The Crystal

Posted on by
Reply

Back in my early school Physics lessons, a teacher I respected deeply, spoon-fed me, and other form-members, the beginnings of an understanding of our physical world. The knowledge that everything was held together with energy – in fact that everything itself was a form of energy, had a deep and lasting effect upon me. My thirst for further understanding was a compelling, driving force, which unfortunately quickly hit an insurmountable wall – the feebly finite level of my own intelligence. Despite several attempts to understand, I regretfully filed the then current theories of the creation of our universe into the box labelled ‘Accept, but without understanding’. Fortunately this is a metaphoric box, as it has grown uncontrollably in size almost exponentially, having over the years had heaped into it more and more of my acceptances of the ‘abstractions’ by which we all have to live, and make a living by.

By necessity then, we accept the technology that puts into use the science which most of us barely understand. We observe the results, and because they match the theories, or at least our understanding of the theories, don’t question any further. The truth is always more complex than that which is immediately observable by us. In fact we now know that our mere observation of certain phenomena is certainly capable of changing the phenomena itself. Although we also accept that our observations will also change us, the manner and diversity of the changes upon us can remain entirely unpredictable, and at times may not manifest themselves in a way that we are capable of understanding, let alone controlling.

This story is about a man who feels that he has lost, and his partner who sees that he is lost, but cannot help him. His entirely accidental proximity to the mind-blowing work of a genius, threatens to send him hurtling ever downward into a spiral of despair and self-disgust. Nevertheless, he takes up the challenge, accepting that he will either understand it, or be consumed by it, or both.

Warning: The story contains an explicit scene of an intimate sexual nature, and is not suitable for minors, or those who are easily offended.

Download or read in Browser The Crystal

Witness

Posted on by
Reply

Ladies. Be careful about knocking on a stranger’s door, even when your friend is with you. You may be afraid of him. You may be attracted to him. You may want to make love to him. What will he want from you?

 
Warning: This story contains explicit sexual references, and is not suitable for minors, or those folks easily offended.

‘Witness’ is Copyright (C) 2014 J.W.Brown
Download, or open in Browser: Witness

The Follies Of Saint-Palais-sur-Mer

Posted on by
Reply

First published on joebrown.org.uk on 2012/07/16
I turned, and we walked the short distance back to Carthowen’s overblown mansion, it’s grotesque kitsch borrowed from the styles of a hundred different worlds.
He halted suddenly when he saw Cilla and the hapless Carthowen, tethered by his neck ring to the rear of the saddle.
I laughed. “Don’t be afraid of her. She is here to protect you and take you home, so climb aboard.”
I waited until he was in the saddle, then climbed up after him, and whispered softly to Cilla. “Sbwriel yn Anwylyd, er ei fod yn rhoi drosedd i syllu arnynt.”
She turned her head to face the house and drew breath.

When she had finished, all that was left of Carthowen’s monstrous folly was a pile of incandescent rubble, and his anguished whimpering behind me.
I made no comment as we lifted into the air.

(From ‘Closed Circle‘ by the author)

It isn’t very often that I come across a house that I don’t like. Most appear aesthetically pleasing, some outstandingly attractive. The remainder are generally banal, even boring, but not usually causing me offense.

There is the odd building though, that sets off a physical wrinkling in my nose, a psychological jangling of broken bells in my head. Fortunately, I’ve found it easy to turn my head and look elsewhere, maybe at a more pleasing specimen. But what if you find yourself in a road, where every house looks like a badly reconstructed dog’s breakfast? Where do you look? What do you do now?
Well it did happen – some time ago, on a holiday in Vaux-sur-Mer. And I did do something – I took photographs of some of the hideous monstrosities as my girlfriend and I progressed down the road.

Now, several years later, I’m busy re-visiting photos, with a view to making these available for friends on the website, and I came across them.

This part of the French coastline, just north of Royan is a popular getaway for thousands of Frenchmen, amongst the richest of whom, have built themselves weekend homes.
Some of these homes draw on, and blend favourably with, the local building styles, and are both attractive and easy on the eye. Some of them sadly, are not, and reflect a tasteless and uninformed collage of styles ranging from la belle epoch to the present day, from almost every country in Europe, all rolled-up in one house. The result is ghastly, so bad that it’s completely hilarious.

Finally, I would like to add that there are two gorgeous beaches here, lots to see, plenty good food to be had, a lively market and very friendly people – a lovely place for a holiday in fact. (so the weekend French have got something right)

The ‘Follies’

M4011M-1402

M4011M-1402

M4011M-1402

M4011M-1402

M4011M-1402

M4011M-1402

M4011M-1402

M4011M-1402

M4011M-1402

A footnote. June, my girlfriend at the time, had remarked when we visited Royan, that everything had been built from the from the fifties onwards. I had made no remark other than to agree with her. To have ‘mentioned the war’ was not on my agenda.
I had talked later to a lovely lady friend who taught German in a college in Ely,and she had confirmed that several German friends had visited, as Royan was considered to be a ‘war grave’.
Indeed it was. Retrospective opinion regarded the complete devastation of Royan by ‘carpet’ bombing, including the use of napalm, to have been completely unnecessary, and the huge French and German casualties to be regarded as nothing short of a war crime.

A Newcastle Walk in 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Tyne Bridge at night.

Section of Newcastle for walk.

Turn right off Grainger Street onto Market Street (top left of map).
Turn right into Grey Street when you see Theatre Royal
Follow Grey Street south to join Dean Street, then contiue south on The Side.
Turn left onto Sandhill, then under the Tyne Bridge.
Follow the Quayside East and cross over to Gatehead on the Millenium Bridge.
Visit The ‘Sage’, now infamously named as ‘The Glasshouse’ (How Original – which moron made that decision?)
The Tyne Bridge can be accessed via several streets, for the walk back over to Newcastle.
Don’t ignore All Saints Church to the right right of the bridge as you enter Newcastle, it is the only elliptical church building in England.
Thanks to Phil and Linda, for joining me on one of my favourite walks.
Photos of the walk are here:
Photos

Fire 13th September 2024

Posted on by
Reply

Qual o preço das culturas ‘de rendimento’ de eucalipto em Portugal?
Que o “verdadeiro” custo de transformar uma grande parte de Portugal numa monocultura NÃO é suportado pelos investidores capitalistas na produção de papel, é demasiado evidente.
Porcarias nojentas transportadas pelo ar. algumas delas ainda ardem, fazem visitas indesejadas aos habitantes próximos e libertam enormes quantidades de CO2 para a atmosfera.

Este ‘seguro’ é pago ao produtor para cobrir as suas perdas, enquanto que NADA é pago aos residentes locais pelos danos colaterais nas suas propriedades e na sua saúde, não é nada menos que uma vergonha.
Tive de proteger os meus painéis solares contra a queda de cinzas quentes há apenas alguns anos e apagar a relva fumegante nas proximidades no meu jardim.
Nessa ocasião saí de Tabuas e passei o resto do dia na costa, onde eu e o meu adorável cão pudemos respirar.

Os efeitos desta poluição podem ser observados em todas as aldeias do Centro de Portugal – feios rastos de fuligem pelas paredes.

O incêndio a que se refere o título deste blogue ocorreu junto ao Fundão, do outro lado da Serra Estrella.
As fotos estão aqui: Fundao Fire

Árvore do dinheiro ou uma abominação?

[English]
What price the ‘cash’ crops of Eucalyptus in Portugal?
That the ‘true’ cost of turning a large part of Portugal into a mono-culture is NOT borne by the Capitalist investors in paper manufacture, is all too apparent.
Filthy airborne crap. some of it still burning, pays unwelcome visits to the denizens nearby, and releases enormous quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere.

That ‘insurance’ is paid to the grower to cover their loss, whilst NOTHING is paid to local local residents for the collateral damage to both their property and their health is nothing short of a disgrace.
I had to protect my solar panels against falling hot ash only a few years ago, and douse smoldering nearby grass in my garden.
On that occasion, I left Tabuas, and spent the rest of the day at the coast, where myself and my lovely dog could breathe.

The effects of this pollution can be see in every village in Central Portugal – unsightly soot trails down walls.

The fire referred to in the title of this blog was close to Fundao, the other side of the Serra Estrella.

Photos are here: Fundao Fire

Money Tree or an abomination?

The Carlson Imperative – Book 1: Svetlana Curuvija

Posted on by
Reply

This story tells of a man who has adopted a life of helping homeless and vulnerable girls, and of waging a dark and ruthless private war on the human traffickers and criminals who prey on them. His chance encounter with a young Serbian woman, and his experience of her growing unconditional love for him, reveal to him that emotionally, he is as broken and beaten as the girls he is trying to help.

Warning: The story contains adult subject matter, several explicit scenes of an intimate sexual nature, and descriptions of human jeopardy, and is not suitable for minors, or those who are easily offended.

Download/Read in Browser: The Carlson Imperative Book 1

TabuasCasa – Joe’s ‘Home Assistant’

Posted on by
2


Click on above to show full screen on your browser. Click ‘Back’ button (<-) to return.

Foreword. My electricity bills are significant, and this is to be expected, but they should also reflect that I power most of my equipment from a DC suppy, which is supplemented by a solar PVP system.
I’ve already conducted tests in the ground floor of my house, and I’m at a loss as to compare these with my supplier’s readings. A comprehensive record of my usage needs to be made, and has prompted the purchase of a clamp-driven, wifi-based unit.
To access this I have looked at Google ‘Home Assistant’. Oh Dear! Yes, the device is supported, but outputting information? that woudd seem to take over a whole display on computer or ‘phone.
The ‘protocols’ and ‘implementation’ on git, look like a bad nightmare. Home Assistant? I’m not so sure, it isn’t for me. But on this occasion, I will use it – sparingly.
‘Getting to the point’ – as Jeff Lynne once sung. I do not believe that Google ‘Home Assistant’ is for me in a general sense.
Later, I will post some screenshots of the mains monitor in use.
See here.

History – quite a long one.
I emigrated to Portugal in the back end of 2012. I had purchased and moved in to a house situated in a small hamlet near Miranda Do Corvo.
The house had been constructed around 10 years before, but never really ‘finished’ off.
It being winter, my first priority was central heating.
This, I both designed, and installed myself, the details I will spare you.
Rather than having to rely solely on ‘manual’ control of pumps etc., I carved a controller from a raspberry pi, using mostly the Dallas 1-wire system. (which actually has 3 wires!)
The user interface was the crummy python interface based on Tk.
As ‘stuff’ was added to the 1-wire network, ie. switches, thermometers etc., performance suffered – badly, and reliability suffered also.
I decided to split up functionality to discrete areas of the house, so that these could be served separately by a dedicated wifi-connected server. This work began almost two years ago, and is still ongoing.
The ‘Tk’ based user interface was dumped, a new machine, raspberry pi 400 and a website (apache) installed.
Servers are implemented as ‘socket’ servers, a set of intermediate php scripts installed, and the interface demonstrated is a web page written in HTML5, javascript and jquery.
To date, this is still a ‘work in progress’

Hardware.
Servers are ESP8266-based WEMOS D1 mini, programmed in C++ on an Arduino IDE.
Thermometers are the Dallas 1-wire type:
Mains voltage ‘detection’ is implemented using opto-couplers.
Mains current ‘detection’ uses a home made ‘slit’ toroid and Hall device, to generate a ‘square’ wave (or none, if no current).
Proximity detectors are generally Hall devices, connected through a Dallas 1-wire unit.
A servo motor controls ‘fresh’ air supply to the log-burner/CH Heating unit in the ‘Cave’.
I could go on, but almost everything in the system is basic, cheap, and readily available.

Operation.
Servers are activated/de-activated by a checkbox.
Servers are invigilated every 3 seconds or so. This activity is monitored by the on/off appearance of a radio-button.
Control of pumps etc., can be automatic, based on presets, or manual, using a button.

StatusesUsually indicated by a colour change.

Technologies. HTML5, PHP, javascript, jquery, C++.
Development Environment. Pi400, Geany, Arduino IDE.
Note – No Windoze required nor desired.
Note – No 3rd party installers, packagers or similar bullshit.

For the unwary: ‘nobs’ is my ‘tag’ – yes, it means ‘No Bullshit’

Google. Google have created many useful things,many of which I use. But never forget, Google wants to make money – well nothing wrong with that, I’ll agree. But I’ll take and use the good, and ignore the bad, and Google Home Assistant would seem to be a pushed in the sales direction.
That their protocols are accepted and used for various ‘commodities;, is fine also. But they all make the same mistake – Look at your home, now cram all the infantile interfaces for each of your home ‘devices’ onto one ‘screen’. Well you can’t, but I’ve shown how much I can display and control on one screen, and here’s my challenge – do as well with ‘Google Home Assistant’.

To be continued..

Uncle John

Posted on by
Reply

This tale is true. I wish it wasn’t. It describes events that took place in my pre-pubescent days. See my remarks later, after reading below.
Uncle John

I’ve added the following to give the reader some perspective of my father’s ‘family’.
My dad had two brothers, John and David – there had been a third, Joseph, who I was informed had been in the Royal Navy, and whose life was lost when ‘Glorious’ was torpedoed by a U-boat during World War II. There was a sister, Mary, regarded I suspect, as ‘a black sheep’ by her brothers.

My retrospective on the events relating to John are, that I pondered why nothing had apparently been done to help John with his very obvious paranoia.
Did my father refer John’s fears and actions to a doctor? I strongly suspect that he did not. ‘Finger-wagging’ he was very fond of, and that, I suspect was all that his ‘talks’ consisted of.
That in succession John was in danger of electrocuting himself, seemed of no import. It took a threat of blowing himself up, together with half of the other residents of his street, before anything positive was done. This is nothing short of shameful.

As it happened, John ‘outlasted’ my father, and apparently had left his ‘worldly possessions’ to my father. This I know, by being contacted by Mary. Well I don’t believe there were many men in Gateshead with my name, so it wouldn’t have been too difficult.
I visited Mary, by then a fairly old woman. She was ‘most concerned’ that if a descendant of my Dad’s didn’t come forward, the ‘social’ would get the ‘money’.
I listened carefully, then left, and did nothing.