be faulted for tending to assume one licence per person, as opposed to one license per address.

The first colour TV broadcasts began in this country in 1967 on BBC2 and on November 15, 1969, on BBC1 and ITV. The first colour pictures were seen on BBC1 in Scotland in December 1969.

I’ve no idea when our house went colour, but it certainly wasn’t in the early days. I do know we went through  series of small black and white sets, getting bigger until the beast shown above made an appearance at one point, and then had another that was dual standard, operating on both 405 and 625 line systems, but still black and white. Even in my pram, I reckon I thought the quality of the colour on those early television left a lot to the imagination, and were very artificial – probably too highly saturated just to emphasize the effect rather than the reality. Even today, I’m fairly unimpressed by many flat-screen TVs. While there are some gems in terms of colour fidelity, others look as if they have come straight out of a colour-blind artist’s palette. But when they’re good, they can be very good, and when combined with a good high-definition picture, the effect is almost worth the cost.

Another nail in Phorm’s UK coffin

Insidious behavioural net advertising system Phorm felt another mail being driven into its UK coffin with the announcement that its UK manager director has jumped out of the boat.

When the media asked for a comment, the comment was No comment, and at the time of reporting, there was no indication that the former MD had gone to another job.

Interestingly, he is said to have become part of the operation back in December 2008, when then UK Chief Executive, Financial, and Operating Officers went, together with four other board members, at which point, the company also seems to have decided it would be a good idea to stop including a list of its executives’ names on its web site.

Since the UK ISPs (BT, Talk Talk, Virgin) have pulled the plug on their association with this sneaky organisation that carried out secret testing (with BT, and without customer’s consent or knowledge) of its intrusive behavioural ad-targetting system, seems that we may be seeing the ejection of this thing from our country, although it seems that foreign operators, such as those in countries like South Korea, see this as the sort of thing they want to have Phorm’s method of profiling a user’s every web visit via his/her ISP.

There seems to be some attempt to confuse the issue by comparing Phorm with Google, but the two are quite different, and Google certainly does not have direct access to user’s web history with the collusion of their ISP, as Phorm does. Google is nothing like Phorm, and uses information collected in the course of using its services, and does so cleverly, which has made them their fortune (and clearly made them their enemies too). Google tracking of user history can easily be thwarted by users if they really want to.

If someone tells you Google and Phorm are the same, or even similar, smell a rat, don’t believe them, or better still, have them explain how. They’ll either fail…  lie… or prove their ignorance. Or be part of the “Google is Evil” party, but you should be able to see that lot coming. Read the information – not the propaganda – and that even includes what you might read here, just in case I might be ever so slightly biased against Phorm, and get carried away (before them).

Galloway Forest Park wins Dark Sky award

I didn’t expect the decision over the Dark Sky award bid for the Galloway Forest Park to come quite so swiftly after the assessment, but all went well, and the forest has now been officially unveiled as the first Dark Sky Park in the UK.

The award was announced by the International Dark Sky Association, and has confirmed Galloway as one of the best places for stargazing in the world.

It seems that the selection process includes a measurement of the darkness of the sky using a sky quality meter, the higher the reading the better the viewing conditions. The darkest reading, as might be found in a photographer’s dark room (if you could find one now that digital photography has seen off most of the film based work), is rated 24. Big cities such as Glasgow or Edinburgh return readings in the region of 15 or 16, but Galloway Forest Park managed a result of 23, giving it the highest status available – gold.

Galloway Forest Park sees about 850,000 visitors per annum, and Keith Muir, Forestry Commission Scotland’s head of tourism and recreation in Galloway, said: “We have big plans to double this over time”.

Of course, they don’t want to be too successful now, attract thousands of new visitors, build loads of visitor centres, and all the other places that support these, bring more buildings, people… and light.