Ceud Mìle Fàilte

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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...]

Click here to view the whole Life section.

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

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 20:00:59 +0000

Decision made.

I've just ordered a Shelly H&T. If that all goes well, I will buy some more H&T devices (for other "rooms"), and some Shelly Plus Plug UK devices to smart-enable dumb heaters.

I'll update this thread as the project continues.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 14:57:04 +0000

On last night's the temperature was -10C. In contrast, to-day it was 1C (the first time for days that the temperature got above freezing). However, it felt colder to-day because there was also a stiff breeze. That said it was still a lovely day for a walk, as there was no rain, and the sun was out.

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 11:37:23 +0000

In one scene the Hank's character is loading Jeff's operating system. I'm certain I saw him selecting an .exe file.

Jeez!

MS Windows can even survive the apocalypse. It's like cockroaches surviving a nuclear explosion. Will we never get rid of Windows?

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 11:31:59 +0000

I enjoyed watching the film. Tom Hanks was great, as usual. There were only three characters in the film, one played by Hanks, the other two were a dog and a robot. The dog was great, of course. For most of the movie I found the robot, Jeff, to be irritating. Jeff reminded me of Jar Jar Binks. Not good. The filmmakers tried too hard to make Jeff "human".

Overall, the film was a feel good movie. Nothing wrong with that.

Recommended.

Sun, 03 Dec 2023 21:45:22 +0000

Right, I'm going to watch Finch (2021). I hope it is good.

I'll be away for a couple of hours. 😃

Sun, 03 Dec 2023 19:08:33 +0000

I'm wanting to get some WiFi enabled temperature sensors. However, I don't want ones controlled by a 'phone app. I'd prefer something which has its own web server. I know I could do something with a Raspberry Pi, but, that is too much faffing. I want a ready-made consumer product. I have seen commercial products which were too expensive at £100+ each.

Am I expecting too much?

Does such a thing exist?