2011 — 27 October: Thursday
It seems my subconscious1 isn't yet prepared to give up on 24x7 NPR reception. As I mentioned last Saturday, I lost my third satellite receiver (though it may be as simple as a blown fuse) having had it dedicated to just that one digital radio channel for the last couple of years. When I woke up this morning my subconscious reminded me "it just so happens" that I'd bought a second (technically, a third, but who's counting?) Humax Freesat box back when I was still thinking of dedicating it to radio reception.
If I hook that up to the Sky minidish that points (now) to 13E and tune it manually,2 I don't see any reason why it can't do the job. All I then have to do is tuck it away out of range of the Humax remote control I use on its bigger TV/radio PVR sibling — their interference was one of the reasons I unhooked the smaller box originally. That, and the fact that it runs incredibly hot. Though maybe it won't if all I'm doing is decoding a radio channel rather than a hi-def TV channel?
So, as it's still...
... pouring with rain on and off, and fiddling with the A/V system is always a much more attractive option than taking Junior's bed apart and lugging it downstairs... Mind you, I only have until next Monday to do that as there's a delivery from Ikea scheduled for that day, and I literally need the room. Still, pleasure before business — that's always been my motto.
David EH Jones (aka Daedalus)
I've just pre-ordered this doubtless delectable item...
... and confidently recommend it, sight unseen (as it were). I had the enormous pleasure and privilege of introducing the author (a long-time hero of mine) a few years ago when he was one of our guest speakers at the IBM Hursley software Lab. Thanks for the pointer to the book, Tom.
Erwin, I've got some...
... uncertain news about your pet:
But I was in two minds about whether to tell you.
Grrr
Some days, life is just one, long, compromise. Could I persuade the smaller Humax hi-def satellite box to play nice with a non-Freesat feed? Of course not. Could I feed its Freesat feed from the "LNB out" on its Big Bro? Of course not. So, I settled for updating its firmware, and feeding it directly from one of the two LNBs on my 80 cm Freesat dish rather than feeding both to the twin tuners in said Big Bro device. And, making its power-on channel the WRN radio feed gives me about six hours of NPR out of each 24. If that isn't a compromise, I don't know what is.
I shall have some lunch before regaling myself with Mr bedraggled Postie's droppings. It's 13:05 and my blood sugar is plummeting.
Just been listening to 30 minutes of news from Radio Sweden. Meanwhile, here is today's little trickle of entertainment:
- "Colossus" started life as one of the most scary SF novels I have ever read
- "Threads" was the unsuccessful attempt by Barry Hines (writer of "Kes") to scare the UK out of its love affair with nuclear weaponry
- "Important Things" is the other comedy item I found by Demetri Martin
- "Lair of the White Worm" is a so-bad-it's-delicious horror movie by Ken Russell
I must admit, "The War Game" by Peter Watkins springs to mind. Methinks I'd better not tackle this lot in a single evening. Even if interleaved with episodes of the enchanting "Castle" :-)
To them that hath...
Keeping a Private Eye on the bank with whom I had a mortgage. The interest rate on that mortgage never once dipped into single digits:
Wonder what "Fred the Shred" is up to these days? (And people say capitalism isn't broken.)