Ceud Mìle Fàilte

Photography Nature Technology Food
Movies Music Politics

and life in the Highlands.

Fàilte

Thank you for dropping-by, I hope you enjoy your visit. The main content is to be found in the blog where I discuss everything and anything but topics including photography, nature, technology, food, movies, music and politics make regular appearances.

I commonly write reviews of movies (or films, if you prefer). Some movie reviews are short, others will be discussed in more detail. The scope covered will be mainly mainstream English language movies from the 1930s until the present day.

About me

My name is Iain MacDonald and I live in the Highlands of Scotland (although I have lived elsewhere in the past). I am a big fan of Free & Open Source Software which I use both professionally and at home.

Computing and technology tend to infuse themselves into my other interests, as once you learn some skills in one area it is convenient to use them to solve problems in other spheres.

When not tinkering with computers, I am likely to be found repairing things because living in the countryside you learn to be resourceful.

Of course, man doesn't live by SSH tunnels and kerosene vapour burners alone so food, as a subject, makes regular appearances too. Did I mention I used to work in hospitality?

Latest Life articles

My most recent ramblings.

  • Eurovision

    I'd like to apologise, publicly. The poor woman went for some peace and quiet, and what did she get? Two eejits rolling-up in a campervan, blaring out the Eurovision song contest. [Read more...]

  • Feeling sheepish

    I went for a walk along a forestry style track, yesterday. Ahead of me was a ewe, with two lambs. The ewe felt nervous about my approach, and started to trot away from me. The lambs were, of course, following her closely. However, the sheep didn't trot away uphill or ... [Read more...]

  • Regatta Hydrafort Matt Jacket

    I needed to buy a waterproof jacket for use when working. I also have a Gore-Tex jacket from Craghoppers, which is excellent, but I didn't want to ruin that jacket by using it for working every day. I have a few other Regatta products which are well made, so, for ... [Read more...]

  • Highland Life and the Coronavirus

    It is quite extraordinary, I've never experienced anything like it. We are now a couple of weeks away from Easter, which is normally the time when the summer tourist season starts. The roads would see increased traffic, and the tourist hotspots would start to be busy. Not this year. [Read more...]

  • New Manual Coffee Grinder

    I was without my vintage wooden Zassenhaus, so I rushed out and bought a new manual coffee grinder. The one I got is from Maison & White, and it is amazingly good. It is adjustable from very fine to coarse. Grinding is done with ceramic burrs, and the rest of ... [Read more...]

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My latest Mastodon posts

Mastodon is a microblogging app that is part of the decentralised web known as The Fediverse. See this article for more details.

Fitheach (@fitheach@mstdn.io)

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 21:52:42 +0000

One other disappointment. The episode has clear signals of a potential love affair between Kirk and Yeoman Janice Rand. For some reason the potential isn't fulfilled, and the Rand character never makes another appearance in TOS. A missed opportunity.

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 21:27:25 +0000

"Balance of Terror"
Star Trek TOS

Often rated as one of the best Trek episodes, it can be summarised as: submarine battle in space.

The Romulan commander even employs the trick of jettisoning a dead body, amoungst other debris, to fool Kirk into thinking they have been "sunk".

It is still a very enjoyable episode.

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 12:00:49 +0000

I meant that in the sense of "spot the ball". The dog is not called Spot (for those new here).

BTW does "spot the ball" still exist?

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 11:55:13 +0000

Spot the dog!

Media enclosure type (image/jpeg)

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 09:40:39 +0000

I've mentioned before that has, without any training, taken it upon herself to wait patiently, while I photograph subjects. I've now noticed that she actually watches the wildlife I'm photographing.

Here she is looking across the canal, directly at the Cormorant, as I'm photographing it.

Eventually, I will just get Gruoch to take the photographs, too.

Media enclosure type (image/jpeg)

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 22:10:18 +0000

An old snow report:

mstdn.io/@fitheach/10182465508