Summer at last

Looks like summer has arrived for the first time since 2006. From today (5th july) right out for possibly 10 days the weather looks dry and warm - occasionally hot.

It has been a significant time since we've experienced such a long dry spell.

Ever wondered why?

What has caused the jet stream over the last few years to be so far south? Is it low summer artic ice? Or is that just a symptom rather than the cause?

The climate has changed -  but is that the fault of man? Simple logic combined with math would say not.  Satellite measurements would conclude the same.

The answer seems to be the sun. Can we predict solar activity? No.

So why are governments using co2 as a method of taxation? The next time you get an increase in your utility prices have a think. We have methods of extracting shale gas which could reduce our energy costs and make Britain competitive.

Think about that when you vote.

I think I will chat about power supply tomorrow.

More EU Nonsense - Plant Reproductive Material Law

This is not a political blog however I am heartily sick of the European Union. Not Europeans just the half-arsed bunch of twits that claim that the dis-separate entities of Europe can be treated as a single collective.

What now? Well apparently they want to regulate and approve all plant matter in Europe.

Sigh.

Now we can all sleep better at night.

• Sod unemployment.
• Sod immigration.
• Sod the lunatic energy policy.
• Sod currency union.

... and so on - you get the picture.

Lets think of more waste-of-time, non-urgent laws we can squander tax payers money on. Of course we need a new agency staffed-up for this - lets create the "EU Plant Variety Agency".

And politicians wonder why people want the UK out of Europe?

And no it is indeed May 8th - not April 1st.

Hi Resolution Audio

So I was munching away this morning and read that a company makes available hi resolution audio downloads. Great - just what I've been hankering for! People who listen to MP3's really need a good shake - do you put crap in your mouth? No? Why put it in your ears then?

A small aside; MP3 compression is "lossy". It generates small files because it removes stuff it thinks you might not need to hear. That might be fine on your phone or MP3 player, but on a "proper" high-end audio set-up that is just pointless.

So currently I buy CD's and encode them to lossless FLAC format for my PC and MP3 format for phone/car/children. All well and good - but the kicker is that even CD quality is a bit crappy.

Really.

You see 16bit audio at the sample rates (approx 44kHz) used for CD still manages to lose some information that your ears might pick up on. Ok we are talking minor differences, but they are there.

So I've always wanted something better; and companies now produce files at 24bit accuracy and 96kHZ or above - so they should sound wonderful.

Two problems:

1. The only music I can find currently is stuff I have no interest in listening to. No Biffy Clyro here for example.
2. I have a nice audio set-up with good quality Cyrus kit and Tannoy speakers and reasonable quality cabling. I even have a amplifier with a DAC for accepting digial media. However I'm not certain it will handle hi resolution audio! I suppose I will need to get off my backside and find out.

So audio formats hopefully will progress. I know we have 7.1 surround, but it's 8 channels of mediocrity. Surely in the modern age we can do better?

Welcome!

I spend a lot of time not sleeping. In fact sleep is just time wasting - and how much time have any of us got left?

So another blog. This one is about anything and everything. It's really here to provide therapy to my ego but hopefully along the way it may provide an insight to what makes me tick. You see I've no idea and really want to find out.