Good evening to you all bloggers, Jenny blogging tonight.

Well today we discovered that the lane at the bottom of the driveway of our stables this morning has in fact become even more flooded and deeper than it was on the weekend. It’s also moved up the driveway a little bit more which means that the water is getting close to our home, which is not a good thing really. The water is still running though the yards and down the drive and passed our home, but good news is that we now have ten sand bags in front of our front door that hardly any water is getting though. To get into our home we simply open the top part of our front door and in, simple really. Picture below is some of our grazing flooded, and this was on high ground, the bottom two fields are a good 2 foot under water at the lower end of them so no using the bottom fields again this year me thinks.

For the staffs personal wellbeing me and Motoko and told them to wear their 66North waterproof clothing, we normally only ever use for hacking out. Reason is that the 66North clothing is same type as Ocean which is that oil skin type, but its orange and very hi visibility. Unlike our Ocean gear that is Orange and Blue. So all of our staff members now wearing their 66North clothing so they show up on the yard, this means we can see each other though all this flooding and rain. Also Motoko told them to go to their provided cottages and, do a stock take on all of their food and note it down and hand a copy to us so we know how long we can all home out. It’s good news as every one as plenty of supplies for a good whole week, and by then all this flooding should be slowly going. We have a plan to use our canoe and paddle around the flooded lane for supplies from local farm shop which is not as flooded as we are. Also Sam our friend is a flood response operative and she lives on the arm with her partner. So help is a flooded lane away if we really badly need it.

With all this weather no one as you know can enter our leave our stables, so today has been customer free. So that’s not so good, but means that there are no lessons and treks to take and lead. That means there is more time to work on other things.

Also if you are a fan of the band called Muse, you will love this video.

I think it was a really great performance but not as good as their Devon gig which was just fantastic to hear.

Everyone here been really cheerful and up beat about the whole thing and Motoko has been wearing a lifejacket all day over her gear as a joke all day, that made me smile. Also have a painted sign on our yards driveway gate with a cartoon raft with lots of horses on board it. Was my idea, so I was the one to wade in and tie it to the gate, once again I got my hunters flooded. I really must remember to wear my waders next time I do anything like test the depth or put if funny signs.

Here is another RNLI video to continue Motoko’s RNLI support in her last blog.

But that is it for now, I need to see to our fire and then help Motoko with our dinner. You can’t go wrong with bangers and mash!

Jenny and Motoko Carter

Our Online Gaming Playstaion 3 ID

Nu nog steeds. Ik dacht dat het voorbij was, maar het waait, dondert, regent en het bliksemt! Very scary.

I don’t like stormy weather. Gelukkig ben ik binnen, maar alsnog.

Afgelopen zaterdag was het behoorlijk druk in het altijd rokerige, maar relaxte Get Rhythm. Ik heb geen idee wat de opbrengst voor Kika is geweest, maar het zal ongetwijfeld de moeite waard zijn geweest. Op 16 januari is er opnieuw een benefiet-avond voor Kika in The Little Cave in Rotterdam. Als je zin hebt in een avondje coverbands en je wilt gelijk een goed doel steunen, dan moet je er zeker bij zijn.

Voor het eerst speelde ik solo in Get Rhythm en dat was ook wel eens leuk. Het geluid was wat mij betreft, zoals altijd bij Arie en Jos, uitstekend. Morgenavond wordt daar trouwens weer ‘gewoon’ gerepeteerd met Cradle. Een week later mogen we met Flowers for Francis de oefenruimte in om de de roestige kastjes weer aan te zwengelen voor het optreden op 19 december in De Gonz in Gouda. Die avond spelen ook onze Belgische vrienden van Silver Cross die op hun beurt weer hebben gezorgd voor een optreden van Cradle op 23 januari in België.
Zo gaat dat. Inmiddels ontstaat er een uitgebreid netwerk van bands en zalen. Het wordt dan ook de hoogste tijd om een volgende stap met etf bookings te gaan zetten. Het is onderhand meer dan een full-time baan aan het worden. Zolang ik nog word gesponsord door het UWV (en ik daarmee weer voor werkgelegendheid zorg: het één kan uiteindelijk niet zonder het ander…) is dat allemaal goed te doen. Maar liever ben ik niet afhankelijk van het gedrocht UWV. Dat tegenwoordig door het leven gaat als werkbedrijf. Dan weet je dat ook weer…

Ook mooi was eerder deze week het bericht van Sounds For Sure, waar de EP “Extended Play” is uitgeroepen tot cd van de maand. Als je ‘m nog niet hebt: bestel ‘m en je hebt het schijfje snel in huis. Vanavond word je in het programma J3 van Omroep Zuidplas weer met een track van de EP verwend. Luisteren dus naar de Jannen die het ‘ook namens mijn vrouw’ ongetwijfeld weer enorm naar hun zin zullen hebben.

Gisterenavond was Peter, je weet wel, die jongen die ooit wel eens in Cradle drumde, hier op bezoek. Natuurlijk werden er ook heel wat anekdotes uit de mistige gebieden van ons brein opgediept. Het zou leuk zijn om in die oude bezetting weer een keer een reünie-optreden te doen. Dus wie weet… Waar rook is zijn de rapen nog niet zo gaar dan ze worden opgediend.

Ondertussen raast er een stevige wind door het land, wordt het water flink opgestuwd en zijn de gevolgen hier en daar al merkbaar. Geen feest. Officieel is het nog herfst en zo ziet het er ook uit, maar toch vind ik het verdacht. Het is (weer) te warm voor de tijd van het jaar. Een echte winter kennen we allang niet meer. Hoewel… Allang? Zo lang geleden was het niet, maar dat er een omslag in het weerbeeld is, is wel duidelijk. Er is geen weg terug en als er die er zou zijn dan zijn de domste dieren niet in staat om letterlijk het tij te keren. Nee, gewoon doorgaan met ontbossen, opwarmen, pappen en nathouden. Nat zal het zeker worden. En ik doe er ook aan mee. Net zo hard. Maf, maar waar. De meest destructieve diersoort heeft de aarde geclaimd en we zullen het weten. Nu maar hopen dat ik nog wat plezier kan beleven aan de verkoop van mijn domein hetwaterstijgt.nl…

Voorlopig doet dat in ieder geval prima dienst als website voor de perikelen rondom de virtuele club JV70. Inmiddels actief in de zevende divisie van het intrigerende voetbalmanagersspel Hattrick. Zoals verwacht begon de club prima aan het seizoen, maar ziet het er naar uit dat de derde plek het einddoel wordt. Prima voor een debutant en maar goed ook. Gelijk doorstoten naar de zesde divisie zou trainingstechnisch en financieel onhandig zijn geweest. Eerst nog maar een seizoen bouwen aan een mooi team.

Wat nou wateroverlast?

Over overlast gesproken: als je binnenkort iets hoort knallen, dan kan het zomaar een of andere energiebotsing in Zwitserland zijn. Hoog of laag, daar wil ik vanaf zijn, maar botsen doet het. De CERN-deeltjesversneller, ook weer zo’n huzarenstukje van menselijk onvermogen, is weer in werking gezet. Zo zouden we meer te weten komen over het ontstaan van de aarde en haar omgeving: de fundamentele bouwstenen van materie. Je weet wel. Hoe dan ook: weten hoe het is ontstaan is leuk, maar echt zinvol is het niet als je weet hoe het eindigt. Ik zie het al helemaal voor me: zo’n Eurekaanse wetenschapper die juichend en gek van euforie door zijn lab rent, want: “Jaaahahahaaa eindelijk! Nu weten we het!” en precies op dat moment: KABOEM!
Geweldig.

Het zou het ultieme vuurwerk voor een desastreuze jaarwisseling zijn. Ach ja… Het Einde der Tijden, wie is er niet groot mee geworden?

Ah, kijk eens aan, de kaartjes voor de film 2012 zijn binnen! Moet ik ineens denken aan Nieuw-Rotterdam…

DE BILT -  Het KNMI zegt dat het maandagmiddag en -avond erg hard gaat waaien in het midden en zuiden van het land.

Het weerinstituut voorspelt zware windstoten tot 100 kilometer per uur. Lokaal zijn zeer zware windstoten mogelijk van meer dan 100 kilometer per uur. Vooral langs de Zeeuwse en Zuid-Hollandse kust kan het flink gaan spoken. Daar komt tijdelijk een windkracht 9 te staan.

Onweer

De zwaarste windstoten worden verwacht tijdens buien, die vergezeld kunnen gaan met onweer. Niet alleen langs de kust gaat het flink waaien, ook landinwaarts is het weer onrustig, zelfs in Limburg en Noord-Brabant zijn zware windstoten mogelijk.

Het slechte weer hangt samen met een storing die maandag met bijzonder veel regen dwars over ons land trekt. In het noorden van het land waait het beduidend minder.

Bekijk het actuele weer.

I spotted her sillouheted against the light of a candle at the open window of a ruined seafront house – apparently staring out to sea. But, I soon realized that she was blind to the gathering storm when she said, “What a beautiful day – he will soon return in his little boat and he will once more fill the hole in my aching heart”.

As the sky filled with dark clouds and the first heavy spots of rain began to fall she continued, “My love is coming home and my heart warms – like my face in the sun”.

A shard of lightening fractured the charred sky and thunder ruptured the air. “I can hear his boat as he draws it up upon the beach – soon he will be with me and I will be in his arms once more”.

The wind tore in through the broken window whipping the ragged curtains while the rain pounded on the roof above. “And now I hear his boots upon the stone steps leading up to our house – he is here!”

The splintered door was blown open – the air was sucked from the room – the vacuum snuffing out the guttering candle – and I could see her no more in the dark eye-socket void of her window.

Indonesia, Nov 23, 2009 (AFP) – The captain of an Indonesian ferry which sank killing 29 people rejected claims of overcrowding Monday and blamed a freak storm for the disaster, as officials launched an investigation.

The search for survivors from the Dumai Express resumed for a second day off Karimun island, near Singapore, amid fears scores of people could be lost at sea or trapped in the wreck at the bottom of the Malacca Strait.

Survivors from the 147-tonne Dumai Express ferry which went down in heavy rain and huge swells off Karimun island – Sumatra arrive at the port on November 22, 2009 (AFP photo)

With the official toll standing at 29 dead and 250 rescued, officials arrived at Karimun to try to piece together what caused the latest in a litany of ferry disasters in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands.

The 147-tonne vessel’s capacity was 273 passengers and crew, but local police said more than 400 people could have been on board. Two survivors told AFP its decks were packed with undocumented passengers.

Captain Johan Napitupulu rejected the allegations and said he had no warning he was sailing into a massive storm when he left Batam island on Sunday morning.

“The weather was fine when we left Batam port. There was no sign of rain and we also didn’t get any warning from anybody saying the weather could turn bad at sea,” he told AFP.

“About half an hour later the weather suddenly turned really, really bad. The waves were higher than two metres (six feet), the winds and currents were strong.”

The captain said the crew had done all it could to arrange lifeboats and life-jackets for the terrified passengers.

“The ferry was sinking fast, front first. Within 27 minutes it was totally submerged… There was panic, everyone was screaming,” Napitupulu said.

Survivor Amir Azli, a 56-year-old high-school teacher, estimated more than 350 people were on board, many with heavy suitcases as they set off to spend time with their families ahead of a Muslim holiday on Friday.

“I saw at least 50 people without tickets sitting on the top deck of the ferry… It wasn’t just the bad weather,” he said as he recovered in Tanjung Balai on Karimun.

“The ferry was overloaded so of course I’m angry that the ferry operator broke the safety rules and people had to die because of that.”

Another survivor, 25-year-old factory worker Zulfitri added: “The ferry was overcrowded with people and things. On the first floor there were people standing because they had no seats”.

“They didn’t tell us there was a problem but only asked us to stay calm. We only realised we were in trouble when we saw the ferry sinking and that’s when we demanded life-jackets,” she said.

Karimun-based Navy Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin said the boat’s manifest listed 242 passengers and crew including 15 children, indicating some of the passengers were undocumented.

“There’s an indication of overcapacity,” he told AFP.

“The chances of finding survivors are still high because they were wearing life-jackets.”

Heavy seas were preventing navy divers from finding the wreck to determine if anyone was trapped below decks, he said.

Ferry disasters are common in Indonesia despite repeated official promises to tighten and enforce safety regulations.

Up to 335 people were killed when a heavily overloaded ferry sank off Sulawesi island in January. In December 2006 a ferry went down in a storm off the coast of Java, killing more than 500 people.

The actual number of deaths from such sinkings is rarely known because captains and port masters routinely falsify how many passengers are on board, or simply fail to count them.

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The BlackBerry 9630 (Tour) camera is identical to the BlackBerry 9530 (Storm) camera – if you’ve read my review of the Storm camera, you’ve read my review of the Tour camera

The Tour takes pretty awesome pictures for a business phone. It lacks the accelerometer present in the Storm, so there is no auto-rotation, but it features a dedicated two-stage camera button, which is missing on most other devices with a similar form factor, like the Nokia E71.

I recently snapped matching shots with the Tour and the excellent Nokia N900. Although the N900 camera wins overall, the Tour camera holds its own – judge for yourself.

Blackberry Tour (3.2 megapixel sensor):

Nokia N900 (5 megapixel sensor, Carl Zeiss optics):

Video recording with the Tour is nothing to write home about, with a resolution of 480×352 pixel, and a frame rate of about 20 fps. Here is a sample video (download original):

Hello all you bloggers this is Motoko blogging.

Well the rain still comes and with rain comes flooding, we are now really cut off from the closeted down about five miles away. Bottom of our yards driveway and the lane it leads too is totally flooded. Jenny felt like she wanted to test the depth by walking into it. It proved that the water was hip height, so after flooding her hunter wellies and wading back out we she agreed that it was not the best way to test the depth. So she now has her waterproof trousers and her socks and hunter wellies and jeans on cloths horse in front of our log fire. Told her next time she should try something like that she should year a lifejacket or buoyancy aid and a drysuit, that didn’t go down to well and only reply I got from her was a raised eye brow followed by a frown.

This morning we mucked out the whole yard between us, it didn’t take that long really. Part time people for very clear reasons can’t get in. So until they can and the flood water goes away me and Jenny will do the mornings on the yard on Fri, Sat and Sun and then some of our other staff that live in the stable cottages can do the afternoon and evening. So far its working really well, downside is that one of our part time girls is a college student who helps on Fridays, he arrived before the flood water burst into the lanes. So she is now sharing a cottage with Anna as she can’t get home or to college for that matter.

Our paddocks are oke which really surprised me. Oke in the way that they are still there and not been swept away by the flood water, but two out of five paddocks are flooded and the grazing is not that great but we will work around it.

Ground floor flooded again last night even though we added more sand bags, its like a bunker now and still the water floods in, never mind. We broke the hunters out and grabbed a broom each and swept it out in record time, as it didn’t flood as bad as before. I’ve stocked up on logs for the fire and we have plenty of food so I am sure that we will be ok.

The RNLI need to be thanked I think for helping our little part of the world that is Cumbria. With out you people would be stuck in cars, homes and other places. So I would like to thank the brave RNLI women and men who have been helping.

Click this link for the RNLI website: The RNLI

I think that will be all for now, stay tuned for me random blogging from me and Jenny.

Kind Regards,

Jenny and Motoko Carter

Our Online Gaming Playstaion 3 ID

Meditations in Job : 66. God Speaks from a Storm

Job 38:1-5 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?

All the talking by the humans has come to an end. Now it is the Lord’s turn. He has remained silent and let the variety of opinions be expressed. For the moment He ignores the three friends and Elihu. He simply addresses Job. Note it says “the Lord answered Job.” These words are going to be a direct answer to all that Job has said, but they will not be a point-by-point apologetic. Oh no, the Lord is going to answer by a very different means.  The Lord comes and speaks through a storm. Saying that, it isn’t that the storm brings Job a lesson, but the Lord’s voice comes from the midst of the storm. A storm, by its very nature, displays power. We are reminded of the revelation that Ezekiel received: “I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north–an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light.” (Ezek 1:4) I think I have never seen this so well shown as in the film Independence Day when a massive alien spacecraft comes with what appears amazing clouds and a storm. It conveyed well the enormity of the power that we see in the Scriptures when God makes His presence known sometimes.

It is important to note this tangible power and might, because it is simply an expression of the Lord’s activity which He is going on to speak about to Job. He is not going to answer Job on an intellectual argument or emotional challenge level; He is simply going to state some simple facts, revealed through questions.

But first He expresses something about Job.  Now later on He will reiterate His good feelings about Job but for the moment He wants to convey to Job His dissatisfaction with what Job has been saying.  Job may have been a righteous man prior to all this happening, but he has given way to the pressures coming from the three friends and has spoken out about things of which he has no knowledge.  He did not know about the prior conversations in heaven and the causes (and objectives?) of what happened, and so all his words were baseless (literally!).  So he spoke without knowledge and so it is going to be on the basis of the absence of knowledge that the Lord is going to help Job regain his right perspective!

As we said, the Lord is not going to enter into an intellectual debate with Job; He’s simply going to help Job regain perspective and when that happens, that will be enough. He uses rhetorical question after rhetorical question. The answers are obvious. We won’t look at them all; you can read them in your Bible. He starts with three that will show the nature of His approach: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? …. Who marked off its dimensions? ….  Who stretched a measuring line across it?” i.e. were you around when I created everything?  Of course not!   Immediately there is this implied acknowledgement that the Lord is the Creator of the world and that lifts Him infinitely higher than Job.

The questions roll on, one after another and the answer from Job’s perspective has to be “No, I am a mere man!”  Every now and then the Lord drops in a challenge that reminds Job of that very fact; for example, “Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!” (38:21) and that just rubs the truth in even more.  No, I’m just a mere man and my few years count for nothing.  The questions pour on, covering nature, the constellations, even the origins of wisdom, and then on into chapter 39 about the habits of all the animals and their strangeness sometimes.  Does He know about all these details?  No, of course he doesn’t; he’s a mere man and it’s not the twenty first century where technology has begun to open up some of these secrets that show us just how wonderful Creation is.

We’ll pause it there and continue to consider the torrent of questions in the next meditation. It is a simple lesson of perspective. Sometimes we think we are so great; we have achieved so much.  Some of us have learnt so much that we fool ourselves into believing that the tiny bit of information we have absorbed makes us important.  In a foolish age when so many deny the presence of God, we take for granted the incredible wonder and power of what we can observe in Creation.  We explain it away and fail to see the enormity of the Creator that defies our imagination.  Because we are tainted by this disease called Sin, we are blinded to the truth.  We think we are great.  But then it only takes a bad cold or the flu or a strained back or severe toothache to bring us down to helplessness and we realise afresh our limitations.  We dare to argue with Almighty God?  What crass stupidity!

Today’s prompt asked us to write an emergency poem. As usual when presented with a prompt that could go anywhere, I dried up.* But not so dry that I couldn’t write about a storm. Haiku-style.

*It’s my vacation. It’s sucking the imagination out of me. And it’s so worth it.

strong winds drench old trees
stripping bark and snapping twigs
parents mourn their young

Titles:
1. The Vanishings
2. Second Chance
3. Through The Flames
4. Facing The Future
5. Nicolae High
6. The Underground
7. Busted!
8. Death Strike
9. The Search
10. On The Run
11. Into The Storm

Author: Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye
Condition: Good to Very Good. Only read them once
Price: $23.00 (includes shipping & handling)
Other Information:
“These books were written from 1998 to 2004 and are still in print today with over 11,000,000 sold in series. Unlike the adult series, Left Behind, they have no prequels or sequels, but are a set of 40 books focused on the Tribulation. The series was originally due to have 48 books but was cut to 40 as the huge 2 year jump in Ominous Choices cut out a lot of possible material. The Left Behind: The Kids series was originally written for teen and young adult readers. However, the audience has grown to include adults, too. Many adults read The Kids series between the release of new books in the Left Behind series. Most of the audience bought the books for the Judd and Vicki relationship storyline and many were outraged when Judd and Nada became a couple. However, the faithful readers continued and to their relief Judd and Vicki were back together, keeping the interest of the readers.”

The guys over at Surfline.com put together this sick slideshow of “New York’s impossible run of surf.” Check it out.

It stormed last night. Crazy stormed. Like untamed passion. Wild and roaring.

And then, with the rising of the sun there was peace. Beautiful golden rays of sunshine like a smile drawn across the face of satisfaction.

And where chaos met calm, a rainbow was born. Bright and magical.

I picked up my coffee and sipped it, like a drag off a cigarette in my lover’s bed, and watched with wonder and delight as the rainbow faded away into a gorgeous day.

Good morning.

10.14.2009

A recent trip to our land’s left side brought me in and out of a major Cali coastal storm within 120 miles traveling  between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Pacific Coast Storm

Blues

Clear

]]> http://genexite.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/blackberry-developer-conference-robot-challenge/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:23:50 +0000 Manish Sagar http://genexite.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/blackberry-developer-conference-robot-challenge/

Attendees at the 2009 BlackBerry® Developer Conference had the opportunity to race LEGO® MINDSTORM robots using BlackBerry Storm2 smartphones!

Changes can have a profound affect on the nervous system, even when the changes were consciously chosen. It seems the more relaxed into it one becomes, the universe has a way of bringing challenges or obstacles to test fortitude. It can be so easy at this point to fall back into the “comfort zone” that may have been the cause of endless issues, especially when confronted by the prospect of a different load of rubbish. Turning back may seem easy but we do have to consider how detrimental that situation was, otherwise why did we make changes at all. This stage is what I consider to be “Riding the Storm”, most of the seemingly new challenges were already there, hidden beneath the mountain of concerns utmost in mind. With that out-of-the-way the rest can reveal themselves and here is where we may assume the wrong choice was made and it will go away if we turn back, I can assure you it won’t. Going back may seem right for a while, then the whole cycle will repeat again and here we will be once again. This pattern can continue repeatedly, with different people and different places until such time we make a conscious choice to “Ride the Storm”

The sorcerers want their orb back.

Chapter 1. Surreal Storm

Chapter 2. The Serpent and the Sorceress

Chapter 3. Conversations with a Lalachai