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Wirksworth Foot & Cycle Paths

During the recent Transition Wirksworth organised talk about local transport, a need for a detailed map of Wirksworth containing all the foot and cycle paths was highlighted.

Over the weekend I made good use of the fine weather to walk along some of these footpaths, then this morning updated them onto the Open Street Map.

The Open Street Map is an ideal tool for the Transition Wirksworth to use, as all the data remains in the public domain, so anyone can use it without the copyright issues. unlike using Google or OS maps.

As and when I have time, I will continue add more paths and the respective detail. I encourage anyone else to join in editing the maps and if you are struggling with the technical side of things, I would be happy to help…



View Larger Map

Static home with separate blog page

As you may know, I use a WordPress site for my website, as it is free & open source software, easy to configure and customize, with a great community for support.

I am in the process of updating my site, so it has the look and feel of a regular custom website, rather than a WordPress blog, plus is more professional in it appearance.

The most significant and recent change is that I have swapped the default homepage article feed, to a static page, and moved the article feed to a “Blog” page. This was relatively easy, by following some simple instructions provided in the work press support wiki http://codex.wordpress.org/Creating_a_Static_Front_Page. I also installed and activated the “Exclude Pages” plugin allowing me to easily resolve the duplicate “Home” menu item issue. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/exclude-pages/

All is left to do is to create some interesting and informative content…

 

Scientific & Medical Network Meeting

This Saturday I attended a very interesting Scientific & Medical Network Meeting (Yorkshire Group). For those who have not heard of the SMN, it is a network of professionals (active and retired) in fields of science, medicine, philosophy, alternative medicine, etc… Several times a years each local group meeting up to listen to related professionals (normally about research they have done or are doing, or about a book they have released) after which the group discusses with the speaker.

If you think this would interest you, I would suggest you check out their website and perhaps attend your next local meeting. http://www.scimednet.org/

Earlier this year I held a talk for the Yorkshire SMN Group on my personal research into higher states of conciousness achieved while listening to high end hi fi. Below is what was written in the SMN newsletter…

“Morgan Barke gave a talk on ‘Multidimensional Listening and High End Hi Fi’. Starting from the technological and financial complexities of modern state of the art Hi Fi equipment, he went on to explain that it produced sounds which were beyond the range of normal human hearing: sub-sonic below the normal threshold, and hyper-sonic above. Strangely hyper-sonic sound is registered though it is not heard. The question is how? Experiments show that such awareness does not come through the ears, and if registered, hyper-sonic sound may be working through the sub-conscious mind. Furthermore the degree of conscious attention nevertheless increases the perception of the signal conveyed by hyper-sonic sound.

This raises the whole issue of the relation between the mind and digital electronic systems. The Princteon University (PEAR) experiments showed that conscious choices can effect random number generators., irrespective of time & space. If so, mind has access to quantum space, which is something beyond every day space and time. This may explain the ecstatic state of mind attained when the listener is totally lost in the music and feels that he is the music. This may be psychic space in which musical composition occurs.”

 

This weekends morning talk was by David Barrow on using Tai Chi for rehabilitation for heart conditions. He had performed scientific research, comparing against the normally prescribed cardio weekly work out, randomised and with a control group. His research, partnered with Sheffield Hallam Uni, demonstrated that with the replacement of Tai Chi over the regular cardio workout, provided measurable, greater benefits for the patient. More information can be found on his website… http://www.wutaichi.co.uk/

David runs one of his private classes on a Thursday evening, of which I am planning to attend, on my way home from Leeds to Wirksworth. I have done Tai Chi and really enjoyed it, but at the time it didn’t fit in with my schedule, so stopped going. Hopefully I will be able to fit into my routine and make a regular thing, as I do with Transcendental Meditation.

 

The second talk was by Sue Armstrong, a vet practising homoeopathy. Sue’s talk was about her professional experience of the emotions of animals and how she uses homoeopathy to treat animals with both physical and emotional ailments. Sue has extensive experience with race horses, improving their livelihood and athletic performance. I questioned Sue about the validity of homoeopathy, as it has been under much scrutiny in such publications as “Bad Science”, of which she is going to send me some links of some of the latest research and findings. I will add them here once I have them.

To find out more about what Sue does check out her website… http://www.balancedbeing.com/

 

Over and out…

Morgan

UPDATE:

Here are the links…

http://www.facultyofhomeopathy.org/research/

 

This article is well worth a read….
http://www.naturalnews.com/031210_Luc_Montagnier_Homeopathy.html

 

Album of the Week – Cartel – Prepare For Glory

I have recently been using the Jamendo Mobile App, for my Android phone (it is also available for the iPhone). For a free app it is really slick, although there are a few areas of dev that need addressing, such as going from a radio channel to an album, then playing that whole album. I would really recommend checking it out, as it has further reduced my use of mainstream music.

This weeks album is from Cartel a hip hop producer from Long Pond, US. Published back in summer 2007, it has a selection of authentic hop hop beats and styles. This is another example of where Free Music is as good, if not better than mainstream commercial, especially heard on the likes of BBC Radio 1, which only plays “hip pop”, rather than “hip hop.

Enjoy & Share

 

Off to Ogg Camp 11

I am going to Ogg Camp 11 this weekend. It a open source software (un)conference.

Will let you know how I get on, with a weekend of pure geekiness…

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Sharing the pie

In my house hold, as I was growing up, there was always a fight for the largest slice of pie (of the apple variety). There would always be an air of smugness from whom got the largest slice and injustice from whom got the smallest.

We found the fairest system was that the pie would be divided up into the required portions, but rather than the “slicer” getting the final piece, which would often end up being the largest, all the portions would remain in the dishes and the slicer would then get the last pick. With this system, the slicer is incentivised to divide the pie as equally as possible, so ideally there is no small slice and they would be happy with any.

Now, imagine if we could apply the same principle to politics, where the policy and decision makers had to create a system of which they could end up with the smallest slice…

I guess the closest thing we could get now, without a complete overhaul of the political and economic system, is that politicians and their families, as a part of their job, have to live on council estates, with only use of public transport, NHS, council run schools and receive the minimum when. If this was applied, we would soon get an new type of politician, one of which would live among the people and for the people…

Album of the week – Beat Elementals

I believe, all music should be free, with artists making a living from live performances & merchandise. The support & donations from their fans should provide them access to studio time, creating high quality recordings, for all to enjoy. This would allow for the listeners to spend more of their hard earned cash on high end hi fi, enhancing the listening experience.

Enjoy & share this weeks album of the week, “Beat Elementals” by “Mike Link & Harvey Taylor”, available on Jamendo. A slice of chilled lounge jazz, centered around the keyboard & trumpet, accompanied by a wide variety of instruments and different styles.

 

Community Service – Album of the week

I look forward to a world where music is freely available to all, at no cost, and is accessible to all, without the hassle of DRM.

Each week (or there abouts) I will post an “album of the week” of which is LEGALLY FREE, from site such as Jamendo, to encourge a truely free & open society.

So here is a an album, of which I found, liked and listened to while creating my new blog. Introducing “Community Service” by “Professor Kliq”, a big beat, electro mix of madness. You may want to skip the intro track to dive straight into the music.

Enjoy & Share.

Welcome to my new Blog

Hi all.

This is the first entry to my new blog. Blogging has been on my list of things to do for a long time, but for a variety of reasons has never happened.

Initially my plan is to complete a new blog entry each and every week, along with completing a microblog (identica & twitter) entry on a daily basis.

The subjects that I will engage in are likely to be a variety of the follow…

  • Web Development & SEO
  • Open Source Hardware & Software
  • High End Hi Fi, Cinema & Automation
  • Music, & Films
  • UK & Global Politics
  • Bitcoins
  • Technology & Innovation
  • Sustainability
  • Small holdings and local produce
  • Everything else…
Enjoy, share & discuss.
Morgan