London - Somerset - London, 27 & 28-12-14

London to Somerset, 27-12-14
It's My Life - Bon Jovi
Joyride - Roxette
Cuddly Toy - Roachford
Rock With You - Michael Jackson
I Just Can't Wait To Be King - Jason Weaver
Girls & Boys - Good Charlotte
I Drove All Night (Chris the Greek Club Mix) - Celine Dion
Le Freak - Chic
Jessie's Girl - Frickin' A
Have You Seen Her - The Chi-Lites
Living on My Own - Freddie Mercury
Sunday Morning After - Amanda Marshall
Goodbye Earl - Dixie Chicks
Sweet Freedom - Michael McDonald
Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt
Somewhere In My Heart - Aztec Camera
Jolly Green Giant - The Kingsmen
Fancy - Bobbie Gentry
Car Wash - Rose Royce
Back Of My Hand - Jags
Lets Go Fly A Kite - Mary Poppins
The Ugly Bug Ball - Burl Ives
Ariel - Dean Friedman
Angel - Shaggy
Come As You Are - Beverley Knight
Cruel To Be Kind - Letter to Cleo
Everytime We Touch [Club Mix] - Cascada
Dirtee Disco (Radio Edit) - Dizzee Rascal
Come On Over Baby (Video Edit) - Christina Aguilera
I Am The Mob - Catatonia
What's My Age Again? - Blink-182
I'm Still Standing - Elton John
Ride Wit Me - Nelly featuring City Spud
Last Christmas - Jimmy Eat World
Crush (new) - Jennifer Paige
Jive Talkin´ - Bee Gees
I Only Want To Be With You - The Tourists
Don't Get Me Wrong - Pretenders
I Feel Lucky - Mary Chapin Carpenter
Bulletproof - La Roux
Bye Bye Baby - Bay City Rollers
Disturbia - Rihanna
Walking around in women's underwear - Weird Al Yankovic
Give Him a Great Big Kiss - The Shangri-Las
Kids - MGMT
On The Radio - Donna Summer

Somerset to London, 28-12-14
What Time Is Love - KLF
Pray - Take That
96 Tears - ? And the Mysterians
Louise - Human League
The Mayor Of Simpleton - XTC
Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas - Eels
Private Emotion - Hooters
You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me - New Seekers
Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin
Saturday Morning Confusion - Bobby Russell
Dreaming of Another World - Mystery Jets
Rocket - Goldfrapp
Toe Jam Feat. Dizzee Rascal & David Byrne - The BPA
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
Kiss Me Deadly - Reel Big Fish
Get Over It - Guillemots
Are You Gonna Be My Girl (alt) - Jet
The Biggest Horizon - Clint Boon Experience
Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
Buck Rogers - Feeder
I Try - Macy Gray
Goodbye Stranger - Supertramp
It's All Been Done - Barenaked Ladies
Silent Night - John Denver & The Muppets
I'm gonna getcha good - Shania Twain
Ladyflash - The Go! Team
Don't You Want Me (12 inch Dance Mix) - Human League
Levels - Avicii
Just Like Christmas - Ingo Star Cruiser
The Twelve Days Of Christmas - The Joseph and Mary Chain
Dragostea Din Tei (Rock Version) - Audiosmog
Be A Pest (Edit) - Animaniacs
You Make My Dreams - Daryl Hall & John Oates
London rain - Heather Nova
Why Do Fools Fall in Love - Alma Cogan
Intergalactic - Beastie Boys
National Express - The Divine Comedy
Anything You Can Do - Bernadette Peters & Tom Wopat
Power Of Love - Huey Lewis & The News
Lucky Lips - Cliff Richard & The Shadows
You Overdid It Doll - The Courteeners
Twist Of The Magi (I did it all for you) - SHeDAISY & Rascal Flatts
Blitzkrieg Bop - Ramones
All Night Garage - Joe Cornish
We Don't Stop - Michael Franti & Spearhead
Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo) - Black Kids
Tarzan & Jane - Toy Box
Bad Girls - M.I.A.
I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough) - TheAudience
Away in a Manger - Hyperbubble
Express Yourself (Digital Remaster 00) - N.W.A.
Some Girls - Racey
Little ways - Dwight Yoakam
The Way I Do - John McVie (with Lola Thomas)
Two Princes - Spin Doctors
Instant Replay - Dan Hartman
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Christmas Day 2014

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan –

The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

a light has dawned.

You have enlarged the nation

and increased their joy;

they rejoice before you

as people rejoice at the harvest,

as warriors rejoice

when dividing the plunder.

For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,

you have shattered

the yoke that burdens them,

the bar across their shoulders,

the rod of their oppressor.

Every warrior’s boot used in battle

and every garment rolled in blood

will be destined for burning,

will be fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and for ever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this.

Isaiah 9:1-7

- - - - -

From Brett's 2014 Christmas Card

hi res front

hi res back

Image via: http://tumblr.unsplash.com/post/62622705705/download-by-guillaume

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Nikon D750

Digital Photography Review has published a glowing (90%) review of Nikon's mid-range full-frame DSLR.

Snippets from the conclusion follow:

"The D750 is essentially a lower resolution, less expensive version of Nikon's D810 but if actually offers quite a bit more, including a better autofocus system, faster burst mode, tilting LCD, and built-in Wi-Fi. The major trade-offs are build quality/durability and resolution. If that sounds like an impressive camera to you, then you're absolutely right."

"The Sony-designed sensor in the D750 produces high resolution images with very little noise and an exceptional amount of dynamic range. Noise levels are very low, even at the highest sensitivities."

"One of the other high-points on the D750 is its expansive dynamic range. What's really impressive is what the camera can do when you expose for the highlights and let everything else go dark. So much is captured in the shadows that you can brighten them to the desired level with very little increase in noise."

"It's not often that we review a camera that does nearly everything right. The Nikon D750 is one of those cameras, due in large part to its top-notch sensor and autofocus system. It also wins points for its responsive (but buffer-limited) continuous shooting mode and video quality. While it has a few flaws, they're minor and won't affect the majority of photographers."
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Spirograph in a browser

Available here.
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Better Portable Graphics (BPG)

Fstoppers reports: [edited]

There is a new image format called BPG (Better Portable Graphics) designed by the French programmer Fabrice Bellard and it promises to deliver better visual quality at half the file size of JPEG.

JPEG has been around for over 20 years and has become the accepted means of displaying images on the web. As our web experience grows ever more visual, and as mobile browsing becomes the preferred method for many folks, JPEG begins to show its limitations.

BPG is a format based off the H.265 video codec by utilising the open source x265. This means BPG offers the ability to render 14 bits per colour channel as opposed to 8 with JPEG. It also offers an alpha channel, and a lossless compression option.

To give BPG a test run and see how it compares to JPEG you can go here and go through a variety of comparison images.
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Quadrofoil

quadrofoil.com reports: [edited]

The watercraft comes with an all-electric outboard motor and special steering system, so not a drop of oil goes in the environment.

It flies over water at up to 20 knots, costing 1€/h and hardly any annual maintenance costs. That makes it the most efficient PWC (Personal Water Craft).

Quadrofoil is a thrilling, yet quiet and eco-friendly watercraft. It’s silent motor and zero emissions enable it to ride on lakes, rivers, seas & eco-zones where most motor boats and PWC’s are not allowed. No noise, no waves, no emissions.
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Solid State Hard Drives reliability test

Engadget reports: [edited]

Most heavy data users can't wait for the day when conventional hard disks are put out to pasture for good. But just how much better are SSDs? Despite any horror stories you may have heard, the answer is a lot, according to tests on recent models by The Tech Report. It forced six drives - including Kingston's HyperX 3K, Samsung's 840 Pro and Intel's 335 series - to continuously write and rewrite 10GB of small and large files.

Two drives - the Samsung and Kingston models - have both written two petabytes worth of data and are still going. Given that a typical user might write a couple of terabytes of data a year on an SSD, that adds up to a thousand or so years based just on usage. It's worth noting that it was just a small, informal test - but it bolsters the case that SSDs are far less likely to give you failure stress than hard drives.
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Desolanator

desolenator.com reports: [edited]

Billions of people lack a plentiful supply of clean drinking water.

But we have worked out a way to help them. We want to create water from sunshine!

We have created the Desolenator - the first easy to use, low cost, solar powered water desalination system that can make any type of water - including sea water - drinkable.

We have the solution available right now. We just need funding and support to get it developed and shipped to the people who need it.

We have started an Indiegogo campaign asking for investment to help us begin to manufacture the Desolenator. But we also to help create a movement. A group of passionate individuals and communities that understand that water is one of the key issues for the world and want to do as much as they can to help ensure that no one on the planet goes thirsty.
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High-end pocketable compact cameras

Digital Photography Review has published a review of the following cameras.

- Canon PowerShot G7 X
- Canon PowerShot S120
- Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 III
- Fujifilm XQ1
- Nikon Coolpix P340
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1

Snippets from the conclusion follows:

Best high-end pocketable compact - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 III

With the RX100, RX100 II and now the RX100 III, Sony has had three opportunities to perfect the concept. The RX100 Mark III offers advantages in its superior battery life, added options/features for video shooters, better image quality, and its built-in EVF.

Best affordable high-end pocketable compact - Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1 is not the newest high-end compact around, nor does it offer the biggest sensor, or the cheapest price tag. That being said, it is still an incredibly capable compact with a built-in electronic viewfinder for under $300 [£250, Ed.]. The Panasonic also leaps ahead of the pack in its massive zoom range, a 28-200mm equivalent. The other compacts all max out at 120mm or less.
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