Old School Hacker

Where's the Renaissance in the festival? - Music Video

A music video for the song, Where's the Renaissance in the festival?  It's a very amusing look at some of the anachronisms that show up in renaissance events.  Of course, these aren't meant to be strictly period.  They have a lot less death, sickness and poverty for one thing:)  It does remind me of the phenomenon of the rivet counter in model engineering.  A person so dedicated to making a precise model of the original that they actually count rivets.  There's nothing wrong with either, it's just the way that person enjoys their hobby.  Link via.

Gaelic from the BBC

Canada and the US have an astounding number of people with irish and scottish heritage.  There is, in fact, quite a lot of irish heritage in my own family.  My grandfather was initiated into the Orange Lodge in 1929.  I am told my great grandfather was born in ireland, and personally owned a shelalegh. 

A part of that heritage for many is the gaelic language.  There are still parts deep in Scotland, Ireland and Wales where it is the only language people speak.  As part of an effort to preserve this heritage, the BBC has organized a number of resources for learning gaelic.  You can find the site here. They have a couple of programs intended for learning the language, as well as articles and stories in gaelic.

Medieval Latin

Medieval latin differs greatly from classical latin.  It is the latin that continued in use and evolved.  There is a move away from declensions and it gains new words that don't appear in classical latin.  The National Archives in England have put together a medieval latin tutorial page.   It looks like a great resource for learning medieval latin.  Link via.

Death By Jousting

Who would have thought?  A reenactor for the BBC has died as a result of jousting. They say that a splinter(!) from the lance flew through the eye slit in his helmet.  I have to wonder just how big that splinter was.

Ultra Wide Band Radar

From Hack A Day we have a UWB Radar schematic and discussion in PDF form.  It's a great introduction to the subject, with a practical design that can be built.

Move

Wanted to let everyone know I have just moved from Edmonton to Sarnia, and I'm finally getting the shop geared up.  There's a lot of cleanup to be done and organizing.

Computer Repair

This video is via the Consumerist blog.  It exposes what any tech worth his salt already knows, the vast majority of people working to repair computers are incompetent.  I'm not talking about marginal incompetence, being good enough.  I mean gross incompetence.  Bordering on stupidity.  The reality is that repairing computers can be extremely hard, and requires a great deal of skill.  The problem is that you won't get paid for it.  While you have to be very knowledgeable to do the work, the pay is very poor.  Most of those who are good enough to do it properly work elsewhere in the field and get much better pay. 

Mainframe Computer Room - 1990

..and where is my halon test key already?!  No mention in the video of the identity of the machine, though one commenter thinks it's an Amdahl.  Gene Amdahl worked on the IBM S/360, and my understanding is that the Amdahl machines were very similar to the IBM.

Starting Fairbanks Morse Type Y Engine

Bamford OV and Millars Sludge Pump

A beautiful engine running.