bruceryan.info is now working. Further good news therein.

A brief resurgence on LJ to say I have a new blog about my, er, professional life. It’s currently at http://brucemartinryan.wordpress.com because, while I have bought the domain bruceryan.info, I can’t currently update the name servers there to point to the wordpress bit.

Not my fault – the providers (1&1) have admitted they have a problem. Need to bug them again this evening.

A bientôt!

Sorry I’ve been silent for quite a while – November and December seem to have been devoted almost entirely to my MSc dissertation, sorting domestic IT problems and working for Leith Central Community Council. (I’m their minutes secretary and joint webmaster, making my first forays into WordPress.)

The dissertation was submitted on the 19th, so I didn’t have to sweat over it while visiting my parents, and I just need to get through the viva – scheduled for 9th January. I should pass, but I’m not hopeful for a distinction for this part of the MSc. If I don’t get a distinction here, then I merely pass the MSc despite all my other distinction-level marks.

Elly and I went to Worcester on 22nd and came back on the 27th. This seems remarkably short – I’ll need to visit again soon. Lots of eating ensued. My mother’s potato salad and vegan coleslaw kept me remarkably fruity. The whole clan (parents, me, sister, brother, Elly, brother’s girlfriend) were together for about 24 hours, then Ian and Pamela flew north to be with her family in Ayrshire. Ahh, twas good if fleeting.

Back to Edinburgh, with Elly full of cold. She lay low while I did my last spin of 2013. That was hard – I’d not been done anything like exercise for well over a week. New year was seen in with friends in Colinton, their new bunnies and generous servings of Talisker. That smokey anaesthetic is part of the reason I wasn’t so talkative on the 1st.

But I did make my first IT purchases of 2014 on the first. These were

• long USB to lightning-port cables for Elly’s and my iDevices
• a VGA monitor cable
• a USB to VGA adaptor for all of £25 from eBay – the list price is US$99

So now my mac has 3 monitors:

Projects for early 2014 include

• updating the survey of CC websites I did in summer 2012 – I’ve won funding from Napier to do this.
• potentially deepening this survey to look at social media use, and delving further into how planning is presented on CC websites – my MSc supervisor and I are applying for funds to do this.
• submitting comments based on my research to the Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy in Scotland
• finishing a paper for a conference on eDemocracy. It’s in Krems an der Donau, so I’d dearly like to go – and talk to IT and communications folk in local governments in Austria. I didn’t get funding to go to this – it will cost well over £1000 – but might be able to save enough from the CC website survey payments.
• setting up a website for another Edinburgh community council – I expect lots of fun teaching them how to use WordPress.
• teaching myself more Java, the beginnings of Python, more HTML5 and maybe Objective C
• setting up MacOS Leopard server on a PowerBook G4: so Elly and I will have space for mutual documents, very private email addresses
• setting up social media presences that might support the way I want my career to go
• building a bike trailer
• lots of cycling – I want to work up to being able to do 100 miles in a day without any problems.
• finding some paid work! I want to do practical stuff that supports community councils as they try to go online – only 22% have worthwhile websites – and also academic research that springs from and supports this practical work.

I’ve just signed up for next year’s Pedal for Scotland – the sportive version! I believe I can 110 miles but I will need to train to achieve it in the time. I’ll be riding Lev Davidovitch, my sturdy touring bike – unless I get a massive windfall in the next few months.

So I envisage a few attempts at the route between now and September. Who wants to join me?

I also plan to do next year’s Tour of the Borders (10 August 2014). That’s about 55 miles through some beautiful scenery – or so I’m told. (I couldn’t see a thing last year.)

And of course there’s the old favourite: Tour de Forth. (There’s no sign of the 2014 event online yet. The 2013 event was in early August and was 66 miles.)

So insanity ahead – hopefully accompanied by the ever-wonderful (and sane) Elly.

After a nightmare journey, I arrived at the parental abode around 7pm yesterday. (The nightmares were all self-inflicted and I don’t intend to talk about them in a public online space. But email if you want to know.)

Achieved so far

• Sorted dad’s desk so he doesn’t need to bend down to restart the mac or plug in new devices.
  • Put mac mini on desk’s keyboard shelf, with the back facing out.
  • Rationalised plugs and cables.
  • Took all the electronica out of the office in preparation for the following step. USB Peripherals are
    • optical drive
    • keyboard
    • iPad
    • external HD
    • printer
    • webcam
    • miniSD card
    • bluetooth earphone charger
    • TomTom charger
    • camera card reader.
  • Drilled a hold in the top of the desk for the keyboard cable
  • Drilled four holes in the keyboard shelf for cable-ties to hold the USB hub in place.
  • Replaced all the electronica and made sure it works. For example, the iPad won’t charge unless it’s connected to a mac USB port, even though the USB hub is powered.
• Got Reflector working so the iPad’s display can be mirrored to the on the mac (so I can see it remotely). Wrote a how-to.
• Updated iTunes to work with iOS7, which dad’s iPad now runs.
• Connected bluetooth earphones to iPad

Still to go

• put TimeMachine backups on separate device from nightly CarbonCopyCloner clones
• set up and demonstrate AppleTV
• connect printer to mac wirelessly
• show how to remove photos from iPad

And I need to spend time on sister’s finances and filing. Yeehah!

Chatting with Hugh after his spinning session this evening… He asked if I enjoyed it. I answered ‘I enjoy having done it’. That may seem mean, but I meant that I was glowing. And more than 2 hours after climbing off the spin bike I’m still glowing. Spacy!

He also asked if I’m fitter now. And yes I am. I recall trying to cycle from St Andrews to Kirkcaldy when I was about 25. That’s under 25 miles – and I failed. More than 20 years of body-abuse and at least 3 years of failing pancreas later, I’ll happily cycle over 50 miles carrying 2 heavy panniers. And then I’ll do the same the next day, then the next. OK, I won’t be fast, and I would probably need a lunch break. Or I’ll do a 50-mile event non-stop. So, yes, I am the fittest – or at least the most physically capable – I’ve ever been.

And this is all thanks to the wild and wonderful world of Lifescycle. YEEHAH!

Well over two years ago, I bought a bluetooth headset to use with jPhone. A couple of months ago, it ceased charging – in fact, when plugged into any of my macs’ USB ports it tried to take too much power and the mac would shut down the port.

I contacted Jaybird to ask if there was anything I could do to improve things but I didn’t believe the headset was within warranty. But they have sent me a brand new set, for no charge! I’m in awe of the product – it’s far lighter, more comfortable and easy to use than the other bluetooth headsets I’ve tried. And now I’m in awe of the company.

By the way, the picture on the website doesn’t do the product justice – it also comes with a range of comfortable spock-ear thingies to clip the phones to the inside of your pinnae and a pair of comfortable clips to ensure good grip around the backs of pinnae.

So I’ve not been at my best recently – a fairly unpleasant cold, along with my right shoulder being very painful and restricted. The results seem to be reduced lung capacity, so that I can’t provide full power* to my legs, and occasionally finding it hard to reach Lev’s handlebars properly. Things that spoil cycling for me are not welcome! Nor is waking up in pain several times each night.

*not that I claim to be particularly powerful

However, I’ve mostly kept up with spinning – again, it’s only when I’m spinning or asleep that my shoulder doesn’t hurt just now. I’ve occasionally had to stop and go out of the studio to cough up lung-snot, and I’ve had to take a few wee pauses on the bike before attempting to pile back into whatever Hugh, Josh, Martin and Lincoln were throwing at us. But I will get back up there, back to doing the Monday double and cruising the distances. (I want to do some sportives and a triathlon next year, Elly and I plan to do the North Sea Cycle Route, and I will cycle to India when I retire.)

So tonight was the first session led Andy for a while – he and Jeannie have been on a well-earned holiday. The only bike free by the time I was ready was in the dead-centre of the front row. No chance to skive under Andy and Jeannie’s eagle eyes! Lots of jumps and runs, some in-saddle hills, some old favourite tracks to pull out the stops and a finale to Comfortably Numb. I was far from perfect and I did have to pause every now and then, and quite often I couldn’t keep the resistance where I thought it should be and still turn the pedals. But I got through it with a smile and enjoyment of the music. And I think my running technique is getting less rubbish.

Afterwards, Andy asked if the session had been easy. If my cold wasn’t lingering and I’d had continuous sleep, it might have been. As it was, I valued the recovery opportunities. But I’m really looking forward to not needing them, to powering through jumps, climbs and runs – both on a spin-bike and on the road. Yeehah!

I’m not long back from today’s Independence March and Rally, which I attended as an independence-leaning fence-sitter. I was with and we by chance met up with another mutual friend from Fife. I was most interested in the fellow-travellers on this band-wagon. Of these, I make out two kinds:

1. Firstly, people from other independence movements. I first noticed folk in Lederhosen carrying red and white flags – did they want independence from Austria? Er, no. It turns out that they wish South Tyrol to cease being part of Italy. What should happen next is unclear. Options include
   • South Tyrol being a completely independent country
   • South Tyrol uniting with ‘Austrian Tyrol‘ as part of Austria
   • South Tyrol uniting with ‘Austrian Tyrol’ as a bigger independent country. I think this would be problematic, partly because it would make Vorarlberg an exclave of Austria and partly because it would leave East Tyrol either in Austria or as an exclave of ‘Independent Tyrol’ – unless Austria released a suitable part of Salzburg Land to join up the bits. (According to wikipedia, Vorarlberg speaks allemanic German, while the rest of Austria speaks austro-bavarian German, and had considered joining Switzerland, so dissolving the western end of Austria might have some support.)

   No wonder they’ve not yet decided!

2. Political movements and fellow travellers: Labour for Independence, Scottish Socialists, Women for Independence, various groups who oppose nuclear weapons and membership of Nato.

The whole event was MCed by Hardeep Sign Kholi and Elaine C Smith. The speakers included Dennis Canavan – quite fiery, almost to the point of being scary – and Nicola Sturgeon, who was less scary, even if she did remind me slightly of Angela Merkel. Alex Salmond spoke last but by then and I had moved away from the stage and so couldn’t really make out what he was saying.

Most speeches seemed to me to be designed to stiffen the sinews – a call to go out and convert at least one other person to Yes. (The nearest I can honestly do is state why I lean towards Yes but freely admit that the solution I want is not currently on offer.) Because I didn’t want my sinews stiffened and I tend to react against fiery speeches, these were somewhat offputting.

However, the speeches were not as offputting as the music. Middle-of-the-road ballads do nothing for me, nor do twee ‘celtic’ things. There was some bagpipe rock, covering Teenage Kicks and One way or another, which was more appealing. I guess these are just part of the way of doing politics – they don’t add to or detract from the arguments, even if they do detract from enjoyment.

The worthwhile parts, for me, were seeing the strength of feeling, meeting new people, meeting up with and our mutual friend, enjoying walking through parts of Edinburgh and learning new stuff. And perhaps the most impressive thing for me was meeting a bloke riding a battered old racer on a turbo trainer at the top of Calton Hill. He plans to cycle from Rome to Glasgow (1700 miles) in 25 days to raise money for the Yes campaign. That’s just under 70 miles a day – it’s bloody ambitious!

To be fair, I suppose I now have to attend a ‘No’ event, even if it’s just to see how crap their music is.

Here’s some photos and propaganda. The latter is for information only – I do not necessarily agree with the organisations from which they come:

Arran banner!	Flanders folk	The mouse that might roar.
No to No!	Catalan fellow-travellers	Sardinian fellow-travellers
Big screen at the foot of Calton Hill	St Andrews House – gothic meets stalinist brutalism. However, the door staff are friendly.	Just a few of the 20,000. Note the Sicilian fellow-traveller
This Englishman says Yes	Venetian fellow-traveller?	Venetian fellow-travellers?

So how do I now feel?

• Independence is not my ideal. (That is a federal Great Britain, with decision-making moved to appropriate regional forms of government. The GB national government should only be able to make decisions on those matters which affect the whole of the contiguous land-mass and any other areas [such as Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles] that choose to get involved. I don’t see any need for Northern Ireland being part of the UK because it’s part of another land-mass – but that’s up to them. Oh, and I want areas to be administrative units only, not ‘we’re the XYZ people, we’re special’ – because that is offensive rubbish.)
• If Scotland chooses independence, the only thing this guarantees is that more decisions will be taken in Holyrood.
• It does not guarantee that sensible decisions will be taken or that everything will be wonderful. Scotland would need to not elect bampots. Being Scottish does not automatically make a person better, just as being English doesn’t automatically make a person an effete arsehole.
• It does not guarantee permanently open borders. However, I don’t believe either country would be stupid enough to close its borders. Both sides have things the others want, so trade and porous borders are welcome. pointed out that England might want to close its northern border to prevent immigrants and refugees from other countries getting in, if it goes down a UKIP-ish/isolationist route.
• If Scotland retains the pound, it can’t be completely autonomous and may suffer from things rUK does to protect itself.
• It does not guarantee freedom from being affected by world events – but it does offer Scotland a chance to protect itself, especially if it gains control of its own currency. (Having said that, my heart prefers a world currency. But having said that, the European currency is a bit of a mess just now.)
• It does not guarantee freedom from stupidities such as the fugly, over-expensive and unnecessary Scottish Parliament building and the mess that Edinburgh’s tram project has become. (I like trams but not the expensive and incomplete way they have been implemented.)
• It does not guarantee that bus information will be free of contradiction and misinformation. (‘s bus zoomed past him on George Street, despite notices that it should have stopped there.)
• But what it does offer is a whole host of positive things from the fellow-travellers – removal of nuclear weapons, removal of the ‘bedroom tax’, renationalisation of the post office, positive choices about welfare and social matters, left-ish/green-ish politics promising to care for the poor and disadvantaged. Of course I understand that these are only what’s on offer today, that promises are frequently broken and that they are not guaranteed to carry on forever. However, I do believe that Ms Sturgeon and her fellow-speakers meant what they said, and that they have the cohones to make a few of them come true. I look forward to holding them to their promises!

There’s an interesting query – if I lean towards independence for Scotland, why am I so against the UK independence party? It’s not because of idiots such as Godfrey Bloom, although he does nothing for UKIP’s reputation. It’s not because the UK is 100% geographically part of Europe. If global warming continues, it’s going to be further and further from mainland Europe. It’s because UKIP seems to reject the idea of Europe working together via the EU and related bodies. The ideal of Europe, if I recall correctly, was best presented by Dennis Healey. Having seen at first hand what European wars could do, he preferred any mechanism that could help prevent them. So do I.

There’s a lot wrong with how Europe currently works, but in general EU-Europe hasn’t seen major wars since 1945. (I know that’s not actual proof and and I do recall the horror of the Yugoslavian melt-down.) While retaining control of its own currency might well be protecting the UK from the worst of the Euro-currency disaster, standing aloof from the common bonds of humanity that Europe represents is offensive and stupid of itself, and feels like the tip of the wedge of warmongering, racism and Nationlism spelt with a ‘z’ instead of a ‘t’.

The Scottish Independence movement doesn’t feel like that to me. For a start, Scotland is much smaller than rUK and so will lose any hot war, so no sane Scottish leader will do it. The Independence movement doesn’t seem to want to stand aloof from rUK, but to wish for autonomy to look after itself while being good neighbours across the Cheviots.

Both of the above are my perceptions and are not necessarily true, of course!

In summary, the fellow-travellers have attracted me more towards Yes but I will never be a died-in-the wool Independence supporter.

I’d quite like to read Damian McBride’s book. However he appears to be a loathsome creature to whom I wouldn’t wish to give a single penny. How might I buy the book and hence the printers, publishers and so on, without any of my money reaching Mr M?